On Friday, October 6, I had to take Josiah to the emergency room because he was unable to breathe. They treated him all night without seeing significant improvement. I had to fly out the following day and so Sarah came to take my place with our son at the hospital. While I was flying to Nebraska for my meetings out there, they had to transfer Josiah to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at the Albany Medical Center in Albany, NY. On Saturday night, he experienced the beginnings of respiratory failure and the doctors decided to put him on a ventilator. The ventilator allowed him to get some much needed rest.

Josiah has begun to show some improvement over the last few hours. He was running a fever earlier today that is now gone. His oxygen has been lowered from 100% to 40%. He is not struggling so much to breathe. I thank you for all of your prayers.

As for me, the Lord has been good to me here in Nebraska. We had a good service this morning that included some interesting features. There was a family of Native Americans there, one of whom was under house arrest. The pastor had obtained special permission from the police to allow her to come to the service, but she had to be back at Noon. I did not know this and was somewhat surprised when she and all her family bolted from the service as soon as the invitation began. Despite that aspect of the service, we had a good service, with the Lord allowing me to preach the Gospel to several natives who were unsaved.

A couple of years ago, Bro. Byron Foxx told me that I should never travel without wearing a suit. He said that you never know when the airline would not get your luggage to you. I took his advice for the first time this last trip and wore a suit to travel in. It was a good thing because the airline did not get my luggage to me. In fact, I still don’t have my Bible, toothbrush, cell phone charger, deodorant, etc. I did have my computer and my messages in my computer bag. Praise the Lord for that. If you will allow me to complain, though, I am a little bit tired of wearing the same clothes for the second day straight. Hopefully, I will at least get a new pair of socks by this evening. If I don’t, I am afraid that the socks I have been wearing will begin walking back to New York or North Carolina in the night. Since they are predicting snow for Monday, I am second guessing the wisdom of going around with no socks.

Thank you for all of your prayers. God is good all of the time.

Paul

Ministry Update

Who hath despised the day of small things? Tonight we had a crowd of 24 people with several visitors. Four were young people in their twenties. Sarah and I got to talk to a newlywed couple named Matt and Sarah. Sarah (Matt’s wife), who had been in a previous service, trusted Christ as Savior tonight. Praise the Lord, I got to personally lead her to Christ! What a blessing today to see Sarah saved. Not only did Sarah get saved, but also another young man in his twenties named Devon. Another eight-year-old named Lorissa was saved as well. Devon was in church for only the second time in his life. Please pray for them as they grow in the Lord and are discipled. Also, please pray for Matt (Sarah’s wife) that he would be saved. He heard the Gospel plainly tonight and I would not be surprised if he gets saved soon. Thank you all for your prayers. What a blessing it is to know that people all over the country are praying for us!

Paul

Ministry Update

After a week of not having services, we are back in a revival meeting again in Hadley, NY, not far from Albany. Please pray that the Lord would work in the hearts of the people in the area, that some would be saved. We had one visitor tell the pastor after the service today that she disliked preachers who raise their voice when they preach. Oh well, you can’t please everybody.

Family Update

It was a dark and foggy night. We had been driving for hours on the New York Thruway, and, in addition to being tired, we were now also broke. We figured it cost us one dollar in tolls for every book of the Bible. This, we thought was somewhat unfair, since Paul has not yet preached from every book of the Bible in his short tenure as an evangelist, but we decided against arguing with the toll booth attendant. The pastor met us at McZoomies restaurant, also known as the Golden Arches Dining Club, and we partook of the finest cuisine in the region. After the experience was over, we piled back into the truck and the pastor into his car. We were to follow him to the church, which, we were told, was twenty minutes away. For the first five hundred feet, the road looked promising, causing Paul to comment, “This is a pretty good road!” I thought to myself that it was a bit soon to say, but, like the good wife that I am, I nodded and smiled.

