Turkey Day!!!

Well, what's a brand new house without a rush to clean everything up? We ambitiously decided to host Thanksgiving this year, and didn't really realize what we were getting ourselves into until about a day before the inlaws started showing up. But, since we're not the sort of people who admit when we're in over our heads, April and I scrambled to get everything ready for our first large scale meal. Amy and Kash drove in wednesday night from Des Moines to join us, David, and the Freed parents in an amusing night of Nintendo Wii fantasticness. Anyone who is wondering, "Is the Wii fun?" It sure is. And you know it's especially amazing when my mother is celebrating after serving an ace right past me in Wii tennis.
So late Thursday night DJ and Alan roll into town, and Thursday morning the preparations begin. We had all the classic Turkey day stuff, including my crowning achievement, a 22 lb bird (cooked brilliantly, if I do say so myself). But it was my wife that was the star, coordinating the first beautiful multi dish nine person meal in the history of our new home. This year, I decided to flex my creative muscles, and put together a comic book commermorating our first Thanksgiving. I took pictures of everything, and it came out prett well. I'm not quite sure how to share it with the world yet, so stay tuned. It was a fantastic day with friends and family. Not everyone could be there, but hey, there's always next year.

New House!

Wilder and I finally bought our first home! We are so excited. We closed on October 31st, which was only about three weeks after we first saw the house. God was really faithful in our search even though I did not always realize that. He stalled us with another house for just the perfect amount of time to be able to get this one. We first put on offer on a different house in the beginning of September, hoping to close by the end of September. We knew it needed some work but offered below asking in order to be able to do that. We were so excited. We waited over four weeks to get a response of no from the seller. It was a long discouraging process. We started looking agian even before we heard back. We weren't see anything that we liked as much as that house. The the first week in October we found the perfect house for us. It had only been on the market for a few days and we made an offer the very next day. We are pretty sure that we got a great deal on the place and are looking forward to many years here to grow as a family.

A New Gopher Football Season

So last night we went to the Golden Gophers' home opener football game against Bowling Green. Every year, the Gophers' first game is a tune up game against a lesser school, so they can iron out some of the kinks in the system before they play someone dangerous... Well, that was supposed to be the plan anyways. So April and I went to the game with our friends Kim and Ellen, and we sat in the student section near where the players run out onto the field, and there was excitement in the air as the possibilities of a whole new season hovered only moments away.
Excitement turned to frustration as a pourous defense and an inexperienced offense let Bowling Green (who?) head into half time leading the Goph's 21-nil. Not exactly the start we were expecting from the tune up game.
Alot of the students started leaving, and the fans didn't look very happy. And then the gophers did something amazing. They got a stop on defense. We finally scored a touchdown, and April told me to start taking pictures of the score and the game as it progressed, in case we were about to witness an impressive comeback.
And slowly but surely, The Gophers got back into the game...
And then tied it up...
And with two minutes left we took the lead!
It was an amazing feeling to watch as looming embarassment turned to new hope, but unfortunately, our defense had to make a stop for us to win. And so into overtime we went, and after regaining the lead, we lost to Bowling Green in overtime. So begins the Brewster era in Minnesota. It could be a long season.

Cabin Fever

Unfortunately the title has nothing to do with a cabin. We neither own a cabin or have been to one in quite a while. It is referring to us being in the midst of a home search and being ready to move out of Wilder's parents' house. They've been so great to let us stay here while we look for jobs and then a house but it is now past time for us to have our own place finally. We are beginning to look seriously now, instead of just on the internet like I've been doing for the last two year. What an overwhelming process! We're in the middle of trying to find a realtor so we can then start looking at houses and not be restricted to open houses only. We are also praying that the right place will come along; by right I mean for the right price. We really only care about location and price (and a little bit about size). We are very willing to buy a place that needs some updating as long as it is nothing to big that needs to be done. Now I just need to be patient for the right one at the right time.

Hole in one!

