Surviving as a Single Dad

Without Diane...                                                  With Diane :)...                          
                          

My beautiful wife and daughter are exploring the wonders of the Northwest with Diane's sisters (Kelsey and Lisa) for a much needed and long overdo vacation and get away. My wife works long and hard and is often left to care for all the kids on her own while I go off on trips all over the world... that and just day to day living takes a toll... and it was high time that she got away. It's great! I'm so happy for her... but as you can see my life feels a little empty without her. She is coming back this Saturday, and I have been blessed by the company of good friends while she's been away. People have helped to watch my kids while I needed to do work, and have been kind in cooking food and just being great company. I'm a high extrovert (wipe that sarcastic look off your face :) and I get lonely fast. God is so good, but I'm really excited to have my wife home soon. I hope that didn't sound too pathetic... but it's where I'm at.

As you can see Hobbitville (the Dallas MK camp that kicks off our year) went very, very well! I was so delighted to have my family there and deeply touched at how my MK family loved on my kids! It was so cool how Abby and some of the other girls encouraged Asher to take his first ride on a zipline. He was so scared, but confronted his fears and did it. Pete did a great job sharing Gods truth with us and the kids all loved being with him and listening to him! Stephen led us in powerful worship sessions by being so genuine and using his spiritual gifts. Michal had great games for us to play that made us laugh and brought us closer together. It was smooth and left us all feeling like family!

Speaking of family, for the first time ever we held a get together at my house the day camp ended. I was so touched by how many people showed up, and how it just felt like family all hanging out together. These kids just love being together and doing life together and that environment leads to incredible growth.

So much to share about the ministry! I started a guys small group that has been a huge blessings so far. I was only going to meet twice a month, but these guys want to meet every week and that is cool, it's so cool to see something that is valuable enough to them that they will make the time for it. These students are so busy, but many of them have caught the truth that spending time with the Lord is something that comes first. I was so encouraged to hear from one of the parents that their son wakes up early every morning before school to start his day with the Lord!

Thank you for your prayers and support. God is filling up my life with so much opportunity! Please pray for wisdom and humility as I serve these kids and their parents this Fall. Please pray for provision for my upcoming trips to Thailand, Guinea, and Jamaica, starting in January of next year.

I am so encouraged and blessed to have such a loving, kind and wonderful group of people behind me in this ministry. Your encouragement, support, prayers and generosity mean so much to me and my family and keep this ministry thriving! I love you, and I pray for you often!

Blessings,

Caleb

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 9, Asher 7, Liam 4, Echo already in heaven, Bella 2, and Serenity.

p.s. ChaseQuick Pay has changed some of their rules. If this option no longer works for you please let me know and I will work with you to find another solution. Sending checks directly to my church or setting up another option. Thanks for hanging in there with me through all the annoying changes in how I can receive support! Your support means a great deal to me! 

Rest through Surrender!

Our Final Malaysia Celebration! I felt so loved by this mazing Team!!!

I have been swamped with meetings since last Friday. In the midst of all of these meetings I must confess that I am losing my mind a little bit. I drove home during my very short lunch break to check on my perfectly functioning AC unit because of the recent issues and ensuing paranoia. Through all this crazy time God has been teaching and re-teaching and slowly pushing into me the truth that rest comes through surrender. So, I (as silly as it may sound) have surrendered my AC unit to God and am choosing to rest in Him and live in His peace... but it is an act of the will. It really is a 'taking every thought captive' kind of thing. At any rate, this applies to far more than just pesky AC units, but it goes to show that God cares, big or small, and is able to use all the stuff in life to show that life comes only from Him. Truth - sometimes it's harder to live in, but regardless, it's where life is and I'm fighting to live there!

Right.  Back to the meetings that have consumed my life, and will continue to until Sunday. Okay, so I'm in the process of partnering with Pioneer Bible Translators to pioneer :) a youth ministry program for them. I'm honored and excited to be able to do this, and even though the meetings are killing me slowly, I'm grateful for all the new information I'm learning and all the amazing free food they are providing. They truly do love you through food here. Now, nothing in my current job will change, I'm just adding on something new. I'm still working with the Dallas MK youth group and still loving it.   

