Zaccheus was a...

Elijah loves the song about Zaccheus. So when we studied it in our Bible Facts book during our Bible time, he was pretty excited. We sang the song a few times and did the actions... all that good stuff. Then we read about Zaccheus. After we read, the thought came to my mind.. Here's this cheat who no one likes that Jesus loved. His life was changed. Who knows what else he did after Jesus left (besides pay everyone back more then double what he'd cheated). We can guess that he was a kind, good man who walked in the way of the Lord. And now, 2000 years later, we have this goofy kid's song that everyone knows him by. I wonder if he ever dreamed that he would be known as that "wee little man" to millions of people!

So I threw out the question to the kids... What do you suppose people will sing about us in the future? We laughed about basic things like having red hair and blue eyes (because he's described as little...). Then we came up with our very own Zaccheus song for our family... it's too cute so let me type it up to share with you!


The Crawfords were a family
A missions family
They packed and moved to Yerevan
The Lord they wanted to please
And as they read the Word of God
The Bible told them this:
-God said:
Crawfords: You trust Me
For I'll always be with you...
I'll always be with you.


What will we be known for to those who follow us 2000 years from now!? :)

Rock-Tober

It has been a crazy, busy month for us!! First of all, we packed up and moved around the block when our manager told us that the apt we were in was temporary... Our new place is up a little higher and we can see more of the city from here. We are renting from a couple who lives above us but who spend half the year in Canada. Downstairs is a garage and a room for our washer (and soon to be dryer...). That room has also been used for a band practice room... cool!

We also adopted a puppy the end of Sept... our neighbors moved and left him behind. He's about 3 months old and we named him Rocky. He's got a little house on our back deck and seems to like it there!

We also got a new vehicle! We've been borrowing Nick's and Olivia's cars while they were in the states to have their baby girl. Now they're back and we have a new car! It is actually the Armenia Team vehicle and we get to use it while we're here!

Team Armenia also has a new member, a single guy named Chad. And another girl, Carissa, will be here in January!

Nick and Olivia have had conferences since they got back and we've had a ton of band practices in our washer/dryer room! The Rama band has played in church three Sundays now. They've done well and are still working on getting better! We're honored to be a part of their group.

Tomorrow is also.... Hannah's birthday!! 9 years old. Our little honey bunny.

I'd write more, but w're running out the door now to show Scott around Armenia!! That's right, Kev's brother made the trip over and will be here for 5 days. We're so glad to see him!

Off I go... Catch you again sooner then last time, hopefully!!

--oh yeah, we also drove up to Georgia to cross the boarder and renew our visas!! I'll have to spend time on here to upload pics of that trip!! pretty, but twisty roads... our little guy lost his lunch twice!!

*updated: here's a pic of us by a monastery in northern Armenia. We drove up to the Georgia boarder but just walked across it... so we didn't get to see too much of Georgia! Ha... next time, maybe?! We need to go back in January. The kids were hoping to get to Tbilisi because there's a McDonald's there!! But our new vehicle didn't have some stamp or cover over the paperwork or something that was required to leave the country... sooooo...

Robin Hood

For our family night last week, we watched Robin Hood. It was so interesting to watch the boys watch the fighting and chasing parts and the girls watch the relationship parts... Boys and girls. Now the girls are playing school and the boys are outside playing bow and arrow! :) The girls latest play has been orphanage... little polly pockets taking care of each other!

Just heard a speaker talk about how she went to a princess party and everyone was dressed up as a prince or princess. She said the kids didn't even act like they were dressed up... that was what they were made to do. The boys had swords and were strong and the girls wore dresses and tiaras and they were lovely. She said we were born to be royal. That is our destinay. Somewhere along the way we think we better grow up... when really that's what lies ahead for us. Lovely. Strong. In Christ.

jealous

God is a jealous God. I know that makes some people uncomfortable. I even heard (or read?) that was what made Oprah turn away from her faith. That made me think. Is it a big deal? Just want does He mean? How can we understand that better... Really, it's not as weird as it sounds...

One of the definitions in the dictionary: "-vigilant in maintaining or guarding something... ex, the Americian people are jealous of their freedom." Another definition says "Bible. intolorant of unfaithfulness or rivalry. ex, The Lord is a jealous God."

The Hebrew for jealous (used in the Bible) is "qanna" which is the same as"qinah" which mean "zeal or jealous."

Phil Joel has a song called Jealous and I heard he wrote it after he read through Hosea. Hosea is the story of a man who marries a prostitute and she leaves him... he goes looking for her and has to buy her back. What a story of love that keeps seeking and loving even when it's not deserved... such a parallel to Israel (and believers) being saught after/pursued by God who is the ultimate Lover of our souls. We are His. He loves us and wants us to be truly/only His.

