Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy Birthday sweet Kevy!

Happy Birthday to my sweet Kevy bear!

This was about 1993-ish, when we first started dating...

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Good Bye Armenia, Hello America!

December 6th at 1AM we got the kids up, packed up our 16 boxes, which included our dog, and drove to the Yerevan airport to leave our life in Armenia behind.   30 hours later, at 9PMish on December 6th, we landed in Minneapolis, MN!  It was literally the longest day ever!  :)

After we got all our boxes checked in at the Yerevan airport and paid for the extra three boxes and the dog, we went to find our seat and wait for the plane.  Hannie was already in tears, worried about Rocky, when some officials came to tell Kevin that they decided we couldn't take the dog.  He was already checked through.  They needed some extra paper that we didn't have.  Our vet had given us everything we'd need so we're not sure if this paper was just misplaced or not actually needed.  We called her (in the middle of the night) and she was so sweet to talk to them and to help us.  After the blessing of a delayed flight and friends helping us, we got the okay and the dog was on the plane.  The kids were crying and praying all the while.  So that was our intro to our 30 hour day.

We finally got on the plane at about 6 or 7AM!  On the plane they gave us breakfast and Ruth asked if it was supper (it was still dark out)...  No baby, it's breakfast!  It's morning?  Still breakfast?!  Yup!  Uff.  :)

Czech Republic Airport
We stopped in the snowy Czech Republic for a lay over.  We were happy to find a little play place and Kev was off to check on our luggage and the dog...  we didn't see him for the next 3 hours!  I was getting a little worried.  Okay, a lot worried...  when he showed up just in time to get us to the next plane.  I'm thinking what will I do if he doesn't show up??  How long do we sit here?  Since our last plane was late, there were lots of travelers in line for refunds and whatever.  That took time.  Then, again, the dog.  They told him that he couldn't travel because it was too cold!  Well, then what?  Just leave him in his kennel in the Czech Republic?  Again, he got it worked out and the dog was off with us.  But first we had to wait for a delay of flight...

Now we're off to fly over the ocean...  Really this flight wasn't too bad.  We were along the window in seats of two each so it was me and a child, behind us were two children, and behind them was Kev and a child...  They showed some bad movies on the big screen right in front of us that we had to shield the kids from.  And Lijah spilled water on Kev while Benjamin bumped water on me, and the two people across the row from us... but all in all, that flight wasn't too bad.

I had time to pray for the friends we were leaving and the friends and family we were going to...

Beyond Tired...
Next stop, New York...  we get there with like an hour to catch our next flight.  Okay.  We know it's going to be crazy.  We have super tired kids (and super tired us) and 15 boxes and a dog to re-check!  After we wait in a huge line and get to the front to check our visas, Kev's told to go to the security room because we've been out of the country without returning for two years!  No!  We look suspicious!  But we have a flight to run to and boxes to re-check!  The gal at the security place was sassy and mean...  so I knew she'd be no help.  I have four kids and, yeah, all the boxes to get...  hum...  Lord, HELP!  I tell the kids...  Pray!  I'm going to see if the boxes are here.  I go away from them but keep them in sight.  No boxes.  But another airport gal comes to visit with them.  She's all sweet and nice to them.  Thank You, Lord, for sending help our way!  I say we're about to miss our flight and my husband is stuck in the security place.  She's quick to help us and gets things moving so he can come help with boxes (which are still NOT there).  The other gal scolds her for going into security without her permission... but still...  we're off!  She helps us run around and gets a guy to help us because now we've found Rocky!  Yea!  And he looks good but wants OUT.  With this guy's help, we run the dog to where he needs to go through back rooms and get him checked through.

We run, Run, RUN to our gate where they say they can't tell the plane to wait because we're there.  We stop to take off our shoes and belts and all that good stuff!  And then RUN again...  We tell the people we'll go without the boxes and they plan to send them on the next flight.  The guy is about to close the gate when we get there!  By the time we sit on the plane we're sweaty and exhausted.  We're scattered all throughout the plane.  Kev is kind of close to the boys and I am behind the girls...  At least this is our last flight and we got Rocky on the plane!

Well, the plane people decided to look through all our boxes and send the boxes along...  which may have delayed this flight (unless there were other things going on as well...?).  The plane made up the time in air and I visited some with the gal next to me.  She was from Canada, just north of us in ND, and had come to NY for a girl get away with her family.  During the flight Ruth came back to me and said, "Mom, should I go to the bathroom?  I have to puke."  Hello...  Go, Ruth!!!  Well, she didn't puke.  Thank you, Lord.  (While I walked back to my seat I stop and kiss Kevin on the cheek... he doesn't even move...  exhausted!)

