Home, Sweet Home

Ministry Update
We are coming to the end of our time that was to be spent on fixing up the house. It has become quite a nice place for us to live, completely adequate to meet all of our needs as a family. So far, the list of improvements we have made to the house since we moved in a month ago is as follows:

New bead board and trim in three bedrooms
New paint in kitchen, living room, bedrooms and bathroom
Fixed kitchen plumbing leak
Replaced toilet
Painted bathroom cabinets
Install new bathroom floor all the way down to the joists
Installed new bathroom lighting
Cleaned ductwork
Removed low basement ceiling
Removed moldy wood in basement
Installed new basement lighting
Painted basement with Dry Lock paint
Replaced leaking cast iron sewer lines with PVC

There are some other things that we would like to do, but I go back to preaching this week, going to northern Indiana to preach in two churches there. Once we return to Connersville, I will be teaching in the church’s Bible institute in between meetings, plus preaching from time to time as the pastor asks me to. We are busy, but loving the place where the Lord has us.

Many do not know our new address because I have not yet gotten my website updated. Please forgive my negligence in this area. Here is the new address:

Paul and Sarah Crow
827 Earl Dr
Connersville IN 47331

Thank you for all of your prayers as we begin to resume our traveling schedule once again.

Family Update

As you can see from the above list, we have been quite busy the last several weeks. In addition to all the repairs, we have also begun a new school year. Josiah entered the fourth grade, and Abigail is now in the first grade. The challenges continue to mount with each passing day. Josiah is desperately trying to conquer two-digit multiplication, with nominal success. Abigail’s biggest struggle is overcoming her need for perfection in the area of writing. She thinks that if it doesn’t look exactly like the printed example that a meltdown is in order. Esther keeps busy with her “school work” of coloring reams of pictures and adding them to the ever-growing pile of homework, quizzes, and tests that litter the desk. Daniel is content to color himself, the floor, the desks, and any papers he can get his hands on, as well as initiating organized terror in the form of toy-dumping, sippy cup irrigation, and hitting anyone who threatens his agenda. Nap time is a welcome reprieve!

I have also taken on several piano students, which is exciting for me. I think some of them are still in shock. Right now, I have eight students, including two of our children. It is a blessing to help prepare these young people for service at an early age. We need young musicians to be trained and working in the context of the local church.

The house is really nice—we have much to be thankful for! We have had so many friends pitch in and help with the demolition and renovation projects! It is so nice to have some space to call my own. The kids love living in the house, and have staked out the “no boys/girls allowed” areas. The boys’ room is, amazingly enough, relatively clean most of the time. The girls’ room, however, is usually a complete disaster, with dolls, clothes, toy food and dishes, shoes and strands of gaudy beads mixed liberally and scattered on the floor. I keep telling them if they would only get out one thing at a time, the cleanup time every evening would be cut down tremendously!

Abigail, always my helper, has appointed herself the chief dishwasher. While this relieves my work load, it has also caused some anxiety due to the fact of the lowered standard of sanitation (sometimes the food from the last meal escapes her six-year-old notice). Paul and I have learned to be a little more circumspect when selecting cups and plates from the dish drainer! I am so thankful for her sweet spirit and helping hands. Obviously her attitude is contagious. Esther announced today that she wants to “fold the clothes every day.” This means romping about on my bed in the clean clothes, and folding the smaller pieces of laundry until she gets distracted, but I am grateful for all the help my girls give around the house! Sometimes I have to remind myself that I need to put aside my way of doing things better and let them be responsible. Hence, we have beds that are made crookedly, with blankets askew, clothes that are folded in strange ways, and dishes that have smears of food on them. Only with practice will these things improve, so I have determined to put up with less than perfect in order that I might train them to be good housekeepers. Josiah wants me to teach him to cook – I think it is primarily because he loves to eat so much! I have not yet relinquished that duty, though. I may have an aspiring chef on my hands! Daniel’s greatest joy these days is his bath time. He laughs and stomps around in a little dance whenever I start running the bath water. Of course, he feels it necessary to empty the tub himself, one cupful at a time onto the bathroom rug, so he must be kept under a watchful eye at all times. He is beginning to talk more as he approaches his second birthday. Some of his words are “bath, out, NO, mine, all gone, cookie, eat, please, thank you, HEY, and Bye-bye.” He is such a funny little guy. He loves to be chased and tickled, especially at bedtime. He also loves to sit on my lap and read books. “Book” is another one of his words. I am so thankful for the children God has given us. They are such a joy!