SWakulla County mother April Stevens could hardly believe the scene unfolding in her living room. Dozens of beautifully wrapped gifts were piling up, all donated for her family to enjoy Christmas morning.
" don’t even know what to say. Thank y’all so much," she said.
The folks arriving with the gifts were all members of Life Church International Center in Tallahassee.
The church’s parking lot was where Steven’s life changed forever just months earlier. She was involved in a rollover crash in August that paralyzed her from the waist down. In an instant, her ability to live a normal life seemed shattered forever.
“I was depressed and down,” she said. I was like ‘What am I going to do, what am I going to do?’”
It just so happened that there were angels not too far from where that crash occurred.
She immediately thought of the one question that was constantly on her mind:
“How am I going to get outside? I want to go outside.’” April Stevens
So, the church partnered with the Figgers Foundation and the Lockwood Construction Company to build her a ramp for her home. The ramp was finished Tuesday, just a day before the presents arrived.
Richard Lockwood owns the company that made her dream a reality.
“Being able to touch somebody’s life. That’s what it’s all about.” Richard Lockwood, Lockwood Construction Company owner
Stevens began to tear up thinking about the magic that will unfold Christmas morning. She has three boys, and making sure they had a great Christmas seemed a tall task following the crash.
“They’re going to wake me up,” she said with a laugh. “They’re going to be like ‘Mom what happened? They’re going to be so happy.’”
But perhaps the biggest surprise of the day came when another person appeared from behind a car parked in her front yard. It was the woman who called 911 moments after the crash.
“Oh my gosh,”. Stevens said.
The two embraced as they talked about the day that changed both of their lives.