Pictures of the New House

Thank you for all those who prayed for us over the past couple of weeks!!! It took me almost three days to find the house, but I was finally able to find one. Enjoy the pics.....

Backyard area we can use to grill!

The backyard that we can use....the landlord is in the process of cleaning it up.

A washer/dryer hookup!!!!


Walk-in Closet


Living room.


Our bedroom.


The kids bedroom.


Stairway.


Kitchen.


The outside. We're living on the second and third floor.

We Got One!

We rented a house today here in Queens!! I visited many places and God directed us to the perfect place for us! Please pray for the final details on Thursday and Friday...I will try to post some pics later.

Also, congrats to the Yankees!!! A world championship and a new house on the same day? Gotta love it!
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NYC House Hunting

I am currently in the city looking for affordable housing. Please ask God to direct me to the right one and that the paperwork would go through without any problems!

Thanks!!!
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Twitter

I am now on twitter. If you are interested, you can follow me at www.twitter.com/adamncrabtree.
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September 2009 Update

Our most recent update letter has been added to our website. Please keep us in prayer as we are getting our entire life organized right now in order to move to Queens in December! It is a VERY exciting time for us!!!!

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Not Much Going On :)

Hey, just to check in right now….we’re in East Tennessee.  The past couple of months have gone in a whirlwind.  We’ve spent time in several places visiting old friends and picking up some new support! 

 

We’ve are in the process of making plans to visit NYC again in the next 6 weeks.  The purpose of this trip is to find housing and make the proper arrangements for us to move!  We ask you to pray that God will direct us to the right home in the right neighborhood so that we can reach Greek people!

Survey Trip Final Day

Today, as with all other days here, has been great. We borrowed a vehicle from another church planter here to drive around Queens and explore. We have driven through several different neighborhoods just looking at what they have to offer. This has truly given us a sense of the city and we can't wait to relocate here and begin our work!
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Survey Trip Day 6

This morning, we got up and went back to Manhattan to just poke around one last time. We took the Ferry to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty and then to Ellis Island. We have paid for unlimited transportation with a double decker bus that has no roof on the upper section. As we were trying to make it back to Midtown Manhattan, it started to rain...so we got out the ponchos and tried to stay as dry as we could. The rain was making us very nervous because we had tickets to the Texas Rangers v NY Yankees game tonight. The rain was hard but did not last long and it did not affect game time.

As we arrived from Grand Central Station to the Bronx and Yankee Stadium, our excitement was brewing. You see, these tickets were a gift from Brandie and the girls for my birthday this past march. I will not recount all the details of the game...but I will say that it was an awesome experience. Every sports fan should make the trip here to watch the Yankees play in the new stadium.

I want to take time right here to say "thank you" to my wonderful, beautiful wife, Brandie. She has stood right beside me (not behind or in front of) in our ministry. The game tickets were a perfect gift for my birthday. "Thank you baby"!!!

We will post pics of the game and other stuff we have seen the last couple of days soon. I am updating the blog from the 4 train that goes from the stadium through the South Bronx to Manhattan. Yikes!!! Then we switch to the "F" train to our hotel in Jamaica.

Tomorrow, we will view a couple of homes for rent so that we have a better idea of what to expect when we move up here. Please pray that we will get to see these apartments (we had some trouble the other day when we tried to look at a couple).

Adam
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Yankee's Game Tomorrow

Just a quick note to let you know that we will be in attendance at the Texas Rangers vs New York Yankees game tomorrow!!! This is my birthday present from Brandie this year. We will blog about the game tomorrow.
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Survey Day 5

We started out our day downtown at F.A.O. Schwarz, the huge toy store. We had about an hour to kill, so we went there to look for some things for our girls. We both felt like little kids again in the amazing toy store! We can't wait to take our girls there to see the amazing things! From there, we jumped on the subway and headed into Brooklyn to meet with Pastor Jim Bickel. We enjoyed some great Italian subs and were able to pick his brain for a little while. I has been so nice to be able to get the advice from these men of God that we have been able to meet while we were here. They have all been such a tremendous help to us.

After our lunch meeting, we jumped back on the Subway and headed back downtown to take a tour of up town Manhattan and Harlem. We were able to see Central Park, The Upper East and West Sides, Harlem, as well as many of the wonderful museums here in NY! It was a beautiful tour! From there we went to "Juniors" restaurant for burgers and dessert. This place is know for their cheesecake, and of course I had to have a piece. Adam enjoyed a piece of Apple Pie with Ice Cream. It was Wonderful! After our dinner, we hopped back on the bus for our last bus tour, which was a night tour of downtown and Brooklyn. We were able to see a more quaint view of the residential areas of Manhattan. Again, we were amazed at how beautiful everything was! We will get some pictures on for you a bit later. We are completely worn out tonight and are headed to bed. Goodnight everyone!

Survey Day 4

Sunday started with attending services at a new church plant in the Kew Gardens/Forrest Hills area of Queens. The church plant is lead by Pastor Tim Richmond. We took the subway from our hotel to the service and met the multi-ethnic congregation. Brandie sang a special during the worship service and we had lunch with the church afterwards. The church shares lunch together every Sunday afternoon as a time of fellowship.

After church, we went to Manhattan to spend some time together and see some sights (the church plant does not have an evening worship service). We visited Times Square again, Broadway and the theatre district, the garment district, the Empire State Building, Chelsea, West Village, Greenwhich Village, SoHo, Tribeca, Ground Zero, the Financial Disctrict, China Town, Little Italy, the Lower East Side, Stuyyesant Town, the U.N. building, Trump Tower, and back to Midtown East. This was a guided bus tour and it allowed us to see a lot of sights without spending a bunch of time running around in circles. This is a tour that we recommend if you ever come to the city.

Tomorrow, we will meet another area pastor and continue our bus tours. Later this week we be shown some possible apartments/houses to rent by a realtor that goes to one of the Fundamental churches in Queens. We are very excited about looking at these living spaces so we can better plan our move later this year. God is showing us some great things here in the city and we praise His name!!!






Unfortunately, our computer is acting up and we cannot upload any more pictures. We will try again tomorrow.

Survey Day 3

Today was a day that was focused on our long term survival here in New York City....apartment/house hunting. We spent the morning in Astoria with a real estate agent talking about different apartments and the amenities that we want (washer/dryer hookup, parking, etc). The pictures below are from our lunch....Uncle George's Greek Restaurant. A true taste from Greece on Broadway (not THE Broadway) in Astoria, Queens. The owner is from Thessaloniki, Greece (a northern city of about 1 million people or so) and has lived here for many years. The restaurant is a nice little space with traditional Greek music and Greek television in the background. It was a good day today.

Survey Day 2

Day 2 started with a rush. The only appointment we had was supper with the Richmond family. Pastor Tim is in the process of starting the Grace Baptist Church of Forrest Hills, Queens. We had nothing much to do, so we decided to go to Manhattan and just poke around there and then end up in Astoria. We took the "7" train to Times Square. At the station, we met a group with a tract table set up. They set at the table and hand out literature to anybody with an interest. I talked with them for a minute and found that they hand out Chick Tracts, tracts from the Fellowship Tract League, and Bibles from Bearing Precious Seed.



After arriving above ground, we immediately walked to Broadway to just look around. The following pictures are from our sightseeing day today. We ate a hot dog from a street vendor, sat in the middle of Broadway and ate our lunch, and saw some famous buildings (Rockefeller Center, the Empire State building, Radio City Music Hall etc).

After leaving Manhattan, we took the "N" train to Astoria to walk around again and scope things out. We bought some Greek cookies from an Italian bakery (I love this part of the city), at some Italian food at a Greek restaurant, and drank some more Greek coffee. After not speaking Greek consistently for several months, we have surprised ourselves at how our language is coming back to us when we are in the middle of a conversation.

The evening was spent with the Richmond family. Before we met them tonight, we contacted a couple of real estate agents and prayerfully, we will see a couple of apartments or houses tomorrow.

Survey Day 1

The day started with an appointment at Faith Baptist Church, Corona, Queens and Pastor Vincent Sawyer (the church is pictured below).


His church is on 37th Ave. and 105th St. Sounds easy enough to find, huh? Well, Brandie and I left the subway station and walked until we found 37th Dr. Not Ave. Dr. and we proceeded to walk all over 37th Dr. looking for 105th St. and the church. After some time and mounting frustration, I looked at the street sign again and saw that it read "Dr." We walked down to the next street which was 37th Rd. We started thinking, here is a drive and road....the avenue must be next! It was and we finally arrived just a couple of minutes late. We felt like we were navigating Athens again.

He invited us to the church for a q & a session. He has a wealth of information about ministry here in Queens. We ate Chinese delivered by a motorbike (like in Greece). He gave us the number of a real estate agent that is familiar with where we are wanting to live. We gave her a call and are waiting for her to call back...hopefully, we will look at a couple of apartments in the next couple of days.

After our meeting with Pastor Sawyer, we took the "F" train to Astoria. This is where the majority of the Greeks live and will probably be the focus of our ministry. Walking the streets here was like walking the streets in Athens. We were drank a frappe', Greek coffee, and a plate of assorted Greek cheeses and fruit. We also got to speak some Greek!!! This is what we've been looking forward to for several weeks!

We walked the streets and visited shops and started building some relationships (even though they are in the infantile stage). Today, we were able to answer many questions about living and ministering here. We look forward to another great day tomorrow. Please enjoy the pictures below.

Greek Pastries

Greek Newspaper

Christos made us Frappe's (Greek Iced Coffee)!

Brandie with Manhattan in the background from Astoria park.

Adam with Manhattan in the background from Astoria Park


The Queensboro Bridge

A Greek Sidewalk Cafe in Astoria, Queens

Traditional Greek Coffee, Cheese, & Fruit

A Greek Orthodox Church

Here is the inscription on this Orthodox Church: "The metamorphosis (change) of salvation." Salvation does change us (2 Corinthians 5:17) and we praise the Lord for His grace! This grace is not found in a church or anchored to a church, but in His Word. The fact that Orthodox Christians look for God's grace through their church membership motivates us to relocate here as soon as possible and reach them with the true Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ!!!

