Suzanne Griffin

Breakfast Sunday - Mix & Match Casserole, peach Monday - Grilled PB&J, banana, sausage patties Tuesday - Bacon cheddar quiche, apple slices Wednesday - Smashed twice baked radishes, ham, necterine Thursday - Raspberry smoothie, pancakes Friday - Fruit salad, omelettes Saturday - Hashbrowns & gravy, sausage links Lunch Pull out any leftovers and plate them 1st for M-F and add a vegetable side or salad daily Sunday - BBQ meatballs hoagies, salad Monday - Black bean soup, tropical fruit salad, tortilla chips, salad Tuesday - Chicken fried rice, crab ragoons, mushrooms Wednesday - Egg salad sandwich, salad Thursday - Crunchy Southwest chicken wrap, salad Friday - Spicy Italian Sub Sandwich, vegs & hummus Saturday - Hamburgers, Corn on the Cob, potato salad, homemade ice cream Snacks Sunday - Stuffed Mushrooms Monday - Fruit & dip, cheese Tuesday - Popcorn Wednesday - No bake cookies Thursday - Veggies & dip, crackers Friday - Homemade fries

How can we pray without ceasing? "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, KJV). The Greek word "without ceasing" means continuous action. Just as soldiers have radio transmissions built into their helmets to hear their commanding officer at all times, prayer is our way of hearing our leading Savior. It’s a heart attitude, expressed throughout the day in silent prayers of communication with the Lord. It’s being willing to be inline with Him so that when He prompts us we respond. It’s before our feet hit the floor, at meal times, the last words of the day, while driving, changing diapers, washing dishes and piles of laundry, weeding, picking up toys. It doesn’t replace our alone time, but adds to it. I have justified to myself that I have been too busy to be consistent with my quiet time.  But yet, it really is my own lack of self discipline a

I have been absent from the blog world so long, I'm not even sure if I understand all the buttons and updates. This life that we have found ourselves in the midst of, is again, not the story I wanted to write.  I want to cry and have a pity party.  To be angry that my dreams and goals seem so different than the life we walk.  Much like how Psalms 77 starts out.  The focus is all on the Psalmist himself, that panic, that feeling of being forgotten, being thrown aside.  Then about half way thru the chapter he settles and changes his focus from the problem to the creator.  He remembers God's right hand of redemption and what had been demonstrated in the past. Trials are not foreign to my life.  But neither is God's power to redeem for good and use what satan tries to use to destroy us. God's right hand is referred to as Righteous, Salvation and Redemption.  We cannot always change our circumstances, but we can choose to change our perspective.

I miss writing.  The kind of writing that involves more than the quick status update.  I had every desire and intention to be more purposeful in writing daily...starting January 1st.  Here it is 26 days in.  Our foresight doesn't always match the future He has yet to unfold.  In the past 26 days our oldest had an emergency appendectomy, my father lost his 3 year battle to leukemia and won his place in heaven, and our youngest had a febrile seizure.  There were other major life events that I cannot even bring myself yet to type out.  Mixed into all that still were the loads of dirty laundry, the many tummy's to feed and boo boos to be kissed, dirt to be swept and hearts to be held.  I lay down my daily agenda to accept His.  I lift up my goals and say, "You Choose Lord".  May this year be filled searching for Him in everything and offering up my life and time to fulfill His purpose in me, our marriage, family and home.

I just read a wonderful article  on What Should Spiritual Leadership look like.  I encourage you ladies to take it in.  It, as well as some of the comments from others, echoed my heart.  Allen works from 4am until 6 pm Monday thru Friday and sometimes Saturdays.  We have 6 kiddos that we homeschool.  Allen is a young Christian in his walk in comparison to the years I have in.  At times, I get tempted to compare his walk and mine.  I get tempted to compare his walk with other men.  And all unhappiness comes from comparison.  I tend to forget that at the time the words of Deuteronomy 6:7 were written, there wasn't a printing company on every corner and a bible in every hotel room drawer nor a devotional of 101 great family night devotionals to order from Amazon.  But that there were men and women gathering to break bread together, and hear the word shared.  It was at a time that the majority of children were home all day working along side their parents, passing down teaching and sto

Moms, can we offer up our grace to one another?  Can it be our rally call?  Our anthem?  Our tears and plea?  Grace to the mother! Maybe because I am my own worst enemy that I often feel a deep sting when I'm on the receiving end of condemnation in my parenting walk.  And I have seen the damage it does.  From the new mom still learning to the seasoned mom that felt she should have known better. For the majority of us moms, we do all we can and are all we know to be.  We belong to MOPS, MIT and other play groups.  We had a collection of books from Raising up Boys to Managers of our Homes.  Our days are filled with one decision after another that carosels around our kiddos.  And we all lay down at the end of the day tired and replaying moments of our day that we wish weren't going down in the record book.  We all have bad moments, make less than stellar choices, have meltdowns and wish we could push the "do-over" button.  Let us offer as much grace to other moms a