Oh Deer!

 I know I haven’t written a blog in a long while, but I felt like this one was a blog-worthy story. 

The girls and I spent Thanksgiving in Iowa with my family. Seth stayed home to work and Josiah spent the weekend with his girlfriend and her family. We brought Rambo with us to Iowa. 

Sunday came, and it was time to drive the 6 hours back to Wichita. We left around 2:00. Alie was in the passenger seat while Kilea sat in the middle behind us. The 3rd row was folded down and all of our belongings, including recently purchased Christmas gifts, filled the back of our Mazda CX9. Rambo likes to sit on my lap while I drive. He’s a small dog and doesn’t get in the way of my driving. 

Trip was going smoothly. We decided to stop to eat supper…probably around 6:00 or so. I don’t like to eat while I drive, so we sat and enjoyed our meal together. We got back on the road between Kansas City and Topeka. Rambo had switched to Alie’s lap. The sun had gone down and we were driving in the dark. 

We were on the last leg of I35, going about 75-78 mph. Christmas music was playing from my playlist on my phone. Alie surrounded herself with blankets and pillows which Rambo enjoyed on her lap. Kilea resisted the urge to lie down because the seatbelt was awkward and she knew that it could be dangerous if we did get in an accident. So, she stayed sitting up in the middle seat. 

I watched the exits, checked the map, kept an eye on my speed and gas, etc. What I forgot to do was check the ditches. I was getting excited about getting home. I was counting down the hours, then minutes. We should arrive at about 8:30. It was around 8:00…almost there! Just 3 exits from our exit, then a zip on K96 to where we live. We’re so close!

Suddenly, I look up, and there he was. 

A deer, standing right in front of me, taking up my entire lane. I had little time to react. 

I gasped, causing Kilea to look up from her phone and see the deer. She knew what was about to happen. Alie had no idea. 

In this moment, however, I knew God was watching over us. I immediately thought to myself, “don’t swerve, brake.” I said a quick prayer of protection over us. Then, said in my thoughts: “Here we go, we’re going to hit a deer.”

Amazingly, I was at complete peace. I knew there was nothing I could do. I had no idea if there were any other cars around us. I had no time to check. We were going to slam into this deer at 75 mph and God is with us. 

I made eye contact with the deer. He looked right at me. I hit my brakes….and BANG!  I was suddenly blinded. The deer took the hood of our car with him as he slammed into our windshield. I watched as the windshield bowed in, fearing it would break and we would have a deer in our laps. The deer was thrown across the highway into the median. I was driving blind. 

I continued pushing hard on the brake, having no idea where I was in relation to the road or shoulder. I had no idea how steep the ditch off the shoulder was. Dust from the airbags filled the car so we had trouble breathing. 

Finally, the car came to a stop. We couldn’t see and we couldn’t breathe. I had no idea if I was off the road enough to safely get out. I couldn’t see my hazard button and had to use my phone flashlight to find it. Everything was dark. 

Alie asked if she could open the door, desperate to breathe clean air. I gave her permission. She opened the door, grabbed Rambo who had been thrown onto the floor of the car where Alie had cushioned with blankets, and fell out of the car onto the steep ditch. I slowly opened my door to see that we were off the road and on the shoulder, out of the way of traffic. 

We all climbed out of the car, in shock, but uninjured. Cars zoomed by throwing debris into our faces as we started to assess the situation. I told the girls to get a hold of family. I called Seth, then 911. 

It was a little cold. I put on my coat, told the girls to put on whatever layers they could. We found a blanket and layed it on the slope of the ditch. We sat next to the car, shielding ourselves from the debris as other cars drove by. Not long after we got settled, a police officer showed up. 

He invited us to sit in his car. He got my info, pulled up my insurance, and ordered a tow truck. I sat there absorbing what just happened. Lots of questions, but also immense gratefulness that we were ok. 

The tow truck came, Seth came, and we transferred everything from the Mazda to his pickup and made it home together. 

Looking back, God was preparing us for the accident long before the deer stood in our path. He gave Kilea wisdom on the safety of her position and seatbelts. Alie had completely cushioned her entire passenger side with blankets and pillows that helped protect not only her, but also Rambo. When Kilea sat in the passenger seat, she didn’t like Rambo on her lap. But Alie didn’t mind. Kilea rode passenger on the way to Iowa, so Alie rode there coming back home. Otherwise, Rambo would have been in my lap. Between the steering wheel and the airbag, Rambo and I could have been seriously injured. God guided my driving as I was driving blind. He reminded me not to swerve and gave me peace in the moments before we hit. 

God is good. 

Of course, we were all sore. Alie stayed home from school, Kilea stayed home from work, and I didn’t do as much work as normal. We all saw our chiropractor and spent the day recovering with ibuprofen. Rambo seemed completely unscathed. 

God continued to work. Seth and I came down with the flu. We did not have the title for the Mazda. When I applied for a new one, it was going to take much longer than we could go without this vehicle. We were bombarded with multiple road blocks and other difficulties. But God is good. He miraculously worked to get us our title within days instead of weeks. We got our insurance money, looked at cars online, then in person, and finally….when we weren’t even prepared…He provided another vehicle for us. We paid in full without a loan and are starting to feel more like normal. 

Except we’re on Christmas break. 😜 And Seth and I are still dealing with a cough and some congestion from the flu. We’re thankful that God protected the kids from getting sick. Alie missed a couple days of school right before finals, but was not nearly as sick as we were. We got to enjoy all of the Christmas concerts and parties and services. We enjoyed our family Christmas. And we took the new car to Iowa over New Year's weekend.

God prepared. God protected. God gave peace. God provided. God healed. God moved. God is always good.