Arrival In New York

When we arrived at the airport in Indianapolis, we learned that our flight was delayed 2 hours. This allowed us to meander around the airport through the restaurants and shops. This worked out in our favor! I wanted to watch the Champions League Finals from Rome (Man U vs. Barca)...Europe's premier football tournament. Because of our delay, I was able to find a television in the airport and I watched the first half.

After boarding the airplane, we sat for about 30 minutes before we took off. I took the picture as we were landing at La Guardia. Pastor Tim Richmond, a church planter in Queens, picked us up at the airport and drove us to the hotel. After check-in, we walked the streets around the hotel and bought a couple of slices of cheese pizza. Wow! It was delicious. Now, we're beat and getting our plans together for tomorrow.

Survey Trip: May 27 - June 4, 2009

Tomorrow, we fly from Indianapolis, Indiana to New York for one week. The purpose of this trip is to locate housing and scout neighborhoods for the church plant. Please pray for our travels (from 3:00 pm to 5:15 pm EDT) and our children (they are staying with my parents here in Indiana).

We will blog daily during the trip...with pics!

The Twins Turn ONE!!!!

On Wed March 11, Adalyn and Abigail Crabtree turned one year old!!! I can not believe that they are already a year old. This past year has been so much fun seeing them grow and watching their personalities come forward! Adalyn has a very outgoing personality, while Abigail is more laid back but is very attentive to the things around her. They started walking about a month ago and are now into everything! They really do keep us all on our toes!

On Friday night they had a family birthday party in Indiana with Adam's family. It was fun watching them dive into their cupcakes! I have added a picture of the "Birthday Girls" for you to enjoy!

Happy Birthday Babies!

When Your Life Gets Rebooted

All Our Luggage The Morning We Left Athens

Has your computer ever rebooted? Ever done it on its own? We have a computer (a Toshiba) that we purchased in Greece that seems to reboot itself whenever IT feels the need to be rebooted. This can be frustrating, especially when I'm in the middle of something very important (which is usually the case).

I said that to say this....our life has been rebooted. I am posting our last ministry update letter. Please read it and pray for us.

As is often the case, when the computer reboots, it runs again...as opposed to just shutting down. When our family was faced with the option of rebooting our ministry or shutting it down completely (aka quitting), we chose, by the grace of God, to reboot and continue the ministry that God called us to many years ago.

______________________________
Dear Ministry Partner,

We would like to thank all of those who sent us Christmas cards and financial gifts at the end of last year. The financial gifts were much needed and we say “thank you” from the bottom of our hearts. We’d also like to express our appreciation to those who prayed for us during the riots in Athens. God protected us through some very difficult circumstances and we were able to make it back without a scratch! Since our arrival on December 12 we have driven over 5,000 miles reporting to some of our supporting churches.

The last quarter of 2008 was a very difficult period for the Crabtree family. Brandie and I have worked on obtaining some sort of residency since 2002 with no success. All of our children were born in Greece, but that did not grant us any favor in the application process and the girls were not given Greek citizenship upon their birth. During the fall of 2008, we made another application for residency, even making an additional appeal to the government and they denied us for the final time. We have exhausted all of our options. Without residency, it is impossible for us to stay and minister in Greece.

For the past four and a half years, we were required to leave Greece, a European Union country every 90 days. This was taxing on us both physically and financially. Another law change took effect January 1, 2009 that prevents us from spending more than 180 days (6 months) during any 365 day period inside Greece. This would prohibit us from leaving and re-entering Greece in order to stay legal.

This puts our family in a very difficult position. After much prayer and fasting, we have decided to continue ministering to Greek speaking people. After some research, we learned that there are more Greeks living outside Greece (12 million) than live inside Greece (10 million). The largest Greek community abroad is found in Astoria, Queens, New York (with over 65,000 Greeks). Not only do we see an entire immigrant community in need of Jesus Christ, we also see 65,000 potential missionaries that can live in Greece legally and not face the same residency restrictions that have plagued my family for the duration of our ministry (not to mention that they already know the language and culture). Our plan is relocate to Queens and start a Greek speaking Independent Baptist Church. We want to continue the ministry that God called to do many years ago. We go about this with the complete support and approval of Dr. Jerry Mullendore, Director of Beacon International Baptist Mission (formerly Evangelization in Eastern Europe) and Rev. Wayne Barron, the pastor of our sending church, South Side Baptist Church, Springfield, MO. Our goal will always remain the same: to plant self-supporting, self-governing Independent Baptist churches. One focus of our ministry will be equipping Greek families to do the work of the Lord with the intention of sending them back to Greece where we, as Americans, cannot live and minister (2 Timothy 2:2, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”). Our plan is to remain involved in church planting. When Greece opens her doors to allow us to stay and minister, we will be on the first plane.

If you have any questions, please contact us (telephone: (317) 222-1952 or by email: mail@thecrabtree.org), Dr. Mullendore (mailing address: P.O. Box 5907, Johnson City, TN 37602-5907 or by phone: (423) 426-1196), or Pastor Barron (address: 465 S. Grant Ave., Springfield, MO 65806 or by phone: (417) 869-5496). Thank you for your support and confidence in us over the years and please keep us in your prayers as we strive to follow God’s call in our lives in reaching Greeks for Christ!

Serving Him,

Adam, Brandie, Emily, Adalyn, & Abigail Crabtree

Our Crazy So-Called Life

On December 12, we arrived back in the States after being detained in Greece for an additional 2 days. We were tired and worn out, but so glad to finally be on American soil again. Even though we were tired and half asleep, we hit the ground running!!! The following afternoon, we had a 4th birthday party for Emily. We are told it was a great party, but we were to tired to really remember it! The next week was a blur of trying to Christmas shop, Parties, Family and fun! From there we headed to Tennessee to see the other side of the family and celebrated the New Year.

Just after the first of the year, we hit the ground running! Well....Adam hit the ground running, because all of our girls started getting acquanted with the many germs that were circulating in America. Abigail got RSV had to be put on breathing treatments. Adalyn and Emily got the stomach flu. With Adam on the road, it was a fun time for me and the kids! Adam was in Florida when the kids all were finally better, so the kids and I decided to fly down and meet him there. We were able to get an Amazing deal on tickets, so on Sunday afternoon, my mom dropped me, Emily and the twins off at the airport for our trip. I know what you are thinking, and yes I was nuts, but we made it in one piece! We had a great time in Florida! We were able to see some old friends and had a great time. One of the highlights of our trip was going to Sea World. The church where we were staying purchased tickets for our family. Emily loved watching "Shampoo" jump and flip in the water! It was a great day! Thanks Monterey Baptist!

After Florida, the kids and I decided that it was time to stay put for a while in our little missions apartment that we are calling home for the time being. Adam did back to back missions conferences among a few other meetings. We were glad to have him home again after he was finished. We have been in several churches since and have had a wonderful time. Traveling is very tireing for the kids as well as for Adam and I! We are able to be in some great churches and have made some wonderful new friends, but I will be so glad when this all comes to and end and we are again settled!

I am writing this while going down the road heading to Missouri. We get to spend the next week with our home church family and we are really looking forward to a time of re-couping while we are there!

Until I type again,
Brandie

Blog Reboot Coming!

We will make some changes to our blog. These changes will take place by February 25, 2009. Thanks for your patience.

Adam

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! If that offends you, get over it!

Safe Arrival

Just a quick note to update you on our status: We arrived safely late Friday night in Indianapolis, Indiana. My parents were at the airport to give us a ride to their house where we will stay until December 26. On that day, we will drive to Tennessee to spend some time with Brandie's family. Yesterday we celebrated Emily's 4th birthday with a party for our family and friends. It was good to see many people we haven't seen in a long time.

We had a great trip. We had long layovers that we were dreading to be honest with you. But, when you travel with babies, longer layovers are needed and it all worked out. Lufthansa was great and treated us very well. There were porters at each airport to help us with our luggage (as you can imagine, we had our a bunch with all the stuff we need for the kids).

Thank you to all that prayed for us during this very difficult time. We are still a little jet lagged...but we'll get over it in the next few days.

Delays, Delays, Delays

Okay, we're not really roughing it. Lufthansa has put us up in a 5 star hotel. Since we have 5 in our family, they gave us 2 a joining rooms (even though 2 of us are only 9 months old). So, we've not been exactly roughing it. Being delayed has been an inconvenience, however, Lufthansa has done a lot to ease our discomfort with the nice rooms and meal vouchers.

Please pray for us tomorrow as we travel and that our luggage makes it on time. We will let you know our progress as it happens.

Riots & Strikes

Have you heard about the riots here in Athens? It's pretty big news over here as we experience the general public's outlast at the police over the fatality of a 15 year old boy. I'm not going to get political or place blame on either party here....this post is to just recount to you our experience.

Today, Wednesday, December 10 was to be a big day for our family. We have been preparing for furlough for some time now and this date was circled on our calendar for months. Last Saturday night, I believe in downtown Athens, a police officer shot and killed a 15 year old boy. This has sparked outrage in the community.

So, how has this affected us? On Monday night, while trying to pick up Brother Jimmy, the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, and his family, the riots started and spread through the part of town where Jimmy lives. We've rented a big 12 passenger van to haul our luggage to the airport and thankfully, I was driving that. Suddenly, out of nowhere, approximately 50 youths (ages 15-25) surrounded the stand still traffic that I was part of. Brandie and the girls were not with me at this time (thank God!). The youths started harassing cars and throwing rocks and fruit. About 5 or 6 of these youths picked my car to try to intimidate. Before I knew it, they had surrounded my car and started rocking it back in forth with me in it. To be honest with you, this scared me to death. I didn't know what to do because they were already burning cars in the center of the city. I was hoping not to become a "well done" missionary at this point. The man in the car in front of me started yelling at the youths and they threw a rock through his window. Immediately after that, about 15 feet from this car, the youths set a dumpster on fire and it burned very quickly. In a matter of seconds, flames were jumping 15 to 20 feet into the air. All of this happened and I just prayed for God's protection and I'm here to tell the story without a scratch on my body!!!