Kevin is my husband. If he was out with other women, I would be jealous. And it would be appropriate for me to be. He is my love. He should be with me. We are God's... and we should be with Him. His love is complete. Pure. Even more then a man and a wife. Maybe a closer example would be if someone took my child or he/she ran away... I would be out of my mind!

We are the apple of God's eye. (Psalm 17:8, Zech He created us and loves us.

Seek Him first.
Come to Me...

No one can love us like He loves us. He wants what's best for us - and that's Him! He has such blessings waiting for us!
Really, what an honor for Him to love us like that!

God is a jealous God.


Phil Joel - Jealous
(the first half of the song...)

Come to Me
Come to Me
I have been waiting
The sun will be rising
Come to Me
Come to Me
I have a ring for your finger
Don't let the past come between us
Don't you run to the arms of another
They won't love you like I can love you
Don't you know I am a jealous God
I am a jealous God
So, come to Me
Come to Me
When you're not sure how you feel
When the idols start calling
And to their arms you're falling
Don't you run to the arms of another
I will hold you
I am able
To lead you beside the still and living waters
I've set a feast upon the table
Oh, I am a jealous lover
NO one can love you like I love you
So come to me
Where are you
My beloved?
My beloved, where are you?

under your nose

Do you ever have one of those moments when, say, you're teaching your kids and then you realize that the Lord probably prompted them to ask you that so that you'd hear your own words and, thus, teach yourself?! :)

Benjamin overheard me tell someone that it was "under her nose" the other day. "What's that mean?!" Well... I explained... "When someone's looking and looking for something and then they find it in an obvious place we say it was right under their nose. Obvious. In front of them." Sometimes we look so hard for an answer and it's right in front of us! Hummm, Lord...

One other time this week, I was helping one of my kids with a sore on the top of their hand. I was right in front of them and while I was busy trying to turn their hand down toward me to apply ointment, they were busy trying to pull it up so that they could see what I was doing (and if I was doing it right...) I told them in a motherly way... "Stop doing that! You don't need to see... I do! I'm taking care of you. Trust me." Hummmm, Lord.....

Keep your ears open! Next time you're teaching someone... the lesson might just be intended for you! :)

books/music

We love books and music. If you come to our house, someone will be doing one or both of those things. The kids read at night until it's too dark to see your hand in front of you (and by then it's time to be sleeping anyway!). Hannie is already telling me that she's read every one of the books we brought over! Benjamin has, too, I think, but he is a little more content to read and re-read! He also has his own little Walkman thingy - like an IPod. So he's got headphones on and a smile on his face half of the day! Right now some of our favorite artists are TobyMac and Phil Joel (and the Newsboys). The kids have liked PureNRG, a teen band. You know we have to listen to some Veggies and Boz, too! And of course, we're listening to our favorite Armenian band - the Rama band from our church! Kev's helped them record 4 or 5 songs and we love it. We're hoping to learn all the words to all those songs...

As far as books go, I've been reading some of the Mitford Series and some of Janatte Oke's series, Love Comes Softly. I read the Oke books forever ago and when we watched the first few movies, a friend of mine said that they weren't totally the same as the books... so now I'm re-reading the first few books to compare! My mom lent me some books from one of her favorite authors, Susan Meissner. We've also read some books from YWAM about the early missionaries. Good stuff. Benjamin loves the Civil War! He and Kevin, the history men! Hannie's been reading the Cul de sac kids books and Janette Oke has some cute kids books called Animal Friends. We're also reading the Life of Faith series about Elsie right now together at night. Just finished all the Narnia books a month or so ago. Ruth and Elijah love any book with pictures and will come if I start reading! We had a good discussion the other day about if you'd rather have a Noothbrush on your toothbrush or a Bofa on the sofa... all those different goofy guys from Dr Seuss.

There you have it! Stop on by and sit to hear a book or dance to TobyMac with us! We might even make you a tea or coffee to be a hospitable Armenian! :)

(okay, so Elijah really didn't fall aleep reading this book... but it was too cute to pass up. He took a nap on Daddy's side of the bed one day! Sweet.)

Typical MIssionary

There is no typical missionary. At least that's my opinion! Since we've been thrown into the M mix, we've seen so many different people working out here. And not just focused on different ministries or in different areas. Different kinds of people are here. If you've ever said, "I couldn't do that because..." I'm guessing that someone on the field has your same reason - but is here anyway.

