Decorating and Babysitting

Tyler and I have been busy at work on our new home.  So much so that we laughed at ourselves when on a Friday night we were actually choosing to do yard work! I know, who would have thought? But it has been so much fun and the house is really beginning to feel like ours!  As for the inside of the house, new paint is up on almost every wall (okay, maybe a few more to go!) and it seems like the furniture has finally found its place (for awhile there, you had to be careful where you sat around here...because I might have just moved that chair you were planning on relaxing in!)

We have made a lot of progress since I last posted pictures of the newly painted walls, but we still have a ways to go, so I will just show you a few of the spaces that are more settled.

This piece is our newest addition and is in our foyer, which opens up to our....

Living Room. Okay, so this is just the couch. But Tyler's Aunt just finished these adorable pillows and I am in love! So thats why the picture is...well, all couch!

As you can see, our living room opens up to our kitchen, and here is a picture of the kitchen eat-in area:

In the midst of settling into the house, we had the privilege of watching my sweet nephew for the weekend while my sister and brother-in-law were on a mission trip to Guatemala.  We quickly realized that our decorating sense is not quite kid friendly.  But that didn't stop us from having a blast with the little guy!

This one if my absolute favorite!  They really bonded....a big step for Tyler!

So maybe we broke few rules about the pacifier?  But he was so cute!!!

Typically I would expect this look of Tyler mid an intense video game.... not mid Sesame Street episode... but hey, maybe it was an exciting segment on the letter of the day.

We feel so blessed to have our new home and love sharing it with family and friends! In fact, come on over, Tyler just told me tonight that he is going to start cooking! So I am sure he will be glad to whip you up one of his specialities...once he figures out what those will be of course.

Two Years and Counting

Two years ago today, I remember standing in the back of a church with my arm interlocked with my Dad's.   I remember the doors flew open and all eyes turned which made me suddenly nervous until my eyes fell on you, my precious (almost) husband.  There you stood, just as handsome as ever, reassuring me with your sweet smile and your confident demeanor.  We both knew in this moment it would have been more fitting for you to be walking down the isle, let's be honest, you love to be the center of the attention. But I made it to the front of that church and I have never once looked back. 

Tyler, you are such a sweet blessing to my life. I am so thankful the Lord entrusted me with the honor of being your wife.  Your humor is irreplaceable and your confidence is inviting.  Your love for people and a good time makes life exciting.  Your willingness to listen to me and the interest you take in every aspect of my life brings me security. And your love for the Lord is precious. I can't tell you how thankful I am for you and can hardly believe two years have passed.  These past two years have been a blast and a journey.  I pray consistently that the next years will be just as wonderful! 

I love that people still stop and ask us if we are newlyweds and I hope that never stops! I love you! And because it is our Anniversary, I thought it would be fitting to would play the song you were never able to officially sing at our wedding...so sorry that that solo of yours never worked out, it really was a shame since your Aladdin rendition really is impeccable :)

All my love,

Jen

A few pics from our special day :)

Love this :)

Tyler's Grooms Cake!

I suppose it is time for an update!

As many of you can tell, my post have been few and far between!  And I hate that because there has been so much going on around here, but it is for that very reason that there has been such a lack of updating! But I guess a good overview of everything will have to do!

We Moved!
Tyler and I bought our first house and it is absolutely the house of my dreams! We are so excited and over the past few weeks we have accomplished a ton!  I quickly became best friends with a paint roller and several blank walls and Tyler was granted lawn mowing privileges again for the first time in a long time (too long of a story to tell right now, but a picture is worth a thousand words!).

Moving Day!

Home sweet home!

Yah, that happens to be a lawn mower Tyler blew up. And yes, he will be mowing our lawn... talk about serious trust! But luckily, he says he won't let it happen again!

Gotta' add that special touch!
With the help of several friends and a late night here and there our home is really coming together!  So far we have painted Tyler's office, the kitchen, the dining room, and the living room (a special thank you to Allen and Jessica!) and we are putting any other painting on hold for just a bit.  Here are a few pictures of the progress.  Along with picking out paint colors, Tyler and I had lots of decisions about furniture.  Moving from an extra small cottage, to a small apartment, to an actual house meant that we didn't have much of anything I would call substantial furniture.  Talk about decisions! Being as indecisive as I am, most of my free time has been eaten up by long lost searches for the perfect furniture pieces.  The house pictures won't have these great finds just yet, well, because they haven't arrived.  So far now... check out these great looking walls!

Dining Room Before....

And After...