Fast forward to this morning. It is about a hour drive from the my house to the airport. When we arrived at the airport and parked the van, we discovered that the nation wide strike scheduled for today has indeed affected the airport and it is closed. CLOSED!!! We are flying with the German carrier Lufthansa. At the help desk for Lufthansa, there was nobody to help...just a note that said, "If the 24 hour strike has affected you, we apologize." I thought "if..." There are no flights in or out of Greece today. They left a phone number and we called it. The earliest we could get a ticket was on Friday. That's two days away. Plus, on the phone, they told me that since they were not responsible for the strike, that there was nothing they could do (like accommodations, food vouches etc).

It has all worked out so far though. Since this very difficult few minutes this morning, Lufthansa (who is not at fault) made reservations for our family at a 5 star hotel here at the hotel plus food vouchers at a "fancy" restaurant. Tomorrow morning, they want us to report to the front Lufthansa desk at 5 am to see if we can get a ticket "stand-by" and if we can't, then we'll stay another night here and fly at 6:05 am Friday morning. Emily has a birthday part on Saturday...needless to say, we were going to spend Thursday and Friday preparing for that. Thankfully, my mom has taken a lot of this responsibility upon her shoulders and is a huge help.

We are all okay and we just want to get out of this mess. Many say the violence could get worse before it gets better.

First Convert

After 4 1/2 years of ministry (after handing out thousands of tracts, Bible's, and other pieces of literature and building many relationships through which we've shared the gospel), on our last Sunday before furlough, we've had our first convert. We praise the Lord for His eternal promises!!! Words are not enough to describe the feeling today as we watched a lady put her faith and trust in Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. Please pray for her (name withheld on purpose) as she attempts to reach her family with the gospel.

Catch-Up Post

As promised....

We started the month of November in Olympia, Greece. As you may already know, Olympia is the birthplace of the "Olympic" Games. Wow....it was an awesome place and well worth the 4 hour drive.

Thanksgiving came and went. In the past, we've met with other missionary or American families to celebrate. Not this year. We used the day to see Epidavros. It's an ancient amphitheater built 400 years before Christ. It was an awesome experience. On our way home, we ate our "Thanksgiving" meal at a traditional Greek restaurant. We had grilled chicken skewers, Greek salad with feta cheese, olives, fried potatoes seasoned with oregano, and fried cheese. To top it off, the owner provided us with a huge plateful of fresh oranges on the house. Wow, it was a delicious meal and we were stuffed!!!

After Thanksgiving, we started preparing for our furlough. It will be here before we know it. Our flight leaves on December 10. We will land in Indianapolis and spend Christmas with my family. On the day after Christmas, we will travel to Tennessee to spend time with Brandie's parents. We are so excited as this will be our first Christmas in the U.S. since 2003 and it will be the girls' first Christmas in the U.S. period. Hopefully we will have a white Christmas!!!

I apologize for ignoring this blog. We've been so busy and we look forward to a nice Christmas season. We will keep you updated promptly from now on.

As for our immediate plans, as we said before...we will spend Christmas and New Year's with family. In January, we will start our traveling to report to our supporting churches and also visit some new churches in order to raise some more financial support.

2 Weeks Until Furlough

I've ignored this blog long enough. Preparation for furlough is in high gear and we're running around like chickens with our heads cut off! Check back in the next day or so for a "catch-up" post.

Euro Relief

Man, this is nice! We're not losing as much to the exchange rate as we were just two months ago. Every missionary in a European country that either uses the Euro or a currency that is based upon the Euro is thanking God for the slip of the Euro against the U.S. Dollar. We hope this trend continues. When we served our 6 month internship in 2002 here, the exchange rate was in our favor as it took only $0.90 to buy 1 Euro (those were the good ole' days). Hopefully, in the next few months, the exchange rate will once again at least equalize. That would be very helpful.

4 Years Ago Today

Do you remember what you were doing 4 years ago today? We remember exactly what we were doing October 1, 2004. This is the day that we landed at the Athens International Airport with all of our stuff packed in 13 bags and stars in our eyes. Brandie was 6 months pregnant with Emily and was at the end of the time that it was safe for her to fly. We landed about 6:30 pm local time. Only 9 bags made the trip and the other 4 were delivered in the next few days. We rented a car though orbitz.com...it was supposed to be an automatic. When we got to the counter of Europcar, they informed us that they didn't have any automatics to rent. I had never driven a stick shift out side of a supermarket parking lot. But, with God's help, we made it. It's about a 26 mile drive from the airport to the apartment were staying in at the time...and it was quite a bumpy drive (Ha! Ha!). We had a map and some foggy directions to the house....but we made it. Finally, at about 11:00 pm, we were able to grab something to eat and turn in for the night. This was the start of an adventure that has shpaed our lives in so many ways.

Santorini Getaway

During the last of August, we had the privilege of having Adam's parents come and visit for a couple of weeks. During that visit, we made an unexpected 3 day trip to the island of Santorini. It was absolutely one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen. There is an underwater volcano that the island is a result of and because of this, the beaches are black! It was so cool! Here are just a few of the hundreds of pictures that we took while we were there. Enjoy!

These pictures were not taken on the island, but I thought I would throw them in anyway!

Nanna with her babies.

New Family Picture

Dead, Dry Summer

Hey all, Sorry it has been so long in updating the blog. Honestly, not much has been going on this summer. It has been pretty quiet around here, especially so since the beginning of August. The Greeks just celebrated a big holiday this past weekend. They celebrated the assention of Mary into Heaven. It was actually very quiet around here because everyone is gone from the city until the beginning of Sept. The girls were even suppose to go for some shots this month, but the doctor said that he couldn't do it until Sept. because of August being vacation month. All of Europe is this way. We get a kick out of it and just enjoy the down time.

Adam's parents will be coming for a visit starting next week. We are very excited about it. Emily is especially excited for them to get here. Every time our door bell buzzes, she thinks Nanna and Poppy are here and she gets so excited until I have to explain, yet again, that they are not here and they won't be here until next week. She is such a funny little girl.

Here are a few pictures of the girls at play for you all to see. The babies are getting so big now. Abigail has a new tooth, but Adalyn still is working on it. Getting teeth is hard work for little babies. I feel so bad for them. It will all pass soon enough I suppose. Anyway, enjoy the pics.

Emily playing "dress up" with the babies.

Isn't she a doll!!

Adalyn fell asleep in her walker!

Adalyn and Abigail love "Baby Einstein" just like Emily did at this age!

This one is Adalyn and below is Abigail.

The twins love to cuddle with each other. They sleep in the same bed and sleep right on top of each other. It is so sweet!

Platia Terpsithea

Last night, we went as a family to the local park. This is the highlight of Emily's day! She loves going and playing with the other kids. This is a nice park that's about a 10 minutes walk from our house. Since we live in the middle of the city, having a park close is really nice. It gives Emily a chance to get some energy out and interact with other kids. Enjoy the pictures!

Adalyn

Abigail

What does that sign say?

I'm sorry that it has been some time since our last post. I won't offer any excuses as to why it's been such a long time (other than old fashion laziness). We had an opportunity to see a different part of the country this past week and we found the following sign. Isn't it great?


It has been a very warm, sometimes hot summer thus far. The highest temp that we've been able to confirm so far is 102. It's still early though...August is usually the hottest month of the year. So, we're just waiting for the heat to come. We're not using both air conditioners in the house. We have one in our bedroom and one in the living room. They are like hotel units...not central air. But, we're not complaining at all. It's much better than just using traditional fans. Well, that's all right now. We'll keep you updated if anything exciting happens in the next few days.

Adam

Summer is Here!

Well, Summer is finally here and the temperatures are soaring. We have already had temperatures in the upper 90's and the beaches are full! As for our family... life has been a bit crazy for the past few weeks, but it is starting to slow down some for the summer. Adam has been teaching a Bible study in the home of an elderly woman who lives on the East side of Athens, but she and her daughter left this week for their island home and will be there until Sept., therefore that study is on hold for the summer. During the month of August, there will be a mass exodus throughout the entire country. Everyone heads to their island homes, or to other various vacation spots and the city is much like a ghost town. It is actually a nice month to be in the city if you can stand the heat!

The girls are all getting so big. Emily seems to have grown 6 inches in the past month and the babies are each a little over 10 lbs now. We took them for their first injections this past week and they let us know that they did not wish to do that again. They got over it though and we will go for a repeat performance at the end of the summer.

Well, there is not much else to report, so I will end with a few new pictures of the kids. Enjoy!

Aren't my girls sweet?

Emily playing with her little sisters.

Emily likes feeding her "baby" when we feed ours!

Abigail is on the left, and Adalyn is on the right!

My Beautiful Girls!

Just thought I would show off my three beautiful girls. The twins are growing so quickly and they are so much fun. They are laughing now. It is so sweet. Emily is a great "Big Sister." She is great with the girls. We are so proud of all three of them.

Can you tell who is who?

Abigail and Adalyn

Adalyn, Emily, and Abigail

Daddy and his "Girls."

Dedicated to God!

On Sunday May 11, we had a special dedication service for the twins. We invited many of our Greek friends and ended up with a total of 18 people in our home that evening. My mom and I prepared a meal and after we ate, we got a phone call from our home church in Missouri. It was the end of their morning service. Our pastor spent some time over our speaker phone talking about what it means to dedicate our children back to God and he explained that it had nothing to do with their salvation, but it was about Adam and I as parents giving our children to God to do with what He will. He then prayed over our girls. After he finished, my dad prayed over the girls and then Adam did the same. It was a wonderful evening and we were able to share Christ with many of our unbelieving friends. After the service ended, we had several questions from our friends as to why we do not baptise the children and what we believe. They were happy that we allow our children to choose what they will believe and that we don't believe that they are born into it. I found that very interesting!

Here are a some pictures of our girls and their special friends that shared their special night with them.

