I think we get it now.

(Spring pictures)



I am attempting to write this without crying.

God's goodness is just so overwhelming.

December 2006 we moved here thinking we had it all together, we could do this and we were going to do it well. God had different ideas about who was in control and how it was going to be done. From day one when the tornado sirens were blasting as we pulled up to our brand new house until this week we have been 100% out of control of anything. God has kept us healthy for the most part and we have clung to each other through it all. I won't even say that it is over. But God has certainly shown us that if we are going to be doing his ministry it is on his terms and we have to have 100% faith and trust in him. We have all heard it a million times... trust in God with everything you have... but who can really put themselves aside and give it all over? God has allowed it all to be taken away from us. We knew that we had done everything we could and the only other thing we could do was to give it all over to him and WAIT.

Here is a brief rundown of this past month.

~June 30th was Michael's last day of employment at ***** mortgage
~June 27th and 30th Michael was given vacation days off
~June 30th Michael starts 30 day contract as business consultant for neighbors new oil and gas company
~July 10 Michael is offered job with large company 15 minutes from home
~July 17th (today) Michael accepts new job starting August 1st
~August 31st Michael's severance ends from ***** mortgage

Michael will not have gone even one day without employment and will have had 9 weeks of double pay! It's really all a bit overwhelming right now but the paperwork has been signed and turned in and this really is happening. FYI this job will take care of all of our needs and surpass anything we ever expected!

We tried to do it all on our own, we tried giving ALMOST everything over, but only when we can say with hands thrown up and tear filled eyes "it's all yours God we can't do it!!!" does he give us rest.

It's been weeks since Michael and I have been able to sing during worship at our church. We have been so raw, so on the edge, so overwhelmed with God's goodness. The songs we sing are so much more real. If we were to sing it would sound like craziness because all that would come out would be a weird combo of overjoyed, singing/sobbing amazement. It's strange really, we have been in the middle of our most confusing, uncertain, scary period of time and yet what we are filled with is praises to God. I have literally felt like falling down on my face because I have felt so overcome by his presence. I guess I really lack the words to describe what we have been feeling. We have been at peace and know that God will, as always, provide for us what we need in his own timing. Unlike the past we haven't been filled with fear and stressed out to the max about everything. We knew we just needed to wait for what God had for us. If this was the lesson... it's not been an easy one to learn.

Ted Griggs

Michael's brother Ted had his big surgery yesterday. It went very well according to the doctors. They had to take his entire pancreas and some surrounding lymph nodes, the gall bladder, spleen, and other tissue that could be effected if there was any cancer. Initial study shows that the cancer was NOT malignant, the tumor had not even grown!!! This is great news obviously. The family is very relieved. He will spend several days in ICU and then several weeks in the hospital recovering. He will have to take insulin for the rest of his life but that seems at this point a small price to pay to live a full healthy life.

Thank you all for your prayers. It has meant a lot to our family to know that there are so many out there lifting him up. Please pray for a quick and full recovery for him and continued strength for the family.

here it is

*Michael will be laid off as of June 30th.
*We got more severance then we thought we would.
*We are now facing some major setbacks in the moving plans due to gross under-estimation of our property taxes by our mortgage company.
*We have everything lined up for Michael to get his accelerated teaching certification over the summer!
*Michael felt like his 2 interviews with local schools went really well today!
*Michael's brother Ted is having surgery to remove tumor in his pancreas on May 9th. It may have grown. He will probably end up having a whipple procedure (MAJOR surgery) that has a 5-6 month recovery time.
*This last 17 months since leaving Charlotte has been the hardest we have ever had. Even so, unless God decides to grant us a miracle, we are facing an even harder next few months.
*Megan fell and we thought for a little while she may have broken her arm but praise God it was only bruised.
*We are all feeling healthy, worn out and drained, but healthy.

Moving update

Well, it's been another crazy week for us. Our property manager apparently misrepresented some information to our renters and they have taken back their 30 day notice. They were obligated to the end of the lease (May 31st) whether they lived in our house or not so they have decided to take their time moving out instead of rushing to get out by the end of this month. They were not aware of the lease terms apparently. Anyway, I have had to take a step back and re-evaluate again. I have some cabinets emptied out and all the books are packed. Plus I have packed up 2 large boxes of the kids toys and taken down some of the decorations off the walls including the curtains. I really have no desire to unpack anything at this point. I will have to find a place to put the packed boxes until we can move in May.

