About Us

Much pain and loss and hardship...more will be written

Challenging, exhilarating, the best of times, the worst of times and every kind of time in between but ultimately God's greatest gift and act of love other than my salvation in Christ...more will be written

A confident hope for a glorious future that is held in the trustworthy Hands of the One who does more than I can ask for or imagine...more will be written

Born in Texas while my Marine Corp dad was briefly stationed there, I moved 23 times by the time I was 16.  God called my dad out of the Marine Corp and ultimately back to school at Fuller Seminary and into full-time ministry as a pastor.  So I went from military brat to pk at the age of 11, giving my dad many years worth of sermon illustrations.  Because we moved so much, making friends was always a challenge and my younger brother and I learned to stick together pretty well.  He's now a happily married man with three beautiful young children, brilliant and successful in every thing he does.  He and his wife have produced three amazing albums under their band name After The Chase. They're awesome! Check them out! http://www.afterthechase.com/

I asked Jesus into my heart when I was three years old after I realized that He was the one who made the pretty flowers.  God has continued to reveal Himself through the everyday miracles of His creation ever since, frequently teaching me the most profound truths in the simplest of moments.  I was baptized by my choice at the age of five.  I've had the tremendous blessing of growing up in a home where the Word of God was held in the highest regard and was regularly read, studied, discussed and applied.  I was about twelve years old when I set out to learn about God from God and His Word for myself and have been studying the Bible and earnestly seeking His face ever since.

I graduated from high-school in Illinois when I was 16 and headed to college without a clue what I really wanted to do.  I have been a voracious reader my whole life and have a wide variety of interests.  After attending four schools of higher learning and dabbling in Psychology, Marine Biology and History, I have only an AA to show for it and most of a certificate to be a Legal Assistant...but I got a job at a law firm before I finished the degree so I just went to work.  

I also volunteered as staff with Campus Life ministries and traveled with International Teams as a short term missionary to eastern Europe right after the Berlin Wall came down.  A truly tremendous time in history to be a part of! In all of my wandering all I really figured out is that I love God with all my heart and love nothing better than helping put someone's hand into Jesus's Hand.  According to my husband, along the way I've also studied enough to gain a seminary degree a few times over, yet there is always more to discover and the more I study and the older I get, the more I know there's so much I don't know!  Oh, the truly unsearchable riches of Christ!  There is no end to His deeps and they just keep calling!

Getting married and having kids happened similarly to my higher education.  Without much plan and pretty much flying by the seat of my pants. But God is Faithful at every turn and the hardest times have also been some of the richest and I wouldn't trade the lessons learned and the intimacy gained with my Heavenly Father for anything. 

 It's also narrowed my interests to building healthy relationships, parenting, homeschooling, history, current events, Israel, world events through the lens of prophecy, prophetic scripture, the persecuted church, alternative medicine, essential oils, organic gardening, nutrition in general, interior decorating, exploring the Jewish roots of my mother's family and uncovering the Hebrew roots of my own faith, practicing effective fervent intercession and spiritual warfare, and discovering the critical nature of self-care as I've struggled with a variety of chronic, often painfully debilitating health issues.

With 25 years of marriage under my belt, 4 kids alive and well and pursuing their own relationship with the Lord, three of them successfully graduated and one just a few years to go, I am eagerly looking forward to whatever God has in store.

Marriage isn't easy and Erik and I married pretty young and dumb. However, in the midst of all our learning and growing God has always used us in lay ministry and we've always worked best when we work together.  We started leading a young couples' small group at our church before we were even married, pretty much just because we didn't want to be the only young couple at our church. God blessed our efforts tremendously and we had the privilege of seeing our small group grow from three couples to over thirty and successfully saw multiple small groups spin off and multiple people become leaders in their own right within our church and larger community.

Over the years we've also had multiple couples ask us for help in their own marriages, which always kind of mystifies us, because we're no where close to getting it all right, but God is faithful to fill in the gaps and most of the time just needs willing partners, not particularly expert ones!

We've also had the joy of seeing God draw youth to our family no matter where we've lived or what else is going on.  He connected us to YWAM through one of those youths and two of our children have had their own YWAM adventures with God. We've also had the privilege of teaching in a couple of YWAM schools over the years and look forward to the more God has in store there.

Through our local homeschool community, over the years I've had the joy of teaching Bible classes to multiple groups of high-schoolers.  I can't think of much that is more satisfying than seeing a young man or woman get a hold of God for themselves and get excited about learning and hearing from God through His Word and by His Spirit for themselves.

It's coming and it's brilliant beyond imagining!  

I daily rejoice in the privilege of seeing my kids begin to discover their unique gifts and talents and am enjoying seeing them find their place in the Body.  

Our oldest daughter is already a published author and an artist who is constantly working to expand her skills.  You can check out her work by looking for Erika Birkenes online or at http://erikabirkenes.weebly.com/  She pops up in quite a few places :-).  She's an amazing, intelligent, talented, beautiful woman of God who actively seeks to grow and mature in Him every day.

Our oldest son is getting ready to marry and eventually take over our plumbing business, which we're thrilled about.  He also feels the call to invest and minister right here in town and has a beautiful passion to reach his generation.  He is a solid, practical, hard working young man that can be relied upon in just about any situation from fixing your plumbing to safely navigating down white water rapids to setting your broken bone in the wilderness, should the need arise.

Our second son and third child has recently graduated high school and is exploring options at our local Junior College.  He has been taking EMR and EMT classes and enjoying them. He's also picked up some part time work with a local architect and is enjoying learning AutoCad.  He's also learning some IT skills working with my brother.  And he's thinking flying helicopters would be pretty dope.  He's a passionate young man and has a strong need to see righteousness and justice done and he is driven to rescue and defend any and all in need. He's a unique blend and we look forward to seeing where God takes him and how he engages with the good works that God has prepared for him to do.

Our baby girl, who is now 5' 9" and a sophomore in high-school (so not really a baby) is our final child to homeschool.  She is fun, funky, quirky and artistic and can rock the craziest clothing combos.  She's quite known for the unexpected and zany observations she makes and her sister delights in sharing them on Facebook.  She also has a wide range of interests but consistently circles around to rocks and archeology.  Even as an infant her favorite "toy" was a pile of gravel and rocks that she could spend hours sifting through.  She has a beautiful, simple faith in God that is a delight to witness. Maybe she'll be the one to find the missing treasures of King Solomon's Temple! (a girl can dream!)

As our own kids are flapping and flopping their wings preparing to leave our nest, more and more people have been telling us we need to be "out there" more and online and publishing and all kinds of crazy stuff....so we're starting with this here website and we'll see where it goes!