DELAY

Our bags are packed and we are ready to go...however, we haven't received our paperwork yet and have postponed our plane tickets. Our plan was to leave on the 4th of July, but we are now waiting until we have the documents we need before re-booking our flight. Keep lifting us up in prayer!

Bedtime Questions

The kids were getting to bed pretty late tonight, and they were trying to stay up as long as possible. Here are the questions I got called back into their rooms for:

Boaz: Are elephants warm blooded, or cold blooded? What about dogs? How do cold blooded animals get warm?
Asher: Why does lightning come from the earth?
Nandry: What's 255 plus 265...no wait, I mean 165 plus 165?

I love them so much! I can't explain where those questions came from. Maybe Boaz was thinking about his stuffed animals...we haven't seen lightning for a few days...and the random numbers????

Pray for us all as we go through another transition from life in the US to life in the Cameroon jungle. Nandry's been getting very sad about all the people that we are leaving behind.

Sorting...to store, toss or pack.

The kids lined up all their stuffed animals so they could watch a show that Nandry and Boaz were going to perform. I'm deep in the packing mode, so when I see anything going on like this in our house, I can't stop and enjoy it because I'm thinking of what category it needs to be in (store in the US, take to Cameroon, or throw away/give away). Then I think about the best way to get rid of the things we aren't keeping without the kids or Nathan noticing and making a big stink. First of all, I can't believe all of the stuff we have collected in the past year. When we leave, we'll have 10 suitcases, 50 lbs each, that is our allowance, plus 5 carry-ons. Seems like alot, but it's filling up quickly and we still haven't packed some of the big stuff like Nathan's drill and possibly a keyboard and a propane water heater. Our first term we didn't use all of our luggage allowance and only had 9 suitcases. But, we did ship a bunch of stuff over. We are trying to avoid shipping things this time.

Our bush house is small, so each time I pack something I try to picture where it's going to go in our house (there's no more space in our kitchen for any more appliances like the smoothie maker Nathan wants to bring).

It's easier for me to "go without" and not buy/pack things that are more frivolous. But it's so difficult to demand that the kids do this. Nandry wants to take all of her crafts, dolls and toys but is ok with leaving all of her stuffed animals. Boaz wants to take everything because he wants to show the Baka kids and give some of it away to his Baka friends 'cause "they will think it's so awesome". Asher wants to take everything, even stuff that Nandry and Boaz are leaving.

I hate that we live so high above the Baka people when we are in Cameroon, but yet compared to being here in the States we really have so little. Packing is such a stressful time for me when I think about it in this way.

So for now we leave behind bikes & scooters, tea sets, stuffed animals, dress-up clothes, Nerf guns, body boards, musical instruments, decorations and kitchen appliances to surprise us when we come back with how big we've grown and how much we didn't really NEED them in the first place.

Buried in the likeness of His death...

...raised to walk in newness of life. Nandry and I got baptized today on our last Sunday at Atlantic Shores, which also happens to be Father's Day. T. Jay Williams, the youth pastor, performed the baptism. Nandry was a bit nervous and not sure what to expect, so she was glad that I went first while she stood in the tank and watched. I'm so glad that I got to share this experience with my daughter. It was a happy day for Nathan too, and a Father's day that he'll never forget.

Graduation

The words of the Dora the Explorer song are stuck in my head, "We did it! We did it! We did it, yea! Lo hicimos! We went OVER to the States and started preschool. We did it! We did it! We did it, hooray! We went THROUGH the school year and learned our alphabet. We did it!..." Oh boy.
Asher didn't want to go to graduation because he wasn't really sure what it meant and what it required of him. When we told him it was basically getting a piece of paper that said he didn't have to go to preschool anymore, he didn't believe us. The ceremony was cute. I've never seen so many cameras and camcorders in one place before. The kids pledged to the flag, the Christian flag, the Bible, and then sang some songs that they had learned throughout the year. It was so great that Asher got a chance to be in this environment with lots of kids his own age and with such loving and kind teachers. I'm not sure if Asher (all the way on the left) is actually singing in this picture...I kind of think he's yawning. With all the activities of the past week, the kids haven't been getting to bed as early as they should.

He did it!!

Disney...a month ago already!!!

I really need to catch up on blogging. Here is a photo of all the Crane cousins en France at Epcot, 9 kids ranging in age from almost 2 years old to 8 years old. We spent 2 weeks in Orlando with my parents and my brother's families. The kids had such a great time vacationing, and we enjoyed the getaway. We went to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (MGM) and Sea World. I think that Sea World was our favorite with Epcot & MGM tying for a close second...but it was all incredible. The place we stayed at had 2 different pools with kid splash zones and a lazy river, so some days we just hung out there! The kids got to experience their first roller coasters, see trainers riding killer whales, be 4 feet away from an enormous gorilla and share all of this and so much more with their cousins. I posted more pictures on Facebook, so if you have an account, look us up.