The Neely Team

Have you ever experienced it when the Lord takes a relationship that you have had and gradually deepens it? You may have known this family or individual for years, and yet suddenly you realize there is a strength in the relationship that you never had before. What causes this?  This blessing is the inevitable result of both sides actively seeking and growing closer to the Lord, because as we draw nearer to Him and are more conformed into His likeness, He unifies our hearts with others within His Body, the Church. Our family has seen this happen over the years… among ourselves, esp. in sibling relationships, for one thing. We have also begun to see it worked out in relationships with other families. What a joy it is!!!

A few weekends ago we were blessed to experience this again with a visit from our friends, the Barnes family. We had a load of fun, played hilarious games, made music, put together jigsaw puzzles, blew up our gingerbread houses, and laughed a ton in the process, of course, but the highlight for most of us was the discussions and times of fellowship that were shared. Things the Lord is teaching us, what we are learning from our devotions, favorite passages of Scripture, meaningful insights, prevalent and troublesome issues of today that must be combated with Scripture, and more were shared and discussed. It was a time of exhortation and encouragement, and we came away tremendously refreshed.

And, by the way, our discussions were far too interesting to take the time to jump up and get the camera – - thus the lack of pictures of the afore-mentioned activity!

So, be encouraged if you desire to see a certain relationship in your life brought to a new level. Seek Christ through His Word, pray with diligence – - and watch and see what the Lord will do.

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another…” 1 John 1:7

Nineteen years ago, a young couple with two small children moved from their warm home in north Georgia, to the shockingly different territory of southern New Hampshire. During their two-winters-long stay in New England, they experienced vast differences between the sunny south and the much-colder north, not the least of which was the necessity of shoveling two feet of snow off of the car many mornings during the long winter months. They also met some new friends, including one couple who had just had their first child, but who held the unusual belief that they would accept as many children as the Lord saw fit to bless them with. Although this idea seemed a bit radical to the newcomers, the couples were soon good friends, and when their paths diverged fourteen months later and the Lord moved the first couple back south (this time to Texas!), the two families continued to keep in touch via annual Christmas letters and pictures. For several years, this was their only means of communication, and meanwhile, many changes took place in both families. The New Englanders’ family grew until they had nine children, and over the years, the Lord changed the hearts of the other couple and eventually blessed them with a total of ten young “arrows.” (See Psalm 127.) Then, early in 2010, the Lord placed in both families the strong desire to reconnect with each other and renew their friendship.

************************************************************************************************

This happened around the time of the first North Carolina FEW Conference, and our excitement was unbounded when we received the news that the Wikmans would be making the 1,000+ mile trek (one-way!) to attend the event! Though our time together was short and extremely busy, we were able to reconnect to a small degree, and each of the few times we’ve seen each other since then has only increased our yearning for a longer and more personal visit.

Finally, last week we were blessed with the opportunity to have the Wikmans in our home for a few days. And what a joy it was! Besides the fun and games that went on, we Neelys were incredibly encouraged by seeing the way the Wikmans interacted with each other. Their sweet spirits and self-sacrificing love were very convicting to us as we watched them serve one another with Christ-like love. We observed in amazement as time and time again, an older sibling would drop whatever they were doing to help with a younger one, or Mr. or Mrs. Wikman would willingly give up fellowship time to care for a child, and always with a smile: there was never a word of complaint! They were also always ready to jump in and help with whatever we were doing, whether it was preparing food, washing dishes, or sweeping the floor. It was a tremendous blessing to us just to have them in our home, and we look forward to the next time we can share fellowship with them!

Thank you, Wikmans, for the blessing you were to our family! You have truly “provoked us unto love and to good works.” (Hebrews 10:24) Thank you for being such a wonderful example of Christ-like service and love!! 

We had the privilege of having a friend of ours for dinner last night. Jennifer always brings lots of fun and laughter, and this visit was no different. After supper, we gathered around the table for a rousing time of playing with… empty cups???

We enjoyed this game particularly because it included all ages, encouraged attentiveness between players, and required teamwork to run smoothly. Thank you, Jennifer, for “filling our cups” with your joy and love once again!

