Healed!

This post was written December 1, 2006. Sorry it has taken so long to post.

Family Update
We are back in North Carolina for a few weeks, enjoying the balmy weather. It was nearly 80 degrees yesterday, and today was slightly cooler at 75 degrees! It is supposed to get cold again next week, but for now, the winter coats are packed away.

Josiah continues to do well, although we thought we might lose him again tonight to an unusual and unexpected hazard. We were walking through Wal-mart and browsing the merchandise, when a very large individual whizzed by in one of the motorized courtesy wheelchairs. As he nearly clipped the corner off my shopping cart, Josiah’s voice pierced the air, “Look, Daddy! A fat man with an earring!” We slunk around the corner of the nearest display and hoped the man in question didn’t fit between the aisles. All fat people are not jolly…

A praise to report: Josiah can now eat venison, turkey, and black beans. Each of these things was previously on his “black list” of allergies, but it seems that the Lord has seen fit to heal him. This is such an answer to prayer! We will take it slowly, but we hope to see more positive responses in the future. Please continue to pray – the Lord is working in our son’s body.

Abigail and Esther both have a cold/cough that they just can’t shake. Please pray that they would get well soon. Abigail and I are in the throes of potty training – for different reasons, of course. She makes the messes, and I clean them up. Not much success yet. Did you ever hear the song, “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth”? I have a slightly different version that has to do with a clean, dry house. She is continually amusing us with her little girl ways. I asked her a question (relating to potty training) the other day, and she tilted her head to one side and answered, “I’m da Princess, ‘ackshually’!” She loves to wear her plastic beads, and frequently looks like Mr. T’s female counterpart – without the suntan.

Esther is five months old, and trying to sit up. She is very alert and wants to be a part of the action that she sees her brother and sister sharing. She also wants to be a part of the dinner table action. What a fuss she kicks up when we sit down to eat! Many of you have asked is she also has allergies, and we answer, yes, she does. It seems that the culprits are eggs and dairy products, so right now I am on a special diet for her sake.

Josiah is doing well in school, and can now read many words on his own. We were in the truck the other day, and he kept saying, “Mad in Kinna” over and over again. I finally realized the he was reading off the bottom of his toy – “Made in China.” He is counting down the days until Christmas, and asking me every day how many more days it is. I never dreamed that I would one day own a talking calendar. At least it isn’t one of those horrible, tweeting, bird clocks! He was counting down the days until his next birthday, but when I told him that it was 250+ days, he was a little discouraged. I, on the other hand, was relieved when he stopped asking about it. Life’s little pleasures.

We are keeping busy, and we hope that you all will have a wonderful Christmas!

A Doll, a Deer, and a Barn Sour Horse

Ministry Update

Thank you so much for your prayers for us while we were on the road. The Lord gave safety in our travel and fruitfulness in ministry. We are home now for some rest and recharging before we head west during the winter.

Family Update

We are on our way home right now, and by the time you receive this e-mail, we will probably be there. We have really enjoyed the time we have had in meetings this fall. People have been saved, Christians have been renewed, and the Lord has given us more meetings as well as new opportunities of ministry. We are so thankful for all of His care, provision, and protection.

Last week, Dolly (Abigail’s constant companion) went AWOL for five days. We turned the trailer upside down and inside out looking for her, but to no avail. I looked in the church as well, but found nothing. Abigail was interrogated as to where she left her doll, but her only answer was, “I don’t know!” When we pulled out of Front Royal, VA, I just resigned myself to the fact that she was gone for good. Sunday morning, Josiah was looking for his Bible and found it (exactly where it was supposed to be) in his school desk. As he pulled it out, I heard a telltale rattle, and there was DOLLY! Abigail’s face, which had worn a rather forlorn expression for the last five days, was transformed with delight when I put Dolly in her arms once again. We are all very thankful for this happy turn of events.

We also rejoice in the fact that Paul has (finally) gotten his first deer. He went out hunting with a man in the church on Monday morning, and shot a “button buck.” I warned him that after five years of fruitless hunting, that he had better come back with something. He really got razzed about the size of his deer. One man said that he shot the spots right off of it. Another joked that the antlers were only warts. Regardless, we have some very tender meat for our Thanksgiving table. Yes, we will all be able to eat! The kids were so excited about the “baby deer that Daddy shot.” We are all proud of our resident great white hunter.

We left after the close of our meeting Tuesday night in a gale. It was 39 degrees and raining – miserable weather for doing anything. The wind, thankfully, was behind us, so we made good time. We pulled in to a church parking lot previously arranged beforehand with the pastor. He told us that he was leaving after the service that night to be with family, but they had an RV hookup that we were welcome to use anytime. We gratefully pulled into the parking lot around midnight and got out to plug in the trailer. To our chagrin, there was no hookup to be found! The pastor had told us that the plug was on the unlighted telephone pole. We searched every telephone pole on the property, but - you guessed it - we never found it. It is amazing that no one called the police! I can imagine what the call might have been like. “Yes, Officer, there are two suspicious characters lurking around the church building. One has a flashlight, and the other has an umbrella. No, they aren’t trying to get into the building, they are just wandering around in the parking lot. Wait! They are shining their flashlight on the telephone pole….Now they are walking again….Another pole check….It looks as if they are dancing (this was when we stepped in the deep puddles). I am not sure what they are doing, but it needs to be checked out. Very strange, Officer. Very strange. No problem – just doing my duty as a citizen. You never know about people. They could be terrorists or something.”

At this point, I had taken back all the nice things I ever said about the pastor, his family, his church, and his mother. Paul and I were soaked to the skin, freezing and bewildered. Where was the elusive plug? Did the pastor intend this to be very bad practical joke, perhaps? Did the plug just disappear into thin air? After twenty minutes or so in the pouring, gusting rain, we found a 15 amp receptacle on the side of the building, and decided to adapt our plug down to that. Shortly after that, we fell into bed, relieved to be out of the inclement weather. We headed out this morning like a barn-sour horse for home.

The thanksgiving holiday traffic is dreadful. Presently, we are creeping along at 15-20 mph along I-85. Hopefully we will make it back in time for our Thanksgiving Praise service at our home church this evening.

Children

We ask once again that you pray for Josiah. He has been sick the last few days, and is starting down the all-too familiar road to the hospital, unless the Lord interevenes. The leaf mold in this area is very high right now, and combined with the cold, has made his breathing difficult. Right now, we are only giving treatments every 4-6 hours, which is pretty good. Our request is that you would pray that the medications he is getting would be sufficient to keep the inflammation down in his airways and to keep him from having an acute asthma attack. The next 24 hours are very crucial - it could go either way very quickly. Last night he had a temperature of 102 and woke up vomiting around 1a.m. His temperature is lower this morning, but he still has a fever of 100.1, and is still sick to his stomach. The Lord has blessed us with a friend in the church who "happens" to be a respiratory therapist in a nearby hospital. She listened to Josiah last night with her stethescope and said he was moving air very well, which relieved me to no end.

Esther also has the same cold and cough. She had a fever last night of 99.5, which isn't too high, but we covet your prayers for her, too.

Abigail has had a cold for some time, but since she only has the cough and runny nose, she is feeling somewhat neglected. Pray that each child will receive the attention and care that he needs.

A verse that keeps coming to mind is Psalm 100:3, "Know ye that the LORD, he is God; it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves..." God made each one of our children, and He knows best how to care for them. Ps. 100:5 "For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth to all generations." I will keep you updated on any changes.

