Wednesday, October 15, 2008

A New Family Blog


Hi All!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I have started a new family blog to keep everyone updated on both of our boys - and Finley's progress as well. Please check it out at http://www.templintantrums.blogspot.com/ and leave a comment to let us know you found it!!! I can't wait to hear from everyone. Hope you are all doing well.

Smiles,

Meredith

Sunday, April 6, 2008




COMING SOON.....

Well, I have tried to update this blog a few times in the last year and for some reason, I couldn't seem to remember the appropriate information. However, my sister-in-law Melissa just flew in from Colorado to help me get it straight and here it is!!! Okay so she was coming to town anyway and I happened to ask for her help. Same end result. I am going to post some pictures of the boys now and I will post a mega update in the next day or so for those of you who are still interested. Prepare to be amazed as Finley Paul is more than we ever expected or could've hoped for......
Smiles,
Meredith

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Benefit Update

Dear Friends and Family,

This evening Johnny, Melony, Megan, J.T., Finley, and I hopped in the car and drove to Johnny's Catfish for the long-anticipated benefit dinner for Finn. What a blessing! We met so many families and heard so many stories of the Lord's restoration and healing. Also, this was a great time to get to know our brothers and sisters in Christ that we will be attending church with from now on. I tried to visit every table and personally thank everyone in person, but to those of you who I missed.... THANK YOU!!! We had such a great time and J.T. just had a blast. Finley was in a wonderful mood and smiled most of the evening when he wasn't sleeping. It was such a beautiful day. We started our morning in the house of the Lord, met our Father in his house during a spirit-filled worship service, and ended the day in fellowship with the family of God. It has truly been an amazing day that I will never forget. I wanted to say a special thank you to Mr. Bobby Covington, the owner of Johnny's Catfish, for hosting the dinner; Mr. Ed Copple for organizing the entire event; Johnny and Melony for all of their hard work; Pastor Rick Edmonds and Paul Reyford for their support tonight; and especially to all of those who came and made the evening a huge success. Words will never express how grateful we truly are. Thank you thank you thank you!!!
Love,
Meredith

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Benefit for Finley






Hi everyone!!! This Sunday, June 3, 2007 the Life on Purpose Sunday School class at our church (Calvary) is hosting a benefit dinner for Finley. The proceeds from this dinner will help pay for previous/ present medical expenses and also for our travel to the Stroke Clinic in Denver this fall. This is a very important visit/ examination for Finley as it will be his first "real" assessment. This visit they will be able to determine where Finley stands developmentally a lot better because he is at an age where he is able to do more. Just to let you know, Finley is smiling all the time now - and it is such a cute smile... he will melt your heart. Also, he laughs and coos and fusses when he doesn't get his way! He is trying to sit up on his own and gets incredibly frustrated when he can't. He just started eating applesauce on his 4 month birthday and I am sad to say he is just like his mother... HE LOVES FOOD!!! Although he was sleeping through the night when we moved back, he is not anymore. The little turkey thinks it is funny to wake up all night long. ( If you don't believe me I would be more than happy to let you spend a night with us and see for yourself.... so long as you get up with him!!! :) I am going to post some more pics of Finley and the boys and would love to hear from you. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support over the past 4 months. We truly appreciate you all. I hope to see you at the benefit on Sunday - I got the day off!
Love,
Meredith