We made it to Minneapolis!!

Lijah meeting Emma
We're dragging by the time we get off the plane but still excited to see, Blake, Crystal, and Emma (my brother and his family) who are waiting to pick us up in Mpls.  There they are!  Whoo-hoo!  We're a little teary and relieved.  We made it!  Gather up the boxes...  minus two which show up the next morning.  Gather up the dog and take him out to pee!  Get to the hotel.

At the hotel, Blake pulls us over to the side to tell us that while we were flying, my One Hundred and (almost) TWO year old grandma passed away.  We didn't think we'd see her when we left the states but it looked like we would...  We celebrate the fact that she's in heaven now and happy, healthy, and whole!  But wish we could have hugged her one more time.  Almost made it.

I wonder if I was praying for Bestamor (my grandma) as she went Home to heaven...

Rocky made it!
We drive with Blake, Crystal, and Emma to Grand Forks in a 15 passenger van (Thanks, Josh).  Stay there a few days.  Drive to Williston where we'll live for now.  Go to my grandma's funeral.  Drive to GF.  Drive to Springfield, MO.  Have Christmas.  Plan to drive home...  snow.  Soon we'll drive back to Williston and try to settle back into life in the states!  Whew.

There's the story of December 6th, 2010.  Hopefully I'll find another minute sometime soon to share some of our thoughts after leaving our home for two years in Armenia to come back to our home in America...  stay tuned!  ;)

Friday, December 24, 2010

Busy Month!

To say this is a busy month is kind of an understatement!  Heh...  We're actually about to run out the door right now but I wanted to get on for a second anyway to say, Hey!  and, Merry Christmas!

On December 6th we flew back over the ocean away from Armenia and back to the US.  Talk about chaos!  Whew.  But, we made it and here we are!  In some ways it seems like we've hardly been gone from the states.  It's so good to be home and with friends and family again.  But then again, in other ways, we miss Armenia and talk about our friends there like we'll see them tomorrow...  What a blessing for us to get to spend time there and to build friendships.

Now I'm off to spend some time here with more family!  I'll try to touch base with you again soon to fill you in on our adventure over the ocean!  :)  For now...  Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 02, 2010

heart

I've always loved people.  My friends and family are some of my biggest joys.  I think of them and smile.  Or cry...  heh.  Now that we've moved here, I've come to realize that I can even love more than I knew I could.  Our friends here have such a special place in our hearts.  Not the same place that our friends in the states have, which is already huge... but a whole new place that I never knew was there!  :)  So glad for the treasure of these friends in Armenia.  God has grown my heart bigger than I'd even thought about.  So glad that He opened the hearts of our Armenian friends to love us back!  We will leave part of our hearts here in Armenia.  Or maybe take part of Armenia with us in our hearts?!  Both.  We love these friends!  Love 'em!!  





Okay, of course, I realized that I shouldn't start putting pics up because, obviously, I will miss more than one friend on here... but I'll leave these few group pictures so you can at least see a few of the people who have our hearts here!  :)

The first pic is of our friends from the Fire Bible Office over at our house.
The second pic is the Rhema band over at our house for the last time...  sad night.  (Narek is in England but he's with us on Skype!!)
The third pic is our friend and language tutor, Nadela, and her husband, Khachik at their apartment.
The last picture was taken a year ago at Hannie's 9th birthday party...  kind of a combination of the groups above...   :)

YIC kids

I figured since I posted pics/videos of everyone else in the family in the last two posts I'd show you something I've been up to, too!

These are some of the sweet kids I've had the privilege to teach at Yerevan International Church.




Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Let Your Attitude BE our Attitude!

We finished memorizing our fall verses a couple weeks ago... but just got them recorded this week.  While we're memorizing verses, they usually make it into our prayers during the day, too...  With the Hebrews 11 (12) verses, I ended up praying, "Help us Fix our eyes on You the author and perfecter of our faith..." every night.  It just kinda came out, it wasn't really planned.  But that's what happens when you're studying/memorizing His Word.  It just kinda sticks in there and comes out!  Heh!  :)  Now that we've been studying Matthew 5:1-12, about the Beatitudes, the part that's found it's way into our prayers each day is that our attitude would be His attitude!  Let us be like You, Lord!  You are so good.  So merciful, and pure, and compassionate...  We wanna be like you!  :)  Blessed and happy!  The meaning of "Beatitude" is blessed or happy!  Good stuff!

