Family Update

This post is hard to write, and I'm not sure quite what to say.

Friday evening we received a phone call to let us know that Jon's brother, Paul, and 2 of our nephews had been in an accident. His son, Jeff, and Russ' son, Alex, were with Paul at the time. Alex was killed instantly. Paul was immediately life flighted. Jeff was first sent to the hospital down there, then life flighted to the same hospital as Paul.

We have spent much time at the hospital the past few days.

Paul broke his back, all his ribs on the left side, both femurs, broken foot, punctured lung, broken hip... initially it was thought that he broke his neck also, but we have been blessed and they were not able to find any problems with his neck. He had his legs operated on Saturday night. The surgery went well. His back was operated on Sunday morning. It also went very well. He is still in ICU. He was unconscious after the accident and they have kept him sedated since then. Paul will go in for hip surgery tomorrow. After that they will take the breathing tube out and wake him up.

Jeff has been moved out of the ICU. He broke his back (compression fracture) and cracked his hip. He has been having some major pain in his head. He was conscious after the accident, and has been in and out of it since then.

Last night we went down to see Russell and Cary and their family. It broke my heart. When we got there, it looked like a parking lot out front. So many people there to express love and sympathies. We didn't think it would happen, but we were blessed with some time alone with them. I cannot imagine the pain they are facing.

I wish there were more I could do. I feel so small and lost. All I have to offer is love, tears and prayers.