We groaned up to the speed limit ascending a 15 percent grade, while the pastor zipped away into the darkness. In fact, so rapid was his acceleration, that we wondered if he had a jet-assisted take-off. To put this in perspective, imagine a race between a road runner and an ostrich. While both are capable of great speed, it takes the ostrich a bit longer to attain the higher velocity. Speaking of velocity, by this time in our trip, we were now going down the other side of the mountain, which was an equal or greater grade than the previous hill. Paul was wishing there was a gear lower than first, and I was wishing that I had not eaten dinner. I suppose our eyes might have bugged out at the hairpin turns on the road, if they had not been pressed inside our skulls by the sheer velocity we had attained. Meanwhile, the pastor had disappeared. As we screamed around another corner, on six wheels (we have twelve total), we spotted him, sitting at a stop sign. After furiously mashing the brake pedals on both floorboards (mine is invisible as well as worthless), we came to a grinding halt just shy of the pastor’s back seat. He seized this moment to once more utilize his JATO (jet-assisted take-off) and disappear into the gloaming, with only the red glow of his taillights to offer a clue as to his former whereabouts. After twenty minutes of driving through the Adirondack Mountains in this breakneck fashion, we were beginning to wonder if the whole meeting was a hoax, or worse, if this was really the pastor that we were following. Then, as if out of nowhere, the church appeared on the crest of the next hill. Now the fun began.

“Pull in here,” the pastor said, pointing to a space made for a much smaller vehicle; a Yugo or perhaps, a go-cart. As he spoke, a crowd of curious onlookers collected in the parking lot opposite the church and began taking bets as to whether we would hit the trees or the sanctuary first. We pulled in with relative ease, only to find that there was no way to extricate the truck, since the church, built in 1869, also had a cemetery surrounding it on three sides, effectively blocking us in. We shrugged our shoulders and set to work leveling the trailer. Life is such an adventure.

Don’t try to call us this week, because we have absolutely no cell phone reception. We do have high-speed internet, though, so e-mail is the best way to get in touch with us. We still need your prayers as we travel. The Lord has kept us safe over many miles, and we are thankful. We know that your prayers have an effect on our ministry, even though you may not always realize it immediately.

The children are doing well, although both Josiah and Abigail had a cold last week. Josiah needed breathing treatments several times last week – the first time since April, I believe. He is doing much better now. The kids enjoyed running and playing outside in the nice 68-70 degree weather today after church. Abigail is the “little mama” dragging dolls around with her all the time. Esther grins and giggles when you talk to her, and perpetually blows spit bubbles. At times, it looks as if she is foaming at the mouth. Thankfully, she has no teeth, so the chances of getting bitten are slight. Paul says that I need to put something nice about him, too, so here goes. He is the only one of his kind.

Sarah

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a meeting in Quincy, MI, that was difficult in some respects. Shortly before I got there for the meeting, the pastor resigned. Despite this and other difficulties, the Lord gave real grace during the meeting and God’s people were encouraged.

Yesterday found us in southern IN at First Baptist Church in Laurel. God gave us a great service both morning and evening. Praise the Lord that after a more difficult meeting in MI, the Lord gave us a respite in Laurel.

Sunday, we start a meeting in upstate NY in the Adirondacks. Thank you all for your prayers.

Family Update

We are enjoying warmer weather this week than we had last week. I know it won’t last for long, with fall coming and our travels taking us farther north. We have met some wonderful new friends, and renewed acquaintance with “old” friends. This week, during our time off, we are able to spend time with my mom and step-dad, as well as assorted other relatives – aunts, grandparents, etc. They are all quite willing to spoil the kids, especially sweet little Esther.

Josiah, Paul, and Allen (my step-dad) went fishing today. It was raining, but they had a great time, with Paul catching the smallest fish. Ha! Josiah has his own little fish pole. Paul had him practicing his cast today in the church parking lot. Thankfully, there were no cars, or he might have brought home a Chevy for dinner. That would be worse than a carp… They came back all wet and cold, but with smiles on their faces and even a few fish in their bucket.

