I am feeling excited about writing to you all again.  There has not been any big change in Meaghan so I don't have much to update you about.  Just the fun stuff today, at least that is how this all started. This picture makes my little soccer player look like a star. The truth is, she's not very good.  All that matters is that she was having so much fun she never noticed that the other kids knew how to play.  We were so fortunate to know the coach and have him know us so well.  The season is over now and Meaghan is ok with that.  She has her honorary team jersey and a trophy.  Alright, one sad fact, Meaghan said she can wear her jersey when she has to go to the hospital again because it has nice big loose sleeves.

 After all that running around, Meaghan loves to have a big fat donut.  She needs it too.  There was a big weight loss last month but we are making that up.  I wish I could say that it was because she is eating everything in sight.  Unfortunately, it is all because of the extra can of high fat formula she gets in her feeding tube overnight.  But it is fun to watch her eat, even if it is only once in a while.  Seriously, she may not eat a meal all day long.  When she does ask for food these days it doesn't add up to a meal and she rarely finishes what she asks for.  We don't fight over it, I learned a long time ago I couldn't win those arguments.  Instead, all I can do is ask her to join us for meal times and offer her anything she wants.  So most days she "eats" a Danimals yogurt for dinner.  Sometimes a little cereal goes with.  She says she doesn't feel hungry or that she already feels full.




Story time is another great time in our house.  This night Jimmy got in on the action.  Most nights he takes advantage of the quiet and watches whatever sporting event is on television.  But the story he is reading to his sister and brother is one of his all time favorites.  We just call it the veggie soup book and it has been a hit for many years.  Jason doesn't usually hang around for this one, he says it's too long and silly for him.  The kids and I like it and it makes us laugh to watch Daddy cringe as we pull it off the shelf.

This was a fun day at Jimmy's school Fall Festival. The weather was less than great so the activities were all moved inside.  There was great food, fun games, face painting, music and a chili cookoff.  Meaghan was the first to hit the target on an elaborately engineered shooting game.  Her prize candy came catapulting across the room much to all our surprise.  Then they all threw darts at balloons just to hear the loud pop.  The bouncy wall  of velcro was a huge hit.  The little kids needed help from their daddy to bounce high enough to get good and stuck to the wall.  It was hysterical to watch.  The giggling and squealing are sounds I won't soon forget.  It was work for Jason to get them up that high and watching him try to pull them off the wall was equally difficult.  I wish I had video of this one to share.

We spent part of a fall Sunday afternoon at our friends farm.  Meaghan was allowed to scavenge for the materials she needed to create a small creature home in her backyard.  She wants to encourage more small animals to live there.  After playing with the chestnuts, running down the hill and slopping in the creek she picked rocks, sticks and the coolest gnarly stump for starters.  Then Meaghan visited with the cows for a long time.  She was quiet and still enough to get one to eat grass from her hand.  Come December half of one of these cows will be in our freezer.  We've done this for three years now and the kids are cool about it.  They know where our food comes from and so do we.  These cows are kept and cared for as well as, if not better than some pets we know.  Allowed to graze freely without the use of growth hormones and antibiotics making them the best choice for our family dinner table.




Another hit was the antlers that hung in one of the outbuildings.  Meaghan had just asked me if she could see some deer antlers up close.  Then whala, a set hung right over her head.  She was allowed to hold them and appreciate their size and weight.  Very cool.      

Finally, I finished the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's first anual Xtreme Hike!  The weather was perfect the whole day.  We set out on the trail just before 7am.  The first leg was over 10 miles.  Then a quick stop for lunch and refueling.  The second half was more challenging if you ask me.  It was a long winding path uphill that wasn't really a path at all, it was the crumbled side of an east coast mountain.  My cell phone battery died when my gps map app reached 23.53 miles.  15 minutes later I crossed the finish line.  I hiked along with great people, some of whom have no connection to CF and one who is fighting his own battle with CF.  Now I know what people were talking about when they told me how this experience would change my life.  I thought I could do it but I just proved to myself I am capable of so much more than anything I imagined.  Whether you have CF or are the parent of a child with CF you never know how it is going to interrupt your life.  Hiking all that day gave me lots of time to reflect on our struggle.  All the ups and downs, rocks, sticks, trail  markers and beautiful vistas along the way I found to be wonderfully symbolic.  With that so fresh in my mind I promised myself to tackle the rest of our days the way I conquered that hike, one tricky step, one rocky hill, just one obstacle at a time.  The reward was such a sweet personal victory.
  



OK.  This is just too cute not to include it.  I hope you see the humor in this with out me spelling it out for you.  They were playing and singing, "Pop goes the weasle!"
HAHA, Jaecksch (jacks) in the box.