A Family of Twelve - Part II

Click here for Part I

The accident happened around 11:30 in the morning, I was called around 12 from the scene of the accident. They told me Luke would be fine, they were just going to take him to check him out to see if he had any broken bones or other minor injuries. I did not know that they had to cut him out of the truck and how long it would take them, and they did tell me to come out to the hospital to pick him up.

A few minutes went by and I called my brother, and then my sister. I did not really want to call my dad because my Mom was really sick at the time and I didn't think she was going to live very long. I then called his boss and he said he was going out there, so I could get a ride with him. He would be leaving in about 2 hours if I could be in his office by then. I had to find some one for all my kids except the baby who was 5 weeks old at the time. My sister looked after all that and I packed my bags to go. My brother took me to London because he did not want me to drive.

When I got to London, the boss was just about ready to go. By then I knew it was serious. He gave me Luke's paycheck although it wasn't due for another four days. He said, "You might need the money." I had already gotten a hundred dollars U.S. from my brother. Luke's boss took me to the bank to cash the check and then we left. He took time to stop for me to nurse my baby and made sure I had enough to eat. He would carry the car seat out of the car where ever we went. Just before we came to the border he asked me, "How are you going to make ends meet while he is off work?" I said, "The Lord will look after us. We will not come short."

We got to Ohio around 9 that night and he went to look for a motel room. We found a motel and he booked 2 rooms. We went to check it out and it was bad. He told me that I was not going to stay here with a baby so he went to see if he could get his money back. He didn't tell me that he couldn't get it back, but we left anyway and we found another motel that was a lot better. Again, he went to get two rooms. He was right across the hall from me.

Then we went to the hospital to see my husband. Just before we got there he told me, "They say it is really bad. I just want you to be prepared for the worst because they were still operating on him when I called a while ago." Through it all I stayed very calm. When we got to the hospital, they were still stitching up Luke's lip, he sure was not a pretty sight, but I knew he would be ok. The first thing he said was, "God had mercy on me. I should have been dead." Then he asked me, "Where is Abigail?" She was the baby, so I had taken her along with me. He wanted to see her before we left to go back to our motel.

The next day we went back to the hospital. Luke's boss made sure I had a room there right in the hospital, then he went out, got me some supplies for the baby because I did not know I would be there for 9 days. I had enough for a couple of days but that was it. Luke's boss paid for it all. Then he went out to see Luke's truck, and took some pictures and showed them to me. It did not sink in, yes, it looked bad and I could see it was a miracle he came out alive, but I had to be strong for Luke so I refused to let it get to me. By this time I was just living in a daze and just let everything go by me. I knew I would be sitting by my husband's bed for a few days, with nothing to do but read and worry about my Mom and kids. Every night I called my sister to find out how things were at home. My mom was hanging in there, she did not know what had happened until she picked up again and was able to go home. Well, by that time we were back home too, because it took 2 more months for her to get better.

 I was not prepared for the days that lay ahead. They were difficult days indeed. Never before had Luke told me off for anything. But now I could not do anything right. He called me names that before would never have come out of his mouth, and I had a hard time to keep my mouth closed. I sure would have liked to tell him what I thought of him, but I knew it was not him saying those things. If he got better (I wondered if he would) he would regret it. I knew he did not know what he was doing because of the drugs he was on.

The next day I got someone to stay with me for a few days and that really helped me to keep going. In the mean time, I was worried about my mom if I would still see her alive as she was very sick at the time. Thursday, I went outside for a little fresh air and when I saw a helicopter land on the roof of the hospital, it all seemed to hit me. I still tried to push it aside, but by now I'd had three days of verbal abuse, something I was not used to. It was not fun, but I thought I could handle it. Well, I couldn't. My friend shared the room with me and that night I went to sleep and the whole thing came to me as in a nightmare. I woke up crying and told my friend, "I can't go on like this. I can't take any more of his language. I want to leave him here and go home and he can forget about me staying by his bed the whole day." She let me cry and sat beside me with her arms around me and didn't say anything. When I was finished crying she said "You have no choice in the matter. You will have to stay beside him, but let's pray and ask God to give you strength to keep going." Now I was not used to that kind of thing. Yes, I was born again at the time already, but it was all so new to me. My friend prayed with me and I felt a lot better after that. It was a good thing that she had prayed with me that night and I got close to God. I could really feel His presence and it was God who kept me going all this time. I could not have done it by myself.

 We went home after nine days being there in the hospital. We had to find a house because we had to move in three weeks! We found one and had a lot of help moving. But I had a hard time trying to keep Luke from doing anything. That was worse than looking after nine kids.

After we moved, both Luke and I were called into Luke's work . When we arrived, there was a big envelope waiting for us with a get well card and about $2000 the drivers had given to get a new truck and to get us started again. Then they had a fundraiser for Luke as he was home for three months before he went back to work. By the time Luke went back he had close to $5000 in the bank.

He bought another truck and started driving again. Little did he know that by now I could read him so well. I knew when Sunday nights came along he would be shaking ...afraid for another truck wreck and afraid to die! Ten months later, his sister died from cancer. Luke's own fears and his sister's death spoke loudly to him. Ten months after his sister's death Luke was delivered from his fear of death as he trusted Christ for the forgiveness of all of his sins and received the gift of eternal life!

One year after Luke had the truck wreck, on the very same date, we had another baby! As I had almost lost my husband, she is our miracle baby! One fear I have had ever since then, is for my husband to drive a cabover. I just have a great fear for those things.

Photos
(Click on the smaller photos to see the larger ones)

The Truck from the accident
The Pipes from the accident

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