Woo Pig Sooie

I was looking for a song about Arkansas in order to announce our state change. You know, something like Georgia on My Mind, Rocky Top, Sweet Home Alabama. But no, all i could find was this...

A chant of “Woo Pig Sooie” is known worldwide as a Hog Call. Just like any good tradition, there are lots of versions of the Hog Call (even spellings).

A properly executed Hog Call is composed of three “calls,” slowly raising one’s arms from the knees to above the head during the “Woo.” Traditionalists prescribe an eight second “Woo.” The fingers should be wiggled and the “Woo” should build in volume and pitch as the arms rise.

Upon completion of the “Woo,” both arms are brought straight down with fists clinched as if executing a chin-up while yelling, “Pig”. The right arm is extended up and out with the “Sooie.”

A full Hog Call -- the kind one will always hear victorious Razorback teams execute after contests -- requires two more Hog Calls, followed immediately by a “Razor-Backs” yell, coordinated with a pumping motion of the right arm after the third “Sooie.” So, in order, the full Hog Call is:
Woooooooo. Pig. Sooie!
Woooooooo. Pig. Sooie!
Woooooooo. Pig. Sooie!
Razorbacks!

All I can say is, not a chance I will be doing that! And I mean it!

adventures await

I am too tired to give a long update and too tired to enter in all the addresses I need to in order to make this private. So, for those of you who do not yet know, Dec 31st was Chip's last day with Campus Outreach. God had been redirecting him and we were being faithful to seek Him and our next step in this little temporal journey called life. On January 7 the job we thought was going to be the perfect job for Chip fell through. As soon as the news was delivered that it was not an option, an other option was on the table. It was an offer to work with a great company doing what he wanted to do, but it was out of state. This was hard to take at first because we love where we are and we have yet to be here for a full year. But, a few days after the news we met with the company, heard more about the new job opportunity and knew it was what we had to and wanted to do. I have told many people that the only sacrifice we are making with this next step is leaving friends and moving farther from family. There are countless positives to working for this company. And I really think it is going to be a perfect job for Chip. He has been out of town training all week (the first of 8) and he is so excited...about the company, the new team, his job responsibilities, etc.

We have our moments of sadness. Church is hard. We love the people here. Since the news is so new people are just finding out so telling people is sometimes hard. Telling the kids teachers and watching them play with their friends is hard. I take comfort in that they are young. But, I am sad that they do have great friends here. But I am thankful that they have made such good friends here in such a short period of time. Chip and I have made some great friends here too. Yes we moved here with people whom we have known and worked with forever. But we have also made some great friends that we feel like we have known for a lot longer than 11 months. So that gives hope for the next place we will live. When I was putting the kids to bed the other night I prayed for God to give them new friends. I want to teach them to pray for things like that. To pray about all things. God most certainly cares about our friendships. It is very weird to think about Chip and I going to a totally new place where we know NO ONE and meeting people. Chip and I are so different. When we met some people here for the first time I told Chip that I was nervous because I wondered if they liked us. His response was, "Why wouldn't they!" I just had to laugh.

The key to all this and the theme of our sadness is centered around the body of Christ. It is painful when there is a tear or a sever in the physical body. This is true for the spiritual body as well. The difference is that we can and will go attach to another part of the body of Christ. It is like a transplant, not an amputation. So, we will go to our new destination and look for a body that is in need of some Crooms. We pray that God will fit us right where we are needed.

peace

thankful for the prayers and the comfort of the Lord. i am feeling peaceful.

what i am living

the heart of man plans his way but the Lord establishes his steps. proverbs 16:9

i have not posted anything about this because i am a "facts person", i like details. if i don't have the facts or the details i would rather not say anything. but, chip and i need wisdom and clear direction from the Lord on our next step in life. the step is upon us. it feels like an escalator. you take the right step at the right time and your journey is a smooth one. you misstep and it could be painful. i am not naive enough to think that God wants our life to be smooth. i know ultimately He wants us to follow Him closely, glorify Him in all we do and in the end look more like Him because He has sanctified us along the way.

more to follow later as i get more information. please just pray for us.

i grabbed my hymnal today to sing/read "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" (psalm 90:1). In getting to it I stumbled upon "God Will Take Care of You" (nahum 1:7). Beside that hymn was "A Shelter in the Time of Storm"(psalm 62:7), "Savior Like A Shepherd Lead Us" (john 10:3), "He Leadeth Me" (exodus 15:3)... The verse reference correspond to the hymn. Thankfully they are posted right under the hymn title for me to take comfort. Apparently this section of the hymn book is for Guidance & Care. I will be camped out here for the next few days/weeks/years.

