We Love Angie

Sorry for the delay in posts the last couple weeks. As we walk through each day with Angie, sometimes we forget how all the little steps add up to some major improvements over the course of a couple weeks. Thank you for continuing to pray over Angie and send us texts and notes of encouragement! Even when we’re unable to respond right away, it’s such a comfort and encouragement to hear from friends and family. Please keep those notes coming along as you think of us throughout the day!

Angie has been continuing in her rehab at Sparrow, and she continually blows us away with her strength to push through the exhaustion and physical exertion that each task demands of her. This past week Angie gained a new roommate, which has brought such joy to the whole environment!

Her voice!

The biggest thing we’re thankful for is that Angie has started to find her voice. Initially it started as some groaning and wheezing, but this week was a turning point as she’s pulled out the strength to form words! It is such a blessing to start to hear her tone of voice again even through the strained words. Each word and phrase really takes all of her effort, but it’s been such a relief for her and she sometimes repeats what she’s saying just to hear her voice and practice the movements. While she was just communicating through Sign she expressed how frustrating it was to not be able to produce sound with her voice, so this is a huge answer to prayer.

In addition to her voice finding strength, Angie’s personality is shining through stronger and stronger as her laugh is coming back and she’s often giggly (mostly at Ryne and Alex’s dry sense of humor). This peace is such a tangible answer to prayer for God to protect her from anxiety and continued frustration.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
Psalm 23:1-4

Through all of this we really can only point to God for the miraculous healing that is happening in Angie’s brain, body, and voice. He truly is the God of restoration and seeing Him work in this way, all we can do is step back and give Him the glory.

We give Him so many thanks:

• We’re thankful for God being good and loving through all of this.
• We’re thankful for God being with Angie even when we aren’t physically present with her in her room.
• We’re thankful that Angie passed her swallow test and has been able to slowly introduce liquid foods into her diet.
• We’re thankful for God having preserved Angie’s life in the accident and His bringing her back to us.
• We’re thankful that we can witness God’s power in the heights and depths and fullness of this story that He’s writing.
• We’re thankful that we can lean into God in the midst of the confusion of emotions and unknown-ness of our situation.
• We’re thankful for the grace that God has given us and that His grace is sufficient.

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Help our unbelief

With each improvement we witness, it’s also hard; wondering if each skill gained will be the end of her improvement. Will her speech improve beyond this point? Will her walking improve? Will her full ability to eat improve? These doubts and questions strike the reality of the situation and how long this road will be. Yet despite, and in light of, these doubts we are fully confident in God’s character and goodness. We pray boldly for Him to fully heal Angie, but will give Him the glory no matter what the outcome.

In these moments, we call out to God and ask Him to help us believe. Much like the man that brought his son to Jesus to be healed, this is our prayer:

“I believe; help my unbelief!”

Mark 9:24

Please continue to pray with us for our Angie!

• For continued high and hopeful spirits for her
• For peace for Angie
• To avoid anxiety for Angie and the family
• To cling to God in this time and point all glory to Him

Today is four weeks from the accident.

We were reminded again this week that it truly is a miracle that Angie’s life was spared in the accident. Speaking with the doctors and emergency responders, we can only point to God for the gift of Angie’s life being preserved through the trauma her body experienced. God is good and He is loving and we give Him the glory for saving her life.

On top of the miracle of her life, these past couple weeks have shown us how the mercies of God have permeated so many aspects of this journey. The first week in the hospital the doctors could have fostered in us a false hope, but they were honest and presented us with the facts of the situation. In hindsight, we’re so thankful for the doctor’s wisdom both in caring for Angie and for guarding our emotions from over-expecting results from her recovery.

These past 28 days Angie has progressed in so many ways both mentally and physically. In the Mary Free Bed facility at Sparrow, Angie has been participating in daily rehab exercises in physical, occupational, recreational, and speech therapy. On average she’s working three hours a day regaining strength and mobility, and outside of those sessions she’s been mostly resting (during which we’ve all enjoyed a Harry Potter movie marathon and best-of episodes from The Office).

