Ask the Busy person!

 

When I was in 11th grade during my study halls I used to read quote books... after finishing all my homework and such that is :). This was one of my favorites. The idea is clear, busy people know how to get things done and have experience. We often think that we can't ask people who are busy because they are busy. If you ask someone who isn't "busy" they are often not busy for a reason and they aren't always great at getting things done. Of course there is a healthy balance to strive for here, but this always makes me feel better during busy seasons... and this last season has been busy! 

It's my fault, and I always think to myself that I won't let this much happen between blogs... and then I fail and here we are again trying to catch up on way too much time in between. 

Okay this is a not so great picture of an owl... but how often to you get to take a picture of an owl from your front yard? 

The girls finished another great year with American Heritage Girls... and I'm so happy that they learned to wash cars! Amazing program! 

The Spring brought with it great time with family outside in very pleasant weather and heat indexes that were nowhere to be found. All you need is some chalk and a 4square ball. 

I enjoyed attending the red carpet of the Oscars again this year. These were my plus ones. A great group of people to enjoy doing life with. It's amazing how every year they invite me back tot he red carpet. I feel so loved. 

The FORT campout this year was so special. This was a picture of one of my favorite moments! The guys worshiping and fellowshipping down by the lake as they welcome in the stars. What a great long weekend to bond as a group! 

We have been so blessed to have almost no injuries among our 5 kids. Well this year Liam dislocated his finger playing soccer. The good news is that he qualified for the world cup, the bad news is that we had to amputate. He handled the whole thing so well and has healed really well. 

With the Gebauer parents in the Sols (what the cool kids refer to as the Solomon Islands) we get to host lots of fun events, this is our version of Easter egg hunting with the Dallas Gebauers/Robbins. We had a great feast and hunt and overall day! 

Creed is 19! He made it! We enjoyed celebrating him with the gang. What a special time. I'm so proud of him and his hard work and humble spirit. He is launching really nicely and has had a productive year working with my cousin Sami in house remodeling and maintenance. 

                                       

Diane and Creed saw me off to the Sols and it was the most uneventful trip I have ever had both directions. All the in between stuff was amazing and such a cool redemption from the last time I tried to go. 

After I left Serenity had a great birthday bash with all her best buds, and I missed the whole thing. Oh shoot. 

I loved my time in away. It was my first big trip in the last 2 years away from my family. I went to do Teen Trauma Healing and Story Based Trauma Healing. All the people that were supposed to come help me couldn't make it due to medical situations. It felt like it was being attacked, but after all the prayer that inspired it went off so well I couldn't believe it. 

I loved getting to know Ron and Roxanne (my Mom and Dad in lay) so much better. I had most, if not all of my evening meals with them and enjoyed asking them all kinds of questions, from how did you become missionaries to how did you meet and fall in love? I would go up around 6 pm and enjoy coconut water and watch the sunset and have great conversation and a great meal! 

My mornings started around 5 with a couple hours hammocking and listening to the Bible while watching the sunrise. After my day ended I would go on a nice long walk and listen to "Praying like Monks, Living like Fools." Then I would play volleyball and shower and ease into my evening. 

We got to go White water rafting on the weekend and that was so fun! But, I also worked, believe it or not. I really enjoyed seeing old friends and even finding a way for my Mom to participate some, even with the crazy time difference. After each completed program during the closing ceremony the News came out and I was interviewed each time. That was so fun. I enjoyed leading the group in morning devotions and watching them thrive in the material being presented. I felt so loved by the participants and got some powerful feedback. Pastors saying that they didn't think they needed healing and then after the program saying that everyone needs healing and they will start the healing group the next Monday! And, also make it compulsory for the ones they oversee in the church to participate. That was a first for me! God is doing some amazing things in the Sols and this renewed my heart to be a part of it! 

It was hard to tell some people I couldn't certify them and to remind others of our no phone rules, but that all felt insignificant compared to what God was doing. The people I had trained in 2023 came back and showed that they were definitely ready to take the next steps.  

And we ate this gigantic clam, but it was the huge pearl inside that has really helped with my support needs. It was so good and took a long time to finish. 

It's always nice to come home. But it takes awhile to get back into this central time zone and get my head ready for the next thing. Creatine has been a huge help in defeating jet lag this year! 20mgs a day for the first couple you are back or after you land there, makes a huge difference. 

We hosted the Senior Dinner this year and it was so great to have everyone over and celebrate them. I'm sad to see another class go, but I'm so proud of them. These were the ones who joined FORT during COVID 19 and stuck with it after surviving youth group on zoom! 

Our awesome annual Mothers Day hike! I know, mothers day every single year? Yeah I think they deserve it :). 

Pete Isenberg gave the charge to the FORT graduates! Yahoo! It was a great graduation ceremony! 

Bella surprised us all and pulled in the biggest award the Life School can give. The Cougar Award! Liam won the same award when he graduated. Now we are a Village Tech family, both girls will join Liam and Asher there next year.

One of the FORT youth was able to get 6 of us into Topgolf for a fun afternoon hitting golf balls! 

Bella has officially started her journey through FORT! She was in our program for Discovery (PBT mission week) which started the same Monday that we start our FORT summer program. That kicked off a very crazy season! It was great seeing so many kids in person that I usually only see when I'm checking in with them online. The one makes the other so much richer. We had a great week with these silly people. 

The very next week Nadia and I flew to Oregon to do very much the same thing with another group. That was so special to serve another group of amazing youth, this time in a place that has a wonderful climate during the summer. 

The next week I drove my family to Orlando for a wonderful vacation with tons of highlights! 

