Near Disaster

The guys played outside all afternoon, enjoying the warm temps. Damon spent a good portion of his weekend clearing 6-8 inch thick ice from our driveway and sidewalks. He is super sore and tired tonight. The snow fort almost got the better of us today. Sam was inside it when it collapsed on top of him. Luckily the roof of the snow fort was made from our over-turned plastic wading pool, which landed on top of him, surrounding him and trapping him, but still leaving room for him to breathe. I don't know what would have happened if it had been just snow and ice. Damon was immediately there (I'm thanking God that he was home and outside at the time)and tried to get Sam out, but there was no way to get him out. There were hundreds of pounds of snow on top of the pool. He tried from several different angles, from the entrance and the back side. He attempted to lift the pool with all the snow on top of it, which only made Sam yell louder. Damon didn't realize it at the time, but Sam was actually pointed away from where he was lifting, and the redistribution of the weight was probably pressing down harder on Sam's head. So he had to get his shovel and dig snow out of the way for several minutes while Sam screamed the whole time before he could get him out. Although Damon wouldn't really say, I think it shook him up. I asked him if he'd been scared and he said, "I was in a hurry." He said he was glad that he could hear him screaming, it would have been worse if he were silent. He had to work fast and was kind of panicked. I heard him say to Sam tonight while hugging him, "I'm so glad that you were all right - I thought I lost you for a minute there!" (In a joking way, but with a ring of truth to it.) Sam said he hurt his head during the ordeal, but came out otherwise unscathed. Damon checked him over again at bedtime for any bumps or bruises but didn't find any. I'm hoping that this wasn't a traumatic event for him, so I don't want to make it into too big a deal by asking him too much about it. You know how boys play - they bounce back from the weirdest stuff pretty easily. Grandpa Larry just told Damon yesterday that he might want to dismantle the fort soon, what with the warmer weather, so that it doesn't hurt anybody! Ah, the wisdom of our parents!!!

So we are praising God tonight that Sam is safe and sound and unhurt. We are praising Him that He is our Protector and that He is the one in control. Thank you, Lord!