March 2nd... off we go...

We got our tickets set for March 2nd, 2009! Whooo!! I'd love to sit and blog about it, but, honestly, we're toooooo busy! We're stuck in Grand Forks because of ice and snow. But we're making the most of it - good-bye parties, baby! :) Next week, we're home to PACK - everything in 14 boxes! Whoo! :) I'll do my best to keep up with a post or two at least every month!

We're so honored to serve and humbled to be called and excited to GO! And out of our mind getting ready / packing... ;)

In love with life.... with Him... and with you!



The pics... some girlfriends and me at Red Lobster... and then Kevy with his youth group up at the Attic! The last one is Blake, my brother, and Kev playing ping pong at the Attic...

Arkansas

Okay... life's been BUSY! So let me just share our Jan with you in the form of pictures!





This last one was in Dec, in Williston, with my side of the family... The rest were in Springfield, MO and Hot Springs, AR with Kev's side of the family! So as you can see, we've been spending time with family before we head overseas for two years!! It was hard to suffer through the 60 degrees in the south after the norm of 20 below in ND... ;)

We love our family! :)

Happy Birthday, Elijah!

Our little guy turned four years old in January! Whoo! Big guy now. We were in Arkansas visiting Kevin's side of our family so he got a southern party - at Chuck E Cheese. :) Kev's cousin has a little girl who was born like a week before Elijah so they doubled up and partied together in Springfield, MO. Pretty fun, but a little crazy. Hannie said later... I never even got to see Sidney open her gifts! The kids had a great time, though and spent the day running and playing.

When we lit Elijah's candle to sing to him, he started singing, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..." Sooo sweet. Love it.

That was the week before his birthday, so he got another mini party the next Sunday on his birthday... Cake and two more presents. I think his favorite part was the Happy Birthday balloon!? :) We tied an extra long string to it since Grandma and Papa have high ceilings! It's gotta be a party if you have a balloon! Whoo!

Each time Elijah opened a gift he exclaimed, "Ah! It's just what I wanted!" Regardless of what it was, or if he'd ever even thought of having one before! Fun kid to give a gift to!

Here's our birthday boy! We're crazy about him!

What's the Problem?

If you ask Elijah what his name is, he'll probably say Superman! He has some jammies with the big S on them and decided that's who he was. Well, we figured we better show him a little bit of the movie if that's who he was going to be. We watched the clip online of Superman rescuing Lois in the helicopter, saving the cat from the tree, catching some bad guys... So now he knows Superman solves problems... Now we need to be ready to have a problem for Eli, er, Superman to solve because he loves to ask, "What's the problem?"

(If you wanna turn it spiritual... maybe you could hear Jesus asking us the same question...)

Psalm 139

Elijah Edward, almost four years old... I got him to say two verses of the Psalm that we learned this fall. (He probably knows it all but to get him to sit and say it...) You'll notice he's got a cold, too! :)

Psalm 139

Here's Benjamin saying the Psalm we learned this fall. (Our fourth grader!)

Psalm 139

We learned this Psalm this fall... Here's our Kindergartner, Ruth, saying it for you! :)

Psalm 139

The kids memorized this chapter this fall and we recorded it to share with everyone! :)

Here's our 2nd grader, Hannah:

when you grow up

Okay, Benjamin has it all figured out. He wants to be a scientist. He's known that for a while. But now, he's focusing in. Nine years old, gotta start thinking ahead, right? :) So he wants to study the Great Barrier Reef. He decided he'll be a marine biologist. Oceanographer. AND, he wants to go to a christian college because "he could meet a wife there and would like her to be a christian!" So he'll go to Springfield, MO, where Uncle Nathan graduated from, Uncle Scotte works, and Aunt Linda works... and they offer marine biology!! Last year they took a field trip to FL to study off the coast! Whoo! So now we're set! Send us a brochure! :) Just today, Benjamin said to me, "Maybe I shouldn't get married... I might be away too much!" That guy.

Hannie has wanted to be some kind of teacher for a little while now. 1st or 2nd grad, or a dance teacher. She practices her teaching skills on her brothers and sisters whenever they'll let her. I think she'll be a great teacher, if that's the direction she goes. She's also has always wanted to be a mommy.

