Happy Birthday Mik!  

Mik has been with our family since the end of May...and he has grown 5 inches in 9 months.  He has grown tall and handsome.  Mostly he has grown as a person, as a member of the family, as a son, as a brother, as a friend, as a student. 

 He is a very gentle giant.  

Mik has had a pretty awesome week!  

We celebrated his birthday as a family.

Then he got an award at school.  It was an award for

 "Appreciating where he lives and goes to school".

  I'm so proud of all the progress Mik has made in 9 months time. 

 He has worked hard.

Now, as we speak....we have a barn full of friends that came over to celebrate with him. 

 He is pretty happy about this whole "birthday thing"....no matter what age he is.

Happy Birthday Esther!

Happy Birthday Esther!

  Yes, she is a teenager.

  It has been evident for a while that this girl is ready to be a full-on teenager, and it is finally reality.  

Thankfully, I LOVE TEENAGERS. 

Because here in a few days I will have 4 of them in this family.

 I love so many things about teens.

They are a bit reckless and crazy, and they live out loud with passion and they think they are invincible! 

 They live like they will live forever.

Teens that have their hearts right and their lives sold out for Jesus are the most effective people to get the Good News out because they live without all the fear and the stuff and the burdens that tend to creep in and weigh us down.

We celebrated and celebrated in total Esther style.  

We enjoyed friends, and chipati, and dancing, and ice cream, and music, and it just goes on and on!  

We have had Tucker,  one of our bestest friends in the whole Ugandan world, come stay with us for a few days,

Charlie and Tucker are friends and brothers and they have spent time together on both sides of the world. 

 and our Minnesota daughter, Catrina got to come for a sweet visit. 

Catrina lived with us for 10 months a few years ago..and it does my heart good to know she is willing to come back.  lol.  We didn't scare her off.  :)

 It was a true world wide celebration.  

We have so much to be thankful for and I can't think of a better time to remember that then

 Miss Esther's 13th Birthday!!

Livin' on LOVE!

25 years ago today, on Valentines, I said "yes" to love.  

It was a very worldly love, but it was

 yes 

and it was

 love,

with a whole bunch of lust in there.

My man asked me to marry him on our first Valentines together.

  My kids laugh at us all the time, because our story is not romantic and it is not recommended!

It is by the GRACE of God and HIS relentless LOVE that we have continued in LOVE.

 We were destined to fail...we pretty much did everything wrong. 

 On Valentine's Day 25 years ago, I thought  we were breaking up, and my wild man ended up asking me to marry him, and I said,

 "YES"! 

We kept it quiet because I had to finish high school first.  ha!

I fell in love with Charlie when I was barely 17 years old.

  He was a wild man. 

 He rode bulls and drove a "predator van" ( that's what we call it now). 

 It was a beautiful van with a bed and a tv in the the back.

 *kids - do not try this at home*. 

Our relationship has gone like this: 

 No plan, just wing it, and live on LOVE.

And thanks be to God...the maker and author of LOVE...He has guided us and LOVED us and taught us 

WHO LOVE

really is.

 We have just continued to say "yes" to LOVE, and 

LOVE has GROWN!

Over the years....the Lord has developed in us TRUE love. 

 As we have learned to love God and say "yes" to the source of LOVE we have learned to love each other better.  

God has been so gracious and patient with us to teach us to love and protect us as we have learned and grown.  

He has taught us to LOVE, by LOVING us perfectly.

My man is still wild, and I'm more in LOVE with him than ever before.

I pray we continue to say

 YES to LOVE

 and GROW MORE IN LOVE.

Peace and Passion

Hebrews 12:28-29

The Message (MSG)

28-29 Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? 
Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God.
 For God is not an indifferent bystander. He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed. 
God himself is Fire!

Peace and Passion.

They seem a bit contradictory. 

 The Holy Spirit is often described as "fire" or "water" in God's word.  

 I was thinking about that the other day, as I'm watching someone in my world who has walked away from a whole bunch of good stuff that makes a whole bunch of good sense,  and set it all down in an effort to  pursue a passion,

 a passion to follow God....and there is peace.

A river can rage and destroy,
and cleanse and cool, 
at the same time it can be the most peaceful sound and sight ever experienced.
A river is the most inviting in the hot and dry.

A fire can rage and destroy,
 and cleanse and warm,
 and be the most peaceful sight and feel ever experienced .
A crackling fire is the most inviting in the cold and the dark.

I think Peace is misunderstood. 

 Many times, it is thought of as quiet and still and 

BORING.

I think Peace...true Peace...our Peace...is 

WILD and full of PASSION.

Luke 3:16

The Message (MSG)

16-17 But John intervened: “I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

Lord, 
Teach me to live with 
Passion and Peace.  
Baptize me in your
 FIRE AND WATER.

Mikiyas William Brewer

Mikiyas William Brewer
is our son!

He is from Ethiopia.

His birthday is Feb. 26

We would like to announce that Mik is officially and legally our son.

He has been with us since May 25, 2013.

On January 23, 2014

 he became legally adopted into our family forever.

We learned of his story in early May and prayed and asked the Lord for direction on what He would have us to do.

We knew the Lord was directing us to bring Mik into our family.

We only knew his story, we did not get to meet him, until he came to live with us.

The timing was perfect, as we had the entire summer to bond and get to know each other before school started.

We had a very busy summer and Mik handled it all in stride.  

It was hard to remember that he had only been with us for a short time.

Mik has a very kind and tender heart.

He is very smart and willing to try anything.

He is very eager to please and help.

I will come home with a load of groceries and he flies out the door to bring them all in at once.

  He might break every egg, and smash all the bread on the way inside, but he will get all the groceries in and put away before anyone else even has a chance to get their shoes on and out to the car. 

