Suzanne Griffin

My hubby has been in a better mood the last couple of days. So today he made it known that he felt bad that he had not been helping me more. (He didn't use the words, I think in his mind "I'm sorry" is a curse word). So I joked along with him and told him that I thought the reason that some of my friends were brought into my life were because my friends' husband's make him look good. So he asked who and why. Well *I'm not using real names* Martha's husband is a lot more demanding than you. Anna's hubby gives the the royal creeps and he's very lazy. So hubby says "I'm better than 2?" I told him that those were just the 2 worst. So he has now called about 3 more times today to tell me other hubbies that he thought he was better than. For example Jayla's hubby not fixing their car for 3 months and they have 4 kids, Emma's hubby is addicted to porn, what about my dad?! there's another one." So when he called...

I am excited this morning. A dear friend is having a baby shower for me at 11:00am. We are having a brunch. My mom and sisters will be here shortly. My tummy is churning just like when I was a little girl. In fact, some of our family trips, my mom did not even tell me ahead of time the plans as I would get so excited and worked up in anticipation I would be sick the morning we were suppose to leave. I am giddy and nervous for several reasons. 1st it is such an honor that someone would do this for me when we are on our 4th baby. 2nd it is such an honor that other ladies are planning to attend. There have been 23 ladies RSVP, which I didn't know I even had that many friends. I doubt there will actually be that many show up, as plans change, kids get sick, people forget and it is snowing today. But even that they thought they wanted to come, I just feel so blessed. I am also excited to have my mom and sisters meet some of my friends, as when they are here, they are usually just around...

This morning during out preschool lesson, Brian and I played Simon Says. I gave him instructions first and he loved it. Then he wanted to give them to me. Ok. So the first 5 or 6 were pretty much the exact same ones I gave him...Raise your arms, touch your nose, give me a kiss, jump up and down (I didn't do this one!) Then he sees his opportunity. He tells me, "throw this piece of paper away." Ok. "Pick up my shirt and put it back in my drawer!" The little turkey figured out a way to get me to do his chores!

We took the kids to tour the Fire Station last night with a group of other preschool parents. They had a great time. The tour started at 5:30 and I had another engagement at 6:30. We were doing great on time. We even got to hear a call come in and see one of the trucks leave. We walked through the living quarters and sat in the trucks and ambulances. Then headed back to the training room at 6:10. They showed the kids what a fireman looks like in all his garb so they wouldn't think he was a monster in the event of a fire in their home. Then opened up the room for questions. There were several cute questions by the kids. Makensie even asked if they skipped church when they had to work on Sunday. I thought that was great that she was so concerned about church since we have been searching for a new church home ourselves. However, there is always that one person in every group that is a troublemaker. Last night there was one adult who just kept asking questions. As the time was getting ...

I have fallen behind lately with keeping in touch with everyone and keeping up with everything. A friend came over and helped me move furniture around trying to get ready for this little man. We are in the final 30 days! My friend is also skilled in the art of GET RID OF THAT! So with help I was able to release a lot of junk to be free to cross over into junk heaven. Our mom's group met and we talked about the pleasure of the marriage bed, it was an interesting topic to start the weekend with. I'm sure it made for a lot of happy hubbies. I';ll post the questions next. Attended a baby shower for a friend on Sunday, her 1st girl, so it looked like someone had gotten sick on Pepto, there was pink everywhere. I gave her a little bikini for the summer, baby's daddy was not too excited, but you can only enjoy their little tummies for so long. We are trying to get ahead on home-school so that I can take a couple weeks hiatus after the baby. Looks like that might not be...

One of my worst subjects in school was history. I found it difficult to remember dates, names, places and yet I know who Abe Lincoln is, I know who Paul Revere is. I never met these men, but I had plenty of opportunities to learn about them in school. If I hadn't read their stories, I might know their names, but not their character, values or beliefs. That same is true of our Lord. He get to know Him by reading about Him. Are what are just some of the things we know about Him? His mercy, faithfulness and lovingkindness are unmeasurable . They are deeper and wider and greater than we can even begin to imagine.