We've met missionaries who are single, who are married with many kids. Older people, young people. People who have some medical problems or physical handicaps. One guy who's done missions for many years told us that he's a terrible traveler! As a missionary... you travel! Lots. And he does... it's just not fun. He even has to ride in front seat of the car to not get car sick! Some missionaries like fine things and live in nice homes, some try to get by on just a little bit and wear the same clothes for like 10-20 years. Some missionaries love to be outside camping and some love to do inside things like teaching or computer work. Some love classical music, some love rock... you get the idea!? :)

All missionaries do have one thing in common... they've left family and loved ones behind when they came overseas. I think everyone has someone back home with a health issue... aging parents, alcoholic relative, dying friend, birth of a friend's/family's baby... Missionaries miss their kids who are in college, nieces and nephews growing up, family/friends weddings...

While there are tons of different people out there... they're all missing someone back home! I think it's pretty safe to say that most missionaries are totally loving lots of people where they live now, too... there will always be someone to miss after you've lived overseas!

Now, while there are lots of different people ministering abroad... let me share one more thought about our journey! Most of the people we've meet have come to serve some specific people group or do some specific project. Kevin and I have found that we more just kinda followed the Lord's leading - and here we are! We kept taking baby steps and going through open doors. Totally cool... now you can pray that we keep close enough to Him to continue to follow that leading! We're trying to find our "thing" to focus on here. We've always loved orphans and hope to work with them some. Kev's doing some worship team training and we've both enjoyed that. Homeschooling starts in the next week or two and that will be a big ministry of mine! We are seeing doors open and are moving forward... just hoping to see really clearly.

My devotions today were focused on our family verse:

Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to Him who is able
to do above and beyond
all we can ask or imagine
according to His power
that is at work within us
To Him be the glory
in the church
and in Christ Jesus
and from generation to generation.

We're excited to see what He will do that's above what we can even think as He works in us!

some of what we're up to here...

I just realized that you haven't really got to see a lot of what we're up to as far as ministries here! Of course we're just making friends and finding connections... Learning how to get around and shop... But we've done a few other things, too! (I try to stay on top of Facebook, if you wanna find me there: jilljohnsoncrawford -to see some daily updates!)

The thing we do almost everyday: language! We have a tutor come over four mornings a week now. It was five, but we switched to four in the hopes that we could have her come an extra month or so... We have three months of tutoring planned into our budget as Missionary Associates. So Nadela comes four times a week to teach us, along with Marine who comes to watch/teach the kiddos! Love those two friends!

Then, Kevin is helping a church here get a live worship band going. They sing live on Sundays now but just by a synthesized keyboard that has all the tracks on it. So now they're learning to have individual instruments and how to play as a team. About 8-10 people meet at our house every Tuesday and we love them! The kids look forward to their weekly practices, too! They band hopes to start leading on Sundays sometime this fall, maybe September. They're such a great bunch and are learning a lot. Kevin is enjoying his time working with them! One guy came for an extra bass practice this week, too. Another church is hoping to have Kev come help their worship team, too, so hopefully that will work out in the future.

The Fire Bible offices has devotions together every Monday morning and Kevin and I have had the opportunity to be a part of that since Nick and Olivia are back in the states with their brand new baby girl, Ava! The girls working up there are some really good friends and love the Lord. Usually the kids come along and watch a movie while we talk, but after that they usually get some snack or get to draw on their white board... good stuff! :)

When we first got here we went to a special needs orphanage and we are trying to get back up there. We'd heard it can be tough to get in to orphanages but since we've already been up there and been asked to come back, we thought it'd be pretty easy! Now the hard part for us has been to track down the address and phone number! Arg. We'll continue to see how we can serve orphans as the doors open...

Both Kev and I have been involved in outreaches, too. I spoke at a womens retreat in Hrazdon, a town north of here, and Kev sang a couple songs at an outreach in the city of Ararat, a town south of here!

We're trying to help Nick and Olivia as they prepare some conferences scheduled for this October. One for women, and one for church planters. Our friend, Marine, is really the one here doing tons of work for it... but we try to help her with whatever we can!

So. We have a few things that we've been up to! Some days we feel like we should be doing more, and some days we're just exhausted with what we are doing! They say that just living overseas can be exhausting... I guess you have to get out there and do it to know what they mean... Just driving and not being sure you're doing the right thing (Kev's been pulled over 6 times, and I got a parking ticket once!), trying to shop when you can't understand/can't speak, having simple things like a pipe fixed or a light replaced... all these little things can be a lot more stressful then in the states where we can at least speak and understand! Driving over pot holes all day alone could be stressful! Ha. With wild drivers whipping past! :)

We have learned more of the language which we're happy about... but still have a lot more to learn! It's easier to understand then to speak. Which is logical, I guess! We're glad we know the alphabet now and can read some. The kids are enjoying learning and seem to be doing well here. So that's huge! Our new year of homeschooling material should be on its way... whoo!

