Lucky Buck Jewelry

Dear friends and family,
Excited to be setting up tomorrow in Boaz at the Villages of Elizabeth Street with Lucky Buck Jewelry.  Bubba will be taking all his new earrings.  It is quite the collection.  You will love the new look.
Life is great at the camper and all is well.  Babysitter has all three today so pray for her please.  Whew!  Atlee has a crush on the neighbor kid and Ian has so many friends, it is a swinging door.  Fun times to be had for sure.  Brody has had a great summer so far and loves it at the camper.  Wish we had a "makeover" from the TV show so that is was perfect for him.  I can just see a swing and lofts everywhere for him to sit and get away.  I wish I was in construction. 
Loving life, can't wait to see friends in TN at our 30th reunion in a few weeks. 
Blessings,
Wendy

Fine!.............

Dear friends and family,
Fine.......That was all it took to get a loved one to call me back.  Time passes with some as there was no yesterday and all is picked back up as though it was never lost and others, well.... time interupts and changes things.  Sometimes when you don't hear from someone it is for a reason and it may be when they need you the most.  Call your loved ones, do whatever it takes to make a difference and show them you care. 

Tonight we have Blessings in a Backpack and what a difference that makes in the lives of children.  We send home over 7 items for the weekend for them to eat and enjoy which will get them to school on Monday where they have an opportunity to eat breakfast.  Hard to believe that some children don't eat any or not much from Friday to Monday.  We are so blessed that we may not have the choices we want but there is always enough.  Please pray for the over 950 children that will recieve a blessing this weekend and every weekend until school is out.  We still need about 400 sponsors that are willing to donate $80 a year for the program. 

Tomorrow night Atlee and I will go on a journey together at the Secret Keeper Girls Live event in Huntsville.  Way cool!  I can't wait for her to like me better.....If you get a chance to find an adventure for your children, please do.  They only have one today.  We don't get a second chance at today but you can make a better tomorrow.

Ian is doing great and still has a girlfriend.  Ariel is her name and he has said that she "love likes" him.  He has already asked her to the prom.  WOW!  What can I expect next?  We are teaching our children to give instead of share and short of his LEGOS, he has given her his everything. 

Brody, well that another story......this morning he had a fit getting on the bus.  We stopped and took a minute to pray.  Boy did that make a difference.  He stops crying and listens to the prayer. So sweet.  I try not to let yucky mornings shape my day and pray them away for Brody.  We ask that you include us all in  your daily prayers. 

God is good ALL the time, if you let him.  Don't let go of his hand in your life or the hold he has on your heart to be self seeking.  We do a better job with him at our side. 

Blessings to you this week,
Wendy

IEP

Dear friends and family,
We had a successful weekend this Easter. We had lots of "firsts". On Saturday night we went to cowboy church's friends and family, the kids rode a horse and we had an awesome dinner cooked over an open fire. On Sunday morning we went back for sunrise service and breakfast. Scrumptious it was and then onto Mountain Top flea market. It was so nice and we loved being with so many Hispanic families. Our children just beamed with pride and loved the event. They saw baby ducks, chicks, rabbits as well as got to try some foods that were traditional.
We found fishing tackle at a great price and found some movies for the children. We had caricatures for the kids done by an amazing artist. We were elated at the results and price. The artist had tears in his eyes after he drew Brody. Sweet.........
On our way home we went to our camper and fished only to have better luck the next day with crickets. Atlee and Ian both baited and caught their first fish. Woo Hoo! It was 2 inches long but it was a fish. They had such a great time and we did too. On Sunday afternoon we went canoeing and Ian was amazing. He did such a good job and Atlee tried her hand at it too. Brody wanted OUT of the boat. He watched from the dock and we were pleased that he respected the water/dock by crawling on his knees with a life jacket on. Precious.....
We were elated to learn that we were awarded a scholarship to Miami, Florida this summer to go to the International Fragile X Conference. We won the tuition and now all we have to pay is our room and food and "getting there". It will be amazing, the last one was two years ago and we were just establishing our roots in Alabama and could not go.
Please keep us in your prayers. We had Brody's IEP this morning and it went well. We are ever moving forward with his progress and delighted with his results. He is using the restroom almost every morning now.
Bubba and Lucky Buck Jewelry has been invited to an art gallery in South Carolina and we are anticipating great results.
Blessings in a Backpack is serving over 700 children now in our Guntersville program. We are having over 60 volunteers come every week to help. Please meet us on Thursday nights at 5:45 at Guntersville Church of Christ if you can help.
Have a great weekend,
Wendy

Wow, it's December already!

Dear friends and family,
I am so sorry to have skipped November. Whew, the time flies. We are well on our way to opening Curls & Pearls in January. Tomorrow is painting day. We are making several ideas come to life and I hope you like them as well as we do. Bubba just finished his shows for the season and he has a home show next week. His jewelry goes to a new store tomorrow and we are excited about that. That will make Lucky Buck Jewelry available in three places; Baker's on Main, Brindley Family Pharmacy and Darlene's Salon and Day Spa (until December 22nd). My last day there is the 22nd and then we will open Curls and Pearls on January 3rd.
Pray for us as we make these life changing decisions and go on another adventure.
Love,
Wendy

Sweet Summer Time...

