It's Volleyball Time at Trinity-oh...and It's Football Time in Tennessee

It has been....well, let's say, way too long since I have written. I can't say it is because nothing has been going on...because ALOT has been going on. The kids all started back to school. We're in about our 7th week of this homeschool year with the boys, Mae started 7th grade, Kara is a junior and Shelby is a senior! Yes, we are in the midst of trying to figure out where she will land for college next year. I must say she has made some pretty stellar selections so far. University of Tennessee-Go Vols!-would absolutely be her daddy's first choice. She also wants to visit and has already applied to Baylor University in Waco, TX-my girl, a cowgirl?? And, she is also planning to visit (and in the midst of completing an application for) Colorado Christian University! She is much like me, in that, the mountains have always had a spell on her. Nothing much more majestic than the beauty of HIS creation of the mountains, in my opinion! I think the one thing that has her a little scared of CCU is the distance to Lakewood, CO. Mind you, I don't think she'll be missing her mom nearly as much as she will miss her very best little buddy-Leah! So, we will pray, visit, and pray some more about where GOD has her to be. Kara will be traveling with Jim and Shelby to visit CCU, as this has always been one of her top choices also. Can't believe we'll be sending both of these girls off, back to back. That could make a mama cry, if she thinks about it too long. Kara mentioned in her earlier post that she turned 16 last month and Shelby turned 18 this month! Wow! We would almost have an empty nest, if the good LORD hadn't brought these other precious knuckleheads (as Leah calls everyone, now) into our family! Boy, HE knew that I wasn't ready to retire from chasing kids at this precious, very young age of 30...21, okay 30+21! Funny story about all the little ones and Shelby.....last weekend I was at an adoption conference and Jim was on call, so Shelby and Kara had the little ones for the day. Shelby took Mae, Mac, Coop, Ross and Winter to watch a v-ball tournament that the TCA jv team were playing in.....one of her friends told her that one of the friends teammates asked, why Shelby had all those little Asian kids and black kids hanging around with her! The friend explained that those were Shelby's siblings......OH!

Kara and I had a fun night earlier this week. I had built a fire in the firepit out by the pool. I invited Kara to come out and play her guitar and sing for me. Wow! I am so impressed at how much that sweet daughter of mine has taught her self on that guitar! It was such a beautiful evening! KB-we need more of those nights. You sing like an angel, sweet girl!

Jim, Shelby and Kara have gone to Knoxville to watch some ball games. They caught a Lady Vols volleyball game last night, they are at present cheering on the Vols against Florida and then they'll hang around for another volleyball game tomorrow! What fun! The little ones and I are holding down the fort, here at home. Leah has had some seizures today, so we're laying low and I am enjoying not cooking! It will be a junk food weekend for them and salads for me! we may even do a little school work later today. Crazy as it is, they ask to do school. Even on the weekends! Isn't that how learning should be! I do admire their excitement about learning. I want to be that excited about learning about my Creator, Master, Savior!!

Okay...this was likely a little boring. I really did this only for me. The boys are asking to go swimming, so I'll run and try to write sooner next time. Amy

Well Then

So it's been a really long time since I have posted anything. I would say that it's only because I've been busy with school and volleyball (which is part of the reason), but it's mostly just because I've been lazy. Lazy and uninspired. That's pretty sad. Anyway, nothing really exciting has happened in the Crenshaw house lately. Shelby's 18th birthday was yesterday though. That's really weird to think about. She's going to college next year. How odd. I remember when I was 4 and she was 6 and I had just started gymnastics. She had already been doing it for a little bit, so I had to start off in a different class from her, but I was too shy (Kara? Shy?) to be in a class with people I didn't know so I begged to be in her class. I can't remember if I ended up staying in my class or what. But yeah, it's weird to think that next year she won't be around all the time. I've already been through this with Nat, but it feels different this time for some reason. Or maybe I'm just in a weird mood...

Oh yeah, I started driving a few weeks ago too. I got my license. I'm sixteen. That's weird too. Also, Coop turned 10 a few days ago. He's getting so big. Well, not physically big, since he's still a shrimp, but you get what I mean. Whose birthday is next? hmmm... Mae's. But that's a while from now.

The weather outside is... Indescribably beautiful. I love when it feels like this. It's still warm enough to wear short sleeves during the daytime, but it's not scorching hot and ridiculously humid anymore. And nighttime, oh my goodness. It gets almost cold. It's amazing. It reminds me of camp at night. Except for the stars. The stars here don't compare to the nighttime sky in Durango. But it's okay.

I'm feeling really restless lately. I feel like I just need to go. My guitar is the only thing that is keeping me sane.

