Ministry Update
Although I did not hold protracted meetings, it was a blessing to be able to minister beside Jimmy Watson and his family here in Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico. By this evening, I will have preached four times in two different churches. I have been a silent partner as others more fluent in Spanish have preached the Gospel during church visitation. I have accompanied the men of the church as they joined their pastor to paint the room that is the church auditorium. Most of all, I have accompanied Jimmy as he has worked, doing the mundane tasks of life as well as the more exciting tasks of ministry. We could never say enough about the Watson’s hospitality and kindness to us while we have been here. It has been a very rewarding trip, but we look forward to our next revival meeting beginning Sunday in English-speaking California. Please pray for God’s hand upon us as we travel, but especially as we minister in Fundamental Baptist Church in Escondido, CA. Please pray for the Watson family as well, as they recover from spending nearly two weeks with us.
Family Update
Greetings from frigid Mexico. Obviously, the little black cloud that follows us travels internationally, as well! Temperatures have dropped into the low 40’s each night. Big deal, you may think, but they do not have indoor heating down here. Concrete and tile houses are not very warm under the circumstances. However, the fellowship has been warm, and the memories numerous. I will share just a few of them with you.
The Slide Race
Jimmy took our family, along with Walker and Callie, to a nearby park. They had a small menagerie that he thought the children would enjoy. There were javelinas, raccoons, monkeys, bobcats, peacocks, rabbits and alligators. It was so cold, though, that the alligators would not even eat the food that was given to them by the keeper. On the other side of the park, there was some playground equipment. The kids played on the swings, a mini ferris wheel, monkey bars, and slides. In the far corner was a giant slide – the kind that you might see at the amusement parks. It was about three stories tall and two "lanes" wide. Jimmy dared Paul to ride down the slide, so they both ran up the stairs to the top. On the way up, the two men talked about how there was no handrail to aid a person up the stairs. Had the stairs been in the United States, there would have been two handrails, a handicapped ramp, trampoline to catch you if you fell, and a sign claiming no responsibility for anyone who fell. All of that would have been mandated by some government agency (OSHA or HUD, for instance). Jimmy remarked, "That’s the way it here in Mexico. There are no government agencies to look out for you. It is the land of common sense." This was going to be good. I suggested that they race, and they agreed.
With that, they were off! Jimmy took the lead, and on the first hump in the slide went airborne. I was taking a video of the race, and the levitation was clearly visible. The momentum gained from gravity and speed combined served to accelerate him toward the next hump. Paul, seeing the impending disaster, slowed down and allowed Jimmy to get ahead even more. When Jimmy reached the second hump, he flew into the air, and remained there for a while, while about eight feet of slide went totally untouched. The look on his face was classic! With a resounding "WHUMP" he hit the slide again, and stopped at the bottom! The race was over. Paul came in second place, but Jimmy was definitely the loser! It was about five minutes before he attempted to stop groaning and get up. In the meantime, I was trying unsuccessfully not to laugh at his calamity. I suppose the irony of the moment was the "common sense" comment made split seconds before! The next missionary package might include a large heating pad, an ice pack, and several bottles of aspirin for future common sense moments.
The next few days passed uneventfully, since Jimmy had to be carried about on a stretcher. Just kidding… Paul and Jimmy painted the church building, and we look forward to seeing the finished product tonight. It rained for several days when we first arrived – this is highly unusual. The locals could not remember the last time it rained in January. Because it rained, the city turned off the water, thinking that we had enough. It only affected the guest quarters, so other than a slight inconvenience, everything went smoothly.
Saturday, Sharon had her first ladies Bible study. I was there, but just listened. There were several ladies present, but none unsaved. During the Bible study, the man from the water dept came to inspect their sewer line. It was backing up, and they thought that because of all the recent rain, the dirt from the street was clogging the line. After inspecting it, the man said that they were not connected to the sewer line – they have a septic tank (a big hole in the ground under their garage). Apparently, the landlady never had the house hooked up when the sewer line came through a few years ago. The tank was full, and had to be pumped immediately. They pumped it out Monday – the smell was overpowering, so we were glad to go see some sights.
Sunday morning, Paul preached again, with Jimmy translating. It is very interesting to participate in a foreign language service. I can understand quite a bit, but it just takes a while to place things in their proper grammatical context. I don’t attempt to say much of anything, except "Hola" and "Adios" with an occasional "Gracias" thrown in.
