Guardian Angels

The girls all loaded their horses and Jill drove the truck and trailer as they were headed to rodeo academy, just like they do every Thursday. I come a little later with some dinner, and then I can also leave early if I need to if I have my own car.

I watched out the window to make sure they got onto the driveway okay since there was some snow and ice. Then the next time I looked up, I could see the trailer tail lights at the end of the driveway. I could tell they were stopped, but I thought Jill must have been taking the truck out of 4-wheel drive. Then it was taking a while. Then she called me. Mom, I am in the ditch.

I called Austin as I got in the car to drive out. Then I got to the end of the driveway, and called him back and said, "You definitely need to come."

There were already two trucks that had stopped to see what was wrong. The first was Matt Nelson and a friend he was hunting with.  He drove by on the highway and could tell the truck was in the ditch and watched them unload the horses.  Matt Bevans also stopped.

The driveway was icy and as she started over the cattleguard and onto the road, the brakes locked and she was sliding and she tried to turn and ended up in the ditch. They were so lucky it didn't roll.The girls were fine.  Lucy and Hanna climbed out their side windows and they unloaded the horses. The horses were fine. 

Matt Nelson started to think of a plan to see if his truck could pull it out. Or maybe his truck and Matt Bevan's truck. Then Austin got there and they did try pulling with both trucks. Not quite enough.

Then along came Rod Olsen and his Dad, Dee Olsen. Then Brad Sommerfeldt and Ernie Olsen pulled in. I called our neighbor, Marvin Leavitt, and he came with his big tractor. When he got there, he said, "This is not as fun as the last block party we had."

They decided to unhook the trailer and pull the truck out first.  With some effort and thinking and trying, it worked.  The only damage to the truck was the driver's side of the box of the truck was quite dented. Then they figured out how to get the trailer pulled out of the ditch and onto the road.  The trailer was fine.

I took a few pictures, mostly to document it for insurance.  When we came back to the house and showed Jill, she told me that if I would have taken pictures of the other side we could have seen the angels who were holding up the truck and trailer. There were some who helped her slow down and not to roll.  Then Hanna said that Leighton (Austin's brother who died in 1997) had said, "Hanna, stay calm."

Besides the unseen angels, we are thankful for the angels we could see who came to help. It wasn't a coincidence that Matt Nelson, Matt Bevans, Rod Olsen, Brad Sommerfeldt, and Ernie Olsen were driving by, saw the lights and came to help.  We are also thankful that Marvin and his tractor were close by and could come and help. Marvin had been on vacation the past 2 weeks.

It could have been so much worse, and we are thankful that the damage was minimal.

Earlier in the day, Hanna, Lucy, Carly and I had spent the day in Lethbridge shopping. Hanna had bugged those girls and was bugged many times that day. But as soon as they got out and had the horses unloaded, Hanna gave Carly her coat and Lucy her gloves.  They went to put the horses back in the field, and it took Hanna a couple minutes to get the gate open, especially because her hands were so cold.  When it really counts, Hanna is the best sister.

We are thankful for the Lord's protecting hand.