Home For Good...

Well, it's Kara. And I'm home. Summer is almost over even though it feels like it just started yesterday. I guess I'll tell you about my adventures so far.

First, St. John was gorgeous, as usual. It was just the Crenshaw clan and Granny for the first week but then Aunt Kim and cousins Michael and William came down too. We had a blast. It was great to just get some time to relax and calm down for a while. But, I left by myself on the 6th to go to Tulsa for a night. I stayed with Uncle Rob and Aunt Tony and Haley Bug. It was really great to see them and just talk. I don't get to see them much so it was nice to catch up on everything. Early the next morning, I flew to the Durango, Colorado airport and headed to Bayfield, CO, where there is a little piece of heaven on earth. I was at Camp Kivu for twelve days and I absolutely loved every minute of it. I got to do all the outdoorsy stuff that I can't do here at home all while making new friends and catching up with old camp friends. I adore the mountains and the views there were epic. Oh, and there was absolutely no humidity. It really was amazing. All the kids are so accepting and the counselors are encouraging and pushing you closer and closer to Christ. I learned so much there. On the last night, I got to lay under the stars (which are stunning up there in the mountains... You can even see a band of the Milky Way!) with some of the best girls in the world. Very early the next morning, I went back to the Durango airport feeling bittersweet. I was happy that I was going to see my family again but I didn't want to leave all the new relationships I had made or leave that awe-inspiring place. However, we got to watch the sunrise over the mountains in the back parking lot while we were waiting for our flight. It was breathtaking. And I got to share those last moments there with some really cool people. I got back home that afternoon, only to leave that evening to go to volleyball camp in Nashville. I came home a couple days later and felt like I wasn't really home, that it was only a temporary thing. But, I'm still here and I think it's starting to sink in that I am in fact, home for good. I still sort of feel like a guest here though, haha.

I miss camp like crazy, but it is nice to see all my home friends again. Now I'm just dreading school again. I really think that I might go crazy this year. Hopefully I'll be able to last a couple more years.

I had a really awesome moment on the last night at camp. It's called "Veritas" which means "truth" in Latin, and the oldest guys and girls cabins teach us through their testimonies and other stations all evening. Their testimonies were really eye-opening because I think I went there expecting everyone to be perfect, happy Christians, but it showed that they weren't. They were vulnerable and therefore people could relate to them easier and we all realized that we are not the only ones who struggle. We realized that everyone has imperfections and that no one is perfect. Anyway, the last station we went to was a "celebration of life." One of the older guys got up and talked to us about laying down our burdens and eating up the Word. At the end, he asked us to yell at the top of our lungs, "JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!" and so we did. And in that moment, it was like I could feel God smiling down on us, and laughing in the happiness that some of His children were so unashamed of Him right then and there. It was like He was pleased because for at least that second, His kids had put away all of their cares and fears about what the world would think about them, and did something purely to praise Him. It made me realize that scarcely any of my time is spent caring only about praising God, and that too much of my time is spent caring about what the world thinks of me. It makes me sad that I am too ashamed of God to put away my silly fears more often. I stink. The end.

Packing, packing, and more packing......

