BARENAKEDFAMILY.com

'J-Fam'

'J-Fam' personal website ~ oberholtzerfamily.com ~ Friends and family are keeping regular updates logged on this site.

UPDATES ~ we will post updates that we have below ~ click the links to go directly to them.

• July 3, 2004 ~ Janet and Jerry have been flown home to Pennsylvania! You just gotta visit their website ~ oberholtzerfamily.com. They were paraded through the middle of their hometown to the tune of about 400 people! How cool is that! FAITH in humanity. uh... thankUvedymuch.

• Sunday June 27, 2004 ~ Got to see the Oberholtzers again this weekend, their LAST in Santa Clarita, CA as they are going home!!! Very incredible ~ pretty much six weeks after the accident the doctors have determined she's okay to travel on a commercial airline back to Pennsylvania. We got to feed her the first hamburger since the accident! In n Out burgers in California is a local icon in the burger making industry.

The kids also got to stroll around with Janet outside. We'll sure miss them, can't wait till we get to PA to share some Fuzion!

• Wed June 9, '04 ~ Updated some pix below. The top left one was right before Janet was wheeled by us in the hallway. If you know the BareNakedFamily, you know we don't miss opportunities to spontaneously clap. Yep, break into applause sometimes for no reason, sometimes for a reason. May not've been the most appropriate place to applause, but Janet digs us so she got it. The other pix were taken in the ICU. The nurses and staff were so great to us.

• Tuesday June 8, '04 ~ WOW! Miracles happen. Prayer heals. Janet is doing great. Yesterday she was moved out of the ICU into her own room. We got to visit with her and Jerry over last weekend. She was sitting up in her bed and talking with us! We were in a great funk all weekend ~ we figure it was because we experienced a miracle, God on earth. Very cool. Janet is so inspiring and such a beautiful person. Jerry is one amazing and courageous man. We also got to meet two of their family friends from Pennsylvania ~ Lynne and Deb. Good times. Jerry has been house sitting / offered a room in a house just down the street from the hospital. He walks to the hospital (or as it was originally published ~ ('he walks to there')! <proofreaders needed>. The house is great and was offered by strangers on vacation. Humanity is okey dokey, so relax. The Oberholtzerfamily.com site is being updated regularly with Janets progress. Great site, go check it out. If you need website dev ~ check out who's doing theirs ~ first-impressions.com. Lynne is one of 'em that we met this past weekend. Good people, great work!

Here's some pix from our June 3-5 visit. The last pic includes Lynne (Lynn - eeeee because her hubby's name is Lynn?!? Sweet.).

• Wed May 26, '04 ~ Jenn just talked with Anna Mary and was told that Janet will need a lot of work done on the lower left calf.  The doctors are going to take muscle and tissue from her back and use it on her leg.  They have closed the top left thigh and are going to try to work on the rest of that leg on Friday.  They have put a filter in a blood vessel to prevent blood clots.  They have also started feeding her through a tube, that's great.  They also took the neck brace off of her, it looked so uncomfortable.  She is moving her arms around a bit and will turn to you when you talk to her.  She can't focus her eyes on you, but when you talk to her she smiles.  She is so beautiful.  Her fever has gone down a little but still at 100.  Keep praying for this strong woman and their family.  Jenn has really enjoyed getting to know Anna Mary.  It has been comforting to have her there and she is a great woman.  Anna Mary thought that it was a funny account about LeRoy's rib story, it is good to hear her laugh!  LeRoy is helping with the boys and we are not too sure what he thinks about the rib story, but it was just so funny!  We will have ribs with him any day.

• May 24, 2004 ~ We just got back from a weekend at the hospital in Santa Clarita. This page is being developed to provide information and share our love of the Oberholtzer Family. The boys and Jerry are physically okay, Janet is fighting for survival. Please pray for them.

Written and published May 24, 2004 ~ after we got back from the hospital

This is a tough page for us ~ The Oberholtzer Family was in a serious wreck in their RV on Thursday May 20, 2004 at about 1:30pm. They were driving north on Interstate 5 (just North of Los Angeles) heading to Fresno after a great time they had in the L.A. area. At the time of their accident, they were on our front page in bnf now where we featured them as a really cool family we've come to know. We always have fun with this page and have decided to leave the text below ~ we have saved the text from previously featured families and will do it here ~ Janet would want it that way.

From our "barenakedfamilies" archive ~ published on May 9, 2004 and was still up on the day of their accident, May 20.

Peeps ~ whuddup? Meet the J-family ~ some call 'em the Oberholtzers, and they even have a website by that name (oberholtzerfamily.com). But they're not really Oberholtzers, they're the J-Fam. Don't buy it any other way. They may try to trick you, others might too. But we know, trust the BareNakeds ~ we never goof ~ know it?

