May 22, 2012

Prayers for Matthew

Happy Holidays everyone! We hope and pray that everyone is enjoying this Holiday season.

This is our last night in West Africa. Two weeks ago we said our final goodbyes to our Watchi friends in Togo and traveled to Ghana for some rest. We had a wonderful time at the beach in Elimina, Ghana and are now back in the capital of Accra where we are waiting for our flight tomorrow night to Kigali, Rwanda. We have been praying and planning for this day for so many years, it’s hard to believe that it’s finally here!

Today and tonight we ask for your special and specific prayers for Matthew. While we were at the beach he spent two days in bed due to a mild case of malaria. He is fully recovered from that now, praise the Lord.

Yesterday, however, his ear began to hurt and continues to hurt him even now. Either an infection or swimmer’s ear. He is in so much pain that he has stayed in bed for two days now and is brought to tears every few hours when the tylenol wears off. Tonight is his second night with this pain. We started him on antibiotics this morning combined with ear drops and continue to give him pain medication.

Our flight leaves tomorrow (Saturday) night around 9pm Ghana time (3pm Texas time) and we are praying fervently that the Lord will completely heal him by then. An ear infection is no fun on a plane climbing to 25000 feet in the air.

So, please pray right now and through the day and tomorrow that the Lord would heal him and take away the pain.

Our trust is in the Lord God. He has abundantly blessed us ever step of this transition and we are waiting in hopeful expectation that He will heal Matthew.

Thank you for your prayers! God is listening and He is answering!

Somali Pirates

We came across an article in the news this weekend that put a new spin on our move to Rwanda and added another element to our prayers for God to bless our transition.

Somalian pirates have been attacking ships up and down the east coast of Africa. If the attack is successful they take the ships to a Somalian port and hold it for ransom.

Last week they attacked a container ship off the coast of Tanzania! That’s where our container ship is headed to transfer the container to a truck to ship it to Kigali!

Here’s the news article if you’d like to read it: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081207/ap_on_re_af/piracy_5

So the boys prayed this morning that pirates would not be able to attack and capture our container ship.

What an interesting twist to our transition! In all things may the Lord protect and guide us during this time!

Goodbye to Rachel and Emily

Today Rachel and Emily will leave West Africa to return to the States. It’s been an amazing school year and we are SOOOOOOOOO thankful for their servant hearts and for the excellent job they have done teaching in our school. Our families will truly miss them!

Yesterday, just after we arrived in Accra, Ghana, Emily received an email giving her the opportunity to work at KICS (Kigali International Community School) in January. She quickly accepted this invitation and will be flying to Rwanda in January to begin working at KICS where our boys will go to school. This is VERY exciting for us as there will be a familiar face at the new school for our boys. Amy, one of our teachers last year, is already teaching at KICS making two familiar faces that our boys know well!

God has been so generous to us for so many years by providing so many amazing teachers as well as churches who have supported our school in Tabligbo. Lord I praise you and thank you!May the Lord watchi over Rachel and Emily today as they travel.

Matthew’s foot ordeal…

Last week, while I was in Ghana taking the Howards back to the airport, Matthew had some drama at home…

The boys were swimming in our back yard and Matthew cut his foot on a rusty old pipe. The cut was deep and didn’t bleed hardly at all (which at the time we thought was a good thing). Christine, the teachers and Koonces all helped at different time to clean the wound and bandage it up.

After looking at Matthew’s shot record we discovered that he was overdue for his tetanus shot! His last one was at 18 months old. Christine called our doctor in Lome but he was on vacation. What to do….?

We asked a close friend who is a doctor for advise and he suggested that Matthew needed the treatment for tetanus as well as the vaccine.

After a lot of thought and advise we decided that the Koonces would bring Christine and the boys down to Lome to meet me as I returned from Ghana and then we would go to the Baptist Hospital in Kpalime where American doctors could look at his foot.

Their advice and suggestion was the same, give the treatment for tetanus along with the vaccination.  So Matthew got three shots that day (not something he welcomed with great excitement!).

All is well now and his foot in on the mend. The cut probably needed stitches to keep from scarring, but now he will look “tough” with his scar… Tough is cool, right?

While we were with the doctors he also gave us treatment for something we might have picked up in Mali while we were swimming in a waterfall called Schistosomiasis. We’re all taking treatment now for it so all is well.

Thank you for praying for our safety. God has and continues to take good care of us.

Stephen and Matthew coming to faith

My heart’s desire as a father is for my children to give their lives wholeheartedly to their Creator. It has been exciting to watch Stephen and Matthew’s faith grow over the years. Moreover, it’s been neat to see how both of them came to the same decision to be baptized, but in different ways. Let me explain.

Stephen, my oldest, understood the reasons why Jesus died on the cross, why we need His blood to cleanse ours, why we needed to be baptized and what happens in that spiritual moment when we are buried with Christ. In his understanding, his motivation to be immersed into Jesus came from a desire to be obedient. To him it was a natural step as He grows in His faith and desire to listen and obey His Master.

For Matthew, although he understood all of the above, his journey to faith was more emotional. At night over the summer he would ask Christine, “Mom, sometimes I lie and do bad stuff. If I died tonight, would I go be with God?” Matthew, although only eight years old, had a conscience that knew right from wrong. He wanted to be with God and have his “bad stuff” washed away. For him, the motivating factor was finding forgiveness in Jesus because he was sad for the things he had done.

Two boys, two hearts, two paths to Jesus, One faith, One Lord.

Thank you Lord for bringing both my boys to faith in your Son. Guard and protect their hearts and continue to lead them down the path to You!

Stephen and Matthew are baptized!

This post is a little late in coming, but the news is very exciting nonetheless! On September 20th Stephen and Matthew were united with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. What an amazing joy it was for Christine and I as parents to see our boys reborn. Our prayers since their birth were realized as Stephen and Matthew took this important step of faith.

Thanks to everyone who continually prays for our family. Your prayers were answered on this day! A few pics below…

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An Exciting Week Ahead

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!

Hello from Timbuktu, Mali!

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!

Fun Packages!

The last two weeks we’ve received two WONDERFUL packages from friends in the States with yummy, fun American goodies!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! The boys always jump up and down with excitement when they come from school and see a package on the table. What special friends we have! Here are a few pictures!

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Sweat

Yesterday Stephen came up to me and said, “Dad, I missed the sweat.” :)

The boys are so excited to be back in West Africa. Even the sweat is sweet to them. Naturally so, because this is their home.

We’ve had a great reunion with the Koonces and are enjoying getting to know our new teacher, Rachel Baker. And Emily, is always such a delight.

Today is the last leg of our long journey from Texas to Tabligbo. Between our two families (Crowsons and Koonces) and the teachers we have 38 pieces of luggage! We couldn’t fit it all in and still get our families home too.

So, we’re renting a van and driver who will drive the moms, teachers and boys while Marty and I loaded up our vehicles to the max with all of these bags. Marty just left, to get a head start on the journey and I will follow in my truck and with the van in a couple of hours.

Pray for our trip today. That God would bless our vehicles, our border crossing and our time together. We are SOOOO excited to be home….

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