Packing, packing and more packing......and we're not even moving to Africa to be missionaries, like our sweet friends JD and Lori Thompson. We're just going to St. John for 2 weeks vacation, for Heaven's sake!! And, now if you are reading this for words of inspiration or even for tips on how to pack for 11 people, yes, I said 11, then stop reading. This is just my mid-packing break and probably will be totally boring. Although, I'm sure if you were actually here, you would be amused and entertained, as I get things out to pack, turn my back and someone has added to or taken away from the pile. Leah's new pink flip flops-you know the ones that cost $2 at Old Navy-they are her new favorites. You see, she has a shoe obsession. And while they are not going to be worn by Leah on the plane-she'd walk right out of those at the bustling airport-well, they likely will be on her feet the rest of the vacation. And they keep disappearing as I put them in the pile to pack! I should have known the child would have a shoe obsession, when the first night she spent the night with us in China, she screamed to sleep in her shoes, the whole first night. Duh, me....I didn't know that what she was screaming in Mandarin, was "SHOE"!! She slept with those shoes ON the next night! And, we all rested better! Okay-and back to packing, you see I'm not really packing for 11 people....Jim packs for himself-thank you Daddy, and Shelby and Kara pack for themselves-good thing, cuz, if it was up to me, they'd be wearing turtlenecks and baggy sweatpants on that beach-not the things they call bathing suits!! and Mae even does a decent job of packing for herself-with a once over by MOM! Nat, since he brought dirty laundry home from Tulsa, and he keeps telling me that he will wash it, well....he may be taking dirty clothes! Hope he remembers a swim suit or 2. He usually forgets them and conveniently, has to go buy one! Okay-so really, I ONLY pack for 5 kids and myself....and all the stuff that needs to go down to the house to refresh what the renters have used-linens, towels, shower curtains, kitchen towels, etc, etc, etc! I even tried to pack the dog this trip-but couldn't get a rabies shot verification from the vet today-he was closed! Oh well, next time, little Jed! Jed is the cutest little 5 lb. Morkie, that found me last year in front of the post office in the pouring rain. He has barely left my side since then. I think I'm having a harder time leaving him that I do when I leave my kids. Okay, back to packing-I told you this might be boring.....and then when we return, I can unpack....and then I'll need another vacation from unpacking! ;-) I have read some good books this summer. I read Charles Martin's newest, The Mountain Between Us. It's a good read-although my favorite of his is still Catching Fireflies. I also read a Jodi Picoult, that I can't think of the title of. It's about a teen that is affected by Asperger's that is falsely accused of a crime. I read it, because of Leah's autism. Boy, I got a few chuckles from his behaviors in the book. And, I also just finished Priceless by Tom Davis, If you have not read any of Tom Davis' books....you need to! That's all I'll say about his books. So, maybe the book recommendations were worth reading this blog for! Now, what to read on the beach???? And my quote of the day-"Autigm is my stuper power" by Leah....and yes, said just the way I spelled it!

What Is This?

I haven't blogged in a while... I mean it's summer. I'm supposed to be relaxing and enjoying no school time. Also, I just haven't had much to say. I'm not good at coming up with ideas for what to write about. And since this summer has been pretty slow so far, I haven't had any inspiration either. I'm not complaining though, I've enjoyed this summer.

Anyway, I just finished the book Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller, who also wrote Blue Like Jazz, which I plan on reading soon. This book was about the time when Don took time off of college to go on an epic roadtrip in a hippie van with one of his friends. They drove from Texas to Oregon, making different stops along the way. At one point they stopped at the Grand Canyon and even got to hike all the way down into it. All this time, Don is realizing how glorious God's creation is and admiring the beauty of it all. He is such a beautiful writer. He is just so good with words and describes things in a way that makes you feel as if you are actually experiencing them. And he is really funny actually. Needless to say, I'm ready to hop in a hippie van and go. It doesn't even have to be a hippie van. I'll fly. Bike. Walk. Whatever.

I've recently recognized a fear of mine. I say all of these things about just giving up everything and serving God no matter where that may take me someday, but how do I know that when that day comes that I won't be too comfortable to go? How do I know now that I will still be willing to do that? How do I know that I won't be too afraid to risk everything by letting go? I guess I have control issues. I like to think that I can control what will happen to me and that everything will turn out fine and go according to my plans. Well, maybe my plans aren't lined up with God's plan. That's a scary place for me, because I like for things to go my way. I really need to learn how to fully lean on God and let Him lead me, without me trying to butt in and lead my own perfect life. I'm scared that I'll be too caught up with chasing after that perfect life that I will miss the oportunities God gives me to truly go out on a limb and experience His love in a whole new way. I'm scared I'll be too scared to just go. I really hope that I get over that fear and just let God take me where He wants me, because if not, I might miss the best thing that could ever happen to me. At one point, Don Miller is talking about the roadtrip that he and his friend took and says, "Trips like ours are greener grass left unknown for fear of believing trite sayings, sayings that are sometimes true." I don't want to miss out on the greener grass.

This book also reminded me of how much I love the mountains. Speaking of which, I will be in some in less than two weeks. Sigh.

"These mountains, which have seen untold sunrises, long to thunder praise but stand reverent, silent so that man's weak praise should be given God's attention." -Through Painted Desesrts

what were we thinking??

