Nearly 20 staff members and volunteers came together to kickoff Grandly’s 10th anniversary celebration on Saturday, January 24th. The afternoon began with a recap of our history dating back to February 10, 2016 when Pili Galvan (now Pili Abouchaar) arrived in Michigan as Grandly’s first director. Mike Shaughnessy (Grandly founder) and Pili then continued the celebration by citing two guiding realities of our work: 1) God’s grace, which moves us to respond with 2) our faith. I am a living example of those two realities working together.
As my two daughters were growing up, I was thankful to God for the opportunity to homeschool them. After completing this mission, I felt a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, but also wondered what I would do next. My daughters soon headed off to college to pursue their interests and suddenly, I found I had time to pursue my own passion – serving God with the talents He had given me.
I started by volunteering one afternoon per week at the City Rescue Mission serving meals…but I wanted more. I began earnestly praying and looking for a more significant ministry opportunity. Then I discovered that Grandly was looking for someone to help with data maintenance and other administrative tasks. Because of my previous employment (prior to homeschooling) as a payroll systems programmer analyst for 12 years, it seemed that I would have the necessary experience and skills for this position.
But, truth be told, I had not touched any programming work, nor done any office work, in over 20 years! The next day I talked to my husband, Dewey, about this ministry opportunity and my own lack of confidence in applying for it. He was very encouraging, reminding me that our God, whose name is Immanuel, will always guide us in every step we take.
After our discussion, I decided to take the first step. I sent an email to Grandly on a Sunday night in October of 2022 to express my interest. Somewhat surprisingly, I received a reply the very next day asking me to come in for an interview. Without hesitation, I agreed to speak with Mike Shaughnessy (Founder) and Pili Abouchaar (Director) about the position.
The interview was very positive on both sides. I remember thinking what an honor it would be to work for (and with) God’s people at Grandly. In less than 24 hours I was offered a position. “Can you start tomorrow?” I was asked!
My story, like the story of so many others who now work for Grandly, was one of experiencing God’s grace opening a door and having the faith to go through it. The rest, as they say, is history.
I continue to feel very blessed to work at Grandly, with a great group of Godly people, on a mission to help grandparents strategically pass on their faith to their grandchildren.
I pray that you will experience a grace-filled call into the area of mission God has for you – just like I did!
Diana Hou (Grandly Assistant) and her husband, Dewey, live in Okemos, Michigan.