Back to Bethlehem

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!

January 21st Christmas!

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!

Our baby is FIVE years old!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Elijah Edward Crawford! Time goes by so fast. Lijah's adorable, curious, smart, learning to read, friendly, snuggly, sweet with babies, quick to make a friend, and very talkative! Even while I type, he's talking, talking... I think about Kung Fu Panda. Heh... We are so blessed to have our baby boy, er, I mean, little man as our son. Love that kid!

We had kind of a low key birthday for him... After Monday devotions, we had cake with our friends up at the Fire Bible Office. Then for lunch we had pizza at Play City with our family and Oliver, his buddy. The kids got to play games and climb in the play place. That night we came home to watch a "new, good movie" because that's what Lijah had asked for... but when we were about to start the movie Up, he decided he'd rather watch an old Magic School bus! Birthday boy gets to call the shots so Magic School bus it was! He said, "Look at all my presents!" to the 5 or so gifts that he got! Honey. He went to bed with a smile on his face. Fearfully and Wonderfully made!

video of the kids singing for Christmas

This is part of the kid's program for the Christmas service on January 6th, in Hrazdan! Such sweeties! :)

Merry Armenian Christmas!

Tsoorb Tsnoond! Holy Birthday! We got to spend the Armenian Christmas in Hrazdan with friends! They had a great church service with kids singing and dancing and songs. We went to have dinner with our friends after the service. Love those guys. The kids had a blast! It's fun for them to have friends here to fill in for their aunts and uncles in the states! After we came back to Yerevan we went downtown and saw the big tree in the square!

Let me show you some of our Christmas here!


A few days before the Armenian Christmas, we went to a Santa show with Nadela and her kids... Ruth says the girl with Santa is Mary Christmas! :)

Happy Birthday, Kevy!

Thank You, Lord, for my sweet Kevin. He's so smart and tender. He wants to serve You with all his heart and take good care of us. We are so blessed because you gave Kevin life!

12 days of Christmas

We tried to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas this year! The 12 days fall right between our American Christmas and the Armenian Christmas which is on January 6th! So it was a fun way for us to kind of count own between them! Tradition says that it was a mnemonic device to teach the catechism to youngsters.

1. A Partridge in the Pear Tree is for Jesus
2. Two Turtle Doves is for the Old and New Testaments
3. Three French Hens is for Faith, Hope, and Love
4. Four Calling Birds are for the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
5. Five Golden Rings are for the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
6. Six Geese a laying are for the six days of Creation.
7. Seven Swans a Swimming are for The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: 1) prophecy, 2) ministry, 3) teaching, 4) exhortation, 5) giving, 6) leading, and 7) compassion (Romans 12:6-8; cf. 1 Corinthians 12:8-11)
8. Eight maids a milking are for The eight Beatitudes: 1) Blessed are the poor in spirit, 2) those who mourn, 3) the meek, 4) those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 5) the merciful, 6) the pure in heart, 7) the peacemakers, 8) those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. (Matthew 5:3-10)
9. Nine Ladies Dancing are for The nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit: 1) love, 2) joy, 3) peace, 4) patience, 5) kindness, 6) generosity, 7) faithfulness, 8) gentleness, and 9) self-control. (Galatians 5:22)
10. Lords a Leaping are for the Ten Commandments: 1) You shall have no other gods before me; 2) Do not make an idol; 3) Do not take God's name in vain; 4) Remember the Sabbath Day; 5) Honor your father and mother; 6) Do not murder; 7) Do not commit adultery; 8) Do not steal; 9) Do not bear false witness; 10) Do not covet. (Exodus 20:1-17)
11. Eleven Pipers Piping are for the eleven faithful apostles.
12. Twelve Drummers Drumming are for The twelve points of doctrine in the the apostles creed.

Merry Christmas!