Angie is increasingly cognizant each day and has been able to communicate through thumbs up and down, multiple choice options with numbers, and surprising us all, hand-lettering with Sign (which we completely forgot her and Amanda had learned when they were younger). The other day we witnessed a beautiful moment as Angie woke up from a nap and after Ryne said “I love you” she hand-lettered back “I L-O-V-E Y-O-U.” While there’s still some uncertainty how much of her memory and knowledge is still foggy, it’s evident Angie is aware of relationships and their significance in her life.

The Lord is the strength of his people;
he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
Psalm 28:8

With Angie’s increased communication, we’ve seen her frustration at the inability to communicate verbally with us. Yet even with her limited means of communication we’ve seen her personality and humor shine through. We’re praying for peace for Angie in this area in particular that she not be discouraged with slow progress.

In her increased mobility and strength building through rehab, Angie has been quite exhausted and is also experiencing what’s called Neurofatigue. This is due to the fact that her brain is having to overwork to do tasks that each of us take for granted each day. Different parts of her brain are compensating from the trauma as well as rebuilding connections to carry out daily functions. This is a natural part of rehab but it can still be tough for us to see her so tired out.

This next phase in Angie’s journey will probably be longer than our time in the NICU and it’s been a transition for us as that had become a bit of a norm. We’re so thankful she’s moved into therapy, but it’s a bit challenging moving from what we were used to.

If you’re looking to pray for us, here are some specific prayer requests and things you can do:

• Pray for strength and rest for Ryne
• Pray that Ryne doesn’t get sick
• Pray for all the doctors, nurses, and Ryne to carry out their respective roles well
• Pray for our navigating each transitional step in this journey
• Pray for Angie not to be discouraged or frustrated
• Pray for God to heal Angie

Text

Please text when you think about us or Angie. Angie’s phone is on and working and she’d love to hear from friends and family (we’ll read to her any texts that you send). There’s a decent likelihood we won’t respond right away (or at all) but know that we’ll read your texts to her and that they’re really encouraging to each of us!

Donations

Click here for some opportunities to support us financially and with meals. These continued gifts have been a huge blessing for us all – thank you!

Send us a Note

We love reading your notes and stories. Keep sending those in and know that we read and cherish each one!

Thanks again for all your continual prayers, support, and hope you’ve shown in so many ways.

Today marks fifteen days into our long journey toward recovery.

To the many friends, family, and yet-to-be-met acquaintances who have been walking alongside us in this journey, thank you so much for the prayers, notes, and continued hope for Angie. In the last two weeks, we’ve been wading through many unknowns as we’ve witnessed the immediacy of Angie’s condition and questioned the many different paths the future may hold.

Through this time we’ve so appreciated the space you’ve given us and the respect for our somewhat vague and brief updates on Angie’s condition. With so many initial questions and our emotional rawness, that margin to sort through everything was really beneficial in getting to where we are today. In conjunction with the doctor’s evaluations, we feel that Angie is entering a transitional stage of her recovery and we’d like to divulge a few more details of the situation.

In the accident, the trauma was largely isolated to Angie’s brain. She has a few fractures in her skull (which amazingly allowed the brain to swell as needed for its healing process to begin), a broken shoulder bone, and a few stitches on her ear, but avoided any other major bodily injuries.

We’re so encouraged at Angie’s increased responsiveness and awareness. It is evident that she recognizes family (Ryne and Amanda in particular) and responds with smiles when they are near. Angie has also been communicating through squeezing hands and nods – which is so encouraging for us to see her express her feelings in this way and be increasingly able to connect with us.

Angie has been participating in regular physical therapy during which she’s been able to move her arms and legs and is able to stand with some support. She’ll be continuing to work on these exercises daily.