My mom and dad, Dr. Jerry and Christine Mullendore with Adalyn and Abigail

Costa, Nicole, and Daniel (Daniel is only 2 months older than our girls! AMAZING!!)

Tracy's husband Dimitri with one of the girls, I am not sure which!

Our Wonderful friend Tracy!

Our new friend and new Believer Irene

Adam praying over the girls.

A Visit From Friends

I know it has been awhile since our last post, but we have had a very crazy few weeks. Earlier this month, we had 5 men from Franklin, Virginia come for a visit. Adam and my dad had a great time being tour guides for the days that they were here. They went all over Greece. They visited many of the Biblical sites including a couple of sites in Northern Greece. They seemed to have a good time. They dubbed this trip as the "That's Just The Way It Is!" trip because they heard either Adam or my dad say that so much. Here in Greece, things are not always as logical as we think they should be, but there is nothing we can do about it... "That's just the way it is!"

The men left here and flew to Romania to do some electrical wireing for Missionary Keith Price. They were dead tired when we put them on the plane, but I hope it was a good trip anyway!

Here is a couple of pictures of the group.

The men with our church people on Sunday after our service.

6th Anniversary at Calvary Baptist Church

Yesterday, Adam had the privilege of preaching for the 6th anniversary at Calvary Baptist Church here in Athens. Calvary is a Filipino church and we attended and helped out there when we first arrived in Greece in 2004. We have come to love the people there and we especially love their food. We had a wonderful filipino meal after the service and spent some time catching up with our many friends there. We would like to say a special "Thank You" to Pastor Jimmy and his sweet wife, Vren, for having us in their services yesterday.

Here are some random pictures of the service and fellowship afterwards.

The chior did a beautiful job!

The children's chior sang and quoted scripture memory verses.

Adam preaching to the people.

The Church Family and many visitors.

Eating and Fellowship

Adam and Brandie along with Pastor Jimmy and Vren Siapno

Here are Emily and Pastor Jimmy's son Jeremiah snatching from the dessert table!

Abigail and Adalyn loved the attention from all of their adoring fans. (but then who can resist two cuties in such sweet little dresses?!) Emily was adorable also in her "Pretty Lellow Dress" as she called it!

Emily's Revelation

Tonight, my mom, Emily, and I went for a walk down to the port to do a bit of diaper shopping. We had to walk several blocks and as we were walking, we heard some American music coming from one of the apartments at the top of one of the buildings that we were walking by. We were looking up trying to find where the music was coming from when we noticed that Emily was looking up as well with a funny look on her face. My mom made the comment that she thought it was coming from a certain apartment when Emily said "Its GOD!" It was so cute because she was so serious. We couldn't help but chuckle though!

Emily has been such a trouper during this whole huge change in her life. She has had some jealously, but for the most part, she has become a wonderful helper. She is our little gopher. She goes for diapers when we need them and whatever else we need for the babies. She is also starting to help with feeding the babies. She is adjusting well. We are very proud of her. She is such a big girl, and she's pretty cute also, but what can I say, I'm a very proud momma of 3 BEAUTIFUL girls!

The Embassy Visit!

I know, I know, it has been several days since our last post and I know you are all wanting to see new pictures of our beautiful girls. We have had a crazy week with many things going on in our lives. I am just going to tell you about one of them.

On Tuesday, we took the twins to the U.S. Embassy to get their birth certificates, passports and Social Security numbers. The Embassy is in the center of the city and it is much too difficult to find parking, so we decided to take the girls in their carriers by taxi. We finally made it down to the Embassy and had to go through a tight security check and then took our number and waited in line. We finally got all of our papers filled out, got the babies pictures taken for their passports, and we were about to take our oath that all that we said was true when the alarms started going off. Over the lowd speakers, we heard the man say that this was not a drill and that we had to evacuate the Embassy. We didn't have to leave the compound area, but we did have to wait in a garden area outside. After about a half hour, we found out that their had been a fire in the cafeteria area and that it was really not a big deal. We finally were able to go back inside and gave our oath and waited for the Birth Certificates to be finallized. Now, to make a long story short, our daughters are officially American citizens. YEAH! Now we just have to wait for the passports to come back and then we can finalize the application for their Social Security numbers.

First Doctor Visit!

When we moved to Piraeus, we found a new pediatrition for Emily. Just after the first of the year, Emily was due for a couple of shots. Adam went to make the appointment and we found out that she had retired at the first of the year. When he came home and told me, and my first thought was "Great, here we are getting ready to have 2 more babies and now we don't have a pediatrition." We began the great search for a new doctor for the kids, but that is not really an easy task. We really wanted one that would speak pretty good English because we want to make sure that we understand what we are being told about our children's health. We looked and looked for almost a month and then we finally found a new doctor. We went to meet with him and liked him immediately. He lives in the same area that we have the Bible Study on Tuesdays. We were very glad to find him.

Last week was our first time to take the twins to the doctor for a check up. We were excited to see how much weight they had gained since leaving the hospital. Emily was also going for a check up and for a shot as well, so we piled all three of our girls into the car for our first road trip as a family. Adam was quiet nervous driving in Greek traffic with all of the kids. He said that every time he looked in his rear view mirror, he could see six little eyes looking back at him. I thought,"How sweet!"

We made it to the doctor and had a great visit. Each of the babies have gained a little over a pound each and are doing great! He is very pleased with their size, especially since they were born almost 4 weeks early and they were small when they left the hospital. He says that he couldn't ask for more healthy babies. Emily had a good time standing next to the table and talking to the babies during their exams. She kept telling them that it was okay and that they didn't need to cry. We were proud of her. When it came time for Emily to get checked out, she said "I don't want to take off my clothes!" We laughed! We explained that she didn't have to get undressed today and then her daddy held her while she sat bravely and got a shot in each shoulder. She did a wonderful job and was rewarded with fryfries from McDonalds for her efforts. I have attached a couple of pictures of our Doctor visit. Enjoy!

Dr. Vlagopoulos with Abigail and Emily

Dr. Vlagopoulos with Adalyn

A Good Big Sister!

During Brandie’s pregnancy, we tried to prepare Emily for the arrival of the babies. We drilled her every day about what was in mommy’s belly. She’d always answer, “Two babies!” We weren’t sure if she really understood this or not. My aunt Kathy even sent her twin baby dolls (two girls). She’d play with them and even named them the same names we were planning to use. But, when Emily first saw the babies, she just stood there looking at them and said…“Two babies?” and then smiled really big! She’s been a very big helper during the first days at home. She’s loved on the babies, held them, kissed them, and even read books to them. She’s done a lot better than we thought she would. She’s become like a second mother to the twins! Here are some pics we took today. Hope you enjoy!!!

Emily, Abbie (L), & Addie (R)

Emily & Addie

Emily kissing Addie

Emily & Addie


Emily holding both Abbie (L) & Addie (R)

NOTE: The twins were dressed alike this morning; however, Abbie had an upet tummy and kept spitting up. So, she got new clothes.

Trash Strike

As we have posted before, Greek have a constitutional right to strike. For the past three weeks, the sanitation workers have not picked up the trash throughout the country. The way it works here (since we don't have driveways with regualr trash collection) is we throw our trash away in dumpsters located throughout our neighborhood. These dumpsters are now overflowing. To make matters worse, yesterday it rained and some of the trash was ran over by cars causing a trashy "mush" in the streets! This makes for a very unsafe environment and possible health hazard. Right now, there is no end in sight! Take a look at the following pictures to see what we're going through right now!

YUK!

Thank You from Mommy!

I just want to say a huge "THANK YOU" to everyone that has been praying for me and the girls over the past few months. You have all been such an encouragement to me during the entire pregnancy and I felt your prayers even more during the delivery and hospital stay. The morning of the delivery, I was in the room waiting to be put to sleep for my surgery and it was just me and my doctor talking. I told the doctor to take care of my babies while I was out and he said that he knew that Adam and my family was out in the waiting room praying for him. I quickly told him that not only them, but there were literally people all over the world praying for him at that moment. He just stopped and looked at me. I then told him that I knew that God would be in the room with us and that he would take care of me and my girls, as well as him. He didn't say much after that, but I know that God was there because soon after he had delivered the babies, I began to himerage and it took them almost an hour and a half to stop the bleeding. He told me later that he was thankful for those that had been praying for us because under normal circumstances I would have had to have a transfusion, but I did not have to after all. I am so Thankful for all of you that were praying for us and the testimony that it had for the Doctor.

I have a special thanks for all of the letters and emails that we have received. Everyday when Adam would get to the hospital, he would spend the first several minutes telling me about all of the many emails that we had received. It was Wonderful to know that all of you were thinking of us. It kept a smile on my face!

I would also like to thank the special friends that were able to visit us while we were in the hospital. That can be long and lonely at times and you were all a huge encouragement to me and my family. I am adding a few pictures below of those that came and hope that you will enjoy them.

Thanks again,

Brandie

Lousa Dimakos and Christina Sinde


Caterina from Samos and our new friend Irene

Tracey

Comfort

Michael

The First Night At Home

Rough.

We're Home!

Today Addie & Abbie came home from the hospital. Here are some pics from the past couple of days!

Abbie

Addie

Explanation: Their left ear is the only visible difference that we can see up to this point.

Can you see the little "notch" in Addie's left ear?

Getting ready to go home today!

Our New Normal

Life as we knew it is over! Real life started today when Adalyn Grace & Abigail Ruth were born at 11:30 & 11:31 am this morning. They were both 5 pounds and 5 ounces. Brandie and babies are doing great. Enjoy the first couple of pictures taken.

Mommy, Daddy, Abbie, & Addie...or is it Addie & Abbie?

Nope, this is a different kid.

One Proud Pappa!

The Day Has Finally Arrived.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), babies are coming!

More SNOW!!!!

