Suzanne Griffin

Today I turned 38. I have not feared getting older, but I am shocked to think about the fact that I am so close to 40 yet I do not feel as wise and mature as I thought I would at this age. I still feel like the 20 something most days until I walk in front of a mirror and don't recognize the reflection of myself. While I am not jumping for joy at the loss of my younger figure, I am thankful that the lifestyle of the 20 year old is long gone. This year is already proving to be a much better birthday than last year . Allen remembered and had a nice gift card for me to pick out something of my choice. Gabby is making blueberry pancakes, Wyatt slept with me last night (I know, not a good thing usually...but this child will rarely snuggle, let alone give a kiss and I got to kiss and snuggle him all night without resistance.) At this time of year, I know there are a lot of goals being made as New Year's approaches. I am right there with ya. I don't have any huge, life changing, w...

I can still remember sitting in the back yard and plucking the petals off the Black-Eyed Susan playing this Russian Roulette with love over a childhood crush. I cannot recall how many flowers fell victim that day to my hopes of winning the answer I longed for. I was so young and so innocent to believe that love was held in the number of petals and my ability to start with the correct one. As I aged I no longer played the game with the flower petals, but I still played the game in my head. With each heart break I faced, either letting my parents down, a friend that betrayed, or a relationship that ended badly or I had lost their affection; it grew harder to deeply trust and know whether the relationships I were in were safe for the long run. Did they love me, did they love me not? And now as I can almost touch being 40 years old I see that I play this same game with my Lord. It is hard not too. The style of love that most of us have experienced is based on performance. Most of our paren...

I know I've posted a lot today, however, while the kids are working so nicely I'm getting in just one more. A dear friend was chosen for a Betty Crocker House Party and if you haven't registered with House Party you can here . We had 5 stations and worked in teams to make 5 different yummy cookies, had cake and punch. And of course Mrs. Crafty had therapy in the way of making little beautiful gift boxes while waiting for the goodies to cool. What a lovely evening. Thank you!

I have never put together a Christmas Float before and for some reason thought it a grand idea to suggest doing so for our homeschool group. Of course it was the day after the Christmas Workshop, so I was a little busy last week. We didn't do anything extravagant, but thankfully there were other ladies with ideas and common sense thinking to lead the way. We went with a theme of Children are a gift from the Lord. By Saturday morning, the float wasn't decorated, we didn't have hay bales for sitting and we didn't have a banner or even the paint in hand to make the banner. It was getting a little uncomfortable and quite honestly with the freezing wind, this was the 1st time I considered calling it off. But it all came together, hay and paint was found, someone generously painted the sign so I didn't have to bend over.... However, at @5:00 was the 2 nd time I considered calling it off. There were only 3 of us families at the float and since the idea was to hopef...

Homeschool Elementary Christmas Gift Workshop. We had 50 kids signed up to complete 10 projects each in 2 hours. It was so much fun. I am so thankful to all the ladies to helped make this happen. And my hubby. Table #1: Sugar Scrubs Table #2: CD Sleeves decorated for holding large cookies Table #3: Individual packets of Hot Cocoa. You can see Tables #4 & 5 in the background, but I must have gotten distracted because I don't have pictures of them. #4 was fire starters. #5 was individual cakes in a cup. #6: Marshmallow Shooters #7 Wagon Train Rag Dolls #8 Recipe Cards #9 Gak/Slime #10 Sock Babies

1st we found this little guy a while back: We put him in a jar with some leaves and he formed his little chrysalis. Then last week we heard some rustling in the leaves of the jar and this is what we found: After about 15 minutes:

Gabby choose the "target" design and decorated the cake herself. I have no idea why she choose her crazy face for the picture.

