Marriage Certificate

The Vows

Rachel and Ryan saying their vows at the Garrison Farm, Friday night (Jan. 4th). Make sure to respond to the post below if you want an invite to the receptions in March/April!

Mandatory Reading For All

Ryan and I have decided to get married now rather than later. This will avoid the stress of trying to figure out what date I will be better, when the photographer is available, the caterer too, etc. I realized that I am so tired of waiting and having it all so up in the air. I know people will be disappointed, but I hope they will understand.

We will have a reception later in both Centerville and in Johnson when we know for sure that I can relax and enjoy it and also the weather will be a lot nicer. We'll still have the photographer come to the reception so that we'll have good family pictures and an album.

So, this is the plan. If you would like to attend one of the receptions, please send an email to rrbaltz@gmail.com and when we have all the info, like dates, specific locations (one in Iowa and one in Nebraska) we will send you an 'official' email invitation. EVERYONE is welcome, but you will just need to let us know if you want to come.

So that's the latest news. This will be quite the week for us between this and the birth of Titus! (RuthAnne and Josh's new baby)

We are forever grateful for all your prayers (and continued prayers) and support. This will be the final update to this blog. Thank you all who have walked this incredible journey with us. We are truly grateful.

- Love,

The Baltenspergers, Garrisons, Fusons, And All Others With HealRachel.com.

Merry Christmas!

Ryan and Rachel

-opening one of many gifts-

Good evening!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! It was such a blessing to spend the day with Rachel and Ryan and to celebrate SO much. We have much to be thankful for.

Rachel had Physical Therapy today, here in Centerville. After PT, they headed back to Nebraska for a family dinner and then off to Kansas City tomorrow for her HBOT seesion. Then tomorrow afternoon they will come back to Centerville for the weekend. She has gotten alot of road time with Ryan in his truck...she has definitely enjoyed the week off that Ryan has taken to spend the holiday with her.

Rachel hasn't used her cane or wheelchair in several days. She continually show progress. I would venture to say we see something different, new, improved...everyday. Rachel's speech is also continuing to improve. She starts singing lessons next week! We have heard that singing lessons is an excellent form of speech therapy. Probably because of the amount of vocal control it takes to sing. This will be a new adventure for her.

Thank you for all the prayers!
RuthAnne

Nebraska!

Rachel and Nancy Baltensperger

Yummy!
Rachel, Emily and Anna

Rachel has been enjoying herself in Johnson with her future in-laws. Anna (Ryan's sister) write:

Note from Anna Baltensperger,

"This is the first weekend to have Rachel at our home since the first of September!!! We are delighted to see her continued progress and for her to be here this weekend! With Allyn & Emily also home, we feel very blessed to spend time together with family.

Yesterday, while the boys occupied themselves with outdoor projects, we girls were busy in the kitchen making "fastnachtchuchli". This is a holiday tradition for the Baltenspergers originating from our Swiss heritage. We spent hours rolling walnut-sized dough balls into paper-thin pastry and then frying the delicacies. (The rolling pin was part of Rachel's Friday therapy!) Though the fastnachtchuchli's take lot longer to make than to consume, the taste is worth it!"

Going To Nebraska

Rachel is excited today. She is on her way to Nebraska to celebrate Christmas with Ryan's family this weekend. She has a HBOT session this morning and then she will head to NE. Ryan and Rachel will come back on Christmas Eve day and be here in Iowa to spend Christmas with us. I am SO thankful Rachel is home and able to have Christmas with all of us. What a blessing!

There has been some wedding talk...but no plans or dates set yet. They will wait till the first of the year to decide when to make this BIG day. They will check dates with the photographer and the church...we will definitely keep you informed as to when, where, and how to RSVP, etc.

I am sure I will have several pictures for you all. Anna, Ryan's sister is really good about taking pictures. And then we'll have pictures from the 25th.

Merry Christmas to you all!
RuthAnne

More Winter

GOOD AFTERNOON!

We apologize if these updates are not timely as the weather has interfered this week.

• It is snowing and snowing!!! Frosting all the ice with white. Winter wonderland if prepared.
  
• We had no electricity from Tuesday to Thursday evening. Some are still without electricity within 5 miles of us! We had fun with kerosene lamps, cooking on our wood cook stove and plenty of hot water with gas hot water heater.
  
• Rachel indeed is home. She begins her third week home today.
• She is focused on continued improvement.
  
• Her body keeps responding to her desire to be 100% recovered.
• In this process of communicating to you how well she is doing, we ponder what words will give a true picture of her progress, her challenges and her limitations at the moment.
• She DESIRES and is THANKFUL for your prayers! So thankful!

HOW TO PRAY?

1. For her speech to return to normal. She does speak clearly, her voice is low with minimu, sounding like she is recovering from a cold. Listening closely to her for understanding her exact words or we break into laughter at what we 'think' she said and then find she was saying nothing of the sort. We are finding that in general, we humans have preconceived ideas about what someone is going to say before they finish their thoughts.
   
2. For her right arm to return to full function. Her left hand's fingers can manage the piano and computer keyboard keys. Her right fingers are bumble-some and frustrating, but functioning individually (improvement as of the last couple days!)
   
3. Walking to be normal. She walks with a cane by herself in the house or to the car. -She does need someone there to steady if she gets off balance or mis-steps. No wheel chair in the house. We only use the wheelchair to go to Kansas City for the HBOT (hyperbaric oxygen therapy) twice a week or shopping.
4. For her coughing to completely stop when she drinks. It happens enough that it is frustrating to her.... it makes a mess and if you are in the line of fire when she spews and coughs at the same time...it's embarrassing for her. This frustrates her but she handles it well with laughter. But then she doesn't want others to think that she doesn't care that she does this, but what can she do? Cry? or Laugh? She chooses to laugh! It is easier on all of us and we know that this is something that will disappear soon.
   

WHEELCHAIR, CANE, WALKING WITH HELP?
Last night we had an interesting discussion about walking vs. wheelchair and the response that others give her. Her goal is to walk by herself, of course. Rachel's goal is to walk and do so without a cane or help from others.........well, when walking alone, she looks like the drunken friend or family member, so she should use the cane as the 'sign' to others of weakness....without a cane, well, she is perceived as having a substance abuse problem.

When in a wheelchair she is treated very well. People make concessions for her.

So it is just interesting. She is not opposed to the wheelchair but then must practice walking at home, using the wheelchair in public. This now answers the question for me why people who look like they don't need a wheelchair use one because it is better culturally to use the wheelchair than trying to be strong in standing but looking too weak or unstable to stand and too strong to sit in the wheelchair. So, our thinking is....she can walk into a public place with help. Since she is unsteady on her balance sometimes and sways, the looks she gets are not that of mercy (and previous to this I would have been no different in my thoughts either); but when in the wheelchair, accommodations are made for her. Walking with a cane is getting better, but she still needs one person to assist.

HBOT therapy is going well. Since she has come home her lung capacity measured by the inspirometer has gone from 500 to to 2000 regularly and 3000 when really trying. Our lungs, they say, hold 5,000. Healthy people can get the meter to read 3500-5000. Most people do not use more than 500 which is called shallow breathing. She has pushed the meter up to 3500 once or twice.

Ryan comes here to visit every weekend. He is the best therapy for Rachel!

We appreciate your prayers. We pray you will give thanks for all you are able to do and for all that Rachel has achieved since September 6. She is a walking miracle.

To GOD be the GLORY GREAT things HE hath DONE!

Crystal