It’s finally happening! I’ve been waiting for the last few months to move up to Montana to start my exciting adventure of house sitting my parents’ house with Hannah while they are on their mission in El Centro. Like the opportunist I am, I thought how fun it would be to live in my parents’ house while they’re gone so I made it happen. I didn’t want to live here by myself so I dragged Hannah along. We decided it’ll be a year-long party/mental health rehab center so I’m hoping to have lots to write about! My grandma said she enjoyed reading my blog when I would write back in November and I figured it would be fun to record all things Montana for her and future me (and anyone else who ends up reading this). In my first post about Montana though we have to start back in Utah.

I decided to finish up work on the 22nd and move on the 26th. I didn’t think through the ramifications of packing everything I own in 3 days and now know that only crazy people do that. Hannah gave herself 2 weeks to get everything settled and that was probably a better options. It actually would’ve worked to pack up all my stuff in only 3 days if it wasn’t for the couch. The stupid 2nd hand couch I had absolutely no attachment to. It’s kind of a long explanation, but it’s not a very exciting story so I’ll sum it up quick. I thought I was going to get the couch down to the Villa for Zack and his friends to use, but the truck Zack was supposed to get to help me move the couch fell through. So there I was at 10:30pm on Sunday night, trying to figure out how I would get the couch down to the Villa while also getting everything else done I needed to on my last day in Utah. My stress and anger levels start to go up quick drastically after 9:30pm so I was definitely fired up at this point. I took a pause from packing to sit down on the stupid couch and pray for a miracle. Now I do believe in a God of miracles, but still struggle to have faith for a miracle to happen for me. What if I pray for a miracle and it doesn’t happen? What do I do then? Will that affect my faith, weakening it because I believed I would get a miracle but didn’t? Despite all those doubts in my mind, I decided to be straight up and tell God I need a miracle but am nervous I don’t have enough faith. I ended up having to put the couch out on the street on Monday evening with a “free” sign, but all day I knew that whatever happened was what God wanted to happen and took the lack of stress as my miracle. I didn’t know how small I was thinking until I headed off to Montana Tuesday morning.

I started out for my parents’ house around 3:15am, as I always do, and had only made it about half an hour when I hit wet pavement and hydroplaned at almost 80mph. I spun a full 360, sliding across several lanes, before hitting the barrier with the back of my car. I have never been in a car accident before and was in shock. The first thing I did was call my mom. I know that no matter what’s going on my mom will answer her phone and help me stay calm whenever I deal with stressful situations. She, and my dad by extension, stayed on the phone with me for the next hour and a half while I waited for and dealt with the state trooper and tow truck. My car and I eventually made it to the Caliber Collision auto shop and all I had to do then was wait for them to open…3 hours later. My dad had jumped into action while we were on the phone and realized that some family friends, Kurt and Megan, lived only about 15 minutes from the Caliber Collision I was at. I babysat for them growing up and Megan was my Young Woman’s leader while I was a teenager so I know them well. Kurt gets up pretty early so they were able to come get me a little after 6 and I hung out at their house until Caliber Collision opened at 7:30. That gave me some time to visit with them and call State Farm to get everything sorted with my accident. Megan was able to drive me back over, load my stuff into her van, drive me to my rental car, and move all my stuff over to the rental car. She was my angel sent straight from heaven. I was back on my way to Montana by 10:30 and made it a little after 7 that evening. It was a crazy day.

So now that you know the basics let’s get right into the miracles! Miracle #1: I wasn’t hurt at all (besides some slight neck soreness the next day)

Miracle #2: My airbags didn’t go off (which would’ve caused the stuff I put in the front seat to fly everywhere, potentially damaging it and hurting me)

Miracle #3: I hydroplaned right next to the Kaysville exit, which meant I was only 2ish miles from the Caliber Collision and 15 minutes from Kurt and Megan’s house

Miracle #4: Of all the people I know in Utah I was closest to Kurt and Megan. Kurt gets up early so he was able to come get me quickly and Megan only works a couple of hours in the afternoons so she had time in the morning to run me all over town.

Miracle #5: I had full coverage insurance. Now this one might not seem like a miracle because I was the one that chose that coverage, but I honestly didn’t remember what kind of coverage I had so I was worried. Insurance ended up covering my tow fee and the rental car, which would’ve cost me at least $400, and will of course cover everything but my deductible.

Miracle #6: The lady at Caliber Collision made sure not to release my car to State Farm until I had taken my stuff out. Once it was released, State Farm could’ve shown up at any time and she said she’s seen them take away cars with the owners stuff still inside. That would’ve been a nightmare to track down. She didn’t want that to happen to me so she waited until I gave her the go-ahead.

Miracle #7: There was a bit of a mix up at Enterprise which led to me getting a bigger car at an earlier time than what I was told I would get at first. That made it possible to fit all my stuff and get to Montana in good time.

Miracle #8: None of my stuff was damaged. This one was especially crazy to me because my trunk was absolutely packed with stuff and all that happened when I hit the barrier at 50mph was a couple boxes getting some tears. I even had a jar of spaghetti sauce in nothing but a plastic grocery bag in the very right corner of the trunk (which is where the initially impact and most damage was). The jar didn’t even have a single tiny crack.

At first when everything was happening — and the packing and moving became this huge, stressful thing — I questioned if I was making the right decision to come to Montana. But then so many things started going right. It seemed like negative forces were trying to keep me from getting here, but God had my back and through everything He did for me showed me that I’m where I’m supposed to be. I get to live a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience and I can’t wait to see who I’ll be after this year is over!