5Crawfords

(This is Alisha) trying to get used to blogging before we venture to Africa where I will be blogging frequently I assume. I figure it is a great way to start journaling as a mom too. These pictures are from last weekend where we met our friends the Sampsons at Howard Prairie for day camping. I took very few pictures but thought I would share them. The weather was VERY windy so we didn't really swim. This first picture is of Graysen. He likes to do this thing where he closes his eyes and says, "It's really dark in here." He makes me laugh that silly man. The little man in blue is Brodie giving his first crack at casting the line. Matt's (Sampson) dad and mom came to visit and brought their fishing poles. 'Grandpa Mike' was so nice to let the boys try casting. Brodie LOVED fishing and was quite excited when we let him know that Grandpa and Uncle Brian both love fishing too. Grandpa Mike even caught a small trout (about 5 in.) and p ut it in a bucket for the ...

Well, we got Brodie graduated off...from Kindergarten. Hard to believe that's over. So Alisha and the boys have transitioned full-time into summer. They've been hitting the farms this week, and Brodie was excited to learn how to catch and pick up a chicken. The other little boy in the picture is a friend from Brodie's school, Andrew, who was also on the soccer team I coached. But we've been working hard on a getting our letter ready to send out along with the DVD. We're really excited. Brian, Alisha's brother made up a very cool letterhead and footer for the letter. It is awesome. Man, between CJ & Lindsay doing the DVD and now Brian dressing up our letter, we have already been blessed so much in this process. Other than that, we go to the eMi conference in Wyoming in 3 weeks, right after we return from LA for niece Erinne and new nephew-on-law Travis's (called "Mavis" by our boys) wedding. So I have been working hard on this side job that is ...

Sorry! We are alive, just insanely busy. Each night, 11:30pm rolls around and we look at each other, shake our heads and say: 1) Why are we up this late again? 2) Man the night just flies by. 3) We hardly accomplished anything. 4) We have so much to do still but we need to go to bed. Well, we're about 2 hours away from that point now so I have a little time. We have basically been working on a bunch of things, most notably on putting together our budget. That has been much more challenging than I'd thought. I still can't believe how expensive it is to live there. I'm sure many of you would share in my (mis)perception that living in 3rd-world Uganda would be fairly cheap. In a few instances that is the case (health insurance and food are relatively cheap compared to the U.S.), but overall, we're going to be budgeting not that much different from our budget here! Incredible. Well, it's also a little discouraging, because it seems exceedingly overwhelming to have ...

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...