Abigail woke us up this morning by howling at the top of her lungs. At 3:30 am, it was because the neighbor’s dog was yapping incessantly. She, by the way, is terrified of dogs, even when they are outside and she is inside. Anyway, after I calmed her down, she let us sleep until 6:30 am before howling again. This time, Paul went to investigate, and found her sitting in a puddle of the previous day’s dinner. Gross only begins to describe my feelings for an encounter like that so early in the morning. We cleaned up all the bedding and bathed and changed her, the nervously set her on our bed surrounding her with towels and jumping every time she coughed, sneezed, or sniffed. Esther woke up in the meantime, and was crying loudly to be fed. Josiah was on his bed asking questions like, “Where is my ladder?” (we had moved it for the cleanup) and, “Can I get down now?” The whole house was in an uproar. As many of you already know, I am not a morning person, and mornings like this make me wonder why anyone would want to get up and deal with such things. They never happen in the evening, so that makes me think that sleeping in later makes your day go better. Try it sometime – it works for me!

Since we were already all awake, we just ate breakfast and hit the road. After an unintended detour in the wrong direction, we headed toward Ohio and arrived in about two hours. That’s really what people mean when they say they took the scenic route, you know. They went the wrong way. Even seasoned travelers sometimes do it. Tomorrow begins another “normal” day, I hope.

It is late, and we are all tired, so you will have to wait with bated breath for the next series of misadventures in the Crow family! Thanks for all your prayers. We need them.

Love, Sarah

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a great meeting Semmes, AL (Mobile area) with Pastor Tim Whigham. There was a spirit of contrition and repentance throughout the meeting as God’s people responded to the Word of God. On Thursday, there was a man who walked the aisle to trust Christ as Savior.

Today we were with Pastor Mark Falls in Bible Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa. Some of you may know from his days at Faith Baptist in Avon, IN where he was an assistant. It was such a blessing to spend time with him and his family.

I found to my chagrin that my son is gaining an affinity for young pastor’s daughters. Tonight, for instance, I walked into the auditorium to see him and the pastor’s daughter hugging in the middle of the aisle of the church. We can only wonder what the future holds for him (a girl in every church!?).

Tomorrow, we head to IN to the family farm for a week of relaxation with family and friends. A week from today, we open a meeting southern MI.

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a great meeting in Macon, GA. For those of you that prayed that the Lord would give me an entrance into the hearts of the young people, be assured that God answered your prayers. I suppose the culmination of my friendship with the young people at Gilead Christian Academy was the opportunity I had to attend a volleyball game on Friday afternoon. I was amazed anew at how much it meant to everyone involved. We also had a great beginning to our meeting here in Semmes, AL (Mobile area) where beginning tomorrow, I will once again be preaching twice a day. Thank God for the busy days of service! The meeting runs through Friday and for all of those concerned, we do have a contingency plan in case of a hurricane. God knows whether or not we will have to use it; at this point I am putting little confidence in meteorological predictions.

Please pray for our fall schedule, it having been decimated with cancellations. I would love to see those empty weeks fill up. As always, God knows and He has a specific plan for us. Your prayers for us are always greatly appreciated, and I will do my best to keep you informed of how God answers.

Paul

Family Update

Well, the last time we were in this area, some of you may remember, we were invaded by hordes of ants. Guess who dropped in for a visit? You got it – the ants! It must be something about the area. I really don’t think it has anything to do with Paul’s preaching, as good as it is. We have sprayed ant killer stuff outside the trailer in vain. They still come and come and come. Did you know that Windex multi task spray will paralyze them in their tracks? It is kind of cool. I feel like the Terminator. The house is really clean, too.

The pastor told us Sunday morning that tropical storm Ernesto had just been upgraded to hurricane status and that it was headed straight for us. The people of the church scoffed, saying that it will change directions fifty times before landfall. That is a great comfort. By Sunday evening, it had downsized to a tropical storm again. What a relief. The humidity right now is extreme, even though the temperature is only in the 90’s. We are anticipating a great meeting anyway. Pray that Paul doesn’t preach up any more storms. Ha!