A couple of weeks ago I threw up after supper, I was not feeling sick, just a pregnancy thing. All the kids come running in to "help" me. Makensie was getting a cold cloth, Gabby wanted to try to hold my hair back, and Brian gagged and threw up on me. I'm guessing Brian got his dad's gag flex. Two of my best laughs are from this condition he has. The first was brought on by watching Allen vomit repeatedlyafter one of our kids threw up. We were at his grandparents house for Thanksgiving so the entire family watched from inside the large picture window, laughing with sympathy only of course. And the second was watching Allen vomit repeatedly on the side of the road after one of our kids got car sick. The added bonus was getting to watch him hang his head out the window like a giant dog with drool flying off his chin, as we drove 20 minutes to the next gas station so we could hose out the inside of the suburban. And being the loving wife I am I could not quit giggling a...

Scream, rant, let it out...to the Lord. Just because we are Christians doesn't mean that we do not have feelings of anger and hurt and bitterness when someone does us wrong. It does mean that we do not act on them or hold onto those feelings. King David took his troubles to the Lord and let them pour out. He prayed for the Lord to destroy all his enemies, to bring them disgrace and shame. He says, "then I will rejoice". I'm sure David was angry and hurt when he wrote this, and just yelling his thoughts and feelings out to the Lord gave him some relief. God can handle it, He asks us to cast ALL our cares on Him. I can remember being so mad at a girl for stealing my boyfriend in high school that I wanted to take lindburger cheese and rub in up inside her air conditioning vents of her car. I even went to the store to look for it. Of course in our little town it was no where to be found. But by the time I went through the motions, I was just drained. I was so upset and m...

I was surprised this week to read a blog by a young gal that says she was raised to believe in God but had given up on Him and was instead turning to tarrot cards and other ways to find the answers to her questions. She believes that if she can see the future she can change it. It really made me have to stop and think. No it isn't my job to judge, but if I believe the Word of God, and I do, then I also know that she is not just sinning but welcoming satan right into her life and glorifing him in doing so. I know there is power in the physics and tarrot cards, but they are not the power I want to be playing around with. And no matter what we want to call it...fun, exciting, entertainment...it is still witchcraft in its basic form. The Bible tells us that these sorts of things along with plenty of other warnings will become rampant in the last days. There were 10 comments in response to her blog, 8 of which commended her on her beliefs and also tabbeled in some form of witchcraf...

There are days that I wish I could claim that the Bible just is not relevant in this day and age. Days I wish I could claim ignorance of the law. Days I wish God really was not Omnipotent and did not know the lifestyle of the 21st century from the beginning. But the fact is, He did. Yet He still felt compelled to inspire a writing about the Proverbs woman. I would have loved to have seen this woman. However, she was not really one in particular woman. She was the kind of woman that was being recommended to King Lemuel by his mother. His mom was guiding him as to what qualities to look for when he was considering a bride to be His Queen. So why I have I let this woman taunt me each time I walk in the front room too tired to pick up another toy? Because I want to be like her so bad! I want to have my to do list completed at the end of each day, she didn't have a Outlook Calendar. I want to have all my laundry caught up, she didn't have a super capcity washer and dryer. I...

So my victories today? First I got a collection call from Sprint over a $24 bill. Which I have refused to pay as we never authorized a switch, we have unlimited long distance on our cell phones and on our home phones and business phone. I have sent letters, called and after filing a slam complaint last May (I had 3 months with them before they finally canceled my account after several calls) I thought it was finished. I was wrong. I called Sprint today and asked to speak directly with the slamming department and the lady basically as politely as possible said she didnt' believe me that I had to have authorized the switch otherwise it wouldn't have happened. She asked if I wanted her to call our current carrier...YES. She did and was slightly surprised that CenturyTel told her that they had never showed me to have switched services in the past 3 years. So Sprint apologized and credited back the money! After Christmas we came home to a letter from some guy who had bought our home...

So I'd have to say the last couple of days of aches and pains has made me a little cranky. On top of that I wet my pants...twice in one day from sneezing thinking my water had broke, then the spontaneous vomitting and the terrible pain in my lower back and the Braxtons, made me reason that I truely was heading toward the labor. We didn't go to the hospital because I wanted to make 100% sure. Afterall I can humiliate myself just fine by myself without going to the hospital and paying someone else to tell me how ridicious I can be. Who doesn't know if they are in labor on the 4th baby? Today I feel much better besides the migraine I developed which could have been brought on from our trip to Wal-Mart this morning.

