Merry Christmas

~ Trying to get a fam photo last min for Christmas. So much for the nice outdoor one I was invisioning- it was freezing! As you can see we had fun anyway, it was short, warm and sweet!

Dear Friends & Family
We hope this note finds you well and enjoying this Christmas season. The year here has been full. In God’s kindness we were able to purchase a home. Many of you may remember it was a “short sale,” which is anything but short so after 6 months of waiting to hear if the bank accepted our offer we were able to move in. We signed the papers in June. And yes, we are all still together with room for everyone! Thank the Lord. Our Care Group & friends helped move us in and well put alot of hard work into the house. They painted, riped up carpet and wood floors, took trips to the dump, cut grass, patched walls, sanded, painted, painted and painted some more! We couldn't have done it without them. Our casa is truly their casa. Speaking of it is great to be able to open our home more.
It is hard to believe, Brandon turned 20 (Dec 17), Cameron celebrated 21, Braet will be seven soon, Cianne is 2 going on 16, my Lukey hit the big 30 and Dad celebrated a golden 50. I can’t describe what a joy it is to be together. The kiddos are wonderfully precious. We love watching the boys run around with Braet & CC and we just can’t imagine life without Mom & Dad and the boys. It is a wonderful, full, crazy household! And that is an understatement! Cam & Brandon are working so hard at their classes and are so thankful for the break. Homeschooling is going well, I can't believe my little boy is in first grade. God has been so gracious, I love having him home. What a joy to watch him learn.
As we approach Christmas, it is well with our souls. We miss our Mikes very much, I am sure we always will and sometimes it will be harder than others. Like at Christmas time. Yet, in God’s kindness, there is a peace and joy that didn’t exist last year. We know we have a wonderful treasure in Heaven with our Lord~ our dear lil boy and we are so thankful the for our treasures here too, like our wonderful fam, friends and church. There's this song I love- it says, "The saints above join with the saints below rejoicing in the Risen one," I can almost see Mikes singing and dancing along with us! There is much hope and comfort. Our hope and comfort as well as a longing for Heaven is growing stronger each day- each year. God speed the day!

Thanks for your many prayers, we are so very grateful for them. They are felt as God works in our hearts and carries us on. We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Much Love, the Davis’ & Miller’s

When Love Came Down to Earth

I love this song and as I was rereading the words just this week. How appropiate as Christmas is just around the corner!



When love came down to earth

And made His home with men,

The hopeless found a hope,The sinner found a friend.

Not to the powerfulBut to the poor He came,

And humble, hungry hearts

Were satisfied again.


What joy, what peace has come to us!

What hope, what help, what love!


When every unclean thought,

And every sinful deed

Was scourged upon His back

And hammered through His feet.

The Innocent is cursed,

The guilty are released;

The punishment of God

On God has brought me peace.


Come lay your heavy load

Down at the Master’s feet;

Your shame will be removed,

Your joy will be complete.

Come crucify your pride,And enter as a child;

For those who bow down lowHe’ll lift up to His side.


Stuart TownendCopyright © 2001 Thankyou Music

Tradition!!! Tradition!!! Tradition!!!

One of my fav Christmas traditions is painting our own wrapping paper or gift bags. Thankfully it has happened each year and this year is no exception. The bags range from well cute to lets just say "creative." But each person who opens a gift that has been hidden in them knows is was a work of love whether it be cute or creative.

This family night was Backwards Night- the kids dressed backwards and yes we ate dessert first then breakfast. As you can imagine the kiddos didn't eat much "breakfast." I think backwards night is by far their favorite theme for Family Night- I can't imagine why!?

Happy Thanksgiving

This post was supposed to make it out on Thanksgiving but well it didn't. Isn't not that there aren't items to post- stories to tell, I starts drafts again and again -just sometimes the words don't come. So I have a pile of drafts and today with a spare min I thought, I must sit and write.

