January Family Update

Tomorrow is February 1st. Chelcie is posting harassing messages on my Facebook wall about my lack of my promised blog updates. So, here we are. This will be my January Crawford Family Update.

This month has been rough one for me emotionally as I struggle with the loss of several Reach Them board members, the distance between myself and many of my closest friends both physical distance as well as emotional distance, and I've continued to struggle to find my "niche" at Sarah Moore Green. The weather has certainly played a role in my attitude as it usually does when the trees are dead; the sky is gray, the temps are chilly, and spring seems so far away. However, things at home have been pleasant. With Chelcie and Drew away at college, we've had to find a new way to identify our "family." I still miss Drew and Chelcie so much sometimes my heart hurts, but I know they are discovering who they are and why that matters. It's knowing that they will never be "in the nest" as they once were that makes them seem so far away, even if they return home temporarily.

Drew did us all proud by pulling in a 3.8 and earning his place on the Dean's List his first semester at UT-C. We don't see him much and try to touch base with him at least weekly, but he's content to do his own thing. Gone is the little blond boy who used to remind me that "You're never too old to hug your momma!" Ouch. That hurts just typing it.

Chelcie is pouring herself into the lives of her Young Life girls at Halls. It amuses me to hear her talk of how demanding they are and unappreciative of the sacrifices she makes on their behalf. She is making the grades she needs to make to keep her HOPE Scholarship although she's cut it close. I enjoy having her visit my classroom about once a week. She's been bringing along friends. The more individual attention I can give my students, the better for them. I've got to find a way to get all 13 of them over the "Proficiency" bar.

Addie just wrote an incredibly creative book entitled, "Idiom Land." I was impressed! She cleverly dedicated the book to her 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Byrd, then added a P.S. once she made her presentation to add her mother to the dedication page. She is an overachiever and has currently sold nearly 150 boxes of Girl Scout cookies!

Sam has bonded with one of my brightest students. He loves his Nintendo DS and I have to constantly remind him to do his work before he "plays." Pokemon continues to reign as the coolest thing ever and he literally cannot concentrate if the television is on in the room. He's funny, smart, witty, and reminds me so much of his big brother, Drew.

Tom and I took the little kids up to the mountains for a get-away weekend this month. We had a great time! The weekend seemed so much longer and having a change of scenery helped us break out of our usual routines. His business is picking up and going very well. He was the top listing agent for the month of January for his office at Coldwell-Banker. I'm proud of his hard work.

Marley continues to wreak havoc on the neighborhood. She lays in the street and chases cars, she barks at children and chases squirrels. Neighbors have called to complain and yet still, Tom refuses to put up a fence. There's no changing his mind. It's a matter of time before the Dog Catcher gets her...

January's highlight was our trip to the cabin. I'm counting the days 'til Spring Break!

Baby, It's C-c-c-old Outside!

The first week of January has brought an arctic blast that has broken records for the most consecutive days with temperatures below freezing. Here are some pictures from the first full week of 2010! Our life in pictures...

January, 2010

New Year. New Resolve. I'm keeping up with our family blog. Here's a quick recap of our first few January days.

Tom and I have been to several movies over the long break. We saw Avatar on Christmas Day and Sherlock Holmes on New Year's Eve. Both were entertaining and enjoyable. We've been very laid back and relaxed with our schedule lately with very little going on outside the house.

Addie missed her first Girl Power soccer practice due to a bout with a 12 hour virus that kicked in in the middle of the night when she spent the night with Morgan. Fortunately, no one else in the family came down with it.

Chelcie has been gone "all year" to Atlanta for the Chick-fil-A bowl game and Passion 2010. Drew has been in and out, but has kept a low profile.

It's been a nice few days to start off what I hope will be the best year of our lives! Chili and Bunco at the Mathes' last night. Church and lunch with the Keeners today at Pelancho's. Good times. Good Friends. Good start. Good-bye.

The Last 5 Months of 2009 in Pictures

Catching up 2009 through pictures... Starting 2010 with a renewed passion for documenting "our story!" Hang on...Here we go again!

July, 2009

Today's Highlight

No need to say more...