For the last two weeks Angie has been in the Neuro Intensive Care Unit at Sparrow Hospital and, having passed a number of benchmarks with physical therapy and being cleared of any infection, was moved to Step Down ICU earlier this week, which is indicative of her needing less constant monitoring. This is also the stage between ICU and entering rehabilitation. With her current trajectory of improvement, and infection again ruled out, the doctors gave Angie the go ahead to move into rehab today!

Angie is now staying in Mary Free Bed at Sparrow which offers inpatient rehabilitation care. She’ll be partaking in at least three hours of therapy a day while she continues to regain mobility and strength. Angie will be here for a few weeks, after which we’ll be deciding on the next best location for her continued recovery.

While all of these are little steps in and of themselves, collectively they’ve shown us how far Angie has come and how fervently she is fighting her physical trials. We continue to thank God for the graces He’s shown us through all of this, and continue to trust in His sovereignty.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:22-24

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Opportunities to support us

In just these two weeks, we’ve experienced so many of you reach out to us in selfless ways and continue to offer support and help in this time. We currently have three tangible opportunities for you to partner with us in the journey to recovery. Please pass along these links and opportunities to anyone you believe may be interested in helping out as well.

Pray

God calls us to lift up our prayers to Him. Acknowledging who He is, surrendering our fears, and presenting our requests, there is power in coming to Him in prayer. Please continue to pray for Angie’s complete recovery, and click here for our most recent prayer requests.

Financial Support

We’re entering the long haul of recovery and along the way there will be many expenses both expected and unexpected. If you’d like to contribute financially toward this journey, the best way is by donating to our GoFundMe Recovery Fund. Thank you for the already amazing generosity you’ve shown us in this area

Meal Gift Cards

Getting food can be difficult and happen at odd hours for us, and gift cards are a really practical way for us to ensure we’re eating. If you’d like to send us a meal gift card, these are our preferred restaurants: Jimmy Johns, Qdoba, Starbucks, Chik-fil-A, and Domino’s Pizza. Please send any gift cards (and only gift cards) to:

Riverview Church
c/o Ryne Weber
3585 Willoughby Rd
Holt, MI 48842

We’re humbled by your partnership with us in this journey and the continued love, care, and support we’re receiving.

Holding onto hope and resting in God’s sovereignty as we take this next step.

The last eleven days have shown us how hope, fear, pain, and love can all sit so hand-in-hand over a moment. We’ve awoken to mornings of cautious optimism from Angie’s doctors and sat together through times of anxious fear over what the future may hold. When the pain and heartache hits in such an acute way, we’re just as firmly met with the overwhelming love of God, each other, and all of you.

We are so incredibly thankful for all of you who have reached out and shown us intentionality, love, and care over the last week and a half. Both in the words and acts we’ve seen, and the prayers and conversations we can’t see, it is so comforting knowing we have such a family of support prayerfully walking alongside all of us in this. And not just walking in the pain, but walking in hope of a complete recovery of our sister, wife, daughter, and friend.

In this blur of a week and a half it’s been the little moments of hope that keep us strong.

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31

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A Tenacious Fighter

In the last week, Angie has really shown us how strong she is, and even now, how there’s a tenacious fighter inside of her (as we all know is so true of our Angie). Since our last post, we have so much to be thankful for:

• Her breathing tube was removed and she is again breathing on her own
• She is becoming more responsive
• She is becoming increasingly aware of the presence of Ryne and family
• Angie has begun smiling as we stand near her
• She participated in an hour of physical therapy on Thursday
• Angie is showing her true spirit as she so boldly fights this battle!

Seeing Angie gently rub Amanda’s hand with her thumb and watching her countenance ease when Ryne is by her side reminds us to find joy and hope in these little moments. All the notes you’ve sent in sharing stories of Angie’s love for you reminds us of the impact our girl has had on the world around her. Thank you for staying hopeful in this time and encouraging us with your stories. We pray and look forward to the future stories of Angie loving and caring for everyone around her. Please continue to share your stories with us.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged,
for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9

We continue to find strength in the Word and are clinging to who God is as we walk forward in hope. It’s the hope in the little moments that help us get through the long days.