Sarah Crow

The Flood

Ministry Update

We have had a wonderful day in northern VA, despite the adverse events of the night before. The Lord gave us three wonderful services today with at least two responding at the invitation to salvation in the morning service.

Family Update

We closed our meeting in Blackstone VA, on Friday night, and hit the road Saturday. We left just before noon, so we did not expect to get in to Alexandria VA until around 5 PM that evening. It was a nice drive, and though the leaves have passed their peak, it was still rather pretty to see the muted tones of the fall leaves all around us.

We had a slightly difficult time getting to the church, since our directions were not totally clear, but other than a few terrorized motorists, no one was hurt. I have a few more white hairs, but that, too, is inconsequential. It is very disheartening to be driving along, and realize that you just passed the road on which you were supposed to turn. For those of you that don’t know, Alexandria is a suburb of Washington, DC. Big city made for small cars, not large trailers. We turned around in a very small parking lot, and made our way back to the road. This was after we had taken the wrong road and had to turn around in a drug store parking lot full of cars. Yikes! Through all of this, Paul and I were amazed that only one person honked at us. I can’t remember what our honk record is, but one just doesn’t cut it – unless, of course, it is a full minute long. This was just a short one.

When we reached the church, it was growing dark, so we had to work fast to get set up. I believe if the Bible had been written in this day and age, it would read something like this: “It is easier for an evangelist to park his trailer in the church parking lot than it is for a rich man to enter into heaven.” The parking lot, in this case, was plenty big, but it was set up like an obstacle course with buses, church vans, and basketball goals (that had been marked by at least one other evangelist’s trailer) scattered all over it. Let me say that you have never truly learned the meaning of “back and forth” until you try to park an RV. Anyway, while Paul put several miles on the truck, I stood out in the cold and waved him around, easing the trailer back between a bus and the hapless basketball goal. That feat accomplished, I plucked out a few more white hairs, and hopped back in the truck to wait for the pastor. We had no power until he came, because the plug was in a locked shed. We found out later that he was working on his car when we called and left threatening phone messages. The rest of the night went pretty well – normal Saturday night routines…baths, ironing, etc. It has been rather cold the last several nights, so to keep our water from freezing, we have to keep it running all night. That was the last sound we heard as we collapsed into bed.

Paul came in this morning, and asked me if I was cognizant. “Mhm, mhm mhh. Mhm?” I answered. For those of you who are morning people, and do not know the language of the non-morning people, this is interpreted, “Yes, I am. Why?” He then proceeded to tell me that the trailer was flooded. As you can imagine, I was instantly awake and out of bed. Sure enough, the living room carpet went “Squish, squish” when you walked on it. Someone forgot to pull out the plug on the gray water tank. Consequently, after four baths and a trickle of water running in the sink all night, the tank overflowed – into the trailer. First it filled up the kitchen sinks, then ran over onto the kitchen floor, and from there it proceeded to soak into the carpet in the kid’s room and the living room. In the providence of God, the trailer was not quite level, so it all ran to one side, and down into the slideout where it eventually drained onto the ground. I surveyed the damage, and immediately set to work trying to mop it up. All I had was eight large bath towels, and when they were all wet, I just had to let it go. We got ready for church as usual, and had a great morning service. After lunch at the pastor’s house, we headed back to the trailer. Thankfully, one of the church members loaned us a carpet cleaning machine, and we were able to get about another gallon of water out of the living room carpet. What a day! The funny thing was, I felt prompted to ask Paul last night if the gray water tank was open, but dismissed it as silly, since he always remembers. I guess that was the Lord trying to make our day go a little smoother. Anyway, we are thankful for the little blessings – the trailer being unlevel so that only one half of it was wet, no water went down into the register vents, and nothing was sitting on the floor to be ruined. The carpet will soon dry, and it had an extra rinse from the last cleaning it had (which, I might add, was not the best job, despite my doing it).

We are looking forward to this evening’s service, and to doing a little sightseeing while here in our nation’s capital this week. It will be Josiah’s first field trip, and I think it will be enjoyable.

Nursery Duty

Ministry Update

We are in the mountains of southwestern Pennsylvania this week in a very interesting meeting. After Sunday morning, most of the church members did not return because they did not like the fact that I raised my voice when I preach. There have been visitors, though, and I am thankful for that. I am grateful that we will be heading south very soon. It is cold here for October.

Family Update

Yes, it has been interesting… Because the youngest person other than our own children is in the eighth grade, there is usually no need for a nursery. I have been the nursery detail each evening as well as the pianist and soloist. There is a brief time during the special music where the children are totally unsupervised, and this is, as you might imagine, kept as brief as possible. Tonight, Abigail was feeling frisky, and between pirouettes on the front pew, she would turn around and stare at the visitors sitting behind her. Paul had his back to her as he played for my solo, so he was thankfully oblivious to her antics. My consternation, however, had no such luxury. Have you ever tried to sing sweetly while frowning at your child?

After the debacle was over, I came down with plans to leave the auditorium to feed Esther and give the visitors an intermission. As I turned to leave, Josiah whispered loudly that he needed to go to the bathroom – BAD! I rolled my eyes in disgust, and motioned for him to follow me as well. I have no idea what went through Paul’s mind as I trooped out the back door with our entire family in tow. I am sure it made a positive impression on everyone else, though. When the loud clumps and thumps of our departure had subsided, I began to breathe once again.

After Josiah had completed his mission, I sent him, with great trepidation, back upstairs into the service. I warned him to go back to his seat as quickly and quietly as possible. He is the most responsible of our children at present, so my plethora of nervous instructions seemed to make an impression on him.

After Esther was fed, I grabbed the car seat, and herded Abigail up the stairs and into the foyer where she assayed to go running down the aisle. I was spared this embarrassment by yanking her hair with the two free fingers on my left hand. She followed me to our new seat (behind everyone else) and began her antics once more, this time dropping a hymn book onto the floor with a loud bang. While Paul preached, Esther, who has recently discovered her own voice, began to talk to her sister. The cooing and smiling was the least of my worries at this point, so I just let it slide, since Paul was making plenty of noise (see above). Abigail got really excited that Esther was talking to her, and so I had to keep shushing her, because her voice carries much better than her younger sister’s. It was at this point that Josiah heard us, and turned around to smile his welcome to us. He then picked up the pew Bible and held it up as if to ask me if he was in the right place, having forgotten his own Bible at home. I guess my frantic gestures clued him in to the fact that he needed to put the Bible down. I gave him an encouraging smile as he turned around again.

It was at this juncture of the service that Abigail, carried away with excitement, fell off the pew and landed with a thump on the floor. I stared in horrified amazement at this new development, for I knew what was coming next. The great intake of air was my first clue. I hurriedly stuffed Esther in the car seat, and grabbed Abigail. I was halfway out of the auditorium before the first wail split the atmosphere. I rushed into the pastor’s office, and calmed her as quickly as possible. She was not really hurt, just surprised and scared. Esther, not to be outdone, began crying since she could no longer see anyone. I clumped back into the auditorium and plunked Abigail down and picked up Esther. Once again, peace reigned, and all was well with the world. Esther smiled contentedly, and Abigail sucked her thumb, while I wiped the sweat from my brow.

All too soon, or perhaps, not soon enough, came the invitation. I hauled the girls up to the front and set them beside Josiah. I told him to keep Esther quiet, and told Abigail to sit still. I sat at the piano, praying fervently that they would not make any more disturbances. Apparently, I was not “on praying ground” by this time. I heard a commotion and turned around just as Josiah loudly reprimanded Abigail for messing with Esther. My malevolent look put all to rights again, and the rest of the service was blessedly uneventful, at least, as far as our family was concerned.

