December 15, 2017. It all started out as a normal Friday afternoon. I was headed out to meet with my Jarai ladies to study to book of John. Becca, Isaiah, and Anna decided to come along so they could play with their friends. Right after I got out of our little town I noticed a large semi-truck some distance behind me. We live on a highway that goes to Vietnam and there are often large vehicles (recklessly) zooming in both directions. I remember thinking what would we do if that truck doesn’t slow down and just plows into us. We neared the church and that’s about the last thing I remember.
That truck slammed into us. There is no evidence that I went unconscious. From the bruises on my head I must have hit the left front and back sides of my head. I had a gash in the top back of my head that required 3 stitches. I only have two memories from the next hour and a half after the accidnet. I remember being aware that it was quite sunny, I was outside, there were people around, and Pastor Chuol was somewhere around me. I couldn’t understand why Pastor Chuol, who is normally in bed when we visit him, was helping me. My next memory is of being in a car (a police car) with Clara on my lap. I knew one of my Jarai ladies was in the front seat. I can’t remember if I was aware my entire family was in the back with me.
Shortly after we got to the hospital about 15 minutes away from our house (think small clinic) my mind started retaining information and I knew I was on a bed and had a head injury. And then I stopped asking Josh the same questions over and over again. I’d been in an accident. The kids were fine. I needed stitches. And man did my head hurt!
Let me go back and try to piece together what happened. The semi assumed that I was slowing down to let him pass. So as I was turning into the church, he began to pass me (probably at a pretty good speed). The semi struck the back driver’s side of our vehicle causing our car to spin. We spun and then smacked into a small house owned by Pastor Chuol at the front of the road. Our car ended up facing the road and it looked as though I had simply backed into the house. (Pastor Chuol was using this house to occasionally sell a few items. Thankfully no one was in the house at the time.)
Thankfully our kids were fine. I think they were all crying. Becca stay one of the first things I said was “stop yelling at me.” Isaiah got my phone out of my backpack and Becca gave it to me to call Josh. She says I told her I wasn’t sure I knew how to use a phone. I called Josh and told him I had hit something but I didn’t know where I was or what had happened. By that time Pastor Chuol was at the car and I handed the phone to him. He was able to tell Josh that there had been an accident. He wasn’t very specific and said I’d hit my head. Josh immediately got on his moto with Clara and made the ride out to the church.
When the crash took place, a lady who lives next to the church and works with the children heard the it. Pastor Chuol told her to see what had happened (his wife wasn’t at home). She and another lady who lives near the church and who was getting ready to study with me, were the first people at the car. When they wanted to help me out of the car I asked them to wait a minute and get the children out first. They said I touched my head several times and said that it was bleeding. (I was thrilled to hear that even in my confused state, I was still speaking Khmer.)
The ladies got the kids out of the car and then helped me get out and walk to the back of the car. They got a mat and a pillow and helped me lay down. Some Khmer people went and bought alcohol and helped clean the back of my head. During this time I’m told that I asked the ladies and Becca the same questions over and over again: What happened? Who was in the car? Who was sitting in the front? Where’s Anna? (I guess I couldn’t see her since she was walking around with one of the ladies.) Where’s Daddy? Are you hurt? The best question I’ve heard so far was one I asked in Khmer: Do I have a husband? I think that must have been early on. Thankfully Becca very patiently answered my questions.
When Josh arrived he never saw the back of our car and didn’t realize how bad we’d been hit. I asked him the same sort of questions until a police car came to take us to the hospital (think clinic) about 20 minutes away from the church. I couldn’t even understand why I had been in the car in the first place. I was quite confused about the town we were going to – as though I’d never heard of it. Josh said I asked all the questions in a voice that sounded as though I was emotionally hurt.
It was finally at the hospital that I made my first connection. I asked Josh what day it was and when I found out it was Friday I asked if I had been going to teach the ladies. At that point Josh knew I was coming back and I slowly started to process things.
The clinic bed was outside in a pavilion-like area. The bed was an iron frame with metal slats across it and very uncomfortable. They put a mat on top of it. Josh had called JD and Brain (our co-workers) and they met us at the hospital and helped with the kids. The doctor asked me if my head hurt (haha) and the proceeded to give me three stitches. Thankfully he only had a shave a small area of my head which was hardly noticeable. And he stitched the gauze bandage right onto my head – clever!
