Our girls have taken Armenian dance classes this year. We started taking them with Nadela's daughter, Iren. She stopped going this spring, but we decided to finish it out. (Iren started taking a singing class instead...)
So last Sunday, the girls performed their dances in a recital with lots of other little girls. They did so great.
I'm proud of all they've learned and how they kept up with classes, even when they couldn't really communicate well with anyone! (Everyone spoke Armenian... the girls and the teachers!) Hannie can understand more than she can speak, so she did catch some of it... but the nice thing about dance is that you can watch and do! And they did!
So proud of them!
This day was 100 degrees and they were very warm! And it was about 4 hours long (including all the other dances). Their dance was about 15 minutes long! They did their best and it was great. Ruth (Rutik) came away from it with snagged tights, lost barrettes and a lost shoe (during the performance!)... Hannie (Ani) came away from the performance looking just the same as when we sent her back stage! Our girlies. Love 'em. Apres, apres!!
I love that this is something that will always be a part of them... something they will always "have" from Armenia.
Hannah says this is her favorite dance. They are way in the back... look close!
Plus, we only had two seats for Kev, me, Benjamin, and Elijah... so it's a not the most steady shot!
This dance kinda has more of the Armenian sound to it... but it's their last one and if you happen to see Ruthie... she's tired and ready to be done!
blogger has been making it difficult to upload these videos...
It's summer time in the Crawford home! We're excited for a break from homeschooling. At the same time, I don't really want to just stop learning, if you know what I'm saying! :) So, I had the kids help me come up with a little schedule for us to have a little bit of loosely structured time in the afternoons during the summer.
So from roughly 1:00 to 2:00 this is what is out to play with:
Monday - Math and Bible Trivia (JBQ)
Tuesday - Phonics games and Art
Wednesday - Puzzles and Games
Thursday - Play doh (or other feely things...) and possibly baking!
Friday - Computer learning games and Music (which we really do every day... heh.)
Saturday we go to the orphanage and we decided we'd like to try to write a letter to someone back home on this day, too.
Sunday is, of course, church day!
(Okay, I totally wrote the week out like an Armenian would... starting with Monday! Ha!)
So I've just been putting these things on the table (or on the floor) and it'sbeen an easy and fun way to do "something" and something good, too! The kids have liked it. Then we've also been trying to have quiet time before supper, too. If it's "their day" (they each get one day where they get to do anything helpful or special... make decisions or say prayers, etc...), they get 15-20minutes of their quiet time alone with me. Just to hang out. I really want to spend individual time with them once in a while. So that's been fun, too! Quiet time especially is good for right now since it's been super hot around 4 or 5 in the evenings anyway! They play outside in the morning when it's cooler!
Besides that, our kids have been loving polly pockets, computer games, water stuff outside, playing games with the obsidian rocks around here, writing songs, and recently they've been making up their own pretend countries with maps and flags. Benjamin has even written out his country's history with wars and conquering, etc... I love their imaginations!
We've also been trying to keep up our morning Bible time. We're learning about Paul, finishing memorizing Hebrews 11 and reading Window on the World (which is also great for geography!). Kev reads Narnia after lunch and I just finished reading Harriet Tubman to them at bedtime. Now we just started Marley and Me... a little different story than Harriet Tubman, but still fun... especially since we have our own crazy puppy now!
There you have it. Fun in the summer.
I love that when they're "bored" they go to our homeschooling drawers. Awesome!
Before we went to Turkey, the kids put on this puppet show for the kids at the orphanage! Awesome!! Several kids were sick and in the hospital for bronchitis! But we still had a good time and it looks like everyone's back and healthy now!
Thank you, Nadela jan, for teaching us Armenian! :) (They had two months of lessons just before this...)
Let me share our retreat to Turkey with you in the form of pictures... Hum, how do I pick just a few pics. Let me try. (There's more on my facebook page and tons on our flickr... fyi.)
We started out at the hotel's doctor's office with Ruthie... always her ears...
Spent lots of time at the beach and in the pools. When we got home I realized that I didn't take pictures of them IN the water, which is where they were most of our free time! Heh... so you'll have to imagine four wet kids in swimsuits! :) Kevin and I swam with them, too, of course!
