From: rodhugen
Date: Fri Sep  5 10:11:30 EDT 2008
Subject: Part 2

It is eleven at night here and I'm too tired to be doing this, but I wanted to share the next part of our trip to see Kelsea. We drove to Phoenix and parked my car at my Mom's house and she took us to the airport. I left my phone in the car. I hate it because I had GPS and all kinds of much needed data in it and it would be nice to make calls and text and make contact with people I'd love to make contact with. So that is a bummer. The flight was uneventful and Eric and I sat across the aisle from each other. I managed to sleep a bit, but Eric doesn't do sleeping on planes. When we got into Boise we found the Sleep Inn and checked in, stopped to get a bite to eat, and then drove to St. Alphonsus Hospital. Kelsea's dad met us and brought us up to date on her condition. We stayed sitting in the waiting area and met her mother, step-mother, grandma, and little sister. Eventually we got to go into the ICU and see her. It was hard to walk in and see this precious friend so badly hurt. She knew our voices and called us by name and was a bit confused about whether she was in Tucson or Boise. We gathered around her with the family and prayed for her. She prayed also, though it was a bit tangential. I love that God hears our prayers and answers them and that the Spirit intercedes on our behalf. I confessed my powerlessness to God. It was startling to realize in the face of her devastating injuries that all we have is Jesus to offer. All our own strength and power is useless. It is mind blowing to know in that moment that God loves more than we can fathom and that he never lets go. It was so hard to touch her broken, bruised body and overcome the fear of causing her even more pain and simply offer her to the One who made her and fashioned her and loves her. I dreaded seeing her in this condition, but the moment I did I felt compassion down to the core of my being and simply longed to make her the way she is supposed to be. And all we could do is reassure her of our love and God's love and pray. I told her we had brought Blue Bunny along. It is a stuffed bunny she has had since she was two years old. She corrected me and told me it was Violet Bunny. She smiled when she said it and it made my heart jump for joy. She also had a funny exchange with her doctor that made us all laugh and she grinned, also. She says that she is sorry a lot and no one quite knows what she is sorry about. We assure her she has done nothing wrong and she tells us she loves us. Afterward, we went with the family to dinner at Red Robin and got to learn more about them and also try to encourage their hearts. It was a good time and helpful so that we could better know how to pray. This morning we slept in a bit and then went to breakfast. I am a potato pancake fan and discovered that Idaho potatoes make great ones. We got to the hospital and were updated on her condition. She was to have an MRI at noon to determine the extent of the damage to the spinal cord. At noon they took her for the MRI. Some friends of her dad brought in lunch and we had a time of sharing over food. We then left to return some books for refund to Boise State University for her parents who had intended to take classes this semester. They went off to catch some sleep. It was nice to be able to serve them. This afternoon we found out that they were unable to complete the MRI because of the amount of metal in her back so we remain in the dark about the extent of the damage. There is also great fear about pneumonia or other pulmonary problems arising because of her inability to move. They inserted a tube into her nose to suction out the mucous in an attempt to alleviate that potential problem. Please pray against that and any other complications. Eric and I went in to the room this evening and prayed over her and read Scripture to her. It was a powerful time of sharing our love and asking God to heal her. I could feel the power leave me as I prayed and flow into her. I pleaded with God to make her whole and to rebuild that which has been devastated. Eric said that while we prayed her heart rate slowed and that she seemed at peace. We continued to talk to her and she fell asleep. It was good to put my hand on her head and call down God's mercy and grace on her as Eric recited Scripture and read her favorite passages. I marked her room with the sign of the cross and blessed her and her bed. It seemed like something I needed to do. I was exhausted and so was Eric and we left shortly afterward although we were able to meet her brother, Mike. There was no mistaking that they are brother and sister. We drove downtown and found a Thai food restaurant and ate a quiet and peaceful dinner together. We walked through the beautiful downtown area, alive with music and street performers and the smells of great food and drink. I then got us lost returning to the hotel and we also drove up to the RiteAid ten minutes after it closed. If I hadn't steered us wrong... :) I love Eric. I love ministering with him. I love that we are here on this mission to pray and to remind Kelsea and her family of God's great love. I'm going to sleep, now. I'll try to write more late. Thanks for your prayers and love. They sustain us. Pray for our Kelsea. She is precious in God's sight. Rod

