Sisters

Today Natalie was watching Amy do something silly. She looked at Amy and said, "I love my sister Amy so much." It was so sincere and so sweet. Melted my heart.

Our Easter

Due to what has been going on with Courtney, I haven’t had the desire to blog about much else. But we did have a very meaningful Easter with family. On Good Friday we drove to Walcott, IA to be with Nate’s family. The girls loved decorating and hunting for eggs. They got to spend time with their cousins, grandma/grandpa, and GREAT grandma/grandpa.

Saturday night we colored Easter eggs with my family. Dana forgot to tell Walter (her beau) that we don’t color eggs FOR the kids, but for the ADULTS! Of course, we enjoy coloring with the girls, but we have a serious egg coloring competition. There are points given for different categories (such as "Most likely to be eaten first," "Most Creative," "Best use of color."). Nate has managed to take over all the artistic categories since he entered the family 8 years ago. My dad managed to sweep the "Best use of color" category this year instead of the "most likely to be eaten first." We get a little rowdy, but had a great time.

We had a wonderful service at NPC…listening to our new pastor. It was a wonderful message, a great worship service. We then went back to my parents for dinner, Easter baskets, and an egg hunt. Since Amy learned what an egg hunt was all about in IA, she was ready to go. We discovered that she is more observant than Natalie! Natalie found a lot more eggs, but Amy got all the ones in tough places. It is amazing how different our girls are. It was a nice time to be with family in celebration of Christ’s resurrection.

To top if off, the next night Natalie prayed, "Dear Jesus, thank you for Mommy, Daddy, Amy, Bubbles, and Jesus dying on the cross." Oh…so sweet. It is our constant prayer that our girls would come to know our Savior with incredible passion. Pictures posted.

Mark and Courtney’s Blog

Please view Mark and Courtney’s website for more updates and information.  Thanks!

http://veerman.com/mark/blog/

Mark and Courtney

Here is the link to the news station.  Also posted is the transcript (PDF) of the interview video "Heroic Husband" posted at the bottom of the page.  Praise God.

Update on Courtney

Here is the link that Jenny sent to us about the accident.  You’ll need to scroll down a little bit to the video section.  Explains more of the accident. 

The video is called "Lucky to be Alive".

Family and Friends

Dear Family,

Let me give you a report from first hand discussions with Mark and the head Trauma Surgeon at Roanoke Carillon Hospital.  First, thanks for your many prayers – we are so very grateful.  Lynne and I are headed up early tomorrow in order to see Courtney and then to take care of James and Emma for one week while the Hillers stay in Roanoke with Mark to look after Courtney.

Here is what I have learned from all parties.  Apparently, a very large object – as big as a basketball – came through the windshield while Courtney was driving – we’ll know shortly what it is – Mark has in the back of the van – but we think it is a brake lining or pad or something from a large semi.  By God’s grace, Mark was able to grab the steering wheel and get his left foot on the break – and stop the van in the left lane on the Interstate – after going 65 mph – at the top of an overpass.  They were then rear ended by another car – fortunately not seriously – and this action pushed them over the ‘ridge’ and down over the bridge and enable Mark to maneuver the Van to the left shoulder and out of other incoming traffic.  This was a blessing and Mark said the couple then took the kids out of the car asap – so they wouldn’t see Courtney….

We are blessed that the object did not destroy her ability to breath – or to think (her brain).  She has many, many broken bones in her face and Mark told me many of the bones were detached from the skull – which required the surgeon to insert some permament plates.  And she has lost many teeth.  Her jaw will be wired shut for 6 to 12 weeks – and they will probably have to feed her with a special tube inserted into her stomach.  They gave her a tracheotomy to help her breath while she recovers from surgery – 5 hours Friday night and probably another 5 hours this afternoon.  The eye doctor thinks her eyes will be OK – but they are worried about double vision – she might have to have eye surgery in another month.  They also are monitoring spinal fluid that is leaking from her nose – not unusual and in most cases, it heals naturally – but this is their biggest concern so pray about this – and also her vision.  Finally, she will need a lot of oral surgery in the future.

She will be in Roanoke Hospital for anywhere from 8 to 12 days depending on how well she responds, etc.  We’ll know more on this in a few days.

Dan and Jenny have taken James and Emma back to Mark and Courtney’s Harrisonburg home today – so they can be in a familiar environment – Dan and Jenny will stay with them until we arrive tomorrow afternooon.  They are having an Easter egg hunt and celebration at the house with Velker cousins in the morning after church.

There is a lot more to tell about how the Lord has been caring for Courtney and the situation but I’ll save for later.  Thanks for your calls and prayers – we will certainly let you know when we know more.  Courtney is responding to everyone when not on anesthesia – all extremies are moving – and she can follow Mark’s hands with her eyes…  she responds with squeezes – so that is a great and encouraging sign.  We need your continued prayers and hope to give you more encouraging reports in the next few days.

Lots of love,.

Ralph and Lynne

Please Pray

This morning my cousin Mark, his wife Courtney, and their children James and Emma were driving to S.C. Courtney was driving on the interstate and some round piece of concrete flew through their windshield and hit her in the face. Mark immediately grabbed the steering wheel etc, and was able to manuever the car to the side of the road (from the left lane of traffic) without hitting any other cars. Apparently they were rear-ended by one car, but it ended up being a good thing since it pushed them forward about 50 feet beyond the overpass they were on (and were able to pull over right away). Thankfully Mark and the children were unharmed and the kids didn’t see anything.

