Marne's thoughts
As we were putting our Christmas letter together this year, Marne and I reviewed the journaling that she did right after my accident. I have always told her that I wanted to post what she wrote on my blog, but she never felt that it was quite finished. After reviewing it again, she said to just go ahead and post it. So, here it is, Marne's thoughts about our experience written just a few days after the accident...

It’s Monday morning, October 9, 2006, the phone rings and Dave’s voice is filled with panic. He said, “I’ve been in a serious accident and I should be dead! A truck fell on me, but I was able to get out of the car…I won’t be able to take the kids to school. Oh my God, I should be dead, but I’m okay.” That is all I remember him saying though I know I was on the phone with him longer than that. From that moment on I remember praising God that he was alive and calling a few friends and family asking them to pray. While I wasn’t sure what to do next I realize now my objective was to find out for myself that Dave was really okay. I remember taking a quick shower, getting the kids ready for school and praising God that Dave was alive. I dropped Joel and Cori off at school (Aaron had already left for school for an early fieldtrip) and drove up to Lambert where the accident occurred. The sight of two helicopters in the air over the accident I couldn’t yet see gave me the chills as the severity of this accident began to become real. The road was completely blocked so the officer told me to park and walk to the accident scene. Thank God I had talked to Dave or I would have been completely devastated by what I saw.

The first person I talked to knew Dave had been taken to the hospital, but went to find out which hospital. When he came back he explained that he had taken photos of the accident and thought that the tv news reporters would want to talk to me. I told them about Dave’s phone call to me at 7:40 that morning and how we were praising God for sparing his life. They shared with me comments from police and EMTs who had been at the scene that morning…”I expected to find a double fatality accident, not a walk away accident. There’s something wrong with you if you don’t believe in miracles after seeing this.” I quickly walked up to the preschool and asked Ms. Condon if I could leave Seth a few minutes early explaining Dave was in that accident. She and the assistant teacher told me they had been praying all morning for those involved in the accident never realizing of course it was someone they knew. From there I headed to St. Jude hospital to see for myself that Dave was really okay. Praise to God filled my thoughts and the overwhelming need to see Dave. I am thankful that I didn’t spend time dwelling on thoughts of the possible extent of injury he could have suffered, but looking back at it I’m surprised I did not. I finally found the ER and waited for Dave to return from X-rays. Miraculously, he suffered only minor injuries, a nasty bruise on his shoulder, a small cut on the top of his head, redness on his upper right thigh and soreness all over his torso. Those that treated him and saw the photos of the accident were amazed at the lack of harm to his body. By 11:30a.m. Dave was released from the hospital and I drove him home. What a surprise to us to find all the media interest in this accident and Dave’s miraculous survival! The remainder of that day and the following morning were filled with interviews and photos from all the local news stations, Inside Edition, and the Orange County Register, not to mention a phone that kept ringing as people heard about the accident and realized it was Dave.

As the week has progressed and we are still trying to deal with this trauma several thoughts have stood out. First of course is the precious gift of life itself and not wanting to waste one moment or take it for granted. Celebrating our 15^th Anniversary together yesterday was an incredible blessing as I consider this accident should have been fatal. I also realize that while we spent much time crediting Blue with having a part in saving Dave because of its solid steel frame, perhaps its mission was also in proclaiming what God did. What I mean is many people around town knew Dave drove that blue mustang and recognized it when they drove by or saw it on the news thus giving us an opportunity to talk to them. We have had so many people talk to us about the accident, even people we have never met. I pray that we take each opportunity and give God the credit that belongs to Him alone. Also, I think much of the media interest in this story was due to Blue and what that car meant to us. Thus, the media spread the story further than it would have gone had the accident occurred with our Geo Prizm. It is my prayer that those who hear about this accident will recognize it for the miracle it is and give credit to the Lord. He is the one who deserves all the attention and interviews. How did He do it? When I look at pictures of the accident or what is left of Blue I am filled with awe at the incredible miracle it is that Dave is alive. Deepening our faith and realizing firsthand His mighty power is also a result of this accident. Seth was afraid that a snake might eat him when he was trying to go to sleep the night after the accident; I had the opportunity to pray that the Lord who can hold a big rig up to keep it from crushing Seth’s daddy was able to protect him from a snake. At first I thought how cool God gave us this incredible demonstration of His power and protection for our kids and then I remembered how much I need that example also.

Labels: accident, God's will, Marne, Mustang

  ¶ 11:29 AM 0 comments

  Light the Kinara! My daughter performed in her (public) school's second grade holiday songfest last week. I was surprised and pleased that they were able to sing several songs about Christmas, including a couple overtly Christian songs, such as Silent Night. They were able to do this because they also sang songs representing other cultures, including Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.

We went with some friends to look at Christmas lights last night. As we were walking around the neighborhood, my daughter and her friends started to sing...the Kwanzaa song. They liked this song so much that they sang it over and over and over, very loudly. It should be noted that none of these girls comes from a family that celebrates Kwanzaa. Many people walking by looked at them a bit strangely and wondered what was going on. We finally convinced them to sing Rudolph.

I think it is important for our children to understand and respect other cultures and even to become familiar with some of their traditions. But I also want to ensure that they understand that we celebrate Christmas and that this time of year is special to us for that reason. All cultures are not the same. All traditions are not the same. it is not hateful to say that; in fact, I think it is harmful NOT to say it. We have to find that balance between respecting others and their traditions and faith while teaching our children about our traditions and our faith.  ¶ 9:13 AM 0 comments

  Improvement An update on my recovery from the accident...

This weekend I was able to start being close to normal: we spent some time at Disneyland Friday, I mowed the lawn on Saturday, and I started putting up the Christmas lights on Sunday. Yes, I had to go slower and take lots of breaks, and yes, my back was very tired and aching at the end of each day, but I am encouraged because I could not have even tried to do some of these things last month.

Thanks for all your prayers.

Labels: accident

  ¶ 8:36 AM 1 comments