The crazy month of life :)

So much has happened it's hard to know where to begin...

April was a fantastic month filled with great activities and delightful amounts of rain... that have continued into the month of May. Things you learn from rain... well, Duncanville is quite beautiful when it's not suffering from drought :) and really people are quite beautiful when they are receiving from God what they need to grow as well. The metaphor for my work has been beautiful to think about! I want to be a source through which God can provide all that these MKs need to thrive where they are!

Asher is now a proud graduate of kindergarten! Yay Asher! The MK seniors have also enjoyed the MK senior dinner and graduation ceremony and we have officially opened the pool with our great fund raiser.

The Gebauers are back and Mark is out and our house is now just a Robbins nest of sorts :). It's nice to have the extra space which we have turned into a play room for the kids.

My life is going through some interesting changes that I look forward to letting you know about once the dust settles, but I appreciate your prayers for me during all the business this time of year brings and with the interesting things that God is doing in my life and ministry!

Oh yeah did I mention two weddings have taken place since I last wrote? Yeah the busy month of life is right! Now we seem to be past the bulk of it, in fact tonight is my last MK before the summer program kicks off... ha, I should know better than to say things like that :).

You guys rock! Your prayers are heard and are powerful. I feel sustained, blessed, encouraged, and am filled with peace that I don't understand and joy that gives me strength. Your generosity toward my ministry makes the trips and the every day living possible and is incredible to me. I have the best partners in the world, you all are a huge part of what I do and you are all like family. Thank you, I am filled with gratitude when I think of you and I pray for you and praise God for you!

Okay now some pictures :)

Senior Dinner 

MK Event: Sonic and fun at Armstrong Park

Monday Night Artwork! Yeah we have fun at Youth group! 

 

Mothers Day 

MK Event: Rock Climbing

MK Fund Raiser: The Pool Opening

Date Night! Diane and I seeing Mat Kearney 

 One of the amazing weddings, I love Bella and Liam with Mom in the background! 

God is so good and it's so good to share with you the joys of life, no matter how busy!

I started a prayer vlog if any of you are interested, it's on my Youtube channel which you can get to on the links to the side of this Blog, just click on Calebtube on the top right.

Thanks for the generosity that you have shown toward my wife and I concerning this trip to Thailand. The Lord provides and he uses incredibly generous people like you to do it! Thank you!

May God bless you all!

Caleb

Diane is coming to Thailand with me and that means we need to raise double the money! So if you are interested in partnering with Diane and I in her going to serve in Thailand with me this summer please click on the supporting the work tab at the top of the page and make a one time donation to my ministry. We have to raise $5,000 total for the both of us to go. 

If you want to support what I do a little or a lot, on a one time basis (for a mission trip to Thailand 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 8, Asher 5, Liam 3, Echo already in heaven and Bella, getting bigger all the time, and almost 1!!!! 

Gods got this! Gods got you!

What a great month so far! I have had some crazy and wonderful experiences but the greatest experiences are the ones that bring God and I closer together... the joy of life, the pursuit of God, the one who relentlessly pursues me... this is love not that we loved God but that He loves us!

I had the great privilege of going to the Dallas World Aquarium with my son Asher on a field trip. It was so fun to just be with him, we were in a perfect group of two! Before the field trip I was killing time and wanted to grab a snack, I wandered over to a 7 Eleven to get a snack and had been praying that the Lord would provide for Diane to go to Thailand on the way over. When I stepped through the door a man walked up to me and offered to buy me whatever I wanted to eat and drink and after he noticed the sticker on my shirt saying that I was on a field trip he offered to buy something for my son as well. They were doing a documentary on people eating at 7 Eleven, all I had to do was let him get a picture of me eating what I got. Well that was a no brainer :). I left with the goods in stow and the incredible truth ringing in my spirit that God provides... Jehovah-Jireh :). Well then it hit me that phrasing it that way is a little foreign to me... so I asked God to speak it to me in my heart language (I must be the son of a linguist :)... God simply said "I got this and I got you". My heart was filled with peace and joy and the worry about Diane getting the funds to go to Thailand changed into excitement to see how God will provide... or has got me :). God is so good and it's this amazing kindness that draws me more and more into the loving arms of my best friend!