So here we are! This is what we're doing. We've been here 5 months already! You can pray for wide open doors for us and wisdom in what we should be involved in! Mostly, we need prayer just for keeping our eyes focused on Jesus, the whole reason we do anything!

-Oh, we also have family night on Fridays... and Kevin has successfully learned how to call and order pizza in Armenian now! He's become Kevin jan to the pizza guy, even! (Jan, pronounced like john, is a sweet term like "friend" or "dear"... something like that-there's no exact translation!) You know you're settling in when you're friends with the pizza guy, right?!

Auntie Jill and Uncle Kevin!!!

This week I became and Auntie for the first time. Auntie Jill. I've dreamed of being called that... and now the time has come! :) Blake and Crystal gave birth to their first little baby girl this last week. July 8th, 2009. 07-08-09. Emma Joy. She is a beautiful little baby girl with a head of dark hair. The blessed us by video skyping us just a couple hours after her birth. We are so thrilled! And soooo far away! Agh. We knew when we came that she would be born with us overseas. And we knew that it'd be hard to be far away... but we're reeeally far away!! Really far.


Blake and Crystal are also some of our very best friends, on top of being our family. So what a blessing. And here we are... too far away to celebrate and too far away to be of help. That's totally the hardest thing about missions work... being far away. And now I've realized that even when we go back to the states... we'll be far away from our friends who have become like family here! We will always be far away from someone we love from now on. Uff.

But we will be thankful for all these people that we love no matter where they are - or we are!!

For now, our desktop is Emma and her family! :) Our skype is open in case we catch them online. Our hearts and prayers are in North Dakota!

You can pray for my sister-in-law, too. She had a loooong labor ending in a C-section. She's slowly healing and has high blood pressure to boot. Not how she wanted to spend her first few weeks with her new little love. On top of that, Ricky and Lisa are also some of her best friends along with us. (She, Lisa, and I, along with another dear friend, Anne, have done Bible studies together for like 7 years and continue to study together over Skype...) Their little one died the day after Emma was born. (See previous post.) So now she's got her little love to hold while she knows Lisa's arms are empty. They would have ("should have") had their two little girls grow up along side each other... Such joy and heartache right now.

And we're sooo far away... (You can tell how we feel this week...)

We all stand determined to bless the name of the Lord. But are so sad. And so happy. It's been an emotional week.

After the kids "met" their new - only - cousin on Skype, Hannie said, "Now I really feel far away." I totally understand. We want to be over there hugging - everyone!


Emma Joy is here. We're looking forward to the day we get to snuggle that sweet little girl. For now, her mama and daddy will have to do that extra for us! (Along with everyone else living in GF... we've told them all to give her love for us and to say our name a lot so she knows us when we come!!!) I'm an Auntie. Kevin has claimed her as ours... our little niece. She has our heart. She is a Joy. We're in love.

Sophia Lynn

Last month some of our best friends from North Dakota, Rick and Lisa, gave birth to their third baby and their first little girl. We knew we'd miss being around to celebrate her birth day. But we were so glad to hear she was born and all was well. Two weeks later, we heard that she was flown to the Fargo hospital and not doing well. She had a serious infection and the MRI's were showing blood clots and brain damage. After days in the hospital, our friends were told she was having seizures and that there was more brain damage. They had to decide to turn off her breathing support and she passed away right away. Their healthy baby girl, born three weeks earlier.


We are so broken for them. And feeling soooo far away from home. We spent the morning crying for their loss. Eleven years ago, our two month old baby boy passed away and we had to plan a funeral and pick a place to bury him. Not the thing a new mama and daddy should have to do.

We know that God will carry them and be their strength through this. But going through the valley can seem to take a long time. God is close to the brokenhearted. He is the God of Comfort and the Prince of Peace. They know Him as their Rock and will know Him better after all of this.

We can grieve with hope. Heaven is a little more of a reality when part of you is already there...

This week... our hearts are in North Dakota.

Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July... in Armenia!

We ate hot dogs, watched baseball, made red white and blue stars, had a red white and blue fruit salad, had potato chips, made chocolate chip/M&M cookies, sang patriotic songs... tried to really be American! :)

(Kevin missed the fireworks... especially now that the kids are a little older... last year they kinda enjoyed all the lighting of fireworks for the first time. I missed the parades and riding motorcycle with my Dad! Still, we celebrated and had a good day!)

