Leap Day!

It's a Leap Year - Woo Hoo! How cool is it to have an extra day if Feburary? I've always wondered how that works if your birthday if Feb 29....kind of a crappy day to be born huh? =)

Not much is going on - Al is sick with the yucky stuff that is going around but so far the kids and I have been ok. Keep us in your prayers that we don't get sick either! Olivia had softball practice the other day and did pretty well. Al and my dad said she was kind of in her own little world at some points but hey, she's still only 4 years old! She had a good time though and that's all that matters.

Here's a cute little pic of Cooper that Amy took that other day. Have a great weekend!

A must read

I thought this was something worth posting! Thanks for emailing me this Christy!

Rick Warren (REMEMBER HE WROTE "PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE")

You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having "wealth" from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, "Purpose Driven Life " author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California.

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and va lleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,"which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD.

Robots like Cookies too

Can someone explain to me why my kids are so hyper on a Tuesday night? Could it possibly be because Nana and Poppy sent Cooper a cookie (in the shape of Boots the Monkey) home the size of a football and that Olivia has been cooped up in the house all afternoon and didn't get to go to softball practice? Oh, and let's not forget that Poppy said she had several Push Ups, cookies, a hot dog, and other misc. food this afternoon. Geez, they are WIRED!

Evidence that Cooper really enjoyed that cookie!

Olivia insisted I take a few pictures of her doing her "robot" dance.

Is it bed time yet????

Anna said I needed

to add some pictures to my blog, so here are two I *think* I haven't posted before. I didn't snap any pics of the kids over the weekend because we didn't do much this weekend! =) We had a pretty nice and relaxing weekend.....the kids spent Saturday night with Gamma and Papa so Al and I took advantage of the night away. We had dinner with Michele and Chris and then went shopping for Olivia some clothes to practice softball in. Of course, I couldn't resist a shirt for Cooper that read "Short Cute and Loveable"! That's my little man to the tee! ;)

He looks sweet and innocent enough here (this was taken at Kyan's party in October) but I have created a "Coopey Monster" - Cooper now INSISTS on going "gait gait" (which is his way of saying "night night") with ME every night. He throws a fit until I lay down in the bed with him and we even have our own little routine.....we lay down and cuddle while watching Blue Clues (or Spongebob) and then we cut the TV and go to sleep. Usually I fall asleep too and my night is ruined! LOL Al will put him in his bed but it never fails that most nights he ends up back in the bed with me......

Which leads us to Sissy. Her thing is to go to bed on her own or have Al lay down with her for awhile but she almost every night gets up and gets Al and drags him BACK to bed with her. So, Al and I have not slept in the same bed for the whole night in a while. Saturday was probably the first time in weeks. No lie.

I know we need to break these habits, but I just can't make myself do it - especially with Cooper. I mean, he won't be little forever and I know he'll eventually get to where he won't want me so much....so I guess I'm being "needy" and letting them both get away with it for now. Both kids are very "mommy" right now so I know it makes Al happy that Olivia feels like she needs *him* at night and not me......I don't know....right now I think I'm just going to enjoy snuggling with my little man and worry about the consequences later. =)

Got to be kidding.....

But I'm not when I say that I have yet ANOTHER nail in my tire when I got to work. For those of you that don't know, I am a MAGNET for nails, screws, etc in my tires. When Al and I had the Jeep, I had nails in every single one of my tires in a period of a month. UGH. And I thought I had rid myself of the "nail curse" but it's struck again! Oh well....

In other news, we got a new roof put on the house yesterday (which is probably where the curse resurfaced) and we are ssoooo glad!!!! It looks great and Al and I are really excited about putting some new siding on the house in the fall and having it look super spiffy. =)

The kids are doing good....nothing new to really report. Olivia had softball tryouts on Tuesday and she did GREAT. She fielded the ball really well and even hit the ball TWICE. We were so proud. Al and I joked that she would be a first round draft pick for softball. =) Cooper had a great time running around cheering on his big Sissy. She's a 4th generation softball player so I hope that it's something she really enjoys. We'll see though, you never know with Olivia Grace. I wish I had taken my camera and took some pics but there's plenty of time for that!

Outta here!

They are gone - the chicken pox are gone! Woo Hoo! Olivia went back to school today and she was sssoooo glad. She has really missed her teachers and friends. Mrs. Chure called her on Saturday and Olivia thinks she's just hot as snot now. =)

It's still up in the air if Cooper will get them now or not. *IF* he does, then they should show up next week according to the doctor. Please, please, please pray that my little guy doesn't get them. I know Olivia had a mild case and I'm thankful for that, but I can't afford to miss more time off of work. So, we'll see. Every morning I cross my fingers that I don't see anything when he's getting dressed. So far, so good. =)

The Griggs know how to party!

As Nana would say "If Mohammad can't go to the mountain, then the mountain will go to Mohammad!" That was our thinking when we decided to have our very own little "Valentine's Party" for Olivia. Since she's been out of school all week with the chicken pox and missed all the fun things at school, we thought it would be a nice treat. We had pizza, cupcakes, brownies, and Diet Coke (Olivia's favorite drink!). Nana and Poppy stopped by with some balloons that were a big hit with the kids. By the way - they are STILL fighting over those stinking balloons! LOL

Olivia eating a cupcake.....well, she eats the icing, not the cake part!

Cooper preferred the brownie bites. =)

Do you see it on the board? Cooper actually drew a heart all by himself! How cool is that! I'm not sure if he knew what he was doing or not!

