Lankford Love

  The Lost Years: Surviving a Mother and Daughter's Worst Nightmare Have a family member or friend that is struggling with addiction? I highly recommend this book. In The Lost Years , a mother and daughter tell the story of the daughter's battle with addiction. (The daughter is the creator of the show Addicted on TLC!) What I loved about this book is that it didn't tell me how addiction works, what the addict feels, how it affects the family, and in turn how the family influences the addict. It showed me. The story is more powerful than any lecture you'll ever hear on the subject. And the mother's tough love is admirable.  As a counseling student and the sister of an addict, I was captivated by this story. It took me inside the mind of an addict and showed me what my brother was going through in his final months. Though their stories look very different, their mindset was very much the same. The other thing that compelled me to this book was the glimpse into...

On Saturday, I co-hosted a baby shower for one of my best friends, Randi. The shower was in the morning, so we had a brunch. And in lieu of games, we made fabric applique onesies !  And here's a picture of all of the hostesses with the guest of honor. It was so much fun getting to celebrate our sweet friend and her new baby! I can hardly wait until August when her baby is born!

I just made this delicious dish for a baby shower that I helped host this weekend! We had a brunch, so one of the dishes served was Ellie Krieger's Peach French Toast Bake. You can find it here . This dish was SUPER easy to make! I was actually really impressed, and I will make it again! Here are a few things I did differently. First off, I didn't use lemon juice, so this is optional. Also I used real peaches, since it's summer and peaches are in season. I did take off the skin. This is easy to do if you make a small x on the bottom of the peach and then boil them a couple minutes. This loosens the skin. Take them out of the pot and let them cool! (COOL!) Then try to take off the skin. It slides right off. Also instead of whole wheat baguettes, I used challah bread (pronounced holla!) from Whole Foods. I also think I put a lot more cinnamon and brown sugar on it than she had in this pic. Makes it extra yummy! And I arranged the peach slices so they spooned each oth...

Okay so I just have to brag a minute on my hubby. Look at these beautiful flowers he brought me the other night! Not only are the bright pink, which I love, but they're also peonies! I love how fluffy peonies are. You only need about three to make a full-looking bouquet! (But lucky me, I got six!) Thanks, hubs! I am loving looking at my beautiful flowers as I blog.

If you've read this blog long enough (or at all), you know that my sweet Australian Shepherd is named Sammy. And yes, SHE is female. People often assume Sammy is a male because of her name. I must say that I find this odd because while I have known Samuels, I have never known one that goes by Sammy... I've only known Samanthas to go by that. I can think of two female Sammys off the top of my head and no males. So needless to say, we did not intend to give her a male name... and even now, I still believe it's a name fit for a female! Okay that said, how did we come up with her name? For those of you who are sentimental, you'll love this story. For those of you who aren't, it's cheesy. But go with it! :) When I was young I had a stuffed dog with a Santa hat that I carried with me EVERYWHERE. That dog was so loved. The fur was rubbed and matted. But I just loved it. The dog's name was Sammy. When I was six, I took to dog Christmas shopping with us. And ...

Picture courtesy of Real Simple This is my favorite summer drink, so I thought I'd share it with you. I have not made it yet this summer, but I am hoping to soon! It's delicious. Basically it's pureed watermelon mixed with lemonade. I do half of each. Then you top it with mint. Simply delightful! It's really become one of my favorite things to make. It tastes like summer! I don't go exactly by the recipe, but if you would like to, their recipe is here . Enjoy!

I'm not sure where to go with this post except to say that I've been thinking about my brother a lot this week. There haven't been tears... and that's interesting in itself. I guess it's not so fresh anymore. God is teaching me a lot. I'll go into that more later... too theological for now! All this to say, I have seen some good things that God has been doing lately. And I'm thankful them. I have been so stressed for client hours for my internship. For some reason, every client I get bails. And all for seemingly legit reasons! I think that's the nature of counseling... it's hard to go through your stuff. Nonetheless, it still puts me in a predicament because I need 50 face-to-face client hours this summer (plus 100 admin, but those are easy), yet I only have one semi-consistent client and a once a week 2-hour group. I prayed about it this week. I had stressed about it, but I hadn't really turned it over to the Lord. Then I received two phone ...