This week has reminded me, once again, how thankful I am for nursery workers. Without the dedicated service of these ladies all over the country, in hundreds of churches, we would have these situations (and worse) more often. You are not unappreciated!

Sarah

Finally Home

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Just wanted to let everyone know that we made it safely home yesterday afternoon around 2:30 PM. Josiah is doing well, but very weak. He has lost at least 5 pounds, which, in a way, I am thankful for, since I have had to carry and lift him a lot since we have been home. He walks very slowly and will fall over if he goes too fast. He also has a hard time going up or down steps, and getting up from a seated position. basically, I have a 30+ pound toddler for a time!

Abigail was so glad to see all of us! She and Josiah have been playing with his get-well balloons all day. Thank you to each one who sent him a card or gift. The number of helium balloons in the trailer should give us better fuel economy the next time we head out! Ha!

Paul begins a four-day meeting tomorrow (Sunday) and will come home on Thursday. We will all be glad to have him back. Please pray for safety and blessings during the meeting.

My mom just called to say that she made it home safely (Her connecting flight left without her) AND she also has her luggage! What a blessing!

Sarah Crow

Homward Bound

Thursday, October 12, 2006

God continues to answer prayer! I talked to the doctor this morning, and he said that if they could get Josiah's breathing treatments down to one every four hours, that he could go home! He said that may possibly mean tonight, or at the latest, tomorrow morning! Hooray! Josiah said he wants to come home. I don't blame him one bit! They were taking him off the IV when I left, and he will be on oral steroids for 1-2 weeks and albuterol as needed, as well as his normal medications. He is still very weak and wobbly - can't stand or walk without support, but that will come back quickly. He was supposed to go for a little walk this afternoon. Mom is sitting with him now while I take a little rest.

I will send out an update when I know for sure what is going on. Please keep praying - this is not over yet.
later

I just talked to the nurse in PICU, and she said that because Josiah is still so weak, they will probably keep him until tomorrow morning. That means we will be homeward bound tomorrow around 11 am or so. It is about a 40 minute drive back to Wilton. Please pray for safety and a quick discharge in the morning. Thank you all for praying. We will keep you updated on his progress over the next few weeks, as time allows. Mom flies out of Albany on Saturday morning, so I will have a bit more responsibility in taking care of everyone after she leaves. Praise the Lord for all He has done in our lives this week!

More progress

Josiah is making progress slowly but surely. They have been weaning him off the albuterol, and this morning they finally took him off the continuous treatment. He will still get treatments every hour or two as needed, but this is another small step in the recovery process. Praise the Lord.

When I went to see him this morning, he was sitting in the chair, coloring. He wasn't doing a very good job of staying in the lines because he had very little control over his hands. (He has an IV in his right arm, and though he is left-handed, the albuterol has made him so jittery that he can't keep his arm from shaking.) The doctor said that he could eat today, so when I switched out with mom, they were in the process of ordering his tray. I know that will make him happy! Later today, they are going to bring in some Legos and let him play for a while. It is so good to see him getting back to normal.

Thanks for all your prayers, phone calls, and e-mail messages. It has been such a blessing to know that hundreds, and perhaps even thousands of Christian brothers and sisters are praying for us. Please continue to pray.

Sarah

More Progress

Josiah has been off the ventilator all day long and is doing okay. He is still on continuous Albuterol, but they are trying to evaluate him in regard to just doing a treatment every hour or two instead of continuously. He is feeling well enough to complain about how bad he feels. He still hasn't had anything to eat, which he thinks is cruel and unusual punishment, but I talked with the nutritionist today, and she was preparing a menu for him. Hopefully, they will let him eat tomorrow morning. I really feel for him. Everything is still a day by day, hour by hour situation as far as how long he will be in, and all that stuff. There are no certainties right now.

He felt good enough to sit up and watch Winnie the Pooh, and color in his new coloring book from Grandma for a while, but he still gets tired easily. They let him get out of bed and sit in a chair for a while today, and I was able to hold him on my lap for a time. It was a real feat to arrange all the tubes, wires, and monitors in such a way that we could both be comfortable. He has to take some anti acid to keep his stomach juices from giving him problems since he doesn't have any food for them to digest. Tonight they had to give it to him by mouth instead of putting it directly into his stomach through the tube. He didn't like the taste, and spit it out. We finally bribed him with some water, and he drank the rest of it. He told me he doesn't like feeling bad. He really is doing so much better. Please keep praying.

Sarah

Josiah's Progress

Praise the Lord for answered prayer! Yesterday afternoon, I was rather discouraged by his lack of progress, as some of you may have noted from reading the last update. We came "home" to the Ronald McDonald House, and settled out belongings and ate dinner. After dinner, we went back over to the hospital. Mom went in to see him while I stayed with Esther in the waiting room, and when she came back, she told me that he was awake. He had tried to tell her something, but with the tubes in his mouth, she couldn't understand what it was that he wanted. I hurried in to see him before he fell asleep again. I was amazed at the difference that two hours had made! He was doing so much better! His heart rate and respirations were down, and his oxygen level was good. I talked to him for a while, and he kept trying to tell me something. I figured out that he was telling me that he was hungry! Of course, he couldn't have anything to eat until he was off the ventilator for a while. I tried to comfort him as best I could, and he actually smiled when I told him that he could have jello and Popsicles when his tubes came out! It did my heart good to see him last night.

Shortly after I arrived at the hospital this morning, they took him off the ventilator and removed the tubes. He is now on continuous albuterol treatment and 35% oxygen. He said he had stomach cramps, which could either be from hunger (His last meal was Friday evening), or from air in his stomach from having the tubes in there. He has been so brave and good through the whole thing. Mom is sitting with him now, and I will go back in a couple hours. I have told him that all of you are praying for him. Please keep praying. He has a long road back to recovery. Even after he is discharged from the hospital, it will take a few weeks to get back to "normal".

Thank you to each one who has spent time in prayer for Josiah, for me, for Paul, and the rest of the family. We have benefited greatly from your intercessions, and I know that God is healing our son. Do not underestimate the power of your prayers. We love you, and thank God for you all. I will continue to update as the situation changes.

Josiah's Needs

Monday, October 9, 2006

Dear Praying friends,I just wanted to give a quick update on the family situation. Josiah is still in the PICU and still on the ventilator. He is receiving 30% oxygen, and his heart rate, respirations, and Oxygen saturation levels are all fine. Praise the Lord! He got a bath today, which improved his overall appearance. He is still sedated because of the tubes in his throat. He had coughed out the ventilator tubes early this morning, and they let him breathe for a while on his own. He was able to maintain good stats, but he was getting tired, because he still had to work so hard. They decided to go ahead and put the ventilator back in, much to my relief. He is breathing easily now, and I hope by tomorrow that he will be able to come off the ventilator. They have also put restraints on his hands so that he cannot pull out the tubing in his semi-consciousness. I am so pleased with the entire team of doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, and everyone else here at the hospital. They have done a phenomenal job of taking care of him, and have been so helpful. The Lord has put us in good hands here at Albany Medical Center.

Many of you are wondering how I am doing. I am tired from some long shifts, but much encouraged by the presence of my mom, who flew in Sat. night. As of today, she, Esther, and I are staying in the Ronald McDonald House just two blocks from the hospital. It is a beautiful facility with real beds, and real food! Abigail is still with the Falks up in Wilton, and to my knowledge, she is doing just fine. They brought her up to the hospital yesterday afternoon, and i took her in to see Josiah briefly. She looked concerned when I told her that he was very sick and had lots of "owies", so she couldn't touch him. I didn't want to traumatize her, so I kept itshort.

