Memories with the Wilkes Team!
After a long six months of waiting, the 
Wilkes Team was finally able to make it down to North Carolina! The meeting, after so long, was, on a small scale, what our meeting in Heaven will surely be like when we meet 
all of 
our loved ones, and most importantly, our dear Savior! We are thankful for such encouraging, uplifting friends with whom we can fellowship.
One of the blessings of being around the Wilkes Team is their constant pointing of everything back to the Lord. In our fast-paced world, it is very easy to take our 
eyes off Christ and become distracted with temporal cares. They are a living example of the principle found in Proverbs 3:6 – the command to acknowledge God in everything we 
do. Even in games, at the table, or just simply laughing over a funny incident, when we are with the Wilkes Team there is almost always a comment, story, analogy, or special insight that turns everyone’s hearts and minds back to our all-mighty Creator. What a desirable testimony to have!
Much of our time during the weekend was spent praying 
about and planning for 
NC Family Encouragement Weekend conference, which will, Lord willing, be taking place near our home on March 26-27. What a blessing it was to 
give ideas, plan, organize, and just 
work together to accomplish the common goal of getting everything in order for this upcoming ministry opportunity.
One of the fun points of their visit happened rather unexpectedly on Saturday
afternoon. Someone came down after looking out our upstairs window and announced that something had been caught in Herman’s live-trap. Several went and looked again, 
discovering that it was a cat. Upon closer observation, it was realized that we had actually caught a young female bobcat!! 
We enjoyed looking at it, hearing it growl and snarl a gracious plenty for our liking. 🙂 A 
little later, a trapper/friend who sells animal pelts came and took care of it for us.
Sunday evening all of the young people worked together to act out a silent demonstration of Daniel and the Lion’s Den for the parents. 
Complete with everything 
from nobles, townspeople, a king, the king’s page, soldiers, and even lions, we had a blast and made quite a few side-splittingly-hilarious 
memories.
We love you, Wilkes Team, and pray God’s richest blessings on you for your faithful service to Him and others. Looking forward to many more such times together!
Timely Reminders
The Lord uses many ways to remind us of simple truths at various times in our lives. One way He chooses to do this is through fellowship with other believers. I had the opportunity to experience this first hand this last weekend, with our blessed visit from the Wilkes Team! We were able to spend a few days with them, and during the whole time it seemed I was constantly challenged and encouraged through the conversations that took place as well as in just observing the godly actions of the Wilkes and my own family. On Saturday evening, I finally took the time to write down the things I had been reminded of in my journal. What a blessing! (It was well worth staying up the extra time to do it!) Here are some of the things the Lord reminded me of through their godly examples and words:
– acknowledge the Lord in all my ways (Proverbs 3:5-6)
– seek a gentle, meek, and quiet spirit (I Peter 3:3-4)
– consistently honor, obey, and love my parents (Exodus 20:12; Colossians 3:20)
– treat my siblings with love and respect (Ephesians 4:32; I Peter 5:5a; Hebrews 13:1)
– pray without ceasing and constantly be seeking guidance, grace, and wisdom from the Lord (I Thessalonians 5:17)
– maintain an attitude of humility and dependence on the Lord (I Peter 5:5b; James 4:6-7; Isaiah 57:15)
– choose topics of conversation that are encouraging and uplifting to the listeners (Ephesians 4:29)
– accept all people where they are in life but seek to lift them higher toward the Lord (Ephesians 4:29; I Thessalonians 5:14)
– be ever ready to share what God is doing in my life (I Peter 3:15)
– keep godliness and godly character as a first priority in my life and obtaining knowledge as a secondary one (II Peter 1:5-8)
– control my tongue (Proverbs 10:19; James 1:19-26)
– be immersed in the Word of God – read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it, share it, but most of all, live it (II Timothy 3:14-17; Psalm 119:11; Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2; Psalm 119:15)
– do not allow bitterness to dwell in my heart (Hebrews 12:15; Ephesians 4:26-27,31-32)
– seek to have such a close relationship with my Creator that His joy and glory radiates from my face, words, and actions (Isaiah 49:13; Habakkuk 3:18; James 4:8; Philippians 4:4; Psalm 71:8; Psalm 63:1-2; Psalm 50:23)
Thank you, Wilkes Team, and the rest of my family, for allowing His Light to shine through you and encourage me in the right direction once again. The Lord is good!
We’ve got BOYS!!
Genesis 1:27 – “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him…
Seven years ago, I remember that there was a great amount of excitement 
going through our home. Mommy and Daddy, who had left sometime earlier, put Amanda in charge of 
everything and everyone here at home. A friend was on her way to stay with us for the day. It was probably around 7:00 am, maybe a little before, but it didn’t really matter. Everyone was too excited to be thinking about what time of day it was.
