City of U Turns

Everywhere you go in Yerevan, you're looking for the next U Turn... To get to our neighborhood, we actually have to drive past it a little ways, make a U Turn an then come back to it. There isn't an opening to get across the road to turn directly onto our street. If you drive into town and want to turn left on to a street, a lot of times, you need to drive down the street a ways until the solid white line becomes dotted... that means it's okay to make a U Turn there. So cars will be lined up along the road, waiting to make U Turns to get back to the street they just passed! When Nick and Olivia give us directions, they tell us drive past the street that we want to turn left on until we find a place to make a U Turn then come back to it and turn right...

City of U Turns.

-Here we are going North (west) with our neighborhood on the left... and then again coming south (east), with our neighborhood on the right! Heh.

March Birthdays

Benjamin hit double digits on March 31st! So wild how fast the time goes! He's a fine young man, growing strong, and smart, and wise in the Lord. We're proud of him. We made a twinkie cake for him, had pizza, and watched Space Buddies. Sometime this month, Nick said he knew of an observatory that he could take him/us to. So he's looking forward to that. Happy Birthday to our Big Deluxe! :)

And little Ruthie turned six years old just the day after we got to Yerevan! We were so tired and "jet-laggin'" but we managed to hit a play place and have pizza, too. Olivia ordered a beautiful barbie dress cake. So she was very celebrated, even though we could barely keep our eyes open! :) Happy birthday to our firecracker!

catch up

Hey!

I just copied and pasted all the emails I'd send to our family and friends over the month of March... So now you're all caught up! :) We're here and settling in.

The picture is of the kids, just a few steps down the street from our front door! Mt Ararat at sunset! The one of Kev and me was taken at the Cascade, downtown Yerevan.

We went to a pretty walking park the other day with Olivia and Oliver and the kids... Ruth found a good place in the rocks and dirt to sit and play. This caused a little stir from the people around us... Olivia said it's culture shock for them. Little girls here don't sit down on the ground! Well, I think they'll see Ruthie on the ground more then once while we're here! Ha. Playing in the dirt is what she's meant to do! :)

We got some good numbers for our phones! Heh... we were told that numbers are important. Like 777 is good, or 1212... things like that. You'll notice "good" numbers on license plates around here... I guess people pay more to have good numbers!

There are a few tunnels throughout Yerevan. Ruth (and Oliver) is especially fond of going through the tunnels. There's one tunnel in Arkansas that we've been through twice and she's always remembered it and wanted to go through it again. Now we'll have opportunities every day to hit a tunnel, if we so desire! :)

Our tutor is coming five days a week now. We've learned the alphabet (all 39 letters!) and can write out words and make a few sentences. Nadale tells us that in English, we sing... in Armenian, we fight... Heh. They talk stronger and sharper here. We need to learn to "fight" when we talk! :) Fight, Jill!

One last quick two cents from me before I head to bed... I spoke at a women's conference in Hrazdan, a town North East of here. I gave my testamony and had another sweet friend translate for me. Afterwards I had the chance to pray for some women (again through an interperter) and when we were on our way to the pastor's home afterwards Kevin asked me what was on my cheek?? Lipstick. From all the women's kisses! Love it. :)

We're doing well and are getting into a groove. At the same time we think of all our friends and family at home, too! Love you guys!

March 16, 2009 email update from Armenia

March 16, 2009

Hey!

I've been trying to remember a few things to pass on to you guys... let's see here...

Ants
A week or two ago I was sweeping, which we have to do all day long, and I saw things moving in my dust pan! Ick. Tiny ants. They come in right by our door in the hallway! Ick. So we got some nasty ant poison that's bad for people, too... I don't know which is better or worse. But we were told that where there are ants, nasty spiders may show up, too! Uff da. So you can pray that we don't get any of those. I guess Nick and Olivia had a bunch in their basement last year and they're just down the block. But they were only in the basement and they didn't find any upstairs. So hopefully that's good news for us since we don't have a basement. They had people come and fumigate so we will, too! They're only out in the summer. Sigh.