To keep it simple, Josiah still needs a lot of prayer. His recovery is the slowest he has ever had to this point, perhaps because he was so bad for so long. I know the Lord is working in our lives, and that He is in control. Sometimes, though, during a trial, I would like to hit the fast forward button, if you know what I mean! Thanks so much for praying. I will be able to send out updates since I have Internet access here at the RM house.

Sarah

Family News

On Friday, October 6, I had to take Josiah to the emergency room because he was unable to breathe. They treated him all night without seeing significant improvement. I had to fly out the following day and so Sarah came to take my place with our son at the hospital. While I was flying to Nebraska for my meetings out there, they had to transfer Josiah to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at the Albany Medical Center in Albany, NY. On Saturday night, he experienced the beginnings of respiratory failure and the doctors decided to put him on a ventilator. The ventilator allowed him to get some much needed rest.

Josiah has begun to show some improvement over the last few hours. He was running a fever earlier today that is now gone. His oxygen has been lowered from 100% to 40%. He is not struggling so much to breathe. I thank you for all of your prayers.

As for me, the Lord has been good to me here in Nebraska. We had a good service this morning that included some interesting features. There was a family of Native Americans there, one of whom was under house arrest. The pastor had obtained special permission from the police to allow her to come to the service, but she had to be back at Noon. I did not know this and was somewhat surprised when she and all her family bolted from the service as soon as the invitation began. Despite that aspect of the service, we had a good service, with the Lord allowing me to preach the Gospel to several natives who were unsaved.

A couple of years ago, Bro. Byron Foxx told me that I should never travel without wearing a suit. He said that you never know when the airline would not get your luggage to you. I took his advice for the first time this last trip and wore a suit to travel in. It was a good thing because the airline did not get my luggage to me. In fact, I still don't have my Bible, toothbrush, cell phone charger, deodorant, etc. I did have my computer and my messages in my computer bag. Praise the Lord for that. If you will allow me to complain, though, I am a little bit tired of wearing the same clothes for the second day straight. Hopefully, I will at least get a new pair of socks by this evening. If I don't, I am afraid that the socks I have been wearing will begin walking back to New York or North Carolina in the night. Since they are predicting snow for Monday, I am second guessing the wisdom of going around with no socks.

Thank you for all of your prayers. God is good all of the time.

Paul

Joy in the Presence of the Angels

Ministry Update

Who hath despised the day of small things? Tonight we had a crowd of 24 people with several visitors. Four were young people in their twenties. Sarah and I got to talk to a newlywed couple named Matt and Sarah. Sarah (Matt’s wife), who had been in a previous service, trusted Christ as Savior tonight. Praise the Lord, I got to personally lead her to Christ! What a blessing today to see Sarah saved. Not only did Sarah get saved, but also another young man in his twenties named Devon. Another eight-year-old named Lorissa was saved as well. Devon was in church for only the second time in his life. Please pray for them as they grow in the Lord and are discipled. Also, please pray for Matt (Sarah’s wife) that he would be saved. He heard the Gospel plainly tonight and I would not be surprised if he gets saved soon. Thank you all for your prayers. What a blessing it is to know that people all over the country are praying for us!

Paul

Mountains, Ostriches, and Taking Bets

Ministry Update

After a week of not having services, we are back in a revival meeting again in Hadley, NY, not far from Albany. Please pray that the Lord would work in the hearts of the people in the area, that some would be saved. We had one visitor tell the pastor after the service today that she disliked preachers who raise their voice when they preach. Oh well, you can’t please everybody.

Family Update

It was a dark and foggy night. We had been driving for hours on the New York Thruway, and, in addition to being tired, we were now also broke. We figured it cost us one dollar in tolls for every book of the Bible. This, we thought was somewhat unfair, since Paul has not yet preached from every book of the Bible in his short tenure as an evangelist, but we decided against arguing with the toll booth attendant. The pastor met us at McZoomies restaurant, also known as the Golden Arches Dining Club, and we partook of the finest cuisine in the region. After the experience was over, we piled back into the truck and the pastor into his car. We were to follow him to the church, which, we were told, was twenty minutes away. For the first five hundred feet, the road looked promising, causing Paul to comment, “This is a pretty good road!” I thought to myself that it was a bit soon to say, but, like the good wife that I am, I nodded and smiled.

We groaned up to the speed limit ascending a 15 percent grade, while the pastor zipped away into the darkness. In fact, so rapid was his acceleration, that we wondered if he had a jet-assisted take-off. To put this in perspective, imagine a race between a road runner and an ostrich. While both are capable of great speed, it takes the ostrich a bit longer to attain the higher velocity. Speaking of velocity, by this time in our trip, we were now going down the other side of the mountain, which was an equal or greater grade than the previous hill. Paul was wishing there was a gear lower than first, and I was wishing that I had not eaten dinner. I suppose our eyes might have bugged out at the hairpin turns on the road, if they had not been pressed inside our skulls by the sheer velocity we had attained. Meanwhile, the pastor had disappeared. As we screamed around another corner, on six wheels (we have twelve total), we spotted him, sitting at a stop sign. After furiously mashing the brake pedals on both floorboards (mine is invisible as well as worthless), we came to a grinding halt just shy of the pastor’s back seat. He seized this moment to once more utilize his JATO (jet-assisted take-off) and disappear into the gloaming, with only the red glow of his taillights to offer a clue as to his former whereabouts. After twenty minutes of driving through the Adirondack Mountains in this breakneck fashion, we were beginning to wonder if the whole meeting was a hoax, or worse, if this was really the pastor that we were following. Then, as if out of nowhere, the church appeared on the crest of the next hill. Now the fun began.

“Pull in here,” the pastor said, pointing to a space made for a much smaller vehicle; a Yugo or perhaps, a go-cart. As he spoke, a crowd of curious onlookers collected in the parking lot opposite the church and began taking bets as to whether we would hit the trees or the sanctuary first. We pulled in with relative ease, only to find that there was no way to extricate the truck, since the church, built in 1869, also had a cemetery surrounding it on three sides, effectively blocking us in. We shrugged our shoulders and set to work leveling the trailer. Life is such an adventure.

Don’t try to call us this week, because we have absolutely no cell phone reception. We do have high-speed internet, though, so e-mail is the best way to get in touch with us. We still need your prayers as we travel. The Lord has kept us safe over many miles, and we are thankful. We know that your prayers have an effect on our ministry, even though you may not always realize it immediately.

The children are doing well, although both Josiah and Abigail had a cold last week. Josiah needed breathing treatments several times last week – the first time since April, I believe. He is doing much better now. The kids enjoyed running and playing outside in the nice 68-70 degree weather today after church. Abigail is the “little mama” dragging dolls around with her all the time. Esther grins and giggles when you talk to her, and perpetually blows spit bubbles. At times, it looks as if she is foaming at the mouth. Thankfully, she has no teeth, so the chances of getting bitten are slight. Paul says that I need to put something nice about him, too, so here goes. He is the only one of his kind.

Sarah

In's and Out's

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a meeting in Quincy, MI, that was difficult in some respects. Shortly before I got there for the meeting, the pastor resigned. Despite this and other difficulties, the Lord gave real grace during the meeting and God’s people were encouraged.

Yesterday found us in southern IN at First Baptist Church in Laurel. God gave us a great service both morning and evening. Praise the Lord that after a more difficult meeting in MI, the Lord gave us a respite in Laurel.

