Category: Life

Merry Christmas 2022 from #thegraytlife

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2022 brought LOTS of change and fun to our home. We were blessed the first half of the year to have Fiene with us – our beautiful exchange student from The Netherlands. Carrie got to go prom dress shopping!

We kicked off 2022 with our family on Tybee Island, Georgia. Such a fun time! Warren began his Senior year of high school. Carrie traveled to Indiana for special time with family and the cousins. And Carrie left Corporate America to try her hand at a new and exciting career path!

Both boys participated in Hanging of the Greens at church. This is Warren’s last year.

The kids had a great time going to Indianapolis for the National FFA Convention – even got to hug on Nonnie. Warren toured colleges. All the Gray kids cleaned up with awards at the Spring awards celebration and we took lots of family pictures!

Carrie and Jill went to a book signing of one of their favorite authors – Mary Kay Andrews – in Southern Pines. And they might be planning more author adventures in 2023! The Dutch ladies came for a visit – it was amazing to have Petra and Diana come to Raleigh. We did all the American things – Bojangles, Target and Starbucks!

Spring Break 2022 was a trip to the Hoosier state and a stay at The Mill House – huge thanks to Adam and Ali. The cousins LOVED the silly time together. Tanner is always the life of the party.

We are ALL so proud of MacKenna – our sweet friend for becoming a National Officer with FFA! Warren’s senior pictures and he was named President of his FFA Chapter – he also earned his North Carolina FFA Degree. Prom was so fun – for all of us. And a family dinner at The Peddler.

As 2022 comes to a close – we reflect on the many blessings we had from God.

Warren loves his job at Auto Bell Car Wash while he ponders his plans post graduation. He shared he is thankful for the opportunity to be a leader within FFA as the President of the East Wake High School FFA Chapter.

Tanner has enjoyed working nearby with a local trucking company. He is proud of the work he does on their grounds and is proud to make his own money. He got his learners permit this year and can’t wait to be a fully licensed driver next summer.

Jason is dong what Jason does – juggling multiple jobs because just one would be way too boring for him. He joined a buddy with a power washing business, is still loving the Pavilions at The Angus Barn, and on occasion turns wrenches to work on a car.

Carrie left – 2 jobs – this year in Corporate America and is tackling a new area with a couple of incredible opportunities.

Wishing you great health and a prosperous 2023.

With Blessings of Love on Christmas – Thankful for the Prince of Peace – Our Heavenly Father,

Jason, Carrie, Warren & Tanner Gray

The Election & When to Cross the Street

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I have written several blog posts in my head the last few weeks.  There has been so much going on.

Tonight I was leaving a meeting at an organization where I sit on the board of directors.  It was a little after 6pm and I was tired and ready to get home.  I’ve been working or at meetings every night this week.

As I walk down the sidewalk and approach the corner I see the red hand that tells me not to walk.  It’s a oneway street and I’m looking to my right waiting for that break in traffic to run across the street.  Then I hear the lady standing next to me with her little boy.  He is about 4 years old, I’m guessing.  She is telling him to hold her hand, there are so many cars and they are going fast.  She is teaching her little boy the correct way to cross a street safely.  She tells him “we have to wait for the man” to come up (and why is is not a woman?  that can be another blog topic).

I stopped.  I thought about the role model I want to be for my own kids and their friends and my friends kids.  I want to do what is right. I reflected back to the late 1980’s and early 1990’s when I was a teenager.  I remember my friends who had parents that drank all the time, who cussed and were mean, I even remember the parents who (gasp this is a Christian blog) smoked pot.

But I also remember the adults I knew growing up that were kind and thoughtful and had good hearts.  I remember the adults who treated me as their own and I remember the adults who wanted to adopt me.

James 2:8 tells us “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.”

But how do I know what is right and what is wrong anymore?  A couple of days ago I came across a post on Facebook on the “Common Sense”  page.  This post talked about the upcoming presidential election and how in the grand scheme of things, its not going to matter who gets to live in a big, white house for the next 4 or even 8 years.  But it will matter how I treat my neighbor.  It will matter what I teach my child and what I teach that little boy standing with his mom next to me on the corner.  We all make choices each and every day.  And the young people in our world are watching us like a hawk.  Can you say with confidence you are proud of ALL of your choices and are comfortable with your kid watching you?  I can’t.  But, I can work on it.

