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!!!