We went back to Ephesus this year so that Benjamin could check it out. Last year he swam in the pools instead of taking the tour but this year he wanted to go to Ephesus instead of swim. So we took him and got to spend the afternoon with one of our best friends, Marine, and a fellow Armenia team friend, Carissa.
This is maybe half of our Eurasia NW group...
The kids had a BLAST with their friends and their teachers while we were in our meetings. From the first day they named their teachers Beautiful and Handsome! :) Their real names are Jenilee and Jeremy. They were fast friends. We're thankful for their time and lovin' on our kiddos.
This is our the Eurasia NW group after our last evening meeting of the retreat. Good group of folks here... :)
The last day of the retreat was a hang out together day. Our whole group took a boat ride around the Aegean sea. Good chance to hang out! This first pic is my sweet Armenian friend, Marine. She came along to watch Nick's and Olivia's Ava during the team meetings.
Kevin jumped off the roof top of the boat into the Aegean sea... whooooo! :)
Jeremy found a sea cucumber and threw it up into the boat (onto my belly...) and we got to check it out up close. Our future oceanographer was excited to see it but didn't really want to touch it! :) It's really slimy. Here he his holding it!
Our family on the last day that we were in Turkey... because of flights we were there a little longer then the team so we had to make the most of it! :) It was a fun night hanging out on the beach at sunset.
Our trip home was super crazy, starting with Lijah throwing up on me in the van on the way to our first flight (of three)... Uff... Blurry pic to represent our blurry day of travel!? By the time we were home both boys were sick and Ruth's ears still bothered her... But we made it home and had a great time on our trip with fellow friends on the field! Thankful for our time in Turkey! (And the boys are much better. Ruth might make a trip to the doctor on Monday...)
One of our prayers during this week in Turkey was that we'd have more of a clear direction about the future. Our MA term is up this winter. Do we continue to pursue missions, seek ministry opportunities in the US, get back into a "regular" job... where to live, working out adoption... too many possibilities... Our prayers seem to end up mostly with the Lord continuing to say, wait. :) We know He's working on us and has great plans. We're doing our best now and hopeful for the future.
This is our story, this is our song... praising our Savior all the day long.
We know His work in our live will turn out to be a great story!
We got into our second car "smash" ever this month. The last time was in Grand forks when Ruth was just a few months old! This time we were in Yerevan coming home from dance. Since you can rarely turn left across on-coming traffic, you have to drive up farther and then turn around in the middle of the road at a place marked for U Turns. Well we were driving home and suddenly the car in front of us stopped because it and several cars in front of us were making a U Turn. So we stopped, too.
When we stopped quickly, the car behind us did not. We're not sure if it was that car or the one behind him that hit first. But in the end, (ha) we got rear ended! Okay, so we can handle that... but first we have to wait, and wait, and wait...
We had just gotten lunch and ice cream to take home so as the kids and I sat in the car, we had lunch! Ha. We're in the middle of this busy street in a smash, eating ice cream. Couldn't just sit and watch it melt, right!? Kev called some of our friends to help us so he stood with Nick and Vahram talking to police and investigators and angry Armenians who were involved in the car accident along with many others who stopped to check out the accident!
So after about two hours of sitting there we were told to drive over to the parking lot but our car wouldn't start! Jump start.
Nick said he'd drive the kids and me home. But the day wasn't done for Kev. He had to then drive down to the police station with Vahram.
Five hours after our car accident, Kev was home with a promise that he'd be paid $100 to fix our bumper. The third guy in the back was the one to blame, apparently. (After he had hit the guy behind us he drove away! Hit and run... But he came BACK!? Because he wanted the guy in front of him to have to pay to fix his car. Hello?!)
Being the good wife that I am, there was a cold Mt. Dew in the freezer for my Kevy bear. And some aloe for my poor hubby's head... standing out in the sun all afternoon wasn't what we planned to do that day!
Okay... after my last transparent post I feel like I need to share so many good things going on! :) We are encouraged and blessed right now, as well as wondering and waiting!