Well, you may be tired of hearing about our snow, but it is so cool to actually have it and then to have this much! The first couple of pictures were taken just before bed last night. When we woke up this morning, we found that the entire city had shut down! It was 23 degrees and everything was covered with snow and ice! We were suppose to have a doctor's appointment today, but we called and told him that we couldn't come. Adam went down to check things out and found that our car was burried and was blocked between 2 other cars that were parked on both of our bumpers. Since we live on a hill, it is impossible to get out at all today. The doctor still wants to see me later today, but we will have to wait to see if we can even get out.

Adam took Emily out to play this morning at the park near our house and they had a great time playing in the snow. I have added some pictures of their fun adventure.

Brandie

These couple of pictures were taken about mid-night last night! It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

All of the kids were out of school today because all of the public transportation was shut down. It was fun to see everyone out playing and many people with video cameras. There was an electricity in the air that everyone was enjoying!

Emily wasn't sure what to do at first, but when she saw all of the other kids throwing snow, she joined right in! She had a great time and was thoroughly soaked and frozed by the time she came home!

The Weather Man Was Wrong

Adam posted this morning that the snow should be gone by lunchtime today, but they were wrong! It started snowing harder while we were eating lunch today and has not stopped. Since we live on the port, we usually don't see much accumulation, but it is 27 degrees and could drop more and it is laying everywhere! Emily and I are so excited because it has been so long since we have seen snow! If I wasn't pregnant, we would be up at the park area having a snowball fight and helping Emily build the smallest snowman in the history of man! Oh well! We are enjoying just watching it fall anyway.

Here are a few more pictures that we just took of our street. Enjoy!

Brandie

Winter Wonderland

One of the questions that we're most frequently asked is…“What’s the weather like in Greece?” It’s hot in the summer and nice in the winter. This winter has been very mild. For the most part, we've had temperatures in the 50's-60's. Where we're from Winter is cold and snowy, so we've enjoyed this weather.

Over the past week, the daily temperature has decreased by a few degrees each day. This morning we woke up with snow on the ground! This is the first time that we’ve had more than flurries at our house since the winter of 2005-2006. The snow will not last long (it may be gone before noon today), so we took a couple of pictures to show you.

Since our building is heated by a boiler (and we do not have control of our own heat) it’s turned on only twice a day (one time in the morning for a couple hours and one time at night for a couple hours). Right now, we’re wondering how we’re going to stay warm. I guess we’ll just make some hot chocolate and stay bundled up in the house.

From our balcony looking right.

From our balcony looking left.

Only 5 Weeks To Go

Dr. Dion told Brandie that she's only got five weeks left before the big day (of course, if the twins are fully developed and ready)!

Way to go Eli!

Being fans of the Indianapolis Colts, we really dislike the New England Patriots. We're glad their perfect season ended with a loss in the Super Bowl! We love it!!!

Need Some Help.

I need some help. I designed our website and blog by filling in templates with the appropriate information. I don't understand html or other complicated webdesigns. I would like to know how some of the people that read my blog (that have blogs of their own with cool, personalized headers) designed thier headers. What program did you use? How did you do it? I realize that the answer is probably going to be complicated...but if anybody has any suggestions on how to create a personalized header, we appreciate it. What I'm looking to do is us a pic of the family with some words and cool design. So please let me know if you have any suggestions or can help.

The Theme Of This New Year Is...New

The word “new” means, according to some dictionary that I found online, “Having been made or come into being only a short time ago; recent.” This word applies to our lives right now. I imagine a majority of the people that read this blog are familiar with our church, South Side Baptist Church (Springfield, MO). A couple of months ago, our pastor, Bud Everett, resigned from the pastorate and took a job with a group that will send the gospel to some countries in the world that lack much of a gospel witness (names have been withheld on purpose…not sure if it’s safe to say exactly where…so I will error on the side of caution). Anyway, that left our church without a pastor for the first time in a LONG time. Bro. Everett served the church for many fruitful years and he impacted us as a family in many ways. We will miss seeing him as much as we did. So, the church interviewed, nominated, and voted on Wayne Barron (our associate pastor) to follow as the next pastor of South Side. Wayne is a close friend of mine and a great Bible teacher. We worked closely with he and his wife April back in 2000-2001 in a high school class. The church is very fortunate to have this man in leadership. We’re excited about the future of the church!

Something else new, a little closer to our home, is a new Bible study we’ve started in a suburb of Athens called Glyfada. It is made up of women (from several countries including Greece) that are married to Greek men. This means that they do not necessarily have the opportunity to go to church faithfully. We meet on Tuesday mornings in a house located in the center of the town. It’s a great opportunity to disciple some ladies in a group setting that love God and want to grow spiritually.

The other new thing in our life right now is the new babies. The doctor today said that we’re going to look at having them on the 10th of March! Please pray that they will continue to grow and be ready at that time. If they’re not ready, then we’ll obviously wait until they’re ready…but Brandie is really hoping they will be ready by then. She grows more uncomfortable everyday. We’ve done a lot of work on our little home to prepare it for the arrival of two new little ones. It’s hard to imagine what it will take to survive the first three months, but we look forward to all the joys that parenting twins (and Emily) will bring.

The Doctor’s Specialty

When anyone considers ministry in a foreign country, he must “count the cost.” I was born with a congenital heart disease (Tetralogy of Fallot) that required open-heart-surgery when I was 17 months old. This condition has not limited my life all that much (I do have some limitations, but they are not things I’d do at this point in my life anyway). When considering foreign missions, it was something that I tried to think through. After sensing God’s call to minister in Greece (a modern country with modern medical facilities), my doctor was confident that I could find decent care here. It’s been difficult to find a doctor that is qualified to treat an adult with a congenital heart defect here in Greece (there is a big difference in a pediatric cardiologist treating children and a cardiologist that treats adults with congential diseases). This is where the story begins. A couple of Wednesday’s ago, Emily and I were out on our weekly “Daddy Date Day.” We went to a Greek fast food restaurant that has an indoor play place. After some time passed, a little boy and his parents joined us in the play place. The father explained that he was a cardiologist (are you paying attention yet?) that deals with adults with congenital heart diseases. He then went on to explain that one of his specialties was Tetralogy of Fallot! I couldn’t believe how God was working…one that specific day, at that specific time, I met a doctor that has a specialty in MY heart disease (the chance of being born with this condition is 0.0003%. I’ve not had any problems with my heart for several years and nothing major since my operation…but it’s nice to have a doctor close in case of any emergencies. Think God is not interested in our concerns? I’m now convinced more than ever!!!!

2008 Is Off To A Shaky Start

Literally! At 7:20 am, we were jolted from our sleep by an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale. The epicenter was approximately 75 miles to the southeast of Athens. It lasted for about 40 seconds. Our apartment literally shook back and forth giving us quite an adrenaline rush to say the least. Thankfully, we suffered no damage to the house. The news reports that there was only little damage in Kalamata (the epicenter) and no fatalities. We’ll let you know if anything else develops.

Kalanda

There is a Greek tradition that takes place every Christmas Eve and New Years Eve called kalanda. Kalanda (κάλαντα) is the Greek word for carols. It’s a time that kids go around to the houses in their neighborhood singing Christmas carols in return for money (small change), sweets, and/or cookies. As we prepared to move here, we tried to learn about the different traditions, but there is only so much you can know without experience. So, it’s Christmas Eve 2004 and we’ve only been in Greece for 3 months. Emily was just a week old and we get a knock on the door early Christmas Eve morning. I answer it and find three Greek kids with small musical triangles standing at my door. After an awkward moment of silence they start singing a Greek Christmas carol! At the time, I didn’t understand the words of the song and I thought to myself, “How could anybody be so low as to send their children to beg?” You see, there are a lot of beggars on the streets of Athens and I thought they were trying a new tactic to get money (because it was known throughout the neighborhood that we’re Americans and all Americans are rich beyond belief). So, I sternly command the kids to “Get out of here” after they sing. Then I closed the door amazed at how low some will go for money. About 10 minutes later we get another knock at the door and my mind starts to wonder why all the beggars are sending their children to our door on the same day. To my amazement and shame (for telling the kids to leave me alone) I learned that this is a tradition that happens every Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Man did I feel like an idiot!!! Oh well, sometimes you learn a new culture by making mistakes!

10 Years And Counting…

This week marks an anniversary of sorts. It was 10 years ago this week that God touched my heart with a burden so great that it compelled me to surrender my life to the work of making disciples and planting churches in Greece. It was during my freshman year in college that I was initially introduced to the spiritual need of this country. This had a profound impact on me. A week or so before Christmas, after much prayer and soul searching, I surrendered my life to work in Greece full time. At the time, I was working at the Boys & Girls club. Late one Thursday night, right before closing, I got down on my hands and knees in the locker room that I was cleaning and said, “God, if you want me to go to Greece, then open the doors and I’ll go.” During the invitation time on the Sunday night before Christmas I made my decision public to the church. This all happened in December 1997. Upon returning to school from Christmas break, I purchased a big (4x6) Greek flag to hang in my dorm room to continually remind myself of my calling. Ten years later, I’m setting in my home (in Greece) with my wife of 8 years, my 3 year old daughter, and twins on the way, sent by a great church…doing some last minute preparations for the Bible study that we have started! God is truly good in that He has clearly lead us here by opening many doors…to develop devoted followers of Christ for both local and global impact. Honestly, I cannot see myself doing anything else with my life…PERIOD.

Christmas Program and 3rd Birthday Party!

Yesterday was a first for our ministry here. Brandie's children's class performed a Christmas program for us! The girls were so cute dressed up in their red dresses and nice shoes. Brandie and the girls worked very hard over the past few weeks learning their lines and new songs. They sang “Away In The Manger” and “Joy To The World” and Brandie read Luke 2. They also had a line a piece to say. They didn’t freeze up…but performed like Brandie had envisioned. I then delivered a special Christmas message from Matthew 1:18-25 entitled “The Baby In Mary’s Womb.” It was a great time for us to reflect and respond to the challenge to rest in Christ Jesus during the busy Christmas season!

