The five us went to Estes Park for the weekend. It was the 1st time since you girls were born that we decided to go on a weekend get away. We left Friday after work, our 1st stop was Chili’s for dinner and then we hit the local Walmart for inner tubes and swim floaties for the pool. We stayed at the Marriott in Boulder (thanks to our good buddy, Miss Ann!) and of course the first thing on the list of things to do was to hit the pool, you girls swam for at least a couple of hours, we were having an absolutely wonderful time.
The next morning we went to IHOP where you dove into Smiley Face pancakes, and then it was time to make our way to Estes Park. We headed straight for Rocky National Park; it was a perfect day, and the weather was beautiful. We spent the morning tubing, and wrapped up our fun in the snow with a snowball fight.
We spent the early afternoon, strolling the streets of Estes Park, where we of course stopped to enjoy some salt water taffy and Laura's famous hot fudge sundaes. Ofcoure we all know how much Ryanne LOVES horses and a friend had told us about a horse and carriage ride that went thru the center of town, we figured it would be the perfect way to wrap up our day. You girls were so excited to be riding in the carriage and Ryanne was particularly excited about petting the horse’s nose when we were done.
We had just turned around and started on the 2nd half of our 30 minute ride when Ryanne leaned forward reaching for something, she miscalculated and lost her balance I reached to grab her but it was too late, she fell out of the carriage and on to the pavement, right in front of the back wheel of the carriage. We screamed for the driver to stop but he was unable to stop the carriage before it ran over the upper part of Ryanne's back (she was laying face down). I jumped out of the carriage, scooped her up out of the street and laid her back down on the side of the road, she was crying very hard, a painful cry and couldn't speak, I picked her up again, climbed back in the carriage and asked them to take us to our car. I don’t know what I was thinking, it never even occurred to me to call any ambulance. We immediately took Ryanne to the hospital in Estes Park, the left side of her face was badly bruised, and she had bad abrasions on her chest, back and arm. I was in the emergency room with Ryanne while Daddy stayed in the waiting room with you other two. They did several xrays, and didn't find any broken bones but wanted to do a CAT Scan to check for any internal injuries, they told me that we would be there at least over night.
I called Aunt Wendy and asked her to come and get Melia and Sabrina so that daddy and I could both be there for Ryanne. Within 10 minutes the Doctor came in and said that they were a small hospital and not comfortable with treating Ryanne’s injuries they had decided to air lift her to children's hospital. Ryanne was in a great deal of pain, and very lethargic, they had to keeping calling out to her and shaking her to get her to respond. The doctors explained that Ryanne would need a CAT scan and MRI and would be in the hospital for several days. At 5:45pm she left in the helicopter for Children's Hospital in Denver and we started our trek down the mountain. You girls were both very upset, while we stood and waited for the helicopter to take off, Melia told daddy she wanted to go to the car, daddy told me later that you stopped at the van door, turned and blew a kiss to the helicopter and then got in the van and started crying. Sabrina you stayed with daddy and I but cried the whole time saying that you missed Ryanne. You cried for about 30 minutes until you finally cried yourself to sleep.
Ryanne landed at Childrens' at about 6:10, where the rest of our family was waiting for her and we arrived at about 7:30. Something happened in that helicopter... We believe that the hand of God reached down out of heaven and touched our little girl with his healing hand. As mommy and daddy walked down the hall to Ryanne’s room, we heard her yell... "Hi Mom... Hi Dad", you were sitting up in bed coloring a picture of Strawberry Shortcake and ordering a "purple" popsicle.
You were a completely different person. They did one final test, a urine test to look for blood and then gave us the okay to take you home. The bruise on your face was completely gone, the abrasions on her back and stomach almost to faint to see. A miracle indeed! As we put you to bed, we commented on how sore you would be the next day, as with any injury, day 2 is always the worst. The next morning I gently sat on the side of your bed, and stroked your hair until your eyes slowly opened. "how do you feel?" "I feel fine" "do you hurt anywhere?" "Nope" You hopped out of bed and had a completely normal day!! Thank God!! He is so good!
Several weeks later we were in the car, I was trying to explain the importance of wearing seatbelts correctly. Ryanne, you turned to Sabrina and said “If you get in a car accident Jesus with catch you” when I asked you about it you stated very matter of fact “when I felled out of the carriage Jesus caught me.” I asked you if you saw Jesus any other time and you said “Yeah… he was in the helicopter”. Hmmm… A few days later you were telling nana and papa about seeing Jesus, Papa asked “Ryanne did Jesus look like a doctor?” “noooo…” “Did he look like a fireman?” “noooo” “well, what did he look like?” “He looked like Jesus.” We asked you if Jesus said anything to you that day and everytime you always reply “He gave me a blue flute.” A few days later, Grandma called and said that she has a book written by a Christian psychologist about the dream interpretation that is mentioned in the Bible. She looked up the words “Blue” and “flute”, one means “God with you” and the other “divine healing”. Well… GLORY!!
Luke 10:21 At that time Jesus full of joy through the Holy Spirit said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned , and revealed them to the little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
I wanted to make sure that I had this story of our miracle written down so that you will always remember what God did for our family that day. Daddy is going to write down his version of the story too, so that you will have it to… ALWAYS REMEMBER.
I Chronicles 16:11& 12 Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.
Psalms 77:11&12 I will remember the deeds of the Lord; I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.
