Rear-Ended

Well, I wrote this back in April, just after we had moved. I found it in the drafts and realized I hadn't posted it because I was waiting to make sure insurance was all worked out for liability sake and all. So better late then never, here is the account of when the kids and I were rear-ended by a semi.

It has been an exciting month for us. From hospitals to moving and now a car accident to top it off! Two days ago, (April 20) I was out running errands and had just finished up at the last stop, Costco, and was headed home. Halfway home, I was stopped at a red light getting ready to turn when I heard a huge crash from the back of the vehicle. My flip flops flew off my feet and it took a few moments to realize my car was moving. I was so stunned that I had a hard time finding the brake pedal. It's funny what goes through your mind in those moments, and my first thought as I was dumbfoundedly groping with my foot for the brake was, "my brake pedal is gone!" I then turned my head to see what had hit me, saw a flat-bed semi and the driver had a crazy look on his face. Must have been him. Things seem to go in slow motion and it seemed like forever before I found the brake. Once I did, I stopped just off of the road on the far side of the intersection and turned around to look at the kids. I asked Caleb if he was ok, since he could tell me yes or no, and he said "yes". I asked if he was hurting anywhere and he said, "No". I told him to just stay there (like he could move, he was strapped in!) and got out. The truck driver pulled off the road just ahead of me and came running over. He said, "I'm sorry, my brakes wouldn't work!" Then he looked in my SUV and saw all the kids. He started shaking and rambling, "Should I call the police, yeah, I should call the police! Are they all ok? Well, we have good insurance. Oh, I'm so sorry." Then he got on his cell and called the police. I took a second to find my cell phone, which had flown onto the floor and come apart. I put it back together and called Jason to tell him I had been in an accident, he said he'd come. Later he told me his first thought was, "this better not be her fault!" Haha. Thanks for the confidence, hunny! When the police arrived they gave me some paperwork to fill out and asked if anyone was hurt. I realized my back was hurting a bit, so the kind police man offered to call an ambulance. I ended up going in the ambulance to the hospital with Amelia just to make sure my back was ok. Jason brought the other kids and met us there. My car was towed off the scene to be assessed for damages. So the long and the short of it is this, my back is quite sore, but the kids all seem to be fine (praise the Lord!!). Here are some cell phone pictures of our SUV. The green truck parked in front is the one that hit me.

Current Update:
We are all seemingly ok! My SUV had about $10,000 in damages but was repaired and seems good as new (amazing what good autobody shops can do!). My back has been doing ok, and the kids never showed any signs of injury. The Lord is good! During the time my SUV was in the shop, we had a rental van, and actually loved it. So I think now we are going to try and replace Jason's car with a van someday thanks to an extended "trial run" with one.