Immediately following our “Reflection & Response Time,” we switched from Christmas Program mode to Birthday Party mode to celebrate Emilys 3rd birthday. She’s been SO excited about her “birthday party, birthday hat, birthday candle, birthday song, birthday presents, birthday dress…” Anybody who’s spoken to her the past couple of weeks knows how excited she was as that is all she's talked about. She had a "Princess Party." Emily is facinated with the Disney princesses. So, it was pink and girly. We had a great time as Brandie made soup then we ate cake and ice-cream. She then opened all her presents from her friends & family! There were so many!!! We are so blessed to have friends & family that care for us so much!!! I want to say a special “THANK YOU” to everybody that helped make this a special day for Emily.

Emily's Christmas Program Dress

Emily and Melanie singing "Away In The Mananger"

Emily's Birthday Dress

Soup, Cake, & Ice-cream For All!!!

Katarina

On Tuesday night, we received a phone call from a Greek lady named Katarina. She lives on the Greek island of Samos. Two months ago, she had a miscarry (she and her husband have two boys aged 5 & 3). The doctors on Samos do not know exactly how to help her. She pulled some strings with a friend of the family to be seen by a doctor at the university hospital here in Athens. She called the other night to see if she could stay with us for half a day. The boat from Samos arrives in Piraeus at 6:00 am. She just needed a place for her and her sons to stay until after lunch yesterday. We had a great day fellowshipping together. She is saved and was raised going to an evangelical church in Kavala, Greece. She’s married to an unbeliever and is a constant witness to her husband and his family. She is literally alone on the island of Samos as there are no Baptist churches or any other kind of churches (except Orthodox). So, please pray for her and the situation with her baby. She will see the doctor on Friday and she promised to update us after the appointment. Also, pray that she will be a great tool in the Father’s hand to reach people with the gospel on Samos!

Email Updates!?!

We want to keep all of our ministry partners updated with the latest news. If you would like to receive our email updates, please email us at thecrabtrees@thecrabtree.org. Have a great weekend!!

Our Doctor Visit

This morning we went to IASO for a regular check-up. We've been dying to know the gender of the twins since we first learned that Brandie was pregnant with two babies. The past few times, the babies have not cooperated with us....today, they finally did. After a very clear ultrasound, we learned that Brandie is carrying identical twin GIRLS!!!! I couldn't believe it when we saw the evidence on the screen...but it was very clear. Both of us thought that there was at least one boy in the bunch. The doctor is also pleased that the placenta has moved up and the babies have moved down. According to what they were able to see, the placenta has re-attached itself. God is awesome!!!

Computer Crash, Thanksgiving, & Family Day

Last Monday (Nov. 19) our laptop finally gave up and died. It was on its way out for several months though. So, last week, we had no compter for a couple of days until we were able to purchase a new one. We would like to take this opportunity to say "thank you" to all the churches that sent extra Christmas support this year...it will be used to pay for most of the computer!!! Greeks do not celebrate American Thanksgiving...but that did not prevent us from preparing our own and over enjoying it! The day after Thanksgiving has become a family day for the Crabtree's. We wake up and go shopping for a new Christmas ornament. This year, we had to buy a new tree (and we found one that is 7 1/2 feet tall!). We then worked on decorating it and the house for Christmas. It's a little early for the Greeks to think about Christmas...but we do it this early anyway as it's one of our favorite holidays! We still do not know the gender of the babies yet. We will see the doctor in the next week to 10 days to do another untrasound. We're so excited about these new little ones. Brandie is doing good right now. She's still taking it easy...though she is doing more than she has the past few weeks. We'll let you know as soon as we know the gender(s). On Sunday, Brandie's Sunday School class finished their fall promotion. They were learning how to obey. Every time they demonstrated obdience, they could put another piece of their flower together. Sunday we presented them with their completed flowers. With the promotion, they were challenged to memorize two verses of Scripture (a good accomplishment for a 2 and 4 year old): Psalm 54:4 and Ephesians 6:1. Please pray that their little hearts will stay soft and that they will determine to live for God for the rest of their lives.

Our Christmas Tree This Year

Our New Laptop

Melanie & Emily Being Recognized For Learning About Obedience

The Right To Protest

The Greek people have a right to protest. It is actually written in the Greek constitution that all Greek citizens have the right to prtoest (as opposed to something that is only assumed). Last night, Brandie and I had a date--she is actually allowed to leave the house now!!! We got a baby sitter for Emily and we went out. As we drive past the Parliment building, Brandie noticed several news cameras set up. As we drove on down the road, we noticed that there were no cars driving in the other lane. This part of town has cars on it 24 hours a day...so we knew something was up. A few minutes later, the traffic came to a "stand-still" as a group of high school and college students were marching in protest. What were they protesting? Private colleges and universities. Right now, the government does not officially recognize foreign or private colleges/universities. To teach in the school system here or to perform any job for the government that requires a degree, that degree must be obtained from a Greek public university. The government here has been put under a lot of pressure to recoginze the foreign unversities (including several unversities from the U.S.). But the students and teachers do not want this recoginition to happen. Why? One theory is that by accrediting the private universities, the average Greek couldn't afford to attend the private universities where the better professors teach. They would have to "settle" for the State college and for an inferior education. Will the government eventually cave into the pressure and accredit these private universities? Who knows. Until a final decision is made, many more protests like the one pictured here will take place and disrupt the daily lives of the rest of us.

We were not moving when I took either picture.

These protests are not violent...just marches and chants demading a change of policy or chants protesting a change of policy.

Update On Brandie

I know it's been a few days since my last post. Life has kind of slowed down (one one sense) and sped up (in another). Brandie has continued my cooking education and I've been busy around the house with the ordinary, everyday stuff. We went back to the doctor yesterday because of a few more complications. We had another ultrasound and the babies look healthy!! They are very active right now. We tried to see the gender of the babies, but they didn't cooperate. "Next time," said Dr. Dion...a favorite expression of Greek :) Furhtermore, the plasinta has reattached and moved up enough that it no longer poses any threat to the babies. We are eternally grateful to God for answering this prayer. Thank you for praying for us during this difficult time. The doctor asked Brandie to not to move around alot for the next month to 6 weeks. So, the next prayer request we have is for God's grace on Brandie's life...that she will be ABLE to stay put for that long. It is her desire to participate in the Christmas holiday season around Athens...and if she's still on the form of "bedrest," then she cannot participate. We're excited about the prospects of the ministry here in Piraeus and we look forward to a GREAT Christmas season.

The "Sweet" Spirit Of A Greek Believer

In the summer of 2005, we received an email from a Greek lady who lives in the States named Roula. She heard of us via a ministry partner in Orlando. She was interested in our ministry to Greeks here (since she herself is a Greek believer). We corresponded a few time via email and a couple of phone calls. In the summer of 2006, Roula and her sister visited Greece to care for their parents. On their way to Samos, their home island, they stopped by our house for some fellowship. They later returned to their lives back in the States. This past summer, their father passed away. Just this past week, their mother passed away. Please pray for them during this rough time. They lost both parents in the span of only four months.

Roula traveled to Greece last month to care for her mother before she passed away. She had planned on leaving for the U.S. this coming Monday. After finishing her business in Samos, she rearranged her plans to visit us longer than originally planned to help out around the house--she wouldn't come if we wouldn't put her to work. Awesome, huh?!?

Before she left Samos, she shared our situation with a new found friend that she made. This new friend is also a believer in Christ!!! They were put together by the grace of God. Katarina (from Kavala, Greece--a wonderful city) wanted to minister to us in a special way, but she was on the island of Samos and could not come to Athens. So, she did so by making some cookies for us to enjoy!!! How humbling it was for us that a total stranger, although a sister in Christ, was willing to minister to us in such a great way!!!

Oh, by-the-way, the cookies are DELICIOUS!!!! Take a look at them.

Koulourakia (Traditional Greek Cookies)

Prayer Request

As you know, a pregnancy that involves twins has a higher risk for complications. We just got back home from the doctor's office...a change of plans (as the original appointment was for tomorrow night) because Brandie spotted a little last night and today. When we arrived at the hospital, Dr. Dion had an ultrasound done immediately. It revealed that the placenta is low in the uterus and has detached a little bit. I'm a missionary, not a medical doctor (like Colby will be some day!!!)...so when the doctor was explaining all of this, I had more questions than answers. After speaking with my Aunt Kathy, who is an R.N. in my hometown, she explained the seriousness of this condition. To prevent the placenta from detaching any more than it already has, Brandie has been put on a form of "bed-rest." That leaves all the cooking, cleaning, caring for Emily, shopping, and ministering on my shoulders!!! I will take this challenge if it means that Brandie's body can rest and her placenta can potentially reattach. What we can ask from you is for prayer. Please pray that God will, by His grace, allow the placenta to reattach without scarring and that the placenta will then move up so the babies can move down into a more natural position. Thank you for your prayers!!!

Dr. Dion & Emily (December 18, 2004)

IASO Hospital

Cold, Sinus, & Misery

So, it's been a couple of days since we've posted anything. The main reason...we've been slightly under-the-weather. We are still alive!!! Now, we are getting better. Tomorrow (Sunday) our Bible study will meet and we look forward to have a good crowd. We will let you know.

Lost & Found

When I found out that Brandie was pregnant, I purchased a set of earrings and necklace to give to her while she was in the hospital after the baby was born. You know what I'm talking about...a gift of appreciation and to show her how much I love her. After we found that she's expecting TWINS, I went ahead and gave her the set. The news hit us kind of hard at first and I thought it would boost her spirits. She wore them proudly to the final few churches that we visited. On the way home from the missions conference at Central Baptist Church in Greeneville, TN (a faithful partner since 2001), Brandie realized that she had lost one of her earrings. She did a lot of hugging that night and we figured that it just came out and was somewhere on the premises of the church.


We called the associate pastor of Central Baptist....David Scott (we stayed with he and his wife during the conference...http://davidandrebekah.blogspot.com/) and asked him to just look around for it. His initial search was fruitless; however, later that week, as he was walking in the parking lot next to the fellowship hall, something caught his eye. It was something shiny! Sure enough, it was Brandie's lost earring. He called us while we were our way to the airport on the 28th of September...the day we left for Greece. He asked us how he could get it to us and we told him to just put it in an envelope and mail it to us. The earring arrived in an envelope today with a very encouraging card from the Scotts!!! Brandie was extremely upset about losing this piece of jewelry that meant a lot to her, even though she'd only had it a few weeks! She prayed and begged God to allow someone to find it; and by His grace, it was found!!!