Tourists
We spent a week, or at least a few day, just being tourists. Olivia and Oliver went to Holland where her parents are missionaries and she had a good ultrasound there – it's a healthy girl. But while they were away, we all packed into the SUV with Nick and saw the sights. The Cascade and and old monastery that I can't remember how to spell... Heh. If you're on facebook, you can check out a few pics... There's also lots of statues all around Yerevan. We also ate at Yum Yum Donuts, pizza places, and the Russian KFC... Heh. Pizza dough is soft and bready here and they like mayonnaise on it!! But we ask for it without mayo! :)

Churches
Last Sunday we went to an Armenian church in the morning and the international church in the evening. It got to be a long day. We heard that the Armenian pastor(s) goes longer, even! And there isn't much for children's programs during church. So two or three hours of Armenian speaking (and sitting for three hours...) gets kinda long for the kiddos. They liked that they spoke English at the other church, but they mostly just drew on paper with like 4 other kids there, too... We were hoping it'd be a big children's program for them. At least it was in English – they liked that! We liked both, I guess. It'll be nice to go to the Armenian one and understand. I really want to learn to sing the worship songs in Armenian! The preaching was actually by a Canadian missionary with a translator, so we did understand that part anyway! Preaching with a translator will be tricky... it was all choppy. Not a smooth sermon, you know.... anywho.

I have been asked to preach next Friday, with a translator! They're having a women's program at a smaller city about 45 minutes out of Yerevan! Only 15 minutes but that'll still be something, huh?! Last night I went with Nick and Olivia up there to be a part of some of the organizing.

Bathroom
After church, at the Armenian one, the assistant pastor Hiak and his wife Monny, went out to eat with us and Nick. They took us to the Russian KFC that was close by! It had a waterfall in the basement part with goldfish in the pond below. Fancy. While we were there, Ruth had to go to the bathroom... and she got herself locked in the stall!! And it was a little room, with no opening at the bottom of the door or whatever. Not the metal stalls we're used to. So I had to go get help because the door needed a KEY to open it. She was crying and the Armenians who worked there were busily trying to get her out! The manager had a million keys so it took a while. He found the key and got her out. She hung on tight to me and hid her face... Quite an adventure! All this while Kev was upstairs ordering. He didn't even know about it until afterwards... when the manager brought both Ruth and me ice cream cones! Ha. Leave it to our Ruthie... :)

Snow
This week we had some snow! The kids came running in to my room and opened the window! Snow, snow!! It was like Kansas City snow... melted later that day, I think. But it was still exciting. It's been around 50, I'm guessing, for the average temps here.

Homeschool
We're back to homeschooling. Trying to juggle that and language learning! Whew. The kids will already be schooling into June so we need to be off and running.

Meals and Mt Dew...
We're trying to figure out good meals with what they have here and with our oven that has no numbers on it for temps! Goofy. Looks like we'll be eating a lot of chicken. We did find hot dogs! Heh. And they have lavash, which is flat bread, and we like that rolled with cheese or peanut butter. The kids wanted to try it with sugar since it looks like lefsa! :)

Power
Twice, so far, our power has gone out. Once it went out about a half an hour before Nick and Kevin came home with tons of stuff from the grocery store! They said it'd be out for 7 hours but it came back on before that! I guess that doesn't happen too often!?

Teeth
Sharon, for you I thought I'd tell you about the teeth. Lots of people have golden teeth! The kids asked Tom, one of Nick's friends (and now ours too) why he had gold teeth... he said he didn't obey his mama and didn't brush well enough. One of the kids thought it was cool and wished they had gold teeth, too! :)

Smell
I'd wondered what it would smell like here because I'd heard that's something people really notice when they go overseas. It's not that different, I don't think. Some individual things smell different, but it'd not a huge difference overall... just fyi! Ha!

Marine
The kids have a babysitter when we tutor. Her name is Marine. She's great. They love her. She's babysat Oliver since he was 8 weeks old and is very involved in ministry stuff with the Puccinis so we trust here and are so thankful for that answered prayer! She has long black hair, which Hannie says is long purple hair! Heh. It has a tint of red or something so it looks purple to Hannie! She spent some time braiding it yesterday! :)

Nadala
Pronounced Na DAY la. Nadala (sp?) is our tutor. She is a believer, too! Yea. And we think she's good although we've never had a tutor before! :) She challenges us, which doesn't take much! Heh. But she's also encouraging. Nick said their first tutor called them lazy and stuff for not learning the whole alphabet in a day! Like 39 funky letters! Nadala says, “Shat Lav, shat lav” -Very good, very good. We're learning a few things anyway! She speaks in Armenian most of the time but uses English words to help us understand sometimes. She comes right to our home. Which is another blessing, too!

