New Year's Day

On New Year's Day, Josh and Nate went rabbit hunting with Ian and his boys. Josh was so excited! And Nate was excited to take him. They had a great time until they were about ready to leave and Josh set his gun down to get some more ammunition and his gun went off. When I saw his name come up on my phone, I panicked. And when he told me Nate got shot, for a split second I assumed the worst. When I asked him where and he told me his foot, I was so relieved! I went from picturing something life changing to knowing we could handle this. I tried to reassure him that it was okay and he was going to be okay and I got in the car to meet Nate at the hospital. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Payson. When I saw him, I was overwhelmed with gratitude that the circumstances weren't so much different. The shot from Josh's gun went right into Nate's big toe and out the other side, totally obliterating the joint. He had surgery where the doctor tried to save his big toe, but he wasn't able to. His big toe on his right foot was amputated and his second toe was patched back together. I was so sad for him that he lost his toe, but still so grateful that it wasn't worse. Ian brought Josh to the hospital so he could see Nate. He was so, so sad. He felt terrible and did a lot of crying that day. I was so grateful for Ian and his boys for taking care of him and then for Nate's family who took him and the girls up to Janet's for the rest of the day. I was also so grateful for my Mom and Steve and my Dad and Dana who both came to the hospital to see us. We didn't get home until late that night because Nate was having a hard time keeping his oxygen up. They wanted to keep him overnight, but we begged them to let us go home. We knew we needed to go home for Josh's sake and also for Megan's sake. She was also having a really hard time and we knew everyone would feel a little better if we went home. We picked up his prescription and oxygen and made it home about midnight to anxious kids and a great mother in law who waited with them. Over the next couple of weeks we received a lot of visits, meals, and treats. We felt so much love for Nate and Josh, which we were so grateful for because it ended up being a hard couple of months for both of them. Josh felt so bad about what happened and although Nate tried to be really positive, it was a painful recovery, in more ways than one.