Sunday, March 29, 2015

February Fun!!


Here is what February consisted of.  It was a busy month and lots of interesting things to be seen....check it out!

Before our next teams came, we went downtown exploring as a family.....

Leyton wanted his picture taken with the Fat Lady.


Downtown, you can see anything...including a man with a chicken on his head!

The guy played some diggery-doos.  He was pretty good and so was the guy with him smoking weed! RASTA!


Bruce and I had a HUGE craving for orange chicken...we got--chicken nuggets and HOT orange juice....Chinese restaurant FAIL!!!!!

Making ramps to lower the lift in to start electricity and drywall!

Leyton and Sofia's last days of playing before school starts!

Also made an apple pie....so good!

A couple of our workers: Nix, Pito (Antonio) and Castillo
 We had a couple of people come and visit from Mount Pisgah Church, The Scheduling Institute in Atlanta and Dr. John Acosta.  It was great showing them around the Project and visiting with them.
Made a blackberry cheesecake for the team!


Dr. J treated us to lunch--Emme's buddy!

The church bought a lighthouse to put on top of the church roof. It can be seen from afar!
Steve Thomas on Phase 2 with the lighthouse and church in the background

Someone caught the moon behind the lighthouse....looks like the light from the lighthouse! Pretty awesome picture!

When Grandma Connie is here, we get cinnamon rolls!
 Our sister church in Rio Azul painted and laid tile.  Here are before and after shots of the church!
Before

After
 February was also the start of the new school year.  Emme is now in 3rd grade at the same school.
 And Leyton started kindergarten.  He goes everyday from 7am-10am, then he goes to the daycare afterwards.

First day of school

Leaving the house

Family car ride to school

This is at the top gate of the school.

Before school started, Leyton and Sofia posing for a shot! Best friends

Leyton's classroom

Emme's classroom

Leyton after the first day of school. He put himself to bed!

This is what happens when you leave your phone unattended around my family.
February also brought a lot of teams.

We started off with a dental team from Canada.  I was the interpreter for the week.  It was a little out of my comfort zone (ironic since I was an interpreter--but Spanish is a whole other ballgame). But I was excited to learn along the way.





We also welcomed a Joshua Expedition team of 28 from Georgia for one day of work.  We definitely put them to work!


Then we had 4 guys from our home church, Southside Christian Church from Harrodsburg, KY.  Although it was only 4 guys, it was great having people from our home church.  They actually stayed with us in our house and we put them to work! We were so grateful for the time they spent with us!

Micah, Pappy, Johnnie and Matthew in the area they chopped with machetes!


Then at the end of February, Steve Jr welcomed a team from Pepperdine University in California.  This was a great team and we really enjoyed getting to know everyone!








Back in August of 2014, I signed up for a running buddy program called I Run for Michael on Facebook.  It is a Facebook community that matches a runner with a buddy, who has some sort of special needs.  It can be anyone who wants to exercise (run, walk, bike, yoga...etc) in honor of their buddy.  Well after waiting for over 6 months, I was finally paired with a buddy on February 14th!  This is Blake.  Blake has a condition called Chiari Malformation.  Don't know what it is? I didn't either, but I am learning and I am building a relationship with him and his parents.  It is much more motivating to be running for someone.  When I feel like quitting, I don't, because of Blake.  I pray for him, think about him and keep moving because of him.  I am absolutely loving getting to know him and his family.  If you are looking for some motivation-- OR if you know of a family with a special needs child OR adult--check out I Run for Michael on the internet and Facebook!, I promise you won't regret it!

Blake with flowers on Valentine's Day! I'm pretty sure they were for me! HAHA!


So on February 26, about 8 weeks after my surgery, I started running again!


February was a very busy month for us, especially having 2 kids in school now!  It has been challenging with the team schedule and the school schedules, but we are surviving!  Thank you to everyone who have been praying for us and with us!  We are so grateful for each and every one of you!

In HIM,
the crawfords


January Fun!!

After our month long excursion/work/vacation/family visits, we were on our way back home!  Check out what we did when we got back to Costa Rica!



Ah! Welcome back to Costa Rica! Traffic and sunny weather.

Resting my legs after a long travel day! God is so good!

This is what welcomed us...better than the weather in any part of the US we were at!

Leyton loves his new shoe horn he got from Danny and Julie Oh!

Came back to love on this sweet boy across the street!

And we got coffee and tamales, since we missed them during Christmas time! :(

Bruce worked on the office furniture and got it ready for team season 2015!

Bet you didn't know it was a fridge!

When we came back, the roof was basically completed

This puppy walked beside me for hours as I was recovering after surgery! LOVE!

He missed me!

Luke and Macha.  She is such a good doggy!

Emme was super happy to be in shorts, tank top and flip flops again!

Danny and Julie also bought Leyton his very own training chopsticks!
We also welcomed our first team for the 2015 season.  Steve Jr lead a team from Love and Truth Church in Jackson, Tennessee.



Love and Truth Team 2015

Love and Truth and our workers!




While they were here, we also got to do this:



Have another excuse to make WINGS!!!!

Celebrate Steve Thomas' birthday--50!!!

Emme and J painting the parking lot

Leyton got to help too! He did pretty good, surprisingly

We got to play games with the daycare kids

Emme got to hang out with some girls!

Uh...no caption needed....

Leyton got to ride the scary single seat ferris wheel at the mall


Well, that pretty much sums up our January.  It was a time to ease back into normal life and to get ready for team season 2015!

Blessings,
the crawfords