Jilljon
Two days ago, I asked Kevin when he thought we'd become Jilljon and Kevinjon. That's like dear or something like that that friends put at the end of names. The very next morning, Marine and Nadala came over (the come together in a taxi) and Marine said “Barev Jilljon!” And I hugged her! Ha. I'm Jilljon to a friend in Armenia! :) Whoo. Nadala said I was Jilljon to her, too! Heh. Sweet.

I love you
Tom, Nick's friend, has been helping him do yard work lately. So we've visited with him some. He's Armenian and speaks English well. We stopped and shared a few of our new Armenian words with him while we were going for a family walk around the block and when we were saying goodbye and walking away the kids were saying goodbye and see you soon and he said “I love you!” to them. They skipped down the street with a smile! :) He has a motorcycle with a side car. The other day when he was out by it, I said, “That smells like my dad and his garage!” :) He said it smells like Russian oil! Heh.

When I was out of town the other day getting ready for the women's conference, I got to eat with an Armenian pastor and his wife and 6 of their 7 grown children! The youngest is 16 and will be coming to Yerevan for college in the fall... They were a great family. Two of the girls work at the office translating the Fire Bible so I'd met one of them earlier. Tamar and Shushan. The pastor/dad's eyes reminded me of my dad, too... He was an older man with smile marks along the corners of his eyes. Must be thinking of you, Dad, huh?! :) While we were there, I was talking to the mom, with the help of Tamar who speaks English, and in the end she said, “Yes kez sirum!” (sp) “I love you.” :) I told her that I love her, too!

Internet!!

March 11, 2009 email update from Armenia

March 11, 2009

The past couple days have been kinda slower, just getting things settled. Kevin and Nick got the cell phones! Yea. But my battery in my new pink phone was old... so they went back and got a newer one. We charged the phone all night and in a couple hours it was dead. This one has worked all day so far. Now we have a way to get a hold of someone if we need to! And to get a hold of each other.

We've gone into the city (since we live just a little ways north west) several times. It's a huge city and we're still not totally sure where we are. But I think we'll get a map here soon and that will help. If we were online we could look. Crazy all the things you do online! I think these next couple days we'll be tourists and see some of the sites up close. We've driven past lots of things already...

Speaking of all the things you do online that you notice when you can't be online... the same is true with water, we found out! Yesterday, our neighbor down the street drove by and asked if I'd saved water... it was supposed to be out for 36 hours. Hum. We had plenty of drinking water so I thought we'd be fine, but then I looked down to see both Ruth and Elijah playing in the dirt/mud! Hum. Then we had to go to the bathroom... hum. Shower, mop, dishes... hum. :) We ended up going out to eat with Nick and Olivia and Marina at a Mexican restaurant and the water ended up coming on earlier then expected.

Another thing to watch out for is the power surges. The lights will flicker and stuff. No biggie. But we were told that it can blow out your TV or light bulbs! So we plugged the TV into a box that will take the surge (instead of the TV taking it...).

Let me share some Armenian things that we've noticed. For one thing, it's so rocky. Olivia said it's the land of rocks. Volcanic rocks. The buildings are made out of it and all along the roads and out in the fields there's – rocks. It's also kinda dusty. One day was really windy and we noticed black dust all around the living room by our front door. We'll seal it up a little better... :) And all our floors are tile so they sweep easily. (Funny since our last place in Williston was all carpet!)

The roads here are all bumpy and some don't have clear markings of who should be where. There's some good potholes out there. People are crazy drivers and whip around each other to squeeze past. They have buses and taxies and marshookas. (Somewhere in between a bus and a taxi! Heh.) People who are walking walk out in front of the crazy drivers to get across the streets. And even run to the middle of the road to stand and wait to run the rest of the way across. So they're standing there in the middle of crazy traffic coming and going on both sides.

