Have A Little Owl with your New Year!

Merry Christmas!!

We hope you had a wonderful, merry Christmas!

(The kids recite Luke 2:1,3-7 NIV)

Christmas Bells

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world received from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep
"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!"

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Future Apartment Update

Update December 17th: Last weekend we visited the apartment at the base that we will be moving into. And it looks great!! Three bedrooms, storage space, a dishwasher! It's clean and modern. I (Renee) know if we'll be living overseas in the future, our living space will probably be very different. But I am relieved that the apartment is clean and neat and has friendly neighbors!
It looks like we'll be moving about Saturday January 18th. (But nothing is for sure yet!)

Please also pray for Joel as he visited the neurosurgeon today: It turns out he has a herniated disc in his lower back. Surgery is an option- we need wisdom on whether that's what God wants or not.

December 4, 2013 Update

SEND US PACKING!

Pike Family Update

December 4^th, 2013

Here's the news!

• Housing at the YWAM base will be available for us after
  Jan 9^th, 2014
• The Lord has provided buyers for our house who are
  flexible with the timing of the sale.
• We are 37% supported, at $1100/mo!

The pieces are falling into place as we wait on God for the next step. We know He's given us a burden for being more fully involved in sharing Him with those who are without Jesus and without hope in this world. Joining the staff of YWAM Minneapolis for at least two years is a step in that direction. YWAM functions on prayer, letting the Spirit place people in specific missions in His timing and way.

“My self-sufficiency is insufficient!”

Now there's a Gospel statement! This reality is being played out in two very tangible ways for us at this time:

1. With a bulged disc between my lowest vertebrae the Lord has made it clear I won't be providing for my family through my own physical strength any longer. I've been off work since Nov 1^st, but it has been good. I need to learn, in a very inescapable way, that God is, and always has been, our only Provider...
2. ...and that His provision for those He sends as missionaries often comes through His people, the Church. While our own financial sufficiency may last for a time, it is the long-term commitment of brothers and sisters in Christ that will enable us to go where He calls.

Our insufficiency is pointing us to Jesus, to more fully find our life in Him. And that's a good thing.

“For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” John 6:33

Thank-you for taking an interest in us and in the ways God is leading us. Sincerely,

Joel and Renee, Joshua, Rachel, Madelynn and Hudson

Breaks Free

I just want to be
where the earth breaks free
of concrete and metal and glass,
of asphalt and plastic and gas,
where sun is king
and water is queen,
where cactus grow tall
and the air is clean.
I just want to be
where the earth breaks free
of fences and alleys and walls,
of factories and traffic and malls,
where owls sleep
in the heart of day
waiting for sunset
to hunt their prey,
where mountains rise
in seas of sand
and coyotes roam
across the land.

-Frank Asch

People

Some people talk and talk

and never say a thing.

Some people look at you

 and birds begin to sing.

Some people laugh and laugh

and yet you want to cry.

Some people touch your hand

and music fills the sky.

-Charlotte Zolotow

Oh, For a Book

Oh, for a book and shady nook,

Either in door or out;

With the green leaves whisp'ring

overhead or the street cries all about.

Where I may read all at my ease,

both of the new and old;

For a jolly good book whereon to

look is better to me than gold.

-Christopher North

My Symphony

To live content with small means,

to seek elegance rather than luxury,

and refinement rather than fashion,

to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich,

to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly,

to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages with open heart,

to bear all cheerfully,

do all bravely,

await occasions,

hurry never-

in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious,

grow up through the common.

This is to be my symphony.

-William Ellery Channing

God's World

O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!
Thy winds, thy wide gray skies!
Thy mists that roll and rise!
Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry and color! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, world, I cannot get thee close enough!

Long have I known a glory in it all,
But never knew I this;
Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart. Lord, I do fear
Thou'st made the world too beautiful this year.
My soul is all but out of me,-let fall
No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.

-Edna St. Vincent Millay

New Nephew!

Zachary Jacob has joined the family! 

Congratulations Ryan (Renee's brother) and Emily!!

Born October 30 at 1:52 pm.

7 lbs 8 oz and 20.5 inches long

All is well.

Be Like the Bird

Be like the bird, who

Resting in his flight

On a twig too slight

Feels it give way beneath him,

Yet sings

Knowing he has wings.

-Victor Hugo

Merry Autumn Days

'Tis pleasant on a fine spring morn

To see the buds expand;

'Tis pleasant in the summer time

To see the fruitful land;

'Tis pleasant on a winter's night

To sit around the blaze,

But what are joys like these, my boys,

To merry autumn days!

We hail the merry autumn days,

When leaves are turning red;

Because they're far more beautiful

Than anyone has said,

We hail the merry harvest time,

The gayest of the year;

The time of rich and bounteous crops,

Rejoicing and good cheer.