Over the River…
Sunday evening, we were to go to another church about 45 minutes south of Guasave to be with missionary Tap Hornor. Jimmy packed all ten of us into their Dodge Caravan and we headed out around 4:00 pm. It had finally stopped raining, but everything was very muddy. Jimmy knew of a short cut to avoid the toll of nearly $5. He drove off the road onto a dirt (or should I say, mud) path, and through several fields. It is apparently a much-used road by the local residents. As we came around the corner, there were some men standing by their truck. They said something to Jimmy about the water being high. I wondered what they meant, but my question was never voiced. As we crested the hill, I knew exactly what they were talking about. Apparently, part of the short cut was crossing a small stream. It was quite swollen with the recent rains, and very muddy. I thought Jimmy was going to turn back, but he didn’t. Paul thought that he would not have attempted it had it been his vehicle, but he said nothing. When with missionaries, do as the missionaries do. Nothing worse than a backseat driver in the front passenger seat. Jimmy drove without hesitation into the swirling waters, and I had almost released my breath when the van stalled. In the middle of the stream. It wouldn’t start again. It was after Jimmy’s frantic voice called Tap for help that Sharon and I succumbed to hysterical laughter. This was truly a Kodak moment, and we took advantage of it. Some water was seeping into the van, but not a lot, so we weren’t worried, although it was getting awfully hot with the sun shining down on us. Jimmy rolled down the window and climbed out to survey the situation. He was wearing sweatpants under his dress pants because of the cold, which happened to be one of his most common sense ideas yet, so his dress clothes were unscathed. The children were all agog at being in the "river" in the van. Walker said, "We need a boat to cross this river!" While Tap came with Cesar to pull us out, Jimmy endured lots of laughter, jokes, and comments. There were even some Mexicans who saw us in the water, and decided against going across in their vehicles. Tap pulled us out with no difficulty, and towed us to his house. Add pontoons, life jackets, and an outboard motor to the list for the next missionary package.
The service went well, and we drove a borrowed vehicle back to Guasave since the van was out of commission for a while. This time, Jimmy didn’t go the short cut. We took the long way around to avoid the toll. On the way home, we were pulled over by the military for a drug check. After seeing all the gringo children, they let us go pretty quickly, since there was no room for any drugs in the van. We were so glad to finally get home!
The van is fully operational now after a little bit of work on the starter. We were thankful that it wasn’t a big expense. That would have made it less funny…
Yesterday, we drove to El Fuerte about two hours away, and met "El Zorro." The hotel was a beautiful place, and we had a nice walking tour. It was where the original Zorro was actually born! The boys were enthralled with his sword, and he even let them hold it. Esther tried to remove his mask, unsuccessfully, I might add. Abigail and Callie cowered in the background. We also toured a replica of the fort for which the town was named. It was really neat. We have really enjoyed our time here, and hope that Jimmy’s common sense will not prevent him from inviting us to come again. Pray for us as we drive back on Friday. Callie has already thanked the Lord that Josiah is leaving. We need your prayers, and so do the Watsons. Pray that the Lord would bless them as they labor for Him in Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Paul and Sarah
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
South of the Border
Family Update
Greetings from Mexico! After and interminable drive, we made it in to Guasave, Sinaloa around 9:30 pm on Monday. The children were all wearing matching shirts upon which were the very appropriate words, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" I thought about writing it on my shirt about eight hours into the drive. We only got lost twice. Here is a brief breakdown of the trip.
5:30 am – start loading all the luggage and missionary gifts into the truck; frequent stops needed to thaw hands and remove frostbitten skin; temperature 16 degrees F
6:30 am – eat breakfast
7:15 am – dress children and herd them into the truck; head out, all the while thinking, "I hope I didn’t forget anything!"
8:00 am – enter Nogales, border town of Arizona and Mexico
We thought at this point that we were in Mexico, but were still in the USA. We were trying to find the place where we were to get our tourist visas, driving permits, etc. We were flagged into a parking lot which we thought was the place to go. It was not. The man told us that he could not give us papers because our truck was too new. This was a very suspect piece of information, so we began to think that perhaps we were not in the right place. After sitting in the parking lot for five minutes, he told us that we owed him the fee for a full twelve hours parking. I was outraged at the gall of the man to flag us in, as if we were supposed to be there, when in fact, it was a shuttle bus agency, and then charge us for the whole day. We left in a hurry.