That's John, Josh, Jerry, Joe, Janet, Jiggers, Judgely, Jebediah, Jips, Jiggly, and Jam. (and Greg on Jerry's shoulder)

These guys are soooo cool. We first met them in Austin, TX at our Valentine Fuzion. They left Pennsylvania in late 2003 and have been RV living and traveling since. Like us, they don't have much of a plan other than for the day, sometimes. We got to see them again in San Diego and hung out with them at the Nodlands beach house, their place in Chula Vista, and we went on a boat tour with them and Weed. They have lots of cool pictures on their site and diaries and links and other stuff ~ go check it ~ they get hits and we save server space from excessive pictures. We should also be posting our San Diego Bay boat tour Experience sooner or later, they'll show up in those pix.

See ya!

From May 24, 2004 ~ here's our account of our experience following notification of the accident.

This is where we have decided to share what we can about what happened. Many of the family and friends of the J-Fam are in Pennsylvania and don't know what kind of RV they were in because they got a new one on the road after leaving PA.

A picture of the Alfa See Ya Motorhome model they purchased sometime in Feb/March(?) 2004. 

This is the story we have put together from talking with Jerry and the boys....

They were driving up a long hill behind a semi tractor/trailer. There were four to five lanes of traffic heading north at normal speeds ~ they were doing about 40mph. Jerry was driving, Johnny (11) was in the back bedroom, Joe (13) was on the couch, Josh (15) was on the dining table, and Janet was in the passenger seat. They were towing their Jeep Liberty behind the RV 'four wheels down' meaning that it was not on a trailer, rather in neutral rolling on its own four wheels. 

In case you aren't familiar with typical RV layouts ~ Johnny was in the bedroom in the rear at the two small windows (also above the diesel motor). Josh was in the dinette opposite the middle, horizontal, slender window (kitchen window above the sink). We believe Josh was in the forward facing bench on the dinette. The dinette in this RV is two benches facing each other with a table in the middle. Joe was on the couch which is opposite the two large side windows near the front. All furniture in an RV is bolted solidly to the floor. The passenger seat is behind the entry door just in front of the front tire/wheel. Janet had just come from the back of the RV to get something and had just returned to the passenger seat when the accident happened, before she could put her seatbelt back on.

Jerry was traveling behind a semi tractor/trailer in the 2nd to right lane. He was preparing to move into the lane just to the left to pass when he saw brake lights and smoke from the trailer tires of the semi in front of him. The boys all looked up from their parents yelling. Jerry braked and quickly veered to the left when the truck in front of him hit more stopped trucks. In an instant the truck in front of Jerry was stopped. From the braking and momentum of the RV moving to the left, Janet fell forward and to the right off the passenger seat into the front door step-well (2-3 steps?) leaving her basically standing low.

The RV impacted the trailer at the passenger side just missing the RV's frame rail on that side. Johnny was thrown from the rear bed to the front living room leaving a bump on his head. Josh remained in the dinette seat and reported no soreness or pain. Joe stayed on the couch and reported no bumps or bruises. Jerry doesn't remember coming out of the drivers seat but when he looked back at it, the steering wheel was pinned to the seat. Jerry reported only slight soreness in his knee. Janet was pinned in the step-well asking if everyone was okay. Jerry says everyone remained relatively calm.

The only door in and out of the RV was gone. Josh told us they were trying to pull the passenger seat out which was now twisted and lying sideways with the headrest next to the driver seat. Joe and Josh jumped out a window to get help. Jerry and Johnny stayed with Janet who was reporting pain and asking for help to be removed. Her upper body appeared to be fine, Johnny told us her left thigh was cut badly. Jerry held the TV off which was mounted in the middle above the front seats and now dangling from its cords.

When the paramedics arrived, Jerry held the IV bottle and TV while encouraging Janet who was losing blood and becoming more flushed. By the time the fire dept was cutting her out with the jaws of life, Janet was fading in and out. She was flown by helicopter to the Santa Clarita hospital.

This is a picture from the Santa Clarita newspaper. The article is below. Jerry believes three semis were towed from the scene too badly damaged to drive off. Jerry did not know there were six semis involved and nobody we've met with knows why they stopped in the first place.

We learned of the accident Thursday night and pretty much couldn't sleep. Janet was fighting for her life and the doctors gave her 50/50. Jerry told us Janet's parents were flying in from Pennsylvania Friday night and advised us to come later. We couldn't stay away, we decided to just be there for anything needed. Santa Clarita is about a three hour drive north of San Diego and we were able to make it there by Friday afternoon. When we arrived at the hotel, Jerry was at the hospital and the boys exhibited the spirit that children do ~ recounting their personal experience as an adventure. 