I am over joyed as I think about how you have partnered with me in this adventure and how God uses you to say over and over again to me that He's got me! Thank you for being so incredibly encouraging and faithful and an awesome part of what God is doing in my life and around the world! I'm blessed to have you in my life!

I love spring so much because it means that one of my favorite hobbies gets to come back in full swing. We did a bunch of yard work for the community with the MKs and it was a guilty pleasure for me because I love doing yard work! I know I'm a little strange to some of you :)... maybe a lot strange :).

It was so much fun getting out there with the kids and it was so cool how many kids came out to serve. After we were finished we had a pizza party and it was great having that time with the youth after wards. Its amazing what a little pizza will do :)... Diane brought the pizza and the kids and it was fun hanging out with my family and my larger MK family. I really enjoy seeing how they interact with my kids, it means so much to me!

I love this picture! One of the MKs putting flowers in the hair of another one. This ministry is so satisfying and is growing and it's so exciting to be a part of it. The kids decided on their own to start a worship band! It's so cool to see how God works in their lives! 

Mark is away in New York this week on a choir trip! We are so proud of him. He is almost back in the care of his own parents who are coming back a week from this Sunday. It is exciting to be so close to their return and the end of the boarding era of our lives. Mark is the last one in the foreseeable future for us. God has taught us so much through this and I'm so thankful to be ending this whole experience on such a high note! 

God has got this! 

Please keep Bella in your prayers, she has been sick recently and keep her tired mother in your prayers too :)

Pray for the Thailand trip coming up soon! We have tickets! Pray for the conference and the hearts that God wants to touch and for our hearts as we prepare what He has given us! 

Thank you Lord for being so faithful and awesome and friendly :) Thank you for such amazing partners! I love you guys and pray for you often! 

Blessings, 

Caleb 

Diane is coming to Thailand with me and that means we need to raise double the money! So if you are interested in partnering with Diane and I in her going to serve in Thailand with me this summer please click on the supporting the work tab at the top of the page and make a one time donation to my ministry. We have to raise $5,000 total for the both of us to go. 

If you want to support what I do a little or a lot, on a one time basis (for a mission trip to Thailand 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 8, Asher 5, Liam 3, Echo already in heaven and Bella, getting bigger all the time.

When is the right time?

I never quite know when the right time to write my next blog is... I don't want to write too often, but I don't want to write too infrequently either... then I don't know if I should write before Easter or after I get cool Easter pictures...

Or maybe I should have written this tomorrow and then I could give pictures of Creed's birthday to you all to enjoy... or maybe... well maybe now is the right time...

He is risen!!! 

I really enjoy Easter, and this was the best one I've had this whole year! It's great watching the kids run around and have fun, it's great eating ham and relaxing with the fam. It's more than great meditating on what Easter is really all about. I have grown to love a song by John Mark McMillan and I will post it here for you to enjoy as well. 

I don't know that every year something new has to impact you, but I think that all the time the gospel should be impacting all of us who believe. The transformation, the renewing of the mind, the friendship, the life, the freedom, the joy, the comforter, the man Jesus Christ, the Father who spared all of us but didn't spare his own Son. I appreciate the gospel so much more now that I have stopped settling for seeing and have begun desperately trying to genuinely understand. 

We need to set aside our willingness to just perceive truth and we need to open our arms to receive it, to put it on and let it do its work. 

What really stood out to me this year? Funny you should ask :)... its the dying, the fact that in order to be made completely new I must completely die. In death I find life, in holding onto my life I find only death. It began to make sense to me, and I began to long for it. 

He is Risen! but... he had to die to rise again... and so must we. 

