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Category: Life

Bastian Christmas Letter 2010

Merry Christmas! Once again it is time to post the Bastian Christmas Letter! We hope you are in the midst of enjoying a wonderful Christmas Season! As usual we are getting our letter out the week of Christmas! (Ahhhhhh!) We mail it to family and some friends, but to save on postage I also post it here on my blog so anyone interested can also download the PDF and enjoy it, just click on the image here: Bastian Christmas Letter 2010 (3.1MB) 2010 was our first full year in Colorado and while I don’t feel I have taken advantage yet of all the reasons I move here, it was a fantastic year. I’m glad it wasn’t as busy as 2009 was! In January, of course CPC is always a blast! Then, in February, I went on a personal solo sabbatical to experience “Yosemite in Winter” snowshoeing the valley. It was incredible. I didn’t blog about it, as it was a personal time between me and God. But I did make this highlight video: March saw another CPC – I’ve lost track how many I’ve been to, but I’ve been to every single once since 1995, so I’ve been to over…

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After Thanksgiving Sales – Do You?

So do YOU go to those after Thanksgiving sales? I’d rather pay normal prices than go out super early, wait in lines, fight with people, push and shove, or put up with the hassles. I think it’s nuts. Especially when you can get the same deals and free shipping online now-a-days. I just don’t get the craziness. Can someone explain it to me, please? It’s like we are thankful for ONE day, and then all have to go out and get more stuff! LOL Seriously, if you went out early or did the shopping out there – tell me why – change your name if must. I need help understanding it. Don’t be offended, I’m not being mean. I just don’t understand it. I’m a shopper! I enjoy going out for a day at the mall, so I’m not a typical guy who hates to shop – I just don’t get the Black Friday crowded malls, go out at 3 a.m. and wait in super duper long lines to save a few bucks. O.K. I bet I get no comments. LOL.

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Thankful

THANKFUL I remember as a child singing, “Count your blessings name them one by one, count your many blessings see what God has done…” As we head into the week of Thanksgiving, I am especially overcome this week by all that I have to be thankful for this year, and how unworthy I am for all of it. So I thought I’d count my blessings and name them one by one… A beautiful and gracious wife who puts up with me even when I’m grouchy and irritable and expect too much of her and forget she is my wife not an employee… An adorable son who was Given to me out of the blue suddenly one day when I least expected it and has given me more reason to live than I ever had before… True friends who stick with me through thick and thin – who aren’t impressed with any of my accomplishments. They are friends of Karl, not the “Kidologist.” They aren’t fans, they are friends. I need those desperately. (Could use a few more, actually, here in Colorado.) Surviving a near heart attack in April 2009 that could have ended my life. An exciting ministry, that while…

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Adoption

On this Father’s Day, I’d like to give you 12 reasons you should consider adoption: The only thing greater than being a Dad is knowing you are giving a home to a child who otherwise wouldn’t being enjoying the life you are providing. Enjoy this video highlight from my Father’s Day, we had a great day just enjoying each other. Truly every day is Father’s Day for me, after waiting 15 years to be a dad, I am soaking in each moment with my son. But in this case, the soaking, was quite literal, as you shall see! Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there, and a special greeting to my dad, who I did a blog tribute to a few years ago that is as true as ever!

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Seventeen Years Ago Today

Seventeen years ago today I said, “I do!” But that was seven years after seeing her picture during my junior year of high school in a missionary slide show and deciding to write her a letter! Soon we were pen pals and an overseas friendship began from Chicago to Manila long before the Internet would have made it much easier to write back and forth. Each letter took two weeks to be answered so we maintained at times up to ten separate conversations as letters crisscrossed the globe. Eventually, I developed a growing love for the, uh, Filipino people, (yeah, that’s it!) and asked her father if I could come to the Philippines and be, uh, mentored by him during the summer after I graduated high school. Perhaps suspecting my ulterior motive, he requested I get a year of Bible college first before I could come as part of his mission’s summer intern program.I figured that was better than working for him for seven years and being given her ugly sister in marriage, and since she didn’t have a sister, the year of Bible college requirement seemed safe. So off to Moody Bible Institute I went. (I was going anyway,…

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