Okay-School is out....and the kids are all home....all day long. Okay-well all except, Nat, who goes to school year around in Tulsa. However, we wouldn't notice if he was home, as the noise level at our house at any given moment of the day, is well, let's see, that of an F-5 tornado, or of a freight train moving through the living room, or of a herd of elephants stampeding! You get the idea! It's loud around here! And, WHAT WERE WE THINKING when we started adding all of these boys to our family? We definitely weren't planning for the future....I'm not talking about college and retirement and all that, I'm simply talking about feeding all of them. These 4 boys-ages 10 (almost), 9, 7 and 4 can EAT! and I mean EAT! One day several months ago, our oldest daughter, Shelby, who doesn't like the cafeteria food at school asked if I could start preparing a double batch of dinner, so there would be left overs for her to take to school!!! I laughed, as I told her, "honey, I already make a double batch at every meal!" She said, "then can you make a triple batch?" So, not only has the noise level increased, but now they are home all day long...and very active and very hungry, and my grocery bill has gone up. Can you imagine what it might be like when they are teenagers?? Maybe the laundry has decreased-no school uniforms. Only shorts and t-shirts and a swim suit, at worst! This may be the silver lining to the cloud...however, God did know when HE placed these boys in our family. He knew I needed these little guys that think my fat is muscle-hahaha! And HE knew I needed someone to make me laugh at any given moment....these boys can make me laugh! HE knew that I needed to brush up on my math skills, as I homeschool these boys. He knew I needed a break from the drama that girls can bring (I love their drama). HE knew I was tired of taking the trash out, when Jim isn't home...and I wonder how long they will ENJOY taking the trash out for me??? And, oh yeah...HE knew I needed someone to eat all of the left overs-because everyone knows, boys eat anything....if there were left overs! Most of all though, HE knew that we needed them to make this family complete! More later.......
and Kara-you are sounding just a tad bit spoiled, with all your fun travels.....oh to be KB!

It. Is. Summer.

I am out of school. In 29 days I will be enjoying the view from our porch in St. John. In 39 days I will be in the mountains getting to know the coolest people ever (while thoroughly enjoying weather with 0% humidity) in Durango, Colorado. In 51 days I will be practicing my volleyball skills in Nashville with my team. In 66 days I will be getting my license.

I think I'm going to enjoy this summer.

It's Time To Wake Up!

I hate waking up in the morning. It just stinks. Especially when I know that I have to go to school. But even every other day, waking up is just a hard thing to do. It would be nice if we could sleep all day, but, no matter how much I want to sometimes, we can't. I have to wake up in order to actually get things done (bummer).

So why is it that the Americanized church chooses to sleep all the time? Aren't we the ones that are supposed to be spreading God's love? Yes, but how are we doing that if all we do is go to church on Sundays and continue to live lives separated from those who truly need us? Why do we choose to stay in our comfort zones when Jesus, the man we claim to love and follow, totally ignored comfort zones and went all out just because he loved us? Why are we sleeping through the groaning of those who are in need? We say, "I put some money in the offering plate" or "Oh I gave a poor person money today" or "I went on a week-long mission trip this summer." Good for us. All those things are great, but the way we are actually going to make a difference is by starting now, and not stopping; not just doing one good deed a week, but by living in such a way that people cannot miss the influence of Christ in our lives. And that is a very uncertain place to be, because we never know what God might ask us to do next. He might tell us to move to a foreign country, or spend time destroying our prejudices by spending time with some homeless folks downtown, or open our homes to a person or child in need (be careful- you might end up with nine children like my mom and dad). I'm saying most of this to myself. I'm too content with the safe and guarded life I have made for myself. I need to get out there.

Ephesians 5:14 says, "for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said, "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

It's not going to be easy to wake up, but God never said following Him would be easy. I think it's time to wake up and let Him shine on us and give Him all the glory.

Oh my.

Well, I haven't written in a while. As Mom said, it's because I'm trying to teach myself how to play the guitar. I almost started teaching myself last summer, but we never got around to getting the guitars fixed. But apparently I nagged Mom enough for us to actually take them the the guitar place this time, and I have started on this adventure. My fingers hurt really bad the first couple of days, but now I am proud to say that I have calluses on them now. I can play two songs that have four whole chords in them! Impressive, I know. Just kidding, but I think I am getting better. I found out it's kind of addicting to play, so I practiced playing and put off what little homework I had until about 9:30 every night this week. Oh well, school's almost over anyway.

Which brings me to another subject: SUMMER BREAK IS ALMOST HERE!!! I am so excited. I don't think I've ever been this ready for school to be out. I feel like I already have what they call "senioritis," and I'm only a sophomore. That's great. Anyway, we only have nine days of school left (that's only including the actual school days). It's almost time to break out the swimsuits and chunk the alarm clocks. But first I have to take exams. Darn it. I wish that the whole high school could get exempt in classes they had an A in and not just seniors.

Oh, so apparently the Pacific Ocean decided it got tired of being an ocean and wanted to become rain in Tennessee this past weekend. It was crazy. If the phrase "It's raining cats and dogs!" has ever been appropriate, it was this past weekend. A bunch of roads even caved in. But Mom already told you a little about that so yeah.

Oh, funny story about this past weekend though... Leah wanted to go outside at one point when it was raining really hard so she went up to Shelby and asked if she could go outside. Of course Shelby said "No Leah, it's too wet and rainy outside." Well Leah thought about that for a few seconds and then replied with "That's ok. I wipe it up with paper towel." She. Is. Adorable.