The businessmen are serious. Kevin has observed this more then me. They kinda try to get you. And don't smile too much in the process. Heh.

Most everyone loves kids. Especially our younger two get lots of rubs on the head and touches on the cheeks. Which make Elijah burst out, “Barev!” which is Hello! He looks for people walking past to say Barev to. He even rolled down the window last night and said Barev to the police officers next to us. They smiled and waved and rolled down their window. Then they turned on their lights to show us. Funny what a little guy can get someone to do!

The kids are all good at saying hello and thank you in Armenian. People love to hear them try to speak to them! :)

People want to see kids bundled up. Our kids think it's crazy warm here so they've been out without coats. When we went to church on Sunday, the building the service was in was colder then outside! So in there, the kids were cold. People around us gave them coats and scarves to help keep them warm. We learned that they look out for cold kids... and that we should always bring a coat or sweater along!

There's a lot of smokers here and the smell of cigarettes is usually in the air. It's not overwhelming but usually there.

A lot of people wear BLACK! Kevin likes that. Heh. They usually are dressed up more then us with nice shoes and the tall, high heel boots. There are other colors, too. But a lot of black. The kids usually have bright coats and clothing.

We feel pretty safe. We were told that there's not much theft. And Nick told Kevin the other day that there's even a security guy for our neighborhood who stays at the entrance of our road. He watches for suspicious cars and stuff. Kevin liked that, I think.

Yerevan has had earthquakes. Olivia said she's felt one. We're glad we're not living in the 20 story, old apartment buildings in the city! Heh. She told us the biggest threat is the Nuclear power plant outside the city! Yikes. They're trying to get it shut down but would like to have another energy supply in place first. Kevin did no like that so much. Heh. But Olivia said that the US Embassy is still here so it must be fairly safe?!

There's no big Walmart or store like that. But there's a lot of the same little stores scattered throughout the city. We were in a fairly “normal” sized grocery store today. But most stores, even restaurants, are littler.

We'll drive by crumbling houses and turn to see nicer big places right close by. Interesting. There's also half finish building scattered around the city. Some of them were soviet buildings that were just never finished, I guess. And some, the people were paid or bribed to build somewhere else in the middle of building.

There's lots of street dogs. We haven't ran int too many up close but a couple nipping at the car as we drive by. They think dogs are stinky. But some people keep outside dogs and more are accepting certain types of pure bred dogs in their homes.

So there you have it. Nick and Kevin are out today trying to pick up a few more things we need. We got lamps today for our rooms. (Which took like an hour, running to the warehouse to get the three little lamps we'd picked, etc...) We also need a little desk or two for homeschooling and maybe a bookshelf and coatrack. We'll see what they find. Nick said it might be cheaper to have someone make us that instead of just buying it at the store.

Oh! Our internet guy might come in the next week. They ordered some part or something that should be in in the next couple days!? That'll be sweet! :) We'll be in better touch once that all comes together!

Now, I better run. It's almost supper time and Elijah's on the toilet. I hope he gets potty trained SOON!! sigh. I think we'll start some schooling tomorrow. Kevin slept a little better last night but still is not completely settled. We love that you're praying for us! We love you. And we're praying for you, too!!

Oh... Kevin has been up to the office downtown where they're working on translating the Fire Bible. He's fixing their computers! Heh. And another missionary asked if he'd be interested in doing some computer stuff with him sometime. Olivia said I'd been asked to speak at a ladies thing at the end of the month, maybe. I'd have a translator. I think by this Friday we should know something about our tutoring. Nick and Olivia's babysiter/friend/assistant might be available to watch our kids for the two hours we spend tutoring. The kids are already comfortable with Marina so they think we should start tutoring already! Heh. It'll be good to get in to a routine, I think. Get involved some, too! We're thinking we'll check out the international church sometime. Get the kids involved in a couple things...

Okay! Gotta run. Superman needs me!
Love you guys!

--If you've replied to me, I still haven't had a chance to check email. Kevin has just copied and pasted what I've written to you and sent it off. He said some of you have replied. Just that makes me smile. I love you friends. Can't wait to lock myself in my room when the net is hooked up and read your love! :) Love you! I'll try to reply to everything you wrote, too!!