I think the thought would be "life is hard, but God is good," might capture a small picture of the last few weeks. Thanksgiving was good, good to be with family and celebrate together yet Thanksgiving was hard with tears threatening to drop most of the day. Even though there is so much to be grateful for holidays are vivid reminders that our precious Micah is no longer with us. And while I am not sad for him, since he is truly healed now, there are times that for me the sorrow rushes on like a flood.

My sorrow has also been compounded as our friends lil baby, Alivia, went to be with the Lord early November. Oh we grieve with them and yet we are so deeply inspired by them. They too encourage our heart as they grieve with ones who have much hope. This dear couple, Dave & Heather, made meals for us, wrote letters and emails and prayed for us as ~ well for so long ~ as we cared for our boy and well our lil ones are together with Jesus. We now pray for comfort and strength them.

I can almost here Micah telling Alivia, "Wook at tat, wook at tat," as his eyes are wide with wonder at the glory he beholds at each turn.

So now as we approach "the most wonderful time of the year" even is some sadness we can truly rejoice as it is most wonderful, for Jesus was born, born to live and to die. To die for the forgiveness of sins for those who believe on him. Oh how great is our God! For now we will no longer be separated because of sin but shall spend eternity together. What a grand, grand thought!

~Hope for Heaven & Home~

Rev 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

MMRF Walk/Run

Last Sunday was the annual MMRF Walk/Run that we participate in each year as a fam. With kids there is very lil running for us, it seems more like pulling a wagon, running after kiddos and taking a short cut here and there-we don't even time ourselves anymore =) Its always great to be together and then we celebrate afterwards with IHOP =)

Helping a Greiving Friend

I would like to highly encourage this article especially if you are in a season of seeking to care for someone who is grieving. Recently a friend sent this to me it is very good and I'm sure will prove helpful.

This is an excellent article from John Piper's daughter-in-law about how to care for a grieving friend.
http://thepipers.wordpress.com/2008/03/25/how-to-help-your-grieving-friend/

Happy Birthday Paw

CC the Butterfly and Braet the Ninja!

What a great time!. First we wemt to the church, we do every year. They have a great festival, with games, candy, balloons, face painting and just all sorts of great stuff, it is always a highlight of being together and then we finished off the time with a lil trick or treating in our new neighborhood! I love geeting the kids dressed up, what fun with our lil ninja and glittered butterfly!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAW PAW!

the Lowes

Mon Night at the Green Turtle<

Mon was great- getting there was a bit rocky though. First much confusion and chaos at the Mc Donald's drive through window, then there was the going the wrong way- u-turn next was the ticket by the State Trooper (who looked old enough to be my baby brother). We were driving on expired tags since July!!! I don't even remember getting a note about this! And then the wrong way again but we finally made it! It was great to see everyone, especially the Lowes, they are such a wonderful family!

So then was the raffle, Luke gave Braeton 3 ticket s to put in any raffle he choose. We put a bunch in an overnight stay and well Braet is the one who won! What a blessing! He won a bat and 2 balls signed by the Oriole Brian Roberts . He was so excited! And then to top it off Mr Brewer heard that he wanted to hit the ball with the signed bat so his brother graciously gave Braet a pro wooden bat that he could hit with- so very kind! I'm surprised he didn't sleep with it last night!

Snap shots from pumkin carving and the back yard! I guess I should have taken a pic when the pumkins we done!! They look great!

We are all looking forward to this evening, make more fun family memories. Braet is going to be a Ninja and CC a butterfly. I'm sure we'll have more pics soon!