Sunday, we start a meeting in upstate NY in the Adirondacks. Thank you all for your prayers.

Family Update

We are enjoying warmer weather this week than we had last week. I know it won’t last for long, with fall coming and our travels taking us farther north. We have met some wonderful new friends, and renewed acquaintance with “old” friends. This week, during our time off, we are able to spend time with my mom and step-dad, as well as assorted other relatives – aunts, grandparents, etc. They are all quite willing to spoil the kids, especially sweet little Esther.

Josiah, Paul, and Allen (my step-dad) went fishing today. It was raining, but they had a great time, with Paul catching the smallest fish. Ha! Josiah has his own little fish pole. Paul had him practicing his cast today in the church parking lot. Thankfully, there were no cars, or he might have brought home a Chevy for dinner. That would be worse than a carp… They came back all wet and cold, but with smiles on their faces and even a few fish in their bucket.

Abigail woke us up this morning by howling at the top of her lungs. At 3:30 am, it was because the neighbor’s dog was yapping incessantly. She, by the way, is terrified of dogs, even when they are outside and she is inside. Anyway, after I calmed her down, she let us sleep until 6:30 am before howling again. This time, Paul went to investigate, and found her sitting in a puddle of the previous day’s dinner. Gross only begins to describe my feelings for an encounter like that so early in the morning. We cleaned up all the bedding and bathed and changed her, the nervously set her on our bed surrounding her with towels and jumping every time she coughed, sneezed, or sniffed. Esther woke up in the meantime, and was crying loudly to be fed. Josiah was on his bed asking questions like, “Where is my ladder?” (we had moved it for the cleanup) and, “Can I get down now?” The whole house was in an uproar. As many of you already know, I am not a morning person, and mornings like this make me wonder why anyone would want to get up and deal with such things. They never happen in the evening, so that makes me think that sleeping in later makes your day go better. Try it sometime – it works for me!

Since we were already all awake, we just ate breakfast and hit the road. After an unintended detour in the wrong direction, we headed toward Ohio and arrived in about two hours. That’s really what people mean when they say they took the scenic route, you know. They went the wrong way. Even seasoned travelers sometimes do it. Tomorrow begins another “normal” day, I hope.

It is late, and we are all tired, so you will have to wait with bated breath for the next series of misadventures in the Crow family! Thanks for all your prayers. We need them.

Love, Sarah

Sweet Alabama

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a great meeting Semmes, AL (Mobile area) with Pastor Tim Whigham. There was a spirit of contrition and repentance throughout the meeting as God’s people responded to the Word of God. On Thursday, there was a man who walked the aisle to trust Christ as Savior.

Today we were with Pastor Mark Falls in Bible Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa. Some of you may know from his days at Faith Baptist in Avon, IN where he was an assistant. It was such a blessing to spend time with him and his family.

I found to my chagrin that my son is gaining an affinity for young pastor’s daughters. Tonight, for instance, I walked into the auditorium to see him and the pastor’s daughter hugging in the middle of the aisle of the church. We can only wonder what the future holds for him (a girl in every church!?).

Tomorrow, we head to IN to the family farm for a week of relaxation with family and friends. A week from today, we open a meeting southern MI.

Give Me Diesel in My Dodge

[This update actually went out August 20, but I was unable to post in online until now.]

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a good start to the meeting here at Gilead Baptist Church in Macon, GA. I am eagerly looking forward to the schedule of preaching twice a day every day this week through Friday. Please pray that the Lord will give me an entrance into the hearts of the young people and the adults of the church.

The Lord supplied our needs in an unusual way today. After the afternoon meal, I had to fuel my truck. I had noticed diesel for $2.89 a gallon, but passed up the intersection without making the proper turn. I found another corner station that also had fuel, but the young man in charge of setting the pump had made a mistake. Instead of setting the pump to charge $2.89 a gallon, he set it to $1.89 a gallon. I paid with my credit card and pumped and pumped as much fuel as I could fit in my tank. I got over 30 gallons for less than $60. I tried to communicate to the store owners that their pump was set wrong and they argued with me. It may have been hard for them to understand since they all spoke English as fourteenth language. At any rate, it was a blessing from God to be able to save $30 on fuel today.

Terminator-Teacher

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a great meeting in Macon, GA. For those of you that prayed that the Lord would give me an entrance into the hearts of the young people, be assured that God answered your prayers. I suppose the culmination of my friendship with the young people at Gilead Christian Academy was the opportunity I had to attend a volleyball game on Friday afternoon. I was amazed anew at how much it meant to everyone involved. We also had a great beginning to our meeting here in Semmes, AL (Mobile area) where beginning tomorrow, I will once again be preaching twice a day. Thank God for the busy days of service! The meeting runs through Friday and for all of those concerned, we do have a contingency plan in case of a hurricane. God knows whether or not we will have to use it; at this point I am putting little confidence in meteorological predictions.

Please pray for our fall schedule, it having been decimated with cancellations. I would love to see those empty weeks fill up. As always, God knows and He has a specific plan for us. Your prayers for us are always greatly appreciated, and I will do my best to keep you informed of how God answers.

Paul

Family Update

Well, the last time we were in this area, some of you may remember, we were invaded by hordes of ants. Guess who dropped in for a visit? You got it – the ants! It must be something about the area. I really don’t think it has anything to do with Paul’s preaching, as good as it is. We have sprayed ant killer stuff outside the trailer in vain. They still come and come and come. Did you know that Windex multi task spray will paralyze them in their tracks? It is kind of cool. I feel like the Terminator. The house is really clean, too.

The pastor told us Sunday morning that tropical storm Ernesto had just been upgraded to hurricane status and that it was headed straight for us. The people of the church scoffed, saying that it will change directions fifty times before landfall. That is a great comfort. By Sunday evening, it had downsized to a tropical storm again. What a relief. The humidity right now is extreme, even though the temperature is only in the 90’s. We are anticipating a great meeting anyway. Pray that Paul doesn’t preach up any more storms. Ha!

Most of you know how hectic a Sunday morning can be trying to get everyone ready and out the door in one piece. We were doing well as far as time was concerned, and I was pleased with myself for getting everyone ready not just on time, but early! I had set my shoes out by the door while I finished my hair and makeup, etc. So, I was very unpleasantly surprised when I went to put on my shoes and there was only one! Of course, the kids knew nothing about it. Josiah blamed it on Abigail, and Abigail “didn’t know.” It resulted in a ten-minute, four man search around the trailer. As I limped around the trailer on one shoe, feeling like Cinderella, I muttered under my breath about how many places it could be in a 38 foot trailer. I mean, really! We looked under the chair, the couch, the beds, the toy box (as if anyone puts anything in there), and even outside, thinking that it might have fallen out when Paul opened the door. I don’t think I looked in the refrigerator, but we checked the bathtub and the trash. It finally came to light under a laundry basket full of clothes. How it got there, I can only imagine. I threatened the children about ever touching my shoes again, and we all went happily off to Sunday School. Of course, by that time, we were no longer early. Oh, well. We will try again next week!

Josiah has completed his second week of school, and has learned to write almost all of his vowels legibly. There is something to be said for handwriting practice. He is still very excited about the whole thing, and I am capitalizing on that fact. Someone gave him a three-foot inflatable bat in junior church on Sunday, and it has already been doomed to the trash can. I told him, while we were driving down the road, that if he hit me in the head with it again, I was going to bite holes in it. That calmed things down a bit, and I have to wait a while longer to get rid of it! I am such a heartless mother! I suppose I could always deflate it and send it on a mini-vacation under the bed. That would be nicer than biting holes in it.