Ruth decided a week or two ago that she'd like to be a veterinarian. This week, she said she can't decide... Vet or Police Officer! Heh. I could see vet because she loves animals and is actually very interested in blood and owies! :) When I asked her why she'd be a Police Officer, she said, "To looove people. And to send some to the dungeon!" :) I see.

Of course, we had to ask Elijah what he wanted to be. Benjamin's trying to talk him into being an Oceanographer... Then they could study together. (Benjamin also thinks maybe his future wife will study with him... if he meets her while studying in MO!?) Ruth was thinking he likes trains. Hannie just waited for him to answer. And when he looked around at us, he finally answered. "I want to do whatever Mama does. I want to stay with her!" Ah. Mama's boy. :)

Then Ruth looked at me and asked... "Mama, what do you want to be?" I told her I already was grown up! Ha. They had to think about that. I have a degree to teach and I get to be your mama right now... And now we're planning to head overseas to be missionaries...

When do you grow up?

tea party

Kev's Mom and Dad came to visit. So the ladies decided to have a tea party. Grandma Sharon, Grandma Lala, Bestamor (my grandma), my girls, and I all had a little tea party with apple cider and hot chocolate and little cookies. Yum.

While we partied, we all tried to think of a Bible story that we'd heard lately or one that we really liked. Let me share with you what was picked:

-Ruth and Bestamor both picked the Christmas story. Jesus coming to earth.
-Hannie picked the Prodigal Son and Grandma Lala said that was the one she thought of, too! When the Father throws out his arms and says Welcome Home!
-Sharon said David and Goliath where the little guy does big things.
-I picked the one where Peter was in jail and the angel got him up and brought him out to the street, just like that!

After all the good stories... Ruth and Hannie sang and acted out I'm a Little Tea Pot!

It was a good tea party.
God is a good God! :)

Happy 8th Birthday, Hannie!!

Our baby girl, Eight years old! On October 29th, we called Uncle Blake in the evening to come and watch Benjamin while we went to the hospital. After a long night waiting and waiting, rocking in the rocking chair... Hannie finally came! At 11:00 AM the next morning! (We hurried to get a babysitter and then ended up waiting all night for labor to really kick in...) The first thing Dr Greek did was lay her, all crying and loud, on my belly. I kissed my baby girl on the gooey, bald head and said, "I love you, Hannah!". She was 8 pounds even, just like Benjamin had been. Daddy went home to get Benjamin and after he came to see his new little sister (he was 19 months old...). At the hospital, Daddy went and got him one of those tiny boxes of cereal, Fruit Loops, and Benjamin sat in a big hospital chair and watched VeggieTales, Rack, Shack, and Benny (that Daddy brought from home), while everyone oohed and ahhed over his little sister.

We brought Hannie home the next day, on Halloween, and on the way home we stopped by the gas station for pop to go along with teh KFC my parents were picking up! (With Benjamin, we had everything "perfect" and memorable... with Hannie, we were more practical! Ha!) She slept in her car seat while we ate chicken! Whenever Benjamin passed by her he'd say, "Hi baby Annie!"

Hannah was born beautiful and is growing more and more beautiful as time goes by. We love that little girl! Our young lady!


This year, Hannah invited a few friends to the bowling alley with Papa Eddie and Grandma Sharon. Papa James stopped up there for a while, too! We had taco soup that night and played Operation, the new game her friend got for her! Then a week later, on her actual birthday, we went to Grandam Lala's and Papa James' place to open presents and eat pumpkin pie blizzard cake from DQ. Yum. (We also stopped school at 11:00 to blow party horns and eat strawberry candy!)

It's fun to celebrate our girl... Happy Birthday, baby!

full circle

In the book of Joshua, he talks about how at Gilgal they set up stones of remembrance. Later on the Bible talks about them coming back to Gilgal and, indeed, remembering... Beth Moore points out in one of her studies (sorry, I'm not sure which one now...) about times in our life when we come full circle and have a moment of remembrance from experiences in our past. I had a moment like that this past Sunday.

We're back in our hometown now and back at the church where we grew up. It happens to be missions week here this week. So, of course, they had some good missions songs and the sermon was about the sending out of Paul and Barnabas. I stood there, back in my hometown church, where Kevin and I met while leading worship in the youth worship band, thinking about missions. We're in the middle of worship when the next song that starts up is a familiar one to me... one of those oldies but goodies...