It's been a long time since I sat down to write. It's been a long time since I had time to sit and write. Our homeschool Co-op classes are finished for this semester which is bitter sweet. I'll miss the girls, but have a little more time and freedom in the week. My vacuum broke, but we were able to get a great deal on ebay in a Hila System. Yeah! I hurt my back over Thanksgiving vacation and have no idea what is wrong, although my kids are getting really good at picking things up off the floor for me. We just finished a Christmas Workshop for the Elementary aged kids in our homeschool group. I had 10 projects, 50 kids, 2 hours and $110. It went rather smooth and I was so pleased with the outcome that I'm sure we'll do it again next year. We had our Christmas parade which also came together in the end. At 10am we had no idea where to get hay, had no banner made, no paint to make the banner...it was looking rather hopeless, but God is good and it all work...

Proverbs 3:3-4 “For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil; But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. What do we know about honeycombs and honey? They are sweet, sticky, get too much makes you sick, delicious, drips slowly, tempting. Can the honeycomb hold in the honey? It can’t help but to drip out. Try a piece of honeycomb or a spoonful of honey. What do we know about oil? It is slick, smooth. Rub a small amount of oil olive on your hands and try to open a door knob. How easy is it to turn the knob with oily hands? How do your hands feel? Smooth? This is another experiment that you’ll have to check with mom 1st on. Take a small area of the kitchen floor that is clean. Put some oil in a spot and rub it in. How does it look? Shinny? Bright? Sprarkling clean? Be careful, but what happens when you try to walk on it? What would happen to someone unaware of the oil if they walked across the floor? How can a strange ...

For your listening pleasure: Click Here . Mom! Wook et me! Hey, I'm up at the ER...... Hey, I'm up at the Washington County Sheriff's office..... Mom, the cat pooped on the trampoline. Mom, here's your hairbrush back, I used it on the cat. SPIDER! I went pee without using my hands (so said the boy).

Thought this was a timely devotional I read this morning. I have been on both sides of this. Enjoy. _______________________________ In light of Jesus’ piercing words: “ Blessed is he who is NOT offended in me .” Have you been offended by someone recently? Is it over something minor or monumental? Well, here are a few things to consider: You are usually offended when you are thinking the worst about someone’s motives and thinking that they were wishing you ill. In other words, you are judging the intents of their heart. Something a believer ought never do. We have not so learned Jesus Christ. “ Love hopes for the best ” – it doesn ’t think the worst about others nor does it judge the motives of another. Whenever we do this, we’re in the flesh. When a Christian is offended with another believer, it is likely they have merely misunderstood their fellow brother or sister in Christ and have read things into what they have said and did that aren ’t there. You have forgotten that everything t...

I am reading one of those books that is just life changing. In the quotes from what others are saying about this book, I stumbled upon this one: "It is not about going to church but being the church, and that is to be done everywhere I go and in everything I do."

Beauty and the Pig Bible Study Listed below are descriptive phrases from the book of Proverbs about the strange woman. Meditate on each phrase and answer each question. Ask for your parents’ opinions about each question, too. They may see you differently than you are able to see yourself. Proverbs 7:5, 21 “flattereth with her words”, “much fair speech”, “flattering of her lips” i. Am I inappropriately forward with verbal praise or open admiration of others? ii. Do I insincerely compliment or admire others with the purpose of manipulating them or getting their attention and favor? Proverbs 7:10 “with the attire of an harlot and subtil of heart” i. What is my purpose in the way I choose to dress? ii. Do I dress attractively or do I dress to attract? iii. Do I seek to serve my Christian brothers and other boys and men by dressing in a manner that does not tempt them to lust? Proverbs 7:11 “loud” i. Do I seek attention by making loud and silly remarks in the company of others? ii. Do I eng...

“The mouth of strange women is a deep pit; he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therin.” (Proverbs 22:14) ”Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.” (Proverbs 31:10) Scripture offers a detailed and colorful picture of two very different sorts of women. While offering wise and godly counsel to young men, the writers of the book of Proverbs praise one kind of woman and warn against the other. The purpose of this study is to examine what God says about both women – the virtuous woman who fears and honors God and the strange woman whose heart is bent on unfaithfulness and adultery. A truly beautiful young lady will bring her attitudes and actions under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Her clothing, her countenance, her words, and her behavior will exhibit reverence for God, respect for her parents, and sisterly deference to the young men around her. She will be growing in the Lord, becoming the kind of woman whose “worth is far above rubies.” This study may not ...