And now, here they are, the fabulous Crawford kids!  :)


We did two takes... I kind of liked the first one better; they all liked the second one better!  :)  So this is the second one for you to see!  This was taken in our kitchen area, by the girls bedroom door.  We have our morning opening here every, well, morning!  :)  Heh.  (Notice our music studio, or living room, in the back right?!  Sweet...)  The younger two were a little distracted by the cards that I made while we were learning it.  I thought if I let Lijah be in charge of them it might keep him in place a little better...?!  They all know them anyway.  And we had fun learning.  Whoot.  The Beatitudes, the Beatitudes!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Ezekiel

Kevin is Ezekiel.  The Rhema church called us up after the band led worship and said that Kevin was like Ezekiel.  He taught people that hadn't played before how to play instruments and be a worship band that could lead others to praise the Lord kind of like Ezekiel when he brought the dead bones together, and breath came into them, and they were a vast army!  (Ezekiel 37)  Wow.  What a powerful comparison!  



This is the Rhema band that played this November.  Narek is main worship leader and one of our best friends here.  He is in England right now at missions school!  It's a three month program so Zara and Armen have been keeping things going while he's been gone.

Zara just learned to drum this year and this is her first time drumming live with the band!  Whoo!  Armen is on the bass.  He can play any instrument, I think.  Talented guy.  Kevin is, of course, on the guitar.  (I think you can tell which one is Kevin?)  The worship leader is Mariam.  This is the first time I've heard her lead but she may have lead in the past.  Her husband, Artur, does the sound and is one of the guys that was in the band last year.  He learned to play the bass even though his finger was injured at work a while back!  (They're expecting their first baby this winter.  A girl!)  :)  You can't see the keyboard player because she wanted to sit down by the sound system...  but she's there, too!  I don't know the back up singers as well, since they don't come to our house to practice as often as the band!  But they did a fine job, too, huh?!  :)

Narek will be back in December just after we leave!  (Boo!)  And hopefully he'll slide right back in there and the band will be off and running!  (Until he goes to do missions work somewhere?  You can pray for him and his family as they seek the Lord's direction!)

So!  There's the band.  We love these guys.  They like to joke with Kev because as he's taught them he's always said, "Hesht a!"  which means, "It's easy!"  Try it out.  Start small.  Step by step.  Little by little.  It's easy!  Next thing you know, you're playing in a worship team!  My Ezekiel.  :)  Bringing a band together to be an army!  It's easy!

*Special, huge thanks to Ron, who donated money for this worship ministry in Armenia!!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

So Little=So Much

We organized the kids toys this week.  They each have to fit all their things into one or two boxes for us to take back to the states.  After going through and weeding out the broken or missing toys, Lijah came out with most of his toys (besides stuffed animals) fitting into two ziplock baggies!  Wow.  Crazy.  So being the American mom that I am, I'm looking and kinda thinking, "Oh poor kid...  giving up so much...  missing out on so many things..."  Then I look at him.  He's busy working on folding and cutting paper into different shapes and adding things together to create a type of store for me to come and play with him.  He is so creative!  The other kids are singing and dancing and making up a Christmas play in the other room...  Hum, maybe having so little is actually not a bad thing?

Then in the next day or two while Lijah and Ruth are dumping out his two plastic bags of toys I hear someone say, "Wow!  Look at all your nice toys, Elijah!"  Heh.  Interesting.  They see themselves as having so many nice toys when I see so little.  Again, last night as I tucked the girls into bed, I threw a couple stuffed bunnies up to Hannah's pillow...  She hugged her favorite and said, "I have so many bunnies!"  My kids see how much they have when I had just seen the same thing and thought it was so little.

Have you noticed how the Bible talks about riches?

Colossians 3:16
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you Richly...


Timothy 6:17
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who Richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

Romans 11:33
Oh, the depth of the Riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

You get the idea!  What am I looking at to see how much (or how little) I have?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Benjamin told me that when he gets rich, he's still going to live in a little house.  He'll donate money to people who need it instead of spending it on a big house!  "I don't need a big house anyway!"  That kid.  Good thinking...  then we talked about the verse:


Matthew 6:19-21
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, 
where moths and vermin destroy, 
and where thieves break in and steal. 
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, 
where moths and vermin do not destroy, 
and where thieves do not break in and steal. 
For where your treasure is, 
there your heart will be also.