Alright, well I'm going to go now.

Every Good and Perfect Gift.......and re-gifting!

Hey, Kara has been busy, so I thought I would try to post a bit of my thoughts......but my mind comes up, blah, blah, blah right now. It hasn't been an exceptionally busy week, but it seems as though it has been. I guess starting with the floods this weekend-and therefore kids being inside alot, and Shelby's prom being postponed until Monday night-YES! a Monday night prom and all the beginning of the end of the school year stuff and making plans for vaction (yippee!), well it just seems to have been busy. I have never seen so much rain in such a short period of time, as we had this past weekend. I am constantly in awe and praise of how God spared us from any damage. Thank you, Father! and I am continually praying for friends, family and community that did receive damage. Please restore and recover them quickly, Lord! I want to share with you why Kara has been so busy...hope she doesn't mind....and she'll likely post about this current endeavor when she has a moment. Kara has wanted to learn to play guitar for over a year now. I offered to get her lessons, because the Lord knows that we hold NO musical talent in this family. That is truly like not even remotely a gift that I possess. But, no, Kara just wanted to pick up her brothers guitar (no he never learned to play, either) and she wanted to teach herself....so, she started a week ago, trying to teach herself to play-with a friend of hers trying to do the same. Now, I know that alot of people teach themselves to play guitar, but like seriously, you don't get it, this is like a miracle....we really could probably go back several generations before you could even find someone that could play or sing anything. So, I am hoping that maybe, just maybe, that line of giftedness-or should I say, of ungiftedness, will be broken. She can play several chords and sing and strum a few simple songs! Yay! I love music-she can sing and play all she wants here at home. And, if any of you have the gift of music and you believe in re-gifting.....pass it on to me! Oh, how I wish it worked that way. "Every good and perfect gift is from above...." James 1:17

Ethiopian food and a glimpse of Heaven

Hey this is Amy, writing on this bloggy thing again. I promised my Ethiopian prince x 2....I say it this way, because, it doesn't sound right to say the plural "princes", that sounds too much like they are princesses...anyhow, I promised Tegene "Ross" and Yerga "Winter" that I would make Ethiopian food for dinner tonite. It was yummy, as usual-and it is always, so healthy. Okay, I'm not really sure why I told you that except to say-I love that those 2 little guys are so proud of their heritage. They should be...as the Ethiopian people are so gracious and thankful and kind. Wow! Most of them have little or nothing, but they would give you the best morsel of meat if they had you to their home for dinner. They have little, in the eyes of the world, to be thankful for, but they are! Okay, Kara, now I want to go back, also. Think Dad would miss us?
All that said, to tell you of something someone said to me a few weeks ago. They saw me with all of the little kids and I think Kara was with me. So, we represented, America, China and Ethiopia.....this person said, "I bet your house might be a little glimpse of what Heaven is like"....now, I'm sure they meant with the different nations being under one roof, because I promise you, we are not angels! My response, because it had been a particularly noisy and chaotic at our house that day, was something like, "well, I hope it is not that noisy and chaotic in Heaven!" I meant it at the time! However, I do look forward to seeing "a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb" (Rev. 7:9) I did not previously grasp this global view of the Kingdom. I think most people are guilty of this ethnocentric view of the world-but we Anglo-Americans seem particularly guilty. And, unfortunately, the Church is not exempt-as much as we would like to think that we have a heart for all nations and promote missions and evangelism. Our desire is usually, truthfully, to feel comfortable here in our temporary home, by making everyone else look like us.....so, yeah, really, was Jesus a fair skinned man, that spoke English? I don't think so!
Wow, our family has had the pleasure of singing contemporary praise songs, old traditional hymns, black southern gospel, old hymns in the native caribbean language of the people on St. John, songs of praise in Mandarin and we've heard praise songs in our boys Amarhic language. Nothing is sweeter than to hear Chinese orphans singing praise songs in their native tongue, or Ethiopian boys singing praise to Jesus, in their native tongue, while they are in the van, heading to the airport to go "home" with their new Mommy and Daddy! Oh and I guess I should mention hearing Jesus Christ Superstar (you're old if you remember this) in Italian...yes, Italian! And, in each of these, the name of Jesus was lifted up! We have experienced a little glimpse of that" vast crowd....from every nation", from John's vision in Revelation! I look forward to seeing the whole shebang! But, here's my question....If this is what the Heavenly Kingdom will look like, why don't our churches look like this on Sunday morning?