8:15 am – finally cross the border after driving through frighteningly narrow streets and twisting roads littered with worn-out vehicles and foolish tourists who walked into oncoming traffic with the brazenness of a Sherman tank
8:45 am – decide to turn around because we can’t find the "paper place"
It was at this point that we turned into a narrow curbed road, only to find that is was the wrong place. We had no recourse but to back up into oncoming traffic. This development greatly affected our prayer lives, as you can imagine. When we finally pulled into the right side of the lane, the truck skidded and slipped on a large patch of black ice. We clutched our respective "designated handholds" (aka steering wheel and dashboard) and hung on for dear life. Paul’s first comment was, "I told you they were sweeping up ice!"
9:15 - 9:45 am – sitting in line to get back into the USA
We figured we would go back in and find out where we were supposed to go to get our papers. It was at this point that we want to interject that no one we talked to knew where we were supposed to go. "Experts" in the States provided information that ranged from gross exaggeration to outright falsehood. The border official looked at us with disbelief, and then with a mixture of amusement and pity when we told him our story. He told us that we had to drive 21 kilometers to get to the permit station. We turned around and headed back into Mexico for the second time that morning, this time with great relief at finally knowing where we were to go, and anxiety at all the time and energy wasted already.
10: 15 – arrive at permit/visa place
Paul went in with all of our birth certificates, and truck title to secure a permit to stay in the country for two weeks. He came back out in a while with a frustrated look on his face. "They won’t accept my birth certificate." Once again, I was outraged, not only at the Mexican government, but also at the South Carolina government that issued the crummy, computer-generated birth certificate. Now what were we going to do? "You have to go in and fill out the paperwork," he said. As I stomped toward the building, papers in hand, I was thankful that he was the only one born in SC, where they resort to such idiotic ideas. I filled out the paperwork, jumping ahead of the retired couple in line in front of me. This was because they had been sent to the back of the line for not bringing their own pen. Really, the only things in the office were an employee, and TV, and a telephone. I loaned the couple one of my pens, and hurriedly filled in the information. I was then sent to another building to get the vehicle permit. When I handed them the truck title, things began to go bad. Paul’s name is on the title, not mine. My name is on the permit, not Paul’s. "Do you have a marriage license?" they asked. Of course, I do! It’s back in the green file at the trailer… " What about his birth certificate?" No – that won’t work either… I was getting upset. "Do you have one of your children’s birth certificates?" Yes, but what does that have to do with the price of rice in China? Whatever the reason, they accepted Josiah’s birth certificate in lieu of Paul’s. As I walked away from the counter, I resolved that our next big expenditure would be passports for the family. This idea was heartily seconded by Paul, who was already making plans as he sat in the truck with the wild and happy children.
10:45 am – finally, really, truly on our way
10;45 am – 1:00 pm – drive, drive, drive et. al. ad nauseum
1:00 pm – prepare lunch on the road (figuratively speaking); preparations momentarily delayed by carsick child in the back seat, vomiting up a glass of water
1:10 pm – devour lunch
1:20 pm – 7:15 pm – drive, drive drive et. al. ad nauseum; children figure out what their shirts say, and begin reading them
7:15 pm – stop at Pemex to get food and use "el bano"
Paul was rather nervous because of the loitering hoods in the gas station and wanted me to hurry – he told me when I got back to the truck that the hoods were probably afraid to cross me just because of the way I walked up to the store. Believe me, they would have been messing with the wrong tourist! With only two hours to go, now in the dark, we headed for Guasave like a barn sour horse!
9:00 pm – we are now in Los Mochis, having passed several check points, with armed guards
Some confusion over the map resulted in getting off the main highway and heading into the downtown area. Not good… the resulting terrors still haunt our dreams at night. "Turn this way – yes! That is the direction we need to go! Agh! This is not right!" This followed by more rabid driving (not ours alone). One lane streets turned into two by hurrying nationals who use their horns more than their turn signals. At one point, we were driving in a two lane street, and looked up to see a transit bus (going the opposite direction) pull into our lane to pass a slow moving police truck. As there was nowhere to go, we slowed down (I hid behind the map) and the bus careened around the police truck, who had no intention of slowing down or speeding up, missing us by too little for comfort. Whew! After a few more turnarounds, we pulled across an intersection only to find that the two-lane, bi-directional street had changed to a three-lane, one-way street! "Agh! Turn left! Turn left!" I screeched (nicely, of course). Paul had no other option but to follow my directions, since we had progressed too far into the intersection to turn right, and unlike earlier in the day, we could not back up, since there were several honking cars behind us. Finally, we found our way back to the highway, and made it to Guasave with no further incidents.
