Profound Loss, Profound Changes

By Virginia de Leon
Excerpted from The Spokesman Review

Profound Loss

It is a grief beyond tears, beyond words, beyond any human expression.

A fatal car crash nearly obliterated an entire family. Five children died – leaving behind a father, injured in the hospital, and a mother, expecting to give birth in less than six weeks. Now, Carolyn and Jeffrey Schrock of Chewelah, Wash., must go back to an empty house, one with toys and a swing set near the wide porch but devoid of the laughter and voices of little children.

Hundreds of friends, relatives and fellow Mennonites traveled from as far as Mexico, Canada and the East Coast for Sunday’s viewing of the five Schrock children who were killed in a traffic accident. The viewing was held at Pine Grove Mennonite Church.

Profound Changes

Carolyn Schrock, the Chewelah woman whose five children were killed in a collision, has forgiven the driver of the pickup truck that smashed head-on into her family after swerving into oncoming traffic, and wants others to do the same.

“We met the Helm family on Friday afternoon and again on Saturday morning, and had a meaningful time. We saw their acceptance of proffered forgiveness and their expression of release from the thing that held them. It is a very special memory.”

“We feel and pray for them. Love builds bridges. Hate digs graves. May the seeds of love and forgiveness that have been planted this day grow and the leaves be for our healing.”