Monday, May 7, 2007

Finley Moves to Shreveport


Hi everyone. So sorry that it has been so long. I guess I should start with our Feb. visit to the stroke clinic. Finley was such a charmer... flirting with all of the nurses! All of the specialists came into our room one by one and "assessed" Finn - as much as you can really assess a 1 month old. However, they all said that they felt that Finley is in a really good place and the best thing to do will be to watch him closely in the future to catch potential "problems" early. After the stroke clinic, Finley seemed to get more and more fussy with every day. Finally, I couldn't do it by myself anymore so on a Monday I got one-way plane tickets and Tuesday morning we all flew to Dallas. I am sure that we were a sight to see. My friend dropped us off at the airport on Tuesday morning and when she drove off, I was standing curbside with J.T., Finley, a double stroller, a snugli, 2 car seats, 4 suitcases and 2 carry-on bags! Ha! We did it and to make it even better the flight attendant swiped her card on the back of all 3 seats and gave us complimentary direct tv and pay-per-view movies because "I think you are really brave." God sure gave us grace that day because not only were my children perfect on the plane, but also on the 3 1/2 hour ride to Shreveport from Dallas. WOW! We spent the next few days with family and visiting friends and then drove to Alabama for a few weeks with my mom. Finn never got any less fussy, but we sure had a few extra pair of loving arms to hold the little screamer with. After a few rashes and J.T. having strep throat, among other things, we got everybody healthy and came back to Shreveport to spend some time with Pappaw and Nannaw before going home. What could be funnier than my scene at the airport curbside? Loading all of our stuff in Melony's compact car!!! Melony still jokes that she had to buy clothes and everything once she got to Denver because of all of our stuff. However, once again the Lord provided because we fit everything that we needed and drove straight through to Denver. We only stopped 2 or 3 times other than gas fill-ups. Amazing huh?
Once we got to Denver, things calmed down for about a week or so. Then, everything went crazy. Long story short, we were going to move back to Louisiana and needed to be there by May 7. I am going to be working at Christus Schumpert in their NICU and John will be transferring with Cintas. Needless to say, we had a lot of work to do in a short amount of time. I thought we had a lot to pack when we moved to Colorado in the first place.... boy was I wrong!!! 2 small children and 1 million toys later, I know that the first move was CAKE! Why is it that a 3 month old baby that you can hold in your lap requires no less than 2 tons of equipment and we won't even talk about J.T.'s requirements. Oh yeah, one other thing.... J.T. was in the middle of potty training. I postponed it for this long with the excuse of having a new baby, waiting for summer, anything really to not have to do it. But, with me going back to work, as a nurse no less, the boys will need to be in daycare at least 2 days a week. This is no small miracle then that I was able to get them both into the same place to start around the same time.... with 1 exception..... J.T. has to be fully potty-trained by September!!! Talk about incentive. However, the Lord came through once again because J.T. is well on his way and in fact had NO ACCIDENTS during our 20 hour drive to Louisiana this past weekend.
Now, we are trying to get settled into Johnny and Melony's house until our rental is ready in July - we are working on trying to rent or sell our home in Aurora. But for now, things are good. I put Finley in the church nursery for the first time on Sunday and you would have thought that I was a first-time mother because it took me a good 20 minutes to work up the nerve to take him in - then I changed my mind and packed up all of his stuff to leave - then I thought I was being silly and just left him, determined to do the right thing. 10 minutes later I was back in the hallway, crying like a "first-timer" but too embarassed to walk by the window to peek in for the umpteenth time. So I did what any rational person would've done at that point. I went and found someone to do it for me. And not just anyone, mind you... Melony! This way I was able to send her in and tell her what I wanted them to know, and I didn't have to show my splotchy, mascara streaked face again. Needless to say, I made it through church and it felt really good. Really good to have a moment of spiritual renewal, good to be able to meet the Lord in His house and worship Him for who He is, good to be back in the church home that I grew up in with the same friendly and loving faces of the family of God that I have always known and will forever love.
I want to end this update by again, thanking everyone who has been praying for Finley and our family. Please continue to pray for us as the effects of Finley's stroke will not be fully known for sometime. Pray that we will recognize any problems early and be wise in seeking the appropriate treatment or therapy. Also, please continue to pray for John and J.T. as they are still adjusting to another male ego in our home! I promise I will post some pics just as soon as I figure out how on this computer!!!!!!

Love,
Meredith

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Finn Update




Hi everyone! Finley had a neurologist appointment on Friday, February 9. This appointment was for a follow-up EEG (read: brain waves, seizures, etc.) and we are so glad to report that he had a somewhat "normal" report. He will always have an abnormal EEG because of the stroke, but this time there was no seizure activity! What a blessing. The neurologist also said that Finn still has a very impressive and NORMAL newborn exam. He acts just like a chubby little baby should. With all of that said, he started running a fever on Thursday, Feb. 15 and was rewarded by the pediatrician with a first-class ER visit. With babies under 1 month, any fever deserves a nose swab for RSV, blood count, IV, blood and urine cultures, and - prepare yourself - a lumbar puncture... a.k.a. spinal tap! You can imagine how much fun we had that day and to top it all off they kept him in the hospital until Saturday night. However, everything is still negative to date and he is doing well. (the little stinker just demands attention doesn't he?) It's a good thing that he is so cute. Our little sweetie is 9 lbs. 13 oz as of yesterday! (overachiever) I am posting some pictures of the boys when Finley was 2 weeks old and will hopefully be posting some more recent ones in the next few days for anyone who is interested. Just a little side note: J.T. is such a wonderful big brother. He hovers over Finn when he is crying and looks at John and me with the sweetest face of concern as if to say "Do something!" He tells Finley "don't cry baby Finn." And when it is really quiet, we can usually find J.T. standing in front of the baby and talking in the softest and sweetest voice while trying to give him his pacifier..... then he looks up at us and smiles his newly dimpled smile. I am crying just thinking about it. I am so blessed!!!

On a different note, we are going to the Stroke Clinic on Friday. Please pray for the physicians and specialists that we will see while we are there and also for Finley as he will be donating even more blood at this visit. Also, as always, please pray for the health of both of our children as it is always risky to go anywhere during the cold and flu season. (If you aren't sick when you come, you are sick when you leave!!!!)

Thanks for reading!
Love,
Meredith Templin