We are Filled with Joy!

I haven't written much on the blog this summer. I thought I might try to explain, but I figured Griffin could do a much better job.

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy."

Psalm 126:3

More details to come soon!

Pray for Will

Hi, friends. Meredith and Rachel here.

We know that many of you are very familiar with Lindsey's blog and the story of her miracle kids, Kate and Will.

In case you're not familiar with their story, we'd encourage you to take a moment to visit her blog to catch up.

In short, both of Lindsey and Alex's children have an extraordinarily rare genetic condition that requires them to have a bone marrow transplant shortly after their first birthday. Kate received her transplant in August of 2011 and has made a complete and miraculous recovery. She is a healthy, beautiful two year old and we know there isn't a day that goes by that her parents don't thank God for her life.

Their son, Will, was diagnosed while Lindsey was pregnant. They found a donor shortly after Will was born, but about a month ago, this donor backed out suddenly. But God is good and after many prayers, the registry found another donor for Will. He's now in the hospital where they are preparing his body for transplant.

Will is currently undergoing chemotherapy with a scheduled transplant date of June 12. Yesterday was his first day of Campath, an aggressive chemotherapy drug that is necessary. Sweet Will had an awful time yesterday, to put it lightly.

As we communicated with Lindsey and felt absolutely helpless to do anything but pray, we decided to put together a day of prayer for Will.

It is our goal to have someone praying for Will every moment of the day on June 12, the day of his transplant... effectively, the first day of his new life. 

We want to completely cover Will in prayer for at least 24 hours. We want Alex and Lindsey to know that their friends are carrying them through this difficult time through prayer when they feel like they can't take another step.

If you're interested in being a part of the day (or days) of prayer for Will, please send us a quick email to let us know you're in at prayforwillb AT gmail DOT com. Once we determine how many we have, we can know how long time slots will be and how many days we can pray.

After that, we will set up an Excel spreadsheet with time slots to pray and we will email that out. Upon receiving the email, we will have you contact us back with your top 4 times you'd be able to pray  and we will match you. Once we have everyone's information, we will email out the final copy of when you will be praying.

Final step? Pray for Will. We will also send out a list of specific requests from Lindsey so you can know exactly how to pray.

Please feel free to share this post or the email address with anyone you think might be interested in praying for Will. The more people to pray, the better!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for praying for Will. We know that Lindsey and Alex appreciate it so much.

We love you, Will!

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who forgives all your sins and and heals all your diseases. 

Psalm 103:2-3

Five for Friday

1. I've neglected the old blog for the last few weeks, but I'm back! I spent the last week in Michigan with Tyler, Griffin, and my family and it was glorious. We were able to be in town for one of my best friend's bridal shower and for part of my cousin's visit from Colorado. Uncle Gah (Jack) even came into town for a night! We had a great week, full of friends, family, park play dates, and an evening boat ride. I'm planning on blogging about our visit next week, but it was a perfect start to summer!

2. When we left Michigan yesterday, I just had to stop and grab some of my favorite pop. Yes, I'm from Michigan and I call it pop because that's what it is. Rock and Rye is my favorite pop of all time. It's a weird mix between cherry coke and Dr. Pepper, but it kind of has a creme soda quality to it. It's so hard to explain, but I don't know anyone from Michigan who doesn't like it. So, so good! If you're ever in Michigan, you've got to grab some! I can't wait to break open my new stash today.

3. I think I've found my favorite summer nail polish shade. I grabbed a bottle of Essie's Mint Candy Apple during a trip to Target recently, and I can't get enough. It looks great on my fingernails and on my toes. It's the prettiest shade of mint; it's really almost a pale, pale blue. I love nail polish and have quite the stash, so for me to declare a shade a possible favorite is a big deal. But it's so pretty, feminine, and summery! 

4. I've had this insulated mason jar tumbler from WalMart for a few months now and I love it! I use it all the time and I think it's so cute. I like that it doesn't have the little handle I've seen on so many, but I do wish I'd had some options for a cuter straw. I know, not a real problem Rachel. It's wonderful that it's insulated because I can tote it around the house with me and I don't have to worry about it leaving a ring when I set it down. I think this will be my go-to beverage holder while I lay by the pool this summer! As you can see, I've had to share it with a certain toddler. What I really need to do is go back and get him one of his own! 