March 8th, 2009 email update from Armenia

March 8, 2009

Today is Women's Day. Nick told us that they congratulate you on being a woman. Heh. Flowers are huge and it's expected of the men of the family to spend a lot of money to make their women feel special.

We got to go to a special needs orphanage this morning. There were four families that went so that was kind a crazy since there were about 10-15 kids there anyway. We probably doubled that with ours! But the kids were pretty sweet. There were a few with downs syndrome and some in wheel chairs. It was Mother Teresa Orphanage so there were several indian nuns running it. They were sweet, too, and gave me kisses on each cheek. The kids were probably newborn to age 6ish. We saw a few little ones upstairs who were blind and pretty sick. Downstairs was where we played the most. Those kids were full of hugs and smiles and were busy throwing around a beach ball and chasing balloons that we brought. It was kinda busy and crowded. Heh. But there were a couple little ones that wanted to play with us and read books with us. We got a couple pictures, too. And one little guy Ignas (sp?) took several pictures with my camera, too. He was 6 and in a wheel chair and spoke like three languages. Crazy. When we left he said “Come back?” I think Kevin, and Nick, too, were special treats for them! Men.

In a little bit, I think we're going with Nick and Olivia to a church planting outreach for Women's Day.

The kids have each had a couple issues feeling sad or nervous. But for the most part, we're doing well. The nights have been a little stressful for Kevy. But we are learning to go to the grocery store and things like that. They almost got the cell phone today but it hadn't come in yet. So they'll try some other place tomorrow if they havent' gotten them in yet.

Things go slower here. The internet guy is coming by sometime. To check out our place. And will come back some other time to do whatever he needs to do... slow going? :)

When things are running, we'll be in better touch!! We love you, even when we're not online!! :)

March 7th, 2009 update from Armenia

Myellow! :) March 7th

Just thought I'd add a little more of our update today. I'm typing in the email just on a text doc on our computer so that when we get internet or when we get over to borrow Nick and Olivia's, we can just copy and paste and send instead of sitting there for a long time in front of the computer instead of hanging out.

Anywho. Today Oliver had his fourth birthday party in a little community room in our neighborhood. So we got to go celebrate him and have a pirate party. Eye patches and earings! And we also got to meet a few more people. So that's cool. We met three other missionaries today. One family from Canada, another independent family whose wife is Armenian, and another family that's Baptist who have two kids that are 9. Benjamin and Hannie hooked up with Micah and Kyra right away so that was cool. They're adopted from Russia. Ruth hung out with the girls and Elijah made an Armenian girl friend, Deana, I think. He just said he liked her, I'm not sure what she thought! Ha. He also played with Oliver and a few other kids. He learned to say, “Come, come!” in Armenian. Heh. So, I guess I was excited to share that with you guys since I know you're praying with us that everyone would find good friends.

We also have met a couple Armenians that we're trying to learn to speak with! Heh. One guy, Vahram, came to help pick us up from the airport. He is married and has two little ones. He knows a little bit of English so we tried to visit some. He's a part of the ministries here and a really nice guy. He told me his wife was expensive... but meant to say precious! :) That will be our life! Heh. Picking the wrong word and laughing about it. And we hung out with Marina (Mar een a) again. She speaks English well. And we also met Christina who is an English translator. I don't thin her husband speaks English, though. So anyway... it was an interesting morning and we met a few more people. Yea.

Tomorrow we might go to a special needs orphanage with Olivia and her friend. They're bringing a couple gifts up there and invited us along. And we'll go to church in the evening. I'm not sure if that's always when they do church or what but maybe... We heard that they usually get a slower start here then we're used to. Get to work at 9 or 10. Stay up later at night...

Benjamin thinks Mt Ararat is the coolest. Hannie would like to stay in this house for 56 years. (But today her friend told her it was small, so maybe she'll change her mind!?) :) Lijah's just running around like usual. Ruth is making friends and loves Uncle Nick. She gets along well with grown ups. And she is her usual self. All or nothing!

