Summer Memories

It has been a long time since I blogged on family life in the Griffin household.  School has already started (blog coming forthwith) and I failed to discuss what we did the remainder of the summer.

First of all, Hayne did an incredible ride across the state of North Carolina.  In July of 2011 (I cannot believe it has been a year) a fellow Asheville firefighter, Jeff Bowen, was killed in the line of duty.  Hayne and several other firefighters, who call themselves the Carolina Brotherhood, rode from Wilmington to Asheville to raise money for Jeff Bowen's family.  Firefighters came from all over the southeast to lend their support.  At times, it was a difficult ride.  The heat index often rested in the triple digits, and they rode close to 80 miles or more every day.  But in the end, the brotherhood's efforts gifted the Bowen family with over $25,000 toward the education of his three kids.  I love the way these men and women look out for one another on a daily basis, but especially when things are hard. I am very proud of my firefighter and thankful for his efforts to help others.  Here are some photos of Hayne when they arrived in Asheville.    Also, you can see pictures from the entire journey at carolinabrotherhood.com

After the ride, we all went up to the great, white, North to spend some time with the Johnson family.  In the summer, there is nothing white about Minnesota. It is beautiful, green, and sometimes freaking hot. It is not what one would expect for a place that far north, but none the less, it was one hot summer.  In fact it had been a record breaking year for heat in Minneapolis, but of course the heat wave decides to break as soon as we head for a week on the water.  However, this did not stop us, especially the kids, from having a fantastic time.  We played, ate, swam, roasted marsh mellows, fished, ran out of gas (dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb), and ate some more.  The whole family was there, including my cousin Maddie and my brother's dog Wrigley.  Even with 10 adults, 6 kids, and 1 dog all under the same roof, it was a total blast.  I love being with my family, seeing the cousins play, dance, and swim, and just spending time together.  I am already looking forward to next year :):)  These pictures are in thanks to my mother, because I hardly took any while we were there.

We also spent some time down at the farm with Hayne's family.  The kids love to go there as there are tons of places to run, play and just get totally and completely filthy. This summer we put the kids up on one of the horses.  Cody is Cord's favorite horse of the three, and he is great with both of them.  He greets them both by nibbling on their heads as they climb the fence to pet him.  It's pretty sweet.  Papy, Hayne's dad, put the saddle on Cody and took the kids for little rides around the yard.  Laela is already asking for permission to let Cody run.  It is pretty impressive because she already has great balance and really seems to love it. Cord loves it too but as a two-year-old the balance thing is a bit difficult still.   Papy also got Laela up on the four wheeler for the first time ever.  I think the noise bothered her but for the most part she had a great time.

Our summer has now come to an end.  We are still trying to figure out an earlier bed time and waking up in time for school, but we'll get there.  I am already noticing shorter days, and color popping out on the trees.  I love the fall, so I don't mind at all, but our summer memories were sweet and I am incredibly thankful for that.

Swim Lessons

This past week Laela took her first shot at swimming lessons with some of her favorite friends.  Here are some of the shots my friend Becky took during their last lesson together.  It was a fun week and I was so proud of how well the girls did.  

Ellen, Ella Brooks, Ms Jaci, Laela and Julia!

Julia has the best faces!

Laela swimming to the steps

Strike a pose!

104 4th Street

It is official.  We have moved!!! YAY!!!!  Of course most of you know it has been over a month since we moved in to our new house, but a lot has happened and I have not had much time to blog.  On mother's day, we moved into the house we have been building for the last ten months in Black Mountain, North Carolina.  It was a seriously stressful weekend trying to get everything accomplished during those last few days.  We are so thankful to our family and friends for help making it happen that weekend.  Hayne and the Swanns worked LONG hours to finish the final touches!  My mom came from Minnesota to help with the kids and work out some last minute details.  Elizabeth and Brad came up from Georgia for the whole weekend, which also happened to be Elizabeth's birthday, to finish last minute details and empty out our rental house. Virginia took the kids for the last weekend so we could work uninterrupted. And last but certainly not least, our incredible friends showed up on MOTHER'S DAY to move in our furniture, and they even put together all our beds so we could get to sleep at a decent hour that night.  Needless to day, we are so incredibly grateful to so many people, and feel very loved!  Thank you everyone for all your help.  Here are some pics of where we live now.  There are still quite a few projects, but we are here and absolutely love it!!!

Finished House!  Yard coming forthwith:)  

Dining room. What to do with walls???  Working on it!!

Family Room - furniture in but not much else.

Kitchen - missing an island, hence the pendant lights :):)

Back porch - will be screened in soon

Front porch

My May Babies!!!!

Well, due to the chaos that life sometimes brings, I have not blogged in quite some time.  A lot has happened in the last two months, including the celebration of all the May birthdays.  Between Hayne and my family there are seven, yes seven, birthdays in May!  In our immediate family we have a busy three days between the 10th and the 12th.  Laela, Cord and I all have our own day, but they are not in that order.  I am first on the 10th, and now the least important, though I do not mind at all.  Laela is the 11th and she turned four this year.  Holy Cow!!!  FOUR!!!!  I love it!!!  Cord is on the 12th and my one-man-wrecking-crew is actually two this year.  I did not do a birthday party with their friends this year because we were in the midst of moving.  However, we did not forget to celebrate.  My mom came to town to help us with the move, and we had our first celebration before our move.  Then we went down to South Carolina and celebrated with Hayne's family, as one of the seven May babies is also Elizabeth, or Tia, as the kids affectionately call her :):)  All that to say, I do not think the kids were jibbed this year.  Here are some of the highlights of their celebrations!!!

