Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :)

Fun in the park and presents and food and games and family... these are a few of my favorite things... concerts and sunny days and Star Wars and Lord of the Rings these are a few of my favorite things! 

It's been a fun time relaxing with family and the great weather has made for some great times out and about with the kids. We had a great time with the older Gebauers on Wednesday evening doing our Secret Santa, that was nice to get conversation flowing that didn't get interrupted with kids running through randomly! Then on Thursday I did Christmas with my side of the family and on Christmas day we did it with Diane's. We know how to party... keep it going all week... after all it's a pretty important Birthday! 

Another fun thing we have been doing is watching all the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings movies. It's been nice having people over and diving back into the Tolkien universe a bit, for some reason it just feels like Christmas :). Another fun movie experience was Star Wars! My present to some of the brothers was a ticket and a ride to see the motion picture event of the holiday season. It was great... my parents came along also and we all had a splendid time! 

It's been great also sneaking in moments where it's just Diane and the kids and then just Diane and myself. The hustle and bustle is fun... but tiring and it's great to find myself alone with my wife and a good cup of coffee or some such and an opportunity to reflect! 

I wonder if Jesus was my secret Santa what I would get Him and what I would ask for... I've already given Him my life and He started it by first giving His for me. What more can you do? It just got me thinking about the perfect birthday present... literally what do you get for the guy who has it all? Time, that's the gift, relationship... just sitting and being with and enjoying Him. It's hard to take the time when everything else demands your attention... that's why I think it's such a great gift... it shows how much he means to me. I know that is something I really want from him at this point... He's already given me the Holy Spirit and that gift just keeps on giving :). God is so good... Happy Birthday Jesus you are the best, and I really mean that! 

I hope your Christmas was amazing and your new year is just as fantastic! Thanks for being a part of what I'm doing... for your prayers and support, I couldn't do this with out you and I'm so grateful to you for making it possible to chase after these wonderful MK's and love them as best I can! 

Blessings, 

Caleb 

If you are having any trouble switching your support over please let me know. Here is what I've written so far about making the transition (Transition and How to give) and I'm happy to provide any further information that I can to help make this a smooth transition for you. Thanks for sticking with me through this. 

If you want to support what I do a little or a lot, on a one time basis or a recurring basis, click on the tab "Supporting the Work" at the top of the page and sign up for Chase Quickpay. You can then send your donation to HCLC - Caleb Robbins Ministry using my e-mail address caleb_robbins@sil.org. If you would like further instructions on setting that up please click on the link at the top right of the page called How to give. 

The other way to donate to my ministry 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.

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 8, Asher 6, Liam 4, Echo already in heaven, Bella 1, and Serenity... yeah we are having another girl :)

Fun at the Park on Saturday! 

Star Wars with Ethan and Matthew and my Parents :)

Christmas Day over at the Gebauers :)

Random fun with the kids and Diane :)

My Dad reading Holy and Ivy to my kids on Christmas Eve! A precious moment for sure! 

Christmas presents with the older Gebauer crew. 

Enjoying the beautiful Texas weather :)! Leaves!!! 

Watching Hobbit/Lord of the Rings with Friends! 

Creed and Asher's school Christmas Concert :)

My amazing new haircut :)

A post as full as our stomachs after Thanksgiving :)

Wow it's been a long time... a lot has happened I guess... like Thanksgiving and stuff and things and so on. Well we all know that all that means, is lots of pictures. But first up you can listen to this sermon if you like that I gave at the P.B.T. Chapel a couple weeks ago. 

Next up is a video I put together for our MK Thanksgiving week. I wanted to compile all the pictures of what we have been up to since camp and make it into this video. I hope that you enjoy it :). It was so amazing hearing what God is doing in the lives of these kids and it was great hearing how this group has touched and impacted them over the year so far. 

