Project Surprise Mackenzie

We interrupt this blog to do a little fundraising!

Last Friday, marked the 11th anniversary of Mackenzie’s diagnosis of cystic fibrosis. She is still doing 1-2 hours of treatments daily to keep her lungs as healthy as she can and taking medication to help with her digestion. We are still so proud of her positive attitude and cooperation as I’m sure it is no fun to have these added responsibilities and worries as an eleven year old.

In September, Mackenzie will again be participating in the Great Strides walk to raise money to find a cure for cystic fibrosis. This year she has a big goal to raise $10,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. It’s a giant goal but when we talked about it a couple of months ago we discussed asking a lot of people for a little money. So, we are going to try to get $10 from 1000 people. Here’s a little problem – we don’t know 1000 people to ask. So, first we are asking you to click HERE and donate $10 (any amount more or less is also greatly appreciated! It’s a secure site and your donation is tax deductible), then if you wouldn’t mind to forward this to anyone you know that might be interested in helping to make a little girl very happy, please do so.

Mackenzie is at camp and returns on Friday, August 1st so I’m going to see how much I can get raised for her before she returns – she will be so surprised! Of course we’ll still be raising money through the event in September, so if this e-mail comes to you after August 1st please still feel free to donate.

There is also a place to post a comment when you make your donation so please put a little message, or if you are with a company and plan to send this on to co-workers, please put your company in your comment so we know where everyone is contributing from. If you are from a different state, that would be great to comment on too. We hope to see how great the power of e-mail is!

If you would like to learn more about cystic fibrosis, please visit the CFF website at http://www.cff.org/.

Thank you for your help in helping us raise money so we can start counting the anniversaries of her cure instead of her diagnosis!

Christy Jobe



If the link above to make a donation does not work:

http://www.cff.org/Great_Strides/MackenzieJobe

Banana Boats

Wouldn't you know that the weekend we move out of the only home Peyton has ever lived in, her sister goes off to camp! To help ease her into to the new house, Kendall spent the night last night. We had a Breakfast Banana Boat Bar before Traci picked them up for VBS!

Off To Camp

Mackenzie left for camp yesterday and I miss her so much, there's just something about not being able to talk to her all week that makes it even worse. I'm sure she is having a great time and I can't wait to hear all about it!Mackenzie, Morgan, Francis, Jenna & Madison.
This a picture of Mackenzie in the bus - she really is in there somewhere! Tena, this picture is mainly for you!

Hanlon Visit

Our friends the Hanlons that moved to Ohio last year were in town this past week and we got to visit with them a few times. Here is a picture of the kids after we had dinner Friday (Sheila's birthday!) with the Hanlons and the Cooks. Ella, Rachel (how sweet they are holding hands!), Mackenzie, Peyton, Ben & Molly.

Happy Birthday, Mackenzie!

Happy birthday Mackenzie. You are such a smart, brave, beautiful (on the inside and out) girl and I'm so lucky to be your Mom and to get to watch you grow into a young lady. I can't believe you are 11 and I am thankful for each and every day. We love you, love you, love you!

New Background

For those of you that stick to this blog, please go to the "My Random Thought's On Things" blog because I think the new background is so cute!

Girl Scout Trip

I just realized I never posted pics from Mackenzie's end of the year Girl Scout trip (May 31). Peyton and I ended up joining Mackenzie and her troop at the very last minute. When I dropped Mackenzie up they had room for us so I ran home, woke Peyton up, took a very quick shower and got ready in about 15 minutes. Unfortunately, Jason now knows this is possible. We went to the Discovery Center in Springfield, ate at Lambert's (home of the flying rolls - fun!) and then stopped in Branson for a trip to Ripley's. Since it's been a while I'm drawing a blank but I was it was during this trip that I found out Brandy has a blog and she posted when it was fresh on her mind (I think the same night as the trip) so you can find out more by clicking "The Blackburns" on the blog links and going to May.

Mackenzie on the spinny thing (I dont' remember what it's really called...Brandy?)

Peyton digging for dinosaur bones.

This is Mackenzie riding a bicycle on a wire three stories up. I'm scared to death of heights so even though there was a net and harness, I was not comfortable with it!

Daddy's Little Helpers

It was such a windy Spring! We lost the glass table top to our patio table, an unfotunate event from an open umbrella. It was in thousands of pieces and it happened over a month ago about 10 minutes before they were showing the house. Jason and I got most of it cleaned up before we had to get out of the house. We didn't want to buy a new table since we don't know what outdoor furniture we will want. Solution: Jason and the girls made a picnic table style topper for the base that was left. They were all very cute with the power tools! (This post was a little late - the pictures are from June 8 - Peyton's hair was still long...now that I look at the pictures that doesn't seem so safe with the power tools!)

Annual

Mackenzie's check-up went okay yesterday. The results from her blood work came back normal and she gained 2 pounds (but the goal is for her to gain another 4 as soon as possible). Her Pulmonary Function Tests showed a little bit lower numbers than her last visit and her X-rays showed her lungs to have a little bit more mucus but Dr. Warren thinks this may just be from some sort of bug SO, we are waiting for the results from her culture to see what what it shows (and then put her on an antibiotic if needed).

