Ashley said sometimes a bad photo shoot is more fun.  I think she’s right!  We’ll keep working on getting a picture of our cuties together smilin’!

Look at the determination on his face!

This look and his intensity behind it presents us with many battles.  He’s a strong boy, who knows what he wants, and will rarely back down.  It can be a challenging little personality to parent, but we are so thankful this is how God has made him.  We’re encouraged when we see him make faces like this, because we believe he can fight this CF battle.

I finished reading a book written by a woman who after 19 years of struggling with Cystic Fibrosis needed to have a double lung transplant.  The book is about her journey through some really sick times, her great love for the Lord and his sovereignty, and lots of emails from her friends talking about how God used her in their lives.

I thought this paragraph she wrote was really sweet.  I pray God would bless Asher with the joy and faith this woman had.

“Maybe I’m closer to the transplant than I can imagine.  But at the same time, even if I’m not, I am getting so many opportunities to choose to bless His name (Job 19:25-27).  Even when my flesh is so weak, my spirit is so willing to press on.  There are times when I just want to give up, when I get so overwhelmed by emotion that I think I’m going to drown.  That’s when Jesus comes in, wraps His arms around me, and reminds me that I am loved by the Creator of the universe!”

We made an invitation for Asher’s 2nd birthday party.  It’s on Halloween morning, so we’re inviting the little kiddos to wear their costumes if they’d like.  I just couldn’t resist putting up some pictures from the photo shoot.  He’s so cute, and who doesn’t want to wear their costume more than once, right :).

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers for us as Jeremy and I tried to make the best decision we could about whether or not to do this clinic study.  It was a hard one for us.  We just kept going back to the point that we’ll do whatever it takes to help Asher have the best lung function possible.  So, based on the increased lung function adults are seeing with Hypertonic Saline (HTS) we considered it a blessing to have the opportunity for Asher to be a part of this study.

We had a 3.5 hour long appointment at the hospital which was…well, it was all a bit frustrating.  Asher was the first child to officially walk through the process of getting set up with this med at pch, so there was a lot of confusion and computer problems and confusion and computer problems.  It was long (I included a picture to prove it).  But, Asher was great through the treatment, it didn’t really phase him.  He just watched his Pooh show (thanks to Jeremy’s high tech ways) and took it like a champ.  They took his vitals and listened to his lungs a few times, and because everything looked good Asher officially qualified for the study and we were sent home with a whole lot of new stuff.

This week has required a lot of prayer, and flexibility, and patience.  That has mostly been for me though, like I said, Asher is a champ.  Our routine has changed, we have a new med, new equipment, weekly forms to fill out, more rules to follow, all that kind of stuff.  We’ll become familiar with everything pretty quickly I’m sure, and being a part of clinical studies will probably be pretty common for us with Asher, this week has just made me long for a cure even more.

Yesterday was just an all around great day!  It was cool and windy so we spent a lot of time outside at the park, laying in hammocks, having snacks and dinner outside,  looking at the amazing moon, listening to music…oh, and Asher took a 3 hour nap.  It was one of those days we’ll never forget.

Asher and I spent a morning with our South friends at Tumbleweed Park.  We had so much fun!  It’s my new favorite park now.  It’s big and clean, with lots of fun things for kids to do.  The cutest feature by far is the little paved road they have with street signs and all.  Asher and Sammie tootled around tearing that road up, it was so cute to watch.  I think Asher was a little jealous of Sammie’s big girl bike, but that didn’t stop him from enjoying the sights Flinstones-style.

Also, just so we remember, Asher made me sweat a lot chasing him while he chased all the birds around.  He’s really fascinated with birds now.  I sure hope this is short-lived, he’s definitely not getting a pet bird.

Our friends Aaron, Ashley, and Eric joined us on Saturday to climb 35 floors for Cystic Fibrosis!  We didn’t bring a camera because we hadn’t done the stair climb before and we weren’t quite sure where the level of competitiveness was going to be with the fellow stair climbers.  Thankfully we didn’t have anyone giving us an elbow, or yelling “hurry up, huffy hufferton!”.

I now wish we would have brought a camera so Asher could see the size of these buildings we conquered (we first climbed 18 floors in one building, and then 16 floors in the building next to it).  They were a little daunting from the ground, but we all made it and were even a little peppy afterwards :).  We did manage to get the climbing crew back together that evening to get a picture for the blog.

Thank you, friends, for sweating with us!  And, thank you to everyone who donated to our team!  Every dollar means so much as we work to find a cure!

Asher and Sammie look like they are an old married couple.  They’ve got the house, the dog, their snacks, their matching chairs…

Thanks for the fun night Pete and Megs!

Asher is a hugger.  I think he has tackled every one of his friends.  Unfortunately, the huggees usually end up on the ground in a headlock.  He really doesn’t mean harm, he just loves people, and he doesn’t quite know about personal space yet.  And, apparently he loves animals now too.  The other day we had this really pretty yellow bird flying around from tree to tree in our yard, and Asher was following that thing around saying, “Haugh, haugh” (hug, hug) with his arms stretched wide as can be.  What a sweetheart.

He was so focused on that bird that he tripped on our curbing and fell in the rocks.  Poor thing.  We had a bath, lots of kisses, and some mommy medical attention, all before 9:00a.  I had to get some pictures of him watching Pooh on the couch after the traumatic event.  He looks wiped out!

Ok, so I have to brag on Asher a little bit, because this story still makes me smile.  Our friends, Noelle and Addy, came over the other day for a play date.  It was a sweet, sweet time, and ended on an even sweeter note.

Noelle and I had given the kids each their own plate of grapes, and sippy cups for a little snack.  We knew who’s plate was who’s because Addy is still working on some teeth and a little high maintenance with her grapes (peeled and cut) whereas I just plop Asher’s on a plate :).  So, we’re all playing in the playroom and Noelle started talking about it being time for them to go because it was lunch time.  We’re talking, and soon I realize Asher has been gone for awhile.  I start to walk down the hall to hunt him down, and here he comes around the corner with Addy’s grape plate and her cup.  WHAT?!  He then walked  up to Addy and handed her snack to her.  I guess he thought she was hungry.  I really could not, and still cannot believe it.  I told Noelle I couldn’t promise he didn’t take a swig of Addy’s cup or swipe some grapes, but lets focus on the positives here :).

Thanks for the fun play date Noelle and Addy!  Noelle, I still cannot believe you were under our pool table playing in Asher’s fort!  Fun times!