The old has passed, the new is here... year that is :)

 Well I did it again... I loaded the pictures in reverse order... so here is the test. If you care about what happened in my life all the way back in November, you will have to read the whole thing. If you are someone who just cares about what is happening lately... well, then this is the post for you. 

Diane and I got away to Paris this last weekend and let me tell you the Eiffel Tower is a little underwhelming. But the time away was so good and rejuvenating. I didn't realize how much I needed it until I woke up this morning and felt so much better than I have in a long time. I loved the time to just sit and be and visit and do devotions and be with friends. It was great. I had a Spiritual Retreat just before this with my Care Team and that was great too. It really helped me feel more bonded to the team, which is always a good thing! 

I put this photo in here to show you what great taste in toys Aria has. She comes over on Sunday afternoons and hangs out and is so much fun. She's a miracle baby, full of life and walking now and you can barely tell that she started her life by fighting desperately for it, having been born at around 24 weeks. To give you perspective, most babies are born around 39. 

We just attended the 50 year celebration for Holy Cross! The founding pastor was there among others. He's 92 now! It was special to get a photo with the Pastor who, along with my Father in Law, officiated our wedding. 

For Valentines day we did a FORT movie night fundraiser where we watched the most romantic movie of all time "The Princess Bride". We had the actor who played Wesley come out and sign autographs. Here we are together after the show. 

My son Creed has a super power (just like Diane) and all babies love him and he loves them. Does that make him a babe magnet? I'll let you decide :). 

We got hit with snow again this year. That gave us a wonderful couple of days with the kids and a sort of forced vacation. It was great playing in the snow and getting all that extra time together. We went sledding and made a snowman and had a blast! Our greenhouse collapsed under the weight of the snow and ice, but we were able to get it fixed and saved many plants and then we were also able to get it replaced. God is good! 

We celebrated Claire's 19th birthday recently. Perhaps her first away from mom and dad. Her brothers threw her a great party. Mark made a wonderful meal and it was special to be invited. 

Here Ruth and I are helping rake leaves for an elderly couple that needed some love. Our FORT group spent an afternoon helping out. Serving is one of my favorite ways to get to know the amazing youth I get to serve! 

I love this Aidan guy! He turned 21 and that means Caleb takes you out to Buffalo Wild Wings and pays for you to do the Blazing challenge. 10 of their hottest wings in 5 minutes. You have to sign a waiver. Aidan of course crushed it!  

For Sean's birthday he did a similar thing and got the sauces and wings from the Hot Ones YouTube show and we all enjoyed trying to make it through the challenge. The 8th wing 'Da Bomb' is a killer! 

We had a great Journey Through Middle Earth this year. So many amazing college age and FORT youth (some for the first time) got to come and enjoy two days of all the Hobbit and LOTR movies with our annual broomball outing right in the middle. It's like a family reunion and is such a sweet time of bonding and fellowship! It's a lot of work but it's one of the things that an MK told me was their favorite thing during the year and that has kept it an ongoing tradition. It's like its own holiday :). 

In the ongoing hunt for good family time we have come up with an idea that gives everyone a chance to choose a two hour activity slot. We try and dedicate a day or two to this during the breaks the kids get. Here are some fun times from the trampoline park and a hike we took over near the Cedar Ridge library. I love getting to spend time with my amazing family! 

It's fun having the Gebauers over for the holidays. We miss mom and dad, but I love continuing the traditions with the kids that are still in the area. We are also suckers for the zoo lights. We love the zoo and we love lights. 

Its' also fun to have parties with my Sunday group of friends, ugly sweaters and white elephant gift exchanges are a part of the season too! 

The Talent show went so well this year! People are generous and the youth are so talented in their performances and silent auction offerings. I'm so thankful for this incredible group! We had more performances than ever before and had a packed out audience. 

It was very special seeing Alethea get married. She had two weddings on one of the coldest Sundays of the year, poor thing. This was nearly freezing and the next Sunday was in the 70s. Go figure in Texas, you never know what you are going to get. The weather made it way more memorable and she was a beautiful bride! 

Here are some fun pics of our Christmas party for the PBT and for FORT. I love this job! I have such silly kids in my life! 

I really enjoyed getting to see "Radium Girls" and cheer on Gabe. I have enjoyed mentoring him this year and he is incredibly talented as an actor. I had never heard of the story before and was so thankful to have gotten to see it. 

This picture captures so well the fun youth we have in our group now. Talented and silly and a joy to work with. We try and find fun things to do with our Lounge hours every week. This week we had them create a Christmas village. They did a great job! Please keep praying for me to have all the wisdom and love I need to shepherd them well. Sometimes they get a little 'picky'. 

Thanksgiving week was such a great break from the norm. I loved more family days and walks and quality time with the Gebauers! We hosted the meal this year and got to meet Preston, Robyn's 'special friend'. He's awesome and the time with all of them was very special. I love my smoker and only smoke turkeys now. It's easy and delicious. I really enjoyed Apex and his twin horse getting to say hi to each other and it was fun to go bowling with my kids!

