I'm Going to Haiti

Our church {Revolution Church} supports an orphanage of 48 kids in Haiti. We do this because God has called us to it. Our orphanage is in need of a team of people to come and get a few things done. The main thing needing to be done is building a wall. It currently has 3 large walls surrounding the land. This makes it an easy target for thieves and kidnappers. Our team will build the 4th wall closing the grounds entirely making it a much safer refuge for our orphans. 

{Here is a picture of where we will build the 4th wall}

I personally feel called to take action. I will be traveling with a team of 14 people to Haiti November 4th-10th. I truly feel like this will be a life changing experience for me. I know we will be there to change lives but I know 100% that it will change mine the most. My heart for orphans is huge. Huge enough that our family will be adopting in the future. This will be our first step and a glimpse into why we feel so strongly to take action and be a change in a child's life. 

Click here to view more pics from our orphanage. 

First and foremost I'm asking you to PRAY! Here is a list of things you can specifically pray for.

• Safety
• Smooth Travel 
• Our families to manage without us for a week
• Against attack from the enemy in our lives, our family, & our children. 
• Success and completion of the 4th wall
• People will be come to know Jesus Christ
• Funding for our team to be received in full

Second i'm asking for you to UNLEASH GENEROSITY. I personally need to raise $1,600. This will cover the cost of the entire trip including meals. I am believing that God will provide the funds for all of our team members to go. Please prayerfully consider what you can do to help. Every little bit counts and is appreciated more than you can imagine. The impact of your gift will literally reach around the world and touch the lives of many. 

If you would like to give with a debit or credit card just let me know your e-mail and how much and i'll send you a link to paypal. You can leave a message in the comment section or you can email me {mallorydorrough@gmail.com}. 

You can mail a check to me as well. Just leave a comment or email me {mallorydorrough@gmail.com} and I will send you the address of where to mail it. 

My heart is full and I'm so excited for this opportunity. Can't wait to share it with you!

{Feel free to share a link to this on your own blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snail Mail 

or whatever way you talk to people.}

In Memory of..

I would like to introduce you to something that has had great impact on my life and the lives of many others. A sweet friend of mine over at Bits of Splendor started something called Project Hope. You can read all about it here. 

This project is designed to help women who have lost precious babies. To go to a hospital to have a baby and not come home with anything is devastating. My friends own experience of loss and hope has inspired her to give back. We are getting together to make boxes full of sweet mementos to honor and remember the child that was lost. Women who are in the hospital will receive these boxes. While these can never replace their child, we are praying that it will give some sort of peace to the heart of the mother. 

This is something that you can get involved with no matter where you are.

Here is a list of what she still needs for the memory boxes:

30 hand stamped HOPE charms.

85 sets of booties and hats {these should be small enough to fit a preemie}

approx. 85 lovies
4x6 frames {for the prints}

If you can give any of the above items that would be awesome. You can also give a monetary donation. Just click here to give to Project Hope. It will direct you to paypal. You don't have to have a paypal account to give. You can simply use your debit or credit card.

 What's really cool about giving a donation is you will receive a 5x7 print to either keep or give to someone who has lost a baby. To honor that memory. I know that for me, right now, I have nothing tangible to honor our angel baby. This would be such a great thing to have to remember our sweet baby. 

 {design credit: Lindsay from Pen and Paint}

Please check out this post to see all the details behind this sweet gift. I promise you'll want to read it! 

Feel free to e-mail with any questions you may have. You can message me at mallorydorrough @ gmail dot com or Project Hope at projecthope619@gmail.com.  

Bring Dalton Home

I read a post this morning from the Uncommon Life blog and wanted to share. This sweet family is trying to bring a little boy into their family. They have a very ambitious goal of raising $28,000 in just three weeks! We all know that in our timing that's impossible but in God's timing that's a piece of cake. We are giving to this family because I felt that gentle tug from the Holy Spirit and hope that you will too.

Adoption is something very dear to my heart. I am counting down the days until I hear the "ok" from God to move forward in our own personal adoption. I get all giddy thinking about it, just like I did thinking about being pregnant. I know the day will come and I'm praying for our sweet child even now. God has prepared the way that our little one will come into our lives and I'm PUMPED about it! If you have personally adopted I would love to hear your story. I am desperately in need of an "adoption mentor" to figure out how to get the process started. I'll take any tips you may have!


For now check out this video and see if you can do anything to help!


Bring Dalton Home from Patrick Konior on Vimeo.

If you would like to donate to help the White Family bring Dalton into their home, please contact Seth White at seth.white@bridgewelcome.com . Any donations will be greatly appreciated and will help the family reach the $28,000 goal needed to bring Dalton home. Please share this video on Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr! Thank you for watching!

Will You Help Me?

Right after Christmas we posted a video on YouTube of Ella laughing historically! It seriously competes with all the other laughing baby videos out there!

Will you help me share this video? I really think if all the people who read this, share this blog link or the YouTube link we can make this video get tons of views! Help me out and i'll keep you informed on where we are at!

It's also just great to watch ;)

Without further adieu.....

Laughing Baby ft. Ella Claire, her Momma, & her Dada!

Thanks for sharing!

