Happy Birthday, Hannah!

Hannie celebrated her 9th birthday on October 30th! Nine years old. She says she wishes she wasn't an odd number now! Heh! But she told me the other day that now she's lost nine teeth, she's nine years old, and it's 2009... maybe it's not so bad?! :)
We had a couple celebrations for our party girl! On her birthday we had pumpkin bars from the can of pumpkin that Uncle Scotte brought! We went out for pizza and opened a couple gifts. Daddy gave here flowers and balloons! Then on the weekend we went to a pool park that had slides and everything. She invited four little friends so the kids would each have someone to play with. (Iren, who's Ruth's age was out of town... but Ruth still had a blast!) Then the next week we invited some of her grown up friends over. She planned out the party and made the cake with me. We played coconut bowling and guessed how many chocolate nush (almonds) were in the jar (with a three way tie!) We opened the coconut and had cake. The after some presents we had some Armenian dance time! At the end of the night Hannie said to me, "Don't make me smile... my face hurts!" (from smiling too much!!) She also told me she wished birthdays never ended... So glad she had a good celebration. She plans for her birthday months in advance!!
Our baby girl. Hannah Banana. Hannie girl. Anna jan. She loves Armenia and learning Armenian. She and Ruth have been enjoying dance class this year. She loves her puppy and even dreamed, before he was our dog, that he'd be ours for her birthday! Hannah loves art and teaching. She'd like to be a teacher when she grows up. I told her when I open my own preschool that she can be my assistant while she gets her degree! :) So we have a plan... Heh. We are in love with our graceful, kind, smart little girl! Thank you, Lord, for Hannah Christine.

Fruit of the Spirit

We've been studying the Fruit of the Spirit "hookoo padooh" at the Fire Bible office for devotions. Each of us took a fruit for each week to study more in depth. I won't share it all on here but I thought I'd share one word or idea about each. Here goes:

Love-first
Joy-we can have joy even in trials
Peace-usually comes with/after/during war or fighting
Patience-shows mercy
Kindness-is sweet
Goodness-does
Faithfulness-is solid, trustworthy, loyal, always
Gentleness-is powerful
Self Control-is a compass for them all

We kinda skipped over Goodness... but alot of the verses we read about "good" have to do with doing: Turn from evil and do good. Don't grow weary in doing good. He who began a good work in you will carry it out unto completion... We were made to do good. Not just for the work we do and the people we do good to, but when we do good it's good for us, too! As we help others, we grow and become who He created us to be. Of course, God IS good. All the time. And all the time... if you've been in church lately, you probably finished that with ...God is good. Believe it! And do good!

My Dad

My Dad. When I think of my Dad, I think of his gentle eyes and strong hands. My Dad is forever patient. We marvel over the fact that we've never heard him yell or be angry. He is Mr. Patient. When my brother and I were growing up, he talked to us and taught us and redirected us. He even spanked us. But he never was angry. It's completely crazy. Who in the world never gets clicking angry at least once in a while? Well, my Dad. I adore him. He's a friend to everyone. He can wait forever. He'll listen to anything anyone tells him. He's interested in what others are doing, even if he knows all about it or nothing about it. He takes me for motorcycle rides, even now that I'm all grown up! He would ride me around the yard on the riding lawn mower as a kid. He never told me to get off his lap. Almost every night he'd cut us an apple or peal us an orange for a snack. He prayed with us every night and ended it with, "and do these things for Jesus sake. Amen." When I was a kid, I believed my Dad could do ANYTHING. My Dad is a good man.

Just before we moved to Yerevan, Armenia, we lived a few blocks away from my Mom and Dad, and my Grandma who we've always called Bestamor. While we were there, Dad had surgery to remove skin cancer on his cheek. It all looks good. Then about a month after we moved here, he found out he had prostate cancer. I was far away... He had surgery and the doctor is optimistic that he got it all and the bones all looked good. This summer, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease! I am far away... He is taking some medication and is still doing well. I am still far away...

Totally, the hardest thing about being overseas is being away from family. Not that we don't have McDonald's or Taco Bell. Not that the driving is crazy here! Not even that we have to learn a difficult language. Our family and our friends are so far away-that's the hardest. We love our friends here! We love Armenia. We will miss them when we head back to the US. But now... we are so far away...

If you think to, pray for missionaries who miss their families. And for my sweet Dad... I'd like to go sit on his lap! ;)

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!? :)