5. I just finished a few books and need to do a blog post about what I've read lately. I always love seeing what other people are reading. My library has really added to their digital library and there are so many books available for checkout on e-readers! I love reading so much and find that I do more of it in the summer. These are a few of the titles I've finished in the last month or so. I would recommend all of them! 

I hope you all have a great weekend with your people! 

Five for Friday

I'm back with Five for Friday! I loved doing it last week and I have five more little happies to share this week.

1. I love these notebooks from Target. I have the pink polka dot one and the gold striped one, but I'm sure I can find a reason to go grab the other two colors. Am I the only one out there who is obsessed with school supplies? It was one of my favorite parts about teaching. I also love this striped folder and it has three pockets! Like I said, I have an office supply problem. Staples is my happy place.

2. I have fallen in love with the fabric hair ties, along with every other girl I know. I snagged some at Nordstrom a few months ago, but they were so expensive and I lost hair ties constantly. It's hard to pay $13 for 5 hair ties only to lose them all in a few months. So naturally, I was thrilled when I snagged these at Old Navy recently. These were up by the register. I love all the fun colors! 

3. Griffin got a Seeds of Praise Family Worship CD for his birthday and we both love listening to it! It's scripture set to songs and I've found that it's a great way for me to memorize scripture. We listen to it at home and in the car. They're catchy songs and I find myself singing to them when I'm alone. If you have kids, you've got to grab one of these CD's! They send you two, so you can keep one and give one to a friend. This is the one that we have and I plan to add to our collection soon. 

4. I didn't cook much this week because of yet another crazy week, but I did make Kate's chicken with mustard cream sauce on Monday and oh. My. Word. If you like mustard, you have to make this. It was easy and absolutely incredible. I used dijon mustard, but next time I make this (read: next week, seriously), I will use TJ's whole grain mustard. I served it with mashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts. Yum, yum. Thanks for an incredibly delicious weeknight meal, Kate! 

5. Look at these little beauties! They are my first "harvest" of the season, but seeing as though I only got three, I use the word harvest loosely. In the interest of full disclosure, I planted two strawberry plants in our garden about 2-3 years ago and they yielded a big fat nothing. I'd forgotten about them until I went out to weed the garden to prep it for the year and found about 11 full grown, thriving strawberry plants! Those things hide for a few years and then they multiply like rabbits! I was so excited. These strawberries were so good! There's nothing like homegrown fruits and veggies, even if they're accidental. 

We have lots of fun things planned for our long weekend! I hope you enjoy your extra day off with your family! 

Recent Griffin Happenings

Griffin is every bit of two years old these days and I am loving this age. Two has really not been a terrible age for us, but I think it's because three is worse (from what I've heard). I guess time will tell. 

I wanted to write down some of the things Griffin has been up to lately, what he's been saying, and just little pieces of information I don't want to forget. This post won't be interesting to anyone but Griffin's grandparents and his great aunt Mary Ann, but that's okay! He makes me so happy and entertains me every single day.

Griffin... 

• You call Veggie Tales "Debbil Tales". I'm not sure why, because you can clearly say the word veggie, but the pronunciation just kills me.

• You love going to story time on Wednesdays. You are a little timid and you sit on my lap most of the time, but your favorite part is when you get to shake the maraca eggs. You're very sweet and you always bring me one to shake.

• Playing outside is a big favorite these days. You like to help me water the flowers and you will mow the lawn with your little mower in the backyard when I'm watering our vegetable garden. You love playing with your basik-ball (basketball) and going for walks.

• You like being a big help to your daddy. You love helping him take the garbage cans down to the curb and back on trash days.

• You have a set of Duplo blocks that you play with everyday. When Daddy is done with work, the first thing you always ask him to do is make a tower with blocks. "Tower! Blocks!" Daddy makes way better towers than I do. When you knock them down, you wind your arm back so far and slap the tower all the way across the room.

