In the blink of an eye anyone’s life can change. From random accidents to twists of fate, the things that happen can also define us.
They can also show us that maybe, just maybe, someone is watching over us.
For one family, a recent storm would be the reminder they needed.
Courtney Bucholtz, her husband Kale, and their five-month-old son, Cannon, had settled in for the evening. The doting parents had given the baby his bath, and then said their prayers for the night before laying Cannon in his crib.
A storm had been brewing outside, but for the Louisiana couple, it wasn’t one they were worried about. The two settled in to watch TV and relax.
Two minutes passed. On a video monitor the couple shared, you hear a sudden crash, and see them leap up. Courtney told Fox News that at first she simply believed lightning had struck the house. Until she looked down at the baby monitor.
The crib was filling with debris from the ceiling and the baby was screaming.
During a storm, a tree crashed into the roof, directly above the crib of Cannon Bucholtz. Photo courtesy of the Bucholtz family
“I got up immediately and ran,” Courtney said. “The whole house shook and I ran and I told my husband, you can hear me, I think in the video, saying, ‘Kale, the window.’”
I thought the window had shattered into his crib.”
“She thought the window in my boy’s room had broken. And when we rounded the corner in the hallway, we could see the tree in the hall,” Kale said.
For Courtney, she only had eyes for Cannon. With drywall and insulation falling still, she raced to her screaming baby. The sound was a good sign, she said. “You screamin’, you breathin’,” she said.
Amazingly, through all of the debris, the baby was uninjured. Courtney said she knew in that moment that Cannon had been kept safe by his late brother, who died in 2016 after a premature birth.
During a storm, a tree crashed into the roof, directly above the crib of Cannon Bucholtz. Photo courtesy of the Bucholtz family
“I truly, truly believe that [Cannon’s] big brother was there protecting him and making sure that nothing was going to happen to him,” she said.
Secured in that knowledge and knowing Cannon was unharmed, they made their way to a family member’s home until they could check out the damage at their own home.
The damage was immense. The tree, which had been on their neighbor’s property, had smashed into the center of the home.
“Our hall bathroom is destroyed, too, and our bedroom and our bathroom,” Courtney said.
Our house is completely unlivable right now. So we’re just kind of waiting and see what insurance says and all that stuff.”
The family had already been dealing with tragedy – Courtney’s grandmother had just died only a few days earlier.
“We’re just kind of pushing forward, just kind of waiting to see how things play out,” she said.
From left, Kale, Courtney and Cannon Bucholtz. Photo courtesy of the Bucholtz family
The family said that sadly this isn’t the first time their home had been damaged. Floodings in 2016 – the same year they lost their son – led to their home having to be completely rebuilt.
“We’ve done this before, unfortunately,” Courtney said, “But, you know, like I told someone before is, we’ll take this mess any day, you know, as long as we’re all safe and healthy and no one was hurt in what happened.”
“Running to get my baby under debris was one of the scariest things I’ve ever experienced,” she posted on Facebook. “I am so thankful our lives were spared tonight…. our nightly bedtime prayers absolutely worked.”
The family was thankfully able to get the house repaired, thanks to insurance and family members that let them stay with them while the work was being done.
Kale says they are just grateful their son had been safe.
“It makes you realize that, you know, the house is just the house. It can be replaced. Family, you know, my little boy, was all I was worried about for the first two days,” he said.
Watch below for a look at the terrifying video of that stormy night!