So many of our blessings here come from our friends. One friend of ours said that whenever he's with our family he goes away smiling. He's walking down the street smiling and people are looking at him wondering why he's smiling. Heh. :)
Another friend of mine said that before I started taking the girls to dance with her, the lobby type area where all the moms wait was always quiet and serious. Now everyone's talking and smiling. Don't know if that's all my doing... but still encouraging! :) She also said that her daughter says she thinks she should be more friendly like Jill! Ha. She said she likes how I love people and she is trying to say, "I love you" more! I guess some women in Armenia have even been told not to tell their husbands I love you too much!? hello. If you know me, you probably know that I love you! :)
Another one of my sweet, jans skyped me: " just I want to tell, the special heart that you have, it is visible, it is clear and it is shown so big. You know Jill jan I am not seeing you often but every time when i think and sms and talk with you I feel so happy." ENCOURAGING ME! And I feel the same back at her, too.
That's all encouraging to me because before we came, I'd heard someone say that when they were overseas people asked them why they were so happy and what made the difference. They could see Jesus in them. I made the comment that I'd love to have that happen to us!
I've also received a couple letters and things from the states... Proverbs 25:25 - Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.
And we're so blessed in this day and age to have Skype and to stay in touch with family back in America! Our little Emma niece clapped to Head and Shoulders while I sang to her last week! Makes us miss her more but we're so thankful for that connection!
Homeschooling is a blessing. I love this time with my kids! Love. it. (Don't love all the papers to grade! but I love being with them and knowing more of their hearts...)
Kevin has been so blessed to work with a few good worship bands here. He was told that one group feels like they're on the edge of something big and they thanked him for being a part of that. People who probably wouldn't have been involved before are getting opportunities to be involved now. That's exciting.
Being at the orphanage is a blessing. To us and to our kids. What a great chance for them to learn and be stretched and to just plain ol' PLAY! We're loving the kids and the sisters up there. So glad we had that open door. The girl we'd thought we'd adopt... she's adorable and such a honey and we'd still be open to it if the opportunity should present itself. But really, we are glad someone wants to adopt her. I'm happy she'll be in a family and pray that they are a family who loves Jesus. She's so smart and sweet but has physical disabilities. That's tough here. Anywhere. But here things aren't set up for wheelchairs, etc... So even though we were kinda discouraged and sad, in the end we really are happy for her. Bless her, Lord. Even though we have had just one donation to our adoption fund, I have a lovely friend, Miss Beverly, who is having her own fundraiser for our adoption. So blessed. So humbled. If you're interested in checking that out... She makes LOVELY homemade cards. http://www.etsy.com/shop/BevMom
When we opened our adoption account, I told Kevin that I feel like the Lord's saying that it might not come in little by little, but perhaps a lot at once? Maybe. But while we wait to see I want to keep my head up and on the One who knows it all. Be strong and courageous. Don't be discouraged.
Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.
It's a command! :)
So many other reasons to rejoice and celebrate! Just thought I'd throw a few out there for you to rejoice over with us! :) (Maybe it's good for me just to type up a few good things for my own benefit!) God is stretching us and drawing us into a deeper relationship with Him and we want that more than we want our own desires. We're still following Him close and excited to see what He has next.
This book starts out "Jill is a pig." heehee... Then she sits in the mud. Then at the end she has tea with Lil and it says that they will get fat... heeheehee... He loves it. So funny! :) Fat. We don't usually say that someone's fat so it's extra funny... (Had to tease Daddy, too, while we were all laughing... our boy...)
The other day, he stood in front of the bookshelf next to Kevin and said, "Hum, what should I read?" tapping his chin... so sweet. He's ready to take on the Narnia books already!!
okay, so this has kind of been a deflating week. miscommunications on the field, financial stuff, missing our baby girl niece who's growing without us, finding out the girl we'd thought we might adopt just had another family "pick" her, getting only one donation to our adoption fund... just imagine a balloon slowly deflating... heh. where are we? why? what are Your plans and purposes? what's next? what's now? I guess in the middle of the questions is where faith grows the most? all we can do is trust Him and His good work in our lives. ~be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.~ build us, grow us, make us strong. be our Hope.
at the end of his sermon on sunday, the pastor reminded us: -God is good. -God loves you. -God knows your need.
good to hear the basics all over again sometimes.
sometimes I find myself thinking: I hope someone's praying for us, then I am reminded... someone else is probably thinking that same thing right now. who needs me to pray for them now? Holy Spirit, show me who needs my prayers. that would be a much more productive, powerful thing for me to do, huh?
fix your eyes on Jesus. set your hearts at rest in His presence. God has good plans. wait. and see. enjoy now.
we feel like we've obeyed. we've tried to do what God's put on our hearts and set before us. time. timing. I read this week that just like His eye is on the sparrow, it's also on the wrist watch... He's got time under control, too. after we've done all we know to do, we just have to perch on the edge and wait for the "go". wait for the "see". in the meantime... He says know Me. know Jesus better.