• You sleep with a million stuffed animals. Right now you have your two Wubbies, your small blankey, your big blankey, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Mickey, Papa Bear, Christmas Dog, Vacuum the Monkey, a stuffed shark, Momo the Elephant, and your small "Ment Mixer" (cement mixer). They don't seem to affect your sleep, but you know if one is missing. Sometimes after nap or in the morning, you will throw them all out. You always keep your Ment Mixer with you though. That's the one you can't live without.

• You sleep at least 12 hours every night and you take a 2-3 hour nap each day. Your most recent thing is asking for one more kiss as we're leaving your bedroom. I say ask, but what I really mean is demand. You also dictate how many times we need to come back in for "one more kiss". Your dad and I talked about this today and we're going to need to break you of this soon. I'm sure that'll be fun for everyone!

• You do love to rock before bed and have one of us sing to you. Your favorite songs right now are "Goodbye Babies" (Rockabye Baby), "Jesus of the World" (Jesus Loves the Little Children), "Jesus" (Jesus Loves Me) and "Trust Jesus" ('Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus). I can't decide if you love the cuddle time more or if you just like stalling bedtime.

• Your very favorites shows right now are Bubble Guppies (Gups or Guppies) and a cartoon about a badger named Frances (Fas-Siss) on Netflix. Frances' little sister's voice makes your dad and I want to put our heads through a cement wall, so we try to limit Fas-Siss, but you do love it so much. Elmo, Super Why and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse are a very close second.

• I can't say that you have a favorite food because you're a pretty good eater, but you love fruit like your daddy. You also inhale sweet potatoes in any form, love hummus and crackers, and cinnamon school book cookies from Trader Joe's. You call them cinnamon cookies and they're a very effective bribing tool. You only drink milk and water and you're a big fan of both. I think you'd drink half a gallon of milk everyday if I'd let you. 

• You still love Cheerios. I keep them in a Tupperware cereal container in your cabinet that you're allowed to play with and often, I will find that you've stolen them away to the family room and you're happily munching away.

• You love puzzles! Your three favorites are a Melissa & Doug ABC sounds puzzle, a M&D transportation puzzle, and a puzzle that spells your name that Mimi and Papa got you for Christmas. You would do puzzles with me all day if you could.

• Your name puzzle plus a water bottle that you have with your name on it have really helped you with learning to spell your name! You can't spell it all, but you try so hard. I was watching you in your bed this morning on the monitor and you were just talking to yourself saying, "G-F-I-N spells Giffin!" You're so close! 

• You're very good at identifying family groups of people. For instance, some of our dearest friends are Annie and Nick and their daughters, Lydia and Violet. You will usually start by asking for Miss Annie (because you're in love with her) and then follow up asking for "Miss Ick (we're working on Mr. Nick), Eee-Ya, Baby Vi-Yet". You do that with your grandparents and uncles, too. 

• You still sleep in a crib, take a paci for nap time and bed time, and seem to have no interest in potty training. I am 100% okay with all of this and don't feel like we need to push you to change any of that in the near future.

• You are so funny! You have a great sense of humor. The other day, I was holding you while you were going to town on a whole apple and you held it up to my mouth and said, "Taste it!" 

• You are a very well mannered little boy. We have worked so hard with you on saying please and thank you. You are pretty consistent, but we all have our moments. If anyone sneezes or coughs, you usually follow it up with "besh you!" 

• You are a huge fan of the vacuum. You absolutely LOVE it! You hug it, you kiss it, you talk to it, you tell it good night... you are our vacuum's biggest fan. When we go to Target, the first thing you ask is "Facuums?" and we must go to the vacuum aisle. When we get there, it's truly like you're meeting a long-lost relative. "HI FACUUMS! HELLO FACUUMS! I LOVE YOU, FACUUMS!" It cracks me up every time! The interesting thing is that if I turn on the vacuum at home, you keep your distance. You don't like it coming too close to you if it's on. Silly boy.

• You're big on saying hello to people. Sometimes you'll walk into the kitchen and just say, "Hello!" and keep on going like we haven't seen each other in hours. You also say goodbye to different things when I take you up for a nap or just upstairs in general. "Goo-bye, flashcards! Goo-bye, dump truck! Goo-bye, water!"

• You can't get enough of construction vehicles, big trucks, and emergency vehicles. It amazes me what you can spot while we're driving. If there's a police car, a cement mixer, a backhoe, anything... you will find it. You have a good daddy who will take you to watch construction sites from time to time and you just love it! 

