5Crawfords

Well, after over a month of living in our Bedroom and Garage, our little rescued cat found a home! And actually, the funny part is, it's her original home! It turns out that Vivian, the lady who runs the Senior Daycare place across the street took over care of this cat and her sister several months ago from someone who wasn't taking care of them (which is why she was so skinny and shy). So Alisha was talking to her yesterday and the topic came up, so Alisha mentioned that we had a "lost" (read "kidnapped") cat in our bedroom...and sure enough, Goose was hers (her real name is Patty). So Vivian and her senior residents were ecstatic to have their cat back! And though we loved little Goose, we were ready to be back down to one cat, as was Kitty, who would have nothing to do with Goose. So, one cat relocated, one cat to go! :) / :(

Here are some photos from the past couple of weeks. *This past Saturday, I took the boys to an air show/exhibit at the Jackson County Airport. The boys were able to crawl through a Black Hawk helicopter, and check out the inside of the cockpit of an F-15 fighter jet (shown). *Brodie is back into soccer. Though, as you can see in the picture, he spends as much time announcing the score (and displaying it on his hands) as he does kicking the ball. *Brodie is loving school and doing very well so far. This picture is him at his favorite time in school: lunch! At this point, we're still praying about what, if any, special assistance he might need at school in Uganda. *Alisha and the boys picked our apple tree, so Jonah wanted to set up a 'Free-Apple' stand for passers-by. Well, after awhile, no one had stopped by, so he started yelling at people driving by to stop for apples! Then he hounded this old man (who was on a walk) halfway down the street trying to find out why he didn...

Last weekend, our pastor Tom Sabens, brought us up in front of the church to share what God was doing in our lives lately. They also played our video at the Saturday night service. We really enjoyed being able to share what all God was doing in our lives through this Africa move. Pastor Tom asked us to share how we got to this point, why we chose to do it, what we'll be doing, and how we (especially Alisha) decided that this would be a good thing for our family and the boys. We did it at all 4 services, and then we set up a table in the "Oasis" for people to come by afterwards to learn more. We had two big billboards setup at the table (we had snatched an electronic copy of them from eMi while we were in Wyoming this past July), a bunch of Africa paraphenalia Chad had brought over for the conference (table cloths, beads, bowls, etc) and then I had a slideshow of pictures I had taken running on my laptop. We were so appreciative for our church allowing us to do that, and ...

Here's how to donate to our missions fund: 1) log onto http://www.emiworld.org/ 2) Click on the 'Donate' tab across the top of the page. 3a) For a one-time donation, you can fill out the form on this page and enter the amount and method of payment. Be sure to enter "Brad Crawford-2092" in the 'Designation' box 3b) To join our monthly support team, click on this link EFT-Form to download the EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) form. Print out the form, fill it out and mail it in to eMi. (Instructions appear on page 2 of this link). Again, be sure to enter "Brad Crawford-2092" in the appropriate "Give to:" box(es). Thank you so much for joining us in helping reach the physically and spiritually poor in East Africa!

We can't believe it, but Graysen's old enough for preschool! He'll go for 2 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. After his first day, he said, "Mama, the first day of school is very fun. I liked it"

Today was Jonah's first day of pre-K in Mrs. Mayfield's class, the same teacher Brodie had 2 years ago. She is great and Jonah loved it. He made a new friend - Bella - no shocker that it was a girl since most of the friends he gravitates towards at school are girls or the kids who are sad. He's our sensitive and caring one. He's also the most creative 4 year old I've ever known. I told Jonah the other day that he reminds me of the little boy who was put in a room full of donkey manure. When they checked back an hour later, they found him in the middle of a large hole, digging furiously. When asked what he was doing, he replied, "Well, I figured with all this manure there must be a donkey in here somewhere!"

Well, a new year, a new grade, and a new school. Brodie had his first school day today and it went really well. Alisha went and ate lunch with him (thanks to neighbor Joan for watching the other two boys) and he was having a great day. He loves his classroom and the star classroom too. One of his favorite friends from preschool, a little girl named Imani who was adopted from Kenya, goes to this school, so he was very excited about that. So far, he spends from 7:45 to 10:45 with Mrs. Staff's 1st grade class, has lunch from 10:45 to 11:30, and then spends the rest of the day until 1:55pm in the star classroom working on social and behavioral routines. Jonah starts pre-K tomorrow, and Graysen preschool on Thursday.