February 7, 2012

Posts Comments

You are here: Home / Archives for Crowsons / Christine

17 Years!

December 19, 2009 By

On December 19, 1992, I was wed to the most beautiful woman in the world. 17 years have passed and she’s more beautiful every day!

Thank you Lord for the blessing of my wife.

I can’t imagine life without her.

She loves Jesus with all of her heart. She serves others with all of her energy. She takes care of her family with all of her love. She spoils me every waking moment.

I love you honey!

One thing I love about Rwanda is the abundance of roses. This year I bought Christine 98 roses for our anniversary! Here are a few pictures of my lovely bride with her roses… :)

This SlideShowPro photo gallery requires the Flash Player plugin and a web browser with JavaScript enabled.

Filed Under: Christine, Murphy Tagged With: , , ,

Crowson Family Picture

December 27, 2008 By

crowsonfamilypicxmas08-2.jpg

Filed Under: Christine, Murphy, Stephen & Matthew Tagged With: ,

An Exciting Week Ahead

September 14, 2008 By

This week is going to be an exciting week.

Monday we will welcome two special people from our sponsoring church who are visiting our family!

Thursday will mark our 10 year anniversary in Africa! We arrived in Benin Sept. 18th, 1998.

Friday is Matthew’s eighth birthday!

And Saturday, both Stephen and Matthew are going to be baptized into Jesus!

Filed Under: Christine, Murphy, Prayer Answers, Stephen & Matthew

Hello from Timbuktu, Mali!

August 26, 2008 By

Bonjour everyone from Timbuktu, Mali! We came to Mali this year on a family vacation (with Emily and Rachel), spent several days exploring the country of Dogon and then made a long, but not too difficult journey to Timbuktu. This is an amazing place with lots of fascinating history. Look it up on your map, it really exists! Now we can say that we’ve been to Timbuktu (and back hopefully :) ).

Tonight we are going to ride camels 5 kilometers into the desert, have dinner, watch traditional Tuareg dancing and then spend the night on a sand dune. Tomorrow morning (Wednesday) we will return to Timbuktu by camel and then begin our journey back to Dogon land, Mali, then to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, then to Kara, Togo and finally back to Tabligbo by Sunday evening.

We are having a wonderful adventure full of lots of stories and pictures which we’ll share when we are safely home.

But, I just had to post this while we were in Timbuktu. Oh, did I mention the heat? It was 124.5 degrees and climbing when we looked at 2pm this afternoon:) The nights are cool though (80s).

Blessings to all!

Filed Under: Christine, Murphy, Stephen & Matthew

Home Again

January 23, 2008 By

We are feeling settled and the water is back on, yeah!!!  I can have a real shower tonight instead of a bucket bath?  We are so glad to be home.  Everything is pretty much as we left it.  My dryer is not working but it is so dry right now that the clothes dry quickly.  They are nice and crunchy, fun!  This is one reason to love the Harmatan.  It is so extremely dusty though.  One day I left the clothes out too long and they all smelled dusty?  I love West Africa!  I have actually cried a few times as I unpacked thinking of all the ‘lasts’ we are about to experience.  This is our last Harmatan.  Wow!  It is not going to be easy for me to leave.  I have grown pretty attached to Togo.

Good news is that my oven is working.  Before furlough it would not heat past 350 and our first day back it was still the same.  But for some reason it is now working again.  Yeah! I only have two burners but that is definitely manageable.  I am so happy!

The boys are so excited to be home.  They have been so sweet!  Matthew has been waking up with the sun and is outside as quickly as possible to play with Buster.  It has been fun to watch how happy they are to be home.  I am already thinking about how to help them make the transition to Rwanda.  It is going to be challenging.

They are thrilled about school starting on Friday.  They have missed their routine.  I am so thankful for children and the fresh and excited perspective they have on life.

It has been a joy to see our Togolese friends again.  We have not even seen them all yet.  We are having fun reunions almost everyday.  We praise God for our safe return and look forward to what lies ahead.

Filed Under: Christine

Panda Ski School

December 21, 2007 By

We introduced Stephen and Matthew to downhill skiing this week. They took Panda Ski School lessons at Ski Cooper on Monday and by Tuesday they were swooshing down the mountain like little experts. At one point our whole family was going down a green. First me, then Stephen, Matthew and Christine. Stephen, Matthew and I were stopped on the mountain for a moment and Matthew asked, “Dad, why are we waiting?” “We’re waiting on mom,” I said.

Christine had a lesson too while the boys were in ski school and her skills improved dramatically. Stephen and Matthew have no fear though (not necessarily a good thing:) ) and are passing both of us.

Here’s a picture of them in Panda Ski School (Stephen is #7 and Matthew is #9):

crowsonboysinskischool.jpg

Filed Under: Christine, Murphy, Stephen & Matthew

Furlough, Women’s Meeting & the Boys:)

April 22, 2007 By

As our furlough quickly approaches, we have been trying to prepare ourselves and those we work with for our departure. At my meetings last month with the Sedome and Batoe women, I encouraged them to keep meeting together and praying for each other. We made a plan to meet together this month in Agodeke to pray for the women in that new church. So this past Monday I drove to Batoe and joined the women in the hour long walk to Agodeke. Sedome women also walked 45 minutes from their village to meet with us in Agodeke. There were a total of 24 women at the meeting. Most of them walked 45 minutes to an hour to get there. I was so thankful to share in that day with them and to see their willingness to come and encourage the Agodeke christians.