Edit this response
Write a response Email the author

From: Boojeee
Date: Fri Sep  5 12:15:58 EDT 2008
Subject: communion

From: kimc
Date: Fri Sep  5 17:06:34 EDT 2008
Subject: touched

From: rodhugen
Date: Sat Sep  6 10:07:33 EDT 2008
Subject: Part 3

I had restless nights the last two nights. My hands and arms hurt, turn red, and swell up and I can't move my legs a lot. Those of you who know me well understand that this is my empathic response to spending lots of time praying for someone I love. So Friday morning Eric had to call my room because I didn't respond to his knock on the door and because I had fallen into a deep sleep. I ended up falling asleep in the waiting room. Eric says I start snoring and wake myself up. Prayer is a lot of work and tiring. Perhaps it should be our only work. Much more might be 'accomplished' if we simply interacted with our loving God about our hopes, desires, and deep longings. This morning is better and I feel much more rested. I am ready to go pray again. Kelsea is doing much better. Yesterday they pulled all three tubes from her chest and she was able to eat and drink for the first time! The morning had been a pretty dark time because of setbacks in her condition and because of our fears about her. As we shared with her family we were able to touch our anger at God for allowing this inexplicable event to happen and mourn all that has been lost. As I have said before, I know God is good and loving and not the author of evil, but I also know that in his sovereignty he can change the course of human events as he chooses. In the end, I have no choice but to bow before him and choose to believe that his grace will overwhelm us even more once we see how he works even this to good. But reaching that place is a process and not an event. So pray that we will stop asking why and simply touch our deep sadness and anger and seek to know his comforting grace. Her mom and dad are way beyond exhaustion and need to be lifted up in our prayers. Also pray against the guilt they all feel for allowing their daughter to drive a new vehicle to Tucson and to make the trip alone. It is Satanic guilt intended to destroy them and it has no place. Of course, we all keep saying that it would have been impossible to keep Kelsea from doing whatever it took to get back to Tucson and the Village and her friends and her little dog, Roxy. She is redheaded, strong willed, and knows her own mind. That should serve her well in her healing process. Well maybe not the red headed part. :) We had a couple of beautiful times reading Scripture to her and praying over her yesterday. Investigators found her Bible in the wreck. It was the Bible we gave her for her baptism. I remember getting it embossed with her name only to discover at the baptism party that they had embossed it upside down. Kelsea thought it was a hoot and wouldn't let me return it. So Eric read verses she had underlined in her 'upside down Bible' and I got a long time to pray over her and plead with God for her to be able to walk and talk and to restore all that has been lost. Kelsea talked more than she had, but from time to time, she is severely confused or unable to make connections. For a brief while she thought she was in eighth grade and at one point she called us Rod and Maurice. At other times she makes amazing connections in the moment. There was damage to her frontal lobe in the accident. The assumption is that as she heals all of this will change. Clearly she suffered a severe blow to the head, but we do not have any idea what, if any, long term effects will result from the trauma. Pray for her head and for that beautiful mind that God put under that red hair. It was good to sit with her as her mother fed her cranberry juice cocktail and 'salty creamy mush'. Kelsea preferred the cranberry juice cocktail and would ask for it by name and soon tired of the 'salty creamy mush'. It was so good to see her able to eat and drink and not have to have all those tubes sticking in her. They also removed the neck brace allowing her more freedom of movement. God is indeed good. Eric and I left the hospital last night and went downtown again and ate great food at an Italian place and simply walked around soaking up the energy of the streets. We drank coffee and iced tea and listened to street musicians and got back to our rooms a little after ten. Thanks for all of your prayers and for remembering us and for providing us this opportunity to come and pray for Kelsea. In the middle of the night, I had a crying jag with God and felt physically lifted up in his amazing arms. I feel great comfort that he knows us and knit us together and that he never abandons us or lets go of us. Thanks for being the presence of his arms in the physical world where we live. Thanks for your great love. Keep praying. Rod

