Friday, November 30, 2007

I Am

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Arkansas and Missouri. While we were there we got to spend the nights with children in the room with us. Now, all of them wake up pretty cheerful. But sometimes a little bit earlier than we would choose to wake up on our own! While we were at Kev's parent's house in Hot Springs, it was us and little Elijah sharing a room. He waited until maybe 7 to wake up which isn't too bad. But he was stuck in his pack n' play. So when he would wake up, he'd just start to play. We heard all kinds of goofy things in his early morning play time.

Lijah had two toy puppies in his bed with him and they would wake up "talking" to each other. One day it was,
"yes."
"no."
"Yes."
"No."
"YES..."
You get the idea.
One morning, his puppies woke up saying, "Bow!" to which he replied, "shut!" Back and forth for a while. (Apparently that's what people say to puppies... something we try NOT to say to each other in the Crawford home but to puppies, he must have figured the short form of "shut-up" was appropriate.)
One time it was his baby CPK, Matthew, crying. "Matthew's crying... whaaaaaa!" Only much louder than you just read it in your head!

My favorite wake up conversation in the morning was another repetitive one... Lijah simply said, over and over,

"I am. I am. I am. I am. I am..."

Who knows what he was talking about! Gotta love the 2 year old mind. But I thought right away of the Lord being the great I AM. What a good focus in the morning.

Have you heard the Nichole Nordeman song, I Am? She sang it at the Women of Faith conference I attended with my girlfriends this fall. I understood it better then... let me just share a verse with you... you'll get the idea.

You saw me wear white, by pale candlelight,
I said forever to what lies ahead
two kids and a dream,
with kids that can scream
too much it might seem
when it’s two AM

CHORUS:
when I am weak, unable to speak,
still I will call You by name.
“Oh Shepherd, Savior, Pasture-maker,
hold on to my hand,” and You say “I am.”

When we are in need or ask for Him to help... He says, "I Am."


Women of Faith...

All the Saints

Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

I've been waiting to blog this one for you for a month or so...

Our good friends are missionaries in Asia. So you know that you don't just go blogging about "M" in Asia... Since they are home in the states again, I figured it was safe to share my story with you, or rather how our stories intertwined.

While our friends were over in Asia, they found themselves in some trouble. (Among missionaries, so we've found out, we are considered family and therefore "Aunts and Uncles..." So since that's how our kids refer to them, that's how I will, too... I'm not sure how gently to tread still.

Our uncle found the police at his door one day and was taken downtown to have a visit. There they questioned him about his friendships and his purpose in Asia. I think it was about six hours that they held him with some of that time spent in prison. You can imagine how scary that would be. His family didn't even know what was going on and he didn't know if or when they'd let him go. They had apparently been told he was there as a missionary.

Okay, so that's a wild story, and I'm sure that since they are back in the states, they would love to tell you more details! (Let me know if you want more info...) :)

But that's just their side of the story! Here on this side of the world, it was night time and I was climbing into bed reading my God's Word Day by Day by Beth Moore. It's just a short page of verses put into prayers. My prayer for that day was about the armor of God. As I got to the end of that familiar verse the last line stood out to me... Be alert and keep praying for the saints. I kinda laughed and thought of these specific friends of mine and chuckled that they could be considered "saints" as missionaries over there... Heh. Then I thought I should be alert and pray for them. So I spent just a little time praying that God would make Himself known to them, that they'd know He's there with them, and that He would be there Encourager. I even thought of the book Safely Home by Randy Alcorn where the angel stands by the man in jail...

The very next morning, we saw our uncle on Skype and he told us he had just gotten home from prison in Asia! He told us the time and I figured out when that would have been corresponded with my prayers... EXACTLY the same time! Seriously! Can you believe that! Isn't the Holy Spirit awesome!?

I've heard stories of that and know that it could have even happened to me in the past and I may have not known or don't remember it now... but it was really exciting for me to SEE God alive and active. Working. So cool.

The rest of their story is that he was imprisoned again for a longer time and they have been sent home to the states. They'll find a new place for missions work and trust God to work all things together for good...

The rest of my story is that I can't wait to hear from God again! Speak to me, Lord. I'm so excited to hear Your voice.

Let us stay alert and keep praying!

Saturday, November 03, 2007

yellow makes me sing


Okay... gotta tell you guys some quick, cute kiddo stories for a minute! :)

The other day, when the kids and I were driving home from Wed night church (Kev was still with the youth group...), the van's gas-tank-is-low light came on. Usually that means there's a few miles left to go before it's out (although I've never actually run all the way out!). But when Benjamin saw the light on, he figured we needed gas right away! Since it was like 9:00 on a school night, I chose to just go right home and worry about the gas the next day. As I drove past the gas station on the way home, I hear a little 8 year old boy voice from the back seat, "Mooommmm, are you being foolish??" Ha. Maybe... but it was a hoot to hear it from my little Benjamin! (BTW, we did make it home, no problem!)
Elijah is really enjoying singing lately. He sings, "Blessed name the Lord... Blessed name the Lord!" (Blessed be the name of the Lord...) And he still love "I'll fly away, oh Louie, I'll fly away..." One of his favorites from a Veggie CD we have is "Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you... long to see your rolling river... AWAY! I've found a way across the wide Missouri." Kev loves to hear our little guy sing that one. Heh.
Lijah's also learning grown up phrases... you almost gotta hear him say them... but just picture a little two year old in pullups... :)

"Lijah, do you have to go to the bathroom?"
"Not really."
"Lije, come sit at the table"
"In a minute."
"Eli, it's time to go inside."
"No way!" (Not just the simple "no" anymore!)

Those are just a few examples! Heh.

Ruthie came home from school the other day and told me, "Triangles are CUTE." Heh. Yup, I guess they are!

After church a week or two ago, I heard Hannie singing, "Yellow makes me sing..." I thought, triangles are cute and now yellow makes us sing... then figured out from the song we'd sang that morning in church... "hallelujah, hallelujah, Your love makes me sing..." She said, "Ohhhh!" (But don't mention it to her... she does NOT like feeling like she's being laughed at... she was okay with us laughing a second over how cute it was. but...)

Cuties.