Abigail is as wild as ever. She climbs, jumps and falls with such regularity that it is no longer remarkable. However, the other day, I was getting ready to give Esther a bath, and carried her into our bedroom while getting out her towel and washcloth. I heard a commotion in the kid’s room at the other end of the trailer. I turned nonchalantly and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. There was Josiah, lying on the floor with the bunk bed ladder on top of him, and hanging on for dear life above him on the bunk railing was Abigail! I quickly (but gently) dumped Esther on the bed, and sprinted for the impending disaster, calling out to Abigail to “Hang on!” Thankfully, I reached her before her arms gave out and the disaster was averted. Somehow, between the two of them, they managed to unhook the ladder form the top bunk without realizing it. I lectured them once again about being careful, and they continued playing.

One of their favorite things to play is “puppies” where they crawl around on all fours, barking, panting, and whining. There is a slight variation of this game called “dinosaurs” in which they crawl around the house roaring. Lovely. Anyway, it was not long ago when I overheard Josiah telling Abigail, “No, I will be the Mama dinosaur, because I’m the prettiest!” What will he think of next?

Sarah

Last night after the service as we were having a time of fellowship with the pastor and other members of the church, I looked up to see Abigail picking up each of the CD's on our table and running them through the drinking fountain. She had finished about a third of them before I was able to stop her. This morning, while I was preaching in a preacher's fellowship meeting, she irrigated my sermon notes from last night's message. Evidently, she finds my pulpit ministry dry and wants to help in that regard.

Paul

Terminator-Teacher

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a great meeting in Macon, GA. For those of you that prayed that the Lord would give me an entrance into the hearts of the young people, be assured that God answered your prayers. I suppose the culmination of my friendship with the young people at Gilead Christian Academy was the opportunity I had to attend a volleyball game on Friday afternoon. I was amazed anew at how much it meant to everyone involved. We also had a great beginning to our meeting here in Semmes, AL (Mobile area) where beginning tomorrow, I will once again be preaching twice a day. Thank God for the busy days of service! The meeting runs through Friday and for all of those concerned, we do have a contingency plan in case of a hurricane. God knows whether or not we will have to use it; at this point I am putting little confidence in meteorological predictions.

Please pray for our fall schedule, it having been decimated with cancellations. I would love to see those empty weeks fill up. As always, God knows and He has a specific plan for us. Your prayers for us are always greatly appreciated, and I will do my best to keep you informed of how God answers.

Paul

Family Update

Well, the last time we were in this area, some of you may remember, we were invaded by hordes of ants. Guess who dropped in for a visit? You got it – the ants! It must be something about the area. I really don’t think it has anything to do with Paul’s preaching, as good as it is. We have sprayed ant killer stuff outside the trailer in vain. They still come and come and come. Did you know that Windex multi task spray will paralyze them in their tracks? It is kind of cool. I feel like the Terminator. The house is really clean, too.

The pastor told us Sunday morning that tropical storm Ernesto had just been upgraded to hurricane status and that it was headed straight for us. The people of the church scoffed, saying that it will change directions fifty times before landfall. That is a great comfort. By Sunday evening, it had downsized to a tropical storm again. What a relief. The humidity right now is extreme, even though the temperature is only in the 90’s. We are anticipating a great meeting anyway. Pray that Paul doesn’t preach up any more storms. Ha!

Most of you know how hectic a Sunday morning can be trying to get everyone ready and out the door in one piece. We were doing well as far as time was concerned, and I was pleased with myself for getting everyone ready not just on time, but early! I had set my shoes out by the door while I finished my hair and makeup, etc. So, I was very unpleasantly surprised when I went to put on my shoes and there was only one! Of course, the kids knew nothing about it. Josiah blamed it on Abigail, and Abigail “didn’t know.” It resulted in a ten-minute, four man search around the trailer. As I limped around the trailer on one shoe, feeling like Cinderella, I muttered under my breath about how many places it could be in a 38 foot trailer. I mean, really! We looked under the chair, the couch, the beds, the toy box (as if anyone puts anything in there), and even outside, thinking that it might have fallen out when Paul opened the door. I don’t think I looked in the refrigerator, but we checked the bathtub and the trash. It finally came to light under a laundry basket full of clothes. How it got there, I can only imagine. I threatened the children about ever touching my shoes again, and we all went happily off to Sunday School. Of course, by that time, we were no longer early. Oh, well. We will try again next week!

Josiah has completed his second week of school, and has learned to write almost all of his vowels legibly. There is something to be said for handwriting practice. He is still very excited about the whole thing, and I am capitalizing on that fact. Someone gave him a three-foot inflatable bat in junior church on Sunday, and it has already been doomed to the trash can. I told him, while we were driving down the road, that if he hit me in the head with it again, I was going to bite holes in it. That calmed things down a bit, and I have to wait a while longer to get rid of it! I am such a heartless mother! I suppose I could always deflate it and send it on a mini-vacation under the bed. That would be nicer than biting holes in it.

Abigail is as wild as ever. She climbs, jumps and falls with such regularity that it is no longer remarkable. However, the other day, I was getting ready to give Esther a bath, and carried her into our bedroom while getting out her towel and washcloth. I heard a commotion in the kid’s room at the other end of the trailer. I turned nonchalantly and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. There was Josiah, lying on the floor with the bunk bed ladder on top of him, and hanging on for dear life above him on the bunk railing was Abigail! I quickly (but gently) dumped Esther on the bed, and sprinted for the impending disaster, calling out to Abigail to “Hang on!” Thankfully, I reached her before her arms gave out and the disaster was averted. Somehow, between the two of them, they managed to unhook the ladder form the top bunk without realizing it. I lectured them once again about being careful, and they continued playing.

One of their favorite things to play is “puppies” where they crawl around on all fours, barking, panting, and whining. There is a slight variation of this game called “dinosaurs” in which they crawl around the house roaring. Lovely. Anyway, it was not long ago when I overheard Josiah telling Abigail, “No, I will be the Mama dinosaur, because I’m the prettiest!” What will he think of next?

Sarah

Last night after the service as we were having a time of fellowship with the pastor and other members of the church, I looked up to see Abigail picking up each of the CD's on our table and running them through the drinking fountain. She had finished about a third of them before I was able to stop her. This morning, while I was preaching in a preacher's fellowship meeting, she irrigated my sermon notes from last night's message. Evidently, she finds my pulpit ministry dry and wants to help in that regard.

Paul

Sowing

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a good meeting with Pastor Roger Maxwell at Emmanuel Baptist Church of Keene, NH this week. It was his first revival meeting in the history of the church and Pastor Maxwell was very pleased with the faithfulness of his members. We had visitors every night of the meeting in addition to the members who were so faithful. We also had a group of teenagers from Northside Baptist Church in Charleston, SC who provided special music and did whatever was asked of them.

Every night we met in a room of the local YMCA building. Last night when we arrived at 6:30, we found the pianos rolled out of the room, the chairs taken down and the room prepared for a rock concert featuring several bands from all over New England. The Y had doubled booked and in the end, we relocated to another church in town that was gracious enough to lend us their building on the spot. In spite of the relocation, we still had visitors, two of whom were in their late fifties or early sixties and heard the Gospel for the very first time last night. Although they did not move during the invitation, the response to Pastor Maxwell after the service was very positive. He reminded me that we very well could have planted seeds that will take some time before they yield the fruit. He was very gracious.

A week from today we leave for another meeting, this time with the whole family and the trailer. We will start in GA in August and will not return to NC until December. Thank you so much for your prayers.

