A Miss is (Supposedly) as Good as a Mile

Today was a rather exciting day. Unfortunately, it wasn't exciting in exactly the right way. We went to our Mennonite church (we've started going there about once a month) this morning, and after an applicable sermon given by the new pastor, participated in the fellowship meal they were having afterward. The food was really good, but that is beside the point (I guess). 

So we were on our way home about 1:00, and suddenly this kid on a gulf cart/ATV pulls out of a side road on our left, and onto the main road. Right in front of us. It didn't seem that the kid had looked, and if he had, his view was blocked by the 3 (yes 3) dogs that were sitting next to him. Since we were going about 60 mph and there was no time to break, my Dad swerved, hoping to be able to make a 90 degree turn onto a road on our right. However he wasn't able to do that tight of a turn without flipping us. So he was forced to drive off of the road, barely missing the kid, before we went air-born over a deep ditch, landing with a jolt in what was thankfully a large grassy area. We finally came to a stop, and realized we were in the lawn of a church. And yes, it goes without saying that I screamed when we landed. Haha, but I scream at anything remotely startling. 

Dad jumped out of the car, and ran over to the kid, a boy about 11, who had looped into the yard as well, to see if he was okay. The kid started apologizing profusely, and within a minute his dad and mom came running over. Turns out they lived across the street next to the auto repair shop his dad (ironically) owned. His parents were pretty mad at him, and seemed like rough kind of people, but the kid was apparently shook up so I felt bad for him. His mom took him home, but his dad stayed to talk with us and give us insurance info and all that. After a while he seemed to soften up as he realized that his son had almost died, and if dad hadn't of reacted so quickly, the kid would have died. 

The pastor of the church came walking over then, and actually congratulated my dad for not killing the kid. After saying "thank God, thank God everyone is okay" he then continued to say that they had JUST had the lawn professionally done, and it now had deep ruts in it from where we'd landed. We kind of felt bad about that, but really it's the job of the parents of the boy to take care of that. 

Then Mom and Dad came to talk to us and make sure we were all okay. Which we were, except for seatbelt bruises and burns from when they'd caught. Maryah had banged her wrist somehow, and ended up with a bruise, but that was it for "fatalities". So it's a good thing we were all in seatbelts. It would have been a lot worse if we hadn't. (Moral of the story in case you didn't catch that: ALWAY WHERE YOUR SEATBELT!!).

The car appeared to be fine, except for looking like we had just done some off-road driving. Which we technically had. We still have to get it checked at our mechanics though. 

As we drove away, the pastor was still talking to the apparently "pagan" man (lol). So perhaps some good will come out of this. I hope so.  

P.S. Oh yeah. School ended on Friday. The last day of homeschool for me ever. That's all I can say about it without crying.