Celebrating 6 months!

Saturday, October 26th marked an important date on our calendar--6 months post transplant!  It has been a long, hard, scary six months, so we needed to celebrate the big milestone!!!  I was overcome with tremendous gratitude as I thought of our donor, the support of our family and friends, Hunter's strength and determination, and also for the resiliency of our kids.

2 hours past bedtime, wound up from Uncle Chase and sugar

Here we were April 26th, full of excitement and joy at the possibility of life without CGD.  This little bag has forever changed us!  It has not been easy, but worth the struggle.  If you would be willing to be a life saving donor for someone in need just like us, I'd encourage you to sign up at BeTheMatch.com

Caleb, Clayton, and sweet Leighton

Jordan is the definition of a faithful friend.  He wrote Hunter an email every night just filling him in on life.  Hunter rarely responded, but he could often be found reading it while he was up in the night.  

Party prep helpers

 There were lots of laughs from around this table.  Hunter usually chose to turn chemo's nasty side effects and physical struggles into entertaining group text messages.  Some of them probably aren't suitable for the blog, but we could always count on them to lift Hunter's spirits and make him smile.

I am so proud of Hunter.  He is physically, mentally, and spiritually one of the strongest people I've ever met.  Our boys have a great example of what a Godly man looks like!  And I might add I'm thankful he's not a complainer.  This made taking care of him much easier:) 

One week before our party, we got clearance from Hunter's doctor to be around kids that we know are healthy.  This meant we had a weekend full of cousin reunions.  Clara came over Saturday to play and Benton was so so happy.  These best friends hadn't seen each other since July.  Benton had this smile on his face the entire day.  The next day we met the entire Hanner clan for Sunday lunch.  It felt so normal to all meet together to eat.  I found myself crying happy tears at several points of our weekend.  We've been enjoying playdates with several of our friends the past couple weeks.  It has definitely softened the blow of not being allowed back at church and school at the six month mark.  Great weekend for sure! 

cousin love!

Thank goodness for fall!  Our guys love to be outside, and Caleb is seeming to outgrow some of his asthma symptoms usually brought on by a change in seasons.  We had a picnic out at Nana and G-Daddy's farm and enjoyed the beautiful afternoon together.

I was blessed by some of the encouragement I received after my last pity party post about not being cleared to be back in school and church in time for fall festivals, trick or treating, and Halloween, and ACU homecoming.  One sweet friend made the comment that the boys would probably look back on this time spent together as one of their favorite times in life.  It really helped change my perspective.  I've tried to make it a point to try and create one memorable thing each day that's out of our normal routine.  We've played at the playground, been on leaf hunts, baked cookies, and tried to reconnect with friends we've missed so much over the past few months.  The boys also go to each spend the night with Nana and G-Daddy all by themselves a night, which is a big hit with our three.  There is no greater gift than time spent with family.

Oh these two.....stinkers for sure!

We hit up the playground first thing so we could have it all to ourselves.  

Benton and Hunter went to the golf course.  This was my favorite of the pictures Hunter took because of the look on his face.  Benton loved it and his Daddy did too!  Hunter would like everyone to know that Benton showed much better form than this on other shots.

 This picture was Hunter's first day to not take any steroids since he went back into the hospital in June.  He has tapered down from 120 mg daily to now 5 mg every other day.  Steroids are no fun, so we are more than ready to be done with them!  Hopefully this will mean the joint pain, aching feet, puffy face, and extra risk of infection will be gone too!

Not much decorating going on, but lots of cookie eating:)

We also all got our flu shots (you should too).  Good boys for shots deserve milkshakes for lunch, right?

This has been a ride the past six months.  I think we've experience just about every emotion possible.  As we continue to gain back more of our life, I hope that we can adequately convey the extreme thankfulness we feel for those of us who have prayed for our family.  We believe in the power of prayer, and we are humbled that God allowed Hunter to be healed from CGD and be here to celebrate his six month anniversary.  We ask for continued prayers for physical strength and stamina for Hunter, for there to be a hedge of protection from sickness over our family the winter months as we venture back out into public.  I also pray a special pray for blessings for the selfless stranger who half a year ago went into surgery to donate his marrow to someone he had never met.