Gotchya!

With all the craziness around here, I thought the surprise get together I had planned for Tyler was going to have to be canceled. What a bummer!  But actually, with a few small changes, we made it happen!  We had a really great time and always love a chance to hang out with the McGehees and the Mays! They are such sweet friends!

Check out these pictures! And I thought I couldn't keep a surprise from him...

This is Tyler with one of his birthday balloons from LAST year.  The balloon stayed alive for the whole year and even made the move to the new house with us.  I thought I had "secretly" thrown it away, turns out Tyler has "secretly" rescued it so it made it's surprise reappearance the day before his birthday.  This was so funny I just knew I had to put up a few decorations....

I also  really wanted to make Tyler's birthday cake.  I had helped with a few other cakes before, but I had never done one all by myself.  But I think his electric guitar cake turned out pretty cute!

Tyler LOVED it!

I think 26 is going to be a great year for Tyler!

When life doesn't go as planned...

I wonder if any of you can relate... Sometimes, in certain moments of life, I wonder why things just wouldn't work out a little easier. And while I definitely feel this for myself, I have also found that I feel so burdened when life seems to throw a curve ball in Tyler's direction.  I can be what some may call a "perfectionist"  and I just wish I could make everything work out.  At times I think if life would just work out logically, then Tyler and I would have everything lined up.  Together with my organizational skills and his mad reasoning skills we would have all of life added up and then put into neat little boxes. Oh that life would be that easy!

But sometimes it just isn't and like my Dad reminded me when he had his recent surgery, when things don't go as planned or our body fails, it is just a reminder that this earth is not our home, that things here are not perfect, nor are they permanent. So with that truth in mind, I want to trust the Lord in these times and be refined by the moments I don't understand, can't reason, can't organize, can't control. And even more than that, I want to overflow with a deep sense of hope and joy in these circumstances. I love the way this is explained in Jeremiah...

 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.  They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Well, our trip to Birmingham didn't go exactly as planned.  After being on a high from the results of the VX-770/ VX-809 trial, it was hard to hear the "doctor's orders."  We had been to Birmingham two weeks before this trip and he had told us that Tyler's lung function had dropped due to a lung infection.  We had hopes that his lungs would react to an oral antibiotic, which is normally the case in these situations.  Unfortunately, when we arrived two weeks later for our check up there was no measured improvement.  We take a pretty proactive approach to Tyler's health and so when the Doctor said he needed to get on IVs, we gave him the thumbs up.  Luckily, we are able to do them at home. It means  quite the change in our routine for sure, but Tyler is definitely more comfortable and can maintain a far more normal schedule than he could if he was put into the hospital.

In all this, we can't help but be grateful...

We are so grateful for the staff at UAB.  They are awesome, like always, and organized everything so Tyler could have a PICC line put in that same day of our appointment so we could return to Mississippi that evening. Long day!  But we made it!

Since I can remember, I knew I was not cut out to be a nurse!  I can't handle blood or pain; it's just not my thing.  But it is so true that the Lord's strength can shine through our weakness, because believe me, I couldn't do it otherwise! On top of this, Tyler has been blessed with an incredible pharmacist and for that we are more than grateful! She walked me through all the steps of administering the IVs, more than once, and called to check in on us several times the first day.  We couldn't have made it without her!

We are also overwhelmingly thankful for our jobs and feel so lucky that both of our bosses are flexible and understanding.  Whereas most business jobs only give their employees 10 days off a year, taking time off has never once been an issue for us which has allowed Tyler and I to go at this together. What a blessing!

We are also so thankful for our sweet friends and family.  The constant prayers and encouragement are overwhelming and we feel honored that you would take our burden on as your own and present it as a request before the Lord.

We are so thankful for Tyler's health.  This is the first time in 8 years he has been on IVs, which is really rare for CF patients (many find themselves on IVs annually). It's a blessing he is so healthy on a regular basis.

And all of these things are provisions from the Lord and that is the thing we are most thankful for.  We are thankful for His presence, His patience with us, the lessons He is teaching us, and for His constancy.

Thanks again for all your prayers! We head back to Birmingham in two weeks and I will keep you updated!

"The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him" 

Psalms 28:7

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Birthday's are a big deal around here! And I for one could not be more excited to celebrate Tyler's!  Today is his 26th birthday and since he has been telling everyone he was 26 since December, I doubt he will mind me "revealing his age."

When it comes to birthdays, it seems only necessary to pull out those cute, little, embarrassing baby pictures.  But since I am putting together this post, sitting in a hotel in Birmingham, it seemed like I was not going to be able to find just the picture I was looking for.  Luckily, Tyler's dad was able to pull through and provide this little number for your viewing pleasure....

.... I should probably confess that I did not get permission to use this picture. But come on, seriously?? 

SO cute.  

Since we hadn't really planned on having a doctor's appointment in Birmingham on his birthday (I know, terrible scheduling!), we decided we should just celebrate all week. So far here is what we have been up to...

 For those of you who don't know Tyler, you should know that it is completely impossible to surprise him and for those of you who don't know me you should known that I find it absolutely impossible to keep secrets about surprises from Tyler... probably a bad combination.  Anyways, I was really pumped when I picked out his gift until at the check out line the little guy at Best Buy started overwhelming me with questions about system support and insurance, blah, blah, blah!  I hated to make a mistake with what I thought would be the perfect gift, so like any good wife, I called Tyler and asked ever so subtly if he would purchase any of the above if he was ever in a situation where he might be buying a Nintendo 3DS.  Well turns out, he would.  Surprise spoiled?  Yes, probably.  But nevertheless, he seemed pretty excited and since at this point he already knew what he was getting... I just had to give it to him early! 

Next we got the chance to celebrate with his parents!  Family birthday parties are the best and we had a great time.  We ate a great Italian meal and Tyler got some awesome gifts!  His mom also made him his favorite vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. I think he liked it...

There is still more birthday fun to be had around here, but that's all for now!  Tyler, I hope your birthday is super fun and I can't wait to share many, many more!  If your that cute when you were a baby, I can only imagine how cute you will be as an old guy! 

A little Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives Inspiration

Tyler and I rarely have much time to watch TV. We pretty much rely on DVR for the shows we love, but when we do watch miscellaneous TV, we more often times then not find ourselves turning on Food Network at about 10:30 where we end up watching Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. By this time of night our dinner has settled and the glorious description of fattening, All-American cusine is like a trap. It's like we know what we are getting ourselves into and so we only have ourselves to blame, but we can't resist. So by eleven o'clock we seem to be having an unquenchable craving for deep dish pizza or fried chicken.

Well a few night ago, Tyler and I found ourselves in this very scenario. The diner was making "grilled cheese" with pulled pork and macaroni and cheese... Hello, yummy goodness!! Unfortunately the only thing our pantry provided in a similar flavor scheme was hotdogs and Kraft mac and cheese. But that didn't stop us! The very next night, Tyler whipped up his very first "home cooked" meal. Hats off to the chef for creativity, spontaneity, and taste!

The final product

I was maybe just a little skeptical...

But Tyler was, of course, ecstatic!

Life around here has been pretty relaxed as your can see :)  But this guy finds a way to keep life interesting somehow or another! More pictures of the house to come and definitely more updates on CF stuff soon!