I swing between totally trusting and being completely impatient. *dislike* steady me, Lord. let me find satisfaction in You. joy in now. peace in your presence. thank You that You are our Rock. You are patient with me. thank You for Your good plans.
I'm doing Beth Moore's Esther study now... good for this time. destiny. I listened to her talk about how hard it is for a little girl to be an orphan and have no mama or papa... cried... now today her session 3 talk is about time and unfolding destiny/perfect timing - Esther 4:14 ...who knows? maybe you're here for such a time as this... who knows? God knows.
God knows. All powerful, all seeing, all knowing. God knows. One step at a time. Who knows... turns into "I Know."
Empower us to do the impossible for Your glory. (even if the impossible seems to be -wait and see!)
So we are inching closer and closer to having a teenager in the house! :) He's pretty pleased. When he turned 9 years old, he informed me that he was halfway there... on his way to college! Hello!! Enjoy being the little guy for a while anyway!
We're proud of Benjamin. So smart and studious. He loves to learn and study. He loves what's right and good. He's been a great big brother since forever. He's brave to try new things but not the crazy in-you-face American! Heh. He's a good basketball player. And still has a great imagination. He loves to read and to write. He's got a great journal that he started for school last year and then just kept up after the year ended. That'll be fun to read as the years go by. He's got a tender heart and a great smile. Love that kid.
This year, we're trying to get him to that observatory! I guess there's one here in Armenia and we were going to go last year but it never happened! So we better get up there this year, huh? He still is loving space and oceans. Little things in big places?! :) We've had a bit of a doughnut party for him this year. Went to Yum Yum on his birthday and also picked up some doughnuts there to share with our friends at the office the next week. We spent some time at our favorite park playing football and of course made his favorite meal for supper, bowtie noodles... noodles with cream of mushroom sauce and chicken. (used up our last cans of the sauce to celebrate him!!) :) Oh, and we made some brownies, too! And got cookies from Olivia. Yum... sweet celebrations, huh?!
Good day. Good kid. Good God. Good plans. Good life.
God uses my kids to talk to me. The other day Elijah wanted to take apart our little wooden chair to see if his big volleyball would fit through the back of it! (There's a space between the back and the seat but not one that's big enough for a big ball to fit through...) Our conversation went like this:
E: Help me take these cushions off!! M: Lijah, it won't fit! E: Help me take these cushions off!! M: Lijah! Trust me! E: Take them off; I want to see! M: Liajh. Trust me. E: Show me! M: Trust me. E: Show me! M: Trust...
You get how the rest of the story went. As we went back and forth, I caught the unmistakable "voice" of the Lord... Um, hum. Trust Me. But I wanna see-show me... Trust Me.
So that moment in time was followed by me remembering that I needed to drip Ruth's ear with medicine to clear up her second ear infection: M: Ruth?! Let me drip your ear. R: Ah, wah, mooooom! ahhhhh... M: I'm trying to help you! Lay down. (are you hearing the "voice" already...) R: Maaaammmm, I want to play. I don't want to lay down! M: Ruth. I'm doing this to help you. Lay down, baby. R: Wahhhhhhh... ~angry eyebrows and pouty lips~
Ruth is always running and hardly ever stopping. Telling her to lay down and "be still" three times a day is torture! But you and I both know why it has to be done. It is for her own good. It will make things better. Um, hum... being still is for your own good.
Give me ears to hear and faith to trust...
(~You can see that Ruth's lost her first two teeth in the past couple weeks!! One on the top and one on the bottom. The other top one is loose and should come out pretty soon, too! Cutie pa-tootie!)