Spontaneity

I have realized that I am a very spontaneous person. And that I have very spontaneous friends. Most Friday and/or Saturday we will meet at the Baskin Robins parking lot (don't ask why) and then drive around until we figure out what we are going to do. Well, Sunday afternoon, my friend and I decided we were in an artsy mood, so we went to a park and splatter painted. And it was awesome. The outcome of our activity is now sitting proudly in my room, and it looks quite nice if I do say so myself.

Writer's block...

I miss Ethiopia. Very much. I miss that adorable little girl in the orphanage with the big eyes and the hat on. I miss Lalibela and the villages surrounding it. I miss "Happy," our tour guide in Lalibela. I miss how nice and grateful the people were. I want to go back!!! Hopefully I will someday. My plan is to travel all over the world eventually. I want to be a missionary so maybe that dream will come true.

I feel like a hypocrite sometimes. Actually, I feel like a hypocrite a bunch. Like when I start complaining about what I "need" (really just what I want). Or when I sing praise songs about loving God and living for Him, but then continue to live a complacent life. I need to do something. How can I really love God without caring for others and giving everything up for Him? We say we love God, but we don't care for our hurting brothers and sisters in Christ. We try desperately to look like good Christians for other people without getting our hands dirty. Well, I don't want to be like that anymore. I want to experience this true love and life that Jesus lived out over two thousand years ago. But then again, I'll probably get off of here and not do anything about it. My friend said something like this once: "I talk good. I'm a good talker (haha). Not really, but you know what I mean. I know what to say, but words mean nothing if you don't live them out." I can't remember her exact words, but it was something to that effect. Well, I'm trying to actually live out my words. I won't be perfect, and I will probably fail at doing so, but hey, I'm 15 years old, at a private "Christian" school that makes me feel segregated from the rest of the world, and I'm only one person. I won't know what to do most of the time and I will get frustrated and maybe even complacent, but I am trying to live the kind of life that Christ would be proud of. I am trying to make a difference.

Now I just have to figure out how to start.

A Lesson in Leftovers from the Book of John

Just for the record...this is Amy and I didn't forget our blog... I've just been busy! Imagine that? And I totally would have blogged about Cooper's splinter in the behind, but Kara beat me to it! I think I must be a terrible Mom.....I laughed about the whole splinter thing-once I figured out that Cooper's leg wasn't hanging by a thread. Yes, that is how loud he was crying and screaming. I was in the kitchen and I could hear him all the way out at the barn!!
Our house church group is reading and discussing our way through the book of John. Last night we were reading through John 6, which I have read and contemplated alot lately, as Cooper and I also just read about feeding the 5000 in homeschool. But, I read John 6:13 and thought-why did Jesus have them gather the leftovers? Certainly, HE can provide food, WHENEVER HE wants to. We know He performs all sorts of miracles. Now, we don't have leftovers very often in our house- with 9 kids and often extras showing up for dinner and all.....and often times, if you're not here at dinnertime, well, then, you may have to dig to find your own dinner later. Especially if it's fresh fish, caught from the pond that very afternoon, right Shelby?? But, I believe, that Jesus' lesson in leftovers, is this....God always gives abundantly! Often times, I am so guilty, of giving Him only my "leftovers". But being the great God that He is, He takes that little bit of time, ability, effort, or resources that I have and He multiplies its effectiveness beyond my wildest expectations. If we take that first step of making ourselves available to God, even just what is "leftover" than HE will show us how we can be used to advance the work of HIS kingdom. That is not to say that we shouldn't give Him our all! Oh, how I want to....but He knows we grow weary and weak, so I'll keep plugging away. And praise God that He loves our "leftovers"-even if my kids don't! And, I stand in awe of seeing what He does with the leftovers, just as the 5000 did, after HE created leftovers from those 5 small barley loaves.......

Random...

AH! The trees are officially covered in leaves and it made me so happy that I decided to blog about it. Okay, so I'm not going to only talk about Spring, but I did find a quote about it today that I thoroughly agree with, no matter how old you are. Margaret Atwood once said, "In the Spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." Well, I have succeeded. I laid in the grass for like thirty minutes today doing absolutely nothing except thanking God for the beauty of this season. It was awesome.

Oh, this is Kara by the way. I'm pretty sure Mom has already forgotten about this. Just kidding. Maybe. But I am going to tell her that she better start writing again or I will have to kick her out of this little thingie-ma-jig.

Family story of the day: So earlier today while I was at school and Mom was taking a break from teaching the boys, Cooper decided that he was going to make a slide out of a 2x4. So he's sliding down and apparently he got a huge splinter in his behind and Mom had to take him to convenient care. She said he screamed very loudly. Of course. But they put the splinter thing in this little container and I saw it earlier and it is big! So there's today's interesting story from the Crenshaw household.