-Charles Dickens

YWAM Newsletter October 2013

We just sent out our first email newsletter! (Thanks Mail Chimp).  It still doesn't seem real that we are actually moving. We are still very much involved here where we live, yet having our feet in two different places is proving to be challenging. I will be grateful when the transition is over. *smile*

Here are some snippets from our newsletter: (Let us know if you want to be on the email list)

House Update
After researching numbers and practicalities of selling a house, it looked like we couldn't even afford to sell our house. What to do, Lord? We knew that if God wanted us to serve on staff at YWAM, that He, our all-knowing God, would have to take care of this "big" problem and keep us out of debt. And lo and behold! God has provided a buyer for our house! A Christian couple from ____ have made this transaction very pleasant, and since we didn't ever have to go through a realtor, the numbers have worked out in a positive way! So praise the Lord with us!
As far as a closing date goes, it looks like we'll be closing in December-but nothing is for sure yet.

Future Housing
As far as a place to live in _______, the base has a couple possible options they are figuring out, or we may look for a rental in town.  We are praying about when to go and look.  

Prayer Cards
If you haven't already, you may receive a prayer card in the mail with our contact information on the back. Please let us know if you would like one, but have not received one. 

Financial Support
God is our provider and we are trusting God to meet our needs, not just financially, but our physical, spiritual and emotional needs. He does this through His Spirit but also through His people: which is His church. We have been blessed to know that there is a group of people who are supporting us through prayer, encouragement, and/or through financial means. We need to have $1200/mo pledged before we can join YWAM as staff. We are not at this goal yet, but we trust God in His timing. He will make a way.

Just for Fun
On Monday, the six of us went to ____ for medical reasons (nothing major, just a regular doc visit). While Joel and Joshua (8 yrs) and Rachel (6 yrs) were in the doctor's  ffice, I took Hudson (2 yrs) and Madelynn (4 yrs) on some shopping errands. After some stops at Walmart and Target, we went to Hobby Lobby. The name "Hobby Lobby" must have struck a fancy with Madelynn and Hudson because they sang these two words over and over while I shopped. After awhile, Hudson changed it to "Hobby-lu-yah!" I'm not sure what other people were thinking, but I was trying not to laugh too hard. Kids are so funny!

Among the Scattered Stars

I (Renee) have been lacking the inspiration to blog on this blog. What with selling our house, homeschooling and all the other things that make life full, my mental energy has run a bit low. On an up note though, I have taken an interest (a small one) in reading poetry. I am fascinated by the poet's use of different words and how they intermingle to describe some indescribable thing. 

So since I love to share what's going on in my life and sometimes what I'm thinking I'll be sharing a poem that caught my fancy until my mental inspiration revives and I can once again share my own thoughts.

To start, I'll share one about the moon. Right now it is a waning full moon. And as the wind blows and the leaves fall, and the nights get darker, and the temperature drops every week, I will nestle into Love and find comfort in Him and in His gifted poets.

The Wind and The Moon

Said the Wind to the Moon, "I will blow you out;

You stare

In the air

Like a ghost in a chair,

Always looking what I am about;

I hate to be watched; I will blow you out."

The Wind blew hard, and out went the Moon.

So, Deep

On a heap

Of clouds to sleep,

Down lay the Wind, and slumbered soon-

Muttering low, "I've done for that Moon."

He turned in his bed; she was there again!

On high,

In the sky,

With her one ghost eye,

The Moon shone white and alive and plain,

Said the Wind, "I will blow you out again."

The Wind blew hard, and the Moon grew dim,

"With my sledge

And my wedge

I have knocked off her edge!

If only I blow right fierce and grim,

The creature will soon be dimmer than dim."

He blew and blew, and she thinned to a thread.

"One puff

More's enough

To blow her to snuff!
One good puff more where the last was bred,

And glimmer, glimmer, glum will go that thread!"

He blew a great blast and the thread was gone.

In the air

Nowhere

Was a moonbeam bare;

Far-off and harmless the shy stars shone;

Sure and certain the Moon was gone!

The Wind he took to his revels once more;

On down,

In town,

Like a merry-mad clown,

He leaped and hallooed with whistle and roar-

"What's that?" The glimmering thread once more!

He flew in a rage; he danced and blew;

But in vain

Was the pain

Of his bursting brain;

For still the broader the Moon-scrap grew

The broader he swelled his big cheeks and blew.

Slowly she grew, till she filled the night,

And shone

On her throne

In the sky alone,

A matchless, wonderful, silvery light,

Radiant and lovely, the Queen of the night.

Said the Wind, "What a marvel of power am I!"

With my breath,

Good faith,

I blew her to death-

First blew her away right out of the sky-

Then blew her right in; what strength have I!"

