An interesting turn of events...

Isn't interesting, when you can go from this...

to this, just within a couple of hours?

Janessa was involved in a car accident on Wednesday night while coming home from a Young Women's activity at the church.

We had just been to a choir concert of hers that night at 6:00. She was having a hard day already, her throat hurt and she really wasn't feeling well. Then, we were running about 5 minutes late getting her to the school. She was panicked (as this was her first concert) and started running into the school. She tripped and fell and skinned her knee really bad. I asked her if she was OK, she said she was and ran off. After the concert, it was bleeding pretty bad and her nylons were all torn up. She is such a tough girl.

After the concert, we grabbed a milk shake and then took her home to change. We ran her over to the church for an activity at 7:00. At about 8:45, we got a phone call from Sister Oyler. She said that they had been in an accident, just up the road from our house. As we opened our garage, all I could hear were sirens, which made me really worried, to say the least. Rick and I ran up there and found the road closed and tons of emergency vehicles already there. Janessa and her friends, Elizabeth & Jessie, were sitting on the road just crying. Both cars were a mess.

They had been turning left on a busy road that doesn't have a turn lane. It only has one lane each way. Cars have to stop frequently to wait for other vehicles to make the turns. A lady was coming down the road, going about 50 mph, and hit them while they were stopped...no braking or anything! We still aren't sure what happened, but it was a terrible crash. All of the neighbors, even a couple of blocks away, heard the accident from inside their houses!

The EMTs wanted to take the girls to the ER to be checked out. We thought it would be a good idea, as they were really complaining of severe headaches and their necks and backs were hurting very bad. Janessa hit her head really hard in the accident, both front and back, we still aren't sure what it was on. Janessa & Elizabeth went to the ER in the ambulance. Janessa was extremely nervous about riding in the ambulance, since her car accident 6 years ago. (She and I had to ride in one for about 1 1/2 hours. We almost wrecked twice on that trip.) She was very upset when they strapped her in. She insisted on me riding with her, so I rode in the front seat (a much better spot then laying tied to a bed). I was so grateful that she & Elizabeth were in the same ambulance. The conversations were entertaining. There were questions, in-between the tears, to the EMT guys about mascara running...that was a big concern...right after the horrid pain. They were holding hands. At one point, Janessa said, "This will be a good story to tell our kids." Then Lizzy said, "Ya, if we live to have kids!" Super cute. The EMT guys had a very hard time keeping straight faces!

We ended up staying at the ER for over 4 hours, getting x-rays and making sure they were OK. After a few hours, some laughing and medicine, the girls were back to their normal selves. Although they were still in a lot of pain, they were happy realizing that they would not be at school the next day. We were laughing about the fact that Mr. Brooks, their Creative Writing teacher, wouldn't know what to do...his class would be so quiet without them!



Sister Oyler was in the ER as well, but in a different room. The girls were asking about her so much, and screaming as she would go by for x-rays, that the nurses finally got smart and moved her into our area! They all had their bracelets on and now consider it an exclusive club.

The next couple of days were a bit rough. Waking up wasn't a fun thing. Janessa woke up in the night with a lot of pain. They missed school for a couple of days, but spent the time together recovering. They were showered with gifts, flowers, and lots and lots and lots of treats. The Young Women leaders pampered them with these adorable rice bags with lavendar, they heat them up in the microwave and wrap them around their necks...perfect! They even got together with cute Jessie (she didn't go to the ER, so they were really concerned about her). We took Janessa to the Chiropractor and we are taking her to do some physical therapy and massage tomorrow. She went to church today and is going to go to school in the morning. She is still in a lot of pain, waking up each morning with something else that hurts (today was her jaw and teeth). The headaches haven't really stopped. We hope that she will be better soon.

These girls were so sweet the entire time, always worried about others. They have been so concerned about Sister Oyler, who was so upset by the whole thing. They even asked a couple of times how the other lady, who hit them, was. They are very sweet, compassionate girls. I know that their Heavenly Father was watching over them while they were travelling home. This could have been a very terrible tragedy, but they were protected. We feel very blessed.