 Our chips are more like "crumble" since Mik came home to live with us, but I can have a car unloaded in about 5 minutes flat. 

He always builds me a fire in the fireplace and it is a good hot one.

He has a kinda sixth sense about him...he always knows what everyone is doing, he is very aware of his surroundings.

  

He brings a certain "calm" to my storm..when I'm "storming" around, he is calm and trying to "fix" the storm.

  He has a way of keeping track of what is going on....when we go to fast food drive thrus and I get the order completely confused because I have 8 people yelling their order to me...I can look at Mik and he has the perfect tally and never forgets a person or their order.

  We don't really worry about his age.....it is very confusing, and so if I don't have to keep track of my age, or tell everyone how old I am....neither does he.  :) 

Depending on the day or the situation he can act a number of different ages and maturity levels.  

He is in 5th grade and he is doing great with that age group and that academic level.

Mikiyas is a blessing to us and we are thankful for him!!

We are praising God that our "newest addition" can now be officially called our son.

We bought him cowboy boots as a 

welcome to the family

 and

 happy adoption day present.  

That made it feel extra official to our family.

Trusting the Lord with my Kids!

There are certain verses in the Bible I like to claim over my kids...

Jeremiah 29:11

New International Version (NIV)

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Psalm 139:13-14

English Standard Version (ESV)

13 

For you formed my inward parts;

    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

14 

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]

Wonderful are your works;

    my soul knows it very well.

Those are just nice and warm and fuzzy verses, they are truth from God's Word....

But if we are going to believe God's word, then we don't get to pick and choose which verses we want to believe.

  So what about...some of the ones Jesus himself said.....

John 15:19

English Standard Version (ESV)

19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Yikes...I don't want anyone to hate my kids!

Luke 14:25-27

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Cost of Discipleship

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

John 12:24-26

English Standard Version (ESV)

24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

I could keep going..but this is a picture of what I wrestled with all night.  I love the Lord and I want to follow Him...and I want my kids to follow Him...

but

 I don't want it to cost us our lives, or anything really. 

 In fact...I don't mind it costing me and Charlie

 (because I always throw him under the bus),

 but I don't want it to cost my kids.

Matthew 4:18-20

New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,”Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.

I'm here to tell you...

if I were the mother of these young men, as Jesus walked by them and said these things to them, as they were doing their job and fishing for fish, and He told them to follow Him and He would send them out to fish for people....I would have probably thrown a fit. 

 After all, they didn't even have the resources to research this...they couldn't google it, or text a few hundred people to pray about it.....they didn't even have a clue how this was going to turn out, they just dropped their nets and followed HIM.

ACTING IN FAITH!!!!!

I would have said to my young son...lets just sit back and see how this thing turns out...let's give it some time...

lets just calm down,

....keep fishing for fish...keep doing what you are doing, and

 THEN

....if it turns out to be safe and smart and successful, 

THEN

 when you are 40ish and have a safe secure future... you can 

GO

 and be a part of all this Jesus business....

but for NOW, fish for fish and be safe...wear your sunscreen..get your rest, wear your life vest, be responsible.

And actually,  show my support, I will send your dad out :) ....and if it all turns out to be what we think...then you can

 GO

 with him next time.  

* All I can say is... poor Charlie...this is REALLY how it goes.*

So, bottom line....I'm a mess...I say I believe...I say I love Jesus and want to live for Him...I say I love my kids and want them to follow Jesus...but I want it all within my 

COMFORT AND CONTROL.

It's NOT happening that way. 

 I'm so glad the Lord loves me and continues to teach me and He is so patient... He also doesn't listen to my whining and my insecurities...He is a big God and He has His very own relationship with my kids and my husband...and He does

 NOT

 have to check with me on what He leads them to do.  

I'm learning

 AGAIN

to trust the Lord with my kids. 

 Maybe that's why He gave me so many...He knew this would be a lesson I would need to learn over and over again. 

 Maybe by Moo, I will not fight it as hard, or Charlie will be so worn out...that he won't be able to be thrown under the bus anymore, and I will have to skip that step in my spinning cycle.

I'm kind of kidding.  I wish I were kidding.

The verse that I camped on a ton in 2013 was Jeremiah 17:7-8.

7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.
8 He is like a tree planted by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

The thing that really sticks out to me is "whose trust is the Lord"...not "in the Lord", but "IS THE LORD".

Trust is a big thing with me....I jump in fast with people or situations...and then if the trust gets broken...I question everything from the beginning.  This is screwed up because trust in humans will always be broken.


The thing the Lord is teaching me is to trust HIM and HIM alone.  Trust Him with my husband and my kids and myself.

Part of my learning to "trust the Lord"...is to trust the people HE has placed in situations...to even TRUST that He would put me in a situation.

For instance....He had no business trusting me with 1 kid...let alone a pile of them.  I'm so far from where I should be to be "trusted" with a life...but, He did, and so I need to trust that He can fill in all the blanks and give me what I need to do what He has given me to do...ALL I HAVE TO DO, IS TRUST HIM!

I trust Him...and then I see my kid hurting and I want to fix it.  I want to pray instructions to the Lord and give Him "insight" on how to fix it...so I can trust HIM.  This is so screwed up!!!

I trust Him...and then I'm put in a situation where I am over my head and not at all qualified...and myself and people who know me...are "cautioning me and reminding me" of my lack.  This is so screwed up.

When I truly trust Him...when my trust IS the LORD...I don't need to be qualified...I just need to say YES.  He is strong in my weakness...He is qualified and He can supply ALL that I need.

He can also do this for others.  So when I don't "trust" someone in a situation, even if that someone is me......I just need to TRUST THE LORD.  He can handle others and me....He is a mighty GOD. :)