Where is our treasure?  Where is our heart...

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Happy Halloween!

We've had a few people ask us about Halloween this year.  Armenians and Americans.  Do we celebrate?  What do we celebrate?  What is Halloween all about?  Hum.

So what is Halloween all about?  Going way back, fear, maybe?  Spirits and trying to please the dead so they wouldn't come to haunt you?  Hum.  Well, we don't believe that anyway.  So I guess we won't celebrate that but that is what you see in the stores in the US.  Ghosts and goblins.  Icky, bloody stuff.  Uff da.  And right around Hannie's birthday!  Comon.  Heh.

We always have celebrated fall harvest type of parties at our church and/or at the kids' school back in Grand Forks.  We let them dress up and eat candy and be with friends.  I don't think they've ever actually gone trick or treating, though.
They started out as a cat and a dog...
but got kinda silly after that!  :)

I read a book a while back called Redeeming Halloween.  It's pretty good, from what I remember... if you're interested.  Gives some history and some ideas of how to celebrate it in the light of the Lord.

We love to celebrate it as All Hallows Eve...  ahem.  The eve before All Saints Day.  All Saints Day is a day to remember the martyrs and Christian heroes of the faith.  Awesome, huh?  What a fun thing to celebrate.  We've read some biographies, like Hudson Taylor.  And we've talked about Stephen, of course, the first Christian martyr.  We decided a couple years ago that we'd use this holiday to prepare a small package for missionaries around the world who are serving today.  (If you send it the beginning of November, they'll probably get it between Thanksgiving and Christmas when they're missing family back home...)  I love to talk about how God says over and over in the Bible - FEAR NOT and Don't be Afraid!  He is with us!  He cares for us.  Good topic for the season.
Hannie decorated both of us in
Mt Ararat!  :)
Well, this year it kinda surprised me a little bit.  In Armenia there is no Halloween!  So, oh, here it is!  Right.  We did have some candy and we did some face painting but where was all the hero/faith stuff I usually plan?!  Oops.  Then I thought - all last year we planned for this Halloween!

Last year the kids memorized the whole chapter of Hebrews 11.  It's the Bible's Hall of Faith!  Heroes galore!  All these people lived by faith and served the Lord.  Awesome.  Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joseph...  So we had a pre-made lesson set up for us.  I read through it while they had breakfast and we talked some about it.  But this time I read a little farther:

Hebrews 12:1-3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, 
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. 
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 
fixing our eyes on Jesus, 
the pioneer and perfecter of faith. 
For the joy set before him he endured the cross, 
scorning its shame, 
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, 
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Jesus.  The ultimate Hero of our Faith.  The "perfecter of our faith".  Fix your eyes on Him.  Consider Him.  Throw off sin.  Run with perseverance.  Don't grow weary and lose heart.  Since we have these witnesses who went before us...  be encouraged!  Talk about a pep talk right to us!  Just squirt some gatorade in  my face and let me get back out there!

I always tell the kids that we should think of ending the "by faith" chapter by thinking of ourselves...  How will our story sound?  What will come next?  By faith...  [Jill...]  We're next in line.

Happy Halloween!

Ten Years Old!

birthday flowers from Hakob
Hannah Christine Crawford is TEN years old!  October 30th at 11:00AM.  So here that time was actually 9PM!  We sang happy birthday to her at nine o' clock while we watched the Yerevan fountain show downtown!  Sweet.
playing at the park
Last year Hannie wanted a big party and had made plans at least a month a head of time.  She knew what she wanted to do, what the cake should look like, how to decorate...  This year she was still excited about her birthday but was more laid back about it.  We just had a family birthday together and did everything she wanted us to do together.  We started off by putting balloons all over her floor while she was sleeping!  Of course we made her favorite meals (noodles and chicken with cream of mushroom soup and later grilled cheese).  We went to a park since it was a lovely fall day and we went shopping but we did not find the dress that she wanted (boo).  We made her traditional pumpkin bars for birthday cake.  She got an MP3 player from the US and a new Go Fish album.  And to top it off we went to the fountains to watch the light/music show.  Sounds like a pretty good day!?  But at the end of the day she wondered...  maybe I should have had a big party!?!  Well, it was still a pretty good day.  

