David & Kathey

David & Kathey

(50 something)

This year has been a very stretching year for David and I - raising 8 children in an economy such as we have. But as we reflect on our 26 years of marriage and at the 8 wonderful children we have, we KNOW that we are rich in blessings and possess the true treasures of life.  A love for each other that is stronger than when it first started out, 8 children that we adore and bless us more than we are able to bless them, friends and family that love, pray and encourage us, and a Savior that came to dwell among us (Immanuel - God with us) - but loved us so much that He gave His life for us.  These are the treasures our hearts are set on and that we desire.  We are so grateful to have each other to share this journey with.  I love that David can still make me laugh and for some reason he still feels I am "hot," as he puts it. This year has been busy with homeschooling and graduations and getting children ready for missions trips and driving, driving and driving our children from this place to that place. 

When days are hard and money is tight and we have dealt with the 20th squabble of the day the sweetness of the Lord serenades us with a song on the guitar from our boys or small hands will massage a Mama's sore shoulders or someone will give a surprise hug or let out a joyful squeal and we are reminded of how Great our God is and we know his goodness rest in this land of living life... to the fullest. 

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living  ~ Psalm 27:13

Shekinah

Shekinah - 7

Shekinah is the "baby" of the Chellsen Clan - but far from having the baby mentality.  She actually is more like a "little Mama."  David always calls her my "mini me"  because she looks so much like me.  I tell people - "The Chellsen genes are strong - I had to have 8 to have one look like me." Shekinah has been busy this year loosing teeth and starting to grow new ones.  David and I reflect often these past few years as we enter the last of .... (diapers, preschool years, wanting to sleep in our bed, etc.) Shekinah still likes to crawl into bed with us in the middle of the night.  

So we haven't quite seen the last of that yet. Shekinah also loves to sing and during the Christmas performance for church - hers was the loudest voice during one of the songs.  She has no problem keeping up with her sisters and loves to read and is so proud she has homework for co-op like her sisters. This year for Co-op we are studying the states and learning about early American History and she is loving it. She is a little whiz on the computer and learns allot from that vehicle. Shekinah is a very loving and encouraging sister to her brothers and sisters.  She is always telling people - "good job."  We are so proud of her love and heart for others and her love to learn.

Angelina

Angelina - 10

Angelina is growing into a beautiful young lady.  She has a real love for animals and helped Aaron recently take care of our neighbors dog - Simba.

     She is a very loving, affecinate girl. She loves to sing and this past year she receited all the names of the books of the Bible for her church sunday school and was awarded a gift card from Toys R us. She also receited the books at the church talent show. This past year we studied the "Little House on the Prairie"

series of books for Co-op and Brittaney's friend Reno's mom made prairie dresses for the three girls.  They were so cute and we had so much fun studying the prairie days and westward movement in history.  Angelina loves to read.

Angelina loves to make friends and is always making friends in the neighborhood and were ever we go.  We are so proud of her compassion and love for animals.  She has such a tender heart.

Audriona

Audriona - 12

Audriona is almost at the "teenager" stage.  She started attending youth with her brothers this past year and loves it.  We call her Brittaney's "twin" because she looks so much like her at her age and her style and personality are somewhat similar. 

Audriona loves to bake and is making goodies for us all the time. She is also very organized and loves to make lists. David takes her with to do the grocery shopping because she remembers what we need and is a great shopper. She has become my second brain.

Audriona is very gifted in administrative things and she loves to dance.  She made up a dance for our church talent show this year and performed it.  All the girls are attending our Friday Co-op and Audriona and Angelina are studying California History.  They both love to make extra projects for it and have become very creative and unique in their ideas. We are so proud of Audiona's initiative to learn new things and to complete tasks without being told to do them.  She is such a great helper.

Jonathan

Jonathan
      14

Jonathan started high school this year at our county special needs school.  He still loves going to school and riding the bus.  He adjusted really well to a new school and his teachers are wonderful and all of the people who work with him are very encouraging and enjoyable to work with.

Jonathan loves our morning devotion time together before he goes to school.  He is also great about unloading the dishwasher before he leaves for school in the morning.

He has gotten so tall and is almost as tall as Alex.  Soon he will probably be the tallest.

Jonathan started attending service at church with David and I and the older children. He does really well during service and loves to worship. When the music starts he gets all excited. Many people have told us how much they love watching him enjoy worship and want to jump and get excited like he does. He has such a freedom in that area. Such a joy to watch.

Jonathan has taken a liking to certain clothes and style this year and lately he has wanted to make his hair stick up more like Nicks. He will sometimes come out in some of Aaron's clothing and walk around like he is modeling it.  So cute!!!  He has such a sense of humor.  We are so proud of how much he is growing and of his heart for worship.  He is such a blessing and joy and teaches us so much.

