Home Archive by category "Family" (Page 18)

Category: Family

2008 Christmas Letter

Sara did such a great job on our 2008 Christmas letter! If you didn’t get one in the mail… here is a belated Christmas letter! ENJOY! Bastian Christmas Letter 2008 (676kb PDF)

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Air Dad – UPDATED

As I have mentioned before, (like here and here), I was blogging before there were blogs. Before Blogger or Type Pad or WordPress, I journaled events online to share with the other few hundred people online who knew what the Internet was. Sadly, many of those posts are long gone (with their respective hosting companies) but a few poss I had saved to floppies, which is how I restored the ones linked in the posts above. (Others I will save until an appropriate reminder.) ANYWAY – the point of this post is less about blogging, and more about my dad and how proud I am of an accomplishment he just made this month: his first solo flight on his life long quest to become a pilot. He just sent the family the poem below to try and answer the oft asked question, “WHY FLY?” I love the poem and am proud of my dad, but I teased him that he left out the time he took me up for a flight, and he replied that he doesn’t remember it, and to send some “proof.” Which is why I mention the ancient blogging, as I blogged the adventure was back in…

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The Original Karl Bastian

FAMOUS IN GAS CITY, INDIANA It might surprise you that I am famous in a town that I’ve only been to a few times. Well, Karl Bastian is famous anyway! In fact, if I go around town and mention my name, people stop in their tracks and say, “Really? Are you really?!? Nice to meet you!” and shake my hand! Me at the source of my Indiana fame Here I am at the source of my fame… the Gas City Fire Station. Why am”I” famous here? Let me tell you the story in a fun way… a few years ago, I was in Sweetser, Indiana to visit a friend, Ryan Frank’s, church for a Kidology seminar. (which was really just an excuse to visit Ryan, a guy who shares my passion for reaching kids and encouraging and equipping others who minister to kids, just check out his magazine, K! which he started a year ago for that very purpose.) But I degress… Ryan with a collage of his kids When we had a few hours of free time, I told Ryan I wanted to go for a drive, but I didn’t tell him where or why. And I shold mention,…

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A Quiet But Wonderful Thanksgiving!

Big Turkey, Little Turkey This was the quietest Thanksgiving I’ve ever experienced, but I liked it! For the first time ever, neither of us had parents nearby and all our other local relatives had special plans so it was just the three of us. At first we were kinda bummed being used to big noisy family gatherings… but it was a nice change. Yesterday we dug out the Christmas stuff and got the tree up and started the always difficult task of figuring out how to arrange the furniture to accommodate Christmas. We have one of those front rooms where no matter what you do, something ends up awkward. I’d had a long nap so when Sara went to bed I was still full of energy. (Also in part due to some medicine that tends to put my metabolism into overdrive!) So I stayed up super late and got the whole front room all set up and decorated as a surprise for the wife, so she could just enjoy preparing the meal without the hassle of the dysfunctional house! Anyway, all that to say, the day started out wonderful as the little boy got to come down and see the…

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Luke Meets Mickey Mouse!

One of the highlights of our trip to California was getting to take our little boy to Disneyland for the first time. He has a Disneyland Sing-along DVD that his Aunt Meepa gave him, so he’s known where we were going as the days got closer. As I’m sure millions of other parents have experienced, the real joy of a Disney park is getting to watch a young child experience it. The first “ride” was the shuttle from the parking garage and already Luke was all smiles and excited! His joy kept us going all day long. Here we are at the first Photo-Op. I grew up close to Disneyland, so even though Walt Disney World is bigger and in some ways better, I still like Disneyland in California the best. What fun to be showing my son around a place I came countless times as a child. Oh, the memories I have in this magical place, and its surprised me how much it looked exactly as I remembered it. We had silly fun everywhere, even in the stores. Of course, Mommy found the Tea Cups! There are so many little things to explore. Walt sure knew kids. One of…

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