But the Moon she knew nothing about the affair;

For high

In the sky

With her one white eye,

Motionless, miles above the air,

She had never heard the great Wind blare.

-George MacDonald

A New Chapter

Below is our newsletter that we sent out to family and friends this past month. Please read as it contains some important news as to the direction of our family. :)

Hello! As you can tell from the picture, the P___ family is looking ahead to something new on the horizon. Since Joel returned from a short-term missions trip to Thailand last May we've sensed it was time for a new direction for us. In Bangkok, Joel served at Santisuk English School, teaching conversational English, encouraging younger Christians and interacting with his students outside of class. The expanse of this visit was one month, but many adventures, opportunities to share the Gospel, and new experiences were had. When Joel came home, we knew God was opening the door for something new.

We began looking for ways to get more ministry training and to take a step toward long term missions. It took awhile to figure out what God was showing us, but after prayer, waiting, and more prayer, we now know He is leading us to a town called R_______.   R_____ is a town of about 4,000 people and 45 minutes west of M__________. It is also home to a Youth With A Mission (YWAM) base where we (Joel and I) have been invited to join their staff!

If you are not familiar with YWAM I can expound a little: Youth With A Mission is a Christian missions organization who trains and sends out people of all ages on short term trips, but also has 18,000 long-term missionaries at 1100 locations in 180 countries. Each YWAM base offers basic discipleship training as well as many other schools of missions, ministry, or bible training. 

What drew us to the base in R______ was that for one, it's still in __. It's (still) close(r) to family compared to, let's say, Nepal. We would still receive the health care which covers Joshua's daily medicine. But also, we noticed other things that drew us to this base, such as an outdoors focus in their Discipleship Training school. They have a Biblical Studies school similar to what Joel and I did with YWAM ten years ago in Alberta. This base is also involved in the Kids Against Hunger program offering weekly opportunities for youth groups to pack food which will be sent to kids in malnourished countries.

After meeting and speaking with the directors of the R_____ YWAM base, Joel and I sensed a spiritual maturity and a humility that impressed us both. There is a genuine friendliness in the staff atmosphere and a handful of staff families with children in a variety of ages. They were also excited for us to come! Not only does this base reach out globally, but it also has a number of different local outreaches, some in the inner city, as well as partnership with the local churches.

As far as our part and how we are going to be involved is still to be determined. I (Renee) would like to be part of the hospitality team or help out in some of the base's mercy ministries. At least in the beginning Joel is going to be involved in the facilities management and doing special building projects. Honestly, we just want to be used where we are needed and be a part of the team that fulfills the Great Commission.

So that is our news! There are big changes about to take place. In the next little while, our house needs to sell, we will need to raise enough financial support to live on, and we need to find a home close to the base.

The kids are excited. They know we are moving. They know they will have to say goodbye to their friends, say goodbye to Papa and Nina (Renee's parents), and of course goodbye to the familiarity of home and town and church. For all of us it is bittersweet, but underneath is peace knowing we are following Jesus and going where He is leading.

Please contact us if you are interested in being a part of our 'sending' team. We hope you found this update encouraging and helpful. May God bless you and your family.

With Christ's love,

Joel, Renee, Joshua, Rachel, Madelynn and Hudson

Alberta, Alberta, where ya ben so long? (Joel's roadtripalogue)

Renee likes to stop at all the statues - as you'll see.
"Rocky Taconite"  Silver Bay, MN
(Joel: "Do we really have to stop and do this in Silver Bay? What if we see someone we know?!"

a muskie - Deer River, MN

Renee and kids pretending to swim alongside a large unidentifiable fish entrance to a bar - Deer River, MN.  Met some Harley riders who were also stopping at every statue.  Joel was OK with stopping at statues after that.  

I like that smile!

a dead deer - Bemidji, MN

Paul Bunyan of course  - Bemidji, MN

...and his blue ox of course - Bemidji, MN

our kids are fun

Northern Pike - Erskine, MN
(I grew up in Erskine Alberta and my last name is ...)

Wow - a field of sunflowers!

Sad sunflower for Eva's mom

Park where we camped for free in Culbertson MT
(North Dakota failed miserably in the statue department)

stump bear - Culbertson MT

Coronoch the horse in Coronoch, SK where we stopped for lunch and God provided a gazebo when it started raining!

Edouard Boupre, the giant of Willow Bunch, SK

Daddy wearing his 14 year old Willowbunch "Home of the Giant" T-shirt,
with Joshua and his brand new Willowbunch "Home of the Giant" T-shirt

One of the Snowbirds - Moose Jaw, SK

A moose in Moose Jaw next to our first Tim Horton's stop

Snowman - Kenaston, SK
(we were just looking for a bathroom in a hodunk little town when we found this great snowman with a goalie stick!)