She made the cake and decorated it...
it says Ani in Armenian!
We have a lot to celebrate.  Hannie is growing into a lovely, mature young girl.  She is graceful and kind.  She thinks things through and knows God's word.  She tries hard and does her best.  She loves babies and children.  She is creative and includes others.  We are blessed.  So glad God gave us our Hannie girl.  What a treasure.
Happy 10th Birthday Hannah!
-downtown Yerevan

Sunday, October 31, 2010

World's Biggest Chocolate Bar

That's right.  Yerevan, Armenia is the maker of the world's biggest chocolate bar!  On September 10th, 2010, Grand Candy celebrated it's 10th birthday and to celebrate, they made a huge bar of chocolate!  On October 16th, they had a big celebration downtown and gave pieces of the big bar away.  We went to check it out.  Pretty exciting.  And completely crazy!

They wanted to give away their candy bar so they broke it up and loaded it into some of their Grand Candy trucks.  Then they parked the trucks around the sides of Republic Square and opened the doors...  Everyone raced to the doors and tried to get chocolate.  Kev said it was something like a planned riot.  Everyone was just grabbing and pushing and shoving.  Needless to say, we did not get to the front of the masses to get ourselves a piece of the world famous chocolate.  We snapped a couple pictures to show we were there to celebrate and then we bought a plain ol' bar of Grand Candy chocolate on the way home!  Heh.  We still got ourselves some chocolate.  (And the next day we heard that there were some fights that broke out downtown!  Good grief!)

Kev kept trying to figure out the best plan to fix the situation!  Heh.  If they had started lines with enter and exit spots or people were shown to to go through in a clockwise direction, at least...  Everyone pushing forward and the people in the trucks yelling to get back - that didn't really work.  There were even military guys there pushing people back.  We thought - get a line!  Organize this thing up a bit!

But lines aren't really an Armenian thing.  Really.  In the US, we practice being in lines from the time we first start going to preschool.  As a preschool teacher, that was one important thing I taught the kids their first year of school.  To work in a group you need to learn to wait your turn and stay in line.  In Armenia, if you are strong enough and courageous enough...  you get to the front!  Or sometimes if you're old, you also get to cut to the front of the group.  That's cool, too.  When we first came to Armenia and had four little (tired) kids with us in the airport, they took us right up to the front of the window to get our visa stuff worked out.  So in that case, it wasn't a bad thing for us to be able to "cut".  It could be considered polite, even!  That's not always something that happens in the US.  In the states, most people figure you can keep your place in line and be patient.  That's what we're trained to do.

As I talked about that with the kids, they remembered times when they got to be "line leaders" in school. Or when they got to be the important caboose!  That was alright, too...  They told me that most of the kids tried to get in right behind the line leader so they could be second in line!  Heh.  If you can't be first, be second?!  Maybe we all have a compulsion to be at the front of the line...  at the head of the group...  the leader?

Today I heard Elijah's reaction to his paper airplane come in last in their contest...  At first he was sad about it.  The he rememberd:  All the losers get a crown!  (~taken from Audio A.'s Get Down)  Heh!  :)

Matt 23:11&12 The greatest among you will be your servant.
For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Whether you push to the front or hold your place in line, Jesus asks us if our heart is humble and if you act like a servant.  That's where the reward will be in the end.

Whew...  what about chocolate now?!  :)

Just to let you know, in case you were super sad that the kids didn't get any of the world's biggest chocolate bar, today our friend came over and brought some for us!  Her son got some through his school and the shared it with us!  The kids were Thrilled!

Shnorhavor, Grand Candy and Yerevan, Armenia!  You made the biggest bar of chocolate, until the Swiss decide to outdo you to get their name in the book as the best...  Hummm...  :)

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Rocky Jon

Rocky Jon

I just realized that September marked one  year of our life with a puppy for a pet!  :)  Our Ani prayed for a puppy after she fell in love with a stray that we couldn't keep.  Our housing manager said no dogs were allowed in our apt, otherwise we might have taken that pup home.  Hannah was heartbroken.  So she decided to pray.