9:30 pm – pulled into the Watson’s, jumped out of the truck, and kissed the ground
They were glad to see us, of course, and the further adventures of our two families will be chronicled at a later date. Believe me, they are accumulating already. Jimmy is threatening to "pull the plug" on the computer if I tell about the slide race. Of course, I may not say anything about it, but just put a link to the video footage of the event! Tune in next time for "Adventures with Paul and Sarah!"
Greetings from Mexico! After and interminable drive, we made it in to Guasave, Sinaloa around 9:30 pm on Monday. The children were all wearing matching shirts upon which were the very appropriate words, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" I thought about writing it on my shirt about eight hours into the drive. We only got lost twice. Here is a brief breakdown of the trip.
5:30 am – start loading all the luggage and missionary gifts into the truck; frequent stops needed to thaw hands and remove frostbitten skin; temperature 16 degrees F
6:30 am – eat breakfast
7:15 am – dress children and herd them into the truck; head out, all the while thinking, "I hope I didn’t forget anything!"
8:00 am – enter Nogales, border town of Arizona and Mexico
We thought at this point that we were in Mexico, but were still in the USA. We were trying to find the place where we were to get our tourist visas, driving permits, etc. We were flagged into a parking lot which we thought was the place to go. It was not. The man told us that he could not give us papers because our truck was too new. This was a very suspect piece of information, so we began to think that perhaps we were not in the right place. After sitting in the parking lot for five minutes, he told us that we owed him the fee for a full twelve hours parking. I was outraged at the gall of the man to flag us in, as if we were supposed to be there, when in fact, it was a shuttle bus agency, and then charge us for the whole day. We left in a hurry.
8:15 am – finally cross the border after driving through frighteningly narrow streets and twisting roads littered with worn-out vehicles and foolish tourists who walked into oncoming traffic with the brazenness of a Sherman tank
8:45 am – decide to turn around because we can’t find the "paper place"
It was at this point that we turned into a narrow curbed road, only to find that is was the wrong place. We had no recourse but to back up into oncoming traffic. This development greatly affected our prayer lives, as you can imagine. When we finally pulled into the right side of the lane, the truck skidded and slipped on a large patch of black ice. We clutched our respective "designated handholds" (aka steering wheel and dashboard) and hung on for dear life. Paul’s first comment was, "I told you they were sweeping up ice!"
9:15 - 9:45 am – sitting in line to get back into the USA
We figured we would go back in and find out where we were supposed to go to get our papers. It was at this point that we want to interject that no one we talked to knew where we were supposed to go. "Experts" in the States provided information that ranged from gross exaggeration to outright falsehood. The border official looked at us with disbelief, and then with a mixture of amusement and pity when we told him our story. He told us that we had to drive 21 kilometers to get to the permit station. We turned around and headed back into Mexico for the second time that morning, this time with great relief at finally knowing where we were to go, and anxiety at all the time and energy wasted already.
10: 15 – arrive at permit/visa place
Paul went in with all of our birth certificates, and truck title to secure a permit to stay in the country for two weeks. He came back out in a while with a frustrated look on his face. "They won’t accept my birth certificate." Once again, I was outraged, not only at the Mexican government, but also at the South Carolina government that issued the crummy, computer-generated birth certificate. Now what were we going to do? "You have to go in and fill out the paperwork," he said. As I stomped toward the building, papers in hand, I was thankful that he was the only one born in SC, where they resort to such idiotic ideas. I filled out the paperwork, jumping ahead of the retired couple in line in front of me. This was because they had been sent to the back of the line for not bringing their own pen. Really, the only things in the office were an employee, and TV, and a telephone. I loaned the couple one of my pens, and hurriedly filled in the information. I was then sent to another building to get the vehicle permit. When I handed them the truck title, things began to go bad. Paul’s name is on the title, not mine. My name is on the permit, not Paul’s. "Do you have a marriage license?" they asked. Of course, I do! It’s back in the green file at the trailer… " What about his birth certificate?" No – that won’t work either… I was getting upset. "Do you have one of your children’s birth certificates?" Yes, but what does that have to do with the price of rice in China? Whatever the reason, they accepted Josiah’s birth certificate in lieu of Paul’s. As I walked away from the counter, I resolved that our next big expenditure would be passports for the family. This idea was heartily seconded by Paul, who was already making plans as he sat in the truck with the wild and happy children.
