This episode was about a woman who was rear ended by a semi on the freeway. The unthinkable happened and possibly everyone's worst nightmare (at least my own) became a reality for this family. Her three children were sitting in the backseat of the minivan (two girls and one boy ages 2, 4, 6) and were all killed in the accident. The mom survived the accident and she thinks she survived as not to leave her husband alone because she knew he wouldn't have been able to bear it if she'd passed too.
I cried more than once listening to the woman and her husband tell their story. I just couldn't imagine the pain and heartache they experienced in losing all three of their children at the same time. No one should ever have to experience such a tragedy. I had no idea what the "miraculous twist of fate" part could be, there's no way there could be a happy ending to this story.
But there was, and the miracle was this: almost one year after the accident they gave birth to THREE babies! Wanna know the crazy part? They were two girls and one boy! This couple knew they wanted to continue having kids and got pregnant 3 months after the accident with the help of invitro...leading them to have triplets! What are the odds? Seriously. God's hand must have been apart of this miracle.
I don't necessarily believe that everything happens for a reason, especially the bad things. But this miracle says to me that maybe this wasn't Heavenly Father's plan for this family, so maybe he blessed them with more children, not to take the place of the other children but to bring this family joy again. This was a happier ending than I ever could have dreamed up.
Sometimes it's just easier to think that everything happens for a reason, but we were sent on this earth to exercise our agency. The Lord may prompt us to make a choice or not to, but the choices we make may have a positive or negative affect on those around us. In this case, the truck drivers failure to slow down caused this family to lose their children. Was this meant to be? We'll never know. But I'm sure this couple has learned a lot experiencing this trail together. Nie Nie says that she wouldn't be the person and mother she is now had she not experienced her trial. And if Bethany Hamilton had not had her arm bitten off by a shark (we just watched Soul Surfer), she said she wouldn't of had the chance to tell people about her story and her faith. I really liked that she saw the positive in her trial. Good movie, highly recommend it.
Anyway, I don't know why I just went on this rant but continuing on...I was sitting alone watching this episode and missed my family. Eric texted me and said he was coming home, I was so excited and just wanted to give Eric and Leila a hug. I told him to drive safe and drive for those around him too (I'm a huge worrier, what can I say). He asked me what I'd been watching. He knows me too well.
What I learned from this episode is that time doesn't heal all wounds, it's what you do with that time that does. Oprah said you have to face things straight on in order to move on.
As this couple was sharing their story, they were showing tons of videos and pictures of the kids. I was thinking that it's a good thing they had so many pictures and videos to share. What if they hadn't taken a picture or taken videos of their kids doing "normal" things they maybe didn't think was important. They would have only memories to share and it would have made for a really boring Oprah episode with no photos/videos of the kids.
Right before I sat down to watch this episode, I was going to start a blog post about my week but was too lazy and decided what I had to share wasn't important...we just went here, did this, and did that. Nothing inspiring or exciting for others to read. But I'm blogging for me and my kid(s) and I'm going to want to remember the little things Leila and I did together, I'm sure she will too. What if it was the last picture, the last video? This episode inspired me to continue blogging about the little moments that we share even when I get lazy.
So here's what I was too lazy to blog about...via an Instagram mashup.
Billy and Iris invited us over for my birthday dinner. It was complete with pizza, the best brownies ever, and a beautiful dream catcher necklace (I always had one above my bed growing up). I'm happy to report that after living here a short time (since the end of June), Billy, Iris, and Samuel are loving life in Utah. Billy and Iris both have jobs and Samuel has lots of friends and is loving his school. Iris worked at a public elementary school in California and now works at Samuel's school. She said the education is like night and day. At Samuel's school the teachers are better (more respectful to the kids), food is better (organic), after programs are cooler (offer instrument classes, etc), and everyone is friendlier. Granted, this is going from public to charter but it's reassuring to have Iris tell me how much better she feels the school system is in Utah. She's so much happier with the education Samuel is receiving and said only the wealthier kids could afford better schools in California, but not here. Eric and I have both been leaning towards putting Leila in a charter school but luckily we don't need to make that decision for another 4 years or so.
Running up the Provo Canyon has been routine for us this summer. Eric runs up there almost every morning, we try to go together as a family once a week, and Leila and I go a couple times a week. Leila is my good little running buddy and my goal is to run a 5k or 10k by the end of the year. I can run 4 miles without too long of a break so we'll see how far I can push myself. Leila and I love company and Laura and Violet joined us this week. On the trail we came across two fluffy looking caterpillars. We saved their lives by moving them to the side of the trail as not to get crushed by bikers, runners, and rollerbladers. The girls didn't seem to know what to think of the tiny fluffy thing.
Why is Leila in her diaper again? Well, we were starving after our run and I had a birthday coupon from Tucano's in my wallet. It was calling our name so after very satisfied bellies, we let the girls play in the little water park. Violet was having a ball, drinking the water and sitting on the spouts. Leila was a little hesitant at first but then dove right in. It's totally her personality too, it usually takes her a minute to warm up to things, once she gets the hang of it she's all about it.
Rachel and I had a playdate at Thanksgiving Point's Children's Garden. It's a fun little place and they have little activities for the kids along the way. Leila couldn't quite keep up with Max since they're 10 months apart but she still got her hands dirty and had her first taste of sand. Max is so sweet with Leila and plays so softly with her.
I swear Leila's been in her diaper so much this Summer because it happened again on this day. They have a little water play area for the kids...no swimsuit = diaper time again (need to just keep one in my bag). Eric was looking at the blog at work one day and his friend saw the picture of Leila in her diaper playing the in the puddle with Bella and Jadie. He said, "life be tough in the streets, huh?". My child does look a little homely but we do with what we've got and what kind of mother would I be if I deprived her of any chance she had to play in the water? I spared the diaper pictures.
That's been my week in a nutshell. It's been a great one and we're so blessed to be healthy, happy, and have such wonderful friends and family to share our life with.
i loved this post.
ReplyDeleteThat's right Cynthia you got it, we enjoy life as it comes one day at a time, keep having fun. love mom
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