9 months, Great Strides, & Live and See.

Well, here I am... late again! This is bound to be another marathon post for sure.
Our sweet boy is 9 months old. What happened?? Where has time already gone?
I remember when J was first diagnosed with CF. The week in the hospital and the following few weeks at home seemed to c r a w l. I was depressed, trying to figure out how to be a mom to a newborn, let alone a mom to a newborn with some special medical needs. The depression gave way to confidence which gave way to joy, and here I am 8 months later, fascinated by the providence of God and at how quickly these months have flown by.
Little J man is 18+ pounds of pure joy and hilarity! He cracks me up all day. We have one tooth, but are working on a multitude of others which has led to a bit of whiny-ness from the dear boy. He's started finger foods and can gum a Puff or Yogurt Melt with the best of them. He's mobile. He's not crawling, but if he's left on his stomach, he can scoot and twirl and spin. A friend of mine called him a "little ballerina" while holding him the other day. He was spinning in her arms, not trying to get away, but just wanting to MOVE! :) He's not babbling yet, but is definitely vocal. Shrill screams and excited noises escape from his mouth constantly, there is much conversation to be had!
Here's his 9 month picture... I couldn't keep him on his back, so we just went with it!

If these pictures can show anything, they can first of all show how much he grows month by month, and second of all show the extreme talent and great taste of our friends and family that made these special blankets for J! We love them!!

On May 21st, we participated in the Great Strides Walk to raise money and awareness for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. We had about 75 walkers (!!!) and raised about $3500 for the Foundation!!! We are amazed at the support that we received for just our first year of the walk! We've decided this is going to be our annual CF event to really get into, and then the rest of the year we'll just live like normal folk. ;) Hope you can join us next year, here's a few pictures from the event!!

Jason couldn't come with us to the walk, but you're mistaken if you think that means that we didn't take the opportunity for a stinkin' cute photo shoot!

Our adorable nieces walking for Jason!

Some of our team!

More of our team! Lots of blue!!

The Heathers with their babes/big kids... :)

Matt working our tent!

Just a shot of our tent and some of our team.

It was seriously so fun. We felt so supported and loved. We had people on our team from ICS, Hungry for Life, Grant Elementary, friends from book club, friends from high school, friends from before high school, small group friends, even friends from our birthing class! Thank you to all of you who came and/or donated to our team, and there's soon to be a fun little postcard coming in your mail! :)

And life. I'll have more to update in a couple of days, but life always has a way of taking an unexpected turn. Sometimes being an adult is seriously overrated! :) At this time last year, I was doing a Daniel bible study and I remember the study was talking about trouble. How to handle life when you had trouble, what God can teach us through trials, and how to come out victorious on the other side of it. I remember not being able to relate. I felt like a fraud, who goes through life without trouble!? Seriously, who has had a life as easy as mine?? I began to question my easy-going life, wondering if I should go and seek out trouble so that I could relate to others. Silly, I know. I've come to realize I did know trouble, but I didn't realize it. Maybe that kind of trouble is worse. I had the trouble of low self-esteem (always working on that one!), doubt, shifting focus, etc. Now, a year later, I get it. Do people have tougher problems than me? Uh, most definitely YES!!! But, I now get that life is riddled with trials and troubles. This past week has been a roller coaster. I'm not trying to be mysterious here, but there are some issues that we're dealing with in the work and insurance realm of life (which has now become a very important realm in our lives). Last night, I started a study on the book of Esther with a wonderful group of women. I love how God gives us just what we need when we need it. And, I love that what we need is more of Him to sustain us, teach us, guide us, and most importantly work out His magnificent will through us! And He gives us more of Himself, that is the astonishing part. Here is quote from the Beth Moore study that really spoke to me through my study time this morning. I'll update you on a few nuggets of truth that I will undoubtedly glean through this study, so that hopefully this can all be an encouragement to you too!
"Life here is full of trouble whether in a sky-high mountain of small annoyances or an earth-splitting canyon of crisis. There's no escaping it until we escape these mortal bodies. But here's the good news. I also learned that in all five occassions where those same Hebrew words [wayhi bime aka once upon a time....] were associated with impending catastrophe, "the ending to each story is happy, but before that happy ending is realized, much grief occurs." I think we know the part about "much grief", but in the weeks to come I'm hoping for us to grasp that no life is free of troubles, regardless of religion, race, or nation. In fact, as Job said, every life is full of it (Job 14:1). When we trust our lives to the hand and pen of an unseen but ever-present God, He will write our lives into His story and every last one of them will turn out to be a great read. With a grand ending. And not just in spite of those catastrophes. Often because of them. Don't just wait and see. Live and see."
Ah, encouragement, I needed you.