Give Me Some Sugar

I am a sugar fanatic. Well the kiss kind and the food kind. I knew with my new heathy journey i'd have to quickly find a replacement for sugar. For the first week I cut out sugar entirely. Then I found an awesome recipe for Skinny Funfetti Cupcakes. They are seriously good. They are definitely not the healthiest choice but they are a great low calorie substitution for my normal cookies every night.

Ingredients:
1 box of Funfetti cake mix
1 can of Diet Cherry 7up

Directions:
Mix cake mix and 7up together. I used a mixer to get it nice and smooth. Pour batter into cupcake tin. Makes 24 cupcakes

Icing:
Ingredients:
Fat free sugar free pudding. {You can use whatever flavor you want. I've tried vanilla and chocolate and we prefer chocolate}
1 Tub of Cool Whip

Directions:
Mix dry pudding packet with cool whip. The original recipe calls for half a tub of cool whip but doesn't specify ounces. I used 1 tub of the small containers from HEB.


I keep mine in the fridge and limit myself to about one a day. {J eats a lot more than that a day} They are about 100 calories each. I don't know anything about weight watchers but the original post says that they are 1.5 points on the weight watcher scale.

{excuse the poor presentation...taste is what matters}

Happy Eating!

China Fish

I've been researching some healthier dinner options and came across several good ones. Check out Eating Well. It has great healthy options and tells you all the nutritional contents.

I tried this one on Wednesday night. It was a hit with the fam! I served it with sweet potato fries. YUMM!

Five-Spice Tilapia

Makes 4 servings

Active Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

• INGREDIENTS
• 1 pound tilapia fillets

• 1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder (see Tip)

• 1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon canola oil

• 3 scallions, thinly sliced

1. Sprinkle both sides of tilapia fillets with five-spice powder. Combine soy sauce and brown sugar in a small bowl.


2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tilapia and cook until the outer edges are opaque, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, turn the fish over, stir the soy mixture and pour into the pan. Bring the sauce to a boil and cook until the fish is cooked through and the sauce has thickened slightly, about 2 minutes more. Add scallions and remove from the heat. Serve the fish drizzled with the pan sauce.


Tip: I found the Chinese five-spice powder in the spice section at HEB. 

NUTRITION

Per serving: 180 calories; 6 g fat ( 1 g sat , 3 g mono ); 57 mg cholesterol; 9 g carbohydrates; 9 g added sugars; 24 g protein; 0 g fiber; 596 mg sodium; 411 mg potassium.

I was going to put a pic of the fish up but it look way less appetizing so i'll leave it to your imagination!


Happy Eating!

Keeping My Marriage HOT

J and I just celebrated 7 years of marriage. We spent two nights at the coast with out Ella. WHOA!  I seriously can not believe how blessed I am to be married to him. He amazes me more every day. I strive to be as selfless as he is.

This past year was our first year of marriage with a child. WOW did that change everything. We are enamored by this little girl and she can easily consume our every moment. It's so easy to lose a relationship with each other because most of the focus has to be on her since she isn't self sufficient in any way yet.

Here are the few tips we have learned in our one year with a child to keep our marriage hot!

1. DO NOT LET HER SLEEP IN OUR BED. repeat DO NOT LET HER SLEEP IN OUR BED.
This can easily take all the spice out of your marriage. We want her to grow up knowing that our bed is a special place for mommy and daddy. She can join mommy in the mornings when daddy goes to work.

2. BED TIME
From the time J gets home from work until Ella goes to bed is our "all about Ella" time. We focus on her and playing with her. She goes to bed between 7:30 & 8 every night. This wasn't an easy task. She didn't want to sleep in her crib. She didn't want to sleep through the night. She naturally only wants to be where we are. We fought this with ear plugs. Literally. Maybe that sounds cruel but I assure you she was safe. We have a video monitor where we could check on her. We went through about a week of screaming in her crib and now she sleeps like an angel every night. No fuss at all.  This gives us time as a couple to talk. Do projects. Pray and read together. Worship together. Just sit and do nothing...together. It's great! I look forward to it every day!

3. DATE NIGHT
This one really just started becoming regular for us about a month ago. It has made a huge difference in our marriage. We have never had a regular date night. Before kids every night was date night. This past year it has been much harder to spend quality time together. We go on a date every other week. I mean leave the house and Ella isn't invited. You might be saying how can we do that? We have no one to watch the kids and we can't afford a baby sitter. I can assure you that there is another couple you know with kids who would be more than happy to trade off every other week with you. (if you have any fun date night tips leave them in the comment section:)

4. TALK. But mostly listen!
Talk to each other. Talk about whatever. It doesn't always have to be a deep conversation about how you really feel about everything. Although that is necessary some times. I tell J about everything Ella and I did during the day even if it's not much and he listens and responds. I listen to J talk about work and what he built and what kind of wood they used and something called conversion varnish that I know nothing about but comes up a lot. I love hearing him talk about doing things that he loves to do and he loves that I sit and listen.


We are currently in a series called White Picket Fences at our church {Revolution Church} and it has given us some great tips on how to be better spouses and parents. Even if you don't live here you can check out all the sermons online. Click here to check it out.


Leave a comment and let me know what you do to keep your marriage hot! I'd love to hear!