10:45 am – finally, really, truly on our way
10;45 am – 1:00 pm – drive, drive, drive et. al. ad nauseum
1:00 pm – prepare lunch on the road (figuratively speaking); preparations momentarily delayed by carsick child in the back seat, vomiting up a glass of water
1:10 pm – devour lunch
1:20 pm – 7:15 pm – drive, drive drive et. al. ad nauseum; children figure out what their shirts say, and begin reading them
7:15 pm – stop at Pemex to get food and use "el bano"
Paul was rather nervous because of the loitering hoods in the gas station and wanted me to hurry – he told me when I got back to the truck that the hoods were probably afraid to cross me just because of the way I walked up to the store. Believe me, they would have been messing with the wrong tourist! With only two hours to go, now in the dark, we headed for Guasave like a barn sour horse!
9:00 pm – we are now in Los Mochis, having passed several check points, with armed guards
Some confusion over the map resulted in getting off the main highway and heading into the downtown area. Not good… the resulting terrors still haunt our dreams at night. "Turn this way – yes! That is the direction we need to go! Agh! This is not right!" This followed by more rabid driving (not ours alone). One lane streets turned into two by hurrying nationals who use their horns more than their turn signals. At one point, we were driving in a two lane street, and looked up to see a transit bus (going the opposite direction) pull into our lane to pass a slow moving police truck. As there was nowhere to go, we slowed down (I hid behind the map) and the bus careened around the police truck, who had no intention of slowing down or speeding up, missing us by too little for comfort. Whew! After a few more turnarounds, we pulled across an intersection only to find that the two-lane, bi-directional street had changed to a three-lane, one-way street! "Agh! Turn left! Turn left!" I screeched (nicely, of course). Paul had no other option but to follow my directions, since we had progressed too far into the intersection to turn right, and unlike earlier in the day, we could not back up, since there were several honking cars behind us. Finally, we found our way back to the highway, and made it to Guasave with no further incidents.
9:30 pm – pulled into the Watson’s, jumped out of the truck, and kissed the ground
They were glad to see us, of course, and the further adventures of our two families will be chronicled at a later date. Believe me, they are accumulating already. Jimmy is threatening to "pull the plug" on the computer if I tell about the slide race. Of course, I may not say anything about it, but just put a link to the video footage of the event! Tune in next time for "Adventures with Paul and Sarah!"
Prayer Request
Greetins from frigid Mexico. We are suffering right now in unusually cold weather that leaves us around 50 for an overnight low and only around 70 for a high. It is really difficult because every time we go out in the morning, we have to carry a light jacket, only to take if off again later in the day. We are managing, though. Last night, I preached through an interrupter at Iglesia Bautista Betania in Guasave. It was a good service and very educational. More on that at a later date.
A serious prayer request for you. We have a need for a new trailer. The one we have is a wonderful trailer with a lot of use left in it, but we do not have enough beds for our children. We have three children and two beds. Our youngest right now is in a pack-n-play, but there will come a day when she will no longer fit. We really need to sell our trailer and get another one. Other than this e-mail, I do not plan to work much to sell it. My plan is to pray that God will lead me to a person who needs to buy it. I trust that God will give us the perfect solution in His timing.
Thank you all for your prayers. There will come an update later on this week detailing our border crossing saga. May God bless you all as you serve Him.
Paul Crow
A serious prayer request for you. We have a need for a new trailer. The one we have is a wonderful trailer with a lot of use left in it, but we do not have enough beds for our children. We have three children and two beds. Our youngest right now is in a pack-n-play, but there will come a day when she will no longer fit. We really need to sell our trailer and get another one. Other than this e-mail, I do not plan to work much to sell it. My plan is to pray that God will lead me to a person who needs to buy it. I trust that God will give us the perfect solution in His timing.
Thank you all for your prayers. There will come an update later on this week detailing our border crossing saga. May God bless you all as you serve Him.