Family Update

It has been a busy summer for us. Esther is adjusting well to the family, and the family all loves her. She is proving to be a very happy and “good” baby, for which I am very thankful.

Josiah is now five years old (can it be possible?) and ready to start kindergarten next week. As I was going over my lesson plans, the thought occurred to me that before I started reading the lesson plans, it seemed a lot simpler than it did after I finished them. Josiah told me that he is “very exciting” about starting school. I believe my biggest challenge in schooling Josiah will be Abigail. Consequently, both children have new crayons, pencils, and folders. Perhaps Abigail will be easier to handle if she is doing “school,” too. Only time will tell.

We had a birthday party for Josiah last weekend and invited a bunch of his little friends. There were eight boys from 4-6 years of age, so, as you can imagine, it was quite wild. They played pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs, and balloon volleyball inside, and then the fun began! What little boy doesn’t enjoy running, jumping, yelling, and throwing things? We went outside in the extremely hot afternoon and had relay races and a huge water balloon fight, complete with squirt guns and a water hose manned by Paul. After the 200 water balloons were gone (I actually had blisters on my fingers from tying them all), we went in and ate hamburgers, hot dogs, cake, ice cream and Popsicles. Josiah was so excited that he actually was able to have cake. This year, I made him baked oatmeal and put cream cheese icing on it. Everyone commented on how surprised they were that it tasted good. After the last “cake,” I was a bit surprised myself! Anyway, Josiah ate lots of birthday cake. He even tried to eat the piece he dropped on the ground! I have finally found the perfect recipe for his birthday cake, and I am thrilled!

Abigail is slowly being potty trained. I say slowly because she stays dry all night long and will go in the morning, but will not tell me any other time during the day. We are, however, making progress, so I am not the least inclined to complain. I have a lot of other things on my plate right now.

This past week, I had Esther’s picture taken with a coupon for a free picture. The photographer told me that the packages were comparable in price to the hospital pictures that we purchased earlier, so when I saw the proofs I was excited about getting some pictures. The photos were so good! Then she showed me the packages. After I fell off my stool, I got back up and pretended that the prices were not really outrageous, and smiled and nodded politely – all while in shock. I sent the lady away with nothing but my free pictures. I suppose every mother’s heart squeezes when she sees the cutest baby pictures walking out the door never to be seen again, but I have survived, and am now wiser than ever. Lesson learned: don’t believe anything a salesman tells you.

This has been an extremely long update by reason of the fact that I have procrastinated in writing the last few weeks. Please forgive me… Hopefully, the next one will be much shorter. Be in prayer for us as we head out next weekend for several months. We will be gone until late November/early December. The Lord has been so gracious to us, giving us safety over thousands of miles, but we do not want to take that for granted. Thank all of you for your prayers.

Sarah

Home Again

Ministry Update

I arrived back home around 1:00 this morning. It was good to be home. The Lord gave us a wonderful meeting in New Castle IN. The meeting went Sunday through Sunday with no services on Friday or Saturday. During the week, each service was a teen rally in which I did almost all of the public work: piano, program, preaching, etc. The only thing that I didn’t do was pray for the meal each night. It was a tiring week, but a fruitful one: we saw 8 teens trust Christ as Savior.

I leave again Saturday headed for Keene, NH to preach a revival meeting for Roger Maxwell. Thank you for your prayers last week and I covet them again this coming week.

Family Update

My wife and family are glad to have me home. Sarah had a list of things for me to do from unusual cleaning projects to fix up things around the house. She took a few hours getting used to having a man to order around the house again. Before long, however, she was back to normal. When I went outside to take out the trash Tuesday, Abigail got a forlorn look on her face and asked, “Is Daddy gone again?” She was much encouraged to hear that I would be right back. After the NH meeting we will take off driving and be together again.

Paul

Rally Time

After several weeks off for the birth of our third child, I am in a meeting once again. I am preaching a teen meeting in New Castle, IN that will run through Thursday night. I will also be preaching to the church on Sunday following the teen meeting. I am program director, pianist, and preacher for the meeting, so things are a bit hectic right now. Last night, however, we did have 16 visitors and one young man trusted Christ as Savior. Please pray for the following things:

1. Revival in the hearts of the saved teens in attendance. Several are really struggling spiritually.

2. A good rapport with the teens. Pray that God would give me an entrance into their hearts.

3. Attendance to be good. Pray that God will bring in teens whose hearts have been opened by the Spirit of God.

4. Salvations. The pastor's main goal in this meeting is evangelism.

The man who is currently the lay youth leader was saved as a 15 year old in this church years ago and now is one of the core leaders in the church. We would love to see those kinds of results this week as well -- fruit that will remain.

Paul

Post Partum

Family Update

I know many of you are wondering how the family is adjusting to a new little one, so I thought I would take a few minutes and send out an update. Esther Faith is making her presence known in the household at all hours of the day and night – as was expected. We are parked at the home of some dear friends who have really helped take care of the two older children during my hospital stay and subsequent recovery from surgery. This has been an incredible blessing to me and has allowed me a little more peace and quiet than I would have had otherwise.

Josiah and Abigail have taken to her quite well. I knew Josiah would have no problem, but I thought jealousy might be an issue with Abigail. Thankfully, this is not the case at all. She wants to hold and admire “Bee-bee Essah” just as much as Josiah does. She seems to be quite pleased with this living baby doll that has come to live with us. I will say, though, that she gets very upset when Esther cries. Josiah was likewise horrified when he saw her umbilical stump (those things do look pretty nasty). I have assured him that it will look just like his belly button in a few days. I think he was relieved.

I am recovering slowly from the c-section, but so far, everything is going well. I was really disappointed to have to have the surgery, but I believe the Lord had a reason for it, even though I don’t know or see what it could possibly be. This means that Paul will have to go to a few meetings without the family just because I will not be able to travel and exert a lot of activity for several weeks, but the Lord knew all that ahead of time also. Please pray that my recovery will be quick and free from complications. Thank you so much for your prayers on our behalf over the last several months.

The trailer is rather in an uproar with baby stuff everywhere. It will take a while to get things sorted out and put in their respective places, and probably some trial and error runs on final resting places of certain items. It is a little crowded and disorganized at the moment, but I hope to remedy that over the next few weeks. In the meantime, pray that I don’t trip over diaper bags and baskets of baby clothes while I am wandering around the trailer in the middle of the night, sleepy and disoriented!

Baby Girl

Our daughter Esther Faith was born at 1:34 pm yesterday. She weighed in at 8 lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long. Both mother and baby are doing well.

Manner Matters

Family Update

Although we have been working for several years on our son’s table manners, there seems to have been a gap in the flow of instruction somewhere between our mouths and his ears. As a result, our dinner discussions frequently include admonitions about what is considered proper etiquette – mostly directed at our four-year-old son. If you were a fly on the wall in our trailer, you would hear some of the following comments. That is, if Abigail didn’t see you first and begin screaming frantically that there was a bug in the house.

“Chew with your lips together, please.”

“Don’t comb your hair with your fork.”

“Take smaller bites, good grief!”

“Slow down! No one is going to take your food away, unless, of course, you keep eating like that!”

“Chew with your lips together, please.”

“You know, you wouldn’t choke on your drink if you would slow down.”

“Please don’t blow your food OFF of your plate!”

“Do NOT wipe your hands on the chair – use the napkin sitting right in front of you!”

“Don’t wave your fork around in the air. You are going to poke out your sister’s eye!”

“Quit talking and eat!”

