Griffies Gazette

** Another post was done below this one and it is the "special one," so be sure to check it out too!!!

So, as many of you have noticed and wondered, I haven't been able to be on here quite as much as I used to. That is because, I am smack dab in the middle of AMSTI training for school. It has been ALL of this week, and ALL of next week!!! and WOW am I tired!!! After not doing anything but blogging for 2 weeks ;), it is hard to get back in the swing of things.

Anywho, I'm going to try to go down the list of recent news to catch you all up on our life full of grins and giggles, so here they are....

1. I was in charge of Crafts at VBS and that was June 8-11. Had fun and ALOT of help!! Thanks to all my friends who were helpers!!!

2. My boo's job has changed, can I say, AGAIN!!!! He is now back at the commisary until 3:00 everyday (which he hates ALOT) and then goes to Gold's Gym until ? (which he only hates a LITTLE)! So, please continue to pray for him that he will have a professional door open for him soon!

3. AMSTI training, as I've previously stated, is this week and next. It is fun, but ALOT to take in which leaves me many days exhausted and with a headache. Along those same lines, we have to have LCD projectors for each of our classrooms to make these new leassons understandable, so I am calling business after business trying to get one donated, so if you know people, please help me out!!!

4. On Wednesday, I noticed there was a puddle of water under the cabinet where my saltwater aquarium is. After investigating, I found my 12 gallon nano was leaking. My thoughts, FABULOUS (but VERRRRRY sarcastically)!!! So yesterday, after my training, I was going nonstop until 10:30 p.m. getting stuff that I would need to transfer my creatures and fix my tank. Once creatures had been moved, I began looking for the leak so that I could seal it, and wouldn't you know, IT WOULDN'T LEAK!!! I kept putting H2O in their and NOTHING!!! So, after frustration set in, I went to sleep and decided I would just seal the whole thing tomorrow. I left the tank outside to dry because I couldn't seal it if the tank was wet, and wouldn't you know I found the leak today! In fact, it turned out to be a tiny crack at the bottom (which could have been fixed) but in our beautiful sunshine, that tiny crack ran ALL THE WAY UP THE SIDE!!! Needless to say, the tank can now, NOT be fixed!!! So, I'm in the process of getting a new tank before my sea babies die! :( This is a task because saltwater tanks are EXPENSIVE when you have corals, and guess what, I HAVE CORALS!!! Yet another lovely thing the devil is throwing at us while we're down, but it's going to be ok!!!

5. Lastly, and the most fun, I have been playing with my camera and decided I would try some things out on Sebastian in a little photo shoot. That was interesting enough in itself, but just about all of them turned out REALLY good! I love creative stuff and have always been intrigued by photographers, and maybe, after these pics, I'm turning out to be one myself!!! What do you think?


These are a few of my faves...

Remeber to read my other post, dated june 15, and then leave me some comments :)

"I'm sorry baby, I tried..."

...Those were the words of my father as he walked me down the aisle on May 20, 2006. I had told him for months that he couldn't cry on my wedding day because I knew I would lose it, but there were the words, followed by the tears, so sweet and tender from my daddy.

This is one of the many memories I have with my daddy. Everytime I am with him, I just soak up the moments because they are so precious in my heart. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful father on this earth and I believe God knew exactly who I needed as a father to follow after, learn from, pray with, and most importantly, love unconditionally. My daddy is truly one of my best friends and I am so thankful for him!

As his Father's Day present, I had the honor of taking my daddy to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and watching Scot Bruces' Elvis Tribute; His Early Years. We enjoyed our time together so much!!! We laughed, clapped, sang, and at one point, we even enjoyed a dance with one another!!! It was a spectacular evening together and we decided at the end, we should make this a yearly event. I will be looking forward to next year's special time with my dad and to another memory I will store in my heart, just as I have done with this Father's Day!! I Love You Daddy!!!

* I had hoped to receive the pictures from that night at the ASF so that I could share them with you all, but they still have not been sent to me and I figured I shouldn't wait much longer on them considering this post is already a week late! ;)

A Prayer Answered...

So, this is the second post for the day, and not the one I was talking about at the end of the first one, so be sure to read down below this one for the first post of the day and still look for the special post that will be coming up soon, probably tomorrow! Hope you're not too confused ;)

Anyway, many of you know the awful stress my husband and I have been going through with his new job, so this morning, I went to begin my day as always for the past few months, what I thought would be another sad, depress filled day, and went to read my emails hoping that I had received some pictures I am waiting for. I hate checking emails so I don't do it often, but I guess God planned it just right so that I would be looking for those pics and happen to read the others sent to me as well. I had seen yesterday that Lynne had sent me this email, again I was checking for those pics, but I was so busy yesterday that I just waited to read it, yet agian, God had his hand in all this knowing that I apparently needed to read it another day! So, as you might have guessed, I read that email from Lynne today. I don't know if it is the stress I'm under that made this email so touching, the struggles I have been having thinking my prayers were not being answered, or the thought that I have let the devil control my life these past few months with such stress and worry, but whatever it was, God, through the hands of my wonderful mother-in-law (I owe her so much right now), has touched my life today and told me to "let go!" He knows my needs, fears, and worries so much better than I and He HAS and IS answering so many prayers for me and I just needed a wake-up call to see them so clearly. It's ironic to me that I have always tried to live by the saying, "It's the little things," but with this, I have missed so many "Little Things" that God was trying so hard to show me. I have missed Him so many times lately, and I don't want to miss Him anymore!!! I'm not going to let the devil hold me back for even one more second of another day because I have wasted sooooooo many the past few months and I know that GOD is so diappointed in me. That breaks my heart to hurt my heavenly father and I'm NOT going to anymore!!! I WILL NOT miss another "little thing" and my new prayer will now be for more "little things!"