 Living Room Before...

And after.... (hard to tell but its a mocha color)

I didn't have a good picture of the before, but here is the new paint in the kitchen!

More pictures to come as we add decor!

Robby turned two!
My sweet nephew Robby turned two!  And my sister and brother-in-law threw him the cutest birthday party.  He happens to be in love with Thomas the Train and so he had a full fledge Thomas the Train party.  The night before the party Amy and I had a blast making Robby a train cake and I think it turned our pretty cute and I think we will get better at our cake making skills over the years! Check out all the cute decorations my sister made. She is so creative! And she can make a bathroom shine (special thanks to Amy for helping me get the house ready for the move in!!)

The start of the cake :)

Part of the finished cake... I couldn't get a complete picture before they dug in!

Opening Presents!

Such a sweet boy!

The Thomas the Train the kids could crawl through

The ticket booth

Results from the VX-770 & VX-809 Trial are out!
For months we have been waiting to hear about the official results from Tyler's trial.  And while we haven't heard specific results on whether or not Tyler was on the drug or not (which I think everyone has already decided this as it is), we did get a glimpse into the positive results on the overall trial. Check out the official press release here:  http://www.cff.org/aboutCFFoundation/NewsEvents/6-9-Phase-2-Study-of-VX-770-and-VX-809-Results.cfm.  But to sum up that release here, basically the results were great and they plan on beginning more tests on it towards the end of this year.  We will continue to pray for more positive results, quick FDA approval, and for the possible chance for Tyler to be involved in another round.

Well that's a pretty brief summation of everything going on around here. I really hope and plan to get back to more regular updates especially since we have a lot of visitors coming to stay at our new place this summer!

This One's for you Mom!

Happy Mother's Day!  Tyler and I were recently talking about family traditions, which happen to be one of my favorite things, and were laughing about how different ours were growing up!  One tradition I love is Mother's Day breakfasts.  My sisters and I would "scheme," along with the help of my dad, to get together all the ingredients we thought would make the perfect breakfast for mom.  Typically it involved pancakes, eggs, bacon, and all the basic breakfast yummies! We thought we were so tricky and we would get up a little early that Sunday morning, head straight to the kitchen, and whip up our creations.  Despite the kitchen being right next to our parents bedroom and the fact that three girls in a small kitchen is not exactly the most quiet thing, my mom was somehow always still asleep when breakfast was ready to be served to her in bed. Man were we good!  I hate that this year we won't be there to treat her to breakfast in bed, especially since now that we are older and actually know how to cook, she might actually enjoy it!

But even though we aren't together, I hope my mom knows just how special she is to me and to my sisters. I know managing a home with three girls couldn't have been easy. Just imagine the excellent referee she had to be!  But through all the hair pulling and fights over "borrowed" clothes, my mom helped make each of us into the women we are today (which Tyler says is something my mom should be proud of considering the awesome husband I managed to rope in.) But all joking aside, my mom was an extremely devoted mom. She sat through swim meets, cheerleading games (also know as football games-- but we all know who the real stars are), piano recitals, and so much more and she was always our biggest fan.  Looking back, I can now see many of the sacrifices she made for us as we grew up and I have a deep sense of gratitude, that words can't real descibe, for all of my mom's love, provision, and support.

Today's you're day Mom!  I love you!

And she is so pretty too!!

"Vacation" Update

It's day three for us at the hospital and we are getting more encouraging news everyday!  Your prayers have been such a blessing and over the past several days we have so clearly seen the faithfulness of the Lord.

To fill everyone in....

After my parents left us in Mississippi they headed to North Carolina to stay for a week or so in mountains. During Dad's time in Mississippi, he had begun to suffer from severe headaches. Not being used to Mississippi, he thought he might be allergic to the pollen or something else in the air. But the headaches stayed constant.

Nevertheless, this didn't stop Dad! While in North Carolina, my Mom and Dad went on several long hikes and after one in particular,  my Dad (whose pain tolerance is higher than anyone I know) finally said he thought he needed to head to the hospital. They hopped in the car, thinking they would return later that evening. However, as soon as the doctor saw him and took a CT scan, they decided he needed to be moved to another hospital where he could be treated by a neurologists. The ambulance transported my dad (during a tornado, might I add) to a hospital about two hours away and they immediately rushed him into surgery. It turns out that his brain had been hemorrhaging.... for awhile.

About two months prior, he had felt extremely sick, fainted, and fell and hit his head. When this happened, my mom was out of town and so my dad didn't want to "bother her" with the details of his fall. He stuck a butterfly band-aid on it and said he was just thankful that most of the blood had landed in the shower-- obviously that made the clean up easier (typical male?).