The Earring, Envelope, & Card From The Scotts

The Lord Takes & The Lord Gives?!?

Okay...I'm talking about a chair. A friend of ours called us the other day and asked us if we wanted their old recliner (they were buying a new one). We talked about it and decided to accept this gift. We went to their house last night for dinner. After eating and some time "chewing the fat," we loaded up the chair in our Hyundai Atos (a very small car) and drove home late last night. After getting home, I sat in my old chair and heard a cracking sound. It broke ("The Lord Takes")!!! Um...no comments from the peanut gallery please. This would have been a problem, if we didn't have another chair in my car waiting to be unloaded ("The Lord Gives"). Unloading the chair was a two man job...so, we called Theresa and Makis to help. The three of us unloaded the chair and positioned it in its new home.

My Old Chair

My New Chair

A small reminder how God cares about the little things in life!!!

Digging My Own Grave With A Fork?

Tonight was a first for me (Adam). Because Brandie is pregnant and I need to learn anyway, she is teaching me how to cook. I understand the basic principles of grilling...but every day cooking is something that has not come easy to me. So, I've been cooking every meal for the family this past week and a half.

Tonight, we had Theresa and Makis over for supper. It was another time for us to get to know them. Brandie wanted to cook, but I stepped in and said, "If I'm going to learn, you are going to have to let me cook." So, I made tetziki (Greek cucumber sauce), Greek Salad, a Greek Chicken & Potatoes dish, the olive oil dip, & the coffee for dessert (I actually ground the beans for it too).

Adam, Brandie, Emily, Makis, & Theresa

It went well. We were able to just sit around and talk about what's going on in the ministry and how life is treating us here in Greece. Theresa is an American from West Virgina and her husband is from here in Piraeus. They are a very sweet couple and it has been a joy getting to know them. We are thankful that God put them into our lives!!!

Gasp! Two posts in two days!?!

I know...I know...we've not been the most faithful bloggers up to this point; however, this is going to change. We made a commitment to keep our friends and family updated with the happenings here in Piraeus..."From The Crabtree."

We had our first new visitors come to the Bible study this morning. Calvin, Lynnette, and Issac (all from Singapore) visited us. Calvin works in the Athens office of Singapore Airlines. The entire family is interested in attending again next Sunday!!!

Calvin, Lynnette, Issac (age 3), Brandie, & Emily

Please pray for our ministry. We really feel that God is about to do a great work through us here in Piraeus!


Adam

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation!!!

Ok…I understand that it’s now autumn and it has been too long since our last post. We have been back in Greece for one week now. Here is how our first furlough went.

We flew to the U.S. on June 4th. We arrived at the Eleftheros Venezelou International Airport in Athens about 3 hours early. After a smooth check-in, we were on the airplane. The aircraft had 3 seats in the middle section, with a 2-seat section on each side. We had the middle 3 seats only 2 rows from the middle bathrooms…a nice location. Emily did pretty well. She began to get restless about 10 hours into our flight (an 11 hour flight from Athens to Philadelphia, PA). She kept kicking the seat in front of her and this did not “fly” with the lady that was sitting in that seat. She eventually changed her seat to get away from this disruptive kid! We arrived in Philadelphia on time. Our tickets had us flying from Philadelphia to NY LaGuardia and then from NY LaGuardia to Charlotte, NC. We still don’t understand how they pick our flights. Because of the air traffic at LaGuardia, we left Philadelphia late and this made us miss our last flight to Charlotte. Upon landing at LaGuardia, we found a U.S. Airways ticket agent and explained our situation. He initially said, “I’m sorry, but the next flight for Charlotte leaves tomorrow at 6:30 am. You will have to retrieve your bags and set here in the airport all night.” This did not set well with us after traveling all day already. He did some finagling and changed our tickets to flying into Greensboro, NC. We contacted Brandie’s mom and dad and they left Charlotte and drove to Greensboro and arrived in time to meet us as we landed. It was a VERY late day and our luggage did not make the trip…but it was delivered the next day to my in-law’s house.

We should have known from this that the summer wasn’t going to be a “vacation.” By definition, a vacation is, “…A period of time devoted to pleasure, rest, or relaxation.” We flew back to the U.S. on Monday and by Thursday; we loaded the car that we were to drive (more on this latter) and drove to Indiana for a family reunion and our first meeting at Bethel Baptist Church in Greenwood, IN. The family reunion went well until my daughter made the decision to push her younger cousin down the steps…something that still haunts Elena to this day. J

The purpose of our trip this summer was to officiate the wedding of my brother Jared to his new wife, Elizabeth. It was on July 7, 2007 (07/07/07…Jared, you better not ever forget your anniversary). Emily was the flower girl (the most beautiful flower girl every…sorry everybody else L)! It was my first wedding and we made it through without any major problems.

The summer saw us driving about 12,000 miles and through 10 different States (in a car that we put a lot of money into to keep it on the road…and we suffered a car accident and a flat tire—two things we never had to face during our initial deputation). We were able to raise much needed financial support for the ministry and we were able to report to several faithful supporting churches. We also had some fun this summer as we visited King’s Island in Cincinnati, OH and Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN. I rode all the roller coaster and thrill rides we could, as there is not a lot of those kind of things here in Greece.

In July, we found out that Brandie was carrying our 2nd child!!! She has had a good pregnancy thus far…then, in September; we went to the doctor in Indiana to hear the heartbeat before we left for Greece. Brandie went into the office by herself for some testing and measurements. My mom, Emily, and myself were in the waiting room. The nurse came out and called us to see the ultrasound. Upon entering the room, I asked Brandie, “How does everything look?” Brandie responded by telling me to look at the monitor. I did and saw the little baby just lying there…then I saw something else. I’m not good at reading ultrasounds…but there was definitely something else on the screen. Then, I saw the SECOND child!!! I about fell over and the reality sat in that we have TWINS on the way. The due date is sometime in March and we do not know the gender of the babies yet; however, we were able to see that the twins are not identical.

In September, we took a couple of weeks to say goodbye to our friends and family, and then on September 28th, we boarded a plane back to Greece. We flew from Charlotte, NC. It was a 3-hour drive from East Tennessee and Emily puked on herself on the way to the airport. Our itinerary was to fly from Charlotte to Philadelphia and from Philadelphia straight to Athens. We left Charlotte late and landed in Philly 15 minutes before our flight to Athens. We had to transfer two different concourses, but we ran and made it…even though they were paging us over the intercom! We didn’t think our bags would make it because of the close connection…but they were the first on the belt at baggage claim in Athens!

We’re very grateful for all those who helped us this past summer. It was full of great memories and we’re looking forward to our next furlough!!!

Our Italian Experience!

Where to begin.....Where to begin? I guess I will begin with why we went to Italy in the first place. Back in January, I turned 30 and Adam decided to take me somewhere that I had always wanted to go. Switzerland was the place, but because of expenses, he decided to take me to Milan, Italy and then to Switzerland for a day by train. (Wasn't that the sweetest thing in the world?) Also because of expense, we waited until now to take the trip.

Adam, Emily, and I left on Tuesday afternoon on a plane from Athens headed for Milan, Italy. We arrived in Milan as it was starting to get dark, so we grabbed a taxi to our Hotel. As we drove along we, our hopes began to sink lower and lower as the cab fare rose higher and higher. When we pulled into our hotel, the fare peaked at 88 euros (which is over $100). This was not a great beginning to our trip and on top of that, it was starting to rain. We talked to the hotel guy and he assured us that that was normal fare from the airport, and we realized very quickly that if we didn't find another way back to the airport, that we were going to be out of money before we got started.

The next morning we awoke to rain, rain, and more rain!!! We got up and decided to go down town anyway. We went down to breakfast and our spirits rose a bit. They had a cappuccino machine!!!!! After we had feasted on croissants and cappuccino, we got our coats and umbrellas and headed out to the metro that took us downtown. Emily thought this was great fun and she even held her own umbrella.

In the Center we just spent some time walking around and getting our bearings. We found our way to the Duomo, which is the second largest cathedral in the world. It was really neat to see. We were also able to see the home stores of Prada, Louis Vitton, and Gucci. It was pretty interesting. Emily was getting mad with the rain and she kept seeing us pass "golden arches" and all that she was interested in was "Fry fries". We got her some of course and then walked around some more and then went back to the room to dry out. We rested and then ended our evening by going to a restaurant by the hotel for pizza and spaghetti. It was WONDERFUL. We ended up eating there every day.

The next morning we woke up to beautiful weather and we went back downtown and toured the DaVinci museum. We were able to see some of his sketch books which was really neat. After lunch, we went to visit DaVinci's "The Last Supper." That was really cool. We really enjoyed that. They only allow 25 people every hour and we had made reservations in advance online. We were in a group of Japanese tourist. It was pretty funny. They liked making faces at Emily, and she liked laughing at them.

On Friday we boarded a train and went to Lugano, Switzerland. The weather was beautiful and so was the scenery. Lugano is situated on a beautiful lake and we spent the day walking the streets, feeding the ducks on the lake, and playing in the parks. We all decided that this was the best day of the whole trip.

Now we are back at home and getting things ready for a group of pastors that are coming to visit us next week. We are excited about it, but we still have so much to do before they come, so I better get to work. Thank you all for sharing our adventures with us. Hope you enjoy!

Brandie

A Balloon from Heaven? By Brandie Crabtree

Since we last wrote, we have finally moved into our new apartment. It took us over a month because of the way that things work here, but those stories will wait for another day. Today I want to tell you about an outing that I had with my daughter.

