"Love is unselfishly choosing for another's highest good." – C.S. Lewis
Opening day of dove season was September 1st. This year it fell on a Saturday and Chris had his hands full with 3 kiddos who wanted to go. Well, Parker wanted to go but we told him not until he’s at least 4! It was a HOT long day. I had to go to the field and pick up Theodore around 3:30, he just couldn’t make it any longer.
After church and lunch we headed to one of the most beautiful places, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park!
On the way home we stopped for ice cream. Chris said, “this is the best Father’s Day I’ve had in a long time.”
For Father’s Day this year one of the gifts we gave to Chris was a little book titled “An interview with your Grubb Worms…”
I asked each of the kids 3 questions and recorded their answers. I also added exactly how old they are and a picture.
Here are their answers to the question, “What would you buy your daddy if you had a million dollars?”
Jonah (8 months) : “da-da-da-da”
Parker (2 years, 11 months) : “A box of Mater and a box of Lightning McQueen.”
Theodore (4 years, 10 months) : “A boat and a truck and a trailer.”
Katie (6 years, 8 months) : “The grill we saw at Home Depot.”
Foster (8 years, 4 months) : “Parts for the aquarium, fishing and hunting stuff, then I would give him a bunch of the money.”
And I didn’t record my age, answer or picture but if I had a million dollars I would buy my husband a new truck, because he drove his our whole marriage while I am driving an almost new van. I would tell him to pick out whatever boat he would want and all new hunting and fishing gear. I could go on and on…he deserves so much. What I can give him, though, is my respect and love and faithfulness.
I bet he thinks that is worth more than a million dollars.
My husband constantly amazes me at his ability to take the time to spend special time with each of the kids.
The other day he took Foster, Katie and Theodore fishing. He’s been practicing ball with the 3 older ones in the backyard several nights a week. Last night he took Katie’s training wheels off of her bike for her and helped her start learning to ride without them. Then the two of them made brownies.
My husband isn’t perfect, neither am I, but he is something that many, many fathers are not.
He is present.
This was at Foster’s 3rd birthday party. Chris had been deployed to Iraq for about a month. The Family Readiness Group at the airbase made us a “flat daddy” to have for the 6 months he was gone. I know some people thought we were crazy carrying this huge thing around, but it was really great for Foster and Katie. We would prop him up in the living room and I would catch Foster talking to flat daddy while he played with his cars or built Lego towers.
The best thing about tomorrow, Valentine’s Day 2012, is that our whole family will be together to celebrate Foster’s birthday.
When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner he said he wanted “stringy noodles” (angel hair pasta with parmesan cheese), popcorn chicken and French bread for the “siding”. Chris and I had to explain the difference between a “side dish” and “siding”. 
May has been beautiful in East Tennessee! I love the warmer weather and we’ve celebrated the end of the school year with lots of activities. Foster had his final Cub Scout pack meeting and received more beads and his Tiger Cub badge. He is disappointed that they will take a break for the summer. He’s fallen in love with Scouts already. He knows one boy who may not participate next year and he said “how can he quit? Is that allowed? I am going to go all the way and be an Eagle Scout!” This year was hard on his daddy because he wasn’t able to participate in the meetings and activities with Foster. The pack meetings were on Chris’s school nights and the den meetings while he was working. Chris will be more available for Scouts from now on! And everything else, too, because he has officially graduated!
Foster and Katie went with us and sat through a VERY long ceremony at UT. We felt like it was important for them to see this milestone in their daddy’s life. He will have another graduation banquet for the 5 year electrician program he has just finished! It feels like it took forever and just a few minutes all at the same time. I remember the time we were discussing and praying, when Foster was 2 yrs. old and Katie just a newborn, whether he should change jobs and make this 5 year commitment. In 5 years, we have moved 3 times and added 2 more children, Chris deployed to Iraq in 2007, lost his mom in 2009 and had a 28 day stay in the hospital in 2010. God has provided every need we have had and has been so faithful to keep Chris safe in a very dangerous trade. One regret I have is that Chris’s mom didn’t get to see him graduate. His dad and sister were there and were very proud of him as well.
This past week Katie had her end-of-the-year ceremony with American Heritage Girls. She moved to the next level and we are so excited to get busy working on her badges!
These were part of the girls that advanced to the next level. I am thankful for AHG and it’s focus on God, family and service.
And last night we celebrated Chris’s birthday with a cookout here at home. The kids enjoyed his sparkly trick candles that he had trouble blowing out! Someone made the comment that this time last year he would have had a hard time getting the candles blown out at all. And I was reminded of just a short year ago when I didn’t know if this wonderful man would make it through pneomonia and an emergency chest tube. I am so thankful that God healed him completely!