So. Checking the adoption fund does not make it fill up any faster. Lesson I learned this week! Heh. I've decided that for all the checking I do... I will stop and pray about it instead of checking on it! Much more productive. And much more energizing. God has good plans.
On the upside, we have some money in our adoption fund now! Whoo! But sooo much more to go. I know God is going to teach us some amazing things as we trust and obey Him. Build our faith, Lord. You are able. Nothing is impossible with you. You say, open wide your mouth and I will fill it... we are open and waiting to see Your work fulfilled.
I've been reading about George Mueller a little bit this week. Interesting guy. You know a little bit about a guy and when you read more, the little bit you knew is even more interesting. If you don't know his story, (watch VeggieTales! :) and let me fill you in a little... he trusted God for everything and built up several orphanages through prayer. People say he never asked anyone for anything but still the money came in just when it was needed. He prayed for everything and trusted that God would answer. Cool. So it inspires us... and makes us think. Well, then. Do we not tell anyone our need and just pray? I love to know God hears and answers prayers. I believe He is as mighty and wonderful now as He's always been. So. Do we keep our plans to ourselves and just pray? Well, I kinda thought, we're the body of Christ. We should talk to each other, too, right? Then today I read an interesting quote from Mueller:
It is not enough to obtain means for the work of God, but that these means should be obtained in God's way. To ask unbelievers for means is not God's way; to press even believers to give, is not God's way; but the duty and the privilege of being allowed to contribute to the work of God should be pointed out, and this should be followed up with earnest prayer, believing prayer, and will result in the desired end.
So he confirmed what I had been thinking... that it should be looked upon as a "privilege to contribute to the work of God." As the body of Christ, we should like giving to the work of God. (So we weren't completely faith-less to share our excitement if it's looked at in that light, right?) And of course, what we all know about Mueller... Pray, baby, pray! Watch and see what God will do!
I've also been reading verses about being still and waiting... put your hope in God... Oh, man. Why is waiting so stinkin' hard? I think I'd rather be told I had to run across the country instead of... wait! I know God's number one thing for our lives is to know Him and that this is one big way that we get to know Him. So I understand. And I want to know Him more! But ugh. Waiting.
Then, to my relief, I read another verse about not being still.
Psalm 83:1 O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still.
So I decided that as long as I can pray, Lord, don't be quiet. Don't be still! Be big, mighty, loud, crazy - Act! Then I can deal with my own verses telling me "be still." I can rest a little easier knowing that He is not still. He is working!
We will still check the adoption fund. But we will continue to try to keep our focus on the One who has it all under control!
So it looks like we're in our first trimester... of adoption! Kev and I have thought about, talked about, prayed about it, and even looked into adopting in the past. It seems like now just might be the time?!
We're spending time at a special needs orphanage here and really enjoying our time there. The kids are also learning a lot and making friends, too. I love that. But being there has also stirred up (and over) our desire to adopt. In all the time I've been spending in the Word and in prayer, I just feel like God is leading us... We really want to hear His voice and follow His leading. I'm learning to not just run off ahead in my excitement. We're learning to be a team and to know Jesus better. We're praying that our family will be united and tight. And that we might be a family where the Lord will "set the lonely". (Psalm 68:6)
Our prayers have been for the Lord to lead the right people to give to help financially support this adoption. For the right child, or children, to be placed in our home, for us to be prepared for big things, for Him to go before us and stay behind us. We are thankful for His Holy Spirit in us as a counselor and guide. Trusting God for big things as He leads. Most importantly, we want to hear His voice. And to be a family that will bless children in need of a family.
I wish you guys could come up there with us... sweet kids. I'm sure you'd see how special they are and you would understand our hearts.
We've been in touch with an attorney but haven't signed anything yet. We're waiting for some funds in our adoption account so that we know we can take the first steps forward.
Right now we need around $2000 to get a home study done. Altogether, it will cost around $30,000! This will be a God thing! We're all in! Since we sold just about everything to move overseas and are currently missionaries... you can imagine that we do not have $30,000 laying around! But we know God is big. And that he loves these little ones that "have no mama or papa". Here am I!
If you want to be a part of putting the lonely in our family, please click on the button on the side of my blog. The donations that go to that account will go right toward the adoption. It's set up specifically for that purpose. This is a personal account. (Don't send money to our missions account if you want it to go toward adoption.)
