One Of Many Miracles

Not too long after we had decided to move from the Cabin, my husband and his cousin got into a fight. Both were on meth at the time, which was usually the case. Anyway to make along story a little shorter, the cousin had hit him in the head with an exhaust manifold. The kid’s dad came into the house to grab an old gun, and ran back down by the creek.
I tried to stop him and when I realized I couldn’t I kept the kids in the house and just started praying for the Lord to do something.
I heard the gun go off, my heart stopped! The kid’s dad came back up to the house and said he fired the gun out the truck window next to his cousin’s head. Not to kill him but to scare him. His cousin of course took off up the hill.
The next morning, very early we hear, “come out with your hands up, this is the police you are surrounded.” Talk about a scary way to wake up.
The kid’s dad stepped out the door and we heard the sound of guns being readied. He started yelling we have kids in the house. He was told to walk out the door with his hands up and lay on the ground which he did.
His cousin had run up the road to call the police saying he had been shot in the head, quite a miracle I would say since he was walking around with no wound.
My husband was carted off to jail. He called his mom and she drove up from Sacrament to get the kids and I. Sarah was at the time living with my mom, having become a teenage girl could not handle living the way we were. Jason must have been staying at his grandparents or his Aunt’s for the week. For some reason I cannot remember why he was not with us.
Anyway it was Matthew, Christopher and I.
My mother-in-law drove us back up to the cabin so I could get our things and our car as we were going to be staying with her for awhile. She dropped us off at the top of the hill because the road was in bad shape and she had a new car.
As we got closer to the cabin I could hear glass breaking and a gun being fired. It wasn’t right by the cabin so I made the boys stay put and walked down to the house. There was broken glass every where from the windows of two of our cars. Apparently the cousin decided to ‘get even’ and shot out all the windows, except the one I was going to be driving. Thank the Lord for that, at least that’s what I thought at the time.
It seemed safe since he had done all he could really do by the house and sounded like he was down by the creek. We made sure the bag of dog food was out for Suzie not knowing when I would be coming back up, got the clothes and stuff in the car and started to head up the hill.
When I reached the first part of the road, the cousin came running out of the bushes in front of the car. He walked over to the driver’s window and told me he wasn’t mad at me and wouldn’t hurt me or the boys. I told him I was going up the hill and I would be calling the police. He reached in and grabbed the steering wheel. He was trying to stop me from leaving, I don’t know if it was the overwhelming hate I had for this man he saw in my eyes, or an angel beside me. I said to him, “Let go of this steering wheel right now!” He got this look on his face and let go. I hit the gas and headed up the hill in the little Volkswagen I was in.
We were about half way up the hill when all the sudden I had no control of the car, the steering had gone out. I tried the brakes but didn’t stop. I think now it was the clutch I was stomping on and not the brakes. The car kept going up the hill.
Now the road going up was only big enough for one car, curvy and if you went over the side you would find yourself going a few hundred feet down the into a canyon.
I use to wonder if I was to find myself in a situation like this if I would react like you see in the movies, saying “oh shit” or if I would call on the Lord for help. Where exactly would my mind be at the time, on the Lord or in fear. Of course I had no desire to find out.
That day I found out!
When I realized I had no control over the car, and we headed over the edge, the only thing I could say was, “Jesus please stop this car.” The moment I said it we hit something. At the time I had no idea what. All I knew was we had stopped unexpectedly and forcefully.
I hit the steering wheel with my face which felt like it had exploded. Matthew hit the dashboard and landed on the floor, Christopher was in the backseat and hit the back of my seat which was not padded and landed on the floor.
I grabbed Matthew and he seemed to be ok, not a mark on him. I turned to grab Chris, he also was ok, no marks. I looked in the mirror just knowing my face had to be bleeding as it sure felt like it was, again, not a mark. When we got out of the car my leg was hurting I looked down and saw an actual hole in the top part of my left calf. To this day the only thing I can figure is the turn signal handle, which was skinny and long punctured my leg when we hit.
I composed myself, thanking the Lord for stopping us, still I was not sure what stopped us, as I could see nothing in front of the car.
We walked up the hill. I couldn’t go any farther once we got to the road so Matthew ran across the road to the neighbors and asked them to call 911. I had never met these neighbors since they had just recently bought the house. The husband came running over to see if I was ok. They called the police and an ambulance, deciding I needed to see a doctor.
The police and various residents showed up. I told the police about this cousin down there shooting out windows, explaining he was on meth and tried to stop me from leaving. It was beginning to get dark and the ambulance was taking forever, so the neighbor decided to take me to the hospital and his wife graciously said she would watch the boys.
I don’t remember a whole lot of the ride there, I know I talked a lot, probably out of shock and nervousness.
We got to the hospital. One of the officers showed up as they were examining me. He told me it was a miracle we were still alive. They had walked down to where the car was stopped. He told me it was a tree stump that stopped the car, had it not been there we would have gone all the way to the bottom, he also said the stump was just big enough to stop the car and had it been any taller or wider it would have pushed the whole front end of the car into us and we would have been seriously hurt.
I guess the Officer didn’t know what else to say after that. He was standing there talking to me while the doctor was checking the hole in my leg. The doctor needed to see how deep the hole was so he stuck this very LONG Q-tip thing into the hole. This officer asked, “ Does that hurt?”
The doctor and I just looked at him in disbelief and the doctor said, “What do you think, I am sticking this into an open wound of course it hurts.” I had a few stitches and was released.
I am still amazed to this day the boys had no marks whatsoever on them. They should have at least had bruises. I can still almost feel hitting the steering wheel with my face years later and again am amazed I had no marks.
At least at that point I no longer had to wonder what my first response would be, I did what I always hoped I would, called on the Lord in my time of need and He heard me and was merciful.

Note: The police where going to go down to the cabin to have a talk with the cousin, but found the gate had been locked. Because it was dark they were not willing to take a chance on what they would be walking into since there were guns involved.