That was August 17th, Kev's and my wedding anniversary!  Just a few days later, guess who we met living two doors down from us?  A tiny puppy they called Rex.  He learned our schedule and would come to our door every day when the kids had their morning recess.  One day we were late for recess and he was on our front step waiting when we opened the door.  The manager told us that the neighbors who owned the dog were moving and he would have to "do something" with the dog...  We could keep it, if we kept it outside.  At the same time we were waiting to move around the block to a place that had a little deck out the back door.  We'd have a safe place to keep a puppy outside.  Okay.  I guess we have a dog!  Ani and God worked out it out!  Rex became Rocky.  And Rocky became ours!  Our Rocky jan.

We were told that we should not get a dog in Armenia and that Armenians don't like them.  It would hurt our ministry here.  Well, we didn't plan for a dog but it seemed to us that it might just be that the Lord had a plan for us and for the puppy.  After time went on, we found out that lots of our friends either had a dog now or had one in the past.  They wanted to meet our puppy.  Plus, since he's mostly an outside dog, people who might not enjoy dogs don't even have to see him if they don't want to.  Funny how God blesses you and works out details on top of that, huh?  

Rocky has been a blessing to us, and mostly to the kids.  Who always loves you?  Who always understands?  Who sits waiting for your company?  Who's always ready to play?  Who's always happy to see you come home?  Who sits by your side to get a belly rub?  Only a puppy.  Best friend forever.  The kids haven't made many friends their age here.  But God brought one of our best friends right to our door!

Rocky jan.  We love you!

(In Armenian "jon" means something like "dear, or friend, or sweetie..."  they spell it "jan" but in English it sounds more like our "jon/john.")

Saturday, October 23, 2010

What do you like best in school?

When I was a kid, people from the newspaper would come to our school every once in a while and ask about 10 kids some random question.  If you got picked, you'd get your picture taken and your answer in the paper!  My friend and I were picked once!  So my picture was in the paper.  I forget the question now... but I think I had my pink coat on with the white fluff around the hood!  Heh.  I think it was something about love...  My Mom might remember!!

Anyway.  It's always fun to hear what kids say so I thought maybe I'd ask them something once in a while and post what they said.  In an earlier post, I had asked where they wanted to live.

Yesterday I asked:  What do you like best in school?

Benjamin:  History and Science and Reading
Hannah:  Reading short stories, some Arithmetic, poems, songs, art
Ruth:  Reading, Math combinations (they play math GAMES for that class!), and Activity Time (which is art, poems, some basic science...)
Elijah:  BIBLE!!!  And my last subject because school's almost over.  Oh, and Activity, and Numbers, and poems, and songs, and Reading but my class doesn't do that yet.  And I like cutting.  (He and I read together but his DVD class doesn't yet...)

Benjamin, Hannah, and Ruth all agree that they don't like Spelling.  And even though they didn't all say Bible was their favorite, that's what they choose to do when go outside at recess time!  We all do Bible Time together with breakfast and our opening.  But at recess it's kids only so I am not usually invited!!  Last week Benjamin and Hannah came in and told me the finished memorizing the verse that they picked out for their own Bible time!  Isaiah 53:1-2.  Love it!  Love their hearts...

~This is "their spot" for studying!  Ruth and Elijah are invited but they're not required to be there!  ;)

Fresh

Orange juice...  Freshly Squeezed!
When we were in Turkey, the hotel provided the meals but if you wanted the good, freshly squeezed juice, that was extra!  Heh...  The kids always looked that the oranges and the juice and we talked about why that was so much more special that it was extra.  Well, it's freshly squeezed so that each day it's new.  It's not the sweet Tang and it's not packaged juice from a bottle.  It's just now been cut and squeezed and made into juice.  I guess that's why it's extra.  Fresh.


Well, they took that thought home with them.  For a month or more, Elijah said, "freshly squeezed" after anything and everything.  "Let's have breakfast, freshly squeezed!"  "Let's read a book, freshly squeezed!" Whatever came to his mind...  "freshly squeezed."  To the point that the other kids were sighing and groaning to hear another "freshly squeezed" comment!  :)  I thought it was kinda cute...


Then, of course, I got to thinking about it a little more.  Every morning, we wake up to new mercies, new compassions from the Lord.  "Freshly squeezed!"


Lamentations 3 says:
 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
       for his compassions never fail.
 They are new every morning;
       great is your faithfulness.


Every morning we also get up to a new word from the Lord, if we so choose.  He wants to speak to us and since His Word is alive and active...  it's a good place to go.  He wants to teach us and tell us how He loves us.  Every day.  Not old news, but new, fresh news!  A new, good word for us each day.  

Isaiah 50:4
He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.