Paul Crow
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Best of Times, Worst of Times
The sun bathed the cloudless sky in the pastel hues of morning. Crisp and clean, the breeze gently caressed his cheek. Despite struggling with a virus that greatly constricted his airways, he inhaled deeply the cool air of the morning around him. The newness and freshness of it all foreshadowed a good day to come. It was a good day that would be much welcomed. The previous day’s events had brought more than their share of hardships. The difficulty of a cross country drive had been compounded by a soaking, steady rain that made parking the trailer in north central Louisiana more difficult that it might have otherwise been. In fact, while parking the trailer in the dark, he had turned to miss a small tree. He thought that he had been entirely successful until the next morning, when, after packing up in the rain, he discovered that his front hubcap was missing. After a search over the places that they had been the night before, his wife finally found the AWOL hubcap and he replaced it on the vehicle. It was only then that they started across the country and more specifically through the endless state of Texas. The sun had long set and all the family was more than ready to stop as they passed through Abilene, TX, still heading west. Fatigue had now allied itself with some virus that concentrated its attack on his head and set up military operations in his sinus cavity. As the hours passed by, he filled and emptied trash bag after trash bag with facial tissues, each drenched by the predictable drip that came from his nose. After hours of nose wiping, driving, sign reading, driving, searching for places to eat, driving, searching for a place to stop for the night, and more driving, the combined forces of fatigue and sickness seemed to have weighted his every bone and muscle. After passing through the verdant jungles of Louisiana and east Texas, the family had entered the semi-arid plains of west Texas, spotting an occasional prickly pear from time to time. Rain was a novelty in these parts and the countryside all too readily told the tale. Yet as he set up his trailer that night in the only available campground for miles, a cold rain assayed to saturate his outer layer of clothing and reminded him of his eastern roots.
Thus far had been the events of the trip. Now, the rain in west Texas a memory, the night past and the sun shining, the new day seemed to promise wonderful things. Never had nature’s foreshadowing been so wrong.
His time of solitude ended, he retreated back to his trailer for breakfast and preparation for departure. In genuine altruistic spirit, he offered to help his wife with the breakfast meal preparation. It was then that the ruse of nature’s prophecy began to surface. The grits resided on the bottom shelf of the pantry. To barricade the pantry door, a metric ton of missionary gifts had been strategically planted so as to delay if not deny access to the nourishment contained inside. But on this good day, moving the gifts would be no difficult task. In fact, he need not touch the gifts at all, using the pantry door to displace them and reveal the pantry’s contents within. Blithely bending at knee and waist, he extended his right arm and grasped the cardboard canister of grits firmly. With the dexterity of youth, he pivoted his body on one foot, bringing the grits to where he could vouchsafe them to his wife.
It was at this moment that the prophecy of a good day was dealt the first of many blows. Seemingly in defiance of the laws of physics, the firmly held canister took advantage of the momentum of the spin and used energy to break the bonds of friction and release itself from his grip. With its newfound freedom, the canister hurled itself with deadly accuracy toward the open trash can, performing a perfect flip in the process. All the grits in the canister pressed with full force on the lid, displacing it as if by explosion. Before a full second had elapsed, the grits were free of their canister and almost entirely ensconced in a dirty diaper. The optimism of the morning seemed slightly misplaced at this particular moment, being further injured by a spousal interrogation that bordered on accusatory. “What are you doing?!” To her, it seemed as if he had taken their only available sustenance and used it to practice his slam dunk skills. Deciding that chef’s helper was not his occupation, he fled the scene.
He then decided to help his wife with the ongoing task of toilet training their daughter. He placed her on the seat and told her to remain there until he came to get her. Being a man of efficiency, he reasoned that he could shower quickly and retrieve his daughter after she had finished her business. Before his shower complete, however, he discerned that his daughter had abandoned her post, just before doing her business. Her business had now irrigated the bathroom floor, being slight contained by her two socks and her pajamas. As quickly as possible, he came into the room upon the scene of the most recent accident and began cleaning up the mess. Once again, the myth of the good day had been dealt a serious blow.
As with any road trip, it was necessary to stop from time to time to refuel. As if the good day theory had not been weakened enough, every diesel pump from Alabama to New Mexico refused to read his credit card, causing every fueling to become a major ordeal involving at least three trips to the cashier’s desk. By the end of the day, he was wondering if he had been triple charged for each fuel purchase.