Here am I
Send me to the nations
As an ambassador
For You
As an ambassador
For You,
My Father...

Ask of Me
And I will give the nations
As an inheritance
For you
As an inheritance
For you,
My children...

And I had such a huge flashback. There Kev and I were, fifteen years ago, standing up on the platform, ourselves leading that very song... Here am I, send me to the nations... And now here we are, being sent - to the nations. I totally had a full-circle/Gilgal moment. Who knew as we sang that song way back when... that that was just what God had in mind to do.

Now to hear, Ask of Me, and I will give the nations as an inheritance for you... takes on a whole new meaning. Lord, give us the nations as our inheritance. Let us get to heaven surrounded by people we've had the honor to encourage in You!

Full circle.

(Somewhere I have a pic of our worship team... not on my computer, though! Rats...) :)

Daddy knows everything

Benjamin was working hard at his Math one day, and not particularly enjoying himself, when I came into his room to help him. We went over the same problem a few times trying to understand it. Then Benjamin looked up at me and said, "I wish I were Daddy!" "Why?" I asked. To which he replied, "Because Daddy knows EVERYTHING!" Oh, to be who your kids think you are! While I do admit that Kevin actually does know almost everything... it might not be totally everything! Heh. Just that day he was having some trouble with the sites he was working on and frustrated with his thesis... But in Benjamin's eyes, Daddy is who he wants to be - Because Daddy knows everything!

Here's a shot of the the boys watching a Williston Coyotes football game!

forget it

We were having supper together with Grandma Sharon and Papa Eddie when they were here to visit and Ruth was telling Grandma something important while Elijah was trying to get her attention to tell her something very important, as well. After a few loud attempts of, "Grandma! Grandma!" Lijah turned away from her and said, "Ah, forget it!" He got a few chuckles out of that... Sounds so funny to hear a little guy say something that sounds more grown up!

(Here he is wearing Benjamin's bike helmet and feeling pretty cool...!)

chin tappin'

When Ruth gets to thinkin' hard, she starts tappin' her chin. Kinda like Pooh bear. "Think, think, think..." Tap, tap, tap... Should we watch Hermie and Wormie, or VeggieTales? Tap, tap, tap... with her eyes kinda looking up... :) Too cute!

Balaam's donkey

Papa Eddie and Hannie were having a discussion the other day about who they'd like to talk to when they get to heaven. Papa said a few guys like Daniel and David. He wanted to ask what it was like in the lion's den and if Daniel was scared. Or to ask David about facing Goliath... Hannie thought for a minute, then told Papa she wants to talk to that donkey that spoke to Balaam! :) What would it be like to talk to a donkey? How'd the donkey feel when he got squished up against the wall when the angel blocked the path...? Hannie's lookin' for the donkey when she gets to heaven! Papa can look for Daniel!

church

Right after I wrote my last post, I turned around to have some Beth Moore, Stepping Up devotion time and read from Philippians chapter 1:

I thank my God every time I remember you
In all my prayers for all of you
I always pray with joy
because of your partnership in the gospel
from the first day until now,
being confident of this
that he who began a good work in you
will carry it on to completion
until the day of Christ Jesus.

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you,
since I have you in my heart;
for whether I am in chains
or defending and confirming the gospel,
all of you share in God's grace with me.
God can testify how I long for all of you
with the affection of Christ Jesus.

Just what I was thinking about you, my church family. Me and Paul... we love the church! :)

mount rushmore and little house on the prairie

Okay... I had to share a pic or two with you of our trips in SD this month. We tell the kids that they are getting in on some pretty good field trips! :)

One stop we made this month was to Mount Rushmore. Benjamin thought it was the bomb and we're thinking maybe we'll go back sometime in the winter?? We went there the Saturday before we spoke in Lead, SD.

Another weekend we spoke in Watertown, SD and decided to swing down to the Little House on the Prairie in De Smet, SD. We're not that far in the books, yet, but you still get the idea! :) The kids had a blast there making jump ropes, corn on the cob dolls, petting kitties, and riding ponies! We did recognize some of the things from the books, too... The kids loved seeing Pa's fiddle and of course, the covered wagon...


Both those churches were lovely places to stop, on top of getting to be tourists, too. We have enjoyed being a part of the SD churches. It's fun to be a part of a church family for a day. And always fun to get home to our church family, too. Now we're blessed to have two church families again... here in Williston, and back in Grand Forks. I love the church body of believers!