I turned 43 this/last year. Diane again threw an amazing party where we had great games, food and worship! It's so fun having all my friends over, it feels like it kicks off the holiday season for me. I'm the same age now as my great mentor and friend Bob Alber was when he invited me into this amazing service to Missionary Kids. I've been doing this for more than 18 years as a volunteer and almost 13 years full time. What a privilege. Thank you so much for making it all possible!

I have lots to look forward to in the coming months! I haven't really travelled without my family in years, but that is coming to an end as I now have many trips on the horizon! I'm heading back to the Solomon Islands the end of April to further their Trauma Healing training, then I have a conference where I'm leading the youth program in Oregon in June and one for Africa in October and then one in Eurasia in January before heading back to Thailand in July of 2027. 

This is my heartbeat these days! I'm teaching a series on Transformation and it has been a wonderful time to reflect on the activities that transform us into what God wants us to be rather than the activities that perform us into what 'man' wants us to be. 

I was thinking about Peter and John in Acts 4:13.

The only thing that really transforms and creates something special is our proximity to Jesus. We must be with him to be like him, nothing else really matters. 

Here are my 2 latest Sermons if you are interested. The first one is on Transformation and the second one is on Self-Control.

Transformation

Self-Control

I have many trips coming up! Please pray for wisdom and grace in planning all the details and for all the funds to come in for the trips. Pray for Diane and the family to be well cared for while I'm away. Pray for Diane and her health, she is dealing with a lot of chronic pain. Pray for my Dad who has Parkinson's to find the right dosing of meds to be able to get back strength, and comfort for my Mom who is caring for him. 

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.

One last tidbit... I'm trying to go through the Bible 12 times this year! So far I've almost completed it twice. Each month I have a friend 'running' that portion of the race with me. Pray that I can finish strong and that the Word of God bears great fruit in all our lives as we digest it at a very fast pace. 

We have been enjoying some great times of fellowship with the neighbor boys Axton and Ewen (they are the same age as our girls). They love to join us for devotions when they can. They have a tough past, and it is great to be able to walk with them now. Please pray for them and for our family to love them well! 

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 18, Asher 16, Liam 14, Echo already in heaven, Bella 11, and Serenity 9 years old.

 

A Carnival of fun!

After waiting way too long between blogs last time I'm coming in hot with another addition only a few short months later. It's great to be back at the keyboard and I'm ready to talk about the ministry, the family and all about these crazy pictures, that themselves are worth a thousand words.

It's been good getting deeper into the school year and kicking off another year of MK. I've been doing this for so long and it's nice to continue to adapt to the changing times and new generations. This group of MKs is unique and has some very adventurous people in it. We have a group that is very into the outdoors, more than many groups we have had in the past. I'm enjoying getting to know them and them getting to know me. I think we are off to a great start. 

Diane had to say goodbye to her parents, who are now back in the Solomon Islands. For the first time, no kids went along with them. Here Diane is enjoying some Pokémon and Baseball memories with her dad. She was grateful to soak up any special moments she could before they left. It has been especially hard to say goodbye this time around. 

Can you find the hummingbird? I am just loving my yard these days! It was so cool to catch a hummingbird enjoying the hibiscus during one of my times with the Lord. 

You may think that we went on a trip just to see a dog... that was not the reason. Our dear friends, the Sieks, live in Austin. David is the one who first mentored me in my trips to Thailand. We haven't seen them in far too long. We thought we were going to Austin for a Spartan race but when that plan changed to another time, we kept the chance to go and see the Sieks. It was a great weekend away and really revived our hearts. 

Look at Apex face... lol, just had to include this picture. I love having a home away from home for so many cool people. 

We did a lot of YouTube worship to start the year, but now we've had some MKs step up and start a worship band again. It's so nice to have live music and to see the kids use and grow their gifts. 

These amazing Hegemans made it possible for me to attend a Biblical Counseling conference with them along with two other members of our MK team. It's such a treat. Here we are celebrating Martin's Birthday after the conference at one of his favorite burger places. So thankful for them joining the team! 

Diane is getting some more precious moments here with Mom. They went to the women's retreat with Holy Cross and spent hours just taking photos together... (Diane jumping in here - So not true! I took less than 10 photos of the whole weekend and this was the only one I got of us. Grabbed it right as we were leaving. Was having too good of a time connecting and enjoying the moments to snap photos. 😊)

We get to have a great small group with these amazing MKs on Tuesday afternoons. Nadia had the idea to use this very nice space to meet in as we study Romans together. It's a lot of fun! 

Asher and the VT cross country varsity team ran a great race at District and easily took first place propelling them toward a chance to go to State. 

Serenity has been exercising so much and can now hold Bella with just her hand. She makes it look so easy. We got to enjoy a nice day at the zoo a few days before the Gebauers left. Many of their kids came to town and we got to enjoy time together the Friday before their departure. We tried to make the most of the last days we had. 