We love the USA!

mother's day/father's day

Just wanted to post some pics for you to see our mother's day treasure and our father's day treasures... :) We love these kiddos who have made us a mom and dad! For mother's day we went to and Italian place here in Yerevan... yum. And for Father's Day we ate brownies! We had just gotten some in a package from the Blake and Crystal! Of course the best thing we did to celebrate, was to hang out with our sweet little loves!

A year of Homeschooling!

Here's to a year of homeschooling! :)

Ruth officially finished her last day of Kindergarten on Saturday! Whoo! She is now on her way to 1st grade! Wow. She's learned to read and write (in cursive!) and add and subtract! We're still working on tying shoes... but overall she's all set! It's been hardest for her to be homeschooled, I think... she's so active and tactile and relational... Hannah would like friends to do school games with and Benjamin would love to play some sports with his buddies. But we can tell that Ruth enjoys learning more with people and while doing things! She has done well, though, even as the only kindergartner here! She also went to an Armenian preschool (Inchuig) two days a week with our tutor's daughter. She got to graduate from Inchuig last week with some of her Armenian friends. She did great there but it was overwhelming, too! She made some friends but with the language barrier, she was pretty shy! We're proud of her for being out there doing her best!
--This is our 100 Days of Homeschooling Party that we had back in March! Whoo! 100! Cake and candies and paints and balloons! Par-tee!


Hannah has gotten so responsible! She is enjoying writing; she is creative and artistic. This year she told me she loves Math, too! Go, girl! (That isn't my strongest subject...) She has always loved the singing and Bible part of school and will watch those parts over again while she does her seatwork. After school she loves to play school with Ruth and Elijah (and Benjamin when he'll do it!). She says she wants to be a teacher! Hopefully next year we'll be able to hook up with another missionary family that has a boy and girl in between Benjamin and Hannie. Then they'll have some friend time and Hannah will like that! Daddy has also begun to teach Hannah some piano lessons! She's excited about that.

Benjamin loves to learn. Even when he's not doing school, he's reading a book or watching a documentary about the states or the presidents. He loves knowledge! I wouldn't have to do anything to help him in school but say - Go! Learn! and he would! Math is the one subject that has been harder for him. We're doing the whole Abeka curriculum and at the school they were at before they used some Abeka, but not their math. So he switched curriculums for that subject and this has been a little harder for him.... Again, not my strong suit so Daddy and Benjamin have spent some time together with Math. For science and history he got to study some of his favorite things this year: the ocean, space, the Civil War... I think that before he did the class he knew more then what they taught him! He's read and studied all those things a lot already! Heh. Right now we're doing the Iowa Basic Tests! Go Benjamin!

Next year Elijah will be old enough for Preschool - four years old! We're still trying to figure out just what we'll do for him. I have done some numbers and letters with him but nothing serious. He's learned a lot just living with four older siblings! And now he's learning some Armenian, as well! Pretty cool for a little guy.

We've enjoyed homeschooling and are preparing to order next years curriculum any day now! What an accomplishment for the Crawford family! A year of Homeschooling under our belt! :)

allergic to cleaning

I have had a few allergies or skin problems in the past few months!

First, I had some foot infection between my pinky toe (and the one next to it... does that toe have a name??). I went to the doctor a couple times during the month of May and had different medicines to apply and creams and then some oral pills... It seems to be better now. So I'm hoping that it stays away. In the end the skin doctor said something about athletes foot but I'm still not totally convinced! Maybe that and something else... I had some trouble with my foot back when I was pregnant with Elijah, so 5 years ago, and it's always been a little bit funky since then! But they say skin things are hard to figure out so since it hasn't bothered me, until May when it got infected and swollen, I've just let it be. But now I've had the chance to visit the hospital here and check all that out in case we ever need to go there again in the future! Heh. My sweet jan (my friend), Marine, came along with me to all the dr. visits and to get the medicines and stuff... Only a good friend can go with you and see your infected foot, right!? :)

--The pic is just to show you my foot's okay now! :)

I've also had the typical sneezey allergies. One day I rode the taxi into town with Marine and Nadela after they were here to tutor/babysit and as we rode I think I sneezed like 40 times! I don't know if it was just spring pollen or dust in the taxi or maybe cigarette smoke (LOTS of smokers here!)... I dunno but I about blew my head off during that 20 minute ride into town! Heh.