Courtney was airlifted to a hospital and underwent facial surgery this evening. The update is that one side of her face is completly crushed and there are many broken bones on the other side. Her brain seems to be unharmed…praise God. They had to cut the surgery short this evening because they noticed some strange things with her pupils and wanted to wait to see an opthamologist.  They will continue surgery tomorrow.

We are so thankful that Courtney is alive, but she has a VERY long road to recovery.

Please pray:

1. For James and Emma…I’m sure they will be passed around for awhile since Courtney will not be able to care for them. But praise God that they did not see her hurt or see what happened.
2. For complete healing…and quick healing. That the surgeries would go well. That her eyesight will not be affected. That her jaw would completely heal.
3. For Mark…I can’t even imaging seeing something like that happen to your spouse and then have to take control of the car, children, etc. Mark is pretty hopped up on adrenaline and coffee right now, but is obviously shook up.

Thank you.

Kara

Seattle

If you haven’t heard from us in a while, it is because we were in Seattle! This was the last week of Nate’s sabbatical and we packed our bags, left the girls with the grandparents, and flew to Seattle. Our dear friends, Cliff and Mackenzie, live in Seattle and we have been wanting to visit them for awhile. We were very fortunate to spend time with them and visit in their brand new home!

We ate a LOT of food while we were there…Cliff and Mackenzie had so many amazing, one-of-a-kind restaurants to take us to. The food was delicious, but we are looking forward to NOT going out to eat for some time! We had lots of clam chowder, crab, mussels, salmon, halibut, etc. I was able to try sushi for the first time and liked it! And…we were confronted with Mackenzie’s incredible addiction to doughnuts…she definitely knows where to find some good fresh doughnuts!

We spent time at the famous Pike Place Market, visited many, many coffee shops (the first Starbucks, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Tully’s, Peet’s, etc…to name a few!), hiked at Lincoln Park, enjoyed the Puget Sound and Alki Beach, went on an underground tour of Seattle (very cool!), went to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival (gorgeous!), took a ferry to Bainbridge Island, and experienced our first winery.  We went to Mount Rainier for the day in hopes of hiking, but found ourselves in the rain…and then heavy snow! I was wearing ankle socks and Mackenzie didn’t bring a coat. Needless to say, we didn’t do much hiking, but had lots of laughs and got some great pictures.

I was also very fortunate to be 30 minutes away from a H.S. friend (not a youth group kid, but from when I was in H.S.!). I spent one morning driving to Issaquah and seeing Amy and her two adorable little girls (made me miss my girl’s more!). It was so neat to chat with her (haven’t seen her in 8 years!). She is so on fire for God…what a wonderful woman!

Yes, we had a busy time while we were there, but it still felt like we got to relax as well. We really enjoyed getting such a great "taste" of Seattle. Nothing like good friends, good food, and good clean fun! We will try to post pictures soon…we took 600 so we’ll really have to scale that down! :)

Speaking of Legacy…

Speaking of legacy, it seems clear what New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin will be known for.  Idiocy.  Corruption.  Bigotry.  Neglect.  Irresponsibility.

Spending a lot of money celebrating Mardi Gras, then displacing women and children, having to reimburse the government $1.6 million that New Orleans does not have…  I am positive this is President Bush’s fault.  Positive!

Read story here.  I feel so sad for him.

Legacy

Kara and I went with the girls to see my grandparents yesterday afternoon.  When the girls woke up we drive to Batavia where they live in the Holmstad retirement community.  It was really neat to be there with them, to talk, to read scripture, to hear how they have been doing and to see our kids so excited to be with them. 

It got me thinking about the email that I posted a few days ago and what I want to be my legacy to the kids, to the church, to friends… what will they remember about me? 

1. What sort of person am I and what sort of person am I becoming? 
2. What traditions, what memories will we leave for our kids? 
3. Will we be people who read the Bible together, or just talked about it being important?
4. Will we be a family that takes time for sabbath, or will we always be tempted into spending our time being consumed by the things of this world?
5. Will we teach our own kids about the Bible, about God’s love and about salvation, or will we expect that some how they will learn it from someone else, like the church?
6. Will we be known as generous people?
7. Will we be remembered for how we welcomed people into our lives?

It is a scary thing to truly live life, because it is hard.  It is easy to determine what we should do with our time and our resources and our talents, but it is hard to follow our commitments. 

It has come to me that we need to hear stories of success in the Christian walk… not just those that are of God’s redeeming us, saving us from ourselves and our dangerous, illicit lives.  We need to hear those, yes, but we need to hear stories of people and families who are making good decisions, who have been following God faithfully for years.  We need to hear that it is possible to make these hard decisions and with God’s Spirit, to live out those commitments and decisions.

My grandparents, 90 years old, have made choices that have affected their lives and the lives of those with whom they have come in contact.  They have been faithful, they have given up much, they have forsaken many comforts, they have made decisions to follow God and to trust him for decades.  They are leaving a legacy of faith, of prayer, of commitment, of generosity.  It is good to hear them speak of it, it is good for us all to know that people are living lives of obedience and are reaping what they have sown in obedience.