House Full of Boys!

This week is EB awareness week! EB stand for Epidermolysis Bullosa. It is a rare, genetic skin disease that involves the connective tissues of your skin. The slightest friction to the skin can cause severe blistering. The EB kids are referred to as 'Butterfly children' because their skin is so fragile. To learn more go to http://www.debra.org/ . I came across this disease through a blog about little Jonah. You can follow Jonah by clicking on his picture to the right. I have since come across several EB kids that I follow on a regular basis. EB is a horrible, painful disease. This week I will be running in a 5K race in support of EB. A few of my friends from work and myself made shirts that have the kids we follow on the back. Unfortunately shortly after the shirt was made little sweet Bella passed away. She was at the University of Minnesota for a clinical trial for an EB bone marrow transplant. I think she was patient #12. So far this is the only hope these kids have. I miss B...

Labor Day was over a month ago, but here's what we were up to: I ran in another race, this time the Apple Festival 8K. My time was 49:33. I was happy to be under the 50min mark. It was the hardest race I've done thus far. It had quite a few hills and was rather cold and windy that morning. Next up - a 5K race on the 30th to support EB kids (see my side bar). A picture that was taken at the finish line Then after the race we headed up to Big Creek on the NC/Tenn border to go camping with Jared's family. We had a great time. We took some adventurous day trips up windy dirt roads but it was worth it for what we saw: Elk have been reintroduced into the wild in this area - they first started out with 17 I think and are now over 50. Max's Patch - what a beautiful view. I will be happy to take any that want to visit me up to this place for a picnic. The cousins Eli & mommy taking in the sun and fresh air Hiking down Arts & crafts - thanks to Aunt Emily & Je...

Phew! - I am glad that moving is over......for now anyway, I will be really glad once we are in our new house. We moved over 2 days, which wasn't quite long enough...we worked up until the last minute. Good thing we had been taking small loads in the van to the storage unit for a few days. We had some help from church and Jared's dad. The kids hung out and played with what they could. They all wanted to 'help' a little too. They loved the big moving truck and especially running up and down the squeaky ramp - Ugh! Moving in the rain is not fun! It rained for both days. Sometimes a sprinkle, sometimes a downpour. We have our things spread between 3 places now - storage, Jared's parents house and their business. I think we have found most of the necessary stuff for now. The kids are adjusting well, but bedtime is proving to be more and more difficult most nights. I know the move has been hard on them too so I'm trying to be patient but it's hard. ...