Most of you know how hectic a Sunday morning can be trying to get everyone ready and out the door in one piece. We were doing well as far as time was concerned, and I was pleased with myself for getting everyone ready not just on time, but early! I had set my shoes out by the door while I finished my hair and makeup, etc. So, I was very unpleasantly surprised when I went to put on my shoes and there was only one! Of course, the kids knew nothing about it. Josiah blamed it on Abigail, and Abigail “didn’t know.” It resulted in a ten-minute, four man search around the trailer. As I limped around the trailer on one shoe, feeling like Cinderella, I muttered under my breath about how many places it could be in a 38 foot trailer. I mean, really! We looked under the chair, the couch, the beds, the toy box (as if anyone puts anything in there), and even outside, thinking that it might have fallen out when Paul opened the door. I don’t think I looked in the refrigerator, but we checked the bathtub and the trash. It finally came to light under a laundry basket full of clothes. How it got there, I can only imagine. I threatened the children about ever touching my shoes again, and we all went happily off to Sunday School. Of course, by that time, we were no longer early. Oh, well. We will try again next week!

Josiah has completed his second week of school, and has learned to write almost all of his vowels legibly. There is something to be said for handwriting practice. He is still very excited about the whole thing, and I am capitalizing on that fact. Someone gave him a three-foot inflatable bat in junior church on Sunday, and it has already been doomed to the trash can. I told him, while we were driving down the road, that if he hit me in the head with it again, I was going to bite holes in it. That calmed things down a bit, and I have to wait a while longer to get rid of it! I am such a heartless mother! I suppose I could always deflate it and send it on a mini-vacation under the bed. That would be nicer than biting holes in it.

Abigail is as wild as ever. She climbs, jumps and falls with such regularity that it is no longer remarkable. However, the other day, I was getting ready to give Esther a bath, and carried her into our bedroom while getting out her towel and washcloth. I heard a commotion in the kid’s room at the other end of the trailer. I turned nonchalantly and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. There was Josiah, lying on the floor with the bunk bed ladder on top of him, and hanging on for dear life above him on the bunk railing was Abigail! I quickly (but gently) dumped Esther on the bed, and sprinted for the impending disaster, calling out to Abigail to “Hang on!” Thankfully, I reached her before her arms gave out and the disaster was averted. Somehow, between the two of them, they managed to unhook the ladder form the top bunk without realizing it. I lectured them once again about being careful, and they continued playing.

One of their favorite things to play is “puppies” where they crawl around on all fours, barking, panting, and whining. There is a slight variation of this game called “dinosaurs” in which they crawl around the house roaring. Lovely. Anyway, it was not long ago when I overheard Josiah telling Abigail, “No, I will be the Mama dinosaur, because I’m the prettiest!” What will he think of next?

Sarah

Last night after the service as we were having a time of fellowship with the pastor and other members of the church, I looked up to see Abigail picking up each of the CD’s on our table and running them through the drinking fountain. She had finished about a third of them before I was able to stop her. This morning, while I was preaching in a preacher’s fellowship meeting, she irrigated my sermon notes from last night’s message. Evidently, she finds my pulpit ministry dry and wants to help in that regard.

Paul

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a great meeting in Macon, GA. For those of you that prayed that the Lord would give me an entrance into the hearts of the young people, be assured that God answered your prayers. I suppose the culmination of my friendship with the young people at Gilead Christian Academy was the opportunity I had to attend a volleyball game on Friday afternoon. I was amazed anew at how much it meant to everyone involved. We also had a great beginning to our meeting here in Semmes, AL (Mobile area) where beginning tomorrow, I will once again be preaching twice a day. Thank God for the busy days of service! The meeting runs through Friday and for all of those concerned, we do have a contingency plan in case of a hurricane. God knows whether or not we will have to use it; at this point I am putting little confidence in meteorological predictions.

Please pray for our fall schedule, it having been decimated with cancellations. I would love to see those empty weeks fill up. As always, God knows and He has a specific plan for us. Your prayers for us are always greatly appreciated, and I will do my best to keep you informed of how God answers.

Paul

Family Update

Well, the last time we were in this area, some of you may remember, we were invaded by hordes of ants. Guess who dropped in for a visit? You got it – the ants! It must be something about the area. I really don’t think it has anything to do with Paul’s preaching, as good as it is. We have sprayed ant killer stuff outside the trailer in vain. They still come and come and come. Did you know that Windex multi task spray will paralyze them in their tracks? It is kind of cool. I feel like the Terminator. The house is really clean, too.