Fall Happenings

Shame on me for not posting earlier. There has been so many happenings to report on. I guess I can partly blame that on my laptop dying and my desktop not being setup- I've been computer hoping. No fun! I dearly missed my files- we are so spoiled by technology! We finally - by we I mean Luke =) set up the desktop and he has just hooked up the Internet -now I'm set. So hopefully I will get caught up by next week =)

Well Fall is probably my favorite time of the year. I have to learn to enjoy winter more (after Christmas I'm done with the cold!) Anyway, Mikes was always well in the fall and we have such special memories being together. One of our yearly traditions is Bulters Orchard's Pumpkin Festival, which we love. I actually like to go there twice, once to the festival and once to take pics of the kids! So far we've only gone once this year but I'm working on the second. We also were able to go to a corn maze in DE with the Davis- lots of fam fun!! The kids loved Bulters. Braet chose to do the Pumpkin Chunkin- for those of you who don't know this is a large cannon thing that fires pumpkins out and well Cianne chose the pony rides. It was good time together. We were so suprised at how uch Cianne lived the ponies. We are also enjoying the new house! There are awesome trails to walk and the woods are beautiful.

We recently celebrated Cameron's 21st, and Sherri's 30th ?! =) Where did the time go!

Okay more later for now enjoy the pics!

The Green Turtle

Dear friends,

As many of you are aware, the Lowe family has been going through quite a trial over the last few years, and more specifically the last few months. Matt had recent surgery to remove a brain tumor, but is still dealing with the effects. With medical costs adding up, we are seeking to do all we can to help them out with medical bills. Matt and Helen have 5 wonderful children, and are expecting their 6^th child in late November.This coming Monday, October 27^th, friends of the Lowes will be hosting a fundraiser in their honor at the Greene Turtle Restaurant in Columbia, MD. The Greene Turtle will be giving 10% of the all the proceeds for the entire day back to Matt and Helen. So simply coming in and having lunch or dinner will help in the fundraiser. In addition, we will be having a raffle throughout the day to raise more money for them. The gifts range from restaurant gift cards, a framed redskins jersey, golf packages, Wii bundle package and photography packages.

The location of the Columbia Greene Turtle is 8872 McGaw Road, Columbia, MD 21045. The Greene Turtle has a large restaurant area that is family friendly, so feel free to bring the family. Matt and Helen will be there for most of the day, and I know they would love to see you all there!

If you have any questions about this fundraiser, please contact Dave at Dbrewer@covlife.org.

Hope to see you there,
Friends of the Lowes

On the Farm...

Fun at Granny Joyce & Papa Joe's


This week we are in York, Sc; the town I was born in- visiting dear friends actually we call them family. Luke is off to the Keys for work so he drove the kids and I down on Sat (Miss you Love) . My parents meet Joe & Joyce when my dad first pastored here in the early 80's and well we've loved them every since. SC is a special place to us, my grandparents lived here for a number of years and many special friends from Cornerstone (the church here) are still here. I got to visit the church this past Sunday and Mom and Dad, those that are still there from when daddy pastored were still singing your praises. Oh how they love and miss you guys! Thanks for investing so much.

What special memories SC holds for me, it is such a nice place to come back to. Thanks Joe & Joyce for your southern hospitality. I love sitting on the porch sipping ice tea, eating yummy pies and visiting with old friends.

We also got to meet lil Micah. Joe & Joyce nephew Brian and his lovely wife Kimberly named their lil boy in after our lil man. What an honor! How it has blessed us. The kiddos have loved playing with him this week, just hearing his name, giving him nicknames, tickling and squeezing him! What a blessing especially for my Braeton. Brian and Kimberly thank so much! Can't tell you how much it means. May the Lord continue to bless you and that lil man!!

All week long it has been a field trip!! The kids have tremendously enjoyed their time. Last night I asked Braet what were some of his favorites things this week, to which he replied," Fishing, eating oatmeal cream cookies (who knew) and having an indoor picnic with Micah & Cianne on a rainy day. CC on the other hand has loved the barn and the Popsicles! Each morning when she wakes up she wants to go to the barn, see the doggies and eat a Popsicle.

Here are some pics from our time~

Braet Drawing under the tree

Braet's drawing of a Billy Goat

Fishing w/ Dadda!

Braet & Baby Micah chillin in the hammock

Baby Micah
My toothless boy!
CC
Granny's Flowers

Braet caught a fish- Don't worry, "No fish were hurt in the making of this photo"
Swinging!
My city boy trying to feed a goat
flowers of the fields