Worst Week

Y'all this has been a really tough time for us! Last week was the worst week we've had in a while! I'm trying SO hard not to dwell on the bad things and to know that there is a lesson in all of this. So bear with me please! 

Last weekend, Derek and I had our phones turned off. I feel so embarrassed to admit it but that's what we decided needed to happen in order for us to catch up on other things. I really don't like talking about those things, but there you go! ha!

So it's been a tough week not having much contact with my family and having to really communicate, since we can't call each other as easily. 

I'll admit that I have had a bad attitude at times about it. Every time I kept feeling down, I realized how spoiled I really am! I mean honestly, my life is so horrible because my cell phone is not turned on??!! I feel silly even saying that! We have SO many other wonderful blessings in our life, I know better than to complain. 

Thursday I had another reminder of what's really important in my life. 

I got off work around 5:45 and headed to my house. When I saw that Derek wasn't in the driveway, I felt like I really should go out to Derek's parent's house and see if Derek was still there. I thought I would just pass him on the way and wind up turning around, but I decided that I should go out there. 

I didn't hesitate. I headed straight over. Just a couple of miles away from their house I noticed there were several police cars stopped on the side of the road, but the sun was in my eyes so bad I couldn't really see what was going on. Then I saw a worker out in the middle of the road directing traffic. Seriously, the sun was so bad in my eyes I could barely tell if he was waving me on or telling me to stop! I stopped to be on the safe side and creeped forward until I could tell that he was actually telling me to stop. While I was stopped I tried really hard to see what was going on. 

My first thought was "I hope that wasn't Crystal (a girl I work with)." Then I thought, "Surely that's not Derek." 

Finally they waved me forward and I crept past the wreckage. I didn't see anyone standing on the side of the road, just a family sitting on the other side watching what was going on. 

Then I saw the car. I saw the entire front end of the car was smushed up. I thought, that looks like my car. 

Then I noticed it was black. 

Then my eyes saw that it was a Corolla. 

I swerved into the nearest drive way and jumped out of the car and started to run over to someone who could tell me what happened to my car and my family, when Derek and his dad drove by and told me what had happened. 

Derek was on his way to pick up Thomas, with both girls in the backseat. Kristen was in Anna-Kate's car seat and Anna-Kate was buckled in the middle. Derek couldn't see the road very well because the sun at that time of day is right at the top of the hill he was going up. He could not see the car that had stopped in the road in front of him and by the time he knew it was there he had no chance to stop.

Derek's jaw hit the steering wheel and his body crumpled around it. He tried to turn the car back on and it wouldn't start. Then he got out and went to open the back door to get the girls out and it was locked. He saw his mom drive by and he waved her down. She came over and helped him get the girls out, both of whom were very scared and crying. 

The other woman was driving a Chevy Equinox. Her bumper was banged up pretty bad (Derek said the car went under hers. ) Thankfully she wasn't hurt.

The girls were pretty upset so Derek's mom took them on to her house. Once she got Anna-Kate out of the car, Anna-Kate started crying about her leg and ankle hurting. Both the girls were pretty upset by the whole thing. 

When we got to Derek's parents house it was so hard to see Anna-Kate so upset! She was crying about her leg/ ankle. She wouldn't put any weight on it and just wanted to be held. We decided to wait and take her to our pediatrician in the morning to get her checked out.

At that point I just wanted to maintain some normalcy for Anna-Kate and do something that would take her mind off of the wreck. I told her we could go get ice cream or go home or go to Ryne's football game.

Anna-Kate chose the football game. We went and ended up leaving about 5 or 10 minutes later. We wanted to give her a bath but she threw a fit, so we just read her a book and put her to bed.

She had a horrible night, waking up two or three times. I think Derek ended up sleeping with her for a while. When she woke up, she tried to stand up but her little knees buckled and she lost it.

Our normal pediatrician was off but we were able to get her to the doctor that afternoon. We kind of debated whether or not to take her because we thought it was just a sprain. Most of the swelling had gone away by the morning. Derek took the morning off work but I went to work until her appointment.

The doctor was so nice and seemed to think it was just a sprain too. He sent us for x-rays just to be sure. We were surprised to learn that Anna-Kate had actually broke both the bones in her leg, right above her ankle! They sent us over to have an orthopedic doctor evaluate the break. It's not a real serious break and they think that she will heal pretty quickly. They decided to put a cast on her.

Anna-Kate cried the whole time! We knew she loved pink so she has a nice pink little cast from just below her knee on. I had to hold her foot while he wrapped it. I was really glad to know that they now have water-proof casts, so she can take a bath without having to wrap it up or anything! She will be in the cast for a month!

Poor thing! While we were waiting to get the cast put on I saw where her little arm had bruises up it. It's so hard to think about what could have happened. We have definitely learned our lesson.

We picked Kristen up from school and let Anna-Kate go in and see her teachers and classmates. That really perked her up! We spent the evening with Derek's family, to help keep Anna-Kate's mind off of things. Then we took her for ice cream and let Kristen spend the night. They played really well and it didn't take Anna-Kate long to learn how to get Kristen to fetch what she wanted. At one point she sent Kristen in to tell us that she needed to go potty. Derek said, "has she gone already?" Kristen replied "umm... no her leg is broke, she can't walk!" lol. It was cute.

Anna-Kate woke up several times because she was uncomfortable. Neither girl slept too well so Anna-Kate was still pretty fussy today.

She finally got some rest and has slowly started getting back to her old self. We're just waiting on her to start walking in her cast! Right now she's pretty scared it's going to hurt. I am enjoying keeping her in one spot right now! :)

Derek and I are working hard on getting our attitudes right. I'm sorry for the complaining, it's just been such a tough time for us lately!

I really feel blessed to have my family. I know that things could have been so much worse.

Today we all managed to have a rather peaceful morning, despite a crazy drop-off routine (thanks to just having one car we have a bit of juggling to do for a while!). I had a much better day and I know that this week is going to be great. Plus, we had our phones turned on this morning! Yipee!!