• You ask for the garbage truck every single morning. It's a highlight of your week. Our garbage man usually smokes a long cigar or cigarette and if you notice it, you'll tell me he's having a sucker. Haha! 

• You've had over 10 haircuts in your lifetime and you still scream bloody murder every single time. I have tried everything I know to do. I hold you, try to give you milk, give you a lollipop, they put on a show for you, but you always scream like I never hear you scream. It's always a workout. I'm going to make Dad take you next time. 

• You have a few chores that you do. You hand me the pillows when I make my bed, you help me unload the silverware from the dishwasher, and you put away socks when they're clean from the laundry. You love to help me and you also love to help me bake. I can't use the mixer without your help! You also like to get the cupcake tins out and pretend like you're baking "dupcakes". This is off topic, but you also say "dupstairs" for downstairs and upstairs. I love the way you talk! 

• You will say your full name if we ask you to say it: Giffin Ty-ur Day-fid Han-ee. You've recently started saying it as fast as you can and you think it's soooo funny! If someone asks what your name is, you'll respond with Giffy since we call you Griffy a lot.

• You love running errands with me. You really love grocery shopping and I think it's because it's so much uninterrupted time together. We chat, I let you hold different items and my list, and we just have a nice time together. One of your love languages is definitely quality time. I love that about you. You also love going to Trader Joe's together, but I think it's because of the sucker you get. :)

• You are a mama's boy and I love that about you. You're friendly, but you love being with me. You ask me to "Mommy, hold you" many times during the day and you always like to snuggle up on my lap and chest when we watch your shows. You are so snuggly and I don't take that for granted! You're big on your daddy, too. 

Griffin, words can't express how much I love you. It overwhelms my heart and makes my eyes filled with tears. I know your dad feels the same way. I love spending my days with you and I know I will never regret these years. You are the joy of my heart and I can't believe God chose me to be your mommy!

But as much as I love you, I hope you always know that your Heavenly Father loves you so much more. That's hard for me to comprehend, but I sure am thankful for it. I will let you down from time to time, but He never will. I pray you come to know Him at a young age and never know life apart from Him. 

I love you, my sweet Griffy boy! 

A Not-so-Confident Momma

I'm linking up again today with Kelly, Erin, Jennifer, and Courtney for Build 'Em Up! The topic this week is being confident in motherhood.

Before I was a mother, I was a perfect mother. 

Before I was a mother, I was an extremely confident mother.

I had big plans for my unborn son and my family. We were going to have an amazing natural birth (which we did, but only by the grace of God), I was going to exclusively breastfeed, I was going to have him on a flawless schedule, and on and on and on. 

But on a cold March night in 2011, that all changed in an instant as Tyler and I welcomed our beautiful curly headed boy into the world. It took me awhile, but I would soon figure out that I was as far from a perfect and confident mother as they come. 

I was hit with that reality in the hospital room the next day when Griffin wouldn't latch to nurse. Little did I know that this was the beginning of a breastfeeding nightmare, but really, that it would begin shake any confidence I thought I had as a mother. 

We had a scary few weeks with Griffin where he lost a significant amount of weight, almost enough to have to be hospitalized. That shook my confidence. 

I had to supplement with formula (which is fine and was a lifesaver for us), but I was met with some adversity from a friend and eventually lost that friendship because of FORMULA. It was her choice, not mine. Ridiculous, but it shook my confidence. 

It was hard for me to get Griffin to nap consistently and for any length of time. It took me the better part of 6 months to figure it out while my other friends seemed to have their babies on perfect schedules almost instantly. That shook my confidence.

Griffin was still taking a bottle of milk before bedtime when he was 14 months old. I was criticized for that, and it shook my confidence.

I could go on and on about what shook my confidence as a mother, but really? Those are my issues, no one else's. Plus, because of all those factors, I learned what was the best thing for my confidence as a mom.

I needed time. Time was what helped me to figure out what my little boy needed. Not what my friends thought he needed, not what the random lady at the grocery store thought he needed, but what I knew he needed. 

All I needed was to get to know Griffin better, trust my instinct, seek help from those I wanted to seek help from, and seek the Lord's face in the process. 