So we are moving on, looking forward to the adventures of summer and the next season of life that God is bringing us into, knowing that whether it is successful or devastating, boring or exciting He has every second planned for us!
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11
Chris and Foster have spent a lot of time together the past couple of weeks. Foster has gone dove hunting a couple of times with him. When Chris was working on his truck for over a week Foster was out there by his side trying to “help”. I am glad they have a good relationship right now and want to encourage and support that anyway I can. One way that is important is to have daddy involved in the daily discipline even when he’s not right there. And I don’t mean the “wait until your father gets home” scare tactic way. Yesterday, Foster made a bad choice. And instead of giving him his consequence I told him I needed to talk to his daddy and then we would decide and get back to him. When Chris arrived home, I told Foster to tell him what had happened and they went to a room alone to “discuss” it. Chris and I did settle on a consequence. But I think even more important was the conversation he was forced to have with his father. Chris said when Foster first came to tell him he started by saying “this isn’t an easy thing for kids to have to tell”. And with age and worse offenses it won’t get any easier but when you think of a parent-child relationship you are not just training them for their relationship with you. We are training them to know how to be in a relationship with God. It’s never easy to go to God, your heavenly father, and say “hey I messed up really bad today” but it’s important. How can we ask for forgiveness if we don’t admit what we did wrong first?
As I am ending an old year and about to start a new, one thing I decided is my blog entries will be different. I am not really sure how right now but I know I love to change things so for now this is one thing that will take some changes. This entry for example is not about the kids at all but about my wonderful, amazing husband. In the picture, you can see Chris is wearing a shirt that says “Bruce Pearl is my homeboy” which he won in a dirty Santa game a couple of weeks ago. That shirt is one glimpse of Chris, he has an amazing sense of humor, he really tries to find the humor and joy in life and I know that cultivating that part of himself has not been easy at times. As we grow up, we are heavily influenced and bogged down by this world and the material and earthly concerns that come with adulthood, but Chris has tried to hold onto the joy that comes only from a relationship with Jesus. In fact, in Sunday school this morning he was teaching about new beginnings and the new year and one thing that really stuck out was although as followers of Christ we may have trouble and heartache ultimately we need to show others that we’ve “got this thing whooped” – and then we have to really live that way. I always count my blessings at the end of an old year and I try to write a list of all the things that will probably happen this year. I don’t want to be so tied up or busy that I miss out on the important things. When thinking of my husband and some of the attacks he has been under recently, I can’t understand why other people can’t see what I see in him. He is first of all a BELIEVER, and I mean he won’t apologize to anybody for who Jesus is and what He has done for him, even at work on a construction site. He lives his life in a way that our kids can say “My daddy is a good person who loves God” He works hard to provide for us financially. 40 or more hours plus school one night a week and then National Guard duty one weekend a month. And he doesn’t have a desk job, it’s an out-in-the-freezing-cold and rain kind of job. He sacrifices his own comforts for us. He wrestles and reads to the kids. He cooks for us and pays the bills. He encourages me when I am having stay-at-home mom blues. He’s eternally patient when I rearrange the furniture for the fifteenth time. Or when he is having to dig his clean work clothes out of a pile of unfolded clean laundry. He makes us laugh and he defends us at all costs. He has served in Iraq and many other countries. He is honest and forthright and punctual and giving. I don’t know how ANYONE could insult, criticize or belittle my husband but unfortunately we live in a fallen world. We live where people would rather hold you to their standards and judge you, rather than trust you to make your own decisions with God’s guidance. I am a little fired up about this right now as you can probably tell! But it felt good to get it out so…if you enjoyed it stay tuned. But if it annoyed you, just look at the pictures and move on! LOL
Foster and Daddy with one of the deer they shot on Foster’s first deer/turkey hunt. Chris got two deer and no turkey, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. He shot one while Foster was asleep beside him in the blind and Foster didn’t even wake up. Foster helped him “track” the deer by following the blood trail and that was definitely a highlight of the trip for him. Foster hung in there, even with temperatures in the teens at times. I truly believe he would follow his Daddy anywhere. I know it’s not as easy to take a 4 year old on a deer hunt but he is giving his son a priceless gift by making those memories. I hope I remember to tell my husband what a good daddy he is today! Foster spent all weekend after Thanksgiving asking when he gets to go again. And I used on of those all time classic parenting answers ” I don’t know, you’ll have to ask your daddy…”
All the Little Grubbs 