My Family

Gratehouse Family - Easter 2013

About my family…

  • My family loves God. He is first and of foremost importance in our lives. My husband is a wonderful, anointed minister of the Word. We pastored for nearly twelve years, but have since transitioned into traveling internationally to teach in churches, pastors’ conferences, and Bible schools all over the world. We are loving this new phase of ministry!!!

Jason ministering in China (with his Chinese interpreter)

Jason on recent ministry trip to Honduras

  • We are a homeschooling family. We love literature, science and nature study, classical music, drawing, painting and crafting, field trips, Shakespearean plays, museums, learning languages, game nights, and LOTS of fun together.

    Liam & his birdfeeders

  • We love books – we probably have over 10,000 books in our home (maybe it’s a sickness).
  • We have too many pets and are always wanting more (maybe that’s a sickness too).
  • We love to laugh. My husband and youngest son have awesome, hearty laughs. The rest of us laugh at their laughter.
  • Our home is always filled with music…my daughter is a classically-trained pianist, my eldest son is a bassist, and although my youngest son took piano lessons, he is always annoyingly tapping, snapping, thumping or bumping on things (including his chest). He needs drums.

    Olivia at one of her piano recitals

  • We love to sing harmony together – especially praise and worship songs. We are also unabashed 80s music lovers – is it weird that my kids know all the words to lots of 80s songs? (Okay, maybe we should be a wee bit ashamed!)
  • We are Anglophiles. Although we’re Southerners at heart (we love our sweet iced tea, front porch swing, warm weather, going barefoot, eating grits, and saying, “y’all”), we also love England and almost all things English: classic English literature, English country cottages, strong English tea (PG Tips are the best!), British accents (well, at least my daughter and I do!), British movies, etc. One of our favorite things to do is to curl up with a loooong English period piece, and a cup of tea, and be transported into the world of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte or Elizabeth Gaskell.
  • And speaking of movies…my family loves movies!!  When we watch them at home, they have to be REALLY LOUD in order for my husband to get that authentic “theater” experience. I pride myself on the fact that I have learned to sleep quite soundly on the sofa while the rest of the family watches LOUD superhero, sci-fi or epic battle trilogies in surround sound with the subwoofer shaking our house.
  • Because of my family’s love of movies, my husband and sons (and sometimes my daughter) live in an alternate reality, quoting movies constantly.  I confess, I can’t keep up with which movie they’re quoting from at any given moment. It’s weird. And it’s annoying that I can’t quote movies very well (maybe it’s because I’m always sleeping through them).
  • My boys, particularly my eldest son, dress in character. It started when they were small, dressing up as various Star Wars characters, then hobbits, pirates, various superheroes, warriors, video game characters, etc. I thought they were finally growing out of this stage until I came home one evening and found pictures on my camera of my fourteen year-old dressed up as the Terminator! ???

    Alec as “The Terminator”

  • We don’t watch much TV, although we do enjoy Masterpiece Theatre and some HGTV shows.  And in the spring and summer, we love (and sometimes hate) Atlanta Braves baseball!
  • Mostly, we just love being together, hanging out, enjoying one another’s company, living, loving, learning, and laughing (a lot).