Last Saturday I sent out an urgent plea for prayer partners for a special adoptive family. The entire family, other than adult children, was involved in an accident resulting in both parents having broken backs. The nine children, riding in the 15-passenger van, only suffered minor cuts and bruises. Many of you joined me in special prayer for them and some of you even took the request to your fellow prayer warriors so I wanted to give you an update.

The parents, Lisa and Ron, were released from the hospital in Pennsylvania on Monday. Their relatives brought them back to Michigan and Lisa’s sister took the five-year-old autistic twins back to Pennsylvania for a couple of weeks. The twins are not potty-trained and require a lot of hands-on care. A teacher is helping with the boys who have Down syndrome by picking them up and dropping them off each day so Lisa doesn’t have to get them on or off the school bus. Their daughter and new son-in-law stayed until Thursday caring for the children, and then returned to their missions training in Oregon.
Both parents are wearing molded braces that wrap around the body from the breast area down to the hip area. They each have a walker to use getting around the house. They are not supposed to stand for more than a few minutes at a time. They will be going to the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor on Thursday to see a specialist and to find out what the next step will be. Ron has a compression fracture of lumbar one and Lisa had a disc shatter.

They are both very thankful that none of their children were injured in the accident that broke their backs. They fully realize that things could have been much worse and they are thankful to be alive. The 15-passenger van is totaled; a deep “V” divides the front bumper in half. The passenger side is caved-in from the front quarter panel past the side doors and the air bags never opened.

People from their church and our homeschool group are taking meals to the family each night. The homeschool group is helping to organize Christmas gifts for the family and so is our Foster Adoptive Family Resource & Support Center (FAFR&SC). Ron, the father, will be off from work for at least 12 weeks because he loads trucks at a Wal-Mart distribution center and will need to be fully healed to return to work.

A representative from the FAFR&SC contacted the Michigan Children’s Institute (MCI) to ask them to expedite the paperwork on the 10-year-old’s adoption. The family has been visiting with this special needs child for several weeks but she must spend one night a week with her previous foster parents who live two hours away. Every Saturday the family was making a four hour round trip to take her and every Sunday the same trip to pick her up. Obviously, the parents cannot do that with broken backs and the foster parents refuse to transport.

The MCI’s office did pull the file and they hope to have her case approved by this Friday. The 10 year old functions at about the three-year-old level so returning to her foster family every weekend is pretty traumatic and confusing for her. Thank you all so much for your prayers and sharing your love.

Other blogs inspired by their family:

Adoptive Prayer Partners Needed
About Down syndrome (DS)
Both Have Down Syndrome, Both Are Different
Autistic Twin Toddlers
Photo Credit Julia Fuller 2007