Today's Laugh of the Day

Luke was playing in the backyard and came to the door with his pants around his ankles. When I asked him what he was doing, he said, "I tee teed on your house!"
Sure enough, I glanced over and there were yellow drops falling from the siding.
Never a dull moment here....

Axum Ethiopia

I am going to try to post on here more. Time just slips away. It seems I never think to post unless I have a cute picture to share. I want our blog to be more of a "what's going on in our house" than just a picture album.


The big news of the week is that our church is going on a mission trip to Axum, Ethiopia this summer. We are about 95% sure we're going! As most of you know, we went to Zambia last year and it changed us forever and just whet our appetites for more Africa!!!! Click on the link and check it out. We'll be ministering in an orphanage, which will be so rewarding, but heartbreaking at the same time. More details to come...

Lunch time!

After all of that treasure hunting, we were hungry! Thanks to Nana D. and Poppy, we had a great lunch, complete with ice cream cones, at Culver's---the boys' favorite place to eat!

"Cheeeeese!"

Luke actually took this picture! He is our little photographer. : )

"Got the GPS....never need a map again!"

I gave Robby a GPS for Christmas with the idea that he and Noah could start a new hobby of geocaching. (Check out www.geocaching.com, if you've never heard of it.) Basically, it's using coordinates to hunt for treasures. I'm not sure who has more fun--Robby or Noah. This weekend, we went on our first family hunt. Even though we didn't find the treasure we were looking for, it was still fun to be out in nature with our boys. They LOVE being outside. Luke has even composed a song about "treasure hunting". We have video!

Happy Birthday to Jonah!

Jonah is 2 today! Mama, Da-da, Noah, and Luke helped him celebrate. I planned to make him an Elmo cake, but he kept telling everyone he was having a "Go Go" (Diego) cake. So, I baked the cake in the Elmo pan, turned it upside down and made it Diego. It actually turned out pretty good, but all that mattered was that he was happy. He LOVED it! I can't believe our baby is 2. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and there are no diapers there. Wow....I can't imagine.

Sweet boy!

Jonah has really started talking in conversations in the past few weeks. He is just the sweetest boy you will ever meet and he tells you that. "I seet boy" ("I am a sweet boy"). If I say, "Whose boy are you?" He smiles real big and says, "Mama boy". But if Da-da or Nana asks him the same question, he knows to tailor his answer to make them happy. What a charmer!

Monkey help

Noah and Luke had a very hard time with the fact that this was not their birthday. They have always shared birthdays and it's hard when baby brother gets all of the attention. Everybody was excited at present-opening time, but there were tears shed when Jonah wanted his toys all to himself. O the joys of brothers!

Yum-O!

After we sang to him, he just dug in with the spoon! I had to wash chocolate frosting out of his ear canal by the time we were all done. What a happy birthday!

4400 Sycamore Road

This is our new house!!! Yes, really.....this is it. I know we've said this before, but this time our signatures are on the dotted lines, we've paid money, and we're moving in 3 weeks!!! We are beyond excited. God is so good. He has blessed us with more than we ever imagined. We are moving to 4400 Sycamore Rd. in Melissa, TX. Melissa is a small town about 15 minutes north of McKinney. Our new neighborhood, North Creek, is in the middle of cow pastures,which will be full of houses some day. But, right now, it's very quiet and secluded. For a while, we will "pretend" we're living in the country. We have a swimming pool, playground, club house, soccer field, and basketball court 2 streets over and the boys are thrilled about all of that fun. Thank you to everyone who has prayed with us for so long for this. It has been a long time coming, but we knew all along that God's timing is perfect. Come see us!

Run, boys, run!!!

This is the backyard---not huge, but big enough for a swingset and a deck.

Don't I look relaxed?

This is me in my new garden tub!!! Ahhhhh.....what a great end to my monkey days. : )

Just a glimpse....

Here's just a glimpse of our mission trip to Zambia. So much to tell, so little time to type. : )

We've entered the Wi-Fi World!

I know, I know....I haven't posted since March! Many of you have given me grief about it saying things like, "I thought since you had been to Africa, you'd post something about it!" Well, with a "slow as molasses" dial-up internet connection, I barely checked email every few days. Today is a new and exciting day at our house----we have entered the Wi-Fi world. I am typing on our laptop with my feet up and no phone wires! Woo-hoo! So, check back often and maybe you'll see more of our family!

What's up with the McCraws?

Just an update on all that's going on with our family.
We had to cancel the contract on the house posted below. We were sad to see it go, but we have not sold our house, yet. It's still on the market and we've had several showings. We know that it's all in God's perfect timing and that "His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways". Even though we were disappointed to let that huge backyard go, it's exciting to think about what God has for us and how much BETTER it's going to be. : )

In other exciting news, Robby and I are planning a trip to Zambia this summer. We are going on a 10 day mission trip with our church to minister to villages there. Some of them have never even seen white people! We will also be helping start the groundwork to build a new hospital on the Kafue River. We are VERY excited. We are obeying God's call to go, not knowing how the funds will be provided, but confident that He will take care of all of that. He has already shown his faithfulness in providing for our deposit that we had to make last Sunday. We will keep you posted on the details. Oh, by the way, the boys need a place to stay for 10 days in June. Any volunteers? You can get on the schedule!

In even more exciting news, we found out this week that we're going to be Uncle Robby and Aunt Amy! Robby's sister, Amy, and her husband, Carl, are pregnant! We are SOOOO excited! I've never been an aunt before and I'm already making big plans. We will spoil that baby rotten. They are due in late November.

Ok, I think that catches you up on what's going on here. The boys are great. We're in the midst of the BIG birthday bash planning. Noah will turn 6 and Luke will turn 3 in April. They're having a combined swimming party and they're both counting the days. Jonah continues to be the happy-go-lucky third child. He is 15 months old now and never stops smiling.

Keep in touch! We love hearing from our friends and family!

Good news!

We have GREAT news! We got a new house!!!! Yea!!!! We will be moving to Melissa (small town about 10 minutes north of McKinney). The house has 4 bedrooms and a HUGE backyard (the most important part with 3 boys!). It's a HUD foreclosure, so we got a really good deal. After bidding on more than 5 (I lost count!), we are so excited to finally get one. The house is in a neighborhood with a park and pool and it's only about 3 minutes from Noah's school.
Now, the faith part comes..... please pray that we can put our house on the market and sell it quickly. We close on our new house in 45 days.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

Rub-a-Dub-Dub
3 monkeys in a tub!

Mail call!

Noah is having a blast in Kindergarten. This week, his class did a Community Helper project. Each student had to dress as a community helper, do a 1-2 min. presentation in front of the class. and build a "building" for their community called "Kinderville". With help from Goodwill and the local post office, this is our mailman. : ) The post office is pretty cool, too (a diaroma made from a shoe box).

What a pretty boy!

Jonah is 10 months old now. Where has the time gone? I feel like we just blinked and he isn't a tiny baby anymore. He thinks he's just as big as his brothers and is always right in the middle of wrestling, car racing, or trouble. With each boy, we've had a new adventure. Our adventure this week included a trip to the pediatric dentist (never knew such a character existed). Jonah has a strong aversion to diaper changes (no time to slow down!) and tried to bail off the changing table. He knocked his left front tooth loose. I thought we were going to lose the tooth and have a snaggle-tooth boy for the next 5 years. Even though it's loose, the dentist seems to think it will tighten again. It did move forward a bit, though. We call him "Buck" now. Always an adventure with these monkeys!

Ahoy matey!

Noah and Luke modeling their Happy Meal treasures!