Well everyone, I have got to stop crying before I make myself sick, so I am going to copy that special email for you now, and I hope it brings as much to you as it has to me today. Please know that if you are worrying about something just as I have been doing lately, that GOD is here and right in the middle of so many "Little Things," and that all we need to do is now look for them! If you feel comfortable, and need to share a worry you have been carrying, with all the people that love you most, please feel free to leave a prayer request under the comments because we have ALOT of prayer-warriors out there that would love to pray for you, and I ask that you pray for me to continue on this new path I have started today!!! I love you all and I hope you will see HIM alot today! Please enjoy the email...

Resist Discouragement by Rick Warren

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay.” Hebrews 10:36-37 (NIV) *** *** *** ***

If you’re discouraged because of God’s delay in answering your prayers, understand the delay is NOT a denial. Just because the answer or the miracle hasn’t come – yet – that doesn’t mean God isn’t going to answer, or that he’s forgotten you, or that he doesn’t care about you.

It simply means “not yet!”

Spiritual maturity is knowing the difference between “No” and “Not yet,” between a denial and a delay. The Bible tells us, “He who is coming will come and will not delay” (Hebrews 10:37 NIV). The delay may be a test of your patience.

Anybody can be patient once. And, anybody can be patient twice. And, just about anybody can be patient three times. So God tests you patience over and over and over.

Why? To see how patient you are? No, he does it to show you how patient you are. So you’ll know what’s inside of you, and you’ll be able to know your level of commitment.

God tests you so that you can know he is faithful, even if the answers you seek are delayed. If you’re discouraged, turn it around by remembering God teaches you patience during delay. Ask him to transform your discouragement into patience.

You may be going through difficult times right now and feel like dropping off the planet. You’re discouraged because the situation you face seems unmanageable, unreasonable, or unfair. It may seem unbearable and inside you’re basically saying, “God, I can’t take it anymore. I just can’t take it anymore!”

But you can. You can stay with it longer because God is with you. He’ll enable you to press on.

Remember, you are never a failure until you quit.

Don’t quit. Resist discouragement and finish the race God has set before you.

I'm headed to the chapel, and she's going to get married...

Well, Heather's wedding is this Saturday on June 14 so I will be heading to Dothan on Thursday night to get ready for the festivities. We have the bridesmaids' brunch on Friday @ 9:30 am so that was just way to early for me to drive down on Friday considering it takes about 2 hours. So, please be praying for my safe trip and that Heather's wedding will be all she has dreamed of. Matthew will also be driving down on Friday so pray for my wonderful hubby as well. I wanted to go ahead and post this info so that I can enter one more post of more important stature b4 I leave tomorrow :) Have a great Wednesday all!!!

Memoir and HELP NEEDED!!!

So, I'm completing my memoir in this post, but I am also asking for your help...PLEASE be sure to read the part in pink because at this point, I think I am in fear of my life and most importantly, MY SANITY!!!

Jenny tagged me to write my 6-word memoir…..She is just too funny and this was too fun...

This idea came from the book by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser called Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. The book is a compilation that is based on the story that Hemingway once bet ten dollars that he could sum up his entire life in just six words.

His words? For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Here are the rules:
1. Write your own six word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.
4. Tag five more blogs with links.
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

My six words:
Dreams came true with "I Do"

Well, instead of one pic, how about ALL of our wedding pics?!?! Can I get a YOU ROCK?!?

Follow the link, scroll down til you see Matt and Katie, type in the password which is katiewedding, and ENJOY!

http://web.sendtoprint.net/proofbook/galleries.asp?CouponID=kbox@knology.net

Also, if you have a favorite and you think I should purchase it considering I still have NO (aka: None, not one, zero, ziltch, etc.) wedding pictures in my house, then come back here and leave me a comment with the pic numbers you choose. I am having a REALLY TERRIBLE time deciding on pics, my family has been on my back for two years now, I have an appointment NEXT WEEK to finally decide and order the pics, but I am STILL unable to decide and NEED LOTS AND LOTS OF HELP from my blogger friends!!! So a comment for the thoughts in my mind... "My family and husband will be so thankful, and I won't have to stress so much about choosing the wrong pics because I'll have a consensus for the best ones from my friends who want me to have the best pics ever and my OCD won't kick in so bad because they will be helping you choose the pics and you won't ANALYZE EVERY single one anymore!! (whew, that was alot at one time) Hehe, I love this idea!!"