Aaron

Aaron - 16

Aaron turned "sweet 16" this year and I do have to say it has been a sweet year.  He has grown and matured so much this year.  He works at a car repair shop in the afternoons (Brittaney's old job) for who he says is the "best boss in the world".  He is very blessed to have one of the best bosses. 

He even took Aaron fishing during Thanksgiving break.  His boss really speaks highly of Aaron. We actually have many people tell us how much they love Aaron and his smile.  He is quite the charmer (always has been).  He is also an excellent debater and communicator.  We are looking into some debate and speech classes for next year school.  

He loves to dress up and is complimented all the time on how nice he looks or how nice it is to see young people dress up.  Aaron will always strike up a conversation were ever we go and is always asking people how they are and telling them to have a nice day. 

Aaron loves to act and dress the part. This past year Aaron and Alex helped Brittaney with her Summer Day Camp at her church.  They did a renaissance theme and Brittaney wrote the script for all the skits. Aaron played the main role, Lamont.  They had so much fun shooting the footage for the videos and then acting out the rest of the skits live during Camp week.  I was able to help that week and they did such an awesome job.

Aaron is also very involved with our churches youth group and is a very good encourager to many of the kids.  He receives calls from both youth and their parents asking him to talk with their children.  He has a real pastoral call on his life.  He has been taking 3 outside classes this year and has been doing well in them.  This has been a challenge but I have seen him rising up to that challenge. He are so proud of who Aaron is - he has always been his own person.

Alex

Alex - 18                     

Alex recently celebrated his 18th birthday and will be graduating this coming year from high school.  He is our family comedian and keeps us in stitches most days.  Even though you will receive some kind of goofy answer from him most days, he has a real depth to him that comes out in his song writing.

He is still part of his band "Goodbye Skyline" and they have had several "gigs" this past year.  Alex writes most of the songs and plays a variety of instruments.  Bass, guitar, harmonica, keyboard and the latest - drums.  He has a God given talent in music and will pick up an instrument and learn how to play it.  This past year he has been asked to play the drums at various events.

Alex desires to continue to pursue his musical gifts and talents. Goodbye Skyline has started working on recording their music, so who knows maybe you will see them on i-tunes in 2012.  I have attached one of their songs to the sidebar of this blog.

Alex is also very involved with his youth group and has taken some of the boys with special needs under his wing and helps them out at youth events and outings.  He has a real gift with children and babysits two young boys who have some special needs.  They love "their Alex" and he always comes home with a funny story about Luke & George.     We are so proud of the compassion that Alex has for others and enjoy his comical relief.

Brittaney

Brittaney - 20

Brittaney has had an eventful year. She graduated in May from Los Modanos College with an AA in Child Development. She lead a Summer Day Camp in June at her church and in July she lead a missions trip to Mexico with her church.

In August, Brittaney left for YWAM (youth with a mission) in Chico. The first few months at YWAM was training, teach and equipping for serving on the mission field. In November, the team she is with left for Figi for a 2 month missions trip. She has grown so much from this training and has developed an awesome bond with the group she is with. 

She has had the opportunity to lead worship during their trip to Figi, which is a new and exciting venture for Brittaney. We miss her very much and look forward to seeing her at the end of January.

We are so proud of her for following her dreams and for her compassion for the world. We look forward to hearing all about her trip and seeing what Gods next step in her journey is. I will attach a copy of her newsletters to the sidebar of this site.

Nick

 Nick - 22

Nick has spend this past year working at World Market and started working at Barnes & Noble's coffee shop this past fall.  He is a dedicated employee and has enjoyed this new experience.  He is also getting quite good at making coffee.  He has taken his hand a cooking and made us Indian food while Brittaney was home visiting from Chico. It was awesome.  He also makes a mean chicken salad, a preference of mine.   He has been writing worship songs and plans to continue to write more of them. He has two of them recorded that I have attached to the sidebar of this blog.                

He has been involved in an informal internship with the church we attend. It is his desire to see this turn into more of a formal internship, as his heart is to be in ministry. He really enjoys working with the youth and has become and awesome leader and encourager. He is still involved in playing worship at youth and the once a month worship nights that our church has, called Belongings.  Nick enjoys being creative in many ways. He has made some really creative art projects for the Belongings events and  he put together an Angry Bird's Game for a  guys youth night - it was a huge hit with both the guys and the gals.

We are so proud of the generous and loving son and big brother that Nick is. We are so encouraged to see him serve the Lord with his many giftings and talents.