Mountie - North Battleford, SK
(Renee came to Canada 11 years ago looking for a Mountie but got me instead.  I wonder what she is thinking in this picture)

Barbed-wire Bison "Don't Fence Me In" (clever) - North Battleford, SK

Bathrooms at a petting zoo east of Lloydminster.

Turtles!

a camel!

"Hi sheep!"

Don't they remind you of Timothy and Emmy from "The Little Lamb"?

Rachel's name means, "Little ewe lamb of God"

Rachel "You smell funny!"
Sheep  "You smell baaaad!"

Joel gets lonely for his 4H steer 'Oscar'

Who da goat?!

Now that's a cool chicken!  Maybe that's the kind that laid the egg in the next picture.

Pysanka - Vegreville, AB

Pysanka = Ukrainian Easter Egg (they're not usually this big!)

These were nice times.   

Rachel discovers tastebuds!
I don't know that there are too many people in the world who can see their own tastebuds! 

Caboose - Vermilion, AB

A Hippo.  A Hudson.  Some playground somewhere.  

Elk - Vegreville, AB

Sausage - Mundare, AB
(Unfortunately the enormous perogi that would've gone so well with the sausage was too far off the Yellowhead highway to make a detour)

Hudson's favorite thing to do when we were not in the car:  Find another car and drive it himself.

Eva's Ride - one of the reasons we went to Alberta when we did, to be a part of the benefit ride for Ronald McDonald house in memory of our friend's daughter Eva.  

That's a lot of kids!  Even without Eva and Emily.  We had a real blessed three days with the J family although I had only known M and A treeplanting 12 years ago and Renee and A had only connected on the internet in the last couple years.  The kids had a blast together and the mothers had some healing conversations.  

A hearty Alberta breakfast: oatmeal, Saskatoons picked at our campsite in the back of the J's property, and leftover perogies!

Kayaking on the J's dugout.
I love the Peace country skies

Farmer Hudson

Samuel and Rachel

Corn on the cob over the fire

Tailgate party

Madelynn and Vincent (Charming kid - but not too sure about being on a horse with a girl)

Joel and a trumpeter swan - Grand Prairie, AB

Bison and Mountie Boots - Whitecourt, AB
(Renee frantically took this picture while we rolled through an intersection)

How could we drive through Edmonton and not stop at the largest mall in North America?
Sorry Minnesotans, Mall of America has nothing on West Ed.    

...this one scared me when I was a kid.

The Mindbender and Joshua

Cousins in Blackfalds!!!  We camped with my parents near my sister and her husband and their 4 boys.  Their town has a spray park which doubles as a bathtub for sticky little campers.   

Cousin Kaleb

Rachel's pig gets married to Kaleb's Mickey Mouse and gives birth to Madelynn's teddy bear.  

My sister and newborn Isaac

In Sundre at Mike and Terry's cabin and personal golf course.

With our family friend Terry at their cabin in Sundre where I sometimes worked in the summers.   We got to toodle around in Mike and Terry's 4-wheeler, going back into the bush looking for wild horses.  

Joshua (8), Rachel (6) Kaleb (5) Madelynn (4) Caius or Lucas (4) Lucas or Caius (4) Hudson (2) Isaac (2wks)
OK Renee says its Caius then Lucas!

Beautiful skies and my beautiful wife.

This is the spot by YWAM Turner Valley where God told me to marry Renee.  Now look what has happened!

Scrambling up a mountain at Blue Rock

This was a little stressful for Renee

The Alberta Vontrapp's.  Hudson's got the alto.

I don't know if she's trying to be cute or just is.

Cowboys!  I'm sure Hudson was just about to dig his heals into Mommy's ribs and say "Giddyup!"

Sheep face at Sheep Falls

One of Joshua's highlights was lighting the fire in the morning.  

I like camping!

Lewis and somebody Clark and somebody and a dog (Gotta brush up on my US history)  - Great Falls, MT

First Nations warrior dude - Great Falls, MT

A visit with Danielle, Sully and Hans...

...and Luke if it weren't for the fire he was fighting on the mountain behind their town.  

Native American - Red Lodge, MT
Atta go MT on the statues!

A Montana cowboy with a Montana attitude in Rockvale Montana

Joel thinks he's being funny by trying to make it look like his arm is being eaten by a triceratops statue.  Triceratops were herbavores.  And its a statue.   Forest Park, MT

Whew!  Especially when the last 1085 miles are done in 22 hours.  

Joshua's License Plate Game:

39/50 states

9/13 provinces and territories

I got through this whole post and realized I only had one picture of the reason we went to Alberta - Nana and Grandpa!  We had a wonderful time with them and other friends and family.   We enjoyed letting the Lord and not our agendas lead each day.  We were blessed just to have the time off to be together and have fun as a family.