For weeks I’ve been without my family getting our new home in Independence, Missouri ready for them. Today was finally the day but they didn’t arrive. I got call early this morning from Kirra screaming that they had just crashed! They were still 10 hours away and I felt helpless.
A familiar peace settled over me that I was thankful for. Miracle 1 – no one was hurt aside from a few scrapes and bruises.
They didn’t know what caused the crash as they sat mostly unharmed surrounded by deployed airbags. Michael’s mind was racing trying to comprehend what had happened. He got out and saw the totaled car and the fur in grill realizing they must have hit an animal.
I told Michael to call the police while I called the insurance company. Kirra said she was cold and I worried about how long it would take someone to get to them as I noticed that they were very far from anything. Miracle 2 was cell service in such a rural place. The last incident we experienced like this, we had no cell service and that was much more frightening.
Miracle 3 – The nicest officer arrived on the scene and took such good care of everyone that the fear melted to smiles.
He verified that it was a deer they hit. He let them warm up in his car but told them there were no rental cars anywhere for hours. He suggested they get a hotel room in town and gave us a number for a tow truck since our insurance had no roadside service available in the area.
I searched online and found an old pickup truck for sale by a man in the town a half hour away. The officer was kind enough to take them to the town but the man selling the truck said he had to help his neighbor steer some cattle for 6 to 8 hours but that he would sell him the truck after that. The officer didn’t like the plan to buy a car from a stranger online but no one saw another option so he brought my husband and my girls to wait for the man.
I called every hotel in town and not a single room was available for them. The holiday weekend meant a solid sell out I guess. The last hotel was also completely booked but I felt like I should tell the lady what happened. I had already tried that but the first front-desk man didn’t seem to care so I stopped explaining to the others. Miracle 4 – This kind lady said she was fully booked but that they could hang out in the hotel’s game room.
As the waiting game started we called family members to tell them what was happening. The Relief Society president in my new area in Missouri showed up at my house to help me work through things. I found out this week that she is a colon cancer survivor. #teamamos That was a pretty special coincidence. It’s probably a miracle but we won’t count it here since it didn’t happen in New Mexico.
The man selling them the truck called Michael and said his wife could pick them up at 1pm and take them to get their stuff from the smash lot then to their ranch where the truck was. Michael realized the truck was only worth about 4k but the man was asking 6.5k for it. We were trying to figure out how to even pay him since the local branch of our bank was temporarily closed down and that amount would be more than the limits on our cash transfer apps like Zelle. Michael hated feeling stuck and started having chest pains from the stress. Miracle 5 – Michael had a feeling to asked me to call the local bishop of our church.
I quickly jumped on the church app and realized we didn’t have a church in that town but we did back in the town where their stuff was at the smash lot. The branch president there took my call and it was about 5 minutes until he had someone in the car headed an hour away to pick them up! That was Miracle 6. Michael called the rancher with the truck and thanked him for his willing to help but politely declined.
The man who arrived to pick them up really impressed Michael and not just because he was driving a fully electric car. Michael was brought to tears realizing that this PhD, ranking colonel, and devoted father would take so much time from his weekend to drive so far to help him. His humility and love for God were obvious as he waited patiently another half hour for Michael to convince the smash lot to let them get their stuff out of the car. Next he drove them to the local church building where they happened to be having a family reunion! Miracle 7! He immediately left his family to rescue mine and we are so grateful. They fed Michael and the girls and showered them with attention, everyone at the reunion clearly being excited for people to serve. The girls felt right at home in a church building just like the ones they are used to.
Miracle 8 came when everyone realized that it was still a two hour drive to a rental car. Michael didn’t want to ask him for anything else after they had already been so kind but they were still stuck. The man came out and told Michael he’d been wanting to sell his family van. He brought him to take a look at it. The kids were excited at the idea of more room. Leaving them with hugs and popsicles they sold my family their van for $1,000. They had a little girl in the family who they knew would be upset at losing her family van. He told them if she came to Missouri, he’d sell it back to her for the exact same price.
Miracle 9 was the refinement and improvement in all of our souls today as we worked through this trouble and counted the miracles.