The pastor told us Sunday morning that tropical storm Ernesto had just been upgraded to hurricane status and that it was headed straight for us. The people of the church scoffed, saying that it will change directions fifty times before landfall. That is a great comfort. By Sunday evening, it had downsized to a tropical storm again. What a relief. The humidity right now is extreme, even though the temperature is only in the 90’s. We are anticipating a great meeting anyway. Pray that Paul doesn’t preach up any more storms. Ha!

Most of you know how hectic a Sunday morning can be trying to get everyone ready and out the door in one piece. We were doing well as far as time was concerned, and I was pleased with myself for getting everyone ready not just on time, but early! I had set my shoes out by the door while I finished my hair and makeup, etc. So, I was very unpleasantly surprised when I went to put on my shoes and there was only one! Of course, the kids knew nothing about it. Josiah blamed it on Abigail, and Abigail “didn’t know.” It resulted in a ten-minute, four man search around the trailer. As I limped around the trailer on one shoe, feeling like Cinderella, I muttered under my breath about how many places it could be in a 38 foot trailer. I mean, really! We looked under the chair, the couch, the beds, the toy box (as if anyone puts anything in there), and even outside, thinking that it might have fallen out when Paul opened the door. I don’t think I looked in the refrigerator, but we checked the bathtub and the trash. It finally came to light under a laundry basket full of clothes. How it got there, I can only imagine. I threatened the children about ever touching my shoes again, and we all went happily off to Sunday School. Of course, by that time, we were no longer early. Oh, well. We will try again next week!

Josiah has completed his second week of school, and has learned to write almost all of his vowels legibly. There is something to be said for handwriting practice. He is still very excited about the whole thing, and I am capitalizing on that fact. Someone gave him a three-foot inflatable bat in junior church on Sunday, and it has already been doomed to the trash can. I told him, while we were driving down the road, that if he hit me in the head with it again, I was going to bite holes in it. That calmed things down a bit, and I have to wait a while longer to get rid of it! I am such a heartless mother! I suppose I could always deflate it and send it on a mini-vacation under the bed. That would be nicer than biting holes in it.

Abigail is as wild as ever. She climbs, jumps and falls with such regularity that it is no longer remarkable. However, the other day, I was getting ready to give Esther a bath, and carried her into our bedroom while getting out her towel and washcloth. I heard a commotion in the kid’s room at the other end of the trailer. I turned nonchalantly and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. There was Josiah, lying on the floor with the bunk bed ladder on top of him, and hanging on for dear life above him on the bunk railing was Abigail! I quickly (but gently) dumped Esther on the bed, and sprinted for the impending disaster, calling out to Abigail to “Hang on!” Thankfully, I reached her before her arms gave out and the disaster was averted. Somehow, between the two of them, they managed to unhook the ladder form the top bunk without realizing it. I lectured them once again about being careful, and they continued playing.

One of their favorite things to play is “puppies” where they crawl around on all fours, barking, panting, and whining. There is a slight variation of this game called “dinosaurs” in which they crawl around the house roaring. Lovely. Anyway, it was not long ago when I overheard Josiah telling Abigail, “No, I will be the Mama dinosaur, because I’m the prettiest!” What will he think of next?

Sarah

Last night after the service as we were having a time of fellowship with the pastor and other members of the church, I looked up to see Abigail picking up each of the CD’s on our table and running them through the drinking fountain. She had finished about a third of them before I was able to stop her. This morning, while I was preaching in a preacher’s fellowship meeting, she irrigated my sermon notes from last night’s message. Evidently, she finds my pulpit ministry dry and wants to help in that regard.

Paul

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a good meeting with Pastor Roger Maxwell at Emmanuel Baptist Church of Keene, NH this week. It was his first revival meeting in the history of the church and Pastor Maxwell was very pleased with the faithfulness of his members. We had visitors every night of the meeting in addition to the members who were so faithful. We also had a group of teenagers from Northside Baptist Church in Charleston, SC who provided special music and did whatever was asked of them.

Every night we met in a room of the local YMCA building. Last night when we arrived at 6:30, we found the pianos rolled out of the room, the chairs taken down and the room prepared for a rock concert featuring several bands from all over New England. The Y had doubled booked and in the end, we relocated to another church in town that was gracious enough to lend us their building on the spot. In spite of the relocation, we still had visitors, two of whom were in their late fifties or early sixties and heard the Gospel for the very first time last night. Although they did not move during the invitation, the response to Pastor Maxwell after the service was very positive. He reminded me that we very well could have planted seeds that will take some time before they yield the fruit. He was very gracious.