First Trimester: The exciting announcement and the morning sick not-so-fun adjustment... paperwork, paperwork, paperwork - home study - paperwork... We're still trying to imagine what life will be like and if all will go as planned. Trusting God and praying for good things!
Dreaming, wondering, planning, praying... Thanks for being a part of life with us! For His glory!
Okay! I must not have posted the kids saying the first part of Hebrews 11 on here! I thought I did at Christmas time but I must have just put it on FaceBook!? Here's the first 7 verses...
Okay... well, we got the middle part of Hebrews 11 memorized, for the most part! It seems it was too early in the morning for recording and the lighting isn't too good. The kids were hoping we'd see Mt Ararat in the background but it didn't show through the window. I'm not sure I'll get them to do it again soon so let me share this try with you! At least you can see what we've been working on! :)
A couple months back, someone sent Kevin $5000 to use for growing Armenian worship teams! Whoot! So now we've got a music room set up in our basement (by the washer and dryer) complete with drums, guitars, a base, keyboard, recording stuff... Three nights this week we have people coming over for guitar lessons and practice. He'd like to get a few more groups plugged in, too! It's exciting.
The kids and I just had devotions together the other day from 2 Chronicles 20 about Jehoshaphat. After he inquired of the Lord, the Lord said, basically: Go, be there, and I will win the battle. They sent the musicians out first singing, "Give thanks to the Lord, for His love endures forever." The battle was won before they even got there! (The enemies turned and fought each other instead!) Verse 22, "As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the [enemy]..." Love it! You see that a few times in the Bible... the worship goes first and then the battle is won! Love the power of worship. Glad we get to be a part of that in Armenia!
(The kids loved that "phat" part of Jehoshaphat's name... Benjamin said if he named his kid that, he could call him "phatty!" Heh! The girls wondered what would happen if he was skinny... but called fatty... lots of laughter from all of them over the whole thing...)
-The first pic is a guitar lesson... the second is us trying out the mics with Daddy for our morning worship! We're helpers!
This is Ruth's second birthday in Armenia! Last year, our plane touched down on the fourth of March. Ruth turned six years old then next day, on the fifth! Well, here she is having another birthday in Yerevan! The day before her birthday, Ruth decided to pick out her birthday outfit on her own... a tee shirt that says "Cheerleader" and pink shorts to match! Heh. We made her put pants on to go out! But she thought it was perfect! :) Daddy made her eggs and lavash for breakfast. I made her pancakes for lunch. Then we went out shopping! Daddy said she could pick out a present! (She wanted to go to Target, but instead we went to Barekamutyun, the underground market by the metro!) She chose a barbie with hair kind of like hers and some purple toy dress shoes (that didn't fit after we got home... boo!). Hannie got her a puzzle of Ariel that she's put together at least a hundred times now!Ruthie decided that she either wanted to go swimming or bowling to celebrate. So we ended up at the bowling alley! She invited a few friends. And so our next stop was the Play City bowling alley! She did a great job bowling on her big day! Even got a strike! And like two spares! Girlie! We frosted the cupcakes there and the kids loved putting the M&M's on with her! We ended up playing some in the play place in the same building, too! It was a busy, fun day. We love our bubbly, friendly, giggly, brave, sparkly girl! So glad we have our sweet Ruth Anne to liven up the place! Always running, always really happy (or really mad!!), always making friends, always with a hug... our girl. Happy 7th Birthday, baby! (She was born "sunny side up", which makes delivery a little harder, but is a good description of our Roo baby!)
This last pic was a few days later, with our friends up at the office! Ruth asked if we could bring them banana bread to celebrate! We even used some of our last package of chocolate chips for the special occasion! :) (M&M's work just as well!!)