What else has happened lately?.... Oh, I went barefoot at school on April 8th for a little bit until the teachers started getting onto some of the other kids since my principal ended up not letting us support it. Thumbs down. Oh well, maybe next year we'll organize it sooner. Ummm... My friends and I had our day in the park. We had an awesome picnic and then we flew kites, or attempted to, at least. I got mine up at one point for about five minutes, but then the string broke and my kite disappeared into someone's yard across the street. Here's the sweet part though: one of my church friends was there so he tried to go get my kite for me. He couldn't get it but we talked to him for a little bit and played with his little dog, Jane.

Well, I don't really have anything else to say. I guess I'll go now. This definitely isn't an awkward way to end a blog...

Happy Easter!

Well, it's Easter. And it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL outside! Right now, it is 79 degrees and I don't see a cloud in the sky. What an awesome day to remember Jesus' resurrection! We had some friends come over to eat with us, and Nat (oldest boy in the Crenshaw lineup) was home. We had a huge egg hunt, considering there were around 10 kids looking for them. But, despite all their efforts to find the most eggs, we'll probably still find some this summer. As a matter of fact, Tegene found one just a couple weeks ago, and he probably didn't even know what it was since this is his first Easter here at home.

I am in love with this weather. I keep talking about it, because it seemed like this winter just kept on and on. We usually never get that much snow here, but this winter we did. I think I would be okay with it if it didn't snow at all next winter, although I would probably miss all the snow days we got off from school. But anyway, in honor of this gorgeous weather, a few of my friends and I have decided to have a picnic tomorrow and we're going to fly kites, and of course we have to go see the latest movie based on one of Nicholas Sparks' books, "The Last Song." I'm super excited, partly because I love my friends, but mostly because I can't remember the last time I flew a kite! I'll probably be barefoot the whole time too, so that just makes it even better.

Speaking of being barefoot, my principal isn't letting us do the TOMS "Day Without Shoes." It makes me sad. I'll probably end up slipping my shoes off in each class anyway, though.

Well, I better go back outside now. Have a Happy Easter!!!

Ethiopian Food and No one ever told us......

Cooper and I headed to Memphis today to meet up with my brother Craig, his son Eli and our new little guys Ross and Winter.. They had gone to Memphis to do some fun "touristy" things, while Coop and I got some serious homeschooling done. We went to the Children's Museum-it sure has changed since I was there like 10 yrs. ago. And the highlight for our little guys was going to eat some Ethiopian food at The Abyssinian in Memphis-some of the best ET food west of Africa!! We ate all the typical ET foods and Ross and Winter loved hugging the "auntie" that owns the restaurant and loved speaking Amharic with them. What a ton of fun.
Now, we've gone down this adoption road a time or two....okay, say six times. And, we always felt well prepared, by our social worker, for what to expect with each adoption......however, she never told us that a 2 y/o that had never been outside of her orphanage would find such incredible joy in feeling the wind in her hair and the rain on her face. We laughed so loud that people heard us across the parking lot. Nobody ever told us, that we would be so excited and grateful, to a hear, a previously, non-communicative autism affected 5 y/o girl speak in 3-4 word sentences, and respond to conversation with appropriate replies. Now, we can't get her to quit talking! And who knew that her secret language, we call it "Leahnese", (that only she seems to understand) could still make us laugh? Nobody told us that a 6 y/o boy from China would be so proud to have a forever family, that when we left the adoption office, he would "RADIATE" with the excitement that he felt-and not let go of our hands or quit looking at us. No one told us that 2 little boys that spent their first 3-6 yrs. in a remote village in Ethiopia and knew the love of a birth family, only to lose that same family at such tender ages, could desperately desire the love of a family on the other side of the world. Who knew that 6 y/o who had previously been the caretaker for the 3 y/o could so easily relinquish that job of caretaker and become the "little boy" that he should be-and give over the responsibility of the 3 y/o to his new mommy and daddy. No one ever told us that our older children could become so compassionate for others simply by being loved and adored by their new siblings. No one ever told us, that in such a short amount of time of knowing these children that we would learn more about love from them than we had in a whole lifetime. No one ever told us that our "special needs" kids were really just ordinary children disguised as special needs due to their age or a few minor scars. But, most of all, no one ever told us, that we were really the ones with the "special needs". You see, we NEEDED them to make our family complete! These kiddos have blessed our lives beyond measure! If you will consider the possibility of adoption, no one may ever prepare you enough.....there will be all sorts of unexpected pleasure and blessings! And to our social worker, Debby, we forgive you for NOT preparing us for all these hidden blessings and surprises! God, we give you the glory!

