Tbilisi Georgia

Every 120 days, our visas expire and we need to leave the country and come back in again to apply for new visas. This time we drove up through the mountains in northern Armenia and crossed the boarder to continue on up into Georgia's capital, Tbilisi. A friend of a friend met us at the boarder so we could follow him up... good thing, too, because we would have been so lost in Tbilisi! Big, pretty city! We drove through town some and then stopped at... McDonalds!! :) We don't have anything like that here in Yerevan so that was eeeexciting! After that we went to their ministry center for the night and in the morning we headed back to Armenia. So it was a short trip but still fun to see around! Next time, we'll try to plan to stay a little longer!
(And to check out their other two McDonalds!!)On the way back to Yerevan, we got a flat tire... in the mountains... in the snow... in the cold... just outside a little village. Kevin drove us back to the gas station there and we had about 6 guys come and help. It was freezing out there and the tire was stuck on there pretty good. After they all worked hard and we all thanked them a lot, we waved good bye and Kev turned the key to start the car back up - dead. No battery. Not a sound... Wait, guys... come back! :) We jumped the car and it was all good. Needless to say, we were pretty happy to get back home where we were safe and warm!

Our visa's expire on May 28th so at least there shouldn't be as much snow then!! Heh.

(The last two pics are Kote, who took care of us!! Thank you!! And the last one, we were just getting into the snow... see the zig zagging sign?!)

Back to Bethlehem

We finally got back to Bethlehem Orphanage! After almost a YEAR... for crying out loud! :) (We had to track down the number and address and the main lady isn't there anymore and then Christmas came... yada, yada.) We were so glad to find the place again and to get back up there! We recognized some of the kids from last March and some of them even recognized us! Crazy.
It's a special needs orphanage with about 8 older kids between the ages 5-10 and more babies upstairs. We didn't see this time because a few were sick. A lot of the kids we played with have down syndrome and a few are in wheelchairs. We went there with balloons and a guitar and all of our kids. It was a good time and we're hoping to get back up there every Saturday! It's great for us and for our kids and the gals up there say it's great for their kids to play with ours, too! Yea! We're looking forward to getting to know them better. Pray that we'll be a blessing to them... I know they'll be a blessing to us! Pray for us, too... our hearts are open to adoption and we are praying to be walking in the path the Lord has for us!

January 21st Christmas!

My family sent Christmas presents the beginning of December... and we got them January 21st! So after waiting a month... we had the second half of our Christmas! Pretty exciting. Everything made it over, too! Before we opened the packages, we decided to watched the Muppet's Christmas again, just to get in the spirit. And our tree was left up for the celebration so we were set there... surprisingly, I'm the one ready for it to be put away... even Kevin wants it to stay up! Heh. Weird. We read all the names for Jesus that we tore off for our Christmas chain count down. (They had been put on the tree after we tore them off!) And opened up our gifts from home!

There's nothing like getting love from home! Whoo-hoo! Christmas on January 21st!

Our baby is FIVE years old!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Elijah Edward Crawford! Time goes by so fast. Lijah's adorable, curious, smart, learning to read, friendly, snuggly, sweet with babies, quick to make a friend, and very talkative! Even while I type, he's talking, talking... I think about Kung Fu Panda. Heh... We are so blessed to have our baby boy, er, I mean, little man as our son. Love that kid!

We had kind of a low key birthday for him... After Monday devotions, we had cake with our friends up at the Fire Bible Office. Then for lunch we had pizza at Play City with our family and Oliver, his buddy. The kids got to play games and climb in the play place. That night we came home to watch a "new, good movie" because that's what Lijah had asked for... but when we were about to start the movie Up, he decided he'd rather watch an old Magic School bus! Birthday boy gets to call the shots so Magic School bus it was! He said, "Look at all my presents!" to the 5 or so gifts that he got! Honey. He went to bed with a smile on his face. Fearfully and Wonderfully made!

video of the kids singing for Christmas

This is part of the kid's program for the Christmas service on January 6th, in Hrazdan! Such sweeties! :)

Merry Armenian Christmas!

Tsoorb Tsnoond! Holy Birthday! We got to spend the Armenian Christmas in Hrazdan with friends! They had a great church service with kids singing and dancing and songs. We went to have dinner with our friends after the service. Love those guys. The kids had a blast! It's fun for them to have friends here to fill in for their aunts and uncles in the states! After we came back to Yerevan we went downtown and saw the big tree in the square!

Let me show you some of our Christmas here!


A few days before the Armenian Christmas, we went to a Santa show with Nadela and her kids... Ruth says the girl with Santa is Mary Christmas! :)

Happy Birthday, Kevy!

Thank You, Lord, for my sweet Kevin. He's so smart and tender. He wants to serve You with all his heart and take good care of us. We are so blessed because you gave Kevin life!

12 days of Christmas

We tried to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas this year! The 12 days fall right between our American Christmas and the Armenian Christmas which is on January 6th! So it was a fun way for us to kind of count own between them! Tradition says that it was a mnemonic device to teach the catechism to youngsters.

1. A Partridge in the Pear Tree is for Jesus
2. Two Turtle Doves is for the Old and New Testaments
3. Three French Hens is for Faith, Hope, and Love
4. Four Calling Birds are for the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
5. Five Golden Rings are for the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
6. Six Geese a laying are for the six days of Creation.
7. Seven Swans a Swimming are for The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: 1) prophecy, 2) ministry, 3) teaching, 4) exhortation, 5) giving, 6) leading, and 7) compassion (Romans 12:6-8; cf. 1 Corinthians 12:8-11)
8. Eight maids a milking are for The eight Beatitudes: 1) Blessed are the poor in spirit, 2) those who mourn, 3) the meek, 4) those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 5) the merciful, 6) the pure in heart, 7) the peacemakers, 8) those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. (Matthew 5:3-10)
9. Nine Ladies Dancing are for The nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit: 1) love, 2) joy, 3) peace, 4) patience, 5) kindness, 6) generosity, 7) faithfulness, 8) gentleness, and 9) self-control. (Galatians 5:22)
10. Lords a Leaping are for the Ten Commandments: 1) You shall have no other gods before me; 2) Do not make an idol; 3) Do not take God's name in vain; 4) Remember the Sabbath Day; 5) Honor your father and mother; 6) Do not murder; 7) Do not commit adultery; 8) Do not steal; 9) Do not bear false witness; 10) Do not covet. (Exodus 20:1-17)
11. Eleven Pipers Piping are for the eleven faithful apostles.
12. Twelve Drummers Drumming are for The twelve points of doctrine in the the apostles creed.

Merry Christmas!

We spent our first Christmas away from home and family this year. But overall I think we all had a pretty good time! On Christmas Eve we were happily surprised to find a flock of sheep at the end of the block with shepherds keeping watching over them! What a great Christmas gift. One that we'll always remember. We got to talk about the Good News coming to the shepherds and see the picture of it right in front of us! We watched the Nativity story and had cookies that we had baked. After Kev read the Christmas story, we opened a couple presents an put boots under the tree (our stockings are still in the states!) and went to bed. In the morning we found a few goodies and opened one last present. We spent the day playing and watching movies and that evening we ate our turkey and mashed potatoes! Christmas! In between all those things, we skyped with our families back in the states. So happy we're a family and that we have a great family in America, too!