September crazies

Okay... so I just noticed there's not posts from me in the month of September! We've been so busy that my prayer request for my girlfriends was basic... sleep. Heh.

We've moved from Grand Forks, ND to Williston, ND, which is our hometown. My grandma (Bestamor) is living with my parents now since she'll be 100 in December! So we are living in her house. So this month has been a whirlwind of packing, moving, and finishing cleaning the GF house (check out is tomorrow).

On top of that, I have begun homeschooling! Whoo. I think things are going pretty good so far. We're getting a little bit of a routine going so that helps. We did one week here in Williston, one in Grand Forks, the next here... so that's been kinda wild. Yesterday the kids and I just got back from our last visit to our Burdick Court house. Kev is there tonight finishing cleaning and has a work meeting in the morning.
Kev's work has agreed to let him work from here and go back when needed, which he's thinking might be every other week... It's great that he got to keep his job and do that... but that, too, adds to all the craziness! He's still trying to get his thesis done and wrap up all his ministries at VCC. And he's gone out on the last two weekend itineration trips by himself... He's been in GF while we've been here most of this month! I think he'll be back for most of next week and we're hoping the month of October is a little less crazy for the Crawford family!!

So if you think to pray for us... we need sleep! :)

We're looking forward to October and to settling into more of a routine for the whole family.

On the up... we've been LOVING the fall weather and colors and just being outside. Some of the trees around here are just gorgeous.

And Kev would probably tell you his up... he got his motorcycle license! Now he can say to me, "Wanna ride my hog?" Heh. My dad has been lending him his motorcycle as well as a buddy of his back in GF. My wild bike riding Kevy bear!


There's the month of September in a nutshell for you... Now I'm going to bed!

faith not sight

2 Corinthians 5...
My devotions were taken from the verse in 2 Cor 5:7 about how we walk by faith and not by sight. I thought that's really what we needed to hear as we're transitioning into moving overseas. There's a lot of "what if's" and unknowns. So we choose to walk by faith and not by sight. God has called us and we will walk in faith.

Well that got me to wondering just want the Bible is talking about when it says that. What is the whole chapter about. So I was about to look it up when another thought crossed my mind. Back when Joshua's 10th birthday cam around in May, I read some verses that stuck out to me and I'd forgotten what they were. So I wanted to look that up right away before I forgot about it. I had to decide which of the two things I wanted to look up first... I decided to look back to the beginning of May where my 2 year Bible devotions were...

Guess what chapter it lead me to? 2 Corinthians 5! Heh. They were the same verses! I love it when the Holy Spirit leads you. What a treat. I and a nice moment with the Lord there.

So the chapter the Holy Spirit lead me to when we were thinking of Joshua was about how we'll have a heavenly body and here on earth we long to be clothed in our heavenly dwelling... then it leads into how we walk by faith and not by sight. Pretty cool. Heaven should be what motivates us as we live here on earth, huh? Always hope.

noodles and pencil boxes

Okay, we have four kiddos and each of them are all different from the other. Let me share two quick examples through pencil boxes and noodles. I made those curly, colored noodles that come in yellow, orange, and green. After I passed them out and went to get the fruit or veggies, I noticed that Benjamin had scooted his over to the side to make room for all the other food to have a proper place on his plate, Hannah and made a pretty design with hers, Ruth took hers off the plate and separated them out by colors and was counting to see which pile had more, Elijah had already eaten half of them! Our kiddos.

Then and I was preparing for some homeschooling stuff I gathered up the kids pencil boxes. Elijah's was empty, Ruth's was full of her summer nature collection, Hannah had only crayons and colored pencils, Benjamin had each of the needed school supplies like a scissors, glue, pencils, crayons, etc... Our kiddos! :)

that's for sure

A lot of the time, Lijah has some little quirk or phase that he's going through. For a few weeks there, he had learned to make a half burping half puking sound that we heard all the time. (Not my favorite and one of Kev's top annoying sounds...) Well, we're hoping that he's moved on from that quirk. Now his favorite phrase is, "That's for sure." After a lot of his comments, that's what he says. " I'm a big boy now, that's for sure." "I'm hungry, that's for sure." "I don't want to pee my pants, that's for sure."

