Update on Delange Family

Please find an update from his wife. Please continue to pray for the family

Matthew has been improving more and more each day. They moved him to a regular room on Thursday and now I can stay in the room with him 24/7 and I am thoroughly enjoying it. The first night was pretty good. He slept all night and I got the best sleep I've had in 3 weeks. Last night was a FAR different story. He didn't sleep a wink and was very agitated and restless all night.

I have been reminded in the last few days of many memories of our life together. One of those memories is the song I sang to Matthew on our wedding day 18 years ago.

*****************'I asked the Lord for someone and I always knew that in God's time and in God's way it would be someone like you. All my hopes and all my dreams were suddenly fulfilled. It's almost unbelievable our love was in His will.Only God could love you more for He gave this love I have for you. What a blessing to know He's your Lord. For only God could love you more than I do.I'm tempted to be saying that we met by chance. But God was there at every turn in every circumstance. To share this love God's given me seems such a fearful task. But every moment we have shared is more than I could ask.'*****************

Then as I lay on the floor next to my husband's hospital bed our vows rang loud. 'For better or for worse...in sickness and in health.... as long as we both shall live.' So many times those vows are just part of the ritual. We repeat them quick to get to the end where the preacher says, 'I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs...'. But laying there next to Matthew those vows had a different meaning to my heart and for the first time in 18 years I LOVED those vows and wanted so badly to say them over and over again to him. You see, without going into great detail about the affects of Matthew's brain injuries, I am taking complete care of him. He can do nothing on his own. The therapist said your brain is a filing cabinet and when you hit it as hard as Matthew did all those files fall out and scatter. It is painstaking and very frustrating to have to sit down and put them all back where they belong. That is where Matthew is right now. Sometimes he knows the kids, sometimes he doesn't. There are times when he gets mad at me and says things he would NEVER say before. That's when I just step back and look at him and say, 'For better or for worse....in sickness and in health....and we are BOTH still alive!'

If I could give anyone advice from this side of the trial. Ladies, when you lay your head down tonight next to your husband, please, for me, don't take it for granted. Tell him how proud you are to be his wife. How much you love him. Thank God that it is not him laying in a hospital bed and that you are blessed to have your best friend to help you cope with a messy house or unruly children. Thank God that your husband is able to lead your home and follow him without doubt and question. Remember, he is the head of your home and he has to stand before God.

We will be flying out Monday morning to North Carolina. I have made the decision to move there for the time being. Our families are very supportive of my decision and I need everyone else to just believe that I am doing what I feel the Lord would have me do. Matthew will be going to a LTACH facility for sometime and then he will move to a rehab hospital. We are looking at 6 - 9 months of intensive rehab. The medical staff here is calling him a miracle and we have been overjoyed to introduce many of them to THE GREAT PHYSICIAN. By all of their medical knowledge Matthew should have died, but we serve a God who raises people from the dead. This was God's way of saying, 'I love you both and My grace will always be sufficient.'

Haleigh is doing great and back to her old self. We will see how much more help she needs when we get started back in school. Please keep that in your prayers as well.

Again, Matthew is doing great and progressing far better than the doctors ever thought he would. Please pray for him as he struggles to get 'back' to us.

Because of God's Grace and Mercy, Lori, Matt and children!