I guess I'm going out of order a bit here but the following pictures are from our latest MK event which is the Cowan Christmas. We make gifts and go to the Cowan Apartments which house the 'great cloud of witnesses' as I like to think of them, the amazing missionaries that have gone before us and we carol and visit and enjoy the goodies they make for us. We give them our prayer cards and they keep us firmly in their prayers throughout the year. I'm so grateful for a staff that is able to pull this evening off. The first picture is of the amazing Michal and Collin who provided the music for us! I'm so glad they are a part of the team! 

Then continuing on in the wrong direction :) we have some pictures from the Duncanville Christmas parade. The theme this year was Star Wars and it was so fun to be able to walk over and snuggle up and watch the parade. The evening was only chilly and not bitterly cold. It was a great time! 

Here are some pictures of the before and after from my no shave November. Completely unnecessary in this blog and probably shouldn't be here... but I just felt like including them. It's nice to have my normal face back again... not sure how many of you also partake in this fun thing... but I for one really enjoy having a mustache that isn't constantly getting into all my food and such. Bleh! I'm still looking forward to getting my hair cut... but enough about all that...

Now for some pictures of my kids in the Christmas play for church. Here are the practice pics... fabulous! I actually got to be in the performance this year, which was fun for me, and the whole thing went off with out a hitch... or just enough hitches to make it cute :). Any way, both Creed and Asher had speaking roles and it was fun to see the burgeoning actors take the stage :).

I was very touched to have my daughter run up to me to sit in my lap during practice! Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving week. It was great to see David and other Gebauers and cousins and such. A rich family time this year, with plenty of food and great visiting. The only downside of the weekend was the poor Cowboys performance... but that was small in comparison with all the rest. On Friday I had the joy of seeing Creed or Rocky 7 if you prefer! Then on Saturday we got to visit with Diane's cousins and have another glorious feast over at the Gebauers house. 

And, continuing on in the worst possible order if you are thinking chronologically, here is a picture of our amazing MKs at Sonic. One of my favorite events is the Sonic/Armstrong hang out time with them. We go to Sonic for happy hour and then make our way next door to the park to work off the calories... or just run around and have fun! It was also my Birthday and I couldn't think of a better way to spend it then with the kids I love to be with so much!

That evening Diane threw me a glorious Birthday party and it was great to be with friends. I think at one point we stuffed 18 kids and 14 adults into our house... and this on a weekend when many of my friends were out of town. I feel blessed and am noticing that I'm in a time of life where kids are a big part of everything I do. I never thought of myself as being someone who would enjoy the presence of little kids much, well I was wrong... I love being with my amazing munchkins!

Here are some pictures of Liam's Thanksgiving feast at his school :).

To end the foray into picture and video glory is this nice piece, also from Monday night. We did a white elephant gift exchange and here is a video showing what everyone got. It was a great evening with the MKs and now there is only one more meeting left in the year with them before we kiss 2015 good bye and look forward to all that God will do in the next year. 

God is so faithful and gives us so many reasons to rejoice. I rejoice so often because of you and your relationship with me and this ministry that God has called us to! Thank you for making it possible for me to live out this calling! I couldn't do this with out you! 

Before I sign off completely I want to let you know to be praying for Bella... she is sick today and currently sleeping while I finish this post off. Also be praising the Lord with Diane and for the baby girl that we are expecting in April! I'm so pumped to be having another wonderful daughter. 

You are a blessing and a joy in my life! 

Caleb 

If you are having any trouble switching your support over please let me know. Here is what I've written so far about making the transition (Transition and How to give) and I'm happy to provide any further information that I can to help make this a smooth transition for you. Thanks for sticking with me through this. 

If you want to support what I do a little or a lot, on a one time basis or a recurring basis, click on the tab "Supporting the Work" at the top of the page and sign up for Chase Quickpay. You can then send your donation to HCLC - Caleb Robbins Ministry using my e-mail address caleb_robbins@sil.org. If you would like further instructions on setting that up please click on the link at the top right of the page called How to give. 

