A birthday is indeed a special day. Not just because they are another year older, though that is special. We celebrate Emily's birthday today because today symbolizes so much more. 

Today symbolizes her life lived here on earth, her near nine months in utero and her nine days outside of it. 

Today we remember the Breath that was breathed into her from an Almighty Creator who loves her more than I.

Today we celebrate the very simple but mind boggling fact that Emily is an immortal soul, a person created in the image of our God, a unique creation, beautiful and perfect.

Today we remember her birth, the miracle that no expert can explain, the moment when the labor of love is complete and we wait for that first cry, the cry for comfort and life.

Today is the day of Emily's birth. She may not receive any birthday cards in the mail or presents on her plate, but we will celebrate in other ways: Today we will remember, create, plant, enjoy, and sorrow. But always with hope. For we celebrate Emily with her, with Jesus. 

Apart from her but yet with her. 

"For when I am weak, then I am strong." 1 Cor. 12:10

Ten Year Anniversary Celebration!!

So Joel and I had a fabulous time out west in Northern CA. How refreshing it was to spend eight days together without children, away from home, exploring new sights, sounds and smells. We took well over 600 pictures but here are just a few to give you an idea of the great time we had together and the beautiful things we saw.

Just a little windy, but what a sight the Golden Gate bridge was!

Welcome to YWAM Mendocino! Formerly a hippie commune, now a place where Jesus' love is manifested on bible verses carved out of wood and placed on giant redwood stumps.

One of the cabins on the YWAM base, the Raccoon cabin is where we stayed. Wood heat, very rustic and a bible verse from our wedding psalm carved on the window box!

Ah, the redwoods!

It's hard to capture the enormity of these old trees. This one was almost 20 ft. across and over 350 ft tall.

We did see some wildlife while we hiked.

Driving our Kia Soul (rental) through a 2500 year old tree!

Driving through the redwoods. This is a rare piece of straight road. We averaged about 30 miles an hour driving on the curvy roads of Northern CA. (the speed limit was 45 mph, but we hardly made it up to that!)

Here is a pygmy forest. This is an 80-90 year old tree, still alive, but just taller than Joel. What a contrast to the redwoods!

The coast was just beautiful. 

The smells of the wildflowers, salt and wild wind were magical.

Sunset.

Sand dunes! (yes this picture is genuine)

I (Renee) loved the variety of flowers here. (About 25% of our pictures were of flowers!)

After Mendocino, we drove down to Napa Valley and visited one winery. Since we are not big wine people, we decided to make the winery a good one: We went to a genuine castle! The Castle of Love!

The views, the beauty of the valley, the castle itself, all of it was amazing.

The courtyard of the castle.

This trip was full of memories that will be treasured forever! Joel and I had a wonderful time together and left feeling refreshed and ready to plunge back into "real" life. 

Random Recent Family Pictures

Ceylon Lagoon, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin 6:30am

We spent 4 days at YWAM Conference in Lake Geneva, interspersed with visiting a lot of Renee's family. 

We didn't see much of Rachel and Joshua during the conference because spent so much of their time with new friends.  

It's a family tradition to take pictures at the pink elephant in DeForest, WI, but it was too windy and cold at the front end,  so this is what you get.  

A Sunday Science Outing

or, An Outing Whereby We Unknowingly Collect Ticks.  

Joshua the Experimenter building a boat.

Rachel the Artist illustrating our outing.

Madelynn the Inquisitive

Hudson the Handsome (that's not a booger, it's rug burn)

Bros.  

Mommy's been having us all drink activated charcoal in cherry juice.  

Charydyn and Rachel and the Children's Shelter of Cebu banquet.  Charydyn was one of the kids in the Philippines our church sponsored before she got adopted by a family in the Minneapolis area.  

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Hey a "Pike" cabin at YMCA Camp Ihduhapi where we had a 2-day planning retreat for Missions Adventures this summer!  

He'll grow into it.  

Our first nature hike of the season.  

Oliver!  Best buddies since birth.  Practically.  And still. 

Oliver and Joshua made breakfast of their own initiative with no adult supervision while wearing footies.  

Daddy grills for his birthday in a snowstorm.  I think that's getting to be a tradition too.  

Thanks for checking in on us.  Tomorrow morning Renee and are off to stay here: 

Which is here:

For our ten year anniversary.

Tootaloo.  