What can you do to make a difference in someone’s day?  Be kind and love you neighbor.  There is enough crazy in the world that we don’t need to add to it with our somewhat skewed political agendas and beliefs.  Vote for whoever you want. You don’t need to tell me.  Because you know who I vote for?  Jesus Christ.  At the end of the day he is all I need.  I am choosing to put my energy and focus on something that truly matters to me and will make a difference in my life.

And you know I waited to cross the street until the little man came on the signal and told me to.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” Colossians 3:23

#thegraytlife

 

Bucket list, The Judge and a Purple Rain

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A couple of weeks ago I encountered a complete stranger.  I guess I have a friendly demeanor as she shared with me she felt like she was experiencing something like a mid-life crisis at age 44.  There was so much on her bucket list that she had not yet done.  Actually she had done none of it.  Zero.

As I half listened to her in that crowded museum, my mind started to think about my own bucket list.  Did I even have one?  Had I ever put pen to paper to write it out? Nope.  Did I say I had a bucket list or think I had one?  Kinda, sorta.  I then realized I would do something fun and amazing and after it was over I would say, “that was a bucket list moment.”  Like the time I had floor seats to a Duke basketball game or the Disney Cruise at Christmas or running across the Golden Gate Bridge (yes, that actually happened.)

I soon realized while I don’t have a written bucket list now (which I am working on) I’ve been blessed by God’s plan for me for a very long time.  I’ve never been one to sit around a wait or hem and haw over a decision.  I like to make things happen.  Often with a bit of impulse.

I taught my adult Sunday school this week and the point to the lesson was simple and profound: God’s plans are always better that our own.  Well, duh!  I totally knew that.  So why is it so hard to relax at times as a human and wait for God’s plan?  Maybe I am (have been) impulsive (my mom will choke, laugh here).  I recall the Winter Break of college where an opportunity came up the day after Christmas to travel to Negril, Jamaica to study for the Spring semester.  I made the decision in a matter of hours to go.  Why not?  I took off to that Caribbean Island in less than 72 hours and stayed for more than six months.  I’m pretty sure that was God’s plan.  He kept me safe and strong and level-headed.  Although he could have been shaking his head, I feel the experience shaped so much of who I am today, nearly 19 years later.  Another time I got a phone called at 6:00pm on a Friday offering me a job across the county.  I remember taking the phone into the bathroom and accepting on the spot.  There was nothing to think about.  I was on the way out the door that night to dinner with my mom and several of our friends.  I told her an hour after I accepted the job I was moving to California in 2 weeks!

Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and earth.”  I’ll admit, I’ve tried my best to see that world my God created.  Maybe that’s why I don’t have an official bucket list?  I’ve been blessed to travel the World, experience things many just dream about.

My Nana, God love her, has always been a “in the Spring” person.  She always says she is going to do something in the next season.  Why wait?  I certainly didn’t get the patience gene.  Life is too short and full of the unexpected.

Today is April 21, 2016 and my favorite artist of all time is playing a concert just down the road from my house.  Yet, here I am on the couch blogging about my bucket list or lack of one.  If I’m a go do-it now kinda person why am I not at Walnut Creek tonight?  I’ve had the good fortune to see Jimmy Buffett live in concert more than 44 times in my lifetime.  I appreciate his story telling and his music.  His shows, in my opinion, have become a large drunken party.  I want to go and listen to the music and sing ever word to “Cowboy in the Jungle” or “Gypsies in the Palace”.  I love his story telling through his music.  I decided he and I have had a long run together and it was time for me to hang up my fins.

Then today we hear the tragic news of the death of Prince.  An icon in not only music, but the American culture.  The first thing I did when I heard the news was text my cousin.  I remember being 9 or 10 calling the radio station in Cleveland to request “Little Red Corvette”.  We waited up late in her room waiting for that song to come over the air.  So maybe today I’m thinking seeing Prince should have been one of the things I might have put on my bucket list.  Long live his sound.  His music will carry us through his loss.