I walked into the kitchen. Amanda told me that Mommy and Daddy had gone to the hospital! Baby number seven was on the way!!
Any of you who have had the wonderful privilege of being an older sibling probably know what I’m talking about… the incredible ecstasy that quickly spreads through the house as the message is told to everyone that another blessing is being placed in the family.
Then, after the initial excitement, there was a time
of waiting. A couple hours went by on this particular morning, and we were all very restless. Finally, not being able to stand it any longer, we decided to call. The lady who was with us called Daddy on his cell phone. We all waited breathlessly. We were kind of huddled around her,
wondering the same thing: boy or girl?? We waited for what seemed like forever. Then we found out! Daddy’s exact words were, “I’m going to lose a fortune in hand-me-downs.” That was his way of telling us it was a boy! After six girls, I’m sure people were wondering if we were going to ever have a boy. That was the wonderful day that God blessed our home with 
Samuel Patrick, otherwise known as “Herman.”
Well, life went on. We were blessed by the addition of two more girls, both priceless treasures! Then, in February, almost a year 
ago, we had another day very similar to that incredible January day so many years ago! Mom had been on bed-rest for three weeks, and every day we were wondering when this baby would make its arrival.
Finally, the time had come. We helped Mom pack her bags, Dad came home from work, and off they went to the hospital. Another friend came to stay with us kids. We tried to go on with life in a semi-normal fashion, but it was nearly impossible. We waited with great anticipation for the phone call we knew would come.
Finally, around lunch time, we heard the phone ring,
and of course, it was a race to see who could answer it first. I happened to have the advantage of already being close to it, so I answered. Dad was on the other line, and I heard him say, “Do you have a Bible handy?” Everyone was jumping up and down with excitement. They scrambled to get me a Bible, and waited anxiously to hear the news. “Go to II Corinthians 7 and read verses 5 
and 6.” I began to read them out loud, while everyone waited in breathless suspense: “For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were 
fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus…” Here I was interrupted when everyone started yelling and screaming. Another boy!! I could hardly hear Daddy, so I tried in vain to hush the chaos so that we could hear the rest of the information. The full 
name is Titus Peyton. He has been such a blessing in our family. His vivacity fills our lives with great gusto every day!! 🙂
Recently, we girls made the discovery that we have BOYS! It is now in plural form. It sounds really simple, but the amazing thing is that we have two! As I sit at the table, I watch in amazement what those two boys do. Their energy is seemingly boundless, and the laughter is almost endless. (We have learned that God gave boys the incredible ability to manufacture energy at an astounding rate!) Those 
two boys have been a great blessing to our family, and we praise God for putting these two boys into our home and lives! Our prayer is that they will both “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“… open thy mouth…”
One of the things that I set as a goal for 2010 was to read last year’s journal. I have a two-fold purpose in doing this. First of all, it’s interesting to see what all we did last year and refresh my memory on the little stories, incidents, and happenings that I didn’t remember. I also enjoy looking back to see what I was doing on “this day” a year ago! 🙂 Secondly, I often write down thoughts, spiritual insights, and Bible verses that have special meaning to me at different times of my life, and it’s encouraging to go back and see God’s hand working in ways that I didn’t notice at the time, or have already forgotten. While reading through a few days ago, I found today’s entry (January 25), and it included a verse that the Lord showed me that day, which I hadn’t entirely forgotten, but needed to be reminded of!
Psalm 81:10b says, “…open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.” That seems to be very commonplace language, but the more I meditated on it, the more I found. (God’s Word is like that: perfectly inexhaustible, just like He is!! I Corinthians 2:7-10; Psalm 90:2) In the context, the Lord is speaking to the children of Israel, recalling the signs and wonders that He had done for them since the beginning of their nation. He reminded them of the ways that He had miraculously preserved them as a people, protecting and helping them, and delivering them from bondage in Egypt. Then He pauses His narrative to deliver a singular plea and promise, “… open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.”
When I first read this, it reminded me of Matthew 7:7 – “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” God promises that “…[He] shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus”, and that “…no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” But we must “ask,” “seek,” and “knock.” As I pondered this, I immediately thought of the example of baby birds. When they are first hatched, they are tiny, defenseless, and totally dependent on their parents for their warmth, shelter, and food. Anyone who has cared for, watched, or studied birds knows that the chicks seem to be hungry all the time. Often, looking into a nest, one can see several little mouths gaping, waiting for their parents to come fill them with the life-sustaining food. However, what if one day, the babies decided that they could live without their parents’ help? What if, when feeding time came, their mouths remained stubbornly shut, refusing to take the nourishment absolutely necessary for survival? Of course, we know that they would soon die of starvation.