Not knowing exactly sure what this hospital visit would entail, my sister Amy and I hopped in the car first thing the next morning and my sister Megan hopped on a plane from Oregon so we could all be together. When we arrived at the hospital, we were able to see Dad for a few minutes. We got the chance to pray with him, but he was very tired from his surgery and didn't respond much at this time. During the surgery, the doctor had drilled several holes in his head. This helped to relieve the pressure causing the severe pain and it also gave them a way to remove a lot of the blood surrounding his brain. They also put in drains that would drain blood away from his brain over the next several days. We had to leave the hospital so he could get some rest but we got there early in the morning to speak with the doctor and ask several questions. Turns out, when my dad fell and hit his head he suffered from a sub dura hematoma on both sides of the frontal lobe of his brain.  We are so lucky that he finally went to the hospital because had he waited any longer the results could have been bleak.  The doctor prepared us for the worst, warning us that if the brain did not stop bleeding, they would have to perform a second more in-depth brain surgery and remove the bleeding portion. But today, the nurse took out the drains, which is a great sign that the bleeding has slowed and now we hope that the brain can begin to heal. We are so thankful to the Lord for His provision! 

Overall, the doctors seem to think that his recovery is going smoothly and that no additional surgery will be necessary. They have reinforced, however, the idea that he will need to take is slow which if you know my dad, you know this will probably be the most difficult part of the recovery!). Once he is discharged from the hospital, he will be released into the care of a neurologists in Florida where they will closely monitor him to be sure that the bleeding does not start up again. 

I cannot tell you how thankful my family and I are for your prayers.  I am sitting here writing this post and listening to my dad joke and laugh about his bald head and I couldn't be more thankful!  The Lord heard your prayers and He has answered.  What a faithful God we serve! Please continue to pray for his healing and for his safe travel home. 

More exciting new from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation!

Check out this new article from the CF Foundation! How exciting!

CF Foundation Announces Investment to Speed Development of Additional Drugs to Treat the Most Common CF Mutation

Time Flies....

Where have the weeks gone? March literally flew by for Tyler and I and now we are committed to a very serious count down to the end of tax season!

(No worries, I am not confused... taxes aren't due till April 18th this year.)

Believe me..... the whole Blount family will be pumped to have yet another tax season behind us! But a lot has happened over the past week or so, so let's catch up!

Tyler headed to Birmingham for his last long appointment a few weekends ago and is lucky that he has such great friends who will travel with him!  Here are just a select few of the pictures they took to document the trip:

They may look (and even act) like 8th graders...but I promise they aren't.  But I love Adam's sweet backpack for his business trip :)

It was on this trip that he was given his last dose of VX-770 and VX-809.  On his first day of testing, he did the regular routine of sweat tests, blood draws, and lung function tests.  His lung function had increased to 108%! It honestly left us speechless.  Now keep in mind that almost everything in the Blount household is a game, which means that it was only natural for us to bet on who would be right at the end of the trial. So when I heard these results, there may have been a victory dance on my end.  Because you see, Tyler's vote from the very beginning of the trial was that he was on the placebo and mine (naturally the opposite of his) was that he was on the actual pill. And while we won't actually know the real results for several months.... I think I am right and at this point I think Tyler thinks I am too!  It all changed for Tyler when he went into his second day of testing. Since he had been given his last dose of the medicine the day before, all of the same tests were run again but this time the results showed a huge difference... his lung function dropped to 100%.  While the drop in lung function might seem discouraging, it is also a bright light to us because it means the medicine worked. So it is at this point in our journey that we choose to focus on the hope and the potential that this medicine may have and we pray that the research and FDA approval process will be swift! The day after Tyler got back from Birmingham, this blessing ended up in my inbox.... Proverbs 31 Devotion. God is so timely. My favorite verse from it is:

 “Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not…I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.” 

Isaiah 44:2b, 21b

Speaking of timeliness, although this may have been the busiest month of our lives, I couldn't have thought of a better time to have a visit from my parents. I love and appreciate their support in all things and I just love to see them!  We spent the weekend going to the zoo, celebrating my nephew's birthday, and just hanging out. It was great and the pictures show how much fun we had!

Love his new "cheese!"

The Birthday Boy! What a special little guy!! And how cute is he???

Well that's all for now... except one little hint....

Hopefully this is our last (and honestly our first!) picture in front of our apartment. More details next time!