Lets be honest

At the end of some days you just really feel the need for something sweet and/or a stiff drink. Tonight, my beverage of choice will be a roaring cup of hot chocolate. I think I will get crazy and add some marshmallows.

Revolving Door

I should be cleaning my kitchen, which includes sweeping under Nate's seat. I have already cleaned the kitchen once today, which included sweeping it in its entirety. However, to spice it up, tonight I will add mopping to the mix. Agh. Repeat outloud: I am thankful for a home to clean, food to cook and a family after whom to clean.

Chip just told me that he would mop!!!

Atti-two-de

I have been meaning to post this for a while. I had to now since Nate was screaming at me for an orange. He will ask nicely once, maybe, and then it turns into an all out scream-fest until he gets the object of his desire. I try not to give in but you know sometimes I just want to stop the screaming at all costs. When you tell him to say please he says No! We were having a staring contest earlier today seeing who would cave first. Suddenly he broke into a smile. Each day he is creeping closer and closer to TWO. I think I may get to experience my first bought with the terrible twos. Hold me Lord!

Simple and Sweet

We chose to eliminate Santa from our Christmas tradition. Early in the holiday season Streed said something about Santa. I simply said, "what if he doesn't come to our house this year?" He asked why and I just said "Lets just get presents from those that love us and Celebrate Jesus rather than focusing on gifts." It should not have been a big deal. We really never spoke of Santa much and they only got one thing "from him" last year anyway. It was fine until about two days till Christmas. Before bed, in his extremely tired state, Streed was crying because Santa was not coming. Probably because everywhere you go people ask what Santa is bringing you. It is awkward for a 5 year old to say "He's not coming to our house." It was awkward for me to have to explain it after they would say, "Sure he is." Streed was fine once we talked about opening presents in a few days and then by naming everything he got in Mobile the previous weekend.

In December we briefly spoke of the real St. Nick. Next year we will do a better job with that. We did buy for one Angel Tree child. Maybe next year we can celebrate St. Nick by combining his generosity with our Angel Tree giving. Just a thought. Anyway, we decided to open presents on Christmas Eve morning and focus only on Jesus on Christmas day. We loved it. The kids got a few small gifts from us. So, we opened presents and ate breakfast. We laid low most of day and went to a Christmas Eve service that night and a friend's house after that.

Christmas morning Ella and I were up first. We set up a nativity scene on the kitchen table with candles all around it. Then we went and got Daddy and Streed and told them baby Jesus was born. We all came to the kitchen and read the nativity story and sang some carols. After that Chip and the older kids went outside and saw the new swing set that Chip's parents got them. It was still in the box so they looked forward to playing on it that afternoon. (We would have given it to them Christmas Eve as well but the weather was horrible and it would have been torture to have to hear about it all day.) At 10:30 that morning we went to our church for a brief service. It is by far one of my new favorite traditions. It was sweet being with our church that we love on Christmas morning reading scripture and singing a few hymns. After that we came home and cooked. Chip and the kids and I ate a simple meal: turkey, corn casserole, grammy's peas and rolls. For dessert we had a Jesus cake. We spent the rest of the day watching Chip put together the swing set. A few friends came and ate leftovers that night. Chip and I agree it was our best Christmas thus far.

Grammy's Peas
Le Sueur peas (reserve some juice)
cream cheese
pimentos (for color)
salt and pepper
Heat in a sauce pan, add juice as needed till consistency desired

This is my grammy's recipe. It is a Christmas must for our family.

Jesus Cake
chocolate cake (represents sin)
white icing (purity and the forgiveness of sin)
wrapped in evergreens (representing everlasting life)

makes me smile

Pearl, why don't you get us some of that bologna cake out of the ice box.

thought i would make you smile too

Merry Christmas from The Crooms