Brian: I have just 3 words for you, "I LOVE THIS HOUSE!" So does this fall under math or grammar issues? ________________________________________ Allen de -iced the chest freezer this morning outside and through the chunks of ice out in the yard, Brian just came in yelling "GUYS! YOU HAVE GOT TO SEE THIS! IT HAILED GIANT PIECES OF HAIL JUST IN OUR YARD LAST NIGHT!!!" ____________________________________________ Wyatt gave us a scare by jumping off the top of the bunk bed and was crying. I asked the girls why they didn't stop him. Makensie : Because it didn't hurt him the 1st time. ____________________________________________ Brian: Mom would you rather risk your life to save me, or dress up fancy and go to a party. Me: Mmmm , well, I guess risk my life. What about you? Brian: I'd probably risk my life, because I sure don't want to be an orphan. __________________________________________________ I was rocking Wyatt and fell asleep. I woke up ...

Grass Spider "Habitat - These spiders are often called grass spiders because they construct their webs in tall grass, heavy ground cover and the branches of thick shrubs. Rarely will a funnel web spider be seen indoors, except for an occasional wandering male. They are found mostly in the Pacific Northwest states. " I have a bone to pick with this misinformed author. I have found over 15 of these rather large creatures in our home in the last week. I'm sure the rain has something to do with it, but regardless I'm not excited about it. Having one of these jump out and chase you down in the morning is a quicker wake up call than 4 cups of coffee and I'd rather be singing javaluia.

Now you are caught up to where the ladies and I are, at least until we meet tomorrow for week 4. This is the week of getting into the "mud" so to speak with the scriptures and the comparisons between the pig and the foolish woman. _____________________________________________________________ Beauty and the Pig Week 3 Gold in the Bible Now that we know what the Bible says about pigs, lets learn more about gold. How is gold used in the bible? What kinds of items were made of gold? Using your concordance again, study the words gold and golden. There are many, many references to gold in the Bible. You won’t be able need to study every verse in order to see many of the uses of gold. We’re simply trying to get a general idea of how gold was used in Bible times. Skim through the concordance’s brief excerpts for each verse. Many of these will be enough to tell you how the gold is being used. List all your observations. Review your observations and summarize what you have found. What ...

Beauty and the Pig Week 2 “As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.” Proverbs 11:22 What does the Bible say about pigs? How are gold rings like beautiful women, and how are gold rings in pigs’ snouts like beautiful women without discretion? To better understand the meaning of Proverbs 11:22, we need to do some more studying. You will need a concordance for this type of study. If you have an exhaustive concordance, such as Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, you will be using it throughout the book of studies. Or you may go online to http://www.eliyah.com/lexicon.html . If you have a concordance in the back of your Bible, it may list some of the verses we are seeking, but may not list them all. Pigs in the Bible Use your concordance to look up the word swine. Under the word swine, you will see a listing that looks like the one below. Lev 11:7 the s, though he divide the hoof 2386 Matt ...

Our homeschool group is in their 1st year of the Co-op. I think I heard there were 70? students participating just this 1st year. The kids are all enjoying it. I am teaching a girls bible study for ages 8-13. There are 14 young ladies in the class and I'm just falling in love with these gals. The study we are doing is called Beauty and the Pig. We are studying on what does God find beautiful and at the same time learning how to study the bible. So far we are on week 3 and still on one verse. I hope they are not getting too bored, I think as long as I keep bringing goodies each time that will help:) This is a very timely study for me. I have looked at the ladies in my life and see such wonderful characteristics and a love for the Lord about them. Honestly, I'm humbled just being in their company. I'm truly the blessed one. I pray that as these young ladies go through this study that they will not only seek to put on the beautiful traits, but will also be able t...

I Peter 3:14-17 Lord sustain me so that my life and words will never be about me, but only for your glory.

