Okay, so the other day I said a Bible verse as I was talking to the kids and they said something to the effect of ... yeah, Mom, we hear that alllll the time! Well, then...
We started thinking of the top verses that are repeated around our house:
Seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:14
Encourage one another and build each other up. Eph 4:29
Let your words be sweet like honeycomb. Prov 16:24
A friend loves at all times. Prov 17:17
Do to others what you want them to do to you... Matt 7:12
Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 12:2
Fear not. (all over the Bible!) Isaiah 41:10 is a good one...
God always loves you and will never leave you (I guess it's not a direct quote in one verse but...)
You are fearfully and wonderfully made Psalm 139
God has good plans for you. Jeremiah 29:11
Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. James 1:19
Do everything without complaining so that you shine like stars... Phil 1:15
These are some of our top verses to live by right now in the Crawford house! :)
~Crazy Crawfords~ Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy. Embracing Crazy...
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Johny Apple Seed
Well, surprise, surprise: We're pregnant! :) We knew that maybe someday we'd have another one this way, but we really thought it'd be a few months down the road! God had better plans! We're due January 18, 2012, Elijah's 7th birthday!
It's really early and the last thing I read said that the baby is now the size of an apple seed! So small and such a miracle. I told the kids... you were all once tiny apple seeds! :)
The kids are all pumped! Elijah told us that the Lord has answered his prayers! They think eight months is far too long to wait. Some hope it's a boy, some hope it's a girl... guess which ones wish which? :) Lijah's already talked to my tummy! We're all thinking about good baby names! Hannie called that she gets the car seat by the baby! Exciting times at the Crawford house.
When we were in Armenia, we started to realize that God might not send us back overseas for ministry!? At least not right away. And we started praying, What is it You'd have us to do? Where do you want us? What have you placed in our hearts that we can use for Your glory. We kept coming back to: we love kids! And: Kev loves to teach and write. Well, here we are. Kev's teaching Bible and we're on our way to a bigger family. I guess since God's opened those doors, we'll happily walk through them! Kev's doing something meaningful at work as well as at home! God has plans! Of course I'm excited to be doing something meaningful at home, too! God's tug on my heart for kids started out when I was just a kid myself! I thought I'd end up teaching preschool (and I still might!) but right now, home is where I get to stay! Excited to see where God will take us. Following close to Him!
It's such a fine line between, this is what I want and HE is what I want. We always want to lean way more heavily to the You-are-all-I-want side. Can't go wrong with your eyes fixed on Him! Then the rest will be added, right? So as we pursue what we think He wants, we keep our eyes open and fixed on Him more than on the plan.
We will continue to pursue adoption and to pray for a bigger house (and possibly a bigger van?)!
And we will rejoice in the blessing of NEW LIFE growing as we wait for more open doors!!
Trusting the Lord is exciting! A little crazy and wild, too!!
Came across this last week and LOVED it! :)
Anyone who works with small children has the same opportunity as a foreign missionary -- to tell someone about Jesus for the first time.
Also came across this this week in the book Crazy Love:
"Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers." (and sometimes even believers?)
a few pages later... "This place of trust isn't a comfortable place to be; in fact, it flies in the face of everything we've been taught about proper planning..."
It's really early and the last thing I read said that the baby is now the size of an apple seed! So small and such a miracle. I told the kids... you were all once tiny apple seeds! :)
The kids are all pumped! Elijah told us that the Lord has answered his prayers! They think eight months is far too long to wait. Some hope it's a boy, some hope it's a girl... guess which ones wish which? :) Lijah's already talked to my tummy! We're all thinking about good baby names! Hannie called that she gets the car seat by the baby! Exciting times at the Crawford house.When we were in Armenia, we started to realize that God might not send us back overseas for ministry!? At least not right away. And we started praying, What is it You'd have us to do? Where do you want us? What have you placed in our hearts that we can use for Your glory. We kept coming back to: we love kids! And: Kev loves to teach and write. Well, here we are. Kev's teaching Bible and we're on our way to a bigger family. I guess since God's opened those doors, we'll happily walk through them! Kev's doing something meaningful at work as well as at home! God has plans! Of course I'm excited to be doing something meaningful at home, too! God's tug on my heart for kids started out when I was just a kid myself! I thought I'd end up teaching preschool (and I still might!) but right now, home is where I get to stay! Excited to see where God will take us. Following close to Him!
It's such a fine line between, this is what I want and HE is what I want. We always want to lean way more heavily to the You-are-all-I-want side. Can't go wrong with your eyes fixed on Him! Then the rest will be added, right? So as we pursue what we think He wants, we keep our eyes open and fixed on Him more than on the plan.
We will continue to pursue adoption and to pray for a bigger house (and possibly a bigger van?)!
And we will rejoice in the blessing of NEW LIFE growing as we wait for more open doors!!
Trusting the Lord is exciting! A little crazy and wild, too!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyone who works with small children has the same opportunity as a foreign missionary -- to tell someone about Jesus for the first time.
Also came across this this week in the book Crazy Love:
"Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers." (and sometimes even believers?)
a few pages later... "This place of trust isn't a comfortable place to be; in fact, it flies in the face of everything we've been taught about proper planning..."
Social Worker
I called a social worker last week. We wanted to ask a few starter questions about adopting.
First of all, since Kevin is working as a teacher now it is pretty obvious that we won't be making the needed $40,000ish a year to meet the minimum requirements for us to adopt from overseas. So. What's it like to adopt from the states? There isn't the same income requirement. That's cool.
