'Tis The Season......

For a Christmas Miracle. There is no other explanation for this.


Mrs. Jones looked in her rear view mirror and saw her 5 year old unbuckle herself from the car seat. "Melinda! Put your seatbelt back on right now!" Melinda started to laugh and climb over the second seat into the third seat of the van. On her way over the seat she kicked her younger sister, Samantha, in the head. Samantha (2 years old) started to cry.

"Melinda! GET BACK IN YOUR SEAT!" Mrs. Jones started to slow the van down and pull towards the edge of the road. Her 13 year old son was in the passenger seat beside her listening to his ipod and bopping his head along with the beat.

Mrs. Jones put on her blinker, continued to slow the van, and waited for a safe place to pull over.

She hit black ice at about 50 mph.

She slid sideways, fighting for control of the vehicle. She heard Melinda scream and saw her body slam up against the side of the van. Then they rolled. Twice.

Mrs. Jones felt the van flipping, heard her children screaming, and saw her daughter fly out the window just before the final thud of the van as it landed on it's top. But it wasn't Melinda that flew out - it was Samantha. The 2 year old.

Total silence.

She looked to the passenger seat and saw her son looking back at her - fear in his eyes. She released her seatbelt and landed with a thump on the roof of the van. She glanced into the back of the van and saw Melinda laying in a fetal position on the roof above (now below) the rear seat. She wasn't crying.

Mrs. Jones said she remembered screaming "OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!" as she crawled to the back of the van. She saw that Melinda was awake, staring at her. She started to cry as Mrs. Jones got closer. "Mommy, my neck hurts!" she sobbed, but she moved her legs. She moved her legs and reached out for her mom. Mrs. Jones scooped her up and pushed her into her son's arms, as he had unbuckled himself by this time also.

She crawled out the broken side windows to find Samantha. She had to crawl under the empty car seat on the way out. She saw the straps still buckled and couldn't comprehend how Samantha had gotten thrown out of the vehicle. She was sobbing as she slid out the windows, cutting her hands and lower legs on all the broken glass.

"SAMANTHA!" she screamed. She gained her footing and slid and tripped her way back behind the van. Mrs. Jones was terrified of what she would see.

She saw Samantha.

She saw Samantha standing in the snow in the ditch sucking her thumb and crying. She was uninjured.

Apparently she had landed exactly like that as the van flipped over. The only marks around her were the flattened snow from where the van hit and her 2 footprints - which she was still standing in. Mrs. Jones ran to her, scooped her up, and went back to the van.

The motorist behind them picked them up and brought them to the ER. We promptly immobilized and examined Melinda, Samantha, and Mrs. Jones. The son felt fine and didn't want to be seen. A few Xrays and a couple of CT Scans later we had our diagnosis...........

Bumps, bruises, and a few cuts.

Yes - that is it.

An unbuckled child, a child who slips out of a car seat, a van rolling on black ice, and we have no major injuries. NONE.

Tis the Season!

And let us never forget the Reason For The Season - Jesus.