What a Weekend!!

This weekend was supposed to be one of joy and excitement, but turned into one of fear, dread and concern. My brother-in-law Dave was due to come home from Iraq after a year deployment on Sunday, so we had decided to drive down to Utah on Saturday to be there for the celebration.

Friday morning I received a phone call from my mother-in-law informing me that his daughter, my niece, Hollie, was severely injured in a car accident in Provo canyon. She was taking a roommate to Heber, when a car going the opposite direction slid on snow and ice and hit her head on. She was in critical condition with a broken arm, broken foot, leg, and we later found out, a broken back. Thankfully, the army saw fit to let her father, who was luckily already in the states, to come home two days early to be be with his daughter.

By the time we got to the hospital Friday night, we learned some amazing things. First, was that both cars had passengers in them and both were fine. Second, that Hollie's spine had not been permanently injured. The doctors said that if the bone had moved more than 1mm more, she would have been paralyzed. And third, a bystander who had witnessed the accident right after it happened, came over to the cars to see if he could help. At that point, Hollie was screaming hysterically from all the pain and this man offered to give her a blessing. She accepted and as soon as he was done, she stopped screaming.

Hollie has since had several blessings, one before each surgery, and some for comfort. We were actually able to speak with her a little bit, and she said she knew how blessed and lucky she was. She is young and strong and determined and has such great friends and family to help her that we know she is going to be ok.

We are so grateful for the Priesthood and for our knowledge of the gospel. Sometimes we don't know why Heavenly Father sees fits to allow these challenges to come, but we know that He will be with us through it all.