Tree 1; Tahoe 0

Yesterday started like any other Sunday. We got up, got dressed and headed for church. The only difference from other Sundays was our Super Bowl party plans later in the evening.  The weather forecast showed 2-4 inches of snow beginning in the afternoon. So, we were a little surprised to walk out the door to tiny little flurries falling but just figured it was a passing blip of moisture. We got in the Tahoe and headed to church on the small chance we would need the 4x4. Our church is about 30 miles from home. By the time we got there, snow was falling and blanketing he earth. Obviously services were canceled as soon as we arrived so we made small talk with our friends and turned to head home. Roads that were barely wet just minutes before were completely covered in a very wet, slick snow. Even though our church is at the top of a very steep hill, I wasn't worried. My husband is a very good driver in the snow and we had the four wheel drive turned on. 

As we started down the hill at little more than a crawl, we began to slide. Hubs tapped the brakes and the anti lock brakes immediately locked up. He let completely off the brakes and just tried to maintain some semblance of control as we slid down the treacherous luge.  With vehicles stopped at the intersection below and people standing on the edge of the road, we had no choice but to go straight. Our options were to hit the clearing that held a deep gulley, hit the large tree or try and make the corner and risk rolling.  Hubs chose the tree. It turned out to be the best choice as the gulley would have sent us into an end over end flip. 

He tried to hit the tree dead center so the Tahoe wouldn't whip around to the left or right and cause us to spin into other vehicles or pedestrians.  He succeeded. The front of the truck was wrapped around that tree in a bear hug.  It took a split second and we realized we had avoided serious injury. Both airbags deployed and my chest felt like I had been hit with a ton of bricks. I immediately shook it off of me and jumped out of the vehicle to get to my precious babies in the back seat. My daughter was in a complete panic but unhurt and my son was scary calm but had blood running from his mouth.  Thankfully our firefighter friend was right behind us with his family as was another family from church. Both families jumped to our rescue and got the boy an ice pack and some napkins. We climbed into the vehicle with the firefighter and he took us to the fire house leaving hubs to wait for the cops and wrecker. 

A lot goes through you mind when you know that within seconds you will be going head to head with a large oak tree. All I could think about in the warm safety of the fire house was how thankful I am that God had his hand of protection on us. None of us were seriously injured even though I had the boy checked for a broken jaw and concussion after he started trying to go to sleep and vomitting. Turns out, coming off an adrenaline high will do that to you.  

As time goes on, more bruises and new soreness continue to crop up but we walked away from this:

The boy is eating better today even though his jaw is still a little swollen. Here he is yesterday getting checked at the hospital:

Needless to say, we missed the Super Bowl party an watched from our couch!