Adam had several things that he needed to get finished at home, so I took Emily out for a little walk and we ended up at McDonald's. Emily loves her "fry fries"! We had finished our food and I let Emily go and play in the little play room that they have set up there. (It is honestly just a room with a mat on the floor and kids just go and run around and play with one another. Nothing like the play places in the States!) The lady at the front counter had given Emily a balloon. Another little girl was playing with her balloon, so Emily wanted hers to play with as well. She was having a wonderful time batting it around and minding her own business, when a little boy came and smacked it out of her hand. He then took the balloon and ran before I could stop him. He then turned and looked at Emily, put the balloon on the ground, stomped, and popped it. Emily got this look of utter horror on her face and then the tears began to flow. I have never wanted to beat a kid more in my life than I did that little mean boy. Emily was so upset and just kept crying and saying "Mama, Balloono" . The people at the front counter did not have any more balloons available, so I couldn't get her another one. I finally decided just to take her home.

We put our coats on and left for the walk home and she was starting to calm down some. I, on the other hand, was still fuming! We walked around the corner and the wind was blowing quiet hard. All of the sudden, Emily started yelling "Balloono mama, Balloono!" I looked up and sure enough, coming right toward us was a big blue balloon. I managed to catch it and tied it onto Emily's balloon stick from McDonald's. Emily was so excited and held on to it all the way home. I was amazed! Who knows where that "balloono" came from, but I believe it was a balloon straight form God for my little girl. Isn't it just like God to care about the little things! Keep this little story in mind when you feel like God just doesn't care anymore. If he cares enough to send a little girl a new balloon on the wind, just imagine what he would like to do for you!

Dedication...or Stupidity!?!

Well, the past few weeks have been busy. Our landlord has remodeled another apartment in a building in our neighborhood. He told us about it and after looking at it, we've decided to rent it. We're excited about it, but a little nervous too. Here's why: The Indianapolis Colts are in the Super Bowl!!! Yes, it's hard to believe. The team that's been so close so many times has finally made it (without Edge too!!). We are hoping to have our new phone line hooked up by the night of the big game so we can listen to it over the internet. If it's not ready, we'll do something else (like maybe crash at another missionary's house and use their computer to listen to the game). It will start at 1:30 am local time. Dedication...or stupidity? You make the call.

Adam

Meet & Greet

Last Saturday night, we hosted a "Meet & Greet." The main purpose was for us to get to know the people that attend our Bible study better. Satan has a clever way of working and only one lady (Tracey) and her children were able to attend. This did not discourage us because we were able to get to know them better. We played the games Jenga and Uno (and we ate...of course).

Tracey is an incredible encouragement as she is reading her Bible and memorizing verses every week. She is really spiritually hungry. Brandie is teaching her children (4 and 10 years old) every Sunday at the same time as the adult Bible study. Her children are like sponges when they learn. Brandie and I are very happy with the way it's all working out right now.

Because of the "Charismatic Mess" we had about a month ago, we have lost a couple of people (hopefully not forever). Michael and Comfort have decided to attend a charismatic church over our infant Baptist church on the basis of our stand against "tongues" and the entire charismatic movement. Please pray that God will open their eyes and that they will obey His Word.

We have moved our Bible study from Sunday evenings to Sunday mornings and we want to start discipling some that are involved in our ministry on a one-on-one basis. We are still working on our Greek language and hope to have some Greeks attend soon.

This is it for now. Monday is a day we spend as a family doing family things. So, we're off to hang out together (because it's 66 deg. and a beautiful, sunny day).

Adam

Long time...No blog.

Wow. I kept putting off updating my blog again and again....and I finally decided that it's time to update all who are interested in reading this blog. My (Adam) parents and grandmother visited for two weeks and we had a great time together. Two weeks later, my in-laws visited for two weeks. Since the time the Mullendore's left, we've had nothing but doctrinal problems in our Bible study. Some of the people that attend our Bible study are Charismatic. I've taught them for over a year now and the differences are really starting to manifest themselves. We've tried to deal with these with patience, prayer, and the Word. The problems are not going away. Will you please pray for us right now? We are trying to be firm and stand our ground...but also trying to be patient and let the Word of God take it's course and change hearts and minds. This Sunday is a BIG Sunday and we'll update you on Monday how things went.

Thank you for your patience and prayers.

Adam

Finally Finished....

Yesterday, things finally took a turn for the better. My family arrived safely on Tuesday. Our landlord called the plumber to fix our water heater and he was scheduled to come and fix our problems on Tuesday while we were at the airport. The airport is a solid 45 minutes to an hour away from our house, so it was impossible to get back in time for him to fix it on Tuesday. So, we arranged an appointment on Wednesday for him to come back.

Yesterday, the plumber came and in an hour, he had replaced the water heater and cleaned up the mess. We also had a small leak under our sink and the plumber also fixed that! The only problems that we have now is the mold and mildew that grew as a result of the stagnate water in our crawl space.

Please pray for our Greek Bible study that we start on Sunday. There are several people interested in discussing what the bible says. Please pray that they will come and that we’ll be able to speak clearly to the people. And you might want to pray that we don’t have any more disasters between now and then!!!!

Adam

Sunday Catastrophe

Adam's parents and grandma are due to arrive here in the morning and we have been preparing for their arrival. We have been busy cleaning and getting the house ready and in the midst of all of that, our hot water heater that is in the crawl space above our bathroom busted and has made a real mess. It has caused mold to grow in our bathroom. Our landlord has been gone to the island and has not been able to take care of it (they take care of things for the first 2 years and then we're on our own after that). We finally got a call from her on Saturday and she is suppose to call a plumber this morning. I just pray that they are able to fix it today since our company arrives in the morning, but as you know, this is Greece and we don't have very many high hopes of that happening. :) I am just thanking God that this happened while it is still under the 2 year contract and that we don't have to pay for it!! God's timing is best even though it doesn't seem so to us sometimes.

A couple of weeks ago, we had to replace our kitchen faucet and then yesterday, I went to change the trash under our sink, and found a huge leak in the pipes! I got the water up and put a big bowl under the pipes to catch the water until we can get it fixed. By this time, I had Emily down for a nap and was getting ready to get in the shower before our Bible Study. People were to be at our house within an hour and all of the sudden.....our power went out! I didn't panic because I just figured that a breaker flipped. Adam checked, and all of the breakers were fine. He checked the main breakers in the house and it was fine also. After calling a friend for help (poor Adam doesn't know much about all of these things to do repairs and things) we determined that it was the main breaker in the basement of the building. By this time, one of our African men (Michael) was here for Bible study and he went down to check it out with Adam. It was the one fuse that only the electric company can fix, however, Michael rigged it some way to get us through the Bible study, but told us not to use any more power than was necessary. It worked!

Later after the study, a Greek friend of ours called and told us that there is a number at ΔΕΗ (the electric company) that you can call and they should come even tonight and fix it. We called and they sent a man over and when he looked at the "rigged" fuse that Michael had fixed... he said "Well, you have power and this fuse is fine, so there is nothing I can do... Why did you call me here?". I was so aggravated at him! I told Adam, "Well, we will just use everything like normal and run our air conditioners like normal and then when it blows and we have no power we will call them back and tell them that now we have no power!" When we finally got into bed last night, we could only laugh a bit at all of the things that are happening all at once.

Now it is 10:39 am on Monday and Adam's parents will be here in 24 hours and we still have a leaky pipe and a busted water heater. Our missionary friend across town just called and said that he has a electrician friend that sold him the fuse that we need for our power and Adam has left to go and get it. I am waiting for the call to say that the plumber is coming (by faith of course, HA HA), and Adam's dad said he would help with the leaky pipe when he got here. Yesterday it all seemed very overwhelming, but this morning, things are looking a bit better. Please pray that we get all of these things worked out!

Brandie

The day that finally ended...

Yesterday was supposed to be a great day. A friend of mine was coming from a village outside of Athens to help me pass out literature in our neighborhood. The day started good, as I got up early and prepared myself for the day ahead.

For the past few days, we have noticed some discoloration of the celeing in our bathroom. Two days before, I had checked for water in the little cubby hole above the bathroom (this is our storage place as well as the location of our hot water heater). There was no water up there. When my friend arrived at the house, he noticed the celeing and upon futher examination, we found our storage space full of water!! Needless to say, we were not able to go pass out any literature because we were trying to clean up the mess. Fortunately, the only casualities were two small bags.

The next step is..."how do we get this fixed?" Our landlord lives in Astoria, New York. The time that we found the water was about 11:00 am here in Greece which is 4:00 am in New York. So, we waited for two hours and woke him up with the news. He then called his mother, who lives in Greece and takes care of the property in his absence. Currently, she's on vacation and is set to return on Friday! Nothing can be done before she returns...so, we're in sort of a bind.

To complicate things further, my parents and my grandma will arrive here in Greece next Tuesday! My landlord assured me that the work will be done by Monday, the question is, "Which Monday?" We'll see.

Our DSL was down all day yesterday and so we did not have the chance to open any email all day. We used the chance to get ready for our company. Late last night (actually early this morning), we finally were able to connect and we found out that my health insurance (Christian Care Medi-Share--if you are considering them...DON'T) will not cover a doctor bill that I had in March! So, I spent a long time online shopping for new insurance.

Needless to say, I was glad to finally go to bed at 3:45 am this morning. I guess this day kind of represents just how unpredictable life is.

Adam

108?!

I have been thinking about starting a blog for our ministry for a few weeks now. The idea started while I was doing research for the fantasy football. I found many blogs on fantasy football strategies and then it hit me..."Why not start a blog of our life experiences?" Well, this is the result.

Does title sound weird? As I am type this message, the outside temperature is 108 degrees Fahrenheit!! This summer has been very nice so far, but this week has been very steamy. This proved to be my motivation..."I am staying indoors today!!"

Tomorrow morning, I will pass out some literature in our neighborhood. We're trying to promote the Greek Bible study that will start in September. It's always exciting to give out literature to Greeks because you never know what reaction will be (thankful, appathy, angry, upset, enraged, violent etc.). Unfortunately the weather man has predicted that the temperature will be similar to today's...HOT. Oh, well!!!

That's enough for my first post. Hope you enjoy reading it.

Adam