Party with Nonnie!!!

Laela's 'Hello Kitty' shoes from Nonnie

Present time continues!!

Laela got a bike!!

Nonnie got Cord a T-ball set that he calls hi-ya!

Cake time with the Griffins!

Presents!!! 

Pappy and Cord!

Princess Outfits!!

T-ball time!! Great grandparents think alike!!

A Whole New Spin

I have been leading a bible study on Tuesday mornings that focuses on the women in the New and Old Testament.  We did Eve two weeks ago and I cannot stop thinking about her.  I think its because of a revelation I had about our curses as women and men.  After Adam and Eve sinned, God banished them from the garden, but he also proclaimed curses over both of them - Genesis 3.  The curse on Eve was two-fold. One, now bearing children is incredibly difficult and extremely painful.   If you have had kids, you  know this to be true.  Two, now a woman's 'desire' will be for her husbands but he will rule over her. I put the word 'desire' in quotes because it does not mean what we think of when we think desire.  It is not about love or sex or even just wanting someone or something.  The literal translation means 'to tear down and usurp control.'  In Genesis 4 God says to Cain, 'Sin is crouching at your door and its desire is for you.' Same word and same meaning! What do you think sin wanted to do to Cain?  It wanted to destroy him!!  What that means for us women is that now, our natural tendency toward men and toward our husbands, if we are married, is going to be to tear them down, take control, and maybe even ruin them.  The man's curse is that he is going to rule over us.  Meaning he will do everything in his power to make sure we have no power.  But let me be clear, this is a CURSE, this is NOT what God wants for us.  I think the New Testament makes it clear that this is not what God intended and He wants to redeem it and restore men and women to right relationship.
  In several places, the New Testament teaches that women are to submit to their husbands.  In Ephesians, it clearly says we are to submit one to another, and women in particular to their husbands, while men are called to love their wives and lay down their life for them.  The directive here has often caused a power play in the church and in marriage in general.  Many people think this clearly means that the man is in charge and the women are doormats.  However, the word submit means, 'to get underneath and lift up.'  That is what all believers are called to do, and women in particular.  Why does he single out submission for the women? Because Paul knows what happened in Genesis 3, he knows our curse and what we are up against.   What Paul is really calling us to do when he calls us to submit, is fight our curse.  Woman's curse is she wants to tear down and usurp, while her call, as a follower of Christ, is to get underneath and lift up!!!! Wow!  Paul is not telling us who is in charge, he is telling us to fight our curse!!!!   Lest you think the men are left out, Paul calls them to love and lay down their lives for their wives, while their curse is they want to rule over them. Both of us are called AWAY from the curse, toward wholeness and restoration, which was God's original design.
This put a whole new spin on what I see when I read verses on submission.  Now, I do not read 'Erica, your husband is the boss, so make sure you submit to him.' I read, 'Erica, your natural tendency is going to be to tear down your husband and try to control everything, and you have to fight that.'  So "Submit" becomes "FIGHT" but not fighting against one another, fighting for one another.  I have energy for that.  I actually want to do it.   I am not good at it, but with this new understanding I get more how I am wired, but also what I am called to do. And this directive is true whether you are married or single, we are to fight for one another, not against one another.  That is why Paul says to submit one to another before he singles out the married couples.  So next time you read any of the verses on submission, like Ephesians 5, instead of reading 'wives, submit to your husbands,' you might read, 'ladies, fight your curse and your need to usurp.' And men instead of reading 'husbands, love your wives and lay down your life for her,' you might read, 'men, fight your curse and your need to rule her.'  And maybe you will see, like I did, that this is a whole new ball game, a whole new fight, and it's one you might actually have the energy for.  One you might actually want to do.

What is happening now?

A lot has happened in the last couple months, and we are in our sprint to the finish line.  We have three more weeks until we are projected to move in, and we have lots to do.  Here are some of the projects that have been done in the mean time.

Hayne put cables on our front porch.  Love them. 

Hayne is installing our wood stove platform.
What he can do never ceases to amaze me.

This will be the kids vanity when I am finished with it.

Nick Swann did our trim with his brother-in-law Michael.
It is incredible and I love it.  Now we have to paint it.

Here is a peak at our wood floors.  

This is the back deck.  I still have to paint the trim color, and then
then we are planning on making it a screen porch.

Here is the Master shower - Hayne did the tile and
ordered the two shower heads!! Great Idea!

Will Break for the Beach!!!

The kids and I took a break from life this month to enjoy the wonderful world of Florida.  The three of us headed down to enjoy ten days of sun and surf with my side of the family.  This is an annual trip for my parents that we have been enjoying with them for the last five or six years.  It use to be their private get a way from the kids and Minnesota winter.  But now that we're adults, they actually want us to come with them.  I secretly believe its just to have the grandkids, but I can't blame them for that.  Regardless, it is one of my favorite times and I look forward to it every year.

Pool time

Cord needed a break

Kris and Kiki

Sunset

Cheese