ping pong

Ruthie is a ball of energy. Kevin goes up the The Attic youth center every Wed night and sometimes after the kids are done with Missonettes and Royal Rangers we'll head up there to say hello and play some games. The kids favorites are ping pong and air hockey. Ruth usually wants me to play with her since the older two play and Lijah's pretty little. So I "played" ping pong with Ruth this last week. She just swings and runs around after the balls. When she misses the ball she runs in like three circles and skips around to pick it up. Then she hits it (or throws it) back to my side. If I miss it I look like I'm going in slow motion going to pick it up. I don't run in three circles and I have to bend over a lot farther to pick up the ball. While Ruth waits for me to go pick up my missed ball, she's usually jumping up and down or running over to say hi to someone else as she waits. She is our ball of energy.

being a mama

Hannie was thinking the other day as we were diving around down about what she wanted to be when she grew up. She told me that most of all she wanted to be a mama. I told her that was great and that she could be a mama and something else, too, (like a gardner like Ruth told me she should be 'cause she was so good at it...). Hannie said there was too many other things she wanted to be like a teacher or a dancer....

Then that night Hannie hugged Ruth and tucked her into bed for me while Ruth was super tired and needing help. She's a compassionate helper. At the same time, Elijah threw a big fit and I was trying to get him back to bed and settled while he was still crying and unhappy about it. Hannie's voice whispers to me in the dark room, "That is the part I don't really like about being a mama..."

bees are buzzin

One day I explained to Benjamin that I needed to get my devotions and homeschool preparations done during nap time before everyone was up and running. I needed to do those things while it was quiet. Well, Benjamin just got a watch and when he saw it was almost 4:00 and nap time was almost over... he came out to announce to me, "Mom, better finish up, the bees are about to be buzzin!"

MKs... ready!

Do these cuties look ready for the mission field or what? They all got out their MK shirts from missions training two summers ago... yes, two summers ago, and wore them again with pride and anticipation! (Lijah's used to be a onesie, but I cut the bottom off for him! Heh!) Get ready, Armenia! We're packing up... getting closer! See you in January!!

Beth Moore in Mpls

Hey!

Just a quick shout out to my girls and our girl get-away weekend in Mpls with Beth Moore! Whoo!! We had fun walking through skywalks, and eating Greek food, and shopping. And had a great time at the conference worshiping and learning. (We missed you, Anne!)

Beth Moore talked about Hebrews 12... being between a rock and a hard place. Endure hardship. Strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. He disciples those He loves and delights in... us! God has a purpose - healing on the other side.

Hebrews 12:11 -Discipline later on produces a harvest of righteousness and peace.

She pointed out John the Baptist in prison... we see things in temporal terms. Instead of being freed here on earth, he was freed to heaven...

Hebrews 10:35-39 Do not throw away your confidence - Persevere!

Satan is after our faith... he wants us to shrink back from God

In some tests... Faith is the victory! Without faith it is impossible to please Me... Chose to believe.

Live what we believe...

Aggravating people are in our lives to work out the ick in us... Irritating us to holiness.

God does not steal our love for other people He supplies the love... Become a Blessing, not a bore.

Entrust ourselves completely, wholly to God.

Deut 32:4
He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.

ants

"Mom! I'm doing what the Bible says to do! I'm looking at the ants!" That's what my little Ruthie said to me the other day while we were playing outside. We're going through Proverbs together this summer and we'd just read Proverbs 6:6.

6 Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.
Learn from their ways and become wise!
7 Though they have no prince
or governor or ruler to make them work,
8 they labor hard all summer,
gathering food for the winter.

So after we talked about looking to the ant to learn a lesson about working hard... Ruth did just what she was told - and looked at the ants!

(This is Antonio ant from Max Lucado's Hermie and Wormie... good movies...)

feet

Mama has stinky feet... that's what the photographer says to try to get the kids to smile for the picture. Usually it works. Heh!

But lately I've been coming across verses that have the word "feet" in them. Let me share a few with you:

Isaiah 52:7
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

Ephesians 6:15
(Armor of God)...and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

Proverbs 4:26&27
Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.

Habakkuk 3:19
The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.

Psalms 119:105
Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

A lot of people fell at Jesus feet, Jesus washed the disciples feet, the woman with the oil poured it on Jesus feet, the enemy is under Jesus feet...

