Ricie + “Nuclear Shunt Study”

We are traveling to Jacksonville, Florida again to be with Ricie at Brooks Rehab Hospital. Unfortunately her condition has not improved as we had all hoped during this month of April. I have alerted her doctors at Mayo Clinic, and they are concerned that her brain shunt is not working properly. Mom will be discharged from Brooks Rehab on Thursday morning, and we will take her over to Mayo Clinic for a “nuclear shunt study.” I’m not sure what will happen after that. Please keep on praying for Ricie (and for us while we are “up in the air”). Thank you!

Family Fold Update 04/12/2024

We are in Jacksonville, Florida visiting Mom at Brooks Rehab Hospital. She is hangin’ in there. One specific prayer request we have is for her appetite. Please pray that she’ll get to eating, otherwise they will have to put a feeding tube in her……. Thank y’all for continuing to hold Mom in your hearts and prayers. We love her so!

It’s “Masters Week” in Augusta, Georgia; and that has us walking down memory lane. The Family Fold is grateful for all of the fun years we’ve had playing music for the golf guests… To God be the glory!

Speaking of years, I praise The Lord for another year of life as I celebrate my birthday this weekend. And I thank you all for being part of my life.

Weekend Update… Ricie still in FL + pop up gathering.

Thank you all for praying for my mom, Ricie. Please keep on. She did make it out of Mayo Clinic Hospital, but she is still in Florida at Brooks Rehab Hospital. She cannot work on walking yet due to her fragile spine. (That’s why there is talk of a future reconstructive surgery.) But Mayo said that rehab could help her get stronger in other ways for when she comes home with us. Mom is keeping a good attitude through it all. She had bad nausea and other difficulties today, but the medical team at Brooks are doing what they can to make her feel better. Please continue to pray for The Lord to strengthen, protect, and heal Mom.

After an unexpected week & a half in Florida, we had to come home to Augusta and leave Mom in Jacksonville. We hope/plan to travel back there soon to be with her. Our hearts ache not to be with her right now.

We are going to have a pop-up music/church gathering on “The Patio” on Sunday (April 7th, 2024) at 5:00 P.M. We thought it would cheer us up. Please join us if you can.

​Thanks again for all of your love & prayers!

Quick Ricie Update: Admitted to Mayo Hospital 03/26/2024

Some of y’all may have already heard this, but for those that didn’t…

We had safe travels to Jacksonville, FL on Monday; but we never did go to bed that night because we had to call 911 for Mom. She couldn’t stand up, and we could not pull her up. Jacksonville Fire & Rescue took her in the ambulance to the ER at Mayo Clinic. They have been doing all sorts of tests, and she has been admitted to their hospital. Her brain ventricles had enlarged, so her neurosurgeon adjusted her shunt. He wants to observe her for a while and run more tests. He said he believes it’s “a bump in the road,” but they “take her bumps very seriously.” Please keep on praying for Mom!

And thank y’all for praying for me, too. I had been up since 7:00 A.M. on Monday and didn’t sleep again until Tuesday at 10:00 P.M. I think The Lord kept me running on a lot of adrenaline and love for Mom.

Family Fold March 2024 Update

Happy Spring to You! This update is a bit overdue, and there are several of y'all out there that I owe an old-fashioned phone call or greeting card. So be on the lookout for me and my good intentions, haha!

Mom is hanging in there. Everyday she battles excruciating pain and fatigue. Everyday has its share of crying because of the severe hurt, but God keeps her attitude joyful and hopeful. A neurosurgeon at Mayo Clinic has plans to reconstruct her spine (from her neck to her pelvis), but none of us want to pursue that until we absolutely have to or feel more confident that it is the right time for it. We all want the surgery to be successful, not catastrophic. So please continue to pray for God's guidance, timing, protection, blessing, and healing.

We are traveling to Jacksonville, Florida next week for more imaging and tests at the Mayo Clinic. Please pray that we will have safe travels as well as good endurance and strength. Going about the tasks of a day are hard and time consuming for Mom. (But she is a trooper, and God keeps her going!)

While there we will also purchase more of the infection medicine ($200). As we look back, we are thankful over and over again for y'all donating and supporting her like you have. Anything you are ever able to give is such a help to her, and we are grateful.

