We traveled to Michigan for two weeks over Christmas and had a blast with family and friends. We flew back to Turkey last week and then I broke my arm.

We gave ourselves a couple of days in Ankara before school resumed on Wednesday. We were a little bummed there was no snow while we were home in Michigan. Even though there was nothing on the ground when we landed in Turkey, snow started pouring down soon after!

On Tuesday morning, I asked David if he was up for a snowventure. I hadn’t been to the forest in our neighborhood in a long time, and it’s a magical Narnian place when there’s snow. We wanted to hike up the tallest hill to see the view of the city. So we bundled up, put on our snow boots, and headed out.

On our way through the snow, we came across several of our coworkers, students, and their parents sledding. Some parents had purchased large, thick inner tubes, which are great for sliding. David and I went down together once. I was surprised how fast we slid! We hung around for a while, caught up with our friends, and watched the kids go down the hill. Soon, people started talking about lunch and we wanted to continue our hike. “One last time for the Benedicts?” they asked. “Oh, sure!”

David was to my left and I had my left arm wrapped around his back. As we descended, the tube spun around so we were going backwards. We picked up a lot of momentum and since we couldn’t see, ran directly into a tree. As you can tell from the photo above, the trees weren’t very big. My arm made contact first, followed by David’s back. The pain was immediate.

We were fortunate there were so many people there to help. One of my friends is going into med school soon, and once they realized it was broken, they fashioned a sling from a stick and some scarves. We had maybe half a mile or so to walk to get to the exit and main road. Meanwhile, other friends called for help and a car met us at the forest entrance.

One of our friends had a major accident about a year ago and knows an amazing orthopedic doctor. They called ahead and soon we were at the emergency room. I think this was around 2:00. An x-ray confirmed the break (my first broken bone ever!), the doctor set the bone (terrifying and painful), and I got a shot of something wonderful for the pain.

I broke the radius bone in my left arm. It was a clean break. I had no interest in looking at my arm or seeing the x-rays, but David said the break looked about half an inch apart. They were able to get me in for surgery that night at 7:00 and mended me up with a titanium plate and 6 screws.

We stayed overnight and they discharged me the next morning. I wasn’t even in the hospital for 24 hours! That amazes me. They sent me home with a soft cast, an ice pack, and pain meds. We had snow days on Wednesday and Friday, so I’ve only missed one day of school.

It’s hard to believe that was 5 days ago.

This whole experience has left me overwhelmed, humbled, and blessed. I am so very thankful for our community both here and far away. We have friends who dropped everything to come to our rescue and stayed with us at the hospital to help navigate, translate, pray, and support us. I am so thankful for the prayers, messages, visits, and meals. The body of Christ is a beautiful thing, guys.

David has been especially wonderful through it all. I have felt so loved. I couldn’t ask for a more patient caregiver.

Every day I can move my fingers a little more and kind of hold things a little more. (It’s been helpful that I am right-handed!) We went in yesterday for a follow up appointment. The doctor changed my dressing and I took a look at the stitches. They are long and ugly! But there is no infection and everything is healing well. I get the cast off on Thursday and will start physical therapy. That’s 9 days after surgery! Isn’t that crazy?!

Thank you for your prayers as I continue to mend!