Adjusting at Home

Sent: Thu 8/28/2008 4:12 PM

Dear Friends,

Over a month has passed since I last updated you on our progress. This report will provide the final piece of the KFOR deployment puzzle. Overall we had a great experience due largely to your prayers. Nonetheless, it's good to be home.

Getting out of Kosovo proved much more difficult than getting in. Our flight was postponed a day and then delayed many hours before arriving. We waited in the Prishtina airport for over 12 hours. At one point they were thinking of sending us back to CBS. LTC Pitstick told them that we would wait as long as needed at the airport. He was no more anxious to return to the base than we were.

After out-processing through Camp Atterbury in a matter of days, we found ourselves traveling home on a chartered bus. I doubt that I'll ever again travel on such a nice ride. Not only was it heading to Fort Dodge and home, but it was a luxury coach set up to accommodate 22 passengers. I'd never gotten such good rest riding a bus before. It's likely I'll never do so again, but it was great while it lasted. Our buses were escorted in by the Patriot Riders whose participation we truly appreciated (see photos). We had a brief ceremony at Harlan Rogers Park in Fort Dodge, and were quickly engulfed in the arms of our families-- thankful that the waiting had ended.

Arrival at home, however, marks the beginning of the transition back. While welcomed, the adjustments home can be difficult since our families have learned to live without our presence in the home. Once we arrive, life does not and can not immediately revert to what it was before we left. Soldiers have grown. Families have grown. Now they must learn to live together again. It's a wonderful process though not a painless one.

My family took the weeks right after my return to spend time together at our church's family camp in Clear Lake and to travel out to Mt. Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota. My wife and I also took our son, Ethan, to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, for further testing and consultation with the doctors there. We truly appreciated the thorough exams and interviews we've had with the medical staff there. They have made some major adjustments in our treatment of Ethan's seizures and I feel like we are beginning to see progress in his overall condition.

One specific answer to prayer has come in a song. The boys have always enjoyed singing with me when I put them to bed at night. One of our favorites has always been, "Victory in Jesus", an old hymn considered by many as the Baptist National Anthem. Ethan used to outsing us all, lustily bellowing away with full voice. But when I was home in May, I noticed that he had reverted dramatically in his verbal skills to the point that he couldn't even sing with us. He just couldn't recall the words much less get them out. This grieved me and I began praying that he might get his song back once again. I'm thankful to say now that he can sing the chorus with us (if we slow it down), and is loving it like he did in the old days. I nearly choke up as we sing the words, "He (Jesus) plunged me to victory-- beneath the cleansing flood." Thank God Jesus cleanses us from sin and its debilitating effects on our minds and bodies. We continue to pray that Ethan will one day have his seizures under control and his mind fully able to comprehend all that His loving Lord has done for him.

In closing, let me answer the question I most often get these days. Folks frequently ask, "Does this mean you'll be home for good?" Truthfully, I don't know the answer. Our Brigade is slated to deploy around 2010-2011, but it's anyone's guess if or when that will come about. Too many factors make that very unpredictable. What I do know is that I'm home now and need to live each day as if it were my last. I've learned we have too little time for whining and bickering when there is so much living to do. I've had to re-focus on what important life lessons I want to pass on to my children, especially my boys, recognizing the uncertainty of the future. This is honestly how I want to live even if I never have another opportunity to deploy again. Though I'm home, I'd still welcome your prayers as God brings me to your mind. I've been so blessed to know you and to serve the Lord along with you. Thanks, thanks ever so much again for your prayers.

Ready to serve without reserve,
Pastor/Chaplain Mike Crawford

PS. Please check my website from time to time as I plan to continue posting updates. Many thanks to Pastor Kevin Subra for managing the website and helping to share the story of God's work among our troops.