Most of all, please keep on giving Mom a place on your prayer list. Money cannot buy that kind of love and access to God's power.

On behalf of The Family Fold, I send our love & prayers for you, too... ERYN

P.S. - The photos below are Scriptures and a prayer that Mom & I keep tucked in our Bible and say on a daily basis. We thought you might want to join in on praying these with us as well.

"The Old Rugged Cross"... We send you this Family Fold favorite with a prayer that you & yours will have a blessed Easter season.

We have Family Fold patches available now! Let us know if you would like one.

Family Fold January 2024 Update

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Our holiday week was full of extra love since Ricie’s mother and brother came to visit. (You’ll see them in the photos below.)

We are on the road to Florida Mayo Clinic again already for the new year. We always appreciate your prayers for our travels and for Mom’s appointments to go well. There will be more follow-ups happening here in January. It has been 18-months that Mom has been on medicines to defeat the infection in her spinal cord, and that treatment may continue on for another 6-months. Everyone is also trying to get a better idea of when Mom’s big spine surgery could happen. We call it “big” because the neurosurgeon at Mayo Clinic speaks of the reconstruction going from her neck to her pelvis. Whoa!

Please continue to pray for God to guide our family and medical team. God’s timing, protection, peace, hope, and blessings are most perfect; and those are the things we are praying for.

We hope the melodies and messages of these gospel songs below are a blessing to you for this new year. “Without Him” we can do nothing… But with God, all things are possible! “There’s A Miracle In The Making” for you. God hears your prayers, and He is for you. He is working in your life. Never lose faith in Him!

Family Fold December 2023 Update

We hope you all are having happy holidays!

Today was a blessed day as Patrick & Ricie celebrated their 41st anniversary.

This week we are traveling to Mayo Clinic in Florida. Mom will have an MRI of her brain, CTs of her spine, and appointments with one of her brain neurosurgeons & a spine neurosurgeon. Please continue to pray for us all, especially as we look ahead to 2024 and what it may hold.

We thank you for your prayers for Mom last month as she had the biopsy of her spine. We are waiting for a few more results to come in, but what we have received so far has been negative, and that is a good thing since we are praying for infection to be defeated. Please keep praying with us, and we will keep you posted on the game plan for the new year.

Below you’ll find a photo of a new facet of our music… Engineering our own recordings! This is a dream come true for us, and we hope to be like an artist with unlimited canvas and paint.

We’ll close this update with one of our seasonal favorites, praying that YOU have a joyful Christmas and a blessed new year! We thank The Lord that we’ve had another year with you, and we sincerely thank God for you.

Overdue Ricie Update - November 2023

This update is long overdue, but we know y’all are holding us up in prayer, and we are so thankful for that! We definitely feel your love and concern.

6-weeks ago Mom had a lot of imaging done on her spine at Mayo Clinic. Today we are on the road to Jacksonville, Florida again so Mayo Clinic can do a biopsy of her spine tomorrow (November 10th, 2023). Please pray that we have safe travels, that the procedure will go well, and that the results will help Mom. Also, before we head back to Augusta, we’ll swing by the Mayo Pharmacy to pick up more prescriptions to keep combating infection.

When the doctors looked at Mom’s spine images from September, they noticed a place where more erosion of the bone had occurred. (Yikes!) So they want to investigate. (And we want them to, also!)

Is the infection being stubborn and resistant? Or could it be a different infection? What’s caused this? We are longing to get to the bottom of it!

Please keep praying with me for my mom…..

Father God, we are still crying out to You and believing in You for answers, for clarity, for solutions, for healing, for victory for Ricie. Nothing is a mystery to You. Nothing is hidden from You. Nothing is too hard for You. Nothing is impossible for You. And nothing separates us from Your love that You have for us in Christ Jesus, our Lord. We trust in You, Father; and pray wholeheartedly in Your Son’s Name. Amen.

As we remember Israel in our prayers, we’d like to share a Family Fold favorite with you… “Hebrew Girl,” written by Margaret Frost & Eryn Eubanks.

Another Ricie update from Florida, plus praise reports this 13th day of September.