Then just before we left for Turkey, I got some big rash type thing all over! Can you believe it? We had friends over the day before and I swept all over the house and moped and cleaned... and it was hot so I was sweaty... I did change my clothes but didn't take a whole shower. Then that night after our friends left, I noticed some white, itchy bumps on my neck. I've gotten one or two small mosquito type white bumps ever since I was little and we've thought it was an allergy to cats... But these small bumps got bigger and bigger. Of course, our electricity went out that night so there was no hot water for me to take a good shower! I rinsed off the best I could and did shower when the hot water came back! But the next day... I was all itchy and the white bumps were getting bigger and all over me! I put our aloe vera on and laid in bed (the day before we left for Turkey when we had tons of packing to do...)! That night I got some Allegra from Nick's and Olivia's place and that seemed to help. But when we left the next morning for Turkey, I still had a few fading bumps... By the time we got to Turkey it all seemed to be gone and they haven't come back since then.

So I guess I'm officially allergic to cleaning! Poor me, huh?! ;)

Turkey

To retreat or not to retreat...


We were able to take our first Missionary Retreat in Turkey this year! We didn't know if we'd make it because of finances, which is what most missionaries say. But all of the leaders in missions encourage it because looking back they can see that those who do not retreat are typically the ones who leave the field or burn out or have to take some other time or medical time later down the road. So the leaders who look out for us say: Go to your retreat!

For us, it was a good chance to meet a few other "M's" working in our area. It's good to see what's going on around you and to know who is there. We were glad to make connections and especially glad for our kiddos to make some connections and to see that they're not alone in this overseas - MK life! Benjamin was one of the few (only) boys! But he did well, besides a few days of stomach trouble! Hannie made a good new friend from Moldova. Ruth made friends with everybody she laid eyes on! Ha. It's good for her to have some extended family to love on and be loved by. Although we had to watch her because others around the hotel thought she was pretty sweet, too, and we didn't know everyone! She had to be taught a little bit about strangers and who it was okay to be with... Elijah got to be included in the big kids class! He's Mr Four now and not a baby. He only had one accident in his pants... (arg... but he's soo much better now then before... lots of changes lately for a little man!) They had great teachers and are still talking about them like they're our new family!


We had mornings and evenings of meetings and open afternoons to go to the pool or beach or just to lay in our room! Ha. (We did some of that for Benjamin's sake... poor guy!) We meet together for meetings in the mornings and had a guest speaker encourage us in the evenings. It was nice to worship in English with Americans and hear sermons in English, too! We went into town one day with some friends and had Burger King ice creams! Lots of people went to Starbucks but since we're not huge coffee drinkers, we just got brownies to share! Yum. Fun to get to do those things that we haven't done for a few months!

I could share notes and things with you from our meetings... but I'm not sure that's what you're looking for on a blog?? :)

Ephesus
One extra treat for us is that we got to tour the ruins of Ephesus. Paul spent like 3 years there and you can read about it in Acts. Then he also wrote his letter to the Ephesians which you can read, too! :) It was totally cool to walk the streets that Paul had walked. To try to go back in time and imagine who walked there and what life was like back then. We had a friend stop along the tour and read from Ephesians about the different people finding unity there. It was an interesting experience for us. I took tons of pics if you wanna see them at our flickr site! While we walked through ruins on a 1oo degree afternoon, another friend of ours watched the kids and took them swimming at the pool!! Thanks, Mary!!! :) We all liked that arrangement. Although Benjamin was torn about whether to come with us or stay and swim... he's our history lover. In the end a cool pool with friends won out! Hannah told us to take pictures and they'd look at them! Heh.


Traveling to Turkey:
Since the boarder between Turkey and Armenia are closed... we had to fly up to Riga, Latvia and then back down to Istanbul, to Izmir, and then drive the hour to the hotel. Latvia is way up by Finland so that's a long way to go when we're down by Iran! Loooong flights to go and come back.


When we got off the plane in Izmir to find the guy who would take us to the hotel, the sign he held said Benjamin Crawford! Awesome. So Benjamin was the man of the family for a while! :)

Every night we had our doors open to catch the breeze (the hotel only ran the AC for like 3 hours at night...) and they did a concert down in the little amphitheater outside our window... so we learned their routine pretty well! Bedtime music... it started at like 10. (Supper started at 7:30!!)

On the way back it was over 24 hours to get home! When we got on the planes, Lijah would be asleep even before we got in the air! We got home and crashed... talk about jet lag just from visiting the country right next door to you!

Our flight from Riga to Yerevan left at 12:30 AM... and the sun was still setting when we boarded the plane! Kinda cool... it's up close to St Petersburg where they have the "White Nights".