One thing that we have been enjoying this summer is disc golf. Brent gave Robin some discs at the start of the summer, and so we decided that we would get a couple discs to play as well so we could play a round every now and then with Baby sister. We did not realize how much fun we would have! So we've been playing more and more, and learning about different discs and different courses. My favorite course, of course, is at Covenant Pines. What I like most about it, besides being at the ever amazing Pines, is that there are three sets of tees, so while there are only nine sets of chains, you can play twenty seven holes, and the courses range in difficulty.
So we were up at the Pines this past weekend, and I was playing the yellow course with some of the guys (yellow is the shortest set) and on the first hole, I threw a hole in one! I was really excited, because it was my first hole in one. I ended up seven under par for the yellows, and it really encouraged me to get better; it's funny how we tend to work harder at the things we're better at. Shouldn't we work more on the things we're worse at? Anyways, I love Disc Golf.

Tulsa, The Paris of the US

So last week I was in Tulsa, OK for work. We have to go down there to
transition the work to ourselves (long story that I won't go into). I
got my own room in the Radisson, equipped with a sleep number bed (I was
at a 55 I think). I also got all my meals paid for since I was on a
work trip. All this to say that if you have to go to Tulsa it helps to
have everything paid for. I actually had a pretty good time though.
There are quite a few people at my new job who are in their 20's. There
are also quite a few who have a twin. With myself included there are at
least 4 twins just in the accounting department. Crazy, I know.
One night we left Tulsa and headed to Bartlesville
to go to the Price Tower. This is a Frank
Lloyd Wright building that was made in the '50s. It was very
cool to see. He was very innovative. It was amazing to see all of the details he took the time to make sure were perfect.

BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD

If there's one thing I love, it's Covenant Pines Bible Camp. April and I just spent a week up there volunteering for Senior High 1. It was a really great experience, mostly because I had a great cabin of guys. They were really good about not excluding each other, and spent a large portion of their time playing ultimate frisbee.

April and I were a little nervous when we first arrived at camp, because we didn't know as many staff members as we had in years past. By the time we had to leave, however, we were sad to go, because we had made about thirty new friends. It was a great week of playing games and going on the blob, and it rekindled my sense of responsibility toward high schoolers. It seemed like a bunch of these guys were really yearning for some strong male role models, to show them how to be a strong Christian man and how to love others. So many of them seemed to go out of their way to meet me, hang out with me; it made me realize that some of them actually look up to me.
Sometimes I forget things like that in my daily life, while I wonder about what's next or how to pay the bills. There's more than just me. I grew up with these strong christian role models at camp, showing me how to love God, love others, and how to have fun, and that was a big factor in how I turned out. I think it's important to pass those lessons on to these kids by example. And I love it.

Buck Buck, Anyone?

I actually spent a whole day in the middle of my week at camp without speaking. I decided to listen instead. I talk all the time, so I took a day off. (My throat was also sore) It was funny how the people around me reacted. Some were intrigued, and ventured to understand not only what I was trying to communicate through gestures, but my reasons for remaining silent. Others were completely disoriented and uncomfortable in a world where Wilder doesn't speak. It was a fun game with my co-counselor Nate, who began interpreting my motions and translating my meaning to others.

April didn't like it, and was visibly frustrated by not hearing my voice. But it was a great experience, because the huge expanse of silence I left was filled by voice that might otherwise be silent, or unnoticed. My campers came out of their shells and I heard them joke with each other, converse among themselves, and play blues piano. I got the chance to hear and observe those who might have been quiet if I had been talking. I learned a lot about the gift of silence, and how different people deal with it. After a week of fun in the sun up north, We came back to the Twin Cities refreshed, and ready for April's first day of work.

A JOB!

I got a job! After we had been back in Minnesota for about a week or so I e-mailed my friend Melissa that we were back so that we could get together for lunch sometime. She e-mailed back to inform me that Carlson Companies, where her husband works, was looking for accountants and wanted to know if I was interested. I let her know that of course I was interested and applied online and sent my resume. I had and interview within a few days and an offer two days after that. I took the weekend to "think" about it and let them know on Monday morning that I would accept. I'm very excited about it!