Author: Amy

The story of our big family... Neil and I met the summer of 2002. On the evening he asked me out on our first date, I found out my dad (my world) had pancreatic cancer. My immediate family flew off to Disney (because that’s what my dad wanted to do!), and our date was put on hold. Neil wasn’t scared or intimidated by my family circumstances though. Our first date was on my parent’s anniversary… August 18. My dad pursued various treatments. Neil and I spent every opportunity together. We knew early on this relationship was right. Neil got to interact some with my dad. Neil walked with me through the most difficult time of my life. My dad’s battle ended on September 27, 2002. Neil and I were engaged at the end of October. We KNEW. We were married on February 28, 2003. At the time, Neil worked for a physical therapy practice, and I was working at my family’s motorcycle business. Our family plan was to wait for a minute, and then get started with those babies (it turns out that having babies is easy for us). We thought four would be the perfect number for our family (both Neil and I have three siblings). Nolan came along in April of 2004, and Savana followed just 17 months later in September of 2005. We *thought* we would take a little break between children three and four… Our reality was that we welcomed Landon into our family just 16 months after Savana (January, 2007). So much for the break! Lucie entered our world in September of 2008. Four kids. Family complete. Actually, no, it turns out…. While neither Neil or I had done anything permanent to prevent children, we were in fact, trying not to have more kids… Surprise! Tessa was born in April, 2010 (that worked out to be 5 kids in 6 years). I think this was where we really realized that while we weren’t setting out to have a large family, each one of these little people is a GIFT. Two more little gifts have followed Tessa – Eli (on our anniversary) in 2014, and Titus came September, 2017. It’s hard to overestimate the changes and growth in Neil and I over these last 16 years together. Being married and having kids has a way of rooting out all kinds of junk you never knew you had. Having a large family has forced us to be creative with our resources, be intentional with both our money and our time, and increase our faith as we realize just how inadequate we are on our own. We’ve gotten comfortable with using the word “no” on a regular basis, and dealing with sadness on every level because of that answer. We’ve grown into lovers of adventure, quiet moments, and flexibility inside structure…. We’ve grown spiritually too…. From committed Christians, to more intent, followers of Jesus. Children have a way of humbling their parents. We simply could not do this job without the help of our Savior – the One who has all of the answers, wisdom, peace; the One who modelled perfectly unconditional love and to whose example we can look when we’re completely lost on how to get it right (often). About Amy: I’m in my early forties – although I’m told I look younger… or if not that, “I don’t look like have 7 kids.” – which I believe is a compliment… 😊 I’m a little bit of everything. I’m a 9, if you’re into Enneagrams – I’m indecisive because there’s too many good choices…. I love Jesus. I love doing crafts of all kinds. If Marie Kondo came to my house, craft supplies would have to be the last category we tackle, as I’m emotionally attached… craft supplies and coffee mugs….and books. I love relationship. I love my family, my friends, my church and school communities. I love serving. I have a hard time saying no to opportunities (not a problem to say no to my kids, so much – poor kids!). I never imagined my future would include being outnumbered by children to the extent that we are… I’m realizing the older I get, the more I have to learn. And also, I’m not in control. I’m glad for that, but also, it’s a little bit of a ride!
Posted on

Hello, YWAMTyler!

Fast forward, right? So to say that the last 12 weeks of our life (ever since the moment we made the decision to come to YWAM) has been insanely crazy is an understatement… These early blog posts are coming one on top of another, but that’s just to catch us, and y’all, up!

I’ll start where I left off last… We closed on 86 Ottawa, our home for almost 6 years, on June 11. The owners graciously gave us 10 days occupancy to get all of our stuff OUT (one day less would’ve been devastating… we came down to the wire that last day). Friends of ours WELCOMED us into their home for the weekend. We said many tear-filled goodbyes; I have a treasure-trove of cards with the sweetest words… On Monday, June 24, we left Michigan and headed south… We laid our heads down in a cheap Motel 6 in Little Rock, Arkansas. On Tuesday, we made it to my sister’s home in Austin. God gave us a ginormous gift in time with my sister and her family. Her casa was our casa — and we relished the time away from our home, in her home. The kids swam, we drank coffee together in the mornings, the kids trampolined, played dress-up, and opened up a restaurant serving the best crocheted delights in town (my niece is a crochet-extraordinaire), the guys played golf, we saw a movie; the whole 3+ days was a GIFT.

We said more tear-filled goodbyes on Saturday; we left Stacie & Mike’s & made our way to Tyler both rested, and with full hearts… We arrived on the YWAM campus around 5pm. We unpacked our trailer & made a list of essentials we needed to pick up from Walmart-ASAP. (Seriously, this whole experience feels a little like going back to college….. with 7 kids…. so maybe a little bit different) We needed snacks, and coffee, and towels, and sunglasses, and cereal, and sheets…

Today was the day that all that we imagined YWAM would be like was put to the test. How did the real thing measure up to expectation? For some of us, we were pleasantly surprised by the space for our family (we live in the Annex of Dorm 3 (pictured above – the annex is the building on the right side of the picture; from the little red car, over); we have 3 bedrooms & 1 bathroom to share between the 9 of us), and the proximity to campus (our dorm is closest to the classrooms & cafeteria). Others of our crew struggled. As you can imagine, there are a variety of personalities & preferences inside our family. For at least a couple of our people, YWAM was not something very happily anticipated. As a family, our attitude about coming averaged out somewhere around GOOD, but for those on the more skeptical side, it was not love at first sight.