Griffin doesn't have a hump on his back from formula and he dropped that bottle of milk without a second thought. He takes naps and he doesn't have any problems with his weight. 

I wish I could go back, hold new-mom Rachel's face in my hands and tell her that everything would be okay. I'd tell her to relax, go with her gut, and do what's best for her baby and her family. I'd tell her that God and Tyler would help her and guide her to make good decisions for Griffin. I'd tell her not to worry about unsolicited advice because she's not mothering for that persons affirmation or glory. I'd tell her a lot of things, but knowing her, she probably wouldn't listen. Ha! 

I don't know when I truly started feeling confident as a mother, but I know I'm much better than I used to be. Everyone is different. Everyone makes different choices for their family and their children, and that's okay! We need to support one another, not tear one another down. And we certainly don't need to be tearing ourselves down for our choices. 

I don't want Griffin to be raised by a timid mom who questions her decisions because of someone's opinion or because of the way another mother is doing something. I want him to see me as confident and sure of myself because I'm seeking to glorify the Lord in all that I do, and that includes the big and small of motherhood. I want him to know that I'm confident in him as a child of God. 

The one thing I'm completely confident about is that my son knows I love him. That's what really matters! 

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Colossians 3:23-24

Menu Monday

I'm linking up again with Rachel this week for Menu Monday!

We've had an erratic few weeks, so my cooking has been spotty at best. These are a few meals we've had during that time.

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Chili

We love this chili and the fact that it's made in the slow cooker makes it that much better! It has great flavor and it really couldn't be easier to put together. Nothing peeves me more than a slow cooker meal that you have to prep for 30 minutes. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose? We load ours up with avocado, shredded cheese, and Fritos. Tyler loves sour cream on his. I always make cornbread muffins to eat with this meal. I also leave the celery out because I truly believe it's a sin to enjoy celery. Amen.

Grilled Tortellini Chicken Caesar Salad with homemade dressing

This salad is delicious, easy, and filling. It's my friend Emily's recipe and I love adding things to it. I like to marinate chicken breasts in Lawry's Herb & White Wine marinade, grill them, and slice them up for this salad. I've always used the "dressing" recipe that comes with the salad recipe (Caesar dressing and lemon juice mixed together), but I have started using Cristina Ferrare's recipe for Caesar dressing because it's the best I've ever had. I use anchovy paste instead of anchovies. It's the perfect Caesar dressing and surprisingly, not mayonnaise based. I top this with big shavings of Parmesan cheese. It's a great summer meal!

Warm Steak and Asparagus Salad

There's nothing bad about this meal. I'm sure I've included it on Menu Monday in the past. It's easy and it's out of this world good. This was our meal for supper on Mother's Day! We add a little bit of blue cheese opposed to gorgonzola. We had slices of Kroger's Whole Garlic Clove bread on the side. This will always be a favorite in our house.

BBQ Chicken, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, and Zucchini & Squash Sauté

Wow. That's a terrible picture. Anyway, this is one of my new favorite meal combinations. Tyler is a fantastic griller and makes some of the best BBQ chicken you'll ever have. I paired it with roasted sweet potatoes which we love. These melt in your mouth! Griffin loves them too. 

I also added my favorite summer vegetable sauté. I slice up one half of an onion, one zucchini, and one yellow squash. I sauté the onion in some olive oil until it's becoming tender, then I add the sliced zucchini and squash. I add a little bit more olive oil and sauté it all until it's soft. In the last minute of cooking, I add a few shakes of soy sauce and a little bit of garlic salt. Mix that together, remove it from the heat, and add a few tablespoons of grated mozzarella cheese. Toss and serve hot! My mom made this a lot growing up. Try it! I bet you'll love it. 

Fig and Prosciutto Pizza at A TAVOLA

Obviously, I did not make this pizza. We went out for a date and we tried a wood fire pizza place that we just loved! The atmosphere was perfect and the pizza was so, so good. Our server recommended this fig and prosciutto pizza and he was spot on. It had fig jam, prosciutto, fontina cheese, and an arugula salad on top. I am excited to recreate this at home! If you're in the Cincinnati area, this is a fun and delicious place for a great date night! 

Hope you all have a great week!