CF Superheroes Super Success!

Thank you to ALL who support our family and our fundraisers in SO many ways!  The Rosebuds were all smiles yesterday despite the icky weather.  Thank you thank you THANK YOU for the donations that will be helping make Christmas a little less stressful for several of our local families struggling with complications from Cystic Fibrosis. 

 

May you find joy in helping others this holiday season. Random acts of kindness can go a LONG way.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to ALL!!

New York NEW YORK!!!

Elena had the great joy of traveling to NEW YORK CITY with her Nana and PaPa.  (Thank you again and again and then a whole lot more for taking her on this amazing trip Mom and Dad.)
Elena was able to enjoy all the things that New York brings including trying her first latte and riding in a plane for the second time...but first that she can remember. 

 She rode in a carriage around the city with her favorite tour guide, my cousin Brandon.

 Who took her on her first subway ride...and...

 of course took her to Grand Central Station and showed her a fun trick of whispering to each other on opposite sides of the station.

 View from hotel room...wow!

 Outside the building of Jimmy Fallon! She ALMOST saw Jimmy, but he was out of town for the week.  She was bummed BUT she DID get on the set of...

 The Colbert Report! On the set and sitting at the desk of Stephen Colbert!

 Times Square

 Top of the Empire State Building.

 The Statue of Liberty.

 The Bull on Wall Street.

 The Twin Towers Memorial.

 Wicked on Broadway!

 The Museum of Natural History...me want gum gum.

Radio City Music Hall and a tour WITH a Rockette!

Amazing trip for an amazing young lady.

Rosebuds calling all potential Superhero Sponsors!

Dear Potential Sponsor and CF Superhero,

 

Our Rosebuds team is a group of kids helping kids with Cystic Fibrosis (CF).  Elena is a bright, talented, and motivated young lady who was born with CF.  Elena's mom runs and fundraises with Team 65ROSES on behalf of Miles for Cystic Fibrosis, a local nonprofit that raises awareness and money for CF research and to help CF families struggling with the high cost of caring for this disease.  In 2009, when Elena was only 5 years old she declared that she wanted to run on her own "kids team" to raise awareness and money; just like her Mommy!  To bring this vision to life, Elena ran in a kids fun run at her Mom's 65ROSES race beside her parents, siblings, friends and CF supporters.  Her theme and inspiration was "Kids helping kids with CF" and thus the Rosebuds were born!

 

Since 2009, this charity of young runners has worked to raise awareness and money to support local CF families and for CF research.   The Rosebuds have raised over $45,000 for CF charities!

 

The Rosebuds would LOVE to list you and your company's name as a corporate sponsor on our website, social media, and our shirts!  Your sponsorship will help to pay for costs associated with the Rosebuds team including our runners rewards of CF Superhero tees, Superhero capes with masks, and small prize/toys to give to all our runners who raise $65, $165, or more.  Join us as we raise awareness and money for Cystic Fibrosis.  Being a corporate sponsor for the Rosebuds goes beyond your monetary contribution, it means you are supporting a tremendous group of young runners who are to be Superheroes for CF!

 

Please be sure to check out our website at www.milesforcf.org/rosebuds.

 

Balentine's Littlest Supporter!

Elena returned to Balentine's office with all siblings in tow to thank the CF "Wish for Wendy" supporters for all they are doing to raise awareness and funds for the cause. 

She enjoys speaking about the disease and mostly making new friends. 

After her talk, we enjoyed walking around the office and found this sculpture by Michael Stipe of REM called "Foxes"! Very cool.

Thank you Team Balentine and to all the friends and family that have supported us in various ways over the years. We are extremely grateful.

CF Fundraising: Yard Sale Style

Kids hosting a Rosebuds CF fundraiser table at our neighborhood yard sale for their December race. Necklaces, earrings, scarfs, by Elena and Artwork by Em...it's awfully sweet.

Reading too much?

For those who know Elena well will know that she loves to read. She loves to read any book she can get her hands on. If there is not a book to read, she has recently taken to writing her own book. 

After she recently blew through almost all the books in our house including attempts at books like Jane Eyre, she finally resorted to reading health books. Last night, she asked if she could start reading an educational book for young teens about cystic fibrosis. My knee-jerk reaction was to say "heck no!" With 6 lives lost this week due to CF (4 in one day and 2 under 10 yrs old), I'm not wanting my little girl to learn any of the harsh reality of what is ahead. However, she's going to have to learn and understand more about what she is up against. For a 10-year-old she is extremely mature.

Elena is 5 inches shorter than me. She is already borrowing my clothes and can just about fit into my shoes. Needless to say, she is growing up so fast right before my very eyes. 

I will let her educate herself on this disease.  She is smart, she knows what she has and that it can be bad, very bad.

Thank goodness for all the wonderful CF role models we have. They give us hope. The Reaching Out Foundation, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Miles for Cystic Fibrosis organization, and Rosebuds all give us hope. The many CF families whom I have met over these last 10 years give us hope.The CF doctors and their amazing staff give us hope. The genetic researchers and the pharmaceutical companies give us hope. 

So yes, Read On Elena. Educate yourself and arm yourself for this battle that you will have in your life. You will fight it and you will win it because you are surrounded by a lot of love, a community filled with hope, and a lot of amazing people fighting with you and for you.

-----------

Update on Elena's reading... She read the book in 2 nights and her response when I asked her if she had any questions or concerns, "No. I pretty much understand what I'm dealing with. This just filled in the gap."  Truly way way grown up.

Clark Howard

Thanks to Nana and Papa's winning bid, Elena met, followed, sat in the car of, and listened in/partcipated in the show of Clark Howard!

This young lady is making connections everywhere!

 Clark's car is now Elena's favorite.

Thank you Clark Howard for being an excellent host to our sweet 10 year old and her excellent grand parents.

Always educating about CF!

Our little "Wish for Wendy" Cystic Fibrosis fundraiser ambassador speaking to her softball team at their office in Buckhead. Go team Balentine!

 She was armed with her Bulletproof Coffee and a  note card with questions to ask herself so she would stay on cue.

 She really loves to speak to a crowd.

 She prefers a few hundred, but 25 will do, too.  Especially when they are friends to the CF community!  She met the CEO Mr. Balentine and gave him her business card!!  She made the room cry and laugh; sometimes at the same time!

She made a call on her "retro" phone to tell family about her new connections made.  Her goal is to meet Jimmy Fallon when she is in New York.  She met TWO people that have a connection.  :):)  One that wants her 10 year old son to be Elena's boyfriend. AND the entire office which was so friendly and supportive.  It was wonderful to look around the table and see our CF family grow.

 We enjoyed a post speech breakfast at our favorite place, Waffle House!

Thank you Team Balentine for welcoming us into your work place and treating us like family.  We are SO excited to help your team succeed in many ways!  Let's "Catch a Cure for CF" together!