We slept better last night. Jet lag is rough. The first morning I explained it to the kids and later Ruth said, “I'm jet laggin!!” The kids slept through the night, mostly. Hannie said she was awake but just rested anyway. Ruth was up once to go to the bathroom at 1AM but went back to bed. Kev and I were awake but stayed in bed around 4. We'll be glad when we get adjusted!

I suppose we should start homeschooling soon. We're behind! But we better get adjusted first. And I think we'll try to get another little desk or two. There is one in our room...

Olivia leaves for the Netherlands on Wed for a baby check up and a visit with her folks. But it sounds like Nick will be here.

There's hamburger on our gas stove and our laundry's going yesterday Hannie and I washed dishes by hand in the sink... Some normal in the middle of all the new! Kev and Vahram are going to go try to get us some cell phones again today. Nick thought the guy selling them the other day was trying to take advantage of the Amerikasi. :) So Vahram will go with this time! It'll be nice to have a phone and internet. Some conections.

Hope you guys are doing well! We think of you and pray for you. Pray for us especially at night! That's always a good time for worry to creep in!

Last night I read about Moses and the burning bush. God called him to go and he said, “What if...” and God said, “I am with you!”. Good encouragement for us. We heard about being steadfast and trusting yesterday, too. God is working on us here! :) His peace surrounds those who trust in Him!

Love you guys!!!!
Jill

Jill-jon or Hannie-jon, etc... is a way of saying something sweet. No exact translation but kinda like honey or sweetie... a way to call a friend something nice! Crystal-jon. :)

March 6th, 2009 email update from Armenia

Hey guys! March 6, 2009

Since our internet hasn't been hooked up yet, we have barely been online. But we've thought of you guys lots and taken pictures to share with you and have already missed you, too. Our place is very nice – three bedrooms and two bath, no tub and no dishwasher, washer and dryers but they're tiny and take quite a while to go. The kids really feel at home so that's great. The walls are even light yellow, which I like. :) We got here early in the morning on the 4nd so it was still dark outside. I think by the time we got here it was about 7ish... so when the sun cam up an hour or so later we were looking out the windows to see what we could see. The Mt Ararat ranges goes all around so we saw that and wondered if we'd see THE Mt... when we looked the other way – and there it was! Right out our window! Huge and beautiful! Covered with snow and tinted pink against the slight sunrise. So exciting. I'll send a pic when we can! We're also just down the street from the missionaries here so we can walk down there to see them and to play with their 4 year old. They're having fun with Oliver. And Nick and Olivia have been taking good care of us! They even ordered a beautiful cake for Ruth's 6th birthday birthday, March 5th. Again, pictures... :) It was a pink barbie dress type cake. And they've taken us out to eat Armenian food as well as to a Purper type play place on Ruth's birthday where we also had pizza! The kids love Uncle Nick and Auntie Olivia already...

So all that to say that we're doing well and the Lord has blessed us. Besides that, we've also felt quite out of place! Not speaking the language, especially, creates such a barrier. Kevin felt pretty overwhelmed our first night here. Culture shock, I suppose. Me, too, but as the man of the family, he really had a kind of fear grip him about taking care of everything here... and not being able to do that really well. So keep us in your prayers. We have moments where we're like – what are we doing? We already know that we basically know nothing. Crazy. But we have felt the Lord leading us here so we are still trusting. Fear can be so confusing. Sometimes we don't even know what we're fearing. Just a feeling of fear. So anyway... Pray we'd be strong and courageous. And that we'd really know God as our Shepherd and the Prince of peace. He is perfecting our faith.

When we got here the place was just nice and felt like someplace we could feel at home, but after I thought that, I thought – we should invite Blake and Crystal over. And we missed you. It will be great to have any and all of you come to visit us! :) Home is home when your loved ones come over!