Edit this response
Write a response Email the author

From: Ron
Date: Sat Sep  6 16:33:22 EDT 2008
Subject: Thank God for Men Like You Both

From: rodhugen
Date: Sun Sep  7 03:36:22 EDT 2008
Subject: Part 4

I guess this is after midnight so it is officially Sunday so what I describe happened yesterday. I woke up early and waited for Eric's knock on the door. Finally, at about 8:30 I knocked on his and heard him bustling around before opening his door and telling me I had wakened him. It was nice to have a bit of revenge after the day before when he had teased me about sleeping in. We went to Elmer's for breakfast which is now our 'regular' place and then headed to the hospital. We sat in the waiting room for several hours. I 'closed my eyes for a minute' and Eric kept waking me up because I was snoring like a buzz saw. :) Finally, family members came and informed us that Kelsea was being moved to the Neuro ward. It was great to know that she was doing so much better and could now leave ICU. What an awesome response to your prayers for her. While we waited for her to be moved, we had a chance to tease her little sister, Eden, who is a year older than Ashton. We have learned to 'lose' quarters from our pockets since she loves to find quarters in public places and is known as a scrounger of coins. She reminded me a lot of Ashton and I could see Eric longing to be back at home with his family. Pray for her as she tries to make sense of all this and as she gets overlooked in the overarching concerns for her big sister. As we sat there, my arms itched like mad and it was driving me crazy so I started scratching my skin with any sharp edge I could find--the edge of my watch, car keys, etc.--and I could simply not get relief. Eric, the ever observant pastor, asked what was wrong and I shared my misery with him. Shortly thereafter her parents came in to update us on her condition and her mom said, "Kelsea is going crazy itching herself. She is practically jumping out of her skin." She was a bit confused when we both started laughing until we explained. We weren't able to see Kelsea until about two this afternoon, but we got to sit in her room and chat with her and her family for a long, long time. She was exhausted from the move and eventually dozed off. I loved simply sitting at her bedside in the quiet room and praying. My mind wandered all over the place and I slowly gathered all the snippets of my interactions with Kelsea in my head and thanked God for each of them. Kelsea had exhibited some of the earlier confusion, but the brain scan indicates that although there was trauma to the brain and some bleeding, the bleeding has stopped and her head is healing. The chest x-ray was also good so God is clearly healing her body. Physical therapists came in to work with her and I stepped outside the room to take a break. Her brother, Michael, was in the hallway, also, and we had a good conversation. Pray for him as he struggles with his loss and grief. Pray that God will surround him with love and that he will be overwhelmed with grace. The therapists couldn't do much with Kelsea because she was so exhausted from the move, but they intend to get her out of bed and into a wheelchair today (Sunday). Pray that will go well and that Kelsea will be able to grasp her condition more clearly and that she will be willing to work with those who are attempting to help her. Eric and I went to a a Mongolian Grill for dinner and then walked around for a bit. Despite this being a good day and a day of great medical progress for Kelsea, we were both pretty quiet and sad. A huge part of the sadness is mourning what has been lost in this awful accident. Part of the sadness is knowing we will get on a plane in a few hours and have to leave her. We will have to simply trust that God, who loves her far more than any of us ever can, holds her future in his hands and asks us to submit to his goodness. I wish there was a way we could take her with us and minister to her in Tucson. Again, I confess that I want to take God's place and think I might be better able to care for her than he is. It is a sin I continually repent from. Still, it will be horribly hard to be so far away after having been so fully and intimately engaged with her. Part of the mourning is the realization of how much we come to love those God brings into our community of friends and the awfulness of separation. I pray God will reunite us soon. We leave Boise at 2:00 this afternoon and fly to Phoenix. We hope to leave Phoenix by 3:30 and get to Vespers before the service is over. We both long to worship our God and reunite with our families and with you all. Thank you again for all your expressions of love, your thoughts and prayers, and the many ways you have served us and cared for us. Pray for Kelsea and for all who love her and all who have been loved by her. Pray for continuing miracles in Kelsea's life and that God will show off his power and strength and continue to blow us away with his amazing grace expressed to her and in her life. May the God of all grace give her grace. Rod

Edit this response
Write a response Email the author