When I was approaching my 30th birthday, I asked Kevin if we could do something "more" like take a short term missions trip overseas instead of go to Paridisos! ;) He thought that was a good idea so we checked into it. Long story short... we were asked if we'd consider going overseas for a couple months, then a few months, then a year, 18 months... 2 years?! We felt like the Lord was leading us to keep stepping forward and so we kept saying yes. Well, preparing for a two week trip is different then preparing for a two year trip! So after going to training and then itenerating for a few years, we finally boarded a plane for our overseas trip! In the meantime, my 30th birthday came and went, and so did my 31st, 32nd, and 33rd. We were almost here by the 33rd - missed it by like two weeks. But now. Here we are. Overseas. Trying to stay humble and obedient. Still taking steps of faith. Still growing and going forward. Still trying to do "more" and live out abundant life! But we are here in Armenia. We can still celebrate my 30th birthday for a few more years anyway, right?!
(First pic... by the Cascades just after taking the kids out to Taco Maco!! Second pic... Me -with Kev- at the Marriott downtown at the Republic Square!)
Just a shout out to my Dad, who turned 70 in January and Kev's Mom, who turned 60 this month! Whoot! We love you both so much. So glad we get to call you ours! :)
Quite a while back, I'd read a few verses about a spacious place. These verses came back to me on our recent trip up to Georgia. We're driving through these winding, mountain roads. The kids and I all have some small to larger cases of motion sickness. So this time we took some motion sickness pills (after having one child who was throwing-up motion sick on the last trip up there!). We twist and drive and turn and breath. Heh. It's really pretty but when you're motion sick, it takes away from that a little bit. The roads can be narrow in places. We drive along the edge of drop offs with cars coming toward us in the other lane. The roads are also usually rough with construction or just rough because they're worn out! This road north also has three tunnels that we get to drive through. We like tunnels... they're kind of exciting. But these are dark, pot-holed tunnels. One really looks like you're driving through a cave! (And it also has a ginormous pothole in the middle of it!)
So now that you have an idea of the mountain roads, let me get on to my point. After a couple hours of all the twisting and bumping, we get over the mountain passes and it starts to level off... then there's a really pretty place where you can look back and see the snow capped mountains behind you and a river with some flat land and green grass beside the road. It's pretty. Pretty and spacious. We've passed all the twists and turns and now we can see out a ways. (Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm from North Dakota and we can see forever there, but...?) I like getting to that place in the drive.
Psalm 31:8. "You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place." (You give me relief.)
Psalm 18:19 (and Deut 22:20) "He brought me out into a spacious place... He rescued me because He delighted in me."
My enemy isn't completely like David's... I don't have someone with a spear chasing me or a whole army looking for me. Heh. But I have questions that aren't answered. I wonder about the future. I am unsure sometimes. I can't see around the next curve. I don't like it. I like to see out ahead of me... I know the verses about how His Word is a lamp onto our feet and I've thought about how it doesn't say it's a beacon into the future! But also I like that the Lord says that even now, in this life, there will be spacious places for us. We will be brought out into them and our feet will walk into the spacious place. We will see and understand a few things. Maybe not all things... but at some time, we will see some space.
Isaiah 33:17 "Your eyes will see the King in His beauty and view the land that stretches afar."
Our eyes should be longing to see the King in His beauty... after that, we get to view the land that stretches afar. Focus. My eyes so often want to see what's next. I'm learning to look for the beauty of the King, trusting that in time He will show me more. More of Him and more of His plan for us. Good plans... future and hope plans. Spacious places...
"I have a secret." I said to my friend. "What?" "I want to adopt!" "Jill! That's not a secret!" So I guess I don't have a secret! :) From the time I was little, watching Little Orphan Annie and adopting Cabbage Patch Kids, to when I was old enough to babysit and work in preschools and getting my degree in Early Childhood Education... I've always loved kids. Especially kids who need extra love. Then Kevin and I had baby Joshua who was so sick and we were told to abort him. Love that son of ours. We had him with us for two months and have never regretted it. Along the way, we've had four more of our own, we've checked into adopting a little girl with a cleft lip/palate in Kazakhstan whose picture we saw online, and we've filled also out a form for Holt International wondering where that might lead...? Nothing came of it. But we did end up heading into missions and here we are in Armenia. Is it possible that we were lead here "for such a time as this"? I'm not sure, but we are open to the possibilities and checking into things here. We found an agency in Carolina that works with Armenian adoptions and got tons of papers from them this week! Super exciting and faith building! As another friend put it, it's like stepping out of the boat!
