I love you and your family sooooooooooooo much!!!!

Secondly, Mike, I continue to pray for Chris and your family. I keep up with the news through your blog and through JoAnn.

Blessings,
Lynn Trigg

We are all so thankful that he is doing well! Tell him “Hi”!

LOVE!

Glad to hear everyone is doing great Mike. This group in general is in my daily prayers - always nice to make it more individualized. In addition to the kids continued progress - I guess one of my bigger concerns is the emotional progress (as well as physical)of the driver. I pray God’s healing power for her and her family.

Steve

I think about and pray for all of these families (including yours) quite often and usually with tears in my eyes. I am so thankful that God is working through all of this-as I saw when I was in Lubbock when the Green Lawn accident happened and now being in Abilene and at Highland-it has just amazed me what a community of faith can do and also what God can do through tragedy and heartache. Praise Him for His faithfulness and I pray continued blessings upon Chris, Jon Westin, Austin, Amara, Beth, Chris P, Julie and the Bourland’s.

Thanks for sharing this journey with us…

As I’ve mentioned before on this blog — our family spends most nights on the baseball field at Cedar Creek. Brody was the pitcher on our All Stars team last year. He was amazingly talented. This year, we go to the field and he’s not there — he is missed! But out in Center Field at the fence there is a big banner up in his honor! Houston (my nephew) has been pitching this season for our team the Bulldogs. He really looked up to Brody last year. Every time this year Houston went up to pitch — he would write Brody’s name and number in the sand on the mound and then he would take off his baseball cap where he had written Brody’s name on the inside brim and kiss it before he started pitching. He came up with this ritual all on his own at the age of 10 — no one prompted it. One day last week a parent leaned over to me and asked me what Houston was doing and I shared his ritual with her. She smiled as tears rolled down her cheeks because children can teach us a lot about life and at his young age, he’s found a special way to honor his friend. He made us all proud by doing so.

A couple of weeks ago Houston had had a really tough game and we lost and he was crying after the game. He took it really hard because Houston takes baseball very seriously! Who was there to give him a huge hug after the game and sit with him and tell him it was ok? Brody’s mom — Jennifer (their youngest son had just finished playing on the field behind us). She sat up in the bleachers with him — just the two of them — and consoled a sad boy who simply was upset over a baseball game. And later on that night when I was talking to Houston, he said, “You know — Jennifer just made my day.” He wasn’t crying about baseball anymore. The Bourlands are first-class people –reaching out to others even in their own horrific time of grief. We continue to offer them up in prayer.

I am so thankful that God did not take Chris and that he spared Diane, Matt, yourself, and the entire Highland family further grief. Isn’t it a joy to know that Brody’s memory lives on with such fervor, humility, and love? I think of all of them often and I’m thankful that God is eternally faithful! Be blessed today.

The parents of Brody, Chris’s friend (who was sitting in the back seat with him and was killed), are two of my heroes. They have determined to both (1) enter fully into grief instead of pretend, and (2) try to go on with life. These are amazing people. You never know who your heroes are going to turn out to be. Diane and I feel bonded to them in ways we never could have anticipated — because of Megan’s death and because of the wreck.

Chris, as I mentioned, is still wearing his back brace. We don’t know much more about what’s happening with his L4 vertebrae. More X-rays next week.

Jon Westin has been spotted at church without his wheelchair (on crutches). We’re very thankful for that. He had to return to Cook’s for, I guess, a couple months battling infection in his leg. It was so serious, and he appears to be improving.

Amara is an amazing young woman (the two girls were 8th graders, the boys were 6th graders), whose joy and faith have been contagious to others. She’s still doing some rehab and there are some remaining questions about the leg that was broken.

(On all of these, I’m trying to give the kind of report that’s public, while protecting the privacy of the kids and families.)

The other three kids bounced back fairly quickly after the wreck. That doesn’t mean there aren’t emotional issues, of course!

JF, the driver, seems to be progressing as well.

Thanks so much for asking.

As a relatively new father (4 3/4 yr. old girl), the hardest thing for me to handle on a daily basis is the realization of her vulnerbility to life and my lack of control to completely protect her. Sometimes these thoughts begin to overwhelm me. The only tool that has helped so far is to just start praying during those mental moments. Your comments today and Chris’s trial just remind more than ever I have to pray and turn it over to God. I also confess this dependency is not comfortable.

I know it was hard to write, thanks for doing so.

God watch over our children,

Tony

Tony’s Blog

About the basketball goal–one of my favorite memories of the last 3 months will be eating at your house while Jason McArthur became a human backboard for the goal. Truly hilarious.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with all of us.

How are all the other boys doing now? And the family who lost their son and the lady driving the Yukon? I think of all of you so often as I’ve been praying for you all, wondering what each day brings . . .