As God continues His story in Psalm 81, He sadly tells of Israel’s response to His promise in the next verse: “But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.” Our Father is more than willing, yea, He longs, to bless us, but we must prepare the fields of our hearts to receive His showers of blessing! In verses 13-16, we see God lamenting over what He wanted to give to His children, and which they stubbornly refused: “Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.” What a sad commentary on the perverseness of the human heart!! And yet what a beautiful elaboration of the mercy and love of the Lord and His desire to bless His children!!!!
In a way, we are much like baby birds, dependent on our heavenly Father to care for us. We cannot possibly make it on our own; He is the One Who created us(Isaiah 64:8), and He is the only One Who can keep us alive, both physically and spiritually! However, as the story of the children of Israel sadly illustrates, we must be willing to receive His blessing. If we shut up our hearts, pursuing temporal allurements and insisting on our own way, we will soon perish in our sin, starved of the life-giving support from the Word of God and His Holy Spirit’s work in our lives (Jeremiah 5:25). God will not force Himself upon us (Genesis 6:3); He has given us a free will, and though He calls us to leave the world’s shallow pleasures and follow His loving path for us, He ultimately leaves the choice to us, for He wants us to choose to love Him! (Isaiah 57:15-16; Revelation 3:20) We must forsake the idols of self, possessions, position, or aspiration, and seek His will for our lives, living only to give Him glory. (Mark 8:34-37; Mark 10:21) Then, when we have given up the idea of finding contentment and peace outside of Him, and have turned our whole heart over to His control, He can pour out His matchless grace upon us (Jeremiah 6:16)! He wants to bless us; He holds out His gifts and offers them to us (I Corinthians 2:9; Isaiah 64:4); all we have to do is “open our mouths wide, and He will fill them” with the goodness and blessings that only He can give!
Psalm 31:19 – “Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!”
Family Vision Meeting 2010
On January 9, Daddy led our family in a vision meeting where we reviewed the events of 2009, wrote out our family purpose, and then made goals to accomplish together in 2010. Right before we did this, Daddy had us separate into different parts of the house to spend time reading God’s Word, praying, and then writing down ideas we had. When the quiet time was over, we came together and began the official meeting. While looking over what the Lord has done for us last year, Daddy challenged us to compile a list of those who have been especially influential in our lives. Just doing that was a excellent way to cultivate a thankful attitude! With that completed, we put down our family purpose in writing. It was exciting to build together on the ideas that Daddy had already penned! Finally, we worked on making goals of things we hope to accomplish over the next twelve months. Some of them were spiritual goals, such as a specific Bible-memorization plan; others are physical, like getting more exercise together and taking certain trips. 🙂 Some of them are things we will do together, like reading at least one book out loud a month; and still others are things that we will do privately. The day was very enjoyable, and now we all have a better view of the things to be accomplished within the months that lie ahead.
We highly encourage every family to do this! (It is never too late, and we’re still in the first month of the year!) Why? Proverbs 29:18 states the main reason: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” As we look around, it is heart-breaking to see how many families are truly perishing because of a lack of vision – a vision that is Christ-centered, biblically based, family oriented, and one that is led by the God-ordained head of the household – the father. So, take a few hours and sit down together as a family to think, pray, and then plan. The results are immensely rewarding, as the whole family will have a good idea of what Dad is thinking (and he will know that he has your support), others can give valuable input and suggestions, and then the first steps of action can be charted and begun.
Thank you, Dad and Mom, for taking the time to pass your vision on to us, so that we can see where you desire to lead us! We love you and are very excited about where the Lord will take us and what He will allow us to accomplish together, as a Team, this year!
North Carolina Snow Storm!
When Amanda, Jessica, and I got home from the 
Wilds, the skies had dumped a regular blizzard on our area and our front hill was perfect for sledding! (Keep in mind a “good snow” for our area is about four inches! Ha ha!) The rest of the Team had already had quite the time out there enjoying it with some of the 
neighbors, and they had great tales to tell and wanted us to experience it too.
So… on our first night home, out we all went – even Titus and even though it was only 10 degrees – and what a time we had! We started at the top of the hill and were able to fly to about 15 -20 feet from the creek! (Come see us to completely understand the Neely geography.) 
It’s a wonderful blessing that we didn’t go any further – it was a little too cold to take a refreshing dunk in the stream. 🙂 The evening was lots of fun and made a lot of funny family memories! Hurray for the snow!!