I’m not a judge of other’s, thats for the big guy upstairs, God.  However, I do feel like I should judge myself a little or a lot.  Have I made some seriously stupid decisions over the course of almost 41 years?  Uh, yep!  Do I have any regrets?  Honestly, maybe one about the course a friendship took.  But overall, I wouldn’t change a thing about my life.  God has abundantly overflowed my cup. So as I’m thinking about this bucket list I want to write, I’ve been Asia, Europe, Africa, North and South America and even the Middle East.  I’ve lived (for a period of time where I had an address and received mail) in London, Chicago, Jamaica, San Francisco, Oakland, Indiana and the Carolinas.

I don’t want to wake up one day and ask God where all my time went.  I don’t want to get to a point in life and say, “I should have….”  So I think I really only had 1 big thing on my bucket list that I’ve not done.  Write a novel.  I think I’m going to give it a stab in my ample free time.  I’m starting to write some character development.  We shall see where this journey takes me.  So you’ve been warned.  I’ve pulled together a lot of material for some great characters over the years.

As the lyrics to  Jimmy Buffett’s Cowboy in the Jungle go “his origination destination ‘s just another story that he loves to tell.. roll with the punches, play all of his hunches, made the best of whatever came his way, what he lacked in ambition, he made up with intuition, plowing straight ahead come what may.”  Godspeed, Prince.

Southern Snow

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We don’t deal with snow well in the South.  Actually we don’t deal with it at all.  Snow in the South is different than it is in the North.  Maybe it’s wetter and heavier?  I really don’t know.  What I do know is how this family is making out today.

Day 7 of no school.  They went to school a week ago Monday and then were out for the rest of the week due to weather.  They went to school this Monday and now have been out 3 days due to the weather.  There is no way they are going to school tomorrow.  I’m just hopeful they go Monday!

So let me tell you about the last 16 hours or so.  Watching the 10:00pm and 11:00pm news, we were estimated to get anywhere from 3″ – 10″ inches of snow over night.  Around 1:30am today, I awoke to the power flickering.  Jason’s iPhone lit up, our projection clock turned off as did the night-light in the bathroom.   All to come right back on.  This happened several times over the next 15 minutes or so.  About 1:50am the power went off and I held my breath for it to return.  At 1:58am, I put the call into Duke Energy that we had no power!  So here we are, 12+ hours later on a cold and snowy day with no power.  The kids can hardly deal with no electronics.

We started the morning or daylight hours trying to figure out the coffee situation.  I even went to Target yesterday to stock up on K-Cups for the Keurig.  I was not going to run out.  Now facing the dilemma of no power, my mountain man husband was up for the challenge.  He got out his “camping” coffee pot and filled it with snow!  Yes, snow for the liquid, because we are on a well and with no power that equals no water!

So he puts the mountain coffee on the grill.  The coffee was hot and full of cream and sugar to take away the absolutely horrendous taste.  Thank the good Lord my nearly 9-month pregnant neighbor came to my rescue with a tray of Starbucks!  I will love her and her hubby forever!  2 Hot Chocolates, a Mocha and a White Chocolate Mocha made this Momma smile!

Our Mountain breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs and bacon made on the grill and they were pretty darn good.  We even decided today everything we said as a family we would put the word “mountain” in front of it!  Made it for a fun game.  They said this was probably the closest they could ever get me to camping and I agreed.

My phone was down in the red, only about 5% of the battery left.  I decided I should charge it in the Audi Jason was driving.  I ended up sitting in that car, charging my phone, sipping my hot Starbucks with the heated seats on for nearly an hour!  It was glorious!  I made several phone calls for work, answered emails and was not disturbed one time.  The kids thought it was awesome too, because they were home alone or at least in the house alone.

We had a great lunch of hamburgers on the grill including grilled potatoes.  Jason Gray can cook and the good Lord will always provide.  I even saw a comment on Facebook from someone I don’t know and it said something like this:  This is the time the Lord has given you.  Use it wisely.  Those are great words of advice.  In the grand scheme of things, 24 hours at home with your family should be a blessing.  Enjoy it and make the best of the time together.

We even brought jump box inside to change the phones to avoid sitting in the cars.  My hubs in one of the most resourceful people I know.  I guess I can get through this storm by his side.  I’m also the 2-time Monopoly Empire Champ and now no one wants to play with me!

Stay tuned and I’ll continue to share our Southern Snow shenanigans with you.  I even cancelled our Washington DC spring break trip a couple of days ago in favor of a Disney World trip to escape this awful, cold weather.

