Anne went to her first therapy yesterday and met her new therapist: Jake.
Sounds scary.
She claims he's trying to "get her into shape," even though she protested that she wasn't in great shape BEFORE the accident. She is scheduled for three days a week, and still has to meet with the speech and occupational therapists. I talked with her on the phone a couple of times, and she's talking as fast as ever (which is always faster than my brain can process), so I doubt she'll need much speech therapy :-)
She is doing very well. We'd expect no less from the child Papa always called "Angel Pie."
The Mulderink family is still catching up and cleaning up and trying to thank everyone who generously gave from their kitchens and wallets and prayer time. Truly, we cannot thank you all enough.
There is someone else we cannot thank enough: Amy and Terry, who saw the accident and immediately stopped to help (and I refer to them as good Samaritans, not because they are foreigners, but because even though they were also travelling, they put someone else's need before their own agenda):
I wanted to tell you a little about that tragic day.... My wife and I were driving westbound when the Lorang family van made it's slide and tumble. My wife Amy (ironic) gathered up all the sleeping bags and blankets from the road and covered the kids up. She hovered over them and when we could talk to the police, got permission to let them stay warm and dry in our car. Amy helped the kids get in touch with their aunt and father. She still regrets not going to the hospital and taking care of them until family got there. Our thoughts and prayers have been with you.
It was Terry's cell phone that Liz used to call me right away to say they had been in an accident.
I can still hear her saying, "Hi, Aunt Kathie, it's Lizzie... um, we were just in a car accident and Aimee and Mom are knocked out I think..."
"Ok, ok, I'm on my way right now. Are you ok?" I said, already gathering my things and putting on my shoes. She assured me that she and Alex and Melanie were not hurt.
I asked where they were, but (understandably) Liz wasn't sure, so she handed the phone to Terry and I talked with him to get information about what was going on and where they were; he assured me that the kids were safely with his wife and wrapped in sleeping bags. Terry did indicate that it was a serious accident and that emergency vehicles were just arriving. I told him we were on the way and thanked him, asking him to please call me to let me know where the kids would be.
Grammy and Mary and I were already headed in that direction, praying the rosary and driving an agonizing 22 mph through the snowstorm, when he called me back as promised and let us know that the troopers were bringing them to the hospital and would meet us there.
I did not have the opportunity to properly thank Amy and Terry until he found this blog and posted his comment here. And now you can all thank them as well.
The many emails I have received throughout all this has me thinking often about how valuable everyone's part is in every event of life - everyone simply responds generously to what is before them each day and others are taken care of, enriched, supported, encouraged, etc. One person drives the ambulance, one is the state trooper, one is a strong man who can lift a mother out of a crumpled van. One person offers to cook dinner, another bakes Christmas cookies, another finishes buying gifts, another wraps them all. One person remains with a grieving father/worried husband, another nurtures and feeds their children. One person takes it upon herself to set up a benefit fund for a family who is mourning, one calls in the prayer warriors, one posts it to her blog, another schedules a rotation for meal preparation until that family is back on its feet.
And one couple sees an accident and does not hesitate to allow their life to be interrupted to see if they can help in some way, though they have no idea what it might cost them. This allows family to be on the way almost immediately after the incident, so that the children are not alone for any longer than needed.
Each individual's role is so necessary, though they may not think that they are doing anything very impressive or valuable. But every little thing done by one person means that burden is not on anyone else. So if you offered to buy milk for us or sent an encouraging email or dropped a few dollars in the jar so that I could buy clothes for the kids, we can truly say we couldn't have done it without you.
Once again we say that we are eternally grateful for every "little" thing you have done and given during these last weeks. May God repay you as only He can.