A week from today we leave for another meeting, this time with the whole family and the trailer. We will start in GA in August and will not return to NC until December. Thank you so much for your prayers.

Family Update

It has been a busy summer for us. Esther is adjusting well to the family, and the family all loves her. She is proving to be a very happy and “good” baby, for which I am very thankful.

Josiah is now five years old (can it be possible?) and ready to start kindergarten next week. As I was going over my lesson plans, the thought occurred to me that before I started reading the lesson plans, it seemed a lot simpler than it did after I finished them. Josiah told me that he is “very exciting” about starting school. I believe my biggest challenge in schooling Josiah will be Abigail. Consequently, both children have new crayons, pencils, and folders. Perhaps Abigail will be easier to handle if she is doing “school,” too. Only time will tell.

We had a birthday party for Josiah last weekend and invited a bunch of his little friends. There were eight boys from 4-6 years of age, so, as you can imagine, it was quite wild. They played pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs, and balloon volleyball inside, and then the fun began! What little boy doesn’t enjoy running, jumping, yelling, and throwing things? We went outside in the extremely hot afternoon and had relay races and a huge water balloon fight, complete with squirt guns and a water hose manned by Paul. After the 200 water balloons were gone (I actually had blisters on my fingers from tying them all), we went in and ate hamburgers, hot dogs, cake, ice cream and Popsicles. Josiah was so excited that he actually was able to have cake. This year, I made him baked oatmeal and put cream cheese icing on it. Everyone commented on how surprised they were that it tasted good. After the last “cake,” I was a bit surprised myself! Anyway, Josiah ate lots of birthday cake. He even tried to eat the piece he dropped on the ground! I have finally found the perfect recipe for his birthday cake, and I am thrilled!

Abigail is slowly being potty trained. I say slowly because she stays dry all night long and will go in the morning, but will not tell me any other time during the day. We are, however, making progress, so I am not the least inclined to complain. I have a lot of other things on my plate right now.

This past week, I had Esther’s picture taken with a coupon for a free picture. The photographer told me that the packages were comparable in price to the hospital pictures that we purchased earlier, so when I saw the proofs I was excited about getting some pictures. The photos were so good! Then she showed me the packages. After I fell off my stool, I got back up and pretended that the prices were not really outrageous, and smiled and nodded politely – all while in shock. I sent the lady away with nothing but my free pictures. I suppose every mother’s heart squeezes when she sees the cutest baby pictures walking out the door never to be seen again, but I have survived, and am now wiser than ever. Lesson learned: don’t believe anything a salesman tells you.

This has been an extremely long update by reason of the fact that I have procrastinated in writing the last few weeks. Please forgive me… Hopefully, the next one will be much shorter. Be in prayer for us as we head out next weekend for several months. We will be gone until late November/early December. The Lord has been so gracious to us, giving us safety over thousands of miles, but we do not want to take that for granted. Thank all of you for your prayers.

Sarah

Ministry Update

I arrived back home around 1:00 this morning. It was good to be home. The Lord gave us a wonderful meeting in New Castle IN. The meeting went Sunday through Sunday with no services on Friday or Saturday. During the week, each service was a teen rally in which I did almost all of the public work: piano, program, preaching, etc. The only thing that I didn’t do was pray for the meal each night. It was a tiring week, but a fruitful one: we saw 8 teens trust Christ as Savior.

I leave again Saturday headed for Keene, NH to preach a revival meeting for Roger Maxwell. Thank you for your prayers last week and I covet them again this coming week.

Family Update

My wife and family are glad to have me home. Sarah had a list of things for me to do from unusual cleaning projects to fix up things around the house. She took a few hours getting used to having a man to order around the house again. Before long, however, she was back to normal. When I went outside to take out the trash Tuesday, Abigail got a forlorn look on her face and asked, “Is Daddy gone again?” She was much encouraged to hear that I would be right back. After the NH meeting we will take off driving and be together again.

Paul