We hit the road for Jacksonville, Florida today. Ricie will have MRIs and CTs of her spinal cord tomorrow at Mayo Clinic. The last time these images were done, one of the doctors was seeing “pockets of inflammation/infection,” so please pray that things will be looking better this time. Our big prayer still for Ricie is for God to make all infection go away and stay away. We need visible evidence of The Lord’s healing taking place in Mom’s body.

We want to thank y’all for praying for Ricie last month when she had her appointment at Mayo Clinic. The CT of her brain showed improvement regarding the hydrocephalus. We praise The Lord for this!

And today we are also grateful to God for keeping me alive. On this date 4-years ago (Friday, September 13th, 2019), The Lord brought me successfully through open heart surgery and healed me of my infection.

Thank you all for loving us and praying for us through the years. We love y’all, and pray God’s goodness upon you… To God Be The Glory!

Update from Florida + Remembering “Weezer”

Greetings from Florida! Ricie has appointments at Mayo Clinic. She will have a CT of her brain to check on her shunt, and we will see the neurologist after that. While we’re at Mayo Clinic, we will also stop by their pharmacy and purchase more of the special medicines Mom is taking to defeat the spinal cord infection. $400+ definitely puts a dent in the wallet, but back home in Augusta, the pharmacies have not been able to get this medicine at all. So we are definitely thankful to purchase these medicines and keep Mom on her regiment. This treatment will go on for another 6-months, maybe even another year. We pray that we won’t miss a beat when it comes to this……. We are so thankful for all of the prayers you say for Mom, for the various departments & details you intercede about for us, and we are very grateful for all that you do for Mom. God has definitely used y’all to keep us going.

“This Little Light of Mine”… Mom & I would like to send this song out in loving memory of our dulcimer friend, “Weezer” Linda Smith. Weezer definitely let her light shine for The Lord! We know she is rejoicing in Heaven now.

Music with Ricie, Terry, Eryn, Weezer, & Janet… Good times!

Family Fold Church 07/16/2023

Family Fold Church Gathering/Jam ~ 6:00 P.M. Tomorrow (Sunday 07/16/2023) on “The Patio” (which now features a tin roof covering, a swamp cooler, and extra fans). 😎

Ricie Update for June 2023 + Memories of June 2019

We are on our way back home from Jacksonville, Florida. Mom has had several Mayo Clinic appointments lately. After seeing her neurologist and brain neurosurgeon, Mom got her brain shunt adjusted today.

She also saw her infectious disease doctor recently. He reviewed the imaging of her spinal cord, and he said that he saw “pockets of infection and inflammation.” He said that if that did not look better the next time she has imaging in September, they may do a biopsy to investigate this. He also wants her to continue to take antibiotics for at least another 6-months. (She’s been taking these medicines for a year already.) So please continue to pray for God to defeat this infection in her body and heal the damage.

Last week had its worries with several pharmacies in Augusta - as well as Mayo Clinic’s pharmacy at their headquarters in Rochester, Minnesota - not being able to get one of Mom’s antibiotic medicines. Thank God, the Mayo Clinic pharmacy in Jacksonville was able to get it yesterday, and we picked it up today before heading home. Holding that pill bottle in my hand was holding an answered prayer!

Thank you all for praying for Mom. Please continue to intercede for her. If she does have spine surgery in the future to stabilize her back, the neurosurgeon would prefer to wait 3-6 months after she comes off of her antibiotics and makes it through that time period with no sickness or bad changes. He would also want to confirm that she is free of infection by comparing images taken of her spine at various times during this waiting period, as well as possibly doing a biopsy then before pursuing surgery. So those things may happen sometime in 2024. Meanwhile, please pray for God to keep Mom safe, strengthen her, comfort her, and heal her during this time of waiting.

Remembering June 2019… When my late friend, Don Rhodes, presented me with the 2019 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s award for “Artist of The Year.” To God be the glory!

Thinking of Don Rhodes, “Mimmie,” and Eddie Smith… The Family Fold looks forward to being reunited with them in Heaven one day!

Family Fold Church 06/25/2023

Family Fold Church Gathering on The Patio - Sunday (June 25th, 2023) at 5:00 P.M.​

What a fun duet this was! “Will The Circle Be Unbroken,” with Charlotte Ritchie at the 2009 Eryn Eubanks & The Family Fold Music Festival benefiting Lynndale, Inc.