Two Pounds of Bacon

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Two pounds of bacon, a loaf of bread, 10 eggs, half a package of sausage, and some cheese is what was consumed by the four humans at my house tonight for dinner.  I point out it was the humans because the three dogs had drool hanging to the floor begging and they got nothing.  How do people with lots of kids do it?  Where does this food go (ok, I know, sparing you all the graphic details)?

We get up from the table and clean the kitchen.  I give the boys each a couple of chores to do.  I continue cleaning in the kitchen by doing the daily mop of the kitchen floor when I notice the boys on the couch, in the family room.  All of 10 minutes has passed since we got up from the dinner table at this point by the way.  One kid has a box of Cheese-Its in his lap and the other had a bag of chocolate donuts, not to mention someone has poured a glass of milk and has a package of Oreo’s on the table.  Are you kidding me??

How do they not explode?  And how is this even fair?  I ate exactly 3 pieces of bacon and 2 slices of bread at dinner tonight.  Meanwhile they ate food fit for an army.  God did tell Noah in Genesis 9:3 “Everything that lives and moves will be food for you.  Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.”  I’m pretty sure that is exactly what my boys were thinking tonight, everything that moves is food for them.

I don’t ever want my kids to be hungry but at some point they will stop eating like this, right?  I know, it probably won’t happen and my grocery bills will just continue to grow with their age.

Think I will write about my crazy, Irish Setter, puppy tomorrow!  She’s been up to no good this week.

Pressures, Demands and Expectations

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Many of you might know I grew up in Indiana; the basketball mecca.  I grew up when high school gyms were at capacity every Friday night of the basketball season.  You had small, rural schools, playing the mighty metropolitan giants.  It was organized sports at it’s finest.  It was the heyday of Indiana high school basketball.  Now, I will tell you, I did pick a side in the controversial move to class basketball.  I was not for it.  But, I don’t live there and hadn’t lived there for awhile, so really didn’t have a dog in the game.  Just the memories.

So as I sit here, writing today, I can’t help but wonder if my view on organized sports would be different if I was raising my kids in Indiana instead of North Carolina during the basketball heyday?  Never will I know.

Growing up, I was shuttled to more AAU basketball tournaments and all-star baseball games than I care to remember to watch my brother.  Although I had height on my side, I was not athletic.  I’m sure I had this fear of breaking a nail or even worse breaking a sweat!  I made it through because I always had a Babysitter’s Club book in tow.  I had to have read that whole series with the sounds of a bouncing ball in the background.

This leads me to today.  The pressures, demands and expectations we put on our kids around sports, is this really the priority God has for us in life?  Our lives are so busy!  I mean out of control busy.  Does anyone ever just sit around and play with their kids anymore?  I know we rarely do.  My boys are growing up so fast.

Today was the baseball try-outs for my 9 year-old.  He’s been hemming and hawing about if he is going to try-out.  He started baseball when he was 4 years old; pre-ball, tee-ball, coaches pitch.  He has been so excited for this year.  This was the year he was going to try-out for kid pitch.   He is a decent baseball player.  He has a lot of upper body strength because he rides motocross and you have to be strong to do that.  So last night he says to me “Mom, life is about making decisions and I’m not going to do baseball tomorrow.”  I won’t lie, my heart sank a little.

Jason and a lot of church guys were going dirt bike and 4 wheeler riding today after church.  Warren chose to play with his Dad.  And you know, I’m going to be ok with that. Sure, he’s going to have kids make comments and make him feel bad about his decision.  But in the end he is figuring out what his priorities are in life.  In the bible Haggi 1:5 & 7 says: This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.”  Maybe my son is being careful in in thoughts?  Or maybe he is just 9 and wanted to ride his dirt bike today.  Either way, I’m proud of him.

Next time you are at a sporting event, be it in the NBA or your kids church league ball, give careful thought to your ways.  Are you yelling at the player or the coach?  Or maybe even the referee or umpire?  Be kind and set a good example for those around you.  My kid might be watching you and the way you behave.  I’ll guarantee when we get in the car, they will call you by name and ask me what your problem was?

Maybe I’ll have something funny to tell you when they get home this afternoon.  And a lid on your drink at lunch is never a bad idea!