Ruth asked me to read that Bible study for devotions today. (Each week, each of the kids gets one day to pick the family devotions...) Peter walks on water because he dares to trust Jesus! Crazy! I also heard the story of the miracle of the 5,000 fish today, too... Andrew saw the possibilities of what Jesus could do when he saw the five loaves and two fish!
The kids were all on our bed the other morning (imagine the scene from Cheaper by the dozen...) and we were talking about the possibility of adopting. Elijah says we should adopt 100 babies and give 100 kisses! Ruth says she wants to adopt somebody in a wheelchair! Hannie says when she grows up she wants to adopt... And Benjamin, our almost 11 year old, says something like... isn't it expensive? Heh. So we got into a good discussion about how God provides and if He directs us to do something according to His plan, He can provide above and beyond. We'll have to pray and trust Him. Yeah, they know He provides but this is big (feeding 5,000 or walking on water big!).
Then we went out to have breakfast and devotions. We read stories of Elijah and Elisha (guess who's day it was to pick the devotions...). We read three days worth since they were each short stories. So we got three "Thoughts for the Day": -Blessings come from God. -God's ways are not our ways. -God provides for us as we show faith. Awesome. I love it when He speaks and we hear!
Psalm 68 talks about how God sets the lonely in families... so our prayer has been that He would do just that! That He would bless our family as He sees fit and prepare us for it!
Every 120 days, our visas expire and we need to leave the country and come back in again to apply for new visas. This time we drove up through the mountains in northern Armenia and crossed the boarder to continue on up into Georgia's capital, Tbilisi. A friend of a friend met us at the boarder so we could follow him up... good thing, too, because we would have been so lost in Tbilisi! Big, pretty city! We drove through town some and then stopped at... McDonalds!! :) We don't have anything like that here in Yerevan so that was eeeexciting! After that we went to their ministry center for the night and in the morning we headed back to Armenia. So it was a short trip but still fun to see around! Next time, we'll try to plan to stay a little longer! (And to check out their other two McDonalds!!)On the way back to Yerevan, we got a flat tire... in the mountains... in the snow... in the cold... just outside a little village. Kevin drove us back to the gas station there and we had about 6 guys come and help. It was freezing out there and the tire was stuck on there pretty good. After they all worked hard and we all thanked them a lot, we waved good bye and Kev turned the key to start the car back up - dead. No battery. Not a sound... Wait, guys... come back! :) We jumped the car and it was all good. Needless to say, we were pretty happy to get back home where we were safe and warm! Our visa's expire on May 28th so at least there shouldn't be as much snow then!! Heh.
(The last two pics are Kote, who took care of us!! Thank you!! And the last one, we were just getting into the snow... see the zig zagging sign?!)
We finally got back to Bethlehem Orphanage! After almost a YEAR... for crying out loud! :) (We had to track down the number and address and the main lady isn't there anymore and then Christmas came... yada, yada.) We were so glad to find the place again and to get back up there! We recognized some of the kids from last March and some of them even recognized us! Crazy. It's a special needs orphanage with about 8 older kids between the ages 5-10 and more babies upstairs. We didn't see this time because a few were sick. A lot of the kids we played with have down syndrome and a few are in wheelchairs. We went there with balloons and a guitar and all of our kids. It was a good time and we're hoping to get back up there every Saturday! It's great for us and for our kids and the gals up there say it's great for their kids to play with ours, too! Yea! We're looking forward to getting to know them better. Pray that we'll be a blessing to them... I know they'll be a blessing to us! Pray for us, too... our hearts are open to adoption and we are praying to be walking in the path the Lord has for us!
My family sent Christmas presents the beginning of December... and we got them January 21st! So after waiting a month... we had the second half of our Christmas! Pretty exciting. Everything made it over, too! Before we opened the packages, we decided to watched the Muppet's Christmas again, just to get in the spirit. And our tree was left up for the celebration so we were set there... surprisingly, I'm the one ready for it to be put away... even Kevin wants it to stay up! Heh. Weird. We read all the names for Jesus that we tore off for our Christmas chain count down. (They had been put on the tree after we tore them off!) And opened up our gifts from home! There's nothing like getting love from home! Whoo-hoo! Christmas on January 21st!
I love that this is something that will always be a part of them... something they will always "have" from Armenia.
