Grizzard Family

4th. of july 2011 in Texas

2011-07-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

Heisser Sommer in Texas

2011-07-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

Our ''very own swimmingpool'', salt water - just feels wonderful on your skin.

Our 3rd child - Shiloh - a 9 month old Goldendoodel, a mixture of Golden Retriever and Poodle. He is the sweetest thing on earth and loves hanging out with us.

We are getting ready to move to ''our new'' house where we will be house sitting for the month of July.

Kelly's birthday gift... a ''real'' truck for a real MAN !!

Merry Christmas from the Grizzards in Texas

2010-12-15T22:33:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family here in the US and around the world - may the reason for celebrating Christmas ignite a new flame in us for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ !!
HE is the ONLY one worthy to be praised and with gratitude do we come and give HIM thanks for a year of blessings !
Miriam turned 5 in october and Betty Lou is 16 month. They are both a joy to have around and both love to dance and sing .
We are coming to Mississippi on friday the 17th.

Since we live in Country land .....
Howdie from East Texas !!!

Miriam's new friend ... or all of ours ?

2010-06-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

Watching Clifford with her big sister is something that little Miss Betty Lou likes doing. She is 10 month and the sweetest baby out there. A friend of mine was watching her the other day and she told me that she was an angel. She is just so content and happy and always exploring - just like her big sissy was as a baby.

What should I watch ?! This is our new family edition called Cleo - after we lost Figaro our last cat in February. She is a sweetheart and so loved.

A day at the Zoo in Tyler

2010-05-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

With our friend Alicia at our favorite Zoo in Tyler, Betty Lou really likse her hat...!

We also made it to the feeding times for the Aligators - for the first time, they ate a lot of whole chicken and fish.

Miriam was watching the youth orchestra that performed a short concert about ''Barber the elefant'' that travels around the world.

It is already getting warm and humid and our little girls doing so well in the heat. We can only stay outside for a while . That is why we are excited about the MS swimming pool being open again.

I am still recovering from my TMJ surgery I had on Wednesday. Everything went well and where I used to have a disc between my jaw bone I have now a muscle. It is called a muscle flap and works just as well as a disc. I am still very sore and swollen and look like Kelly gave me ''blue'' eye, but every day is getiing better.

The girls are growing up

2010-04-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

Betty Lou will be 9 month in 2 days and Miriam is a super great sister with her 4 years and starts telling people that she is 6 and a half. We have a new neighbor who just turned 7, go figure.

Miriam is the proud owner of a new Jeep - she is a ''crazy'' driver, just like her Mommy,... must be the german blood in her .

Thanksgiving in Colorado !

2009-12-04T19:50:00.000-08:00

We spent thanksgiving this year in Colorado Springs with some wonderful friends of ours - Orla - the great Dane from Denmark and his lovely wife May-Britt who is from Sweden. We met Orla when he came to visit the AFM while we were in Liberia last year.

Miriam feeding a giraffe in the Cheyenne mountain Zoo, the only mountain Zoo in the US which happened to be right next to our friends house. What an exciting Zoo and cold ...

Taking the Cog wheel train up to Pikes Peak mountain 14 110 Feet high...ohoho, was it cold up there !

Having deer running around wild in the back yard was quite an experience.

Garden of the Gods - very beautiful mountain formation where Kelly and Miriam try to ''safe''a rock from falling.

First snow for Miriam and she had a blast playing with Papa in it. We had to bundle up the girls.

What has been going on in Texas ?

2009-09-13T15:20:00.000-07:00

Miriam had her two friends Joy and Lucy over and where is Betty Lou sitting ? Oh, she fit in Miriam's dolly stroller....

Mmmmh, Zuckerwatte, for my german friends, cotton candy is what they call it over here.

Last weekend was Miriam's first trip to the circus here in Tyler. She got to ride on a pony twice and see the Elefants , acrobats and clowns. She enjoyed herself so much and after each act she would ask me'' Mama, is it over yet ?'' She did'nt want it to end.

This is the car that the LORD has blessed us with, a 2001 Pontiac Montana and it has a lot of room which was especially handy coming back from Mississippi when we were loaded with our ''stuff''.

Betty Lou is growing and is a joy to everyone. She smiles and talks her baby talk,it is the cutest thing ever and I could listen to it all day long.