My father-in-law used the Lamentation verse when he was here and spoke up at the Fire Bible office.  This brought my mind back to the whole freshly squeezed thought I'd had earlier since they were so similar.  The thing that he pointed out was how overseas, bread is made and eaten.  Most bread around here is fresh.  It's made that day and kept only a day or two.  In America, we save and store bread for a week or more!  So as we watched them make bread and then took it home (and ate it in the car!  yum!), it brought that thought to his mind, too.  God's Word is new for us every day.  Fresh.


Luke 11:3
Give us each day, or daily bread...


Matthew 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled!


Lord, let us be hungry and thirsty for You each day.  Wake us up excited for a fresh word from you!  What we are hungry and thirsty for... is probably what we are filled with!

Garden of Eden/Car Crash...

Elijah picked "Genesis" for his devotion this week.  I wondered which story he wanted.  After thinking for a minute he said, "The one with the snake."  So I read from the kids' Bible story book about the Garden of Eden, the poor choice Eve made when she listened to the snake and ate the fruit, and how sad everyone was afterwards.  Separation.  Tears.  Hard work.  No more garden.  I thought Elijah just might even cry after the story.  So sad.

Then the question came, "Why didn't God just FORGIVE them??"
Okay, we're getting into some deep theological conversation now.

With four little listening ears, I need to come up with a wise, simple answer to this big question.  They're still slurping up their cereal and drinking their juice.  I think for a minute.  Okay.  Let me come up with something applicable.  Another story.  Here goes:

"What if Daddy tells me that the car has a problem and I shouldn't drive it for a few days.  Simple.  Don't drive the car right now.  Later, I decide that I need to go to town to buy something important.  I figure it's fine.  It'll be a quick trip.  No biggie.  I take the car."

Their eyes get big.

"I get in the car and drive down the highway.  I'm just a little ways away from our house and whatever is broken goes out and the car won't do what I want it to.  I crash into a pole and the car is ruined."

Oh no!

"I call Daddy and say - I took the car and had an accident.  The car is ruined and I'm stuck down the road."

Oh mama...

"Daddy would ask if I was okay and would come to get me.  He would love me and could forgive me right away.  But when we look at the car, it would still be smashed.  We would either not have the car back, or we would have to wait for weeks for it to be fixed.  It would cost a lot of money.  The consequence for my action will still be there, even though Daddy still loves me."

Heads nod.

"What did God do to make things right again for us?  He wants to be with us and us to be with Him.  How did he make that possible again?"

"Jesus!"

"Yes, Jesus came to earth to fix what was wrong.  To make things right.  The consequence of sin is still there.  But so is forgiveness.  He's never stopped loving us.  Things have been and will be made new again.  Because of Jesus."

Consequences.  Because of our choices
Love.  Always from God.
Forgiveness.  Because of Jesus.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Visitors!

It had been almost two years since the kids had seen their grandparents!  For kids, that's forever!  We have seen one family member in all the time we've been here.  So, you can imagine how exciting it was to plan for Grandma and Papa to come visit us!  Whoo!  We had a count-down chain.  We talked about where we'd take them.  The kids wanted to do this and then that with them.  We wondered what they'd like to eat.  There were people we wanted them to meet.  We saw things that we've become used to as they might see them...  So for a month or two we talked about, "When Grandma and Papa are here..."  

And then they CAME!
Reunited!  Sunrise behind them!


Metro! 
Lovely day at Lover's Park 
the Grownups!  ;)

Lots of ice cream!



snuggles and pizza

snuggles

up at the Fire Bible Office
rainy at the Cascades



K...  our letter in Armenian


watching them make bread


Nuthin but the Blood



tea paty



games


chess



Armenian food


Republic Square

chai tea for the ladies

play city for the kids



Grand Candy


zoo


meeting friends at the orphanage


at the market

Khor Virap



meal with Mari jan



Barikamyootsoon...  underground shopping by the metro



last pic together...  we love Grandma and Papa!

They were here for about 10 days!  We ran around Armenia but also took lots of time to just be home and hanging out together.  The time went way too fast, which we knew it would.  And then it was time to say goodbye again!  Sad day.  But we kept telling the kids...  this time it won't take two years before we see them!  We're looking forward to spending time with family again.  Hannie thinks our whole family should move out to the neighborhood that we live in and we'd have church in the meeting room in the middle of the neighborhood!  We love family!  So glad for the time, and hugs, and encouragement, and laughter we shared together.