da beach...accident.

Sorry, I didn't mean to leave all 4 of my readers hanging, but it's been a crazy-busy week for us here in Madrid. We've got lots of ground to cover!

We left off with leaving Valencia and heading south to our hotel in the Benidorm/Fenistrat area. Apparently this is known to be a touristy area that attracts lots of foreigners with all inclusive-style resorts for a bargain.
Well, sign us up! :)

We found a hotel resort that had a nice pool with water slides, and included food, drinks, and entertainment just a 5 minute walk from the beach. Perfect!

Here are Thing 1 and 2 on our terraza.

You can see some of the water slides behind them in this photo of forced affection.
You will hug your sibling and like it!

 We loved the nearby beach.

Josh and I parked it here while the kids played on the beach playground.

If you look closely in that last picture you can see ruins of a castle tower at the peak of the hill behind them. The second morning of our stay Josh got up early and snuck off for a jog. He made it up there, but was disappointed that it was fenced off and he couldn't get in.
Later we discussed how maybe it wasn't the best idea to take off running when I had no idea where he had gone.
This might come up again.
 
Every night at the hotel they had a kiddie disco, where a couple of the employees would lead the kids in dancing. It was a lot of fun!

Waiting for it to start while the kids drink their 30th slushie of the trip.
I was drinking a Coco-Loco, if you care to know.

I haven't been able to upload videos to my blog, but I'm going to keep trying because you haven't really lived until you've watched Derek dance to Gangam Style.

You can see the fierceness on his face...

And then.
The morning of our last day at the resort, Josh slipped out of bed early again. He had told me the night before he was going to go running on the beach.
I woke up later and was getting the kids dressed for breakfast when the phone rang.

Let me break down the phone call for you.

The phone rings.
My thoughts:  Must be a wrong number, no one would call us here. 
Receptionist (who speaks English):  Yes, Hello. There is a man here at the front desk from the beach tourism department.
My thoughts: Yep, definitely wrong number. Should I interrupt her now or let her finish?
Receptionist:  He says that someone in your party has fallen while at the beach and been injured.
My thoughts: Oh crap. Not a wrong number.
Me: Is he okay?
Receptionist: blah-blah-blah- AMBULANCE- blah-blah-blah.

AMBULANCE was the only word that really stuck out to me at the time.

Me: I'll be right there.

So I left the kids in the room, and ran down to the front desk to talk to the Beach Man quien, por supuesto, habla solo en espanol. 
He tells me that Josh fell, hit his head, broke his hand, maybe his knee, but tranquila, está bien. 
Vale. 
Immersion by fire.
We work out that he is going to take me down to the beach, where the ambulance is still loading Josh.
So I raced back to the room, indiscriminately grabbing money, passports, cell phones, and children.

We got down to the beach right as they were closing the door to the ambulance, but they let me in to see him. He was looking rough, but thankfully moving all his limbs and still coherent.
They told me where there were taking him and I told him I'd meet him there as soon as I could.

Then the kids and I went back to the hotel, finished getting dressed, ate a quick breakfast, and prayed that Daddy would be okay and that please, please, let the hospital be in the Garmin.
It was.
And it was very close, thankfully.

We went over to the hospital where the language immersion opportunity continued. I filled out paperwork, was able to talk to Josh again, and spoke with his doctor.
His doctor let me know that because of the head injury they had done a CT and MRI, which thankfully were both fine. His hand was actually not broken, just a deep cut, but they were waiting on a specialist to take a look at it, he had bruises and scrapes over his whole body, a nice gash to the forehead, and was going to be spending the day with them.

So I left a cell phone with Josh, and the kids and I went back to the hotel. There was nothing we could do at the hospital, so we did this:

and this:

 I promise, we were still worried about Daddy, but slushies and swimming are good coping mechanisms, right?

He was able to text me now and then with updates; the doctors wanted to keep him for observation until later that evening. So the kids and I swam and ate and drank while Josh was cleaned and stitched and observed.
Later we went to pick him up, and stayed our last night in the hotel before heading back to Madrid the next morning.

And I had to drive!

It was awhile before I was able to get the full story from Josh, but here's a recap:
He was not jogging up that hill like before, but instead ran on a road near the beach. On the way back, he took a different route, a shortcut over the beach itself. He came to a section where he was blocked by rocks and decided to climb over them.
At some point, he realized it was steeper than he had thought and decided to turn back around and go the long way. That's when he lost his footing and fell what he estimated to be about 10 feet. He fell onto more rocks below, his head and right hand hitting first.
It was an isolated area and there was no one he could call for help. Realizing that he couldn't climb back, he instead had to go into the water and swim around the rocks to find help. He was bleeding a lot from his head, nose, and mouth, and could see the tendons moving in his hand where he'd cut it open.
Finally he was able to get somone's attention and a couple of men helped him out of the water and called the ambulance.

The list of things we have to be grateful for is long--
He wasn't killed or permanently injured. He didn't pass out after entering the water. He didn't knock any teeth out... I could go on, but you get the point.

And we had lots of good opportunities to discuss with the kids how grateful we are to God for protecting Josh, why sometimes bad things to happen, and why we praise Him in the good and bad.

My poor husband is still fairly laid-up. He'll have his third follow-up appointment with the embassy doctor this afternoon. We think the stitches will be coming out today. He hasn't been able to use his right hand at all, because they don't want him to close his fist while the cut is healing. His bruised ribs make coughing, laughing, everything painful, and his knee is swollen and currently unbendable.
And we are thankful for all of this, because although it is slow and uncomfortable, he is recovering.
His doctor is confident that he'll be 100% again.

And I still think he is muy guapo.