Just look at that smile ?

Miriam is such a good big sister and still loves holding her little sis under Mom's supervision.

After a long hot season Miriam enjoys a mud bath after the rain... soo much fun that she did not have the time to put her swimsuit or something more decent on ...!

Grizzardos new edition !

2009-08-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Big sister takes good care of her little ONE !!

With Susu and Papa in Ocean Springs were we stayed for 6 weeks and had a good time. Miriam had such a good time with her Susu and Papa really liked holding little Betty Lou - who was born on his birthday.

Daddy is a big helper and has a little one to help him now too - he is just the best Papa ever and his little girls like him so much!This is our Betty Lou - she was born July 20th. and is a healthy and happy baby - so are Mommy and Big sister !

This is our new pet- just kidding! It is a neighbors dog who started coming to visit us . Miriam brings him water and walks around with him as if it would be her dog.

2009-06-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

Kelly and Miriam taking of for church - using our new ''vehicle'' that comes in very handy...!
We are going to a church next door of us called CCF - Christian Community Fellowship and we have really enjoyed it. God is so evident there and they are very mission oriented which we find very refreshing.
They just sent a team of Basketball players out to Peru and we got to see them on our Wednesday night prayer meetings via satellite.

Miriam's favorite hangout place for the last 4 weeks - she already got a nice tan ...

Our new home in Texas - a great 2 bedroom appartment on the Mercy Ships base, with lots of room to run around for a 3 year old and our very ''own'' swimmingpool that we are using almost everyday since the temperatures are at 103 F.

We didn't see them in Africa but here in Texas when we visited the Tyler Zoo with our friends.

They are really beautiful and impressive animals - in the East Africa section. How ironic that we were on the other side... in West Africa !!

Back in good old Texas !!

2009-05-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

Miriam's new friends in Texas Joy and Lucy Holden. We had a great sunday afternoon together and this is Miriam's new swingset all for herself. After she had to share 2 swings with about 25 other kids on the ship - it is quite the treat for her and she sometimes wants to use all 3 at one time.

The weather has been so fantastic and pleasent for Texas' conditions and I just thank the Lord for that - now that I sweat for two!

Traveling in stile ...! Miriam was so happy to use her new Dora suitcase with rolls.

Here we are on our way back from Benin to Texas with sleep over in Cincinati. After our plane was delayed from Paris which turned out to be a big blessing because we would not have been able to fly into Dallas anyway due to a severe thunder storm.

Is'nt it great to have a GOD that is always in control ? We start to appreciate that fact more and more !!

Last Pics from Benin :-)

2009-04-17T01:47:00.000-07:00

We went on a nice little boat ride the last weekend to a place called ''Bab's Dock'' ! It was so beautiful and Miriam learned how to swim under the water without holding her nose and without her floaties - of course she could stand in the water :-).

We were so proud of her and she held her breath for quite a long time - for a 3 year old.

Here she is in our little kiddi pool on Deck 8 on the Africa Mercy. She likes to play with her friends there !

I wanted to give you some more pics, but for some reason my computer does'nt let me download them. So I'll have to try another day again.

Greetings to all of you that are reading or viewing our blog - God bless !!

2009-04-03T02:10:00.000-07:00

Sorry friends, I have not been very good with our blog lately. Partly because of health reasons and I guess looking after a toddler seems to keep me busier than I thought :-) !!!
Here are some new pics - enjoy !

Kelly is hosting the german ambassador here on board the AFM. It was a very good visit, too bad I wasn't here, hanging out in New York. But he is coming back next week, so I get to ''hang out'' with him too. It is always fun to have ambassadors here - they are always so amazed of what we do and who we are .

These are some of our beautiful VVF ladies during the dress ceremony. Aren't they just stunning ?! We love to see them change after they receive the surgery and will have such a different outlook on life.

Our Dental clinic is of the ship about a 30 min. drive away in a beautiful facility that was built by missionaries.It has never been used by the Beninian government because of lack of staff and equipment. It comes in very handy for us now - don't you like te little boys sunglasses ?

This is one of our firedrills when we have to master outside on the dock in an event of a fire - part of living on a ship. It can be fun but sometimes it gets quite hot outside !!

New York - the big apple !

