Well it's August and many things are changing in our lives. We are still adjusting to Cassie's family living so far away in Jacksonville Florida! This has and I think will continue to be a huge change and challenge for us as a family! I still find myself thinking I need to see if they want to come for dinner tonight or what should I fix for lunch on Sunday they will enjoy...but God's grace has been amazing during this time and I wish we could put into adequate words just how He gets us thru the hard days...it truly is a gift from Him. It is exciting to have and experience Him working in our lives as well as seeing Him work in their lives also. Although, I am very thankful that He is also blessing us with little visits here and there that make the first year adjustments better! They will be home in September for a VERY few days but we will be grateful for the time they are here and cherish every second we get...I think Scott and I will go again sometime this fall and they will be home for Christmas and then I hope to be there for Landon's 2nd birthday in March so we are blessed b/c many families can't see each other this much!
Michael and Katie will begin MSSU the 24th of this month and things will be very different. They have had an amazing summer. They spent 3 weeks in Germany with our Amy and her family. They were blessed to see so much of her country while they were there. It was an awesome trip and one they will remember for a lifetime! We all miss Amy so much and our lives have been forever changed because she is a part of our lives now! They then went to Florida for a week to see Cassie, Jesse and the boys and had a blast there also! They got to see the ocean there as well and lots of play time with the boys...Ayden entertained them with a concert of veggie tales songs and they got to experience Landon's "talking"...and of coarse see baby Camden for the first time! After returning home for about 3 days they hit the road again to lead worship at a children's camp in Neosho. They had a wonderful time there as well and have already been asked to come back next year.
We are hosting an exchange student from Brazil this year. A boy named Gastao and although I can spell it I still can not say it correctly! He is a fine young man and we are enjoying him so far. He is very quiet but is beginning to tease and relax. We have his high school schedule now and look forward to this year. We hope he has a wonderful experience in America and in our home!
There have been many difficult things our family has walked thru this summer. Many people think it is the seperations we have had...something very, very new to the Griffith home...and although that has made our summer challenging there are many things that have pulled at us this summer...things I can't share openingly here but I do want to testify that although this has been one of the most difficult and heart wrenching summers we have walked thru, we have seen God move in a way that we've never seen before...we have seen more answered prayers in a very small amount of time and we are truly a grateful people that God loves us, has called us, equipped us, forgiven us and never ever leaves us! If you don't know Him, you need to! Read Jeremiah 29:11-14...