We spent our time singing and praying for each other. The Agodeke women prepared a meal for everyone. Before the meal was served, one of the women from Batoe asked that everyone give 50 francs to help with the meal. I was touched by this gesture. Agodeke is a very poor village and it is very expensive to feed such a large crowd. I was encouraged to see the women from Batoe and Sedome helping the Agodeke christians. Please pray for the women of these three villages. Pray that they will indeed meet together and pray for one another. Pray especially for the women of Agodeke. They are very young in their faith and face daily persecution from the pagans in their village. Pray that the Batoe and Sedome women will support and encourage them.

Stephen and Matthew are doing great! They only have one week left of school. This past school year has passed so quickly. The boys are very excited to go to Rwanda next month. They are also thrilled to go to America and see their grandparents and cousins.

Filed Under: Christine, Rwanda, Stephen & Matthew, Togo

Watchi Women’s Meetings

March 31, 2007 By

It has been a busy but good couple of weeks.  I had good meetings in Kpotonou and Sedome.  The women are all doing well.  As the time for our furlough quickly approaches, I tired to encourage the women that they need to continue meeting without me.  The Sedome women feel like their inability to read prevents them from meeting.  I talked with them about the need to pray together and encourage one another even if they can’t study the bible together.  I also tried to encourage them to tell other people the stories that they know about Jesus and share their own stories of God’s faithfulness.  Pray that they will not let their inability to read inhibit them from sharing their faith.

Last week we enjoyed fun fellowship and work with the Batoe Christians as they helped Daniel and his wife build a new hut.  Stephen and Matthew loved stomping in the thick, squishy mud.  They both helped carry mud balls from the mud pit to the the walls of the hut.  After the work was finished, we enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared by Jackino (Daniel’s wife) and Popono (Daniel’s sister-in-law).

Filed Under: Christine, Prayer Needs, Togo

Bill and Barb Shaffer

March 15, 2007 By

We have enjoyed having Amy’s parents, Bill and Barb, visiting from Vancouver. They have been a great encouragement and refreshment to our team. On Thursday Barb went with me to a ladies’ meeting in Batoe. Before the meeting, Abrahamno took us on a walking tour of Batoe and a look at the Mono river. Barb was able to see a lot of Togolese life in this short tour. The meeting went well and Barb was a great encouragement to the women. We talked with the women about prayer. Barb told them about her prayer group who often pray for the Togolese. She also mentioned how they cried and prayed specifically for Batoe when Antoinette died. The hush that fell over the room and the look on the Batoe women’s faces told me that they were very touched when Barb shared this with them. I was also so thankful to be reminded that so many of you are lifting these Christians up in prayer. Thank you so much!

Filed Under: Christine

Atukpe’s new baby girl!

February 20, 2007 By

Masan and GillaumeOn Thursday I went to Kpotonou for my ladies’ meeting. When I arrived there was only one woman, Massa, there. She told me that one of the ladies, Atukpe, had just had a baby that morning. Atukpe had gone to a small clinic in Tsekpo (Chekpo) in the night to have the baby. Since no other women had come to the meeting, I suggested to Massa that we go to Tsekpo and see the baby and mother. Before we left, another woman had arrived for the meeting. We started on our way and met up with two other women on their way to the meeting and another lady running to catch-up. The other women also wanted to go to Tsekpo and piled in the vehicle. There was lots of laughter on the way. The women were very excited to get to ride in a car to Tsekpo. They walk this 5 km trip to go to the market once a week. In Tsekpo, we found the mother and baby girl doing very well. The dad (Kokuvito) was also there and had a huge grin when we walked in. He was very excited to see so many visitors.

Atukpe and her baby girlThis was such a fun experience for me. I loved watching the women laughing and chattering with one another. I also loved watching Massa, who is older with some of her children already teenagers, helping and teaching Atukpe how to wrap her stomach. Kokuvito asked me if I could take his wife and the new baby back to Kpotonou. So we all got back into the car with two additional women and the newborn baby. I was so happy to take this woman and her new baby home. If I had not come she would have made the 5 km trip home on the back of her husband’s bike while carrying her baby. When we got to her house we all stayed a while to pray for her and the baby. One of the women led a couple of songs. The woman who went with Atukpe to the clinic to assist with the delivery stood and testified that God had blessed them with safety and the mother and baby with good health. Then a couple of women prayed blessings for Atukpe and her new baby daughter. I feel so blessed to have been with these Kpotonou women for such a joyful occasion. It was a time of rejoicing and thanksgiving. I praise God that this baby has been born into a Christian home.

Filed Under: Christine, Prayer Answers, Prayer Needs, Togo
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »
  • Twitter
  • Facebook