2009-03-10T07:07:00.000-07:00

So this is New York - the big apple;
impressive, vibrant, big, cold and a bit rainy, lots of foreigners like our waiter in the little italian cafe who was from Equador. It was my first time to NY and I was impressed!
on our way home we saw the ''naked cowboy'' - that's why I look so ...you can name it. I guess nothing is impossible in America !

Even though it was quite cold in the beginning, I enjoyed it after the heat in Benin.

St.Patrick's cathedral - a very beautiful church. And the look at these buildings ? Can they be any taller ?!

From Newjersey

2009-03-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Newjersey - where there was still some snow when I got here on thursday. What a nice change from the heat and humidity in Benin.
I had to come back to the states because of my green card. I had to physically enter the country in order to not loose it. Thanks to God I had a very friendly man at the immigration and everything got taken care off.
I am staying with a friend from the ship - great Ali and her family and will be back in Benin next sunday. I could not handle staying away from my wonderful hubby and lovely little girl any longer.
But I'll still have to see the big city - tomorrow we are going, New York get ready here comes the ship girls...!!

Small group in Grizzard's cabin 6417 !!!

2009-02-22T13:45:00.000-08:00

What do you do with a bunch of wonderful young and hungry people on board ? You start a small group and become part of their lifes.
That's what Kelly and I did last year in Liberia and until today, every tuesday in our cabin we are having a good time with them.
They are from Norway, Korea, South Africa, Sweden, US, Germany and Austria.
They are such good and commited ''kids'' and we just love getting to know them better.
Kelly and my heart has always been with youth ministry.
We just might need a bigger cabin to host them all ....

God's promises remain !!

2009-02-09T05:46:00.000-08:00

The last picture of Tenerife and the first one with our new camera - after our other one was stolen. What a great promise that God gave us with the rainbow and it gave us new hope and excitement about moving on and starting our new field service in Benin.

We arrived safely after 9 days on the sea in Cotonou and we are still anchoring out very near the harbour. Some technical problems with the engines have to be fixed before we can dock.

God is so good and we thank HIM for a calm and safe sail and are looking forward to see how we can help change Benin and advance God's kingdom !! May HIS name be glorified and lifted high.

2009-01-29T01:18:00.000-08:00

hello friends,

it has been sooo long since I last updated our blog and I am sorry for that. I have not been feeling well and than we had family in from Germany visiting us here in Tenerife. And after a wonderful time with them we had a bittersweet ending of our time ''of the ship''. We got robbed and all our cah money, electronics like our laptop, video camera, ext.hard drive, etc. got stolen. We are grateful that we are okay and have slept through all the thiefs activities - must have been a heavenly sleep, God watching over us.

Now as we are two days away from sailing to Benin, we were able to at least get us another camera so we can take pics in Benin. The photo I posted is about the tours we had on the ship. They went well and a lot of interest from the public. We ourselves weren't part of it, because we were still on vacation, but the PR team did a great job.

We had an ultrasound yesterday and the baby looks healthy and well and was trinking a lot of ambiotic fluid which caused ''it'' some hickups later. It was so funny watching it opening its mouth and trinking :-) !! It is about 10cm long and very active and we are excited about the new addition, due date is some time around end of July - beginning of August.

Sorry that I can't give you any other photos, because all ours were on the laptop and hard drive and they are gone. So we have to start all over again.

God bless ya'll and thank you for your encouraging e-mails and support we got from you since our robbery. This too shall pass !!

Preparation for the sail

2008-12-18T01:20:00.000-08:00

Before we had out to sea we have to do a few drills - this is one of them. Don't we look good in our lifewests ? Now Miriam is used to them, in the beginning she wasn't so happy about it.

Miriam with her preschool group getting ready for the sail. Her teacher put a lot of effort into preparing the little ones and we are so appreciative of that. Miriam is the second from the left :-) with the cutest smile !!

Who enjoys rainy season the most ?

2008-11-20T02:19:00.000-08:00

We were playing on Deck 8, when out of nowhere it started pouring. Next thing we know, all the kids are jumping and sliding in the water. It was so much fun to watch them and very tempting to just join them .
Even though it is the end of rainy season we still experience some downpours every so often. We are grateful for Deck 8 and the ''play area'' that it is turning into for our little ones.
We only have a couple more weeks here

in Liberia before we are leaving for Tenerife.

Thank you all at home for supporting us in
any way shape perform.
We appreciate you all so much and send you our
love from West Africa.