Dear friends and family,

Well Brody has learned how to surf You Tube and loves it. It is amazing that he knows what to do on the Internet. We got him started with Toy Story and then he just went from there. It was so cool to watch him. He has had a great summer and is such a happy kid! We are pleased with our efforts this summer to keep him engaged in learning. We start back on August 15th and go from there. With Bubba at home full time making http://www.luckybuckjewelry.com/ we will have some time together when the children get back in school. FUN! FUN!.........

Sweet Brody....

One of my favorites...

Reach for the stars...

Me as the model....

Like the butterfly? or the watermelon?

Dear friends and family,

It doesn't take much to make me happy. Today Brody got down the chips, handed them to me and then walked me over to the fridge for the salsa. It was so cool that he "paired" them together. We have always tried to get him to match items together, should have known some of the firsts would be food.

Bubba is working hard on his Lucky Buck Jewelry for the Albertville Main Street Festival coming up on August 6th. He has some beautiful things and I know you will love them! My favorite so far is going to be the one with African trade beads. We have a lot of turquoise to choose from this collection also. Be first to be one of the first ones there to get your favorites before they are gone.

My boss announced last Wednesday that she is ready to sell her salon and so now we start another journey. God has been with us the whole way so we will continue to count on his blessings. I know that there will be a perfect spot for me to call home and hopefully it will find me. I sell Lucky Buck Jewelry where I work as well and I will need a space for my cabinet. Can I ask for your prayers please?

I am including some new pictures of his work that make up Lucky Buck Jewelry.

Blessings,

Wendy

Lucky Buck Jewelry

I can't get Bubba's jewelry to load on his Lucky Buck website so I will put the new pieces on here for you to see. Enjoy.....

Follow your heart.....

Dear friends,


I have realized that this Griffin journey has been about me as well as the children. When we were in Tennessee, I worked 60+ hours a week and Bubba stayed with the children most of the time. I was his helper and he did most of the work.


Moving to Alabama and him working night shift for the last six months has been life changing. I began to feel my worth again "behind the chair"; I measured my success by how good my career was going and my being busy at the salon. Boy does God get your attention.....I realized quickly that what Bubba did for our family was above and beyond. Being both mother and father for the last six months as well as cook, housekeeper, teacher, caregiver, laundry maid and DIAPER changer has made me appreciate the children and my sweet husband even more.


I had much rather be remembered for being a best friend and wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend to others than a great hairdresser. I think my ministry is "behind the chair" but not my worth. We begin another journey July 1st as we kick off Lucky Buck Jewelry again with our Bezalel collection and I would ask for your prayers. We started our last journey June 1st last year and were hugely successful until we let fear get in the way of God's will for our lives. Here we go again.....

Lilly and Sissy.....

Dear friends and family,
Today was truly a miracle for us to see Brody interacting with another child. Her name is Lilly and she is the niece of our new babysitter Sissy. When we got home from the Mountain Valley Arts Council honoring Bubba and Lucky Buck Jewelry, we got to see Lilly and Brody chasing each other around the house and giggling. She was doing, "Where's Brody? peek a boo!" It was the sweetest thing EVER! We had no idea that he would make such good eye contact and have social skills. I found out that she rides her grandmother's bus every afternoon and plays with Brody everyday on the bus. I was so proud of their friendship and the sweet little Lilly's compassion for Brody. It was the best ending to the perfect day. Thank you Lord for blessing us with Ian, Atlee and Brody and for allowing us to marvel in your miracles no matter how small.
Wendy

The Griffin Adventures in Guntersville, Alabama

Dear friends,
What a great summer we have had! Life is an adventure to be lived everyday. This is bound to be the richest we have ever been as a family. When we are at a financial low from starting over and building my business at Darlene's Salon and Day Spa, we are at an ALL TIME HIGH. Bubba is making Lucky Buck Jewelry for the September event in Scottsboro called First Monday. He and Nanny are a tag team when it comes to supplies. If we don't have it, she does and if she doesn't have it, we do!
We have been asked by school and the bus to bring extra snacks for Brody. We have been creative at home and this week the Spaghetti Oh's are half price at Piggly Wiggly. Woo Hoo!
The Church at Lake Guntersville has been more than welcoming to us and now Brody has his own room. We are to bring snacks, drinks and supplies to stock it instead of bring a bag every week. What a blessing...
We will be in Tennessee for the Goats, Music and More Festival the second weekend in October. It should prove to be a wonderful event and we are excited to see our friends.
Our new home is awesome and we are enjoying living across the street from the water. We have a bedroom for everyone and Millo is adjusting there. He has had the hardest time with the steps because they don't have carpet. His friends just moved in to Albertville and their names are Shorty and Daisy. They are my mom's dogs that moved here from Tennessee.
Please keep us in your prayers and I will write soon.