Luke, Luke, Luke...........

As most of you know we lost my brother Luke in Brazil when he was only 17. Many years have passed since then but the pain of losing him, although tempered by time, will never go away for my family. He was my baby brother, eight years younger than I & three years younger than my sister Lynn. Of course with the age difference between us my role was 'the bossy big sister' &
he would do whatever I asked him to.

But............ Lynn & Luke became great buddies as they grew up & as my 'little' sister grew older & wiser she would counsel Luke. "You know Luke just because Pat told you to doesn't mean you have to" or "Pat can't boss us around Luke she's NOT our mother" or "come on Luke let's just go in your room & we'll close the door so Pat will leave us alone" or "Luke just tell mom that Pat's being bossy again & mom will make her stop". Unfortunately she quickly undid all the good training it had taken me several years to instill in Luke. He was no longer in awe of me & quickly realized his favorite sister Lynn was right & obediently followed in HER footsteps when it came to dealing with me. Yep!! Those two were as tight as thieves & I'll never forget how ticked off I was at them. At Lynn for giving Luke such bad advice which he oh so willingly soaked right up & at Luke for switching his allegiance from me to her.

Now many years later we have another Luke in our family, or as my mother says 'the Lord has given us another Luke to love & enjoy'. And enjoying him we are indeed! This Luke also hails from Brazil, when he was a tiny tot his mother taught at the Mount Horeb school & he attended kindergarten there. In 2005 when mom & dad were in Brazil for their yearly visit they became reacquainted. He was now all grown up & mom didn't even remember him until he reminded her about his mother.

It didn't take long & Luke was well entrenched in mom & dad's hearts & lives, if you have the privilege of meeting Luke you'll understand why. Luke was 17 when he reconnected with mom & dad, the same age as our Luke was when he died. Luke's birthday is in April the same month as our Luke's birthday. Coincidence??? Some of you may think so but WE think God had this all planned. Luke also had a burning desire to visit Canada ever since he was a young boy.

Well he's here in Canada now & has very quickly become a much loved member of our family. He calls mom & dad "mom & dad" refers to me as his Canadian sister & entertains us with his great sense of humor. He has spoiled mom & dad, as a matter of fact I suspect he's ruined them for good & that they will now expect the same quality of service from me! Thanks Luke!! He helps mom with all the housework, the dishes, the grocery shopping, the gardening, her computer work,etc etc. He agrees with everything mom says & when I disagree with her he says "Now Pat you should listen to mom because you know she's right" "(thanks Luke) of course saying that doesn't earn him any brownie points with me! He & I have long talks about all the stuff that you can talk to 'sisters' about, you know, girls & stuff. He opens the doors for us, won't let us carry anything, won't let us sit in the back seat of the car & the list goes on. He is very well mannered & well behaved (well, most of the time :) And as I often walk around in a bit of a daze most days trying to look & act like I REALLY DO have it all 'together' & am a normal functioning woman WITH my wits about me, Luke will look at me, sadly shake his head & say "Pat, Pat, Pat......... you are confused again." I just turned 50 ladies so those of you around this age should know what I mean!!?? If you don't, beware, because your turn will come! Other friends of his in Canada who met him while they were visiting at Mount Horeb also want a piece of his time. We do get a little jealous because you know..... he's ours..... but we do reluctantly share him.















We recently took him to Kelowna to catch a flight to Edmonton. There he spent a few days with the Bentrude's who took him to the Calgary stampede so he could see some real Canadian cowboys. Now he is with Alda, another fellow Brazilian, volunteering at her church's summer youth camp.

We hope you are having a blast Luke but hurry home cause we miss you & it's more fun going to the movies with you than it is going alone!