Nathan washing Nadia's feet at our Discovery Church service!

The picture above is a great example of the servant hearted leadership that is present at Pioneer Bible Translators. I really enjoyed having Nadia at Discovery with me and I'm excited to see where God leads her next as she chases after her dream to work with MKs in full time ministry! She just joined the MK group when I started in 2007 and has been volunteering for the past forever since she graduated out.

 The beauties featured just above are my current meeting companions! I have really enjoyed getting to spend nearly all day with my wife and daughter both yesterday and today. It is such a privilege.

Creed and Asher are back in school! 4th and 2nd grade!

Life is getting slowly back to the normal routine. Kids are back in school and Football is back (I'll take pre-season). I'm looking ahead to a busy September and then life should slow down a tick... ha ha ha, like I really believe that :).

Pray!

For the Dallas MK to kick of the year right at Hobbitville over Labor Day weekend. This is the first time I will have my whole family there and I'm excited they will get to be a part of it.

I am heading back to Thailand (January) and need to raise $2,500 for the trip.  Then I'm off to Guinea (April) and then to Jamaica (Summer). Please pray for financial provision, that God will call people to partner with me on these trips. Please pray for God's blessing on all of these trips, for safety and health. Pray for wisdom and humility as I try to do my role with excellence. Pray for my family as I leave, that Diane will have the support that she needs and that my kids will be healthy and obedient.

Praise!

My family is healthy! God is teaching me great things and there is so much to look forward to.

I'm so grateful for you and your love and support for me! There is no way that I could do any of this without your partnership! You truly are a huge part of all that God is doing through my ministry. Thank you for your financial and spiritual support, they are both so critical to what I do! Thank you for your prayers, your relationship and your love! I am overwhelmed by your kindness!

Blessings,

Caleb

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 9, Asher 7, Liam 4, Echo already in heaven, Bella 2, and Serenity.

Back from Malaysia!

Yes, I am alive and well and back from an amazing time where God drew me deeper into his love! Thank you for your prayers and encouragement and support during my time in Malaysia. God is good and faithful and does the impossible. There is a beautiful picture of a mountain that I got to see every morning while I was in Sabah. It's humbling to be surrounded by such beauty and majesty that is just a pale reflection of what is found on the throne before which we will all kneel one glorious day and declare that Jesus Christ is Lord! 

Here are some fun pictures of our trip there. I really enjoyed my traveling companions! I delighted in getting to know Rodney better, and it was so cool having all that time with Mandy. Shari and Joyce were good traveling companions too! As was Linda once we picked her up in L.A. The rest of our team was waiting for us in K.K. They greeted us warmly at the hotel when we arrived and took us around the next morning before we headed up to the retreat center. 

A delicious breakfast buffet that I enjoyed for an hour :)

It was Shari's birthday on the trip and we found a cheesecake to celebrate! 

Our driver on the way up was a wonderful Godly man! 

That was about what we ate for every meal for a week... soooo good ;)

To protect the workers we went to serve I'm going to avoid showing any pictures of kids or adults, but let me tell you, there was full group to show our love to and I'm so proud of my team for doing just that! Our goal was to just love and do it relentlessly.  The program was a secondary objective. I know we did our job well because the thanksgiving that was poured out on us was overwhelming! Most of our team was in tears as we stood up at the front and watched these precious brothers and sisters demonstrate how much our team had meant to them. And, my gift was a blow gun... so that is just AMAZING!!!! 

What a cool bird nest! 

Morning devotions/breakfast spot! 

 It was so nice to take some time on Sunday in between rain and hike on the beautiful mountain. We prayed for a break in the rain and low and behold the Lord gave it to us... it's almost as if we have authority over the weather.

Dry land leeches!!!! Awesome!!!

That beauty feasted on Linda for a while... poor thing. 

 What an epic last meal at the resort!

Yes this is how I shop... by not doing it :)

Yes we did eat at KFC in Malaysia... it is one of the most popular restaurants there... go figure :). 

Perhaps the coolest coffee house I've been in, anywhere in the world! 

