AND While I Was Gone:

First I must Thank You Lord, once again: EVERYONE IS OK!  And yes, apparently we had to have yet one last dive into the ditch during the 2010-2011 ditch diving season.
This one was of the caliber that Moms worry about most:  Reuben was driving the kids in to school, having gotten his permit a week earlier. The Old Guy was in the front seat, but had just unbuckled to turn around towards the back of the van to do some face to face crowd control...  As they rounded the curve, a patch of black ice sent the van slinging across the road into the ditch on the other side.  It rolled two times, busting out most of the windows, slinging the tire iron past Reuben, sending his and the Old Guy's glasses (as well as the Old Guy himself), cell phones and backpacks flying.  John tells me he was thinking "God, this is not a good time for me to go..." and all he could do was just wait it out until everything stopped moving.
The kids, predictably were pretty shook up, Matt fainted, Tamira and John hit their heads and so those three went by ambulance to the hospital where they checked out ok.  The rest went in, too, taken by friends from church to make sure they were ok.  There were a few cut hands as some of the kids tried to get out through the broken windows, while John and Reuben tried to calm everyone down... a near impossible task.
Nine members of my family were in that vehicle, 7 of them high emotional needs kiddos.  John tried to call me on his cell phone... (and this aside to Verizon Wireless: NO WE CAN'T HEAR YOU NOW EITHER!!) and all I got was: " ... everyone... van... rolled... Reubs... hospital..."  all the while I am yelling:  "GET TO A REAL PHONE!  WHAT ARE YOU SAYING TO ME?  I CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOU!!"
I have been praising God, Thanking Him continually since last Friday.  It is a true miracle that no one was seriously hurt, that the Old Guy was not thrown from the vehicle, that he did not get thrown on or land on any of the kids, that everyone but the Old Guy was buckled, that the roof of the van buckled but did not smash in, that glass was not rifled into anyone, that no one else came around the corner and slung in after them, that the tire iron did not hit anyone, that no one seems to have whiplash or back/neck problems, that God sent angels to surround my family.  Poor Reuben, what a way to start out his driving career!  But it was no fault of his, and he got back behind the wheel and indeed, the kids all have been back in a vehicle several times and no one seems to have any lasting trauma from the ordeal.

The van is toast, but my family is not.  Once again I say: Who are we, Oh Lord... that you are mindful of us?  I praise and thank You from the bottom of my sinful heart for your protective Hand on the Old Guy and the kids.