I am not terribly upset about it all. I was looking very forward to getting into my gardens and the kids having room to play without bumping into things. Jake wanted to roll on the floor this week but we couldn't find a big enough space for him to do it without hitting his head on furniture or running into a wall. Overall I feel very blessed to have this townhouse. It has been a great place for us to live for a time. I really started having a hard time with it after the seminary laid Michael off. I was angry, hurt, and wanted to get away from this place. Sadly, I have found more people away from here that I have become friends with. It was not my expectation at all. I found I don't fit in very well here. I am either not conservative enough, or something, who knows. Whatever! Right? Anyway, I am still looking very forward to going back to our house. I know God has a plan for us and is looking out for us. Right now He wants us to stay put for a bit longer and that's okay.

Things are starting to pick back up again. January and February are always a bit slow. We have lots of Birthday parties to go to, class functions, zoo trips, play dates, strolls through the Botanic Gardens, etc. I can never forget about the packing though, it is my lot in life right now to be in a perpetual state of packing or unpacking. I can deal. The kids are great, Megan is going to be 5 years old in only a few months, then I will be hitting 30! Jacob is in the middle of a growth spurt. He has been waking up with growing pains. I am glad we are entering shorts season... they don't go all high-water on me when he grows a few inches:) I am trying to prepare Megan for a "little" brother who may just pass her up in height in the next year. He has weighed the same or more than her for about a year now. I get the twins questions now more than ever.

Michael still has nothing to do at work. It was announced this weekend that his parent company is laying off 15% of their employees over the next few months (ends up being in the 5K range). It could be a huge blessing that we have a few more months to rethink our moving plans if he does get laid off again. We are thinking career change this time if it does happen.

Michael's brother Ted is going to his surgeon today about the tumor in his pancreas. He could need major surgery done very quickly. Please pray for him. If it is cancerous it could be pretty bad.

My mom is having major knee surgery on Tuesday. This will be the 3rd time trying to fix it but the most major one yet. She will have a pretty long recovery time this time and might even have to miss her annual trip to Kenya. Please pray for a smooth surgery and quick recovery for her. She is pretty sick and tired of being held back by her knee.

I hope you are all doing great! Keep us updated and in your prayers.

The News

So I have been hinting at some big things to come and now I can let you know what it is. We are moving back into our house! We told the kids this week and have started packing again. Our renters new home was ready for them earlier than expected and they are going to be out by the end of this month. We are very excited about going back to the house, the kids have been grabbing boxes and packing whatever they can think of. Looks like I am going to have to do some unpacking this week too:) So far they have packed up all their books, their dolls and stuffed animals (including some we had to get back out for bed time last night) and some clothes. Jacob woke up this morning and asked "are we still moving back to our nighthawk house?" he is still skeptical I think. As soon as I told him yes he started hopping around excited all over again like when we first told him. I think it's going to be a new excitement everyday for the next few weeks for him. Megan wanted to know how long we were going to stay at our house this time. It really makes me sad that this is a question my 4 year old is asking. I know God has a plan for us and reasons behind all the things that we have endured since moving here over a year ago. I would NEVER classify it as a cakewalk or even a LITTLE bit easy but I know that it has been a necessary part of our journey.

Michael's office had a big meeting yesterday and informed everyone that they are going to be merging with another company. The integration/consolidation will be complete by June 30th. Hopefully we won't have to go through another lay-off, but considering that Michael has had nothing to do all day long everyday since he got there, we would not be shocked. The mortgage industry is not one to be in right now obviously. Please pray for us when you think of us. We love you all.

Lovely!

The bad news: The van went nuts today. Look's like we are looking at needing lots of transmission work. After looking it up online we found that we are not alone in this particular problem with the Honda Odyssey. Techniclly speaking it is a "torque converter clutch circuit malfunction" now ask me to explain what that is...

The good news: Praise God we decided last minute to buy the extended warranty when we bought our van out of lease. It was so last minute that we had forgotten about it. Looking through the paperwork jammed in the glove-box while lumbering/hopping and skipping down the highway after church today... looking at some very costly repairs in the very near future we found the warranty papers. We gave each other a high five based on surprising ourselves with such a smart choice 1 1/2 years ago. Thank you God!!!

More fun news to come. Again God is blessing us and showing us that no matter what He is our Stronghold.

Okay, what's next?