Our plane rides were pretty good. Four different flights. Lots of different languages. Lots of hauling all our carseats and bags around. Lots of thumb sucking! Hard to sleep on a plane. Kev and I were wiped out! By the time we got to Vienna to our 13 hour layover and to the hotel, we were all pretty exhausted! We had to get two rooms with 6 of us so the boys took one and the girls, the other. And we all napped. Except Kevin, who had to spend time in the bathroom! Uff da! He did drink some tap water at the hotel and wondered if that was part of the problem. So on our last flight to Yerevan, he was really tired and a little nervous. Poor guy. He did fine and I'm so proud of him for getting us to all the places we need to get to and filling out everything that needed to be filled out. He's amazing. I mostly watched the kiddos! I, on the other hand, caught Ruth's and Elijah's cold in Mpls just before we did all our flying. So I had cold medicine as my friend! Ruth and Elijah seem to be over theirs for the most part. I'm still coughing. But it's not terrible. :)

Oh, our first landing was pretty bumpy... it was snowing in Chicago so I suppose that made the air different. Since I have a tendency to get carsick, I had to concentrate on relaxing! Heh... and while I was doing that, the little boy behind me – was sick. He cried and puked most of the way down. Nice. All our other landings were much smoother, although, one of them made Ruth queezy but she wasn't sick. And on that flight, Elijah was sitting by a Pediatrician! So he was kind to Ruth and told her to take deep breaths and stuff... On our long flight over the ocean, we sat in front of a nice couple from Albania (it borders on the adriatic). The man spoke English so well, we wouldn't have guessed it was his second language. They were also sweet with the kids and visited with Ruth and Benjamin a while (who were sitting closest to them...) On our last flight, the flight attendant gave each of the kids little books and toys so they thought they were pretty spoiled! Heh. People would rub the little one's heads and treat them all kindly. So all in all, flying went pretty well. All our flights were on time and we didn't have to run to hard to get to the next gate...

When we flew into Yerevan, it was night and we saw all the lights... Hannie said, “Am I dreaming?” We wondered that a little bit ourselves! Heh. But here we are!

Kev's off with Nick to get a cell phone and the kids are in their jammies crying over how much cereal they got and who got more... so it's typical life to some extent! :) I better go help Lijah get what he needs!

Pray that we get over the jet lag and get caught up on our sleep so that we can think clearly again! :) The kids were up at 3 AM the first night but only Ruth was last night and she went back to sleep around 4 something... They say it takes a week or two to get adjusted! Whew.

We also met Nick and Olivia's assistant/friend/babysitter... Mariana (sp?) She came to Ruth's party with us and got her a barbie type doll... We also met another of their Armenian friends at the airport, Vaharam (sp?). He used his truck to drive us home. Sunday we'll go to church somewhere with them and meet a couple more people, I'm sure. That'll be good to have some connections, especially since Nick and Olivia will be leaving in April or May... They say there's a family down the road who speak some English (lived in CA for a while) who have three younger daughters. So we'll have to try to meet them, too! Olivia didn't know if the kids spoke English anymore but I suppose the parents do some...

Okay! Better go here, still... the kids must have worked something out out there!!? It's quiet again. I better go see.

All our boxes made it over (we had to check some of our carry-ons when we switched from United to Austrian airlines because of weight limits...) but we got them all. Not all of our ties held so a couple boxes were open and a couple things must have fallen out. Not too much, though. Two books, Benjamin's fleece ball blanket... Oh, my Mystic Chai Tea! Boo-hoo... :) But the bad thing is that they must have taken out Elijah's nebulizer. I suppose it could have seemed suspicious? So we have medicine for that but not the machine to work it. He hasn't needed it in a year or so so maybe he won't. But we'll have to try to see if they have something like that here or if we can get one sometime... something? Maybe there's other things that we don't realize but I really think the ties just didn't hold and things fell out. We had to check one of our laptops for the Austrian flight and were worried that it'd be broken or stolen... but we got it! Benjamin's been busy playing Backyard Baseball on it already! :)

So here we are. Settling in and thinking of you guys! Thanks for praying for us! We really are encouraged to know you are! We'll keep in touch.

Love you all!

--Oh Crystal, the liquid thing was 3 ounces, and all your bottles in one, one gallon bag! Heh. I figured it out in Mpls! :) Thought I'd tell you! At first I had each bottle in one big bag each! Heh.

Vets and Double Digits...

We've been in Armenia for a month now! And so far, we've had two birthday parties... Let me post the pics and I'll share more of our updates tomorrow after we have unlimited internet... :)

Happy Birthday to our two March Birthday red heads!!

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