Cheriz: My life with Cystic Fibrosis

Finding ME TIME can be hard, even feel selfish. But, I have learned a lot. It's a bit of a story, let me start back at February 5th... February 5th, it was a cold, dark, stormy night. OOPS! Nevermind. This isn't a murder mystery. Feb 5th: I had Cystic Fibrosis Clinic, my first appointment of the year. Which means mental health screening. Like my usual- I score zero signs of depression and very high on anxiety. This is an accurate description, I have always been fast paced, over thinking, high level control needed, and high anxiety. My anxiety comes from feeling rushed, having too much to do and feeling I'm not accomplishing enough. This is largely thanks to time my medication and CF takes up every single day. I have trouble saying "No" and take on lots of projects at the same time. Right now, I have a career, I'm a fosterparent, have many medical treatments a day, volunteer on 6+ boards and committees for the CFF National Office, and I'm currently organi...

It's challenging to foster, it's not a challenge to love the kids Andrew and I began fostering in August of 2017. We have had two cases and 4 kiddos live with us during the last 1.5 years. Jumping into fostering 3 kids at once, was a lot. You become an instant parent. READY or NOT! First Store Trip! Prepping? It's hard to know what you will need. An expecting mother has nine months to plan. She knows the age (and sometimes gender) of her child. Now as a Foster Parent you can set limits. For example: you can state you want only 1 kid at a time, over age 10 or under age 5. It depends what works for your life. Then plan the best you can for those specifics. We decided no more than 2-3 kids, but our range of ages is 2-12 years old (for now). So we started out by setting up a crib and bunk bed (that comes apart). We painted the rooms neutral, added fun curtains. We bought duffel bags, some kid friendly games, some night lights, and tolietries. We waited until we knew who was co...

Andrew and I moved in October of 2018. We wanted slightly more space and being closer to family helps when I'm sick (I have Cystic Fibrosis). We are now super close to my sister and 30-45 minutes closer to the rest of our family. Which really helps during times (like now) when I'm on Ivs and extra meds. But, did you know I'm a Realtor (with Keller Williams) and house-enthusiast?? I LOVE homes!! I'm not just saying that. I have since I was a kid. I used to go through open houses (begging and dragging my mom with me). Since age of 8 years old I would sit and design floor plans in my free time. I have a big binder full of them. I LOVE older homes that need some love to come back to life! Our first home was a 1930s bungalow. It was beautiful! I loved that house, but we know who bought it and know they love it too :-) We needed to move to be closer to work, family, my doc, and everything. It makes life a lot simpler for us. And the area we decided to move to doesn't have...