Olivia with the balloons Nana and Poppy brought over. Three are supposed to be hers and three are supposed to belong to Cooper. This has caused many fights in the last 12 hours! LOL

Me after a long day with Olivia.....chicken pox suck! Poor O has cabin fever like mad!

Nana trying to divide out the balloons!

Cooper scooping out what candy he got from Nana and Poppy.

The infamous Poppy. I thought it was time to get a pic of him on here. Gramma came by and gave the kids some candy before I got home, so I wasn't able to get a picture of her to put on here.

We had a really good time, but the kids got way too much candy from their grandparents! Olivia is feeling much better and I think will be ok to go to school on Monday. She misses it like crazy - especially Ms. Chure and her BFF Ravea. I won't lie and say I'm not looking forward to her going back either! But man, we had a lot of fun last night - the Griggs family can throw one heck of a Valentine Party! =)

Happy V-day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Chickety Chick....

Thomas Hart called yesterday and guess what? Olivia has CHICKEN POX!!! Yeap, you read that right. Thank goodness she has had the vaccine for it and doesn't appear to have a bad case of it. She's more upset that she's missing school than anything. Olivia had perfect attendence up to this point and THA has some fun things planned for the week of Valentine's. =( But from what I've been told, she should be ok in a few days.....probably won't go back to school this week but shouldn't suffer too bad. She's not really itching or anything but they haven't blistered up yet so I don't know what is in store for us. Oh, and so far Cooper doesn't look like he's got them.....which doesn't mean he won't but I'm hoping that since he had his shot not too long ago that maybe it'll keep him from getting them. Pray that it does! And say a little prayer that Olivia recovers quickly from her chicken pox. =)

Stock Car Museum

Yesterday Al and I decided to take the kids over to the Darlington Raceway Stock Car Museum. I haven't been since I was little, so we thought the kids would really enjoy looking at all the old cars. Olivia seemed to like looking at all the old cars and Cooper enjoyed the wide open space to run around in! LOL

1951 Hudson Hornet - if your kids love the movie Cars, like mine do, then you know this car was in the movie. =)

The kids walking the museum with Daddy....there were tons of cars from all different time periods of racing.

#43 Baby!!!! Richard Petty is probably my favorite race car driver......although I'm not a big race car fan!

Olivia with Dale's hand prints. She kept coming back to them and looking at them. She wanted to know if he did his handprints on his own or if he was told too? What difference does it make? LOL She called it "the famous racers hands" - cute!

Cooper by one of the cars there. He wanted to climb on it......but that's his new thing these days....climbing on everything. There may be a monkey tail in those pants!

Olivia posing by Petty's old car.

Cooper and Daddy by one of the Hemi engines used in the cars.

So, we had a pretty good time looking at the stock cars - I guess if Al and I were really into racing, then *we* would have had a blast. But I figured since we live so close to a famous race track, the kids should at least know something about it. Plus, it's all about building memories, right? =)

Bed Time Prayers

Al and I are trying to get Olivia and Cooper into the habit of saying bedtime prayers and prayers at supper. Olivia does pretty well with the dinner prayer (that's what we call it anyways) but her bedtime prayers can be just too funny. Here's the one she said last night:

O: Dear God, God is great, God is good....thank you for my Mommy and Daddy. Dear God, I hope you have a good Valentine's Day. Please send me lots and lots of candy so I can have a good Valentine's Day too God. I love you God. Amen!

Notice how poor little COOPER wasn't even mentioned in his Sissy's prayer? LOL And I love how she brown noses to God for candy for Valentine's Day....too funny!

Passing down my jewelery

Olivia is so funny - of course, all my blog readers know that already! =) For Christmas Al got me one of those circle "diamond" necklaces. Now, I say "diamond" because *I* picked it out and I got a fake one that didn't cost nearly as much as a real diamond necklace. Olivia sees me wearing this necklace a lot and came up to me the other day holding it:

O: Mama, when you get really old, can I have this necklace?

Me: *snicker* Yes Olivia, you can have Mommy's fake diamond necklace when she dies.

O: Yay! *runs off and jumps on her bed in excitement*

How silly is she? Awww, to be young again when little things like that made you happy....those were the days!!!!

Is there no Good News out there?

I'm really getting to the point where I HATE to read the news online these days. A few days ago I read a story about a 3 month old baby boy being thrown out in the woods and a couple bird watching found him. How horrible! And now the police suspect his father because the family was homeless and didn't have any money. It just upsets me so bad - I mean, leave the child at a frigging hospital or police station and WALK AWAY. There's no sense in killing the child. Then yesterday I read a story about a one year old and 3 year old that freeze to death in Canada because they sorry a$$ dad was drunk and passed out while walking them to a neighbors house. First, why was he walking two small kids to a neighbors house in the winter (that was like several miles away) and second, why didn't they have *warm* clothes. Of course, HE lived. And today I read a story about a 7 year old that is in critical condition because he was found hanging in the bathroom at his school. All of this just bothers me so much these days.....I guess because I have several friends that want kids so bad and for whatever reason, they can't have them. It just makes me so sad that I know such good people that would do anything for a baby and then worthless people like I mentioned above do the things they do. I just couldn't imagine hurting my children or not having them in my life. They give my life so much meaning, make me so happy, and give me so much to look forward to in the years to come. Sure, there have been some sacrifices that Al and I have had to make (none that I don't think ALL parents make), but we would do anything for those two little mean monsters! =) I don't know.....it's just something that has been heavy on my heart for the last few days so I decided to blog about it.

I think I should just stay away from the news period!