Mackenzie turns 11 on Monday and for her birthday, I'm going to be sending an e-mail and posting to help her raise some money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. We'll only be asking for $10 a person (of course more or less would be appreciated too). Please be on the lookout for the post because we'll need your help to spread the word.

Clinton Library

After Mackenzie's appointment we went to the Clinton Library and I think the girls thought it was pretty interesting. They looked up what President Clinton was doing on the day they were born (he had the day off when Mackenzie was born and around the actual hour of Peyton's birth, he was in a plane). Here they are in front of the reproduction of the Oval Office. Now, Peyton wants to go to Washington D.C.

LR Bound

As I previously posted, we were not able to go to the new clinic for Mackenzie's annual appointment this time. Dr. Warren needed to reschedule his appointments here for a date that Mackenzie will be at camp so we are back to our original appointment tomorrow. I'll post as soon as I can afterwards with an update, I'm praying for a great check-up.

We Found Eddie a Woman (Or a Sister)

We love watching CBS News Sunday Morning and today's rerun gave us another chance to see Tillie - a Jack Russell Terrier Artist (her art is shown behind her) - and I think she'd be perfect for Eddie! What do you think? (Tillamook "Tillie" Cheddar on the left, our Eddie on the right).

Eat Mor Chikin!

You don't have to tell us twice. I really can't think of a time we've been to McDonald's since our Chick Fil A opened on April 10. Today was Cow Appreciation and if you dressed like a cow you got a free meal. We were wanting to do it but then got lazy and I thought we probably wouldn't make it. Then we saw the pictures on the Benson's blog and Peyton was all about getting her moo on! Mackenzie decided she didn't want to do it but Peyton went all out (it helped we had a kit we got at another Chick Fil A earlier this week).

July 4th

We relish Fourth of July celebrations as we will never forget the summer two years ago when they admitted Mackenzie into ACH on July 3rd and we spent a good part of July in one little hospital room with a few visits to the roof for some fresh air - I'll also never forget being huddled in a corner with my parents, Jason and Mackenzie with our faces pressed against the window trying to see the fireworks that were just out of comfortable viewing range. Now on the fourth, the grass is greener and the sounds of the kids playing is so much sweeter. We are so thankful for this time.

We went to celebrate Emily's birthday - and Independence Day - with the Adairs. The girls were so excited to see Emily and Ashley after a week and a half (too long!). If you notice the gap in Mackenzie's smile, it happened that night - how convenient it is to be at your dentist's house when you have a tooth that is ready to come out. This would be the second time Mackenzie has lost a tooth at Emily's house while celebrating her birthday and Peyton had a tooth pulled during one of Ashley's parties - I promise we don't plan these things.
Earlier in the day on the 4th we had lunch at Jason's parents, here the girls are with their cousin Lexa.
There was another picture that was supposed to be here of Thursday night when we went with Michele and the kids to watch fireworks in Bella Vista but for some reason after I edited it it was the size of a pencil eraser. It was definitely a firework show they'll never forget - the sky opened up and it poured about five minutes before the show was over but it was still a lot of fun.

Peyton, Kendall, & Eddie

Peyton's friend Kendall spent the night last night and I have never seen anyone so in love with our dog - she may love him even more than us. If her parents don't get her a dog soon I may just have to drop one off at their door. This is one girl that I see taking the responsibility of owning a pet very seriously! (Andy and Traci, if a dog actually shows up on your front door, I was just kidding so it's not from us!!).

Vacation

We had a great time on vacation in Gulf Shores. Seven relaxing days and nights in a condo at The Beach Club, followed by a crammed packed day and a half in New Orleans on the way home. The Beach Club was great - kind of secluded, it has four towers but each tower has their own pool and there is another large pool at the Club House, so there were times when we had the pool all to ourselves. They had bands at the Club House pool every night, and there were two restaurants, a market, ice cream parlor and gift shop all on site - we only ventured into "town" a few times. Thank you to everyone that gave us suggestions on where to eat and what to do while we were there! Now on with the millions of pictures, I tried to only post a few from each day and since a picture says a thousand words, I'm not going to write too much (but I have included some links so you can check out some of the places we visited) - relaxing on the beach is exhausting.

Here are the girls running into the water on the first day:

Eating at The Hangout:

LuLu's, Bumper Boats and Go Carts at The Track and Miniature Golf at Pirate's Island:One day on the beach the family next to us spent the day fishing...we got to go see a sand shark they caught and they came over to see the stingray Jason caught (with the girl's little blue net). The second picture was when we let it go, some of us screamed when the wave brought it back towards us instead of out away from us.Hunting for crabs and letting them go:Last day on the beach...Mackenzie was over the sand and salt so she didn't even get in on the last day. On the ferry heading from Fort Morgan to Dauphin Island:
On the boat during our swamp tour - so much fun! Our tour guide was so funny and we did come across two alligators, and a family of crazy people camping with their small children near where the alligators roam.Walking around in New Orleans: Beignets at Cafe Du Monde:
Penguins are one of Peyton's favorite things (since she used to waddle around in her footed pajamas as a toddler and we'd call her a penguin) and I think the penguin in this picture knew it...it just swam up and posed with her. This was at the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans.

On the way home:
Wow - if you are still reading and looking at the pictures and you are not a relative - BLESS YOUR HEART!