Stressed...but hopeful

John and I are tired, stressed, whooped, and the list continues. We have been living in a hotel now for the past 6 weeks since our newly purchased condo got flooded. The lady's toilet above us decided to overflow at 4:00 in the morning the day we returned from our nice vacation in Vancouver. Since it continued for an hour and a half, our entire condo got destroyed, ruining half the ceilings and walls, the entire floor throughout the condo, and a fair amount of our belongings. John has so diligently worked at fixing up the place along with the contractor we hired. Considering the fact that we already had decided to update the bathrooms at some point while living there, we went ahead and seized the opportunity to fix everything up all at the same time. John has scraped the popcorn ceilings, tiled a beautiful pattern into the master bathroom floor, remodeled the fireplace, built new cabinets for the master bath, and done a variety of other things. We are hoping to move back in within the next week, as long as we have one working bathroom and light fixtures in place. It will probably be another month before everything is completed. Hopefully in enough time for us to leave for our month long trip to China so my brother can still house sit.
In other stressful news, our wedding photos turned out so horribly that we have to pay another photographer to retake the pictures of John and I and edit those we do have. We met with a professional today who was absolutely stunned at the lack of professional work our photographer did. So much so that even with all the new edits that can be done these days, few will come out well. It is so sad! I'm about to cry another river of tears. So much for paying several thousand dollars to someone we thought would work out. The worst thing is that we can't get our special day back, and he screwed it up. He gave us some of our money back, but not all. We are reporting him to the Better Business Bureau.
Fortunately we have exciting news too! We leave for China 4 weeks from today! We will be there for almost a month just visiting old friends in the city I used to live in. It is a dream come true to return to the place I loved so much! I can't wait to bring my husband to a country where I have some of my best memories. And I can't wait to walk him down memory lane as we stay in the city and take a few trips out to the countryside I enjoyed so much.
No pics today. Maybe next post. See y'all later.

15 Years Later...

This week has brought about many different emotions for both John and I. We have spent an incredible amount of time in reflection on the events that took place just 15 years ago in a little town called Mineola.

On June 8, 1992, DCBC (Dallas Chinese Bible Church) loaded up 3 vans with excited teens headed for a summer camp in East Texas. John was new to the church, having only met a few of the other kids previously. At just 16 years of age, John didn't know that his life would change dramatically as he ventured from Dallas with this large group of students. He never realized how close death could stare him in the face.

John's van was the middle one, trailing closely behind the group of young middle schoolers ahead, the youngest of the high schoolers behind. Trying to get their bearings to find their way to the camp, the drivers approached a large and dangerous intersection in Mineola. They had no idea just how infamous this particular intersection was for traffic accidents, having had 22 in the previous 8 years, killing a few people, and injuring many more. After stopping at the two-way stop sign, Betty, John's van driver, pulled out to follow the van ahead. As the van drove through the intersection, a 12 ton cement truck, fully loaded, plowed their van, dragging them 200 yards down Highway 69. John recalls seeing the large, orange truck approach them quickly. He remembers nothing more.

On that day, 4 kids and the driver Betty were killed. The two girls sitting on the same seat next to John died despite resuscitative efforts made to save their lives. Betty died on impact, and Raymond and Jonathan, sitting behind John, never made it out of the van that burst into flames the moment it was struck by the truck. Everyone else was pulled out by friends and strangers who witnessed the event. The other 10 people in the van were injured, most of them seriously. The kids suffered burns, blunt trauma, internal bleeding, and head injuries. John got a traumatic head injury and endured major brain surgery as a result of the accident.

Last week John was a counselor and I was the camp nurse at the same church camp that the kids were on their way to in '92. After the camp ended on Sunday, we headed to the intersection where the accident occured. Below is a picture of John standing at the now well-marked site, traffic lights and all. They have since leveled the ground where before was the blinding hill the cement truck driver appeared from. They finally put stop lights there too. It's really sad that it took such a tragedy for the state to finally mark the intersection well. It should have been done a long time before the '90s.

I wasn't in John's life when the accident happened. Maybe that's why I am grieving so much now. John's been through that. The other survivors have mourned. The families of the deceased have grieved too. I think it's my time now. My time to weep for the deaths of these precious children. My time to rejoice for the lives that were saved.

Genesis says, "Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This verse is becoming more real to me through the deep emotions that I have experienced this week. I believe that this is one of the many mysteries of God. We as humans cannot possibly comprehend how two people become one through marriage. Yet somehow we are so intricately united, both in body and in spirit. And as I encounter God, my beloved spouse walks alongside me. I long to experience the pain, the sorrow, and the joy that my husband has experienced through this accident. I desire deeply to walk through life right beside him, and to encounter the Spirit with him. This IS a mystery.

I can't possibly connect the wealth of emotions and feelings I have and understand exactly what I they mean. That's ok. I have spent much of this week in tears, both sad and grateful. I praise the Lord for saving this wonderful man that I call my husband. My sweet John survived. And if for nothing else, to meet his wife. As this week comes to an end, if I don't feel another thing, I feel blessed...blessed to have this person in my life whom God abundantly loves.

(Jenny, Stanley, and Mikayla with us at the cemetary)

This is a picture of us and the Wang's at Raymond and Jonathan's gravesite. Yesterday on the 15th anniversary, we met each other to remember the lives of the kids who died, and to celebrate the lives that the survivors now live. Jenny was also in the accident with John and miraculously survived. So was Stanley's brother. We had a beautiful time with them at their house this week, talking about the events that occured that dreary day, and reflecting on their feelings both then and now.

I don't know why, but I am tirelessly seeking to put the pieces together, to surface the details of that day, and to understand what the survivors and the families went through. John and I are praying about how we can keep this story alive. We want to show God's faithfulness in the midst of both life and death. Starting with one of the teens that saw the accident from the van behind, and then on to Jenny, we have begun to talk to the people who were there that day and the family members of all the kids involved. It is our hope to write a book with the collection of the many stories we have already been and will be told.
For the first time, I see how God's faithfullness and glory somehow permeate even the most tragic and painful situations. All praise to Him!