5Crawfords

We've been asked now by several people if this is a good movie to watch since it is about the brutal former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. The answer: yes, if you're aware of the bad stuff and can either avoid watching it or prepare yourself ahead of time. First, it is rated R and in no way should any children ever watch this movie. It is generally a dark film, and replete with immoral behavior and attitudes that are just inherent in the characters. There is disturbing violence and some torture, and a couple of scenes that you should be forewarned about so you are ready for them (or ready to turn your head). There are two sex scenes that are quite graphic, though short, and another scene with topless dancers. By the end of the movie, I really had no emotional tie to the main character, so I wasn't too concerned whether or not things worked out for him or not. Also, it paints a picture of violence and instability that no longer reign in Uganda, so I wouldn't want anyone to b...

It finally arrived! The letter and packet we were hoping to receive came today in the mail. In short, they have offered us the position we were hoping for - appointment as the Staff Structural Engineer in the East Africa office! Woo-hoo! We are very excited. We have signed the letter and will mail it back tomorrow. They also gave us a training schedule, which culminates in our departure for Uganda sometime between January 1st thru 18th, contingent upon our support being raised by then. They would like me to be done working here no later than November 30, and start working for eMi on December 3. Other highlights: * Celebrate Hope conference in Jackson Hole Wyoming from July 4th thru 8th * Orientation and training seminar August 12 thru 17 in Colorado Springs. * They list 7 books for us to each read by the end of the year, on topics ranging from raising support to raising kids in 3rd world countries to Africa. * They want us to take at least the first 2 months in Uganda to get sett...

Today we finally had a nice day on a Saturday, so we headed to Ashland with our good friends 'The Sampsons' to hang out at Lithia park. The boys had a great time swinging and climbing and hiking. The rock you see us perched atop in the pictures was actually several stories high - it's just an optical illusion that makes it appear 6 to 8 feet above ground in the pictures! Alisha and Emilie plotted ahead of time to dress the boys in their matching shirts so they could take pictures. Matt and Emilie's boys are: Andrew (6), Brennan (4) and Parker (1.75) and our boys love them. As is usual whenever we hang out with the Sampsons, a fun time was had by all. At one point, Matt and I stopped talking/quoting lines from 'The Office' for long enough to notice that our families were there too! ;) The low point in the day (for me) was when Alisha tried to climb the rock, lost her hand-hold and punched me right in the eye on her way to the ground (not intentional, her hand jus...

Four weeks to the day after we met in Colorado, we received an email from Karen, the HR rep at the eMi-usa office in Colorado Springs. It read: "Hello Crawford’s! We have been discussing your application with our executive staff and with Chad . We are currently working on a letter of invitation, job description and training schedule to send to you. After approval from all parties, I will be mailing that out to you. I hope to get that to you next week. Karen" We were very excited to get that email. It looks like maybe the ball will begin rolling soon! We are both feeling very good about things. Alisha's reaction was one of feeling honored that it appears we are actually going to have the opportunity to do this. My reaction was more of relief that it seemed to answer some of the confusion I was feeling (i.e. feeling strongly now that God is calling us to this, yet confused as to why eMi could possibly be having reservations about it). Anyway, obviously they haven't sai...

Sorry for the lack of entries, but virtually nothing has happened on the Africa front since we've returned from Colorado. We thought we'd hear back from them last week (the week after Easter), but so far we haven't heard a word. It's a little puzzling I must admit. I did email Chad (Director in Uganda) a couple of weeks ago, and he responded a week or so ago saying that he'd talked to Karen (the HR person in Colorado) and his impression was that everything seemed very promising (though he isn't a party in the final meeting and decision process). So what are we thinking?? Well, we still feel very strongly about what God is calling us to do, so that hasn't changed at all. In fact, a couple things have happened that have been encouraging. First, we ran into a former assitant pastor at our church who now has his own church. When he learned of our plans, he told us that his church dedicates a sizable chunk of their budget for missions and that he wanted us to kee...

Sorry it's taken me a bit to finish telling the rest of the Colorado trip, but life's been hectic! Alisha and the boys are down in the Bay Area still so I am flying solo back home. I thought I would be relaxing some this week - ha! Between making dinner, cleaning up, taking care of the cat, laundry and the mail I can't seem to find time to sit! Ok, so perhaps I should mention that I went to the Newsboys concert last night and I'm going to the movie tonight with my friend Matt Sampson! Well, Colorado turned out to be a great experience. Our take on our time there is that the eMi officers main concern is that anyone interested in coming on staff really feels called by God to do so - especially those considering an overseas position. They also want to be sure that personality-wise it's a good fit, but beyond that, they want to be convinced that God is authoring the move. Overall, we've really appreciated their thoroughness in this process. It has forced Alisha and ...

(This is Alisha) Well, we just arrived back at our hotel after a long, but very informative day at eMi. The day started off with a short time of group devotions with their staff, and then a personality profile and cultural assessment which was helpful for understanding how our personalities might approach and deal with cultural and environmental changes in Africa. Everyone we met today was very friendly. We went to lunch with one couple and then walked back to the office for a tour (meeting the staff individually), and then a 3 hour group interview with Karen (HR), the two VPs and the CEO of eMi. We both felt like they got an accurate picture (both the good and the bad) of us and what we were thinking about Africa. They asked a lot of questions about Brodie, what ministry looked like to us, how our family has influenced us in this process, how we grew up, why we feel God wants us in Africa, and the process we've gone through up to this point. Tomorrow will start the day with p...