April Newsletter

Our family with Davi, from Brazil, an English Cross-Cultural Orientation (ECCO) student, on his graduation day!

Please Pray. 

Dear friends and family.  This month we'd like to ask you to pray with us for two things that are on our hearts:

    1. That God would reveal the specific mission He has for our family.
    2. That we would be content while He prepares us for that mission.  

We came to YWAM Minneapolis trying for find our place in the world, and what a great place this is for that!  Through this season of Lent, we as a base have been focusing our daily prayer times on the theme of "Crossing the River", asking God what is the Promised Land (people, place, mission) that He is calling us to, and what lies in the way of us getting there?   We are seeing God move some of our staff off our Rockford campus and into strategic places in the metro area.  They are crossing the Crow River to reach the un-reached in Minneapolis.  It's exciting to be a part of.  I'm helping one couple get a donated trailer house ready in an impoverished mobile home park where we've been doing homework help for a couple years.  Now we'll have YWAMer's living there full time!  Another couple is creating a business that provides summer work for youth with on-the-job evangelism and discipleship.  My Ford F-150 just got donated to that work.  A staff lady from Pakistan is moving to the inner city to work in women's shelter.  We are looking for someone to move into Columbia Heights where the largest population of Tibetan's is outside of Tibet.  

     The picture that follows is a symbolic act culminating our Lenten season of prayer - YWAM staff and students crossing the Crow river on the 1885 bridge in Hanover, as we ask God to help us take possession of the spiritual lands He's promised us.    
   
So we ask you to pray with us as we wait on God for the people or place that He has for our family.    
   
     Meanwhile there are more than enough projects around the campus, as well as worship leading, collecting maple sap  and firewood (Joel), homeschooling (Renee) working in the accounting office (Renee), hosting a medicinal herb night (also Renee), learning Spanish (mostly Renee and the kids), as well as trying to make new friends here.
 
    We really enjoyed some of the English Cross Cultural Orientation students who graduated at the end of March.  Some are off to further missions training. Others are going back into their workplaces, universities, churches and YWAM bases in six different Latin American countries.  We look forward to being more involved with students in the upcoming schools as well. 

     In our local outreach, a playgroup in Columbia Heights with kids from an un-reached people group, we are seeing a gradual softening of hearts toward us.  We have a new group of YWAM students from a School of Ministry Development coming with us each Tuesday and they are full of enthusiasm to spend more time praying and planning ways to engage these kids. Only Joshua and I are a part of this local outreach because it ends up being a late night, which ties into our prayer request theme of missions for the whole family.

           "Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."  Joshua 1:9


Thank-you for standing with us in prayer. For giving sacrificially. For working alongside of us.

A Happy Easter, full of Resurrection, Hope and the Love of Jesus, be to you.

Love, the Pikes 

P.S.  In this next month we will participate in a planning retreat for Missions Adventures,  a YWAM regional conference in Wisconsin, and Renee and I will celebrate our 10 year anniversary in the Redwoods of CA!   

A Typical Atypical Day - Joel

4-2-14 YWAM MINNEAPOLIS

8-9am Intercessory Prayer Meeting (for our 2 schools starting next week, Missions Adventures, Kids Against Hunger and local outreaches)

9:30-11am Urban Ministries Workshop with Tim Svoboda (International Urban Missions Director for all of YWAM) - exploring this direction the Lord is giving us to reach Minneapolis itself as a stepping stone to the nations.  Many of the world's unreached peoples have large populations in the Cities.

11-11:15am Doughnuts!

11:15am-12:30pm Urban Ministries Workshop.

12:30-1:30pm Lunch.  Sat with one of our Minneapolis staff I had not met before.  He talked about the Providential timing of our arrival at YWAM Minneapolis.

1:30 - 2:30pm Urban Ministries Workshop - Renee joined me while the kids watched a movie in the Student Center.

2:30 - 3pm caught up with Renee.

3-3:30pm Priced out a conference room table and chairs for a remodel project.

3:30 - 4pm Down to the barn with Tommy to pump maple sap out of the temporary tank to the holding tank.

4-4:30pm Met with a painting contractor about painting our fire-sprinkler system,.

4:30-5:45pm Drove the tractor so Tommy, Edgar and Gama could collect sap.  185 gallons!

6 - 8:30pm Supper, shower and putting kids to bed.

8:30-9:30pm played guitar with Tommy next door.  Schemed and dreamed about recording our songs.

9:30-10pm Talked with Renee.