It was decided that we would travel to Stung Treng (3 hours away) so I could get a CT scan to check my head. Josh and the kids went back to the house with Brian to pack some stuff and JD stayed with me in the hospital. Eventually we drove to Ban Lung, left the kids with the Crowleys, and Josh and I drove to Stung Treng for the scan. It was a new machine and a smooth process. I was given the clear and we headed to a hotel for the night.
The next day we headed home. We ended up stopping at several places and didn’t get to our house until around 3 in the afternoon. I was worn out. We made a quick stop at the police station to see our car. Josh was shocked to see the damage. Almost as soon as we got home we had several visitors from our neighborhood come to see how I was. They had all seen pictures of the accident on the news and were anxious to hear about it. Sunday after church Pastor Chuol’s wife came to visit and later the jr. high kids and teachers came to visit. (I did go to church that Sunday to run a rehearsal for the Christmas program, but went home before the preaching started.)
To wrap up: The semi that hit us was owned by our well-to-do neighbor’s sister’s mother. They were anxious to take care of things and talked to us Saturday night about what we would agree to do. They have agreed to pay for our medical expenses and pay to have our car fixed. If the car cannot be fixed, they will pay for the car. Our car is currently at the mechanic. It’s taken me awhile to recover from the concussion. I struggled with light and noise sensitivity and exhaustion. It made Christmas week with all it’s extra activity hard. Thankfully most of these issues have cleared up. I still notice a difference once the sun goes down.
We’re so thankful for God’s protection. Thankful that the accident took place right outside our church where people who knew us could help us. So thankful that the kids were with people they knew. Thankful that Pastor Chuol was able to be involved in helping our family. He was feeling well enough that day to crawl out to the car and assist our family. Thankful that Josh doesn’t have to deal with a wife who can’t remember anything! Thankful.
One other thing. We were overwhelmed at the generosity of our Jarai brothers and sisters. When Josh was at the accident a man from our church handed him $25. The lady who rode with us to the hospital slipped $5 into my hands. Later our church gave us over $50. One week later a group from another nearby Jarai church came by to pray over me and slipped over $20 into our hands. This is a lot of money for people who don’t have a lot. We were so blessed to see the love of Christ overflowing in the lives of our Jarai brothers and sisters.
This week we took a quick trip to Laos to change our Cambodian visa type. The Laos border is about 4 hours from our home and it was the easiest way to leave Cambodia and reenter to obtain new visas. This was our first time to Laos and since we had to buy Laos visas we decided to spend a full day in the country.
Both the first (Monday) and third (Wednesday) days of our three day trip were taken up with travel and crossing the border. On the way to Laos we ran several errands in Ban Lung and had lunch with our team members in Stung Treng. It took us over an hour to cross the border and then we had over a 2 hour drive to Pakse, Laos. We arrived after dark. Our hotel was right along the Mekong River.
Tuesday was our fun day without any border crossing. In the morning Josh and Clara walked around the hotel and had coffee, while everyone else slept in until 7. We had a great breakfast at our hotel and headed out to see some waterfalls in the area. The first was neat to see, but we couldn’t get very close.
The second waterfall was more kid-friendly and the kids enjoyed climbing behind the waterfall with Josh and riding a raft up to the falls. After a very late lunch, we enjoyed the hotel pool until we took baths ( the kids loved having a real bathtub!), ate supper in our room, and ended the evening with watching Toby Tyler (an old Disney movie I enjoyed as a kid).
On our way back to Cambodia, we were delayed over two hours at the border. Border crossings take time, especially with multiple kids. However on the Cambodian side of the border we ran into a snag when the officials didn’t want to issue us the new (NGO) type of visa, since our old visas don’t run out until August. The reason we were doing this early is because our other option for getting the new type of visa was to wait until we were in Thailand for the birth of our new baby. That would require us to wait for the baby’s passport number before we could start the initial paperwork and could possibly keep us in Thailand 5+ weeks after the baby is born. It took quite some time to explain that we needed to make the change now, but finally the officials agreed. Thanks be to God.
We arrived home Wednesday night after dark. We’re so thankful for the safety God gave us on our travels and for the success in getting our new visas. We’re thankful for the extra vacation day we could have as a family enjoying doing fun things without errands or other things to take care of. Thanks be to God.