The Wilds Music Conference 2010
Wow! What can you say after a week of incredible preaching, inspiring music, 
fun activities, and refreshing fellowship?? That is what we experienced this past week. Amanda, Kathryn, and I were blessed with the opportunity to attend the Wilds Music Conference with some friends, Katie Hornor and Martha Guzman. This was something that we have all dreamed about doing for several years, but it has never worked out for a number of reasons. It was really exciting to see how the Lord 
orchestrated every little detail to make it actually happen.
After packing what seemed to be an enormous amount of luggage, we loaded our little green van, said our goodbyes, and left to pick up our friends. We then headed over the mountain, bound for the Wilds. We were looking forward to the week ahead. We knew that we would be spiritually refreshed, and thought that we would get rested physically. What a joke!! But more about that later. 🙂
The key-note speaker was Dr. Jim Binney – a powerful preacher who we have now been privileged to hear twice, once at a family camp held at the Wilds. 
There were also other men who spoke, such as Matt Herbster, Ron Hamilton, and Tim Fisher. Topics included the fear of the Lord, praising God through trials, seeing God’s beauty, forgiveness and confession, having a vision for the impossible, and the sufficiency of God. The messages were all inspiring and encouraging. We would go back to our room at night and discuss them all over again, talking about what we’d learned and what stood out to us in the sessions. Most nights, the 
discussions carried us well past 1:00am!!
During the day, we enjoyed fellowship with other musicians and music pastors, whether it was between sessions, while eating the wonderful meals prepared by the Wilds kitchen staff, or sipping delicious concoctions in the famous CoolBeans coffee shop! We also did a lot of our fellowship while walking, because there was a lot of that to do to get from session to session to meal to back to the dorm, etc. 🙂 Our schedule was extremely busy (activities were planned from 7:45 a.m. until 10:30 or 11:00 p.m.!), not allowing for the 
physical rest we had thought would take place, but from the beginning we were all immensely spiritually refreshed! We came home with more musical knowledge, a whole list of challenging things we each needed to change in our relationships with others and our walks with the Lord, gobs of new music, and several new friends. The Lord is good! Praise His name!
By the way, if you are involved in sacred music in any way, we highly encourage you to check out the Wilds Music Conference for 2011!
The Blessing Week – Part 3
As an excellent conclusion 
to our week of blessings, the Barnes family came for a wonderful time of fellowship! Target shooting, playing in the freezing outdoors, working jigsaw puzzles, looking at the 
amazing pictures 
from their trip to Yellowstone this past summer, playing PIT, making music with the guitars, etc., filled our time and brought great joy! They were able to stay for church on Sunday, and Wesley helped us praise the Lord in song 
with his guitar. Our 
time together was exciting, encouraging, and lots of fun – we’re looking forward to next time!! Thank you, Barnes family!
The Blessing Week – Part 2
About 28 hours after the Conns left, 🙁 we had the joy of 
hosting the Staddon family for a few days!! While passing through on their way back to West Virginia, they blessed us by spending their 
New Year’s Eve with us! It would take hours to tell about all of the JOYFUL activities that took place; but we’ll spare you the
time and just give a few highlights. 🙂
– watching “The Star of Bethlehem” and then discussing 
the incredible power, sovereignty, majesty, and wisdom of our Creator
– playing many games, including Dutch Blitz, Occupation,
Catan, Duck-Duck-Goose, Swap, Kings-and-Peasants, etc.
– listening to the Staddon family practice beautiful family harmony – with voice (esp. the quintet 🙂 ), piano, violin, and 
handbells
– getting to feed many large appetites 🙂
– spending quality times around the table, reading the Bible, relating our most embarrassing moments, sharing spiritual insights, singing, laughing, 
writing 
lists of everything else we wanted to do, etc. 🙂
-gaining experience and knowledge regarding photography and operating a website and blog (special thanks to 
James and Robert!)
– staying up to a record time of 4:00 a.m. on New
Years Eve
– blowing up our gingerbread house
Well, needless to say, when the “Staddon 
Wagon” pulled out of our driveway on Friday, we were left with a sense of loss but also one of having been wonderfully refreshed! One particular thing we appreciate about the Staddon family is their 
constant JOY!! (That comes from having Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself last.) Whether in helping prune our fruit trees, eating a peanut butter ball, helping clear the table, or playing Catan, they constantly had smiles and words of encouragement! Thank you, Staddons!
Note: 
For more stories and pictures, please visit the Staddons’ blog!! (We promise, it’ll be worth it just to see the incredible gingerbread-house-explosion shots!!!)