So please, get to looking at pics, comment with your choices of favorite shots, and help me create my fabulous wedding album finally after 2 years!!!

I Tag:
1) Kelli Burbage
2) Lynne Griffies
3) Susan Griffies
4) Kristy Gray
5) Stephanie Sherwood

Have fun ladies and please leave another comment, other than the picture one, so we can go check it out. And, if you were not tagged and want to do it anyway that is great too. Just leave a comment and let us know so we'll check it out!

Have fun everyone and don't forget to pick a plenty of priceless pictures!!!

Heather's Bachelorette Party

Well, as I've said before, I headed down to Panama City Beach (PCB) on Saturday and returned on Sunday for a bachelorette party for Heather. Her wedding is June 14, so this was her last time to have some good wholesome girl-time fun before the lovely "I Do's." Her maid of honor, Courtney, did an awesome job putting this together and it really turned out to be a blast. So, let me take you through my trip from start to finish...

I left Prattville at 11:30 and completed my trip, in front of the condo, @ 4:00 p.m. At this time you ask yourself, why did it take so long for Katie to get there? Well, your answer is PCB has WAY TOO MANY BEACH ROADS!!! I've never seen such chaos-front beach road, middle beach road, back beach road, etc. It's insanity!!! So, needless to say, I got a little lost and had to depend on one of the girls, Abby, to get me there. Finally, once I arrived, got off my sore marshmellow (that's what my students and I call our bottoms), POTTIED (whew, can I get a RELIEF!), and changed into my swimmin' suit, we layed out on the beautiful beach.

Around 5:30ish, we headed back up to the condo to get ready for supper and our activities! After a couple of hours with hairspray, make-up, and we all had our turn at the infamous straightener, we had our final products...

Meet the bridesmaids and their bride...

Abby, Courtney, Bride: Heather, Katie, Kelly, Me

*4 bridesmaids were unable to join our fun this weekend :(

So after taking some pics and decorating Heather in her blinking crown and sash (seen above), we headed to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville where we recieved some of the funniest quotes of the night, the best one being, "Don't do it, you're too young!" We laughed and cut-up as poor Heather was stared @ for the entire evening. Once we were seated, a man on stilts came and created Abby and Katie some lovely balloon hats, and as he stated, "This is a bachelorette party without any entertainment? I'll be your entertainment," he proceeded to do a little dance which was truly hilarious considering he was 12 feet in the air!

Sorry, I didn't get a pic of the dance, but this shows how high he was...

Abby and her parrot hat...

Katie and her hat of a set of lips with a tongue sticking out...

R.I.P. Katie's hat... although a nice hat, it did not make it through the dinner time due to Katie's abilities to make each little section pop without even meaning too.

After the mile high entertainment, we swallowed our meals whole because it was 9:30 and we were STARVING! I think most of us had the infamous "Cheeseburgers in Paradise." They were ok, but they had some serious spices on them, so if you like that kind of thing, you need to try it out the next time you head to Margaritaville. Once the meal was over, we went out for a little while so that Heather could complete her "Bridal Scavenger Hunt." This was definately an interesting part of the night where we were able to meet the young, the VERY old, the, can I say in a nice way, grose, and unusual people of PCB. But, we are all aware that somethings at a bachelorette party are not to be repeated for Heather's sake, so we will just move on from there...

We then went back to the condo where Heather was presented with a dessert that portryed her future, but yet again, something we have to keep a secrect (I'm zipping my lips)!

This is the face of delight we received with her cake...

After a little bit more time, we headed to bed and the rest of the trip slowly came to an end as I slept, woke up, and headed home around 10:30 a.m. At this time, you recap the trip down and think, "So did she make it back without getting lost?" The answer... YES!!! And the funny thing is, Abby and the girls sent me back using back roads and I did better with that than HWY 231 the entire trip down. I guess that's the country girl in me!! Well, we had an awesome trip and I am so glad I was able to be there for Heather. Now, the stress begins where we wait for June 14, the wedding day, try to fit in our dresses, and... wait a minute, we still don't have our dresses do we? YIKES!!!

(pray they will come in soon because chunky buns here is going to have to have alterations I'm sure)

Anyway, let me breathe a sec...ok, panic attack is gone... Thanks for an awesome time Heather and you are truly a great friend and I look forward to your beautiful wedding!!! I love you girl!!!

Myself and Heather

*FYI for those of you who don't know, Heather was also in my wedding so it's really special to also be in her's!

Home Sweet Home

You guessed it! I'm back! Quick trip right? Yeah, tell me about it. Left P'ville Saturday @11:30 and returned to P'ville Sunday @ 2:00. It was a long drive there and back (3.5 to 4 hours ONE way, to be exact) but I really enjoyed my time there. Anyway, I'm working on the post with the pics from my few hours in PC, Florida but as you can imagine, I'm exhausted at this point and need SLEEP! LOTS and LOTS of SLEEP! So, stay tuned for some funny pics! Oh, and did I mention Matt will be posting about how excited he was to have me home?!? hehe I LOVE THAT MAN!!!!!