I laughed and asked, "And you believed him?" I was impressed she'd take a 5-year-old at his word. She responded, "Well, his eyes got all misty when he said it, so I believed him." Then I felt bad for having teased her about it and confirmed Logan's story--because a truck REALLY DID drive through our house last night.
Landon and I went to bed at 1:15 AM (stop judging us), and we'd only slept a few minutes when I woke up to what I thought was lightning hitting our house, or a bomb exploding in our living room, or an oak tree landing on our roof. I couldn't figure out what was happening, but it was loud and screaming just felt like the right thing to do. After a few good screams I flew out of bed and went to Dane's room to see if a tree fell on him.
But my progress was stopped short just a few steps into the hall when I ran into a door. A door that didn't belong in the middle of the hall. I quickly picked it up and threw it behind me, only to find more debris. Under the sheetrock and wires and ducts I saw the hood of a truck. It was blocking my way into Dane's room and I couldn't figure out what was going on. Why was there a truck in my hallway? Dane was crying, I was disoriented, and all I could think to do was knock on the driver's window and beg him to call 911. My phone was in the kitchen, which was completely inaccessible.
Landon bravely crawled up and over the glass and rubble to rescue Dane. When I heard him call to me from the other side that Dane was okay, I sobbed. Ugly, shuddering-breath, spasming sobs. I'll never forget the relief and exquisite gratitude I felt in that moment. I threw Landon a pair of shoes so he could safely bring Dane back over to me.
About then the ambulance and police arrived. I vaguely remember the driver apologizing before he stepped away. I was busy driving the kids back to their room and away from the glass. A fireman pulled the screen off of a window in the kids' room and carried them into a warm ambulance. The natural gas in the house was beginning to burn my throat, so we stopped grabbing things and joined the kids.
Fortunately, we have friends who we can call at 2AM and aren't opposed to having 7 unexpected house guests in the middle of the night. We enjoyed our brief stay with the Wrights before we could check into a hotel.
After spending my morning on the phone with insurance people, I took the kids back home to find their uniforms and backpacks. I needed them to go to school where they could eat and stay out of our hair while we moved. When Joss complained that there was a nail in her backpack, I calmly replied that she should pull it out and get in the car. They had a light dusting of drywall on them, their hair was unbrushed, and Chloe was missing a backpack, but off to school they went!
This is from the entryway, looking into the bathroom. Not much privacy.
The hallway and Dane's room.
Dane's room. You can just see the white crib on the right side of the room. It started out by the wall nearest the camera. That sturdy little crib--which held me, all of my siblings, and most of my babies--may have saved Dane's life.
The hallway, with the kids' bedroom door at the end and our bedroom door just adjacent to it.
Where's the tub? Who knows. At least we still have the bath toys. That is quite the fierce little suction cup!
The kids are enjoying the hotel, and we hope to try out the pool tomorrow after we grab bathing suits from the house. Tomorrow is also when we meet with the contractor to find out how long we'll be enjoying our little vacation away from home.
Overall, while we're a bit inconvenienced, we are alive and well. We feel God's blessings upon us in our safety and in the form of the many calls, texts, and visits we've had from people who love us. And now I'm exhausted and looking forward to my hotel bed, which looks clean and comfy. And the best thing is that we're on the 2nd floor--too high for cars and too low for airplanes--so we ought to get a good night's sleep.
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