Brian: Mom, what does making magic in the moonlight mean? Me: What? Use it in a sentence. Brian: I want to kiss a girl. I want to hold her tight. I wanna make a little magic in the moonlight. Me: It means you probably won't be going back to work with daddy for a while. See Here.

September 18th was the start of Rosh Hashana . I posted earlier about the spiritual battle we are in. Today as I sat talking with a wise godly women who always just helps me rise to the next level of the spiritual thinking, I realized that while we are celebrating and studying this Jewish Holiday, satan had gotten me off track Thursday night. The night before the Jewish New Year. The 1st day of the 10 High Holy Days. My heart was frozen in time in the temporal with man versus preparing for remembering and "soakin' in" the Lord. Am I a Jew? Not by birth. But I am adopted into a Jewish family so it seems to make sense to know of HIS heritage. "May you be inscribed in The Book of Life" was a common greeting during this event. So for these 10 days we will be incorporating it into our lives and school. Today for vocabulary: inscribed, Book of Life, Shofar, Rosh Hashana Geography: Isreal Art: Made The Book of Life Spelling: Wrote names in the book of life. History: R...

This was in my inbox this morning for Command 25, Day 174 with the devotions from IBLS . It just reminded me again of God's perfect timing. We are in a time that there is a spiritual battle front and present. I pray that we all protect ourselves and not let our tongues be used to do satan's work. Protect yourself against being an open vessel. We know that in the end times family and close friends and the "church" being the entire body of believers will fall into pharisee like characteristics . Satan wants to divide and conquer, but we have a power bigger than that available to us. Stay in the word, stay in Christ, fight the good fight. Feel the burning in your muscles as you push through to that finish line. The closer we get to the end times, we will see good people fall and mislead and become false teachers. This is the time to know the scriptures, to know Jesus. So that you can separate the truth. This is the time when the emptiness of the non-believers will be s...

As I was studying this week I read Proverbs 20:1 and it just stood out to me. How you do view this verse? About social drinking? Occasional drinking? Here is an article that is pretty much no holds bar on a pastor's thoughts on home school and the health care proposal. We started school Tuesday and are still in the adjusting phase. Or...is it that you never leave that phase? Here is my response as to why we choose to home school. And finally here is a devotional that seems very fitting for today for many of us as Christians, as women and as God fearing citizens. May you all have a blessed day.

I posted on Monday about Peter sending out a "Popcorn Prayer" to Jesus as he was started to walk on the water. I found several things interesting about this short interaction. 1st while Peter kept his focus on Jesus, he was walking on water. Then as he turned his focus to the huge rolling waves around him, he started to sink. 2nd, Jesus was standing right there, he could see that Peter was sinking, but didn't reach out to save him until Peter cried out for help. 3rd, as Jesus saved Peter he accused him of having little faith. And here was a boat full of men and Peter was the only one brave enough to even get out. So I can't imagine what Christ thought of the rest of the guys. I couldn't help but think of my own life. How many times have I told my Lord to lead and I will follow and then when the storms arise I start drowning in my fears that I physically see around me. I know the one to call on and I strive to keep my focus on him, but I'm sure that my...

Have you heard this expression? I don't remember where my kids heard it but it's great. A Popcorn Prayer is a prayer that just pops to mind and you explode it up to God. Someone comes to mind, "God give them peace through this ordeal." Or when conflicts arise, "God please give me wisdom with this child." In Psalms 70 David starts with "MAKE HASTE O GOD!" This Psalm is short and to the point. David was in need and didn't have time to say much. In Matthew 14:30 Peter cries out the shortest prayer in the Bible, "Lord save me!" And Jesus immediately reached out a hand and saved him. There are several prayers in the Bible that teach us how to pray and why. The prayer of Jabez , The Lord's Prayer, A.C.T.S. and several of these little Popcorn Prayers. So if a need arises quickly know that you can send it on just a quickly, it doesn't always have to be formal, it just always has to be heartfelt.

