Just got this email from my brother Alex today, and just had to post it so I could remember: I'm so glad they are ok, and it gave me shivers as I read...... so much worse could've happened, and it makes me sick just thinking about it. I'm so glad they listened to those small promptings, and that somebody was watching out for them.

Hey everyone, we wanted to let you all know that we were involved in a car accident yesterday and that everyone is okay. Gyda, could you please forward this on to all your kids?

We were in Parma (40 minutes outside of Eagle), visiting Tom and Janelle Lungren to see their new house and celebrate their daughter’s birthday. To save on gas we all piled in to my Scion Xb. After spending the afternoon in Parma, we all decided to come back into town for dinner.

We entered the I-84 in Caldwell and within a couple minutes we saw a big dust storm blowing across the freeway. I slowed down as we approached the dust cloud due to slightly low visibility and even more once we entered. Once we entered, the visibility went from low to zero really quick. I was still applying the brake at this time and literally within a blink of an eye the back end of a pick up truck came into view. This truck was stopped because it had run into a semi-truck. Because it all happened so fast, I could not stop in time and I rear ended the pick up at approximately 40 mph. Amazingly, we were not hurt at all. The older couple in the truck that hit the semi were injured with cuts, bruises and a few broken bones. I immediately called 911 and police, fire and ambulance were on the scene very quickly.

A number of things happened prior to the accident and during that make us strongly feel like we were being watched and protected more than any other day.

Due to the smaller size of our Scion, Austin sits in a booster, Bailey sits in the middle with a regular seat belt and Lilly is in her infant car seat. Lately, Austin has been having issues with the booster and he will unbuckle the seat belt every now and then while Bailey will occasionally move her shoulder strap behind her back so that she just has the seatbelt going over her waist. Bailey’s booster and Austin’s child seat are kept in the van.

As we were loading the kids, I decided to go back into the house and grab the van keys so we could put Austin’s car seat in the Scion, which we did.

While we were packing things up in Parma, I asked if Jake Swenson (long time friend) wanted to ride with me in the Scion and Wendy could ride with Abbie in their car and chat with her. Bailey asked if she could go with Tom and Janelle in their car, which we agreed on. Kind of a musical chairs with cars which we rarely do.

Austin and Lilly fell asleep before the impact and were properly restrained by double shoulder straps and suffered no whip lash or head jolts. The Doctor evaluated them and said they were great and neither of them had any symptoms today. Bailey was not in the car because she rode in Tom’s car. I can’t imagine what could have happened to Austin or Bailey if we had not switched out car seats and let Bailey ride in another vehicle.

I was wearing my seatbelt and actually holding the steering wheel in the proper form of 10 and 2. I remember seeing the truck, feeling the initial impact and the very loud crash. I never felt my seatbelt tighten and I never felt the airbag. Jake was not wearing his seat belt and miraculously only hit his arm on something. He didn’t feel the airbag either and he says he felt like someone put him back in the seat immediately after the impact. We were both wearing glasses and they hadn’t moved a centimeter. No bruises, rashes or anything from the airbags, which according to what I’ve heard is not the norm. This was confirmed by several firemen and police officers.

Jake asked me if I was okay and I said yes, then asked him the same. We both pushed the airbags out of the way thinking “Did that even go off or do anything?” We immediately got out and opened the passenger doors to check on the kids. They were both crying a little bit because of the noise and initial impact. By the time we pulled the kids out, the dust storm was gone.

Wendy and Abbie saw my brakes lights and fortunately started slowing down sooner than we did and came to a very fast stop just inches away from hitting my car.

Tom and Janelle were further behind and came up to the scene a few minutes later, not knowing what happened because the dust was completely clear.

The wreck, ironically, happened just before the overpass at SAGE Gas Station in Caldwell, which is the same place Shawn was killed.

I woke up this morning with no pain at all, anywhere.

We have taken it really well as we understand that life goes on and things happen. Wendy and I cuddled a little longer this morning before getting out of bed though J

We are extremely grateful for the protections that were in place and for Heavenly Father and his spirits watching over us.

We love you all very much.