Amy's Antics: The Accident

So here is the story. Brad and I and the kids had been visiting all of our family over the Thanksgiving weekend. Sunday morning we were in Weatherford at my Dad's house. We left for church and on the way Brad got pulled over for speeding and he received a ticket. Already not a great driving day. After church we went to Fort Worth and ate some Cooper's BBQ. (This had been a requirement for part of our trip for Brad even before we left Houston.) The we stopped by to see my Grandmother and then we headed south out of town toward home. I drove the first shift. Traffic was very heavy on I35 and before Hillsboro it was stop and go traffic. We stopped to get gas in Hillsboro and then Brad took over driving. He had talked to the worker at the gas station about taking back roads and the guy told him to take highway 22 toward Corsicana to I45. That sounded good to us and so then we were on our way. It was still light outside and we saw a sign for Corsicana saying it was 30 something miles away. I took out the itouch and started playing games on it. I did not look up at all. Both of our kids were sleeping soundly in the back and Brad and I were listening to an audio book from the library on "The Great Christians in History."

About twenty minutes had passed and all of the sudden it was like we had been taken into a terrible time warp. I heard a very loud bang and heard Brad screaming and the kids screaming. We were still moving and we could not see out of the front window. Our airbags were out the air seemed foggy or dusty. All of the warning lights were on. It was what I imagined it to be like in a plane crash in the cockpit. My chest and abdomen were in horrible pain. I just wanted the car to stop moving. I was afraid we could run into a tree or a ditch or into other cars. The van came to a stop and my first reaction was to open my door take off my seat belt and get out. I fell to the ground which was the grass - it felt like hay, and I remember seeing another car pull up and another coming very fast. I was thinking, please slow down. I scanned underneath our van looking for fire and I could see a little bit of fire on the ground by another vehicle. I thought I had internal damage for sure. I began throwing up. I could still hear the kids crying and I could hear Brad saying "help us, Jesus" over and over again. I was able to get up and go back to the van. Brad was pinned between the dash and his seat. The whole dash had shifted forward. He had a pretty big cut on his head and he asked for water and something to use to put on his cut. He wasn't crazy about the princess pull up I found, but it worked. I found Brad's phone and dialed 911. It went though right away. Looking back on this, I am so thankful, because I have had a reoccurring dream over the years of trying to call 911 with no success. I told the dispatcher we had been in an auto accident and where I thought we were. She said help was on the way. I prayed out loud for our family. Brad and I were able to talk to the kids. They were scared and crying, but they were not screaming. I reached back several times to hold Carissa's hand. It hurt, but everything hurt. She had a bump on her head and Will appeared to be unhurt. I tried calling Brad's family, since they were maybe the closest and I did not get them. I called my Dad's and my step-mom Terri answered. I told her we were in a wreck and that everyone was conscious and that we were close to Corsicana and 911 was sending help. I told her to call my Mom and Brad's family. A man walked over and was asking about everyone's conditions and he said help was coming and he could hear the sirens. All of this took place in a shorter time than it took me to write it out.