In addition to the fueling episodes, the good day theory was further debunked by an attempt to check e-mail at a wireless-equipped rest area in west Texas. He had passed other rest areas that were similarly equipped, but chose to stop at this particular one. After failing to pick up a signal, he discovered through inquiry that the towers had blown down in a windstorm, and evidently were still not functional.
Throughout the day, other events served to strengthen the nagging feeling that all was not well. Upon finally reaching the desert, he discovered that he had lost his chapstick. His parched lips notwithstanding, he refused the cinnamon peppermint lipslicks kissing potion that his wife offered him.
After yet another relay at the gas station, he looked at his receipt, only to discover that it was not his receipt but someone else’s. It was at this point that the misfortune of before began to pass to another traveler who would now have to pay a higher fuel bill than what he had pumped into his vehicle.
In reality, though, this type of misfortune has followed me this entire trip. I will not bore you with the details of the commode breaking, necessitating that we be without water for a day. Nor will I disclose how our pipes froze Sunday morning. I will also withhold most of the story of how our grey water drain hose froze and nearly flooded the inside of the trailer before we discovered it.
Two things I will say, however. First of all, pray for us because we have to take so much time just to live that I am finding little time to work. Second of all, we are joyful, if weary, remembering that God is in control and no circumstance, no matter how difficult or frustrating, is ever out of His control.
Paul & Sarah
We do hereby certify that all of the above events are true, no matter how outlandish and far-fetched they may seem. “The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” is our motto for this update. Questions or comments? Call 1-800-This-Cud-B-U!
Thus far had been the events of the trip. Now, the rain in west Texas a memory, the night past and the sun shining, the new day seemed to promise wonderful things. Never had nature’s foreshadowing been so wrong.
His time of solitude ended, he retreated back to his trailer for breakfast and preparation for departure. In genuine altruistic spirit, he offered to help his wife with the breakfast meal preparation. It was then that the ruse of nature’s prophecy began to surface. The grits resided on the bottom shelf of the pantry. To barricade the pantry door, a metric ton of missionary gifts had been strategically planted so as to delay if not deny access to the nourishment contained inside. But on this good day, moving the gifts would be no difficult task. In fact, he need not touch the gifts at all, using the pantry door to displace them and reveal the pantry’s contents within. Blithely bending at knee and waist, he extended his right arm and grasped the cardboard canister of grits firmly. With the dexterity of youth, he pivoted his body on one foot, bringing the grits to where he could vouchsafe them to his wife.
It was at this moment that the prophecy of a good day was dealt the first of many blows. Seemingly in defiance of the laws of physics, the firmly held canister took advantage of the momentum of the spin and used energy to break the bonds of friction and release itself from his grip. With its newfound freedom, the canister hurled itself with deadly accuracy toward the open trash can, performing a perfect flip in the process. All the grits in the canister pressed with full force on the lid, displacing it as if by explosion. Before a full second had elapsed, the grits were free of their canister and almost entirely ensconced in a dirty diaper. The optimism of the morning seemed slightly misplaced at this particular moment, being further injured by a spousal interrogation that bordered on accusatory. “What are you doing?!” To her, it seemed as if he had taken their only available sustenance and used it to practice his slam dunk skills. Deciding that chef’s helper was not his occupation, he fled the scene.
He then decided to help his wife with the ongoing task of toilet training their daughter. He placed her on the seat and told her to remain there until he came to get her. Being a man of efficiency, he reasoned that he could shower quickly and retrieve his daughter after she had finished her business. Before his shower complete, however, he discerned that his daughter had abandoned her post, just before doing her business. Her business had now irrigated the bathroom floor, being slight contained by her two socks and her pajamas. As quickly as possible, he came into the room upon the scene of the most recent accident and began cleaning up the mess. Once again, the myth of the good day had been dealt a serious blow.
As with any road trip, it was necessary to stop from time to time to refuel. As if the good day theory had not been weakened enough, every diesel pump from Alabama to New Mexico refused to read his credit card, causing every fueling to become a major ordeal involving at least three trips to the cashier’s desk. By the end of the day, he was wondering if he had been triple charged for each fuel purchase.
In addition to the fueling episodes, the good day theory was further debunked by an attempt to check e-mail at a wireless-equipped rest area in west Texas. He had passed other rest areas that were similarly equipped, but chose to stop at this particular one. After failing to pick up a signal, he discovered through inquiry that the towers had blown down in a windstorm, and evidently were still not functional.
