The Kelseys

Caleb wanted to participate in the giving spirit this Christmas.  So what’s a guy to do when he doesn’t have a car, or even permission to walk up to the Walgreen’s on the corner and he has to get a gift.  Well, ya’ get a little creative.We have water bottles around the house as an available resource, so he decked one up with strips of paper and wrote on them little messages.Each strip had been layered together and connected with a generous supply of tape.  So much so that the bottom of the bottle was a little sticky.The messages on the strips of paper were as follows:Caleb Josh Hannah (heart) and then a pictoral representation of all 6 family members.A series of :) faces (facing right-side up) encircling the whole bottle (obviously for Dad who is constantly chatting online and sharing :)’s with all).Merry Christmas I love you.I Love You repeated all the way aroundMom Dad alternated all the way aroundAlternating hearts and Smileys (one with big teeth showing!)Now, don’t be con-fused, this is not a bottle full of water.  This is a bottle that someone had already refreshed themselves with - it was empty.  Well, not quite empty.  Take a look.Inside are two things, one is a toy cloak (I believe) and the other thing down at the bottom is a fuse.  It’s a tiny little fuse and I have no idea what it goes to!  But now it goes to Caleb’s Christmas gift.  So, this is a gift “charged” with love.The moral of this story and the point of the gift is that it’s not the gift, but the giver that counts.  He was very happy to offer it up to us.  He saved it until the very last and brought it out of his room.  Hugs were exchanged all around.  We did have a good Christmas in 2008.

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Here is another, our second, episode of The Kelsey’s Podcast.  This episode introduces little Nathan.  I actually used some interesting software to try to even out the sound levels.  It worked pretty good.  Let us know what you think:

I’m not sure how this will work, but we have set out to try something new.  We’ve put together a podcast.  It is our intention to try to do this twice a month.  That’s agressive we know, but you have to start somewhere.

Whiling away the hours while your parents are teaching a seminar can make for dreary days.  You really have to stretch yourself to find things to occupy your time.  Fortunately, dad has provided the Kelsey kids with a couple of cameras last Christmas that can be used to take some snapshots or even to produce movies.  Caleb has been the camera nerd in the family, not to say that the older siblings are in any way shy to put them to use.  But this is the first foray for Nathan into the world of digital imaging.

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We had a great trip to Kansas.  Thanks to Jill’s portable DVD player the kids were relatively fight free (we have to get us one of those).  Usually we stay in a hotel room when we go and do a Biblical peacemaking weekend.  But this time we were going outside of our conference so it was more like a visit with friends where we just happened to be sharing instead of the other way around.  So we broke our rule and stayed with the Johnston’s.  They have a great place with lots of land, a trail to walk, and a dog named Zoe - which was a little bit of a challenge for our family’s canine neuroses.Joshua got a picture of us all - this was just as we were leaving.The kids had fun - here are the boys.And the girls had fun too, due in part to the boys being out of their hair.  (Caleb is the master of the frames that come with the camera…)Joshua got to ride bikes around.  The boys smashed up lego cars.  Anything built to be broken is a genius toy idea!  The girls got to talk and hang out together.Now Nathan did get sick on Sabbath morning.  This caused Laura to have to stay home for Sabbath School and church, but he made a quick recovery after a nap and keeping down some crackers.  So they joined us up at the church in the afternoon.  In the evening there was a talent share as a church social.  Yes, we have video, but for the sake of people we don’t even know - we won’t make them famous.  It was fun.

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We are headed off today for another weekend of teaching Biblical peacemaking principles.  This time we are traveling outside of our usual territory of Iowa and Missouri.  We’re going to Kansas.  It will be about 6.5 hours to get there.  But the kids have become veteran travelers.  With all the electronic crutches available today, it’s not that hard really.  I remember when having a Mattel electronic Football game with red LED’s that lit up as you mashed the buttons with three rows to choose from as you blipped your way across the little screen made for hours of mind numbed entertainment.  That’s nothing compared to today!Anyway, we will be seeing our old friends, Tim and Linda Johnston, who used to attend church with us before they moved away.  They saw us at camp meeting last summer and Tim’s brother Tom attended the peacemaking sessions we had there.  Tim was convinced that his church could benefit from learning these things and was diligent in making sure that we got scheduled to come out there.  His persistence paid off and we are on our way.It’s rainy this morning and I understand that the weather is pretty snowy out on the great plains - so this could be an interesting trip.  We’ll update you when we get back.

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Not much to say here - just look at these photos of a hawk that sat looking around our back yard.  I think he was looking for some food.  Maybe he was tracking that huge snake I almost ran over with the lawn mower earlier in the summer (sorry, no pictures of that thing!).Pretty wild, huh?

Laura took the kids to the pumpkin patch for a day of frivolity and to burn of the last of that summer energy.  Here are a few pictures to help you to get a sense of what happened.

A few weeks ago, right after the political conventions were over, we got a call from our FairTax friends asking us to attend the McCain / Palin rally in St. Charles. So Joshua and I agreed. It’s not often you get to go to these things.

Check out a new form just to the right here. All you have to do is enter you first name and your e-mail and click on the “Click To Sign-Up” button. I don’t think I could’ve made it any more clear.\n\nWhen you do that, you will be sent an e-mail with a link that you have to click. Once you do that you will be put on a list that will send you an e-mail every time a new post is entered on this web site.\n\nStay tuned, I have a post for Caleb’s birthday, a post about Joshua’s trip to a political rally, my own birthday, and my trip to the annual Peacemaker conference. But that’s not going to happen tonight. It’s time to head off for bed.

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