Emotional Times

We hope you all have been doing well. We are on our way to the Mayo Clinic for a couple of appointments for Mom. Please continue to pray for her as she still has a ways to go on this healing journey. More to come on that in future updates; but spine surgery, studies, and multitudes of tests at Mayo Clinic are being discussed. Please pray for God to guide us all and protect Mom.

On another note, we were shocked and deeply saddened to find out that our beloved friend, Don Rhodes, passed away on June 9th. More to come on that, too. Please remember Don’s family and friends in your prayers.

So these have been emotional times, but we can testify that The Lord’s blessings are present at all times. God is always good! Weather permitting, we do hope to praise Him this weekend at our “Family Fold Church Gathering” on The Patio.

Family Fold Church 06/04/2023 + “This Land Is Your Land.”

Join us Sunday, June 4th, 2023 @ 5:00 P.M. for our Family Fold Church Gathering on The Patio.

We had a blast singing this tune on Memorial Day last week, and it’s a song that’s fun on any given day… “This Land Is Your Land.”

Memorial Day 2023 with The Family Fold

Thank you so much for your prayers for Ricie as we traveled back to Mayo Clinic for more testing. We praise God for His travel mercies and for keeping us safe.

It’s been a soggy holiday weekend in Augusta, so we are going to have our church gathering at 5:00 P.M. on Monday (May 29th, 2023)… Memorial Day! It will be fun to celebrate with you that day, and we will be grilling out on the patio for the occasion. Hope to see you then!

We’re on the road to Florida again… More tests for Ricie, and more plans.

On Monday, Ricie had a video appointment with a spine doctor at Mayo Clinic to discuss her MRIs. There may be another spine surgery in Mom's future, but first we need evidence that the infection is completely gone. Mayo Clinic wants to do more tests on Mom, so we are traveling back to Florida today. (We were in Jacksonville 4-days ago.) She will have a couple of appointments tomorrow (Thursday 05/25/2023), and then we will return home. When we settle back down, we hope to see you this weekend for our Family Fold Church Gathering (weather permitting).

Please keep on praying for my mom about all of this. Keep praying for God to bless these medicines and methods… for God to guide everyone to do what is best at the right time… and for God to completely defeat all infection in Mom’s body and to give us clear evidence of that. Also, please pray for The Lord to keep Mom safe as we go through this period of time. The doctor said that everything is moving around in her spine currently. It doesn't have support and stability right now.

Thank you for your prayers for Ricie. We send our gratitude, our love, and our prayers for you, too.

We hope you enjoy two of our favorite gospel songs (“Without Him” and “Miracle In The Making”) in one of our favorite places (The Historic Saint Paul’s Church in Augusta, GA).

Mayo Clinic yesterday… Family Fold Church tomorrow!

Thank you for your prayers for safe travels. We spent nearly 8-hours at The Mayo Clinic yesterday for Mom’s MRIs and x-rays. We made it home from Jacksonville, Florida today; and we’d love to see you tomorrow (Sunday 05/21/2023) at 5:00 P.M. for our “Family Fold Church Gathering” on The Patio.

Ricie’s May 2023 appointments at Mayo Clinic

We are on the road to Jacksonville, Florida for Ricie’s appointments at The Mayo Clinic.

There are many ways that God is getting Mom better. But, each day she suffers with constant back pain that is so debilitating. She still can’t walk yet. So we ask that you please keep on praying for her healing.

Mom has several appointments scheduled now, and there will be more in June —- Brain MRI… Cervical, Thoracic, and Lumbar Spine MRI… Consults with The Spine Center, Spine Neurosurgery, and Hydro Neurology. Please pray that God will bless these appointments, and that these people will be able to help my mom. Thank you!

We hope you enjoy the song below which features Ricie’s beautiful Irish penny whistle… “As The Deer Panteth For The Water.”

Mother’s Day 2023 + Family Fold Church 05/13/2023

Join us for our “Family Fold Church Gathering” at 5:00 P.M. on Saturday (May 13th, 2023) on “The Patio.”

Mom & I always have fun playing this song below with Cat Robertson. Happy Mother’s Day from The Family Fold! And thank y’all so much for continuing to call my mother’s name in your prayers.