Vacation

We went on a family camping vacation to Colorado at the end of July. On our drive home, shortly after we left the mountains, a tire popped on our Excursion, and we lost control and rolled the truck and camper. The kids were not injured, Jeff had a sore back and a few bumps, and I was taken to the ER for x-rays and scans for neck pain that turned out to just be whiplash, neck/back strain, and lots of bruises, scratches, and bumps. No broken bones or stitches! I'm still waiting for one last big lump on my head to heal, but otherwise I'm feeling much better physically. My neck and back get tired and aches by the end of the day but I'm feeling SO much better than I did at first. At first I could hardly move.

We praise God for protecting us! The last thing I remember before we rolled was praying "God help us".

Lots of kind strangers stopped to help when we wrecked. A nice young man crawled into the wrecked Excursion to unfasten Ellie & pull her out. Jeff crawled out remarkably fast and then pulled David and Abby out. Abby had unhooked her own seatbelt, but then she got tangled a little and wasn't sure which way to crawl to get out. My husband's brother Ryan was the one who helped me get out of the wreckage. A woman whose face I never got to see (my glasses were lost) gave me water, and another man with EMS training helped me while we waited for an ambulance, to make sure I didn't aggravate any potential injuries (since I had neck pain, the fear was spinal injury.)

We are very lucky David didn't get more injured, because only 5-10 minutes before the crash, I turned back and saw that he had slipped his car seatbelt straps off. I corrected him and he put them back on. I was looking at 5 PT harness carseats for big kids on Amazon on my phone when we wrecked. Seriously!

Jeff showed the ER staff a few photos that family texted to us, and they said "This is NOT how a crash like this usually ends. Someone was watching out for your family."

Here are a few photos of the crash-



















Photos from vacation BEFORE the crash-












Abby started 2nd grade last week:



David started his second year at Early Childhood Preschool at Greenwich. Ellie is starting preschool at our church in September.

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Easter 2013

Abby turned 7!

Abby's 7th birthday was 2/16!

(If you want to see newborn photos of her, scroll on back on the blog to 2006!)  :-)

David turned 5!

David celebrated his 5th birthday with us, and this was his first birthday to be recognized and celebrated!

We also celebrated Chinese new year a few days before his birthday!

The kids wore special outfits to church (that we bought while in China), and we had Chinese food for dinner.  We also did some Chinese themed crafts.

Next- birthdays! Ellie turned 3 in December

Aunt Charlotte & the kids getting ready for Ellie to open presents

Ellie was ready to eat the cake!

Checking out her birthday cake

Wearing her princess dress up costume

Getting ready to eat cake & ice cream

Blowing out the candle

Catching up- a few pictures from Christmas

We saw Santa at Prairie Pines 

The kids enjoyed decorating our Christmas trees

David's first Christmas!

Attempting to get our 3 kids' pictures plus cousins Gavin & Maggie:

Could never get everyone to look and smile at the same time!  Shenanigans!

Our son is home now!  We have been home with him since 11/2, so 1 month exactly.  

David (4), Ellie (2), Abby (6)

Today we decorated the Christmas tree.  The kids really enjoyed it!

David

Abby

Ellie