January 17, 2013

It's a day we won't easily forget.
It was just another trip, not a very long trip. A trip of 4 or so hours from Camiri to Santa Cruz. We said good-bye to our dear friends in Camiri after a month-long visit and climbed into the car. Dad and Mom Mattix were taking us to Sta. Cruz to catch our flight back to Tanzania, and Gail Ponce was needing a ride to the city to then catch a bus back to her home. Everything with the car seemed to be working fine, in fact, it had just had some work done. At the half-way point we stopped in the town of Abapo for a plate of food. After lunch, Dad and Luke made themselves a cup of coffee before we climbed back in the car for the remaining 2 hours. Dad was needing his "siesta" a few miles down the road so Luke took over the driving while my Dad made himself comfortable in the reclining front seat.
Gail, Mom and I were talking in the back seat. Emily was sitting peacefully on my lap and Esther was lazily stretched out on a thin mattress over the suitcases in the way back.
From my middle-of-the-backseat vantage point I could see far ahead. There were quite a few cars on the opposite shoulder of the road, stopped, and a white Land Cruiser in the lane in front of us coming to a stop behind a big truck. So, being the annoying wife that I often am, I thought it necessary to warn Luke of the stopping vehicle and give him plenty of time to bring the 4Runner to a non-jolting stop. Luke did as I asked and stepped on the brake pedal immediately, only to find it go straight to the floor with no effect or change in our 100+ km/h velocity. He pumped the brakes and tried again while mumbling "the brakes don't work". This one sentence managed to wake my Dad from his "siesta", while us ladies sat in the back seat, frozen and in disbelief at what was happening. We were approaching the stopped vehicles very quickly and Luke was trying to down shift while swerving onto the grassy shoulder and then back again. My Dad pulled on the hand brake and Luke turned the wheel hard to the right to avoid a collision with the white Land Cruiser and then we flipped. We rolled for what seemed like an interminable time, the crunching of metal and breaking of glass was so loud but what was louder was the screaming of my two girls. I had no fear, or pain or even the thought of death, just a desperate feeling to get my girls out of the car, but I felt so helpless while rolling round and round. Fortunately the car came to a stop at some high bushes, in an upright position. Now was my chance to get out! I lurched out of my seat and attempted to open the door on my right, next to my mom and away from the bushes. It wouldn't budge. So I gave it a hard shove and the door opened. I could see some men from the highway running down to the car. I managed to scramble out of the car before any of the men arrived and found Esther standing outside, next to the door screaming in terror. I kept my hold on Emily with my left arm and reached for Esther with my right and we ran up the hill, away from the crushed vehicle. Stepping over glass in our bare feet and one man picking up Esther, we were at the side of the highway before anyone else had a chance to get out of the car. I hugged my girls and thanked the Lord over and over. The men were busy helping everyone else in the car so I stayed close to my girls. Never once did I think that any of the others were injured badly. I just assumed everyone was just as OK as we were, with only a few scrapes and bruises. Esther's little mind was trying to take in what all had happened and kept exclaiming how she'd never been in such a bad accident in all her life!
Slowly we were joined by my mom and Gail while the men worked at getting the scattered luggage into one place. My dad was moving a little slower than usual and already had a very stiff neck and appeared to be in pain. The men (Luke and Dad mostly) all kept working until a rope was tied to a truck. My dad climbed back into the crushed car thru the passenger's broken window and managed to turn on the engine. Using 4x4 he backed the car away from the bushes but was unable to turn the steering wheel and creep back onto the highway. So with the help of the truck, the car was back onto the shoulder of the highway, looking very sad with most windows broken and the driver's side bent badly. We all hugged and praised the Lord for his amazing protection. As we tried to make phone calls and contact our friends and family, we inspected each other's wounds and found new scrapes as the shock was fading off and the pain was settling in. The ones with the least wounds were Esther and Emily. Emily had been in my arms the whole time, and Esther had bounced with the luggage until the back door opened with the impact of hitting the bushes. When the door popped open, she rolled out, with some of the luggage but still on top of the mattress to land unharmed in the tall grass outside of the car. She dusted herself off and walked around to my side of the car where I met her. Luke and mom knocked out with the first roll and didn't remember anything until the car came to a stop. The driver's side suffered the worst damage when it hit the bushes, and it's a miracle Luke didn't get crushed.

So... that's my perspective on the events of that day. I vividly remember everything, in fact I'd like to forget some of it come 11 pm when I'm lying in bed and trying to fall asleep. By the grace of God we are still here. An endless number of things could have gone "wrong", but they didn't. I believe God personally had his hands around the car as He made it roll in the safest spot possible, not colliding with any other vehicle or person, and then bringing it to a stop at high bushes instead of concrete or some post. We continue to praise the Lord for his protection that day. Here we are, two weeks later and the last of the bruises are fading and the scabs are just about gone. However, we won't easily forget such an experience.

"I cast all my cares upon You;

I lay all of my burden down at your feet.

And any time I don't know what to do;

I will cast all my cares upon You."