We spent our first Christmas away from home and family this year. But overall I think we all had a pretty good time! On Christmas Eve we were happily surprised to find a flock of sheep at the end of the block with shepherds keeping watching over them! What a great Christmas gift. One that we'll always remember. We got to talk about the Good News coming to the shepherds and see the picture of it right in front of us! We watched the Nativity story and had cookies that we had baked. After Kev read the Christmas story, we opened a couple presents an put boots under the tree (our stockings are still in the states!) and went to bed. In the morning we found a few goodies and opened one last present. We spent the day playing and watching movies and that evening we ate our turkey and mashed potatoes! Christmas! In between all those things, we skyped with our families back in the states. So happy we're a family and that we have a great family in America, too!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

shopping in yerevan for our christmas tree

Here's a peek of our trip to the store to get our Christmas tree this year! It's like a big wholesale store with lots of little stores in it.




Gotta get the candy at the end of the shopping so we can enjoy a treat on the way home! Choices, choices! :)

kindergarten readiness!

I had a friend ask me about how we know if our child is ready for kindergarten... so I went back and found some of my information. This is mostly from my friend, and mentor! ;), Mrs Schimke who's taught Kindergarten for years and Riverside! Love you, Julie!

I'll attach it instead of type it all... Hopefully you can read it! :)

Love those little ones!

Lost in Yerevan with Nadela

So. If you take taxis in Yerevan, you may not know your own way home! Ha.

Our girls needed to get some pictures taken for their certificates for dance class. After we had our language lesson this week, Nadela said that she'd go with us to get that done. I drove us down to the photo place, took pics of the girls (struggled with Ruth to sit on the stool and smile), and looked at some Christmas trees as we walked back to the car. Then I asked if I could take her home. Since her marshooka (little bus type thing) wasn't there, she said sure and we were off. After we drove for a while wondering which turn was the right one, we found it, or so we thought...

Pretty soon we were in a totally dirty factory area. On top of the smoky factories, it was foggy and rainy! Then we got into a traffic jam. There was a crane blocking the road as they worked on pipes that ran over it! We finally made our way up to the crane and followed the other cars over to the side of the crane to go up and around it, sideways, through mud and bushes. Nadela said, "Jill jan, can you do this?!" I looked at the construction guy out my window and he nodded... so off we went! :) We were laughing and praising the Lord when we finally made it through! But we still didn't know where we were.

So we drove on... past sheep and fields! Found a gas station and Nadela asked which way to go. He gave her a weird look and pointed right... which we found out was the only way to go unless we wanted to drive off toward Iran! Ha! We were way out on the south side of the city! When we realized we were headed in the right direction, we breathed a sigh of relief. Then looked up to see that we were about to drive through a big building that was under construction! We both thought we shouldn't go THERE! Only to realize that the road turned just before the building so we would actually be going around it... not through it! Another good laugh for us.

Now we're in Yerevan... but still not in her neighborhood! So were both looking and hoping that we don't miss another turn... when we see the circle just down the street from her apartment! Whoo-hoo! We knew where we were again and we're close to her home! Yea!

When I dropped her off she said that she didn't know whether to say sorry or good bye! :) All this time, the girls were in the back seat snacking on crackers and listening to Christmas music! Ruth calls out the window, "Be sure to tell Iren about our ride!" (Iren is Nadela's girl and our girl's friend!)

Nadela and I did tell our families about our adventure and laughed some more about it. She got a call the next morning from someone saying that he needed a guide to take him around Yerevan would she be interested... It was her little brother-in-law and when she figured out it was him she said sure! :)

Maybe next time we'll take a taxi... but then we'd miss out on our own adventures!

Kids Blogs

Well, today our oldest two kiddos got signed up for their very own blogs! :)

http://benjamin-crawford.blogspot.com/

http://hannie-crawford.blogspot.com/

Check 'em out!

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

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

Fruit of the Spirit

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

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

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

My Dad

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

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

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

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

Zaccheus was a...

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

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


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


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

Rock-Tober

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Robin Hood

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

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

jealous

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

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

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

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

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

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

Seek Him first.
Come to Me...

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

God is a jealous God.


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

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