“Chew with your lips together, please.”

“Move your cup away from the edge of the table.”

“You know, you wouldn’t drop so much food on the table if your plate was in the same zip code as your mouth.”

“Don’t touch the curtains!”

“Do not stick your fork and spoon in your mouth at the same time!”

“Please only blow on your own food!”

“Chew with your lips together, please”

“Stop roaring at the birds outside – they can’t hear you. You are only disturbing the other diners.” (This at a restaurant)

“Do not talk with food in your mouth!”

As exasperating as it is at times, I will say that he does manage to do some things correctly. Paul was laughing at the table the other day because of the multitude of instruction I was spouting. I turned to him, and, in an effort to relieve myself of the feeling that all I had done was criticize table manners, commented that although I had given Josiah so many reminders, there was one thing I did not have to tell him. “Oh? What’s that?” Paul asked.

“At least he doesn’t have his elbows on the table!”

At this juncture of the conversation, Paul hastily removed his elbows from the table and with a guilty look finished his meal. So much for positive reinforcement. Perhaps one day it will sink in, but for the present, I will have to be content to sound like a broken record.

Hanging Out

Ministry Update

After a couple of weeks without preaching, it was good to be able to preach at the church in which I grew up. The Lord gave us two good services, with my two brothers attending the morning service. Both my brothers claim to be saved, but they are not in church right now. It was a blessing to have them attend. The Lord also gave us a generous love offering from that church to help with the expenses of not being in meetings right now. What a blessing it is to serve Christ!

Family Update

Many of you may have thought that we had fallen off the edge of the world since you hadn’t heard from us in so long, but despite your hopes, we are still here! We haven’t had a lot to write about, so I haven’t taken the time to sit down and narrate our adventures as a family this past month.

Abigail celebrated her second birthday on May 4. We had an awful cake (made so that everyone could partake with no ill results) that nearly made Paul and me sick. The kids were thrilled with it until they tasted it, and then they quickly lost interest. Josiah ate all the icing off of his piece, but no one else bothered to make an effort. There are just some things that cannot be substituted!

Now when we ask Abigail how old she is, she proudly holds up five fingers and says, “Four!” We are still coaching her on the correct answer. She is now out of the nursery and in the 2’s & 3’s class, which she seems to enjoy. She is learning new songs and Bible stories each week, and when she chooses to talk, she can go on and on. Josiah is a great teacher, and is always singing with her. Their best duet numbers as of right now are “Jesus Loves Me” and “I’m in the Lord’s Army!” Usually, Abigail lags behind on the tempo, and ends up being an echo, but it is fun to listen to them sing together.

Josiah will be starting kindergarten in the fall, and he is looking forward to it. He knows all of hi letters, so that job will be easier for me when the time comes. Now all I have to do is teach him the sounds and how they go together. No Problem, HA!

No, we have not had the baby yet. I will go no further on this subject. I have had all kinds of suggestions from drinking castor oil to horseback riding to shoveling mulch. The thought that comes to mind is, “Why make myself more miserable than I already am?” The baby will not come until she is ready anyway! As one well-wisher told me recently, “Keep hanging in there and hanging out there!”

Right now we are just sitting around waiting for the baby to make her appearance. If you are on praying ground, please pray that she comes soon. Boredom has set in, and I can only do so much about it. If I do not go by June 23, they will take her by C-section. This would effectively ground us for the rest of the summer, and we would have to cancel some meetings, which is wholly undesirable for all of us. The last thing I want is another major operation. Do keep this in mind as you pray for our family. Josiah asks every day if the baby will come today. I have to tell him that I don’t know – we will have to wait and see. This is not a satisfactory answer for either of us, but that is the answer I have to give. Abigail is still clueless, I think, even though she knows there is a baby in Mama’s tummy. I don’t think she realizes that the center of attention is going to take a drastic shift in the next week or two. Life is so interesting!

My youngest brother graduates from high school this coming weekend. He was selected to be the valedictorian of his class – we are all very proud of his accomplishments. After graduation, he plans to attend Ambassador Baptist College in pursuit of the one-year Bible certificate. Our family traveled up to Ohio two weekends ago to be a part of his baccalaureate exercises at the church. We put on a mini concert and Paul preached the Sunday evening service. It was really neat to be a part of Micah’s “festivities.”

Broken Spring

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a good meeting in Amarillo. Sunday morning there was a girl there who was weeping over her soul, having admitted in the invitation that she was lost. She never did come and talk to us, even though we had a fellowship following the service. I tried to approach her to talk with her about it, but she always avoided me. She did not come to any of the rest of the services.

The drive back home was a most interesting experience. We left Monday night after the service and drove 125 miles before stopping in the parking lot of Flying J for the night. Tuesday we did 791 miles, again stopping for the night in a Flying J just west of Nashville, Tennessee. We got a decent start that next morning, especially considering how late we got in the night before. We planned to fuel once at the Flying J west of Knoxville and then head over the mountains in plenty of time to make the Wednesday night service at our home church. As we moved around the parking lot at Flying J, Sarah was in the trailer fixing lunch for the family and heard a horrid grinding sound. While the children ate their food, I crawled under the trailer to check it out. I found a broken leaf spring on the passenger side middle axle. After several phone calls, we were able to accurately assess the situation: although there was a dealer in Knoxville that had the spring in stock, there was no one that could do the work right away. A call to a mobile RV repairman has still not been answered; the dealer that sold me the part was so covered up that they could not get to it for at least a week; an RV dealer that could do the work was twenty miles east over Tennessee interstate under construction. TN seems to have the roughest construction zones of any of the states that I have been in. Traveling this stretch of construction would have wreaked havoc on any trailer with a broken leaf spring. Things did not look good. I had just finished preaching a message about joy and how God wants us to have joy in our lives in both good times and bad. Now we were stranded in a Flying J with no one to work on our trailer, bone weary from long hours of travel, the heat of the parking lot adding to the potential for irritation: I was being tested. I was reminded of what Moses said to God: “[The people] be ready to stone me.” Had any suitable stones been available at that time, I think my family might have tempted.

After a couple more phone calls, I decided to buy the part and install it myself. It took little time to get the part and after a good time of witnessing to the employees who sold me the part, I was on my way back toward the trailer to change my first ever leaf spring. I found that the parking space that I had chosen was covered in part by a fresh blanket of motor oil, not far from where I had to work. Consequently, whenever I got under the trailer, I had to go around to the other side and crawl on my stomach or back to where I had to work on the broken spring. Every time I needed to get a tool, it was back out again, rocking my body back and forth on my shoulders to achieve some kind of motion. After three or four trips like this, I asked my wife to come out and join me just so that she could hand me tools.

In the midst of this project, the Lord sent along a man by the name of David. He was literally a truck driver who came off the street, initially to buy fuel. He saw that we were working and he and his wife came over to help us. As we worked together, we were both feeling each other out, looking for an opportunity to witness to the other. It turns out, he and his wife had both trusted Christ as Savior many years ago. Hours later, with the greatest help coming from our Lord Himself, we were able to finish the project. I went to pay David and he insisted that I take some money from him. In the end, he gave me a few tools, a can of WD-40, and $240. We were able to get on the road again and finally made it home well after everyone had left the church. It was a trip in which God reassured us of so many truths of His Word, not the least of which is that “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” The total cost of the repair, if you discount the gifts that David gave me, came to less than $40.

We will be in NC for most of the month of May, going to Ohio for a short time around the 20^th. We will home the entire month of June and most of July before our schedule gets busy again. Thank you all for your continued prayers.