The other way to donate to my ministry 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.

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 8, Asher 6, Liam 4, Echo already in heaven, Bella 1, and Serenity... yeah we are having another girl :)

No shave November

It just crept up on me... now my long unruly beard will just be left to grow unashamedly for a whole month and I will become the lion face that I was meant to be...

Well the Lord is good and gave our family the greatest gift this year... okay well a good gift any way... Fall Festival and Halloween on the same night!!! Yes!!!

So thank you for your prayers for this past week. The Trauma Healing workshop was fantastic and I'm so grateful that I could be a part of it, my parents saved the day time and again by watching, picking up, and feeding me and my children almost all week! Diane made it back safely on Wednesday...

But Thursday we had a scare as Diane started bleeding a lot, this took us back to the last miscarriage and made for a very difficult day. We saw the mid wife right away and thankfully there was a strong heartbeat! With tears of joy and relief we left the office looking forward to a sonogram that afternoon. We rested as best as you can under such circumstances and were very relieved to find out by the end of the day that Diane and the baby were both okay and that we are likely having another girl.

I took most of Thursday off of class, and was able to rejoin the team on Friday and finish up strong. Since then Diane has been doing really well, but I'm convinced it is because of the loving support of the community and the many prayers that went up on our behalf. Thank you for standing with us in the dark places and being lights to surround us when ours seems barely bright enough!

The weekend was full of fun Fall costume like things. Friday I took the boys to their school carnival!

So that was great! It was raining and all the festivities were moved inside, the lines were short and I was in and out in less than an hour... and the kids had a blast! 

Then at home I had the MKs over for a fun movie and costume time, we ate snacks, watched Nacho Libre and laughed a lot! 

I'm an injured Tony Romo :).

The next day was the Church Fall Festival and it was great to have so many MK's out to help with that. Our Church does such a great job of supporting our group and it was fun being able to give back a little.

Sunday came and with it saw my indoor soccer team back in the final. Unfortunately we lost, but mainly because our star goalie wasn't able to make the game. We didn't threepeat but I guess that is okay :). 

On Monday some kids were still in the dressing up mood and I was able to snatch this great picture! 

I was so happy on Monday also to find out that one of my amazing MKs had written a paper based largely on stuff we had learned about in our study on Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. It was a brilliant paper and it was so cool to be able to read it! I am really enjoying going through this book, and it's wonderful seeing it have a positive impact!  

Recently I did a parents meeting and I have begun to plan some ways to use my Trauma Healing training with the kids! I am so thankful for your support which enables me to be a part of furthering my education and getting more tools for my tool belt! 

I am looking forward to speaking in PBT chapel soon and would appreciate your prayers as I put the finishing touches on my lesson. 

Also please be praying for Diane to heal completely and for the baby to continue to grow healthy and strong and come at just the right time! 

I hope you are enjoying your November as much as I am! Thank you so much for your willingness to partner with me in what God is doing in my life. I can't do any of these things without you and your prayers and support. It has been so miraculous the way so many of you have transitioned so seamlessly to the new way of giving. Me heart is filled with joy when I think of you all! 

Blessings! 

Caleb 

If you are having any trouble switching your support over please let me know. Here is what I've written so far about making the transition (Transition and How to give) and I'm happy to provide any further information that I can to help make this a smooth transition for you. Thanks for sticking with me through this. 

If you want to support what I do a little or a lot, on a one time basis or a recurring basis, click on the tab "Supporting the Work" at the top of the page and sign up for Chase Quickpay. You can then send your donation to HCLC - Caleb Robbins Ministry using my e-mail address caleb_robbins@sil.org. If you would like further instructions on setting that up please click on the link at the top right of the page called How to give. 

The other way to donate to my ministry 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.

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 8, Asher 6, Liam 4, Echo already in heaven, Bella 1, and one in the oven :)