Oh Lord, make my feet beautiful, bringing good news, proclaiming peace, bringing good tidings, proclaiming salvation. Let my feet be ready and take paths that are level and firm and paths that are straight in You. Strengthen my feet and enable me to go above and beyond. Let me soak in your Word that it would always be a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Help me be quick to wash others feet and to be a servant and to always be dedicated to spending time at Your feet. Thank you, God, that the enemy is under your feet and therefore, under mine!

Heffalump Winn Dixie Summer

Lumpster and Rootie-Toot are our new best friends. We rented the Heffalump Movie from the library a couple weeks ago... took it back and rented their other copy the same day! The girls are trying to memorized the movie so that they can act it out for us! And Lijah just kicks his legs and laughs out loud at the part where they're in Rabbits garden! New favorite movie... I think we'll be singing the Hundred Acre Woods song this summer!

We also started the book Because of Winn Dixie thinking we'd read it for our summer book and then have a popcorn/movie party at the end of the summer... the thing is, we're already halfway through the book! June. Page 91 and there's 182 pages! Half way today! The kids are excited to finish it up so we can read a Little House on the Prairie book!

Benjamin decided he would read Sugar Creek Gang. Hannie's working on the Janette Oke books Animal Friends. Ruth's reading all our Dr. Seuss. And Lijah said HE is reading all the Veggie books! Off we go...

I just finished the Roxanne Henke book Becoming Olivia. I've read the first two in her Coming Home to Brewster series, too. (About small town ND...) And I saw Kev pulled out our Narnia books after we saw Prince Caspian.

Oh yeah, I'm also working on the book The Way They Learn by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias. About different learning styles. Our kids are already noticeably different. Benjamin loves to be organized and to know the plan - spend time together. Hannie loves to give gifts and is always thinking of what she can give or make for someone. Ruthie is always doing... feeling, touching, hands-on. Lijah, we're still figuring out. He's 3 1/2 so he's just into getting dirty and running mostly! He can peddle his bike now! Whoo! Anyway, the book talks about the different ways they learn... go figure. So I thought I should read it to know more how to teach these different kiddos of ours! I'm about halfway through... we're all strongest in different styles. We'll learn a lot from each other!

Homeschooling

Our kids are different. We're approaching homeschooling, possibly in the fall! As we get closer to this new change, we've had a few conversations about it. Our kids have a few different ideas or questions...

Benjamin. He is wondering what our schedule will be. He'd like to be organized. Know the plan.

Hannie. One of her questions was... what about the prize bucket? Her teacher, Mrs. Waind, had it set up so that at the end of the week they could earn a prize from the prize bucket. Hannie wants to know what about rewards.

Ruth. She wonders what the older two kids will be doing and if we can homeschool in Williston where we can run and play in Papa's backyard.

Lijah. He's just along for the ride so far. :)

Homeschooling... four completely different kiddos. I'm sure it'll be an adventure but I'm excited to get to know them all better and for us to grow together as a family.

Delight

One of my favorite verses... Delight yourself in the Lord and He'll give you you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4.

You can read it just like that... it might sound like you'll get what you want when you delight yourself in the Lord. The focus there is turned around. The delighting yourself in the Lord is the point there. And when you do that, He will give you desires for your heart. Pursue Him and you can't help but pursue what He already has in mind for you to pursue.

noah... yoda...

Lijah was in the tub when he told me he couldn't find yoda... You can't find YODA?? When I came closer to look... he was holding animals, two by two... He needed Yoda to get the animals into the ark! Ha!!

give and take

Elijah prefers for us to get him water each night. When he asks us to get him water, he prefers for us to let him GIVE us the cup, as opposed to us TAKING the cup from him. Isn't that like most of us. We don't like to have things taken from us, either. Even if we were going to give it in the first place. It's not fun to have it taken. Part of the joy is in the giving. There must be a lesson in that, right?

I'm not even saying that I know what the point is! Heh. Just something I've pondered. Instead of being eager to take... wait until you can be gracious in receiving. And find the joy in giving!

