New Business

Ben is involved in a new business ideas with Kami’s brother Jeremy and two other partners, Jon Collins and Stephen Mowry. The idea is based upon creating a site where people can watch epipheos and get one made for them. Don’t know what an epipheo is? Watch the video. (Don’t worry if you didn’t already know. we made up the word. )

Crawford Christmas Card 08

Dear____________, (to retain the spirit of xmas please print and fill in your name)

Please accept our humble apologies for the tardiness of this years x-mas card but due to budget cuts and overall recessional depression we have had some staffing difficulties at crawfordlife.com. It also does not help that the median age of our team is 12.  Without to much ado, here is just enough info to make you feel like you are a part of our lives without too much to make you feel un-comfortable.

Family: Our family has made some big changes for 08. One of the biggest is that we have decided to start homeschooling our kids. Whoooaaaa…..hold on a sec. We know what you are thinking and we have not become one of THOSE families ……… yet. To date, Kami does not wear a fanny pack and our kids are allowed to eat refined sugar.  Our decision to home school was based upon a desire to create more freedom and provide a more conducive learning environment to the purpose of our children’s education and development.

In June, our living situation changed dramatically when we had the Rubatinos (Jeff, Rainbow, Lavinia, & Sunshine) move in with us. Rainbow has been a great help  with the children’s education and also cooks and does laundry which leaves only the cleaning for Kami. Community living has it’s fair share of bumps but overall has been a really valuable experience and it looks like we will carry on with the “experiment” into 09. Stay tuned for our 3 part documentary into our home life which will be released on crawfordlife.com whenever we get around to it.

Ben: Has had some pretty dramatic shifts in growth and development due to his involvement in the 12 step process. He has continued the process of blogging his experience and thoughts which was a discipline even he is surprised he has stuck with.  He is currently working on some new business ideas which are too numerous and convoluted to mention here but updates will be available if you are into that type of thing. He summited Rainier, for the second time with his brother, in September and just recently went x-country skiing for the first, and possibly the last, time.

Kami: Has a little bit more of a grasp of what it means to manage a household of 6, than she did a year ago. Enough so that she has expressed interest in managing a household of 7!!  One of the biggest changes for Kami in 08 has been the introduction of a weekly schedule (or “rhythm” as we refer to it). Built into her schedule are times for when to wake up, daily family AM meetings, date nights, going to the zoo, the library and her favorite time of the day: an hour and a half of uninterrupted reading and prayer.

Dove: is 7. This year she learned how to swim and has been reading paragraph books. She has been a great older sister and takes care of her younger siblings. She enjoys helping with the cooking and enjoys drawing. She loves taking pictures and uploading them to her blog. One of her favorite events are date nights with her dad. She currently resides in a tent.

Eden: is 6. She is the quietest of the bunch. She gets along really well with her brothers and sisters and likes building forts and playing “animals” with her siblings. This year she got her ears pierced on a date with her father. She just recently learned how to swim without a life jacket and she wants to learn to play the guitar. She likes going to the museum and Kentucky.

Seven: is 4 (yeah we know, it’s confusing). This last month he was counting “one, two, three, four, five, six, seven……………………………….that’s me, eight, nine…”.  Seven can be found more often than not wearing his spiderman outfit. He enjoys swords, guns, legos, and copying his sisters.  He has been working on his letters and numbers and can spend hours a day coloring. He usually tapes his art around the entire house but prefers to display it in his parents house. Every night he prays that he will be able to “protect his sisters.” He likes going on guys night out with Dad when there are no girls.

Memory: …..is trouble. 2 years old and she is the spiciest of the bunch. This girl is able to hold her own. She enjoys bossing around her older sisters and brother as well as her parents. She just recently learned how to use the “potty” and has learned that the more frequently she goes the more chocolate chips she will receive. She likes jumping, running away, and saying “no” to offers of a hug.

09: Family Camp I on Whidbey Island during July, maybe moving to a bigger house, carrying on our family mission of Discipleship and Growing the Body of Christ, Great Wolfe Lodge, Neighborhood movie nights on the side of our house during the summer. Kami and Ben are looking to grow closer together as a couple as they learn how to relate as spouses and parents in a more healthy way.

CRAWFORDlife.com

Check our site for updates and news on what our family is up to.

Merry Xmas and Happy St. Patricks Day!

Merry Christmas 2007

THIS YEAR

We experienced life with six! We still live in our house on the corner in Kirkland. This year we met our neighbors and hosted our first annual neighborhood BBQ. This summer we went to Lakeside Bible Camp on Whidbey Island for a week. Ben and Kami both went to this camp when they were kids so it was strange going with their kids. In September we drove across the country in an RV stopping in Yellowstone and in Denver to visit Ben’s friend from high school, Travis. Starting in September we lived in Kentucky for almost 3 months. As you can imagine, relocating your family across the country for three months is no easy task but it was a great experience for all of us. While over there we stayed with our friends the Lutkinhoffs, who also have 2 kids. This was only slightly more chaotic than we were used too. We also went though a 9 week discipleship program called “The Story Formed Life” with, Kami’s brother, Jeremy’s church. Kami was able to spend time with her family and Ben was able to get some work done. One of the highlights was a 10 day trip to Europe without kids. While in Europe we went to our friend Berni’s wedding, went to Venice, and Florence. This was all pretty boring, though, compared to hanging out with Berni and his family in the Austrian countryside.

BEN: Got an iphone. He is still enjoying being self-employed. This year he worked on his property investment company, running the blackjack team and a couple of offshoot projects which include a film documentary project and an instructional website. He still plays racquetball regularly with his dad and also enjoys climbing 3 days a week with his kids. This last year he climbed Mount Rainier twice with Eric, who he stayed with in KY, and his brother Justin. He also did the STP (Seattle to Portland) bike ride in one day in August. He will never do it again in one day.

KAMI: Really enjoyed the time she spent with her family in KY. She has recently been studying different curriculum methods for homeschooling. This year she learned how to play racquetball with Ben and they played almost every week on their “date night”.  She is keeping pretty busy feeding, clothing, disciplining and enjoying the 4 hyperactive bodies that are always trying to take over her life. Kami was not able to take as many naps as she would have liked in 2007.

DOVE: Is 6. When in KY she took ballet lessons with her Aunt Keri while in KY. She will be homeschooling for her first grade year and just started taking swim lessons again.  She does a great job helping out around the house and woke her mother up the other day announcing that she had poured cereal for her brother and sisters, taking care of breakfast (she used heavy whipping cream instead of milk).

EDEN: Is in preschool and enjoys crafts and snack time. The craft part we kind of made up because all she really talks about is the snack time. She also enjoyed the ballet lessons with her aunt and just got her first pretend laptop which she spends as much time as possible on. She just turned 5.
MEMORY: Turned one this year. She likes to smile and crawl around the house. Her favorite thing is to take the magnets off of the fridge. She learned hot to go up and down stairs in KY. She took her first steps on Thanksgiving Day. We think she knows how to identify her nose but she’s not quite 100% on that

The Future
We are pretty excited about this year. We spent quite a bit of time thinking though our family’s vision and how to create a rhythm that reflects our values of loving God and people. Our goal is that this will be reflected in our daily, weekly, monthly, and annual life to serve as constant reminders of who we are and what we are about as a family with a mission. We look forward to updating our website monthly so check in to see what’s going on for 2008!