7 Principles of an Eagle

7 Principles Of An Eagle – Dr. Myles Monroe

By Kwee Lain

PRINCIPLE 1

Eagles fly alone at high altitude and not with sparrows or other small birds. No other bird can got to the height of the eagle. Stay away from sparrows and ravens.

Eagles fly with Eagles

PRINCIPLE 2

Eagles have strong vision. They have the ability to focus on something up to five kilometers away. When an eagle sites his prey, he narrows his focus on it and set out to get it. No matter the obstacles, the eagle will not move his focus from the prey until he grabs it.

Have a vision and remain focused no matter what the obstacle and you will succeed.

PRINCIPLE 3

Eagles do not eat dead things. They feed only on fresh prey. Vultures eat dead animals, but eagles will not.

Be careful with what you feed your eyes and ears with, especially in movies and on TV. Steer clear of outdated and old information. Always do your research well.

PRINCIPLE 4

Eagles love the storm. When clouds gather, the eagles get excited. The eagle uses the storm’s wind to lift it higher. Once it finds the wind of the storm, the eagles uses the raging storm to lift him above the
clouds. This gives the eagle an opportunity to glide and rest its wings. In the meantime, all the other birds hide in the leaves and branches of the trees.

We can use the storms of life to rise to greater heights. Achievers relish challenges and use them profitably.

PRINCIPLE 5

The Eagle tests before it trusts. When a female eagle meets a male and they want to mate, she flies down to earth with the male pursuing her and she picks a twig. She flies back into the air with the male pursuing her.
Once she has reached a height high enough for her, she lets the twig fall to the ground and watches it as it falls. The male chases after the twig. The faster it falls, the faster he chases it. He has to catch it before it
falls to the ground. He then brings it back to the female eagle.

The female eagle grabs the twig and flies to a higher altitude and then drops the twig for the male to chase. This goes on for hours, with the height increasing until the female eagle is assured that the male eagle has mastered the art of catching the twig which shows commitment. Then and only then, will she allow him to mate with her.

Whether in private life or in business, one should test commitment of people intended for partnership.

PRINCIPLE 6

When ready to lay eggs, the female and male eagle identify a place very high on a cliff where no predators can reach. The male flies to earth and picks thorns and lays them on the crevice of the cliff, then flies to earth again to collect twigs which he lays in the intended nest. He flies back to earth and picks thorns laying them on top of the twigs. He flies back to earth and picks soft grass to cover the thorns. When this first layering is complete the male eagle runs back to earth and picks more thorns, lays them on the nest; runs back to get grass it on top of the thorns, then plucks his feathers to complete the nest. The thorns on the outside of the nest protect it from possible intruders. Both male and female eagles participate in raising the eagle family. She lays the eggs and protects them; he builds the nest and hunts. During the time of training the young ones to fly, the mother eagle throws the eaglets out of the nest. Because they are scared, they jump into the nest again.

Next, she throws them out and then takes off the soft layers of the nest, leaving the thorns bare When the scared eaglets again jump into the nest, they are pricked by thorns. Shrieking and bleeding they jump out again this time wondering why the mother and father who love them so much are torturing them. Next, mother eagle pushes them off the cliff into the air. As they shriek in fear, father eagle flies out and catches them up on his back before they fall and brings them back to the cliff. This goes on for sometime until they start flapping their wings. They get excited at this newfound knowledge that they can fly.

The preparation of the nest teaches us to prepare for changes; The preparation for the family teaches us that active participation of both partners leads to success; The being pricked by the thorns tells us that sometimes being too comfortable where we are may result into our not experiencing life, not progressing and not learning at all. The thorns of life come to teach us that we need to grow, get out of the nest and live on. We may not know it but the seemingly comfortable and safe haven may have thorns.

The people who love us do not let us languish in sloth but push us hard to grow and prosper. Even in their seemingly bad actions they have good intentions for us.

PRINCIPLE 7

When an Eagle grows old, his feathers become weak and cannot take him as fast as he should. When he feels weak and about to die, he retires to a place far away in the rocks. While there, he plucks out every feather on his body until he is completely bare. He stays in this hiding place until he has grown new feathers, then he can come out.

We occasionally need to shed off old habits & items that burden us without adding to our lives.