Caden's Big Trip

It was a short trip but we had a lot of fun. We were able to see Toby's brother and his family, as well as Toby's grandma and many friends.

Here are more pics from our trip:

On our way...

God is good! We have started building our support team and have 1/8th of the total funds needed in our account. Praise God! We are so excited about beginning this journey to Nigeria. We have applied to a couple of churches and have a few more to speak with. We also hope to visit with LifeGroups, Sunday school classes and other small groups of people, as well as with individuals. If you would like for us to come and share about our ministry in Nigeria with your small group, please let us know...we would love to share our excitement with you and your friends!!! E-mail us and we will set a date.


We are on our way this weekend, too. On Friday we head to Wisconsin for the weekend. I (Alycia) am worried that Caden and I will freeze! But we are all excited to see snow (Caden is excited - but he doesn't know ir yet!) Toby is especially looking forward to watching the Packer's/Giants play-off game in GREEN BAY!!!! Most of all it will be great to see Toby's brother's family, Grandma, and friends.

The passing of an Uncle

This morning (Saturday) Alycia lost a beloved Uncle who not only made an impact within his family but within his community. He was known to many and greatly respected by so many more due to his position as Athletic Director of Lewisville Independent School District here in high school sports crazy Texas.

We ask for your prayers for the family and community thru this time as they honor and dedicate this time to a great man. The family lost a husband, brother, father, uncle, grandpa, friend etc. while the Lord accepts one of his children home for eternity.

Below is an article from the online version of the Dallas Morning News from today's news.

Former Lewisville athletic director Neal Wilson dies

He started with district in 1965; had been battling leukemia for several months

02:06 PM CST on Saturday, January 5, 2008

From Staff Reports

Longtime Lewisville ISD athletic director Neal Wilson died Saturday morning, a school official said.

DMN file

Neal Wilson

Wilson, who turned 65 on Dec. 28, was hospitalized in late October after being diagnosed with acute monocytic leukemia, according to assistant athletic director Rody Durham.

Wilson had been with the LISD – either as a coach as the athletic director – since 1965.

For his contributions to the district, Flower Mound High School renamed its football stadium after Wilson.The Neal E. Wilson Jaguar Stadium was dedicated in 2005.

Wilson's 40-year career began and ended in Lewisville. In 1965, he took his first coaching position at Lewisville Junior High School after graduating from North Texas State University. He went on to coach football at four other schools, including Lewisville High, where he posted a 67-19-5 record. He became the district's full-time athletic director in 1986.

At that time the district had one high school. The district would add four more – Marcus, The Colony, Hebron and Flower Mound – before his tenure ended.

Staff Writer Damon L. Sayles contributed to this report.

Holiday Travels....

Caden survived his first road trip! He was such a trooper, logging in over 1000 miles in his car seat. Before Christmas we travelled to the Woodlands to visit Alycia's parents. While there, they hosted an "open house" for us so that their friends could meet Caden and hear about our upcoming ministry in Nigeria. It was a very encouraging time for us all.

Where's Caden?

After Christmas we travelled to Hot Springs, AR to visit Alycia's grandmother and family. Caden loved all of the attention that was lavised upon him!

The week before Christmas we enjoyed a Christmas gathering with

family up at the farm - outside Valley View.

It was fun to get together with so many relatives for the holidays!

Today in the town of David

a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:11

Sorry about the delay in updating the blog but we have been a very busy family. A very busy, yet very blessed, family. We have had many visitors from far and wide come to meet and greet our little guy. From my parents in Orlando to my brother and his family from Wisonsin to Alycia's parents from Houston to others from around the region.

Of course the kiddo is keeping us busy and very tired at the same time. He has this built in alarm clock that is waking him up around 5a.m. We have tried to fix this but there is no way of actually fixing it. This means mommy and the kiddo are now wide awake at 5a.m. Around 6a.m. I am then awoken to assist in getting the kiddo ready for his day after being fed by his mommy. When I say he is awake I mean he is awake. He is up kicking around, flailing his arms while making little noises, laughing up a little storm with the most contagious little smile. It is a time that we would not miss for anything since his personality is very evident during these times.

As a family we are preparing for the mission field to Nigeria possibly in 2008! This means that we have tons to do before we depart. First, is to get ourselves ready, along with our little guy Caden.

At this time we are looking for people to join the Abts-tra Network in prayer. As we prepare ourselves to work for and with the Lord in Africa we know He has many more blessings to heap upon us. So please pray for us as a family as we prepare for the field. Also pray that our Network of prayer supporters will continue to grow as our time draws near.

We have also received our account # from SIM so we can officially start our fund raising for our future mission in Nigeria. We ask you to pray consistently for our ministry. Also, would you prayerfully consider joining our network? If interested in joining our Network as a financial supporter (either a monthly donation or through a 1 time lump sum) please

click here . Click on the link for giving found on the left of the page and reference our STA# 12049.

From the Abts Family and the Abts-tra Network we wish you and your family a very Blessed Christmas.

An Early Christmas Gift

I (Alycia) took Caden to get his picture made in a "Santa's Little Helper" suit the other day. It was so fun and I had a hard time choosing just a few poses to purchase. Here are two of the ones I bought - we will save the last one for later!

Being parents is teaching us so much about God and his love for us. We now have a better understanding of how God feels about us - how he ADORES us- since we are HIS children. We also understand a little more how he loves us, laughs with us, celebrates with us and cries with us. We feel a little of the pride God feels when he looks at us - we know that each experience with Caden will teach us more about God and his love for us.

One thing the pictures remind us of is how Caden is a special gift from God. We think this everyday but especially around this time of year it is nice to be reminded. Pretty soon we will be giving thanks for all God has given us, and then we will celebrate the birth of His son, Jesus Christ. I have a feeling that this Christmas we will understand even more how exciting the birth of a precious baby - the birth of our savior - was and is!

Playful Boy

I have so much I would like to write but don't have the time at the moment...so here is a short video that I took with my cell phone the other day. We were waiting for tires to be put on the car, so we went over to Wendy's. I got this carousel in my kids meal and Caden just watched it and smiled and laughed for a long time!