Global Day of Prayer

The national day of prayer was on May 1st... check out the 2008 Honorary Chairman, National Day of Prayer Task Force! :) Dr. Ravi Zacharias! (I discovered that at Beth Moore's blog! Heh... http://livingproofministries.blogspot.com/ )

http://www.ndptf.org/story/Index.cfm?Entity=9&Department=9&Dept_Order=1&This_TopicOrder=19&This_SubtopicOrder=2#5

We've been praying with the kids since May 1st and will through the 11th. The 11th is the Global Day of Prayer! Check out this site if you would like to to pray with your kids... and the world! :)

http://gdop-usa.com/children/2008ChildrensGuide.pdf

We talked about May Day and that on that day people leave flowers or candy on friends steps and run away... to be caught and kissed! Then latter I discovered that May Day is also Ascension Day! What a good thing to celebrate! Which was the National Day of prayer. So in following the pattern of the disciples... they prayed through until Pentecost. Pentecost Sunday is May 11th - Global Day of Prayer.

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek God's face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 2 Chronicles 7:14-16

Ravi Zacharias

Kevin loves Ravi Zacharias. His dad and brothers do, too. For me, I feel I need just a little more smarts to fully comprehend some of his stuff! Heh. But I do enjoy listening to most of his messages along with Kevin. So. For Kevy's birthday a year or two ago, I got him Ravi's book Walking from East to West. It's his biography. When I came across it a couple weeks ago, I thought, I'm gonna read this! :) So spend a little time together with Ravi and me...

God has an appointment with each of us, and it is critical that every man and woman know this. He will stop our steps when it is not our time, and He will lead us when it is. This is a reassuring truth to know for every believer, and a necessary trust for anyone who ministers in areas of great risk.

You have to learn that you cannot claim a path just because it is less intimidating. You must keep in mind that God does have an appointment with you, that there is a cost to serving him. At the same time, you have to be wise and not careless. To deny the reality that there are some places where you cannot go is to play the fool. More important, if you have not learned to pay the smaller prices of following Christ in your daily life, you will not be prepared to pay the ultimate price in God's calling.

I am asked... whether I've found greater fulfillment through the larger orginization of RZIM. On a very practical level, the answer is no. As the ministry has grown larger, so have the demands, and that has never suited my parsonality. Managing those things has always gone against the grain for me.

On personal level, the answer also is no. To me there has never been any greater fulfillment than being where God wants me to be. And that fulfillment isn't any greater now, because I was fullfilled from the beginning, knowing that God had me in the right place at all times. If anything, I had more of a comfort level in the early years-with a normal, day-to-day life with my wife and children-than I do now.

I wold prefer to rephrase the question: is there fulfillment in knowing you're where God wants you to be? Does that bring satisfaction? The answer is YES, absolutely!

One day, I was at the bedside fo a friend who was a Muslim convert to Jesus Christ... he said one sentence taht I will never forget: "Brother Ravi, the more I study other beliefs and religions, the more beautiful Jesus becomes to me."

He is right. Even in ministry, the same applies. Through all of the visitations of life - successes or failures - it is not how well you are known or not known. It is not how big your organization is or isn't. It is not even how many sermons one has preached or books one has written or millions of dollars one has accumulated. It is how well do you know Jesus? That's it. That is what shapes how you view everything else. Successes are hollow if you do not know the author of life and His purpose. To me, with each passing year, Jesus has only become more beautiful.

I feel more confident all the time that, outside of the gospel, there are no answers for humanity's most fundamental questions.

Ravi also says several times throughout his book things like, "I am so unfit for this. I am unsure of myself. Why do these people want to listen to me?" Which is interesting to me because, one of my very favorite teachers is Beth Moore and she says several times those exact same things. It's comforting to me because as we pursue missions, I'm finding myself thinking things like that. "Who am I?" I think that's just where God wants his servants to be so that He can be big!

Hope you had a good time with Ravi and I today!

http://www.rzim.org/

Jesus is God

Hey... Kev and I have been visiting with some new friends who have challenged us to research our Bible to find out who Jesus is. Sometimes it's nice to step back to see why you believe what you believe. And the Holy Spirit has been faithful to show me, seemingly out of the blue sometimes, what the Word of God says about who Jesus is. I finally decided to scratch out the verses coming up in front of me... here they are scanned out. Just something that's been on our minds lately!

--Click on them to see them larger!

I'm a people...

Elijah's finally getting a handle on the whole potty training thing. We've said that a few times but this time, I think might be the real one! (I sure hope...) :) Anyway, when you have a potty trainer in the house, you talk a lot about poop and pee and private parts... it's just the way life is at this stage in life.