Home
We were glad to get home and contemplated what makes home - home. ND will always be "home" but we were glad to feel like this was "home", too. I don't know if it's where your things are, where your routine is, where your friends are, where things are familiar... probably all of those things together?! We're here and together and home! One of our speakers said her and her husband decided where ever they were, they would make "home". Since they travel so much. Ruth does a good job of that! To her, we lived in Turkey for a week! :) The speaker also talked about making your home be home, letting God dwell in you and being at home with Him, and then our Home in heaven which we should always remember... Someday we'll really be home.

friends

Some of our friends here in Armenia!

Amarikatsi em

Ամերիկացի

Amarikatsi em... I am American. These words have new meaning for us. Here in Armenia, it means - we don't know what we're doing! Heh.

When my taxi dropped me off and I had to switch to another one (see the post further down), when I got in to the next taxi and wasn't sure what was going on, the man asked me, "Amarikatsie ek?" And answered, "Aio, Yes Amarikooi em." which is the way to say I'm an American if you're a girl. Anyway... he smiled big and nodded. (But that's about where the conversation stopped...!) :) Most Armenians like to hear us try to talk in Armenian. A friend said that they don't hear a lot of forigners speak in Armenian so when they do hear it they enjoy that...

Anyway... People think that Americans, in general, are smart and have a lot going for them, which is true. But here, we realize that as an American, we only know one language and we don't know street rules or cultural norms... We watch other people float in and out of three or four languages and explain cultures and history...

We are humbled.
Whenever we do something goofy or are confused or don't understand... Kev and I look at each other and say, "Yes Amarikatsi em!" with a smile and shrug.

Breath of God.

Աստվածաշունչ
Asdvatsashoonch

This is the word Bible in Armenian... the actual translation is God's Breath... way cool.


--We're reading Narnia books right now and they've talked about the power of Aslan's breath... who represents Jesus.

Thoughts on our drive through town

I always think of things to share with you that are different or interesting here while we're driving around town, which is when, of course, I don't have my computer or internet... :) So I took some notes! Heh!

Gas.
Ha. Here when we fill up with gas, we just drive up (to a gas station called "Flesh"), tell the man we'd like Premium and fill it up... we pay him and tip him a little bit and off we go!

Balconies
There are apartments all over the place here. 15 floor buildings. And they usually have their clothes hanging out to dry. And most of them have balconies, but at least half of them have been made into extra rooms. So there will be one apt with an open balcony and the one next door has walls around theirs for another room in the home. (It's typical for a little apartment to have a whole family of like 10 people in there...)

Marriage
Marriage is what brings us together, today... (a little Princess Bride for my bro Scotte!) In Armenian it's Amoosnanal and Amoosing is husband... anywho. After a couple gets married here, they still typically move in with the husband's family. So a new bride packs up and heads on over to his family's house. Just interesting for us Amerikatsies to think of...

Honk/Flash
A lot of talking is done via your car while you're out driving. People honk the second that the light changes, whether or not your at the front of the line and can move at all! Just letting you know! And a lot of times they'll just flash their lights if they're trying to tell you something. I'm still figuring out the difference, or if there is one!? Go, hello, stop...

Flowers
Flower shops are all over along the sides of the roads. I like this. Guess with is on my table quite often now... fresh flowers! It's the thing to do when you go visit some body, or if your husband is sweet... ;)

Poppies
Wild red poppies grow all over Yerevan. I love it.

Stare
Maybe I already told you this, but in Armenian there is no word for stare. Even though there's no word for it... they still do it! Ha. Kevin's red hair draws some attention from people since there's mostly black hair around us. But it's also kinda interesting to us to watch men stare at the pretty ladies that walk by! Heh... so pretty...

Military
When boys graduate from high school here, they go into the military. I think it's for two years. So if you're a boy you will be in the military. Our friend was telling us this with his little 6-7 year old boy playing with Elijah next to us. Later we were told that some boys go to the university first and then to the military. They will be given some "better" jobs then... So our friends who have a 17 year old boy is going to try to go to the university first. Interesting anyway. Shushan, our friend who's brother is 17, said that if they didn't require it, no one would go...

Tight pants-high heels
So many girls here wear tight, and we're saying t-i-g-h-t, pants and high, again h-i-g-h, heels... The other day a gal walked in front of our car at a stop light and her white pants were so tight that Kevin said he could count the hairs on her butt! Ha! :) It's interesting to watch the gals walk with their high heels on the broken up sidewalks and streets, too... that would be so hard to do!! Olivia told us that when they came like 6 years ago there were no flats! ooooh... glad we came 6 years later! ;) Now there are more flats along with the high heels. Whew.




Statues
There are statues everywhere! We don't know who they all are or exactly what they all mean but we see them all over! This is one in our neighborhood. Kev says I shouldn't be so smiley by it but he was being goofy so....

