Thanksgiving to Christmas the great race has begun!

So I'm older... it happened again this year... I got older... birthdays are the best, and below is the picture taken closest to that great shift from 31 to 32. Braided beard in a Denny's with my good friend Micah. We were somewhere between Dallas and Granada Colorado on the way to my friend Justice's wedding. Left Thursday at 6:30 pm got there in the wee hours of my birthday morning and then left during the reception around 7 pm the next day... so I was a little tired on Saturday when I got home. Micah was in the wedding and it was nice to be able to drive out there with him! 

Below is a very bad picture of Mark singing at church during offering. So proud of that guy, sharing his talents with the world. He has a great voice! He deserves a better picture... but it's all I got.

So Thanksgiving is a great time for celebrating gratitude and our endless supply of reasons to be grateful. God is so good! It also seems to be the time where kids get to dress up in construction paper outfits and eat at school. Diane made Asher a pilgrim hat for his class (it took so long, it was so funny to jokingly tell her I had crushed it... no really it was funny :), I guess Liam was a Native American... I'm glad my family could represent all the people groups at the first Thanksgiving. 

We enjoyed a small Thanksgiving at home with Joel and Jessica Satre. There were only ten of us :). It was good to have David back from college for half a week. We relaxed enjoyed good food and bad football (poor Cowboys got creamed). The whole weekend was very relaxing and a great break from routine. 

The day after Thanksgiving we enjoyed getting the house ready for Christmas! We all enjoyed wearing Christmas hats and watching Christmas movies (Muppet Christmas Carol is a winner!) and making our house very cozy. We have a huge tree and again contemplated just decorating one of our plants that is also quite big... the kids won out and Diane lost out and again this year we have a beautiful tree. Good stuff! Diane does such a great job on the tree!

That video makes me so happy! Just an example of the fun times to be had during a relaxed weekend. It's great to have time to just hang out and be silly... which is I guess, almost every day for me :). 

Last night we made our gifts to deliver to the retirement home here on the Wycliffe Center. It is filled with the great cloud of witnesses who have left us a legacy to be proud of and to rejoice in being a part of. I love going to the Cowan Apartments and singing carols and hearing their stories! This year our gifts are much better due to Michal joining the team... last year we had a ziploc bag with some stuff in it and this year we have a wonderfully decorated mug with goodies in it. 

After the decorating was over I shared a Christmas story from my youth. The story of the armed robbery, where God showed up and protected our family in an incredible way. This time of year is so great but I've lived through 31 Christmases and it's hard to always get in the Christmas spirit. This year I'm focusing on the wonder of redemption, and the incredible gift of relationship with Jesus, there is so much to be grateful for and my heart is full! 

Thanks so much for being  a part of my adventure! I am a blessed man to have you in my life! 

God is working and it is a privilege to be a part of what he is doing! 

Blessings, 

Caleb

p.s. I have a wonderful mission trip to Cameroon coming up which will cost $1800. Thanks for your prayers and financial support! It is wonderful to have peace buying the tickets knowing that God will use you to get me there and back again :).

If you want to support what I do a little or a lot, on a one time basis (for a mission trip to Cameroon perhaps :) or on a recurring basis, click on the tab "Supporting the Work" at the top of the page. Diane is my beautiful wife and the mother of my precious children Creed 7, Asher 5, Liam 3, Echo already in heaven and Bella, getting bigger all the time.