I love you all so much! Thanks for being a part of my life, and thanks for partnering with me in this journey! I'm excited for all the joy that lies ahead, it's what makes enduring the death possible!  

Oh yeah! Creed you amazing little boy! You bring so much joy to our family and you amaze me with your brilliant mind. You remind me of your amazing Mother, my wife :), and I'm grateful that God gave us you to enjoy! I'm proud of you son and I'm just crazy about you! I know you have what it takes and I'm excited to be a part of your journey! Happy Birthday, it was and still is one of the best days of my life, the day that you were born, the day that I became a father, what a precious and amazing gift you are. I hope you never ever doubt or forget my love for you and I hope that you come more and more to know and live in the strength that the wild, deep, amazing, powerful, tender and incredible love of God and only His love gives you!

Blessings, 

Caleb 

Diane is coming to Thailand with me and that means we need to raise double the money! So if you are interested in partnering with Diane and I in her going to serve in Thailand with me this summer please click on the supporting the work tab at the top of the page and make a one time donation to my ministry. We have to raise $5,000 total for the both of us to go. 

If you want to support what I do a little or a lot, on a one time basis (for a mission trip to Thailand 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.

Spring Break! or is it brake?

Last week was a wonderful opportunity to get some time with my kiddos at home. It was so nice to have the whole week with them out of school. David was in town for most of the week and we culminated our celebrating at Denny's for some pancakes and such on Thursday morning. We are wild party animals, I know that is what you were thinking, right? I mean Denny's, I was almost worried to put that in there.

It was nice to have some time to get things done that never manage to get done around my house. I spent most of the week getting my garage cleaned and organized and realizing that I was silly to keep all those ancient cell phones and mobile CD players. I recycled a bunch of stuff and it felt great! The other part of the week I spent working in my yard and having a blast doing it. I love yard work and I know that makes me even harder to understand.

Just the week before we were again inundated with ice and snow, but this time it melted amazingly fast and was the perfect kind for playing in! We enjoyed some homemade snow cones and what not. 

Last week ended with a wonderful Pig Roast that Wycliffe Associates puts on here in Dallas for all their members. Poor Diane missed it due to illness but I grabbed Creed and Asher and we got our pig, we were achi'n for some bacon... he's a big pig, you can be a big pig too... thanks Lion King! It was packed out and I got stuck at a table with a similar maturity level to my own... yes the oldest was 13 :). 

The next day I was off to serve with the MK's at Shoes for Orphaned Souls! It was a great time to connect with them and get to know them better... and serving was a lot of fun too. Buckner is a great mission and part of the service is packing shoes and putting notes in them. I really enjoyed writing notes to the kids and thinking about how they would react when they read them. Good stuff! 

This week has started off great! Diane took me out on a wild date for St. Patrick's day. Yeah we know how to have fun! We went to to the spillway at Joe Pool lake and walked across the dam while enjoying our milk shakes from Sonic. I got the chocolate jalapeno and it was interesting. A one time adventure for me I think. I really enjoyed just being with my wife out in the beauty that God has created, I wish that he had created fewer mosquito's, but his ways are higher than my ways and his thoughts are higher than my thoughts. Needless to say, thanks to Diane, I have the perfect shirt to avoid getting pinched... Green Lantern... just so good!  

I'm the mission of the month at my Church right now and it has been a real blessing to share about my trip to Cameroon with them and the other wonderful things my job entails. I'm already getting excited about going on my next mission trip, which is back to Thailand! It's hard to believe it's almost time to go again. The worst thing about these trips is leaving my wife and kids, I miss them so much while I'm gone... this time I will only have to miss my kids! Diane is coming along and I'm pumped. Thanks to Ron and Roxanne being back and being willing to watch our kids, the Mrs. is coming back to Thailand and won't be crazy pregnant this time. I'm sure that will make the trip a little more comfortable for her :).

With Diane on board it means we need to raise double the money! So if you are interested in partnering with Diane and I in her going to serve in Thailand with me this summer please click on the supporting the work tab at the top of the page and make a one time donation to my ministry. We have to raise $5,000 total for the both of us to go. 