Andre Aggasi
WE see a big sign of Andre Aggasi right down town advertising a watch or something... I think it's interesting to think of that for Armenians. He is from Iran, I think, and has Armenian blood... so I'm sure that's super cool for Armenians!? I'll go buy his watch... heh... (they do like tennis here...)

Marshookas

Did we tell you about riding the marshooka? They're like mini busses. A mini van type thing that picks people up and has a route and you off along the way... Well, we rode one once. And Kevin figured that was quite enough! Ha. He has some claustrophobia issues or something anyway... but seriously there were 17 or 18 people packed into the marshooka the size of the minivan! Of course, I, who have motion sickness issues, sat in the only seat open that was facing backwards... Ha. (I was okay, though.) And when we thought it was totally full, it'd pull over and more people would pile in! But the time we got out at the metro station... we were both glad for the cool breeze down in the tunnel and the wider open spaces in the metro! :)

Taxi
We take taxis sometimes. They are a little more expensive. But obviously take you where you want to go without smooshing you in there! :) (I do tend to have a little motion sickness in a taxi, too, since the roads are tough and crazy and the driving tends to be swervey and jerky...) If you can't speak the language... who wouldn't be able to speak the language... it could be a challenge to be sure that they know where you're telling them to go! We've learned some of the important words like straight, right, left, Vanahovid (our neighborhood), kilometers... (Although I did say "brain" once while riding with a friend instead of "straight" because they sound similar!!) Kevin carried a map for the first month or two... that's easier...

The other day, on of my close friends, Marine, called the taxi service that she usually uses so that she could feel confident that they'd get me home without any trouble... (we were going separate ways from down town...) And after I said goodbye and got it, the drive picked up his CB and said "something, something, Vanahovid, something something..." and then he pulled over to the side of the road. I asked if he knew Vanahovid - getoom a Vanahovid?? He nodded yes but still asked something about Vanahovid on his CB. Then we just sat there by the side of the road. I was going to ask if I should wait or go when another taxi pulled over and he pointed to it and said "sorry". So I got out and into another one... kinda laughing about how Mar-jan was off feeling confident that I was home while I was switching taxis unsure just why. But I did get home and it was no big deal. Just a little adventure! :)

ruthie's armenian preschool - inchuig

Ruthie has been going with our tutor's daughter, Iren, to an Armenian preschool called Inchuig. Inchuig means "Little Why". Cute. It meets two days a week for two hours. There are 5 classes that last about 20 minutes each. Since it's a bit overwhelming for a little 6 year old to dive into school classes that she can't understand... guess who's been sitting in on them with her? Yup, me. (although today Kevin had the pleasure!) It's been interesting for me, though, since I love kids and especially that age. (and since my degree is in early childhood education...) For most classes the kids, about 15 of them, line up in little kid sized chairs along the walls and the teachers stand in front. They play a few little games and sing some songs.

Ruth and her Armenian friends study English, art and computer, Russian, music and dance, and math and letters. English is pretty easy for her... :) And Russian is haaard... they're teaching Russian in Armenian! Heh. We don't catch toooo much, but I tell her to just listen anyway. (She's usually sucking her thumb!) Music and dance is kinda fun and she's warming up to that. Coloring and computer times are interesting. She wants her coloring to be perfect and that can be stressful! And for the computer time, they each take turns and watch the others do their turn. The Math and Alphabet class is probably the most like a class in America, with a desk and papers to write on... so she likes that one. Plus, she's good at her math!

All the teachers are very kind to us! Some of them speak English. And I'm hoping to learn Armenian here... :) Most of the moms just wait there since it takes a while to get anywhere in a big city. You'd get there and have to come back. So I've visited a little bit with a couple moms. They like that I'm trying to learn Armenian and think it's a little strange that I came here. One gal said we all want to go to America and you came here! And another gal said that it's a great pleasure that I'm taking the time to learn their language.

In June, they'll put on a little program to show all they've learned. We went to Iren's last "party" and watched her sing and dance. I kinda doubt that Ruth will get up there to perform!? But it's still been an experience for her to be making friends and to be in that environment. When she's sad or shy, her little friends say "vochinch, vochinch" (It's okay, it's okay...) and when it's time to go to the next class Iren says "ari, ari" (come, come...)

I wish they had a little free time to play together. Ruth would be able to interact a little more with the friends that way... When they get outside they run up and down the sidewalk and giggle. It can be easier to make a friend when you're playing! :) But they've all be kind to her, too... In Russian class they were going over the Russian alphabet and when the got to the "R" sound a little boy said - Like Ruth! Sweet.