July

July. Whew. This was a doozy of epic proportions…

We had been watching Asher’s lung function pretty closely for the last year, and unfortunately it was continually dropping. His doctor thought it was time for him to have what’s called a “cf tune-up” and have some scans and a bronchoscopy done to see if there was a bigger problem that we couldn’t see on cultures. He was admitted for 6 days. He had a picc line put in so he could receive continuous iv antibiotics, and had four treatments a day, on top of the testing. Then we were released to go home for another week of iv antibiotics. Asher endured much both physically and emotionally. He was so very brave, and strong…more than any parent would want to ask their child to be. And, more than any child would choose to be. Listening to scary things and big words that his parents and doctors were talking about over him, and having no control over what procedure or test you were going to need to endure…it took a toll on him, and we painfully watched as our son was truly broken.

Saying good-bye to brother and Daddy!

Such a sweet surprise to show up to his room and see a bag full of goodies from Tanner’s Totes. We played with everything in this bag, as Asher was on lock down in his room for 6 days. That’s a lot for a little 9 year old active boy!

Chess was the game of choice during this stay. Every doctor and RT who came in were petitioned to play a game :).

Traveling back from his CT Scan, he negotiated with his nurse to push me down a hall. He’s hard to say no to :). Love him.

Asher and I logged a lot of hours in his bed together watching movies, putting lego sets together, playing chess and other games…these were the moments that kept us both going. There were glimpses of joy.

And speaking of a glimpse of joy. Asher was thrilled to be able to participate in the hospital trivia they had for an hour one day. He called in several times, and later the winners cart came by our room with prizes for him to claim for being such a smart cookie :).

Major thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Olimb, and Grandma Joy Joy for entertaining and taking care of Beck so that Daddy could share his time with work and being with us at the hospital! You all are a constant blessing to us!!!

Really cool story. Our church had a team of people at a Bible camp in Alaska, and they all took the time to encourage Asher with this video. It was such a sweet moment to show Asher that he even has friends around the world thinking about him and praying for him.

Going home! Asher was blessed by so many sweet friends who sent and brought new toys for him to play with while we watched the days slowly tick on. He arrived home with more packages from friends too. He felt so loved and cared for.

Oh how we missed you Punkie Bear.

Being home was so wonderful. Mostly because we were reunited with Daddy and Beck! But the hard things still continued for Asher with the picc line and continuous iv antibiotics. He was so very thankful when Dr. Mia gave the thumbs up to remove the picc line! Literal JOY!!!!

We will never stop fighting for a cure for our boys.

We were so thrilled to have Grandma Necas come and visit us! She wanted to come and see Asher after his hospital stay, and be here for Beck’s first day of Kindergarten! We were so happy to have time with her! We did a lot of fun things around town together, and mom and I knocked out all the school shopping! It was perfect!

The night before the first day of school we usually have a family dinner and interview the boys. I love capturing their age and how their little minds process questions based on their thoughts and interests. I love that we’ll have these memories all through their school years. It’s so sweet to start including Beck in the interviews now :).

First day of 4th Grade! We were so excited for you to start a new year, Asher! You had a bit of a challenging/unconventional 3rd grade year, so we were so happy for you to have a new beginning! So happy for you to have conquered the hospital and have that behind you, and a fresh season of school and friends and fun memories ahead! Boom. And, the greatest blessing…you scored the best 4th grade teacher!! Excited for your year!!

I just have to make mention that this was the first year you didn’t choose a character backpack. You went straight up Nike. Sniff, sniff…you’re getting so big! We love you so much, Buddy!

Beck. Sigh…oh how I didn’t want to send you to school…I just want you to forever know that. Your dad made me, lol! You’re so cuddly and squishy and we tell each other how much we love each other all day long. Who wants to have less of this?! Not me. You were less than thrilled when it was time to say good-bye. You squeezed me and whispered in my ear, “don’t leave me.” I’ll. Never. Forget. This. You’re totally scrumptious, Beck.

This is how much you didn’t want to go. You held up the line. Grandma and I walked away with tears in our eyes…

You were really excited about the idea of school…before we actually got to school. So thankful to have these cute pics before the sad sad faces hit :).

BUT! Holy cow, Beck! You LOVE school SO much! You scored an amazing teacher, and you came home simply thrilled about school. You love it so much that you’re a little disappointed now when the weekends come around, ha!

Your first homework assignment was to bring in three things that tell the class about yourself. You brought in a picture of you and brother, a packet of chocolate milk, and minecraft toys, ha! This pretty much perfectly describes you :). We love you so much, Buddy!