5Crawfords

On approach into San Pedro Sula, Honduras Well, this trip had a false start – due to thunderstorms in Houston our flight was cancelled. Unfortunately, the rest of the team was able to make it, meaning that a group of 6 volunteers arrived in Honduras (after overnighting in Houston) a day before Alisha, me and Justin (another EMI staff engineer joining the trip). I felt bad for the team, but since half of them were returning EMI volunteers, I wasn’t too concerned about them having to navigate things. Hanging out at the hotel in Houston with fellow EMI staffer Justin Rolfs while our team was already settling into Honduras. The first group arriving at the site, minus their project leader. You can clearly see how upset they are and worried that I am not there with them. When we finally made it to the town where our project is – Siguatepeque, a town of around 100,000 people – it was nearly dark on the following evening. We ate dinner and listened to the other tea...

Pictures from February 2016... For awhile there, it seemed like we did little else other than shovel snow! It was the biggest storm in 20 years in Colorado Springs - we got 24" at our house over a 2-day span. Thanks to fuel points, this was the lowest price I've paid for gas/petrol since high school. A far cry from the near $9/gallon we paid in the UK! With fellow EMI family the Kanes, watching the Super Bowl. They're from the East Coast and we're from the West Coast - so not much passion for the Broncos. Still, we passively applauded the victory. :) There's a 2nd teenager in the house now - Jonah Jones has joined the ranks. Graysen had an idea for a fundraiser at his school to purchase new sports balls. So, with a little help from a teacher and a couple other students, they raised nearly $500 for buying sports equipment by selling Power Aid drinks for the annual 'Links Laps' event where students have a set time to run the inner ...

At the desk of the Vice President's ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Building, on the grounds of the White House Some recent highlights from the world of EMI and the Crawfords... * This Fall, we led project teams to help ministries in the following countries: Benin, Kenya, Nigeria, 4 trips to Uganda, Cameroon, Madagascar and India. Most of those trips went out in September, with the project work being completed now in time for the current project semester to end in about a month's time. * This morning during our Friday morning sharing time, EMI staffer Rex Barber shared about the trip he led to Tenwek Hospital in Western Kenya back in September. EMI has a long history with Tenwek Hospital, having sent many teams to their campus in rural Kenya to help with the various stages of that hospital's ongoing expansion. Franklin Graham once said of Tenwek, "Tenwek Hospital is one of the greatest evangelical outreaches I know of anywhere in the world today." Aft...

We took the boys to Red Robin to celebrate a successful 1st quarter of the school year. The boys all did well so we rewarded them with a burger and endless fries with 'campfire' sauce. Yesterday, we learned of the tragic and heartbreaking news that an 8 th grade schoolmate from Brodie and Jonah’s middle school took his own life. Looking at pictures of this kid we found online after hearing the news, he looks like a very typical young boy with no apparent signs of the ‘pain’ that ultimately was too much for him to bear. For some reason, we expected to see a kid dressed in black, or with a ‘punk’ style haircut, or with a scowl on his face – something that would make such a desperate act seem at least a little more more foreshadowed, even if still extremely tragic. But instead, we saw pictures of a smiling kid who looked 3 years younger than his 14 years, dressed in a football uniform at practice or smiling with his 5 siblings and parents in the family portrait that se...