Second, what do we need to have in place to do a homestudy? Right now we're living in my grandma's little two bedroom, one bathroom house. The kids are in bunk beds in the same room and we take turns in the bathroom! :) We're thankful to have a home right now in Williston, ND. Housing is crazy here with the big oil boom! So, yeah, housing is a problem for us to adopt. The social worker told us that we should have space for two children in each room. Okay, so as it is we'd need to be in a three bedroom house, and if we want to adopt we'd at least have to have a four (five??) bedroom house to put the additional kids in!
Then, I asked if we should start the paperwork process now or wait until we have the bigger house? She said we should wait so that we won't have to pay again to have things redone or renewed. She also said I should contact AASK, Adults Adopting Special Kids, because they might have a waiting list that's up to a year. We could at least get on that. So hopefully I'll find a quiet minute or two to do that tomorrow?
So there's our prayer request as of right now. We need a miracle of a big house, for little money! (Remember, Kev's job as a teacher...)
We saw God direct and open the doors for Kev to get this job. He's been feeling more and more like he is a teacher and obviously he loves to study the Bible (just check out his 100+ page thesis on Luke/Acts)... then this job opens up in front of us and there he is, a Bible teacher. So we're thankful and feel like God has him where he wants him.
We also have seen doors start to open up for us to adopt. One of those doors is that we both feel strongly about it! (Comon couples, you know that's huge!) And we've been given over $6000 toward adopting. Waiting for the next open door so that we can use it! It seems like adoption pops out to us everywhere. Books, TV, sermons... hello!
Our hearts are to be a family for a lonely orphan(s) who needs a home. Psalm 68:6
God knows our hearts and our situation.
His heart is also for the orphan.
He is huge and nothing is impossible for Him.
We wait in expectation as we thankfully lay our requests before Him.
First of all, since Kevin is working as a teacher now it is pretty obvious that we won't be making the needed $40,000ish a year to meet the minimum requirements for us to adopt from overseas. So. What's it like to adopt from the states? There isn't the same income requirement. That's cool.
Second, what do we need to have in place to do a homestudy? Right now we're living in my grandma's little two bedroom, one bathroom house. The kids are in bunk beds in the same room and we take turns in the bathroom! :) We're thankful to have a home right now in Williston, ND. Housing is crazy here with the big oil boom! So, yeah, housing is a problem for us to adopt. The social worker told us that we should have space for two children in each room. Okay, so as it is we'd need to be in a three bedroom house, and if we want to adopt we'd at least have to have a four (five??) bedroom house to put the additional kids in!Then, I asked if we should start the paperwork process now or wait until we have the bigger house? She said we should wait so that we won't have to pay again to have things redone or renewed. She also said I should contact AASK, Adults Adopting Special Kids, because they might have a waiting list that's up to a year. We could at least get on that. So hopefully I'll find a quiet minute or two to do that tomorrow?
So there's our prayer request as of right now. We need a miracle of a big house, for little money! (Remember, Kev's job as a teacher...)
We saw God direct and open the doors for Kev to get this job. He's been feeling more and more like he is a teacher and obviously he loves to study the Bible (just check out his 100+ page thesis on Luke/Acts)... then this job opens up in front of us and there he is, a Bible teacher. So we're thankful and feel like God has him where he wants him.
We also have seen doors start to open up for us to adopt. One of those doors is that we both feel strongly about it! (Comon couples, you know that's huge!) And we've been given over $6000 toward adopting. Waiting for the next open door so that we can use it! It seems like adoption pops out to us everywhere. Books, TV, sermons... hello!
Our hearts are to be a family for a lonely orphan(s) who needs a home. Psalm 68:6
God knows our hearts and our situation.
His heart is also for the orphan.
He is huge and nothing is impossible for Him.
We wait in expectation as we thankfully lay our requests before Him.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Two special Birthday kids...
I was planning to update this in April... before it was too late!! Heh! Two of our beautiful babies were born in March. Ruth was born on March 5th and Benjamin on March 31st. Benjamin was due in April and I was sure Ruth would come a little early and be born in February... Nope, they both came in March. :) And we're glad they did! Our two red haired blessings!
Benjamin is in his last year before being a teenager! So crazy. Our baby! We see him growing fast but he's still likes to sit close and snuggle a little bit once in a while. I'm enjoying it while it lasts! He's funny, and clever, and smart. He knows his Bible, loves facts, and has a great memory. He's still into sports and likes basketball and baseball. When we thank the Lord for things, Benjamin usually thanks Him for books and technology!
Ruthie is still our spunky girl. She just turned eight years old! She keeps us on our toes! She loves music and dancing. She really loves moving of any kind! This spring, after three years away from bikes, she pulled out a two wheeler and started riding it! Before we went overseas she had only ridden her little bike with training wheels. Now we're back and she's off! (Check out the previous blog about her bike/rock adventure!) Everyday when we thank the Lord for something, she usually picks "nature"! She likes being outside digging up worms or catching ladybugs.
There's my two March sweeties! I'm so glad God's given them life and purpose and put them in our care!
 |
| playing some ball for his birthday! |
Ruthie is still our spunky girl. She just turned eight years old! She keeps us on our toes! She loves music and dancing. She really loves moving of any kind! This spring, after three years away from bikes, she pulled out a two wheeler and started riding it! Before we went overseas she had only ridden her little bike with training wheels. Now we're back and she's off! (Check out the previous blog about her bike/rock adventure!) Everyday when we thank the Lord for something, she usually picks "nature"! She likes being outside digging up worms or catching ladybugs.
There's my two March sweeties! I'm so glad God's given them life and purpose and put them in our care!
 |
| Roo!! :) |
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