Eye clinic visit

2008-11-10T02:13:00.000-08:00

The other day I took a vision trip to one of our eye clinics and I saw these posters hanging up in the clinic. So if you are pregnant in Africa - you go and visit the ''big belly clinic'' ! Is that not something we ''Wester'ners'' have to smile about ?

And since there is also a bit of domestic violence going on they have to have signs like these - telling the man to be a loving and caring partner.

When I spoke with the eye coordinator she told me, that they see so many eye injuries that are caused by hitting and domestic abuse. It just made me sad and you can just hope and pray that posters like these speak to somebody.

What has happened with us on the AFM ?

2008-11-02T12:51:00.000-08:00

In Miriam's preschool her teacher talked about friends and so we, being her friends, were invited by her to her friends party with popcorn and other sweet treats. It was a nice little break for Kelly and myself at 9:45 am !
Miriam wears her first african shirt and not to miss her green ''special helper sticker'' !!

Couple of weeks ago we had a tour of 75 school kids here on board and it was really fun. Even though it was quite stressful - the outcome was awesome and worth it.

The kids enjoyed the toys of our crew and had a fantastic time .

This is our media liason Tyler and she is such a big help and blessing - with her sweet personality and easiness to conect with people. Those east Texan's are just precious jewels !!!

Miriam is 3 !!

2008-10-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

And a special Birthday guest was our friend Nick Vujicic from Australia. The man with no arms and legs that changed our lives forever. What an amazing man of God and an inspiration to us all !!!

.... and of course there was the cake and the gifts

This is how a 3 year old looks on the Africa Mercy - sitting in the Dining Room and waiting for her lunch...!! Since we can't have candle's on the ship, the artificial ones on the hat will have to do, she also got to blow them out - thanx to Daddy's creativity !!

With her friends from Liberia, Holland, Canada,

South Africa, Germany and the US at the afternoon party.

This is Miriam with her new gift from Susu and Papa who - Curious George - ... all the way from Mississippi even with Roller skates. She was sooo happy and Thank you to Susu and Papa Who !!!

She is a really proud 3 year old and told everyone on the ship that it was her birthday.

So the entire crew of the Africa Mercy knows now that Miriam Sue Grizzard is a proud 3 year old that goes to Miss Elizabeth's preschool.

''Mercy'' on the Africa Mercy

2008-09-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

There is a new baby that was born on our hospital ward 3 days ago and her name is Mercy. Or that is what the day workers decided to call her. She is absolutly beautiful with big eyes and a lot of black curly hair. Her mother went into early labor and she is a mom of a little 6 year old patient that is here for treatment about his burns.
God is good and gave favour to the delivery and mom and baby are well and it is quite exciting to have a little newborn onboard.
Miriam already wanted to see her and she was very happy to touch her little cheeks and smile at her.

This is Laura, one of our ward supervisors holding Mercy just a couple hours after delivery. Everything went well and we are so grateful for God's protection and guidance.

Thank you for your prayers and support for us. We appreciate all of you so very much.

The Grizzard family in Liberia

Beautiful Miriam !!!

2008-09-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

We just want to ''share'' our beautiful daughter Miriam Sue with you. And we thank the LORD for such a wonderful and happy girl that sings, jumps, laughs, giggles and makes everybody around her happy. She has adjusted to Ships life so well and is enjoying preschool.

Her new word is : actually , and it sounds really funny when she says it !!

2008-09-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

.... do you think we've been too long on the ship now ? I get the impression that there is something wrong with my family !!

dress ceremony

2008-09-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a wonderful day for my patient ''Mama Brown ''. She is the 2nd. from the left - back row. She could go home after being in the hospital for weeks and having had her 3rd. VVF surgery. She is almost dry and for her that is a miracle. We do VVF surgeries onboard the AFM and it is a surgery for woman that have developed a fistula due to being in labor for too long - normally 3-4 days. It is unfortunatly very common here in West Africa.

We are so grateful that we can help some of those ladies - they are so sweet and have gone through so much trouble, often still from the time of the civil war that Liberia had for 14 years. It ended in 2003.

welcome to our webpage

2008-09-03T03:52:00.000-07:00

hello everyone - we got into the 21st. century technology and you can look us up and see what we are doing down here in Africa