The Blessing Week – Part 1
The last week of December was an unbelievably BUSY week… but it was also one 
of the highlights of the year because it was filled to overflowing with something we love: having tons of people in our home! During the whole week, we had fantastic fellowship and magnificent memories! Let’s tell about
the first part first… and maybe we’ll catch up on all the stories before another week goes by…
It started on December 26th. Actually, it was closer to December 27th. After a busy day of preparation, the younger ones had gone to bed and all of the rest of us were waiting with much anticipation for Mommy’s brother and his family to arrive! Though we have seen them several times this year at their home, Uncle Dan, 
Aunt Lisa, David, Brian, Rachel, and Samantha had not been to our house in over eight years!! (Way too long!!) Well, they finally
arrived… and, for now, we’ll let the whole Team give you the highlights of our time together.
Hannah: “Playing games with David and Brian was fun.”
Kathryn: “One of my favorite memories of the weekend was lying out on our deck (in the freezing cold, that is 🙂 ) looking at the stars, the brilliant moon, and Mars, exclaiming rather loudly 
about the funny shapes we saw in 
the passing clouds, 🙂 and discussing the magnificent wisdom and goodness of our Creator! When we became so cold that we couldn’t stand it any longer, 🙂 we came inside, prepared steaming cups of hot
chocolate, and then went to the basement to spend some time in sharing prayer requests and praying together. What a blessing to have cousins that aren’t just relatives… but good friends and 
those with whom we can share what the Lord has been teaching us!! A few more highlights were showing Brian some things about the violin, as well as finding out that he is finally taller than me!:)”
Dad: “It was just a blessing to have them here; it’s
been a long time! We’ve been the recipients of their wonderful hospitality many times but they seldom give us the opportunity to return it. I have had a tremendous respect for and have admired big brother Dan for many years and consider myself blessed to be part of their family. I especially enjoyed our time out with just Dan and Lisa.”
Bethany: “I liked playing with Brian! Herman was a cowboy and me and Brian were the bad guys. It was 
fun!”
Amanda: “We had a FANTASTIC time with the Conns!! It was such a blessing to have great fellowship with family, and we thoroughly enjoyed having them in our home again after eight too-long
years! Without a doubt, my favorite part was the prayer meeting that David, Brian, Jessi, Kathryn, Victoria, and I had on Monday night! There was such a unity between us as we exchanged prayer requests and then lifted our prayers to God! To hear each other’s hearts and then to pray about it together was extremely uplifting, to 
say the least! Another one of my favorite things was the time that I had to talk one-on-one to Rachel, sharing with her, and her sharing with me. It was a
very special time! I also thoroughly enjoyed the general time with everyone… playing games, talking to Uncle Dan and Aunt Lisa, getting up early to make breakfast with our cousins – it was all wonderful!”
Susanna: “One of my favorite times was getting to play in a little hideout with Rachel, Lauren, and Herman. We pretended that we were orphans and that that 
was a house that our pretend grandfather had once used as a hiding spot during a war. We even “found” some old things that he had
hidden in secret places! That was so fun!”
Mom: “How exciting to have my brother and his family here for a visit!! I loved all the one-on-one time chatting, and our couples night out was a definite favorite!!”
Lauren: “I really liked it when all the parents went out for supper and left all of the kids at home together. We played “Sardines” and “Hi
de-n-Seek” in the dark!! Then, when the parents called and 
told us that they were on their way home, we all hid in the basement shower together! It was really squished and kind of hot, but it was so fun! Then the parents had to find us when they came inside. How funny!”
Herman: “I thought it was fun
to shoot David’s air-soft gun!”
Victoria: “Our whole weekend was a HUGE blessing! I really enjoyed all the time we got to spend playing games and getting to know all of our cousins better. Spending one-on-one time with Samantha playing the violin was also a blast!”
Jessica: “Wow! I was told to write a brief summary of my favorite part, but what can you say when everything was buckets of fun! I didn’t used to think about the relationships that I
have with our cousins, but the older I get, the more I realize what a treasure I have, not to just have cousins, but to consider them friends. This time that we had to make memories with them was something that will not soon be forgotten. It is difficult to pick one thing that was my favorite because everything was so 
much fun! Lots of memories were made playing “Sardines” and having thirteen people crowded into a small area, laying outside on the deck in freezing weather looking at the stars and talking about the greatness of our Creator, getting up early and making breakfast together, having meaningful discussions, and the list could go on! It was hard to let them leave, but we look forward to the next time we get together, whether it is at our house or theirs!”
