Prayers are needed for seven Texas children who lost their parents in a tragic car accident last week as they headed home from a camping trip.
After the crash, which included six of the seven children, eight members of the Owen family were airlifted to three different hospitals in three different cities, WFAA-TV reported. Parents Scott and Jennifer Owen died of their injuries, while two of their children remain in critical condition.
Resilient Young Siblings Orphaned in Fatal Car Wreck Cling to One Another for Support
The family is well-known in their Northern Texas community and were staples at the First Baptist Church of Plano, where they would often sit in the pew two rows from the front.
“When it was the whole family, they took up the entire pew,” family friend Joy Weber told WFAA.
The children, who range in age from 5 to 23, will no longer be accompanied by their parents when they attend church.
“I held their 7-year-old, who said, ‘First my mommy, then my daddy. What are we gonna do?’” Weber said. “All I could do was hold her and say it is going to be okay.”
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It isn’t just the Owen family who is struggling to grapple with the tragedy, Pastor Craig Curry told WFAA. Within minutes of finding out about the car accident, members of the church began “mobilizing” to find ways they could lend support.
“We have all of these kids who are trying to grasp what happened with their friends and their friends’ parents,” the pastor’s wife, Fallon Curry, told WFAA.
Scott and Jennifer Owen “loved the lord with all their hearts,” Mrs. Curry told CBN. Scott would play guitar during the service, while Jennifer would provide a sign language interpretation.
The couple’s eldest son was not in the car at the time of the crash and is now responsible for making the medical decisions for his siblings and planning his parents’ funerals.
“He’s been so strong,” Curry told CBN. “That’s a lot for a 23-year-old young man to shoulder. He’s done well, I can’t imagine the responsibility of that.
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A GoFundMe account has been set up to pay for the couple’s funeral expenses and aid their children, who are now in the care of the family, friends and the community.
“We believe God has power, and we look to him,” Curry said. “We throw our hands up in the air, and we just say, ‘I don’t understand, but we need you.’”
Join us in prayers for the Owen family.
(H/T: WFAA-TV)