We finally met with Jerry when he came back to the hotel and the doctors were getting more optimistic as time went on. Janet was heavily sedated and they were concerned with her left leg specifically. Her pelvis was crushed, right femur broken, punctured lung, liver knicked ~ she's in the ICU with the tubes breathing for her and all that med stuff. She is however ~ DEFINITELY WITH US!

She recognizes our voices and lights up when Jerry talks with her. Her eyes are unable to focus and she searches for us when talked to. She smiles at the appropriate words though it's only seen from her cheek muscles tightening. She has tears sometimes. She tried to move her arms to hug when her baby Johnny spoke with her. Have no doubt, she is with us.

The doctors are concerned for her left leg though she wiggles her toes and squeezes hands on cue. She blinks for questions. They worry for infections, pneumonia, and saving her left leg. She clearly wants us to talk to her, to encourage her. She's responding well to voices.

Pray. Meditate. Ohm. Visualize. Think. Relax. Breathe. Dream. Accept. Listen. Share. Appreciate. Care. Forgive. Hope. Love. Persist. Respect. Serve. Sacrifice. Tolerate. ~ Now

Our humanity changes every instant.

A little more of the J-Fam from our pictures ~ wish we would've had more of Janet ~ think she avoids the camera?!? She's hard to find in pictures from their own website. Maybe it's just that the boys are all big hams ~ and that would include Jerry from all the pictures we found of him (on their own site too!).

How 'bout we go clockwise from that dorky kid in the back with the black jacket ~ better known as 'BareNaked Son' ~ Austin. Next to him (going right for those that may have backward clocks) is some J Fam Fame ~ Joe, then Josh, then Johnny. Those are some wicked cool J kids. Next is a 'BareNaked Daughter' Sunny near Weed. Brenon Weed to be exact. Now the whole clockwise thing goes whack on us ~ it's probably cause of that other Weed, Colton. We've talked about him in the past ~ he's 'special'. The cosmos don't circle him the same. He knows stuff the rest of us may never know. Anyway, he's in green over in that vortex with Kesley.

Now that's some hot stuff on the harbor. Ladies ~ look out. J-Fam Joe (hey, that sounds like a fashion line) and Austin ~ more scientific left brainy type, but goofy fun too.

Straight lines and no Colton to blow the cosmos quirky thing! Hang on tight ~ Josh, Sunny, Kesley, Johnny, Austin, Joe, Brenon ~ whew!

There's the Vortex! Careful Jerry. Those looks, where... what... huh?

Okay, here's the deal. You may already know the BareNakedFamily is not very conservative nor traditional. Greg (now known as 'Billy' as in 'Billy Goat') is standing here ~ and loving standing next to ~ a self introduced 'traditional conservative Mennonite' ~ meet Leroy Hoover, Janet's dad. Namer of Billy (as in goat for Greg's goatee). He also believes Greg's computer work ain't real work ~ as in farming or building engines. Gotta love him though, he's cool like Greg's dad and will go talk to anyone in the restaurant. 

So let us share for you ~ 'Leroy's Rib Story' ~ he takes us all to a great restaurant in California, Claim Jumpers. Lots of Californians at Claim Jumpers. Californians that typically don't approach each other when eating their meals. Californians that are very nice, but typically eat to themselves once at a table. Leroy loved to get up from the table and check on everyone's meals at their table. Hilarious! He'd see them get their food and just go check on 'em to see if they liked it, what they were having, and let them know he's from Pennsylvania ~ obviously very proud to be from Pennsylvania. We can't wait to get to Pennsylvania and spend some time with our new family there. The ribs though ~ beef ribs at table 23 ~ Leroy can not get over the size and texture and amount of ribs these guys have. After walking over to their table 2-3 times to discuss rib quality with people who were strangers to us, but now acquaintances with Leroy (think he sold 'em some engines from PA too), Leroy then insisted we turn around numerous times to admire their ribs. This throughout the evenings dinner. Think he's gonna finish those ribs? ~ Look at the size of those ribs. ~ He's doing pretty good on those ribs. ~ I think he's actually gonna finish those ribs ~ He finished those ribs! Leroy's cool. Gotta love him. 

"My name is LeRoy Hoover. If we meet and you forget me, you have lost nothing; but if you meet Jesus Christ and forget Him you have lost everything."

LeRoy ~ you're unforgettable. It is fantastic to know you and Anna Mary and even better to be a part of your family ~ you do know we've adopted you both, right? Anna Mary, you're awesome. We've decided to just call you Mom and/or Gramma 'cause we've never put those two names together, 'Anna Mary'. Sorry for calling you combinations of including (but not limited to): Ann Murray ~ Mary Ann ~ Aunt Mary ~ Anne Marie ~ Amy Reeeiaahh... uh, Gramma.

DAY~TRIPPER

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