Michael starts his new job in Irving on Tuesday. It will be a commute for him of 35-45 minutes both ways depending on traffic. We are looking forward to having the stability and predictability of a large company again. Of course, we understand that nothing is truly stable in this market but hopefully you get what I mean.

Mom came to visit and we had a great time. She had lots of time for tea parties, book reading, general hanging out and fun.

Megan was diagnosed on Thursday with influenza type A. We won't miss our flu shots next year for sure. Megan, Jacob and Michael (and possible my mom) are on Tamiflu. They said I really have no hope, and as expected I am felling "wiggly" this morning.

I have decided (with Michael blessing) to pursue the mortgage business again. We have the brokers license and all the resources we need but Michael won't be able to pursue it as he will be working for a mortgage company. I am actually pretty excited about it. I have been putting flyers in mailboxes and going to visit builders and showing them some of our programs. I will be doing it part time while Megan is in school. If it get busy I will put Jake in a 2 day preschool and really put some more work into it. After I get some business in (mom will originate the loans per the law) I will go to the 3 day class then take the test for my license. My main focus will still be my favorite job of Mommy!

Keep checking on us, there are big things to come...I'm sure!

Deal!

They offered, we countered, they came back with their final offer and we said "DEAL". Michael starts his new job at Avelo Mortgage in Irving on the 19th. It is so nice to have that process over. THANK YOU for praying for us. God is good.

Yeehaw!

Michael got the job offer this evening!!! More details to follow on Monday. Also, Michael had a great Birthday today, thanks to all who called or emailed. God is good.

...

Again, just a little update on us. Michael is still job searching. He did have his interview which he felt went well but they haven't offered the job to him yet. We should know by Friday (HIS BIRTHDAY FYI). Today he is taking his older brother to the hospital for a procedure on his pancreas, yesterday we visited our niece after she had her gall bladder removed and on Sunday after church we went to Mckinney to clean Michael's Dads house for him before he came home from his quadruple bypass surgery.

Yes, it can seem overwhelming at times, many times in fact, but Michael and I have a sense of calm about everything. We know God brought us here for a reason, now we need to figure out what that is I guess. We have had our illusions of what life for us is supposed to look like totally shattered apart. But still, we know that no matter what, God is working out His plan for us and we need to be diligent to seek after Him.

~R

Good news at last!!!

Michael's dad's surgery went better than expected. He did end up having a quadruple-bypass, but everything went very well. He might even be going home on Monday! Wild isn't it. He is doing very well in recovery.

Also, Michael got a call on one of the many job applications and it ended up being a 1 1/2 hour phone interview. He has an official interview on monday at 2pm. The company is a bit of a drive but at this point it's not really an issue. We are really hoping this one pans out really well for us. All of Michael's classes are at night or internet so it won't conflict with work.

More as it develops. Thanks to all of you who have sent us messages, it is very encouraging to hear from you. I haven't responded to many as Michael has been on the computer most of the time diligently working to find a job. Thanks again for your support.

Michael's Dad

Michael's dad, Grant Griggs, will be having triple bypass surgery tomorrow at 11am in Mckinney, TX. Please pray for him, the doctors, Crystal (his wife), and the family as they are there to support him. Michael is going tonight and will be staying the night because it is over an hours drive from here. The procedure is supposed to last 4 or more hours.

Michael's Dad

Please pray for Michael's Dad, Grant. He had a heart attack last night and we just found out about it. I don't know the details, but it seems like he is okay based on the fact that he is no longer in the ICU. But he is expected to be in the hospital for a little while. Michael has a lot on his plate right now, including the unexpected lay-off from the seminary, all of us being sick again, classes starting, no job in sight and now his father has had a heart attack. Needless to say everyone involved needs some major prayer!!!

Update

Here is a brief (because it has to be) update on us. Michael has applied to MANY companies and job postings, we have had 2 positive feedback emails but nothing has come of those yet. We are dealing with a lot of decisions coming up. Megan will be attending kindergarden this year so we need to decide relatively soon what we are going to do. Depending on where Michael gets a job we may move off campus closer to where he works and closer to the church we have been attending. If you want details feel free to email me. Needless to say, please pray for us as we face these difficult decisions.

Off to an interesting start for the year.

Michael has been laid off. Yes, we start the year off with going into work and hearing "we are restructuring and your position is no longer necessary". Thanks so much! Anyway, we were praying for God to give us a clear answer to what we should do for our next step. Well, here is the answer! Find a better job. We deserve better.