The other day he asked me if I peed in my pants. I told him that I never pee in my pants anymore. I always use the toilet. He asked me if Jesus peed in his pants... I smiled and thought a little. Maybe he did when he was a baby but I don't think so after he grew up. Then the next question to come at me... Mommy, does God have private parts? Hello. Lijah! I really don't know. And it seems like something we should maybe not be thinking of if he does?! I don't know?! Ha.

His big thing that he learned now is that every place has a bathroom! He'll just stop to tell me once in a while, "Mommy, every place has a bathroom!" Almost every place does, honey...

The other day when Auntie Crystal came over, Lijah made himself comfortable on her lap and asked where Emmitt, their beagle, was. Is he home? Is he coming over? Is he barking? Does he pee in the toilet? Heh. Crystal laughed and said that only people pee in toilets. Lijah thought for a minute and told her, "I'm a people!"

Resurrection Rolls

Hannie made these resurrection rolls at school and thought they were pretty cool... so Grandma Sharon and I picked up some canned crescent rolls and large marshmellows while we were out shopping... there you have it, empty just like the tomb!

Ingredients:
1 can refrigerated crescent roll dough
8 large marshmallows
Melted butter
Cinnamon
Sugar

Directions:
Give each child one triangle shaped section of crescent roll. This represents the tomb.
Each child takes one marshmallow which represents the body of Christ.
Dip the marshmallow in the butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture. This represents the oils and spices the body was anointed with upon burial.
Lay the marshmallow on the dough and carefully wrap it around the marshmallow.
Make sure all seams are pinched together well. (Otherwise the marshmallow will "ooze" out of the seams)
Bake according to package directions.
Cool.
Break open the tomb and the body of Christ is no longer there!!

Celebrate God's love!

http://www.dltk-kids.com/recipes/resurrection_rolls.htm

Easter

Just thought I'd share a couple verses that stuck out to me this Easter...

John 18:28
here's the idea... the Jews wouldn't go into the palace to avoid ceremonial uncleanliness - they wanted to be able to eat the Passover...

That just seemed ironic since Jesus was THE lamb. He was the real deal right there and they missed it all while they thought about keeping all their traditions polished...

An insight in my Bible said, "One man was selected as the Passover Lamb for all humanity (1 Cor 5:7). The words 'When I see the blood, I will pass over you' (Ex 12:13) came to convey a whole new meaning."

John 20:30
These are written that you may [continue to] believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name!

I just read in a study that when someone who oversees thousands of missionaries was asked what they see as a problem the missionaries themselves face on the mission field they responded, unbelief! ahh... Build our faith, Lord! Let us continue to believe You and more and more with each new day! May we have life in Your name!

St Patrick Day

We love St Patrick day! :) Another day for a celebration of Jesus! We dyed our scrambled eggs green (inspired by the green eggs and ham book...) and we even dyed our orange juice green (milk dyes better...)! :) The Cul de Sac kids book we read that week, Green Gravy, was about St Patrick Day! And we even squirted some green frosting on our desert! (Kind of like in the book...)

Beyond all the green we celebrated St Patrick! (Go figure!) We watched the Sumo VeggieTale that has his story on it (which happens to be Daddy's favorite Veggie story). We watched how he went to Ireland to tell them about Jesus and used the three leave clover to show how God is like a shamrock - three Persons in One. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Thank ya, Lord! Hannie made a shamrock in school to celebrate so we took down our heart butterflies in the window from Valentine's day and hung up her heart shaped shamrock!

Everywhere you look, God can be found!

Celebrate Him!

Happy St Patty's day!

God is Three in One!

Happy Golden Birthday

Ruth turned 5 years old on the fifth of March! Golden girl. She preferred that we said "Happy GOLDEN Birthday!" to her instead of the old "Happy Birthday!" Heh. We celebrated with a golden balloon, golden wrappers on our cupcakes, golden sparkles around her chair and we ate golden grilled cheese! (We spent the evening receiving awards at church for Missionetts and Royal Rangers!) Then on Friday, we brought all of our golden goodies up to the bowling alley for some birthday fun with her little buddies. She invited the three other gals from her class and three friends from church. AND she won the game, which she didn't pay too much attention to anyway! :)

Happy Golden birthday to our sparkly girl!