Last year our chuch went through a witnessing "how-to" book of sorts. There was 7 easy questions on how to lead any conversation to the topic of being saved my Christ. I have to admit I wasn't too thrilled about it. I let the guilt monster creep in during the time we studied this book, thinking of all those witnessing opportunity I had let pass me by. I am one of those people that just doesn't like a confrontation so rather than interject I often times just shut up and pray. Pray that someone will witness to them. I'm sure those are the times when God just shook His head and felt like flicking my on the forehead and asking, "why do you think I put you here!?" I'm working on it, but also know that if I offended someone and they got heated that my natural ability to start perspiring and then pass out probably wouldn't be so impressive either. I would much rather stay in the safet y net of my little circle of Christian friends, chatting about how...

So God thought he was pretty funny today. I posted on praying for your enemies this morning and come to find out, today my enemies consisted of my husband and the spawn of his loins! Allen called this morning at 5:15, which I'm up because I get up when he does to make sure he has a fresh pressed shirt, all his clothes laid out on the bed so when he gets out of the shower, he's set, and make his lunch, get his morning drug in the form of Dr. Pepper and be ready to hug and kiss him goodday . As he called, my cell phone died because I had forgotten to plug it in, he calls on the home phone and starts in with me about forgetting to plug it in and why I needed to do it at night and...and I interrupted and asked "What do you want Allen?" he hung up. Which yes, did irritate me and yes I was a little curt with him and yes I'ld say my hormones are a little on the irritable side the last couple of days. My first instinct was to wait awhile and then text him that I had gone...

If David's heart had not been rung, then David's Psalms would not have been sung. I like that. I saw that in an old article this morning but cannot make out who the author is. I get somewhat concerned with the preachers that preach all uplifting and happy sermons filled with prosperity, health and happiness. While these are things that God wants for us, it doesn't mean that we are always at that conjucture in life where He can trust us with them or if He can trust us, that the timing is right for us to have them. God does tell us that if we love Him, that we can be sure that those who do not love Him will not love us. He says that for those who live godly lives will be faced with suffering from those who hate Him. That is the spiritual warfare we are faced with, doomed to face as long as we confess our love for Him. This is Satan's role in our life. God calls it warfare because we have to continually fight back. Satan is not defeated once and for all to never bother us ...

Tonight on the way home from Girl Scouts I noticed a car pull out behind me. I didn't pay much attention as I was pretty caught up trying to talk with Gabby and find out if she would like me to stop and get some egg drop soup on the way home since she is sick. I was also distracted by the fact I couldn't hear her answer because of Makensie's incessant chatting. We were on a back street and so I honestly wasn't driving very fast, probably just at 25mph. From the time the car started to follow me until they had a chance to turn onto the 4 line road and pass was a total of maybe 6 blocks. I turned right and they followed and honked and told me in so many fingers that I was number one. I waved and said, thank you. This was just yet another reminder to me to keep my patience with other drivers. Today has been a little draining. My iron is low so I feel very sluggish and extremely tired. I have two little ones with fevers and one that was throwing up. I still had to...

was reading a wonderful Childhood memory of a vacation from a friend and I just can't help to be reminded of the worst vacation our family ever took. It scarred me for life and has since limited my desire to vacation farther than 3 hours away. One summer my parents had a business event in Albuquerque New Mexico. Well from SE Kansas it is a long drive. It felt like weeks. There were 3 other families following us out, actually just couples as they didn't tote their kids along and tag it as a family vacation. However, I had proved myself untrustworthy of staying home alone. I was still in high school and my sisters were in Middle school so while we did have fun together, the age difference and the fact that I was a "high-schooler" led me to sleep or have on ear phones, most of the trip. Now my dad is a constant visionary. His big invention for this trip was he rigged up a rack under the hood so that we could throw some potatoes in there and after a hundred miles, ...

I am so thankful for such beautiful and simple words as I am forgiven. Recently a large church in our small little town came to the crossroads of a split. The pastor admitted to having a marital affair. I am sure while this was a horrible situation for this well loved pastor to have to confess to, his heart had to be lifted from the quilt that has been eating away at his life. This was such a scandal and of course hurt many feelings, left a distasste in the mouths of new believers and non believers alike and torn a church in half. A man of God, having an affair? How is that possible? How is it possible that Aaron had an affair and then committed murder? How is it possible that David committed murder? Yet David was given the title "man after God's own heart." When I read the Hall of Fall of God's all time favorite men and women in Hebrews 11 I don't know that in our human minds, we would have chosen those same individuals. I do find it encouraging however as I cont...

