Hello family,

We wanted to let you know that Jodie was in a 4-car crash on Friday morning. She was stopped at a light at a local outdoor shopping center when a minivan plowed into her. The driver “just wasn’t paying attention” and hit her at a high rate of speed with no last minute braking. Jodie’s front end then crashed into a car ahead of her and that car in turn crashed into the one ahead of it - coming to rest in the intersection.

The driver’s mini-van was smoking and leaking a little fluid but our car and Jodie took the brunt of the impact. Jodie is doing much better today -- she had a terrible neck/headache which has finally passed. She has a lot of bruising and is still a little shaky, but thankfully, she is in one piece with all her bones intact!

I’ll be meeting with the adjuster tomorrow and expect that the Volvo is totaled - the wagon portion (directly behind the front seats) of the car has creased and is now about 6 inches off the road. The car performed well - the drivers seat dislodged and despite the force, none of the windows were broken! We are already searching for a replacement and are hoping to find a model identical to the one that we had.

Needless to say, we are thankful for so many reasons: that Emma was not in the car, the Jodie wasn’t seriously hurt, that no one was in the crosswalk, that I was in Indy and was able to see Jodie before she was taken to the hospital...and that everyone’s insurance was up-to-date!

However we are most thankful for our family here in IN -- Kara (and Aaron and the boys, too!) has been wonderful as always. She has delivered delicious dinners two nights in a row and cheerfully took Emma for the majority of the day yesterday. Emma loves being with them and considered it to be a real treat to spend time with them without us! We feel privileged to have them so close and to be sharing our time and children with one another.

We'll keep you updated...

With love to you all,

Dave, Jodie and Emma

p.s. here are a few recent pics!