Throughout the day, other events served to strengthen the nagging feeling that all was not well. Upon finally reaching the desert, he discovered that he had lost his chapstick. His parched lips notwithstanding, he refused the cinnamon peppermint lipslicks kissing potion that his wife offered him.
After yet another relay at the gas station, he looked at his receipt, only to discover that it was not his receipt but someone else’s. It was at this point that the misfortune of before began to pass to another traveler who would now have to pay a higher fuel bill than what he had pumped into his vehicle.
In reality, though, this type of misfortune has followed me this entire trip. I will not bore you with the details of the commode breaking, necessitating that we be without water for a day. Nor will I disclose how our pipes froze Sunday morning. I will also withhold most of the story of how our grey water drain hose froze and nearly flooded the inside of the trailer before we discovered it.
Two things I will say, however. First of all, pray for us because we have to take so much time just to live that I am finding little time to work. Second of all, we are joyful, if weary, remembering that God is in control and no circumstance, no matter how difficult or frustrating, is ever out of His control.
Paul & Sarah
We do hereby certify that all of the above events are true, no matter how outlandish and far-fetched they may seem. “The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” is our motto for this update. Questions or comments? Call 1-800-This-Cud-B-U!
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Off Again
Ministry Update
After a long time of being at home and not in regular meetings, we are on the road once more, heading west toward our first meeting in AZ. Thank you all for your prayers and concern for us. Some of you have written and expressed concern since you had heard nothing from us in quite a while. Be disappointed no longer. Here is the first of many (probably) updates as we resume our normal abnormal schedule.
I will advise you to be careful in your fan mail to my wife. Having heard so many suggestions of publishing our updates, my wife has decided to charge a subscription fee of $10 a month.
Family Update
“Boing! Boing! Boing! Woo-woo! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ring-ring!” These are the sounds of our first full day back on the road. While you might be mentally assigning each of the above sounds to a particular member of our family, you would be forgetting the “X-factor.”
Our family has seen enormous growth over the Christmas season. Not in our personal size, although that is definitely possible due to the exorbitant amount of meals and parties in which we participated. I am speaking in reference to the “stuff” we now own. The children, in addition to new wardrobes provided by admiring relatives, received about twenty volumes for their library, toy dishes, six baby dolls, a bow and arrows, approximately 1500 new Legos for the collection (seriously), several battery operated toys, a ukulele, and a kazoo. These last two items were thoughtfully provided by the same person – a childless uncle. He had better hope that he stays that way, because retribution lurks in the misty future. The most unusual gift award went to another uncle. These gifts were stuffed toys in the form of viruses – E. coli and Rhinovirus, to be exact. While these gifts in themselves are nothing remarkable, the questions that they engender are very much so. Have you ever tried to explain to a two-year-old that their stuffed toy is not an animal, but something that makes you sick? Talk about having nightmares! “Mommy, I dreamed that my stuffed rhinovirus turned me into a giant runny nose, and then I blew up!” Well, maybe not!
I was surprised anew at the bad driving of the other people on the road today. I strongly suspect that some of them were still suffering the effects of their New Years’ celebration. Their driving would certainly witness to that. Anyway, we are parked for the night in
Josiah and Abigail surprised me by getting along very well most of the day. They pretended for quite some time that they were a rooster and a chicken. The resulting “cock-a-doodle-doos” and “bock-bocks” amidst shrieks of laughter was enough to try the patience of any saint, including me. Paul doggedly drove, as if trying to escape the cacophony in the backseat, while I closed my eyes and wished for a rest stop. All said and done, it was a pretty typical day on the road.
Other family news to note – Paul will be turning 30 this Thursday. Please flood his inbox with your congratulations and tacky birthday forwards, complete with the phrase, “If you love God, please forward this to everyone on your mailing list.” Of course, you will all receive a message in return, since we would hate to break the chain. A plague of battery operated toys might befall us if we don’t send it on, you know…
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
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!
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!
Thursday, November 23, 2006
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.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
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
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
Sunday, November 05, 2006
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.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
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
Monday, October 16, 2006
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
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
Friday, October 13, 2006
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!
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!
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
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
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
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
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
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.
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
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
Sunday, October 08, 2006
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
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
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
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
Sunday, September 24, 2006
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
Monday, September 18, 2006
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
Monday, September 04, 2006
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.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
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
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
Saturday, August 12, 2006
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
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
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
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
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