Thanks so much for how much you already are doing to partner with me in this work! It is truly remarkable and a blessing. March is the two year mark of me doing this full time! I can't do this without you and I'm so thankful for you and pray for you often! You are truly a part of all the things that I do and a tremendous blessing!

I hope that you enjoyed your Spring Break! or are about to enjoy it!

Blessings,

Caleb

If you want to support what I do a little or a lot, on a one time basis (for a mission trip to Thailand 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.

Winter Walkabout and such nonsense :)

Well you never know what is going to happen next in Texas... this week... well it's been snowing? Yeah that's right snowing!

It's been so nice being back! I have really enjoyed teaching MK and I'm really looking forward to our youth conference this weekend "Planet Wisdom". I just love working with teenagers... that's why it was kind of sad when MK was cancelled this week due to bad weather. Everything got iced and for two days we were stuck inside with work and school closed.






What do you do with a four day weekend? Well I don't know what you do but I know that at about noon on Monday I was so stir crazy that I started going through drawers and bowls of the kind of stuff that just gets thrown in places. I organized and cleaned up the collect all places in my house. It feels so great getting stuff organized and cleaned up and it makes coming back to work even more of a joy.

This morning when I got in I felt compelled to walk through the woods behind the center. It was so nice! I have really enjoyed just being with my family these last couple days, and now I'm really enjoying being back at work! God is good and gives us just what we need when we need it.

Please pray for the MKs this weekend at Planet Wisdom!

I'm so thankful to God for health and strength and daily bread, for friends and family and snowy weather! I'm so thankful for partners like you!

Blessings!

Caleb

If you want to support what I do a little or a lot, on a one time basis (for a mission trip to Thailand 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.

Honey I'm Home :)

That is all I have from my trip, all the video and all the pictures! It was a dream to be back in Yaounde and things went so well! I'm so thankful to all of you for your prayers and support!

I really enjoyed being with my parents and seeing how they live and where they live. They took such good care of me and I felt spoiled! It is so nice to eat moms cooking! Being with them was such a huge blessing! They helped me with the finishing touches on my lessons and took great care of me in every way.

It was amazing to have Mandy meet me at the airport and drop me off too. Without Mandy I'm not sure any of this would have happened! It was really special getting to spend time with her. I also enjoyed getting to see the Lamberts, and having dinner with them and their precious girls who just left my youth group here in the states last year.

My cousin Jordan took amazing care of me and I really loved being able to spend so much time with him! It was great going camping with him and spending some time with his great kids and beautiful wife! He is my blood and I really enjoy him!

It was very special getting to see Karl, one of my best friends in high school, I really enjoyed having lunch at his house and meeting his kids and wife. He has led quite an adventurous life.

Mr. Chilton is the only teacher that taught me that was there, it was so special getting to hang out with him, I don't know that I will ever be able to call him anything other than Mr. Chilton. There were other teachers there that I knew but it was special to me that he was there! he was my English teacher and my drama teacher.

The kids are awesome and I felt like I belonged! It was so great being with them and being home in Africa. The retreat was so great, good venue, the small groups were so cool, hearing people's stories and talking to kids afterwards was a highlight for me!

God took care of me from beginning to end! I breezed in and out of security, my bags came in without any incident and the flights were comfortable and fun! I couldn't believe how kind God was during my flight!

I got a whole row to myself on the way to Brussels and was able to sleep the whole way. The flight home was overbooked but I had an empty seat next to me and that made sleep possible again. Then the door to the luggage got stuck and we were looking at a long delay... only to end up being just 3 minutes late. I began expecting with full confidence that God would make a way where there seemed to be no way. It's the little things that make such a big difference.

Being home is wonderful! I have really enjoyed spending this long weekend with my family, home just in time for Valentines Day!

 I feel the love from all of you and from our Heavenly Father!

God is good! All the time!

Blessings,

Caleb