The other night I was having coffee with some friends and the discussion eventually turned to how old and saggy our bodies are getting. One of the ladies joked that her boobs had gotten long and there was now work involved in putting on a bra. I related somewhat, but didn't think I really had enough up top be considered "long". I was wrong. When I had just gotten out of the shower last night Gabby starts in singing, "Boobies, boobies, boobies." Makensie, always quick to side with the underdog, yells at her "Gabby, stop it! How would you like it if you had really long boobies and some one was making fun of you?" Guess now that I've crossed over to the droopy side, I will be looking into joining the saggy baggy boobie tribe and hopefully show up on the cover of the first porn magazine I ever heard of...aka The National Geographic. I think it is only appropriate since I was in denial for so long, that "denial" will be the river we'll be ...

What does it mean that God is sovereign ? What response does he ask of us in light of His sovereign control over things? Were the questions I read in an article from Jean Fleming. I know I have said He is sovereign and that I trust Him and yet my stomach still churns and my heart races with thoughts of the what if's at times. There are moments when I'm in sitting in the boat looking out over the raging waters looking for Him to calm my storm or get on the ship with me and tell me everything will be OK . I sometimes grow impatient and that is when the devil attacks. He sees me in my weakness and brings little passing thoughts and lies. And if I'm not careful to catch them, and throw them out, they will stay in my mind and fester and that is all I need to start my doubt. The men in the boat that were caught in the storm feared for their lives for 10 long hours before they saw Jesus on the water. Jesus spoke to them "Do not be afraid." They probably thought they ...

Psalms 33 - The plans of the Lord stand firm forever...No king is saved by the size of his army: no warrior escapes by his great strength....But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them...We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his H oly name . May your unfailing love rest upon us, O lord, even as we put our hope in you. These are the words that spoke to my heart this morning. No king is saved by the size of his army. So many times it was the underdog, the army with the smaller numbers, that won the battle. We are at a much more somber place in our home this morning then we have been the last week. We are in the middle of a spiritual battle that we are girding up to head out and face full force this morning. This day will be the day we find out whether we will win the battle, come home injured refuel and then battle again tomorrow, or lose the battle we s...

We dropped by Toys R Us to use a gift card from Christmas, all seemed to go well. I was even to the point of strapping Gabby in the carseat, when her eyes caught her first victim of the day. A really tale, broad man, with long wavy hair, wearing dark sunglasses, a black tshirt and a do rag. Gabby points and yells as he is walking beside our van, "Look it's a pirate! Look Brian and Kensie he's a pirate." He heard and actually chuckled at it. I wanted to request an "ARRR" out of him, but thought best not to push my luck. We had a little chat when he left. At wal-mart we met the neatest old man on one of those riding carts. He was a spitfire and immediately started harassing my kiddos when he saw them arguing. I felt like I was getting to enjoy time with my grandpa all over again...until I saw his hand. He was missing 2 fingers and a thumb and had a bandaid on a wound. Seconds after I noticed, so does Gabby, "why do you have a bandaid on?" as she POKE...

Today is our 8th anniversary. I wish I could upload some pictures. We eloped and got married in a beautiful 1900's bed and breakfast mansion. I had my dress already and he rented a tux and it was perfect. So for those of you who don't know my hubby too well and feel sorry for him for me picking on him at times. I thought I would open up the gates to the bowels of hell and let him answer some questions this morning...what was I thinking! I think I've shared, already, but one of the reasons we get along so well is because we both know we are both goofballs and we are both open to laugh at each other....often. So here are my questions to him and his answers(in blue): Happy Anniverysary! If you'll answer my survey questions, I'll leave you alone and let you sleep another hour. Why do I have to answer the questions when it's your website? (I explained to him this is his opportunity to share his side.) SWEET. What did you think when you 1st saw me? (he made a gagging ...

1. How did you meet your spouse? We met at Dick Clark's American Bandstand in KC. I was waitressing. He asked me out in front of all his friends. I said yes, so as not to embarrasses him. He gave me his business card and hotel room number and we made plans for the next night. I stood him up. I figured, being on business he would be out of town by Wedn. not so. He came back in the next two nights and finally after making calls to his office and talking with his secretary and running a background check (oh yes, I really did). I went out with him on a Friday night. 2. Was it love at first sight? I don't know if love at first sight, but I'll never forget that first time our eyes met. 3. Did you know right away that you wanted to marry this person? By the end of our 1st date, I knew he was special and that I wanted to spend my life with him. 4. How long did you and your spouse date? We dated 1 year, got engaged, then eloped 3 months later. 5. What was your best date with your sp...