It's me... I know the mask makes it hard to tell. It's Caleb Robbins. 

The great highlight was getting to see this incredible mentor and friend! We love you Bob! We had some great conversations on the beach and then later enjoying dinner at his home. He has known me from the beginning of my time with this ministry and is how God drew me into it. 

We got a great deal on a place to stay, but the catch was we all had to sleep in the bathtub. It was weird, but worth the deal. 

I want to end every blog with this picture now. She is just so hard core! Beach babe for sure! 

I was back for a mere couple of days,. just enough to play some futbol with the amazing youth! They made a paper ball and were unable to mover off their spot or kick the ball above knee height. Yeah that didn't work... but nothing broke :). 

My Summer series was answering the prompt "What I wish I'd known when I was in MK." Lots of great guest speakers, all alumni, have participated. This was Lydia Eatough taking a stab at it. 

This summer we have had a fun Tuesday hang out and we have done all kinds of fun things. Here we are at a coffee shop and I taught them the great game E.R.S. It has been revived as an MK favorite ever since. 

So proud of this Luc guy for completing his Regen Class. I was honored to be his mentor through the process. The next morning we were off again on another adventure, this time to Arkansas for a Gebauer family reunion. 

It was so good to be together and do life together for even just a short time. We watched DR Congo (my birth country) win a game and that was surprisingly emotional for me and so much fun to share with the group. We hiked and laughed and visited and started what I hope will be a grand tradition spanning the many more decades. 

Aidan Blanton spoke the kickoff of Mission Week, and he crushed it. It was one day after getting back that we started mission week. Now that is timing. It was great to serve at local spots like Duncanville Outreach and Mission Arlington. Then to help our more local community, working on the ILC Center and PBT Center and some missionaries in Sunset Acres. We had a fun sleepover Thursday night after finishing all the hard work and before going to Hawaiian Falls for a day of fun. I loved getting to watch the Egypt/Australia game in the wave pool. These are the fun/hard weeks that really bond the group together!

I just loaded the last set of pictures... we are almost done my friends... we have nearly made it! 

It was so nice having the Gebauers here for the 4th! We had a great time at the parade and a wonderful evening grilling out. We loved having Gabe and Greg join us! Some split off and went to Armstrong Park for the fireworks and some stayed to watch Jaws and see the fireworks here at our home. It was a wonderful day celebrating 250 years! 

Our next fun Tuesday with the FORT group was family zoo day! That was so much fun, and really I'm surprised it's the first time I've done something like this with the group. 

My amazing aunt and uncle came to town and hosted a huge happy hour for us all. It was so nice to see the whole family on this side together in one place for an afternoon. 

We got a ping pong table a while ago and finally had time to move it to a place where we can play it without annoying people trying to work. 

I really enjoyed being able to see Spain beat France at the semi-final match. Matthew led us on this amazing adventure from the DART to Fair Park to enjoy Fan Fest! While we were waiting to get picked up to go home from the DART station we played Blindman's Bluff, I was the blind man!

I got another rat!!! So good! 

This last Thursday I really enjoyed hammocking with my family that is only in town for a short time. The morning I enjoyed catching up with my cousin David and here I'm with my cousin Christies husband Joel. They work with MAF. 

The incredible Connie Strand is retiring from FORT after 16 incredible years of service. It was so special to celebrate her Monday night. She has given so much to this group and it was precious how many alumni came out to honor her retirement. 

Thanks to Sean, I was able to take my whole family to Cidercade yesterday, drinks included, for free! You wanna know more just ask me and I'll hook you up! It was a very special afternoon spent playing games with my kids and wife. 

Please be praying for me, I have somehow injured my back in the last couple of days and it is very annoying. Also be praying for my Dad to be completely healed and my Mom as she cares for him. Pray for wisdom with work and a great finish to the summer before the fall program kicks off. Pray that I can hear clearly from the Lord and be a good leader. I'm also speaking at camp this year, pray that I can speak Gods words clearly.

I praise God for you all the time! Thanks for making this work possible and for sharing in it with me! God is providing vision and purpose and renewed joy and is giving us so much life in this season.

Update on my Bible challenge. Going strong, about to complete the 7th round and so many people have joined me. It has been incredible!

God is really impressing on me the truth that without love nothing we do has value! May your life be a reflection of the Love that you receive from God and share with everyone and may you feel His life equipping and helping you through every challenge and joy!

Blessings on you all, my heroes! I look forward to telling you about all the great things God is doing next time! I Love you dearly! 

Blessings, 

Caleb 

If you want to support what I do a little or a lot, on a one time basis or with recurring gifts, the easiest was is to use Zelle. You can follow this link zellepay. That will start the process of getting you set up to use Zelle with your bank or If you already use Zelle it will direct you to the banking app you use and give you instructions from there. To send me money use my email caleb_robbins@sil.org. If you would like any help setting that up feel free to contact me directly! 214 558 8431. You can also scan the code below and it will take you directly to my Zelle donation page. 

Another way to donate to the ministry if Zelle isn't an option is via check. If you write a check to "Holy Cross Lutheran Church" and put "Caleb Robbins Ministry" in the memo line, it will get deposited into my ministry account. If you would rather set up a bill pay or have any other questions you can call the Church at 817-451-7561. Let them know you want to Support Caleb Robbins and his ministry serving Missionary Kids. 

The address is:

Holy Cross Lutheran Church 

4400 W Arkansas Ln

Arlington, TX 76016

Diane is my beautiful wife and the mother of my precious children - Creed 19, Asher 17, Liam 14, Echo already in heaven, Bella 12, and Serenity 10 years old.