Wow. Two entries in the same year; I am on a roll! ;)
My last entry was written a few weeks ago, and it’s more or
less (more) a reflective piece that practically wrote itself. It was begging to
be written since I first heard it speak to me along the desert roads of
Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas, as we made the drive home from California.
But God has also been speaking new goals. He rarely gives me
New Year’s resolutions because He knows I operate on an academic calendar. (Have I really been a student or an educator
for almost 30 years?) I don’t typically set new goals or ask the Lord for fresh
insight in January; instead, I take time at the end of each school year to ask
Him what goals/resolutions/so forth I should set for the upcoming summer and
school year.
Here are some of the things the Crenshaws have on their 2014-2015
school year agenda:
1.
Antioch’s Night Training School.
Can I just confess, when Craig
brought up the Discipleship School, I cried. (Just like I cried the other 11
times he’s brought it up in 11 years.)
Can I also please recap my last
three years? Move to San Diego; got evicted by a landlord who was in
foreclosure; moved again and bought a house; bought said house while I was in
the hospital delivering Christopher; (side note: I left said hospital with said
baby without my husband because he was signing closing papers!); Oh, had a baby
without any friends or family nearby; found a new church because the church we
loved and had walked with for 10 years was just too far from the new house; was
hired as an Assistant Professor at California Baptist University; commuted 140
miles round trip 2-3 (usually 3) days a week; loved my job/hated the weight of
all my professional and personal responsibility; on my first baby’s first
birthday, we found out we were having another baby; therefore, I didn’t resign
my contract at CBU; I cried—about the loss of my job and about the surprise
pregnancy, but I also sighed deeply with relief; had another baby—a miracle, no
less; volunteered at A21 briefly, made friends at church, and finally got to
enjoy motherhood; and then we sold our beautiful San Diego house and moved
home.
To quote my friend Jonathan Lair,
“When I think about the Crenshaws, it makes my head spin.” Yeah, mine, too.
So, why on earth would I consider
doing a year-long, discipleship-intense training school? Because my head is
still spinning, and I really do believe the school will help center it. I’ve
come to the end of my bucket list (PhD? check. Babies? check. Teach full time
at a university? check. Publish? check. Ride in a hot air balloon? Listen to
Hillsong’s “Oceans” while walking along the beach? check, check.) So, I’m
trusting the Lord will use the discipleship school to steady, re-center, and
re-envision me.
It might very well be that this
year is not my time to complete the program. The staff at Antioch might say
something along the lines of, “Girl, you’re crazy.” I’m fully prepared for
that. If so, I can fully respect that,
and we’ll revisit the thought again the following year.
2.
Adoption.
Those who know our road to Christopher know it was fraught
with medical intervention, miscarriage, broken prayers, and a hell of a lot of
money. Corban was truly an unexpected miracle. But my dream to adopt never tapered.
In fact, I’m more certain than ever it’s a God given dream because, in my
fleshy hard mommy days when I want to put my own kids up for adoption, I still
feel the tug to make room for one more. The thing is, when God speaks
something, to do anything other than the very thing He spoke is disobedience. Now,
it’s just a matter of timing.
Sometime in the 2014-2015 school year, we’re going to begin
the adoption process… again. I’ve promised myself—and to anyone who has ever
asked—I would not adopt until both Christopher and Corban are potty trained.
So, Christopher is currently strapped to the poo-poo/pee-pee potty with a sippy
cup 24 hours a day. Corban slumps nearby in a Bumbo taking potty training
notes. (Kidding. No one call CPS).
We started our application here in 2010:
This is also a great resource for international adoptions:
3.
Baylor.
I’m teaching part time at Baylor, a graduate class this
summer and one or two undergraduate classes this fall/spring. It would be an
absolute dream if Baylor offered me a full time position in a year; if they
offered it to me this year, it would be an absolute nightmare. I’m holding on
very loosely. In the meantime, I’ll continue teaching, publishing, and writing.
4.
Jamberry.
The thing about the training school/family mission trip and
adoption is that they both cost a lot. Like, a lot-a lot. About $10,000 and
$30,000 respectively. Craig has pointed out on numerous occasions, like a lot-a
lot of occasions, that $40K will chip away at our Dave Ramsey savings account.
We’ve brainstormed like crazy people different ways to earn
funds without having to ask for funding. Please hear our hearts on this: there
is nothing wrong with raising support. If you have sent us a support letter for
mission trips, the church you’re planting, the children we’re sponsoring, the
organizations we’re funding… please continue to do so!
But maybe it’s because we’ve cultivated a lifestyle of
giving generously that it’s a little harder for us to ask? Maybe it’s because
we spent the first 8 years of our marriage paying off six figures in student
loans/tuition? So, we know if we work a little harder and save a little more,
we can do it. We can come up with the funds.
Either way, we really want to raise support for adoption and
the training school without draining our savings. (We’re pretty faithful to Dave Ramsey's principles.)
We calculated how many classes I would have to teach at
Baylor to cover those costs. About 9 or 10 classes, which is about 5-7 more
classes than I’m even allowed to teach in a given year. So, that’s a no go.
All roads lead to Jamberry…
For the last several weeks, I’ve been joining three of my
dear friends and their kiddos on Friday morning play dates. Two of these
friends have done very, very well with Jamberry. It’s not the sort of business
venture in which I would normally be interested. Actually, I never really
thought I’d be interested in any business. But here’s what I am interested in:
foremost, working with like-minded friends I trust and respect; working with a
company that sells products I can get behind (and like using); working a little
more hours in the week to reach our adoption goals.
So, if you’d like to support our adoption/training school
fund, check out Jamberry. Or you can just give us money. We’ll take that,
too. :)
And some fun pictures from the last 6-8 months...