Brian is a constant source of entertainment for us.When we were at my folks for the 4 th of the July, this kid wore me out. My mom had given him a can of red spray paint to paint a chair outside. Red looks like blood so since it was the 4 th , and his friend Manix was over, he sprayed Manix's tummy to look like they got hurt. These two boys together were just a stew of trouble waiting to be discovered. Brian would hand Manix a firecracker and light it and Manix would throw it. Then the other boys uncle came and picked them up and said he heard something in the back seat and turned around in time to catch Manix and Brian trying to light a fire cracker in the back seat of the pickup. They were going to through it out the window. Thank you LORD for protecting those two. One day my dad watched Brian for me, for just a little while for me to run to the store. When I got home my dad asked, "Did you get any green paint?" I told him, "No. Was I suppose to?" Then i...

All the crazy dreams I had last night might be contributed to the fact that I stayed up til almost 2am then was up again with the little man at 4am and spent the rest of the night in the recliner. Allen left early this morning so when I awoke confused by the sound of a lawn mower in our yard, I assumed our neighbors were fed up with our lack of mowing skills. But as my eyes focused I glanced out the window and then to the clock. It was 8:47am. It was not our neighbors, but rather a friend. A blessing. Our lawn mower has been broke for a couple of weeks, more like several, and Allen without complaining has been weed eating the entire yard. Right before I was awoken, in my dream, I was having a discussion with some lady that was being extremely rude (don't know where this came from ) but I said, "We are Christians." And to my surprise to replied, "So am I." I remember feeling angered and told her that just believing in God and being a Christian, I believe, are 2 d...

With all the recent tabloids and news coverage of Michael Jackson, we watched part of a documentary on him recently. We saw part of the funeral and discussed about him. I'll save my soapbox and our devotions with the kids over this until later. But Gabby asked, "How did he go from being a black man to a white woman?"

"Would you rather be pasty white and thin, or chunky and tan?" Was the question proposed. Um, what if you are neither combination but rather a mix of the two less desirable? Pasty white and chunky. That's me. So does that mean I'm not beautiful? Guess it depends on who is doing the judging. I'm speaking tomorrow night for the MUMS ministry and finding myself confused over wording and decided to type it out here. I'm a much better writer than speaker. They should have wrote on the flier, "Suzanne is speaking, come at your own risk." But oh no, there is a nice little resume sorts of my past events. Oh the pressure is on. This is the 1st meeting of the year. I pray that I set a fun tone for the meetings for the rest of the year rather than me being the only one there from now on. I also pray that beyond my own fears of making a fool or nuisance out of myself that I'll keep the goal in mind before me and that the women that come will leave changed in...

Doing a little shameless advertising here. I have taken the 1st 2 courses of the Wilton Cake Decorating Classes at Hobby Lobby. I'm very glad I got this opportunity. I have really enjoyed myself. I took the classes because I have quite a few cakes to make over the course of time with 4 kids and I love the flavor of homemade cakes. I'm looking forward to starting course 3 in September. Since this is something that I seem to be somewhat OK at and thoroughly enjoy, I thought I would throw it out there that I am open for business, unofficially of course. This is for friends and family and just word of mouth recommendations . I DO NOT have a kitchen license and really do not know the rules and regulations for this yet. Here are some pictures of some of my cakes and my new little venture: Sugar and Spice

I know I pick on Allen quite a bit, but trust me when I say he can take it and it's all in good spirit. We have always had fun in the bantering back and forth between us. He is such a good man in heart. Yesterday in the busyiness of the day I forgot to order a quarter panel glass for a vehicle. I hadn't made this mistake yet. I really couldn't believe I did it. It was a big deal with the order to begin with. The family called, it was their primary vehicle, he was a pastor, we were trying to be accommodating to get it done today so Allen was even going to go do the work at 7am. It ended up being an insurance job and I had all the paperwork in order but at 7 o'clock last night I realized that there would be no panel showing up on the truck last night. I was sick. I felt like I had let the family down, they could have went somewhere else and gotten it done today. But Allen without criticizing or even a hint of condemnation, spoke with our glass driver at midnight and ha...