Dangerous Fads, "To Kill a Mockingbird", and Bare Feet

So, Mom and Uncle Craig are downstairs watching Dr. Phil (I don't really know why...) and the topic is about "Dangerous Fads" or something like that. Anyway, this woman came on and her dangerous fad was tanning. She starts talking about this spot on her face where she thinks she has skin cancer, but how she just covers it with makeup and forgets about it. Then, as if that's not bad enough, Dr. Phil asks her if she knows that it's dangerous, and she replies with a yes, but that she doesn't care, because when she dies of skin cancer, at least she'll be looking good. ....... *cricket cricket* ..... What's up with the world? Now I know that not all people are this extreme, but still, doesn't it seem like everything has become about appearance and reputation? I mean, give me some athletic shorts, a v-neck t shirt, and some TOMS and I'm good to go (seriously, this is the outfit that I wear all the time).

Well that was my rant about the world today. Sorry. haha

Anyway, today I was lazy. I started feeling like jello yesterday afternoon, so I didn't go to school today. I didn't sleep all day though, I took advantage of the free time and finished "To Kill a Mockingbird," which is what my class is reading in English right now. Surprisingly, I liked it. It's a pretty good book. Since it was gorgeous outside today, I even sat on the porch and read some of it. Beautiful day not completely wasted. Oh, something exciting (to me at least)! Mom and some of my friends and I talked to my principal today after school about having the TOMS "Day Without Shoes" at school on April 8th, and I think he might let us have it at least for part of the day! I feel sort of important. Not really. I was just planning on coming to school barefoot anyway because it doesn't say anything in the handbook about having to wear shoes, just about what shoes you can't wear. What can they do to me when I point that out to them? But Mom decided it would be a good idea to run it by the administration first, which was good because i think we are going to raise money or collect shoes or something instead of just raising awareness. So that's my exciting moment of the day.

My turn...and Never Say Never

I guess this means it is my turn to post to this bloggy thingy....How this got started?....my precious 15 y/o daughter, yes, Kara asked me to do a blog with her. How could I refuse that request? and besides, I had been thinking that it would be fun to start a blog, even if my dear husband is the only one that ever reads it! That way, he might not miss some of the antics of the day, while he is away at work. You see, with nine kids-okay, only 8 of them are at home....there is never a dull moment. I say NEVER! and really I have tried to learn to NEVER SAY NEVER! However, I can say that there is NEVER a dull moment-because I am now homeschooling 3 of our boys and will be homeschooling 4 of them in the fall! And, yes, I have said, in the past, that I would NEVER homeschool any of our kids. So, I can say, now, that there is NEVER a dull moment in our house, because even when all should be quiet during the school day hours...well, you got it, there is NEVER a dull moment. God's plans are always bigger and better than our plans. You see, HE provided me with the ideal curriculum-Sonlight-at the ideal moment, that Jim and I were trying to figure out some options for school for Cooper. I can say that I am loving schooling here at home. And guess what? Our class size tripled in a matter of 1 month! Ross and Winter joined us in this homeschool adventure when we brought them home from Ethiopia in December. How many schools can say their enrollment tripled in a matter of a month? Must be the teacher, huh? ;-) I hope Kara will figure out how to post some pics of all our kiddos! They are all the cutest-even if I do say so myself! Enough for now-I have to go put on my teacher hat now! Come back and we'll share some of our passions with you....Jesus, orphans, the homeless, Ethiopia, China, and more of our family chaos! And, thank you, sweet Kara, for asking me to join you on this blog journey.

Here goes nothing...

Wow, our first blog. Can you believe it? It took us long enough to figure out how to make everything look right, huh, Mom?

As you can tell, this is Kara. I don't really know how I should start this off. I feel like the first post should be kind of epic, you know? No pressure.

Anyway, the title of this blog has a funny story to it. I guess I'll tell you. So one day, Mom and I are driving to the grocery (one of Mom's multiple weekly trips) and listening to the radio. A radio announcer-person begins talking and then says what song is about to play. She says, "Healing Rain" by Michael W. Smith, but apparently Mom can't hear well so she looks at the radio confused and says, "Did she just say 'HeaRing Rain?'" I laugh and say no, but soon, we are singing at the top of our lungs to our new favorite song "Hearing Rain." And of course, that led us into a laughing fit that lasted for about a week. That happens often, it seems.

Well, I guess that's the beginning. I feel accomplished. Alright, good night.

-Kara