Bella is still playing soccer! Go GP United. She is playing very well on a not so great team. She is learning a lot about how to be a good sport and deal with less than stellar coaching and players that didn't get to benefit of being a part of her excellent former team coached by the incredible Monique Arritt. 

So fun to get the family together to farewell the great Ron and Roxanne. Many fun surprise visitors came in to say goodbye! It was a wonderful family reunion. 

Woah look at the size of that pig's... well never mind... 

I haven't been to the Texas State Fair in years and years. It was really fun to get to go with my girls and Diane this year. We loved the animals, shows, and cars. It was so fun! We also picked up some cool things, including some indestructible hose heads. I love the fair! 

We had a great guys night on Columbus Day or whatever is politically correct now. We played hard and then talked about how God calls us to use our gifts to serve on another. It was a great conversation! I was so impressed with the guys coming up with cool ways they can serve the group. If we want to be like Jesus then we are going to be servants of all! 

Here are the amazing Spartans after the race. They volunteered and then they ran the 10K obstacle course/race the next day. I had another weekend of Biblical Counseling so I couldn't go out there and free my inner King Leonidas, but they had tons of fun. 

My sister game me this priceless painting that she made for my birthday. She is amazing! I wonder what priceless gifts you all will give? To be honest, your love and friendship is already priceless... but don't let that stop you from thinking about a gift :). 

Asher and VT had a chance to compete for State, but it wasn't their year and they finished their run with their heads held high. I'm sure they will build on this success with even more success next year!

Bella was in the show "Into the Woods". It was amazing and she did amazing and it made our lives crazy busy. I'm glad she did it and I'm glad it's over. Ethan was also in the production, among other of our friends. He did a great job and sang a great song... Agony! 

You can see which kids I have that love Halloween and which ones don't care about it at all. It's fun to see them all dressed up and out to get some candy! 

How did this adorable picture make it in here? Anyway, Aria is doing so well and it was so fun to snuggle her playful self that is finally off the oxygen tubes. She still breaths oxygen, but now more like the rest of us. She is healthy and strong and able to do a lot more exploring, bless her parents' hearts! 

We enjoyed another wonderful year having Sean and Jordan over for October 31st shenanigans. They found a great place to Trick or Treat and then we watch Edward Scissorhands. A great night! 

I had the joy of baptizing my cousin Sami's daughters, Ellie and Aideen, this past Saturday. They both gave such sweet testimonies. The water was so cold! Here's some of the beautiful event.  After the baptism we went to the first ever FORT Fall Carnival.

The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the battle belongs to the Lord. Unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor, labor in vain. When the idea of this Carnival first popped into my head, I was very excited about it. The week of, I was very anxious and had many dreams about it. The night before though, I had a dream that gave me a lot of peace. This was a risk, it could have cost a lot and then flop mightily. Instead it showed me again how faithful our God is to do so much with little. We made more money than I could have expected with a modest turnout. And the people who came had such a great time! It was especially meaningful to me to have my Pastor and his wife and daughter show up. My team is incredible and so are all the members of my community that showed up to help and to enjoy the fun. This could become a special part of the yearly traditions that we enjoy here. So so thankful and so excited for what is next. 

God has been teaching me about the power of Self Control through the lens of delighting in Him. When we love him and delight in him, he gives us the desires of our heart, which when we delight in him are centered around him. We do more for love than fear and as we cultivate a love for God who makes the burdens light and the yoke easy, it makes it possible for us to choose to do his will as we live surrendered to him. We remain in a relationship with a God we are in love with! Then the suffering becomes a part of the relationship that helps us know him better. We suffer for love and obedience, not foolishly chasing something lesser. You only dare to ask your best of friends to suffer with you, and so we suffer with our dearest friend, the Lord! Then the suffering takes on more meaning as we also see it as a conduit for God's comfort in our lives that also helps us to become better comforters. When we learn to receive his love, then we love his comfort, then we comfort. We are truly becoming like him! 

I am so grateful for you all. Thank you for your prayers and support and friendship. Thanks for encouragement and joining me in this fun adventure with all its twists and turns. 

Please Pray: For a greater and deeper understanding of God! For wisdom and humility in leading FORT. For blessings on the rest of the FORT events for the year (Talent Show Fundraiser, Journey through Middle Earth, and Broomball). For Diane's health. She is in chronic pain and needs a good medical answer, but I'll be okay with a miraculous one :). 

Praise God: For great connections with overseas TCKs. We have been reaching out to our kids overseas and that has led to some great travel opportunities to get over to see them in person. Please pray about the timing of that. The Carnival was a success and we are having a great time getting to know our 7th graders and bonding as a youth group. 

Love you all and words cannot express how grateful I am for you!  

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 18, Asher 16, Liam 14, Echo already in heaven, Bella 11, and Serenity 9 years old.