 So we got a little bored in China waiting for our next plane to take off and some of us (Rodney) slept, but Mandy and I explored the costume area... or just put hats on and walked around and were goofy! It was a great time! Mandy is a wonderful person to kill time with if you are ever in China with her.

You can't sum up a trip like this and a blog is too short to write it all out. God blew my mind with how well he took care of us! Our team was like the navy seals of mission trip teams, they dealt with every issue perfectly and so there was very little that I needed to do. It was very restful being there and having such a blessed experience my first time leading a trip like this. No one got sick and all our flights there were smooth. We had some adventures coming home, but nothing that we couldn't handle. Now we are just trying to get in the correct time zone.

I am so grateful for the friends that I made over there. It is inspiring being around people who sacrifice so much and lean in so hard to follow God. It spurs you on to do the same, as you see them feasting on His love it makes you eager to experience more of it yourself! Relationships also grew with my team! I am so glad to know them better and I'm eager to see what God has in store for us in the future.

Ah but now, to recover a bit and ease back in to life in Dallas. My kids just started back at school but before they did I tried to squeeze in as much fun as I could for them. Sunday we went to Hawaiian Falls and Tuesday went to 6 Flags over Texas. That will also make you feel like jelly if jet lag wasn't enough. I came from rain in the mountains at a sweet 70 degrees to this amazing thing called Texas heat of death. Wow!

Their first roller coaster! 

Killing time in line :)

That was a very fun couple of days... and then we had the first day of school... it's nice to be getting back into the routine of things!

Creed 4th and Asher 2nd 

Oh and in case you were all on pins and needles about this... yes we did win another indoor soccer championship, just the Sunday before I left... it was so cool! 

One of the big things that God taught me while I was away, was that he provides for and protects my family and loves them so much and loves me so much. God is trustworthy and he is good, but that takes faith to hold onto. Because sometimes things go wrong and break and people get sick and stuff just happens, it takes a heart of faith in the midst of all that to hold onto the fact that God is good and it working in the midst of it all. 

While I was on the phone with my wife our AC had big issues and it made me stressed and feel sick and wonder what God was doing. I had a choice at that moment, to believe in Gods goodness or to withdraw from him in anger. I struggled, but finally was able to draw close to Him during the difficult time and be present where I was, half way across the world, and with eyes of faith believe that God was going to do something amazing, I just needed to wait patiently for it. I told Diane who she could call and what I thought the issue was and just about two hours later everything was resolved. It then occured to me that it was Gods working and his grace that I was on the phone with her when things went awry. That because of that I was able to be used by him to help her. It was so beautiful to see our community come around her and support her and help with the situation! It was so sweet to be able to encourage her during the crisis. I felt led to just keep texting her encouragement. But, really after it was all said and done I'm so grateful that I fought to respond in love and confidence in who God is. The A.C. would have been fixed regardless, but the time wasted could have been spent so much worse. It's true that God is good, in spite of what we see. I don't know that Satan really does anything to ruin air conditioners, I think entropy might have that covered, but I do know that when he has a chance to hurt my relationship with God and others he will use any circumstance to his advantage. He will try to get you afraid and angry and stressed and to believe all sorts of lies. But, if you hold on in faith to the truth that God is good and he loves you, that He who is in you is greater, then you will start to see what God is doing and you will hear him lead you beside those peaceful waters and into those green pastures. The amazing thing to me about the story of Jesus calming the storm was not Jesus controlling the weather (although I will admit that is miraculous) but that he had to be woken up to do it. Jesus was able to sleep during it and would have slept through it. That is amazing. Something God is teaching me is that we as children can have peace in any crisis just as Jesus could be at peace and rest through the storm.

You are a joy in my life and you are the community that God uses to provide and show love for and support for me. Words fail to express how grateful I am for you and how much you mean to me. I love you and I pray for you often! You are the reason that I can do the things that God calls me to do! Thanks for standing by me and with my precious family in prayer and financially! 

Blessings, 

Caleb 

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 9, Asher 7, Liam 4, Echo already in heaven, Bella 2, and Serenity.