Sunday night is Family Night here at YWAM; which basically is a time of worship, prayer and a speaker — it’s basically Sunday night church 🙂 And basically, we all needed a little (a lot) of worship in our life on Sunday night. Moving, and saying goodbye, and stepping into something brand new, and tired little people = hard times. I can’t remember the exact songs we sang, or too much about what was spoken, but there was a refreshing of even the hardest hearted of us all; there were lots of good, healthy tears falling…

Our God has been so faithful to us. He knew our needs before we did. He’s supplied all of them. He’s LAVISHED His love on us through family and friends. He’s working on the inside, unseen places of our hearts, even when we can’t see or feel those results right away. He was faithful selling our house; faithful to give us landing places with friends and family before YWAM; faithful to encourage our hearts through worship & conversation & notes & phone calls & new friends…

Transition can be hard. (And I can tell you this because I’m editing a couple of weeks later….. it really was!) BUT. We know the blessing of being here will outweigh by far the challenges that come with saying yes… (and I can also tell you that this has proven true as well, over the last couple of weeks).

Posted on

Change a’coming

About a year and a half ago, the Lord started stirring our hearts; both Neil and I sensed change coming. We started praying specifically for our future. We approached the Lord with hands open to His leading. After several months of prayer, and research, and counseling with friends and family, we made a decision:

Neil & I are taking our family to YWAM (Youth With a Mission) Family Discipleship Training School. It is a 5 month program that involves 3 months of discipleship training (Knowing God) and a 2 month outreach (Making Him Known). The training segment takes place in Tyler, Texas, and begins July 1. This is a large commitment both in time and money. The Lord has blessed us with both- Neil is in transition out of his current job into something new (yet to be determined); the money piece of the question has been provided for in the form of selling our home. We see very clearly God’s direction & leading for our family, and we’re excited for this adventure!

While we’re very excited to GO, we are not so excited to LEAVE… We love our family, community, school and church families & will miss everyone greatly! Beyond the 5 months? We’re not sure. But we are sure that in the 5 months we’re away, the Lord will speak & lead & show us what is next. We would love to return to Michigan to resume life & ministry, but we wait on the Lord for direction concerning house/job on the other side of YWAM. We absolutely covet your prayers as we prepare to go, and go. 

We want to take y’all with us — we feel like this blog is a way to do that! We’ll be posting updates and news and stories as often as we can!

Posted on

Our Story

Heard at the grocery store, the mall, maybe a local fast food restaurant:

“Wow, you’ve got your hands full!”

“Are you Catholic?” or the slightly bolder “You must be Catholic.” (Occasionally insert Christian for Catholic)

“Are they all yours?”

“Are there any twins?” (as if an affirmative answer makes seem us less crazy)

“I could never do that!” (code for “you must be crazy.”)

And maybe our all-time favorite:

“Don’t you know what causes this?” (insert wink)

NEIL: Truth be told my wife, Amy, has usually born the brunt of these comments and questions.  But I’ve heard them too. Amy and I are both pretty laid-back, not easily offended. So not wanting to give the wrong impression, we don’t hold these comments against anyone or reply with any clever retorts to questions and judgments.  

So how did we find ourselves in this very interesting situation?  Don’t know, we’re still trying to figure out what causes this!!! Seriously, though, let’s recap…

AMY: Neil and I met the summer of 2002. On the evening he asked me out on our first date, I found out my dad (my world) had pancreatic cancer. My immediate family flew off to Disney (because that is what you do when you find out you have a giant cancer battle in front of you!), and our date was put on hold. Neil wasn’t scared or intimidated by my family circumstances though. Our first date was on my parent’s anniversary… August 18.

My dad pursued various treatments. Neil and I spent every opportunity together. We knew early on this relationship was right. Neil got to interact some with my dad. Neil walked with me through the most difficult time of my life. My dad’s battle ended on September 27, 2002.

Neil and I were engaged at the end of October. We KNEW.
We were married on February 28, 2003.

At the time, Neil worked for a physical therapy practice, and I was working at my family’s motorcycle business. Our family plan was to wait for a minute, and then get started with those babies (it turns out that having babies is easy for us). We thought four would be the perfect number for our family (both Neil and I have three siblings).

Neil: 14 months later…Nolan…17 months…Savana.

It is at this point we realize that the difference between one child (perfect baby) and two (hmmm, no comment) is a quantum leap.  So we decide a healthy gap between #2 and #3 would be prudent.

16 months (Surprise! Some gap, huh?)…Landon…19 months…Lucie.  4 kids and we’re done!

19 months (Surprise!)…Tessa.  5 kids and we’re definitely done!

AMY: While neither Neil or I had done anything permanent to prevent children, we were in fact, trying not to have more kids…I think this was where we really realized that while we weren’t setting out to have a large family, each one of these little people is a GIFT. Two more little gifts have followed Tessa – Eli (on our anniversary) in 2014, and Titus came September, 2017.

NEIL: The amazing thing about life in general, and life walking with the Lord in particular, is that we can plan all we want but it is biblically clear: The God of the universe has a perfect will that cannot be thwarted, regardless of the plans that we make.  He establishes our plans (Proverbs 16:3) and orders our steps (Proverbs 16:9).  

AMY: It’s hard to overestimate the changes and growth in Neil and I over these last 16 years together. Being married and having kids has a way of rooting out all kinds of junk you never knew you had. Having a large family has forced us to be creative with our resources, be intentional with both our money and our time, and increase our faith as we realize just how inadequate we are on our own. We’ve gotten comfortable with using the word “no” on a regular basis, and dealing with sadness on every level because of that answer. We’ve grown into lovers of adventure, quiet moments, and flexibility inside structure….

NEIL: Is our family complete?  Probably. But I’ve learned enough through our journey not to guarantee anything.  I know we are a family established by the Lord. I know circumstances have taught us much about patience, frugality, hard work, teamwork and self-sacrifice.  I know a spirit of adventure has awoken in us. And this I certainly know: Our story has barely begun to be written!

The Greb family welcomes you on this journey with us…