A New Chapter Begins

Dear Friends, Wow. I do not even know where to begin. On March 28, 1987 I married my best friend and a wonderful man. To celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, Allison's senior year, and visit Erika who is spending a semester abroad with Calvin in Honduras, Kevin, Allison, and I left for Santa Lucia, Honduras on March 28, 2012 to spend a week with Erika. On March 29 Tim was involved in a car accident. Tim's car was hit in the rear bumper when Tim missed the red light at the corner of State and Roosevelt in Zeeland. The other driver is fine. Praise the Lord! Tim's car spun into the deep ditch on the side of the road. It landed nose down and on the passanger side in a watery ditch. My sister witnessed the crash (Praise God!) and called 911. They had to cut the car apart to get Tim out. Tim is pretty beat up. He has been at DeVos Children's Hospital for over a week. We were just transferred to Mary Free Bed on Friday. Currently, he has a fractured right femur (upper leg), a fractured left lower leg (tibia), a fractured right humerus with a bent rod (upper arm), and spinal fractures above and below the spinal fusion we did last year. The right arm will need surgery soon. The doctors in Grand Rapids do not feel comfortable doing that surgery. It will be a tricky one. We do not want to loose function and/or feeling in the arm. We will have to get that surgery scheduled up in Montreal as soon as Tim is well enough to travel. Tim is in some pain. A lot of spasms. It is better than the first few days but we are on the strongest pain medications that Tim has ever needed. We are at Mary Free Bed until Tim is able to transfer (ie. bed to wheelchair, wheelchair to comode, wheelchair to car) with only one working limb.
So, there are the nuts and bolts. We have cried a lot. Tears of joy! Tim is still alive!!! If the air bag would have gone off Tim would not survived. Tears of pain. Tim is suffering again. Tears of frustration. Tim had come so far. He was starting to walk again after 2 years. Tears of being apart as a family. All Erika wanted to do was call in quits and fly home from Honduras with us.
On Sunday while in Honduras Kevin, Allison, Erika, and I found a small little white church. The First Baptist church of Roatan. We sat quietly and numbly in one of the back pews. The people there sang and danced for our Lord and Savior. One of the songs we sang with them was "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms." The last verse says:

What have I to dread, what have I to fear,Leaning on the everlasting arms?I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,Leaning on the everlasting arms.

I am sure no one knew why the only 4 white people in the church had tears running down their cheeks while trying to choke out those words. Or why 4 people where hugging each other and crying on a small verada in the mountains of Honduras after the phone call came. Quietly the song came to our lips and we started singing Peace like a River.
Easter Sunday is tomorrow. But my heart goes back to Friday right now. I can not even begin to imagine how hard it must have been for God to turn His back on His own Son. To watch His Son take on the suffering and pain of my sin. It is so hard to watch Tim's pain and suffering.
Thank you for your prayers. Thank you to all the people that stepped up big time to be with Tim while we where so many miles away.
Prayer requests. Less pain. Peace for Tim. He has a long road in front of him. Again. He is digging deep. Scheduling. We need to get this surgery done on Tim's arm. Wisdom and Patience. Kev and I have 4 kids. Each of them need and deserve time and attention.
I will try and keep this blog updated daily. It is humbling as a family to know how many people are praying for us. We are blessed! God has given us feet for the path. Have a blessed Easter. He is RISEN!! Praise God!!!