The Lord often blesses us with times of refreshment and encouragement as we strive to serve Him in the corner of the world where He has placed us. Like-minded families may seem few and far between, but the refreshment of gatherings is hard to describe! Times like these are what could be termed “recharges.” Just as a battery gets low, our “fellowship meters” often are in need of charging.

We had such a weekend when the Barnes family came for a visit. Puzzles, trampoline, guitar, meaningful conversations, National Ice Cream Day…. it was definitely a weekend not soon to be forgotten!! Thank you, Barnes family, for your joy and love for our Lord!

For all of our faithful readers, you may be wondering where we’ve been. But really, no posts means that we’ve been experiencing too many wonderful adventures to take the time to write about them, so you should rest assured that whenever there is a lengthy gap, we are probably just off on another one of our wild expeditions.

Such was the case this last week, only this expedition was a little different than normal. We were just living life. Very busy life, we might add, but still just life. Let’s see……. if you are looking for a detailed description of what our week held, we spent our time shopping, mowing, raking the grass, weeding and planting the garden, taking pictures, getting the little ones’ achievement tests finished for the year, making music, mopping our floors (dirtamascrubbiewithwaterandsoaping is the official Neely term ), teaching music lessons, playing outside a lot, having company, and much, much more.

But, lest you think we put the wrong title on this post, let us now reveal that we weren’t alone in this adventure. After being at a homeschool conference in Atlanta last weekend, we were able to pick up a stowaway and bring him home with us for a while. Wesley B. got to experience life first hand with the Neely Team… could be a little scary at times. What a week it was! We had an absolute blast… it was such a blessing to have him here to take part in all that happened. Wes just fit in – became part of the Team – and we loved it!

One of the ways Wesley encouraged us by his attention to the little ones. Matthew 18:5 says “And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.” It’s rare to find someone who is willing to joyfully invest their time and energy into little children.

Another way Wes blessed us was by his encouraging words. He took note of things that others did well and pointed them out.

“Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24

Wesley was also a huge blessing by patiently spending hours teaching classical styling on the guitar to several of us (better called a bunch of novices ). We are excited about continuing to learn more about this beautiful instrument!!

“Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.” Psalm 150

Thank you, Wes, for jumping into the Team like you did and leaving us so encouraged when you had to jump out again (though we also really enjoyed the time with your family when they came to pick you up). We are excited to claim you as a big brother – the memories we all made together will last for a long time! May the Lord continue to give you the grace to shine brightly for Him, leaving others rejuvenated and refreshed by your life and testimony.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” Matthew 5:16

In the past few weeks, we have had the opportunity to honor the birthdays of two special women… two women that have impacted our lives in many special ways.

The first was when Mrs. Staddon’s birthday fell on the day that the Staddon family arrived to help us with the NC FEW Conference! It was such a joy to make the cakes, pick out her favorite ice cream flavors, and decorate the house in her honor! Thank you, Mrs. Staddon, for the way that you portray the attributes of a woman who fears the Lord! Your diligence, transparency, faithfulness, joy, and perseverance have been a blessing to us! Your children rise up and call you blessed; your husband praises you. We pray that the Lord would give you fruit abundantly for your labors, and that your works will forever praise you in the gates! (Proverbs 31:28, 31)

The second opportunity was through a surprise birthday party thrown for our friend Mrs. Tammy. We could never record all the ways that she has given of herself to bless us throughout the many years we have known her!  She is the kind of person who is always there for you. Many times she has watched our animals, brought us a meal (which she did last week when we were sick with severe head colds!), cut our hair whenever we decided we needed it, helped out with our big endeavors (like hosting FEW Conferences ), and once she helped us straighten up the house and get out the door when we had to go on a 14-hour emergency trip. Thank you Mrs. Tammy! You have inspired us to serve the Lord by serving others! We are often encouraged by your smile and contagious giggle. May the Lord continue to give you strength, creativity, and wisdom to bless everyone you come in contact with.

“Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.” Proverbs 31:10

Well, before we have to write an “Update 3,” we had the brilliant idea that we’d just better keep up with all that’s going on around here!!

Last week we had the spur-of-the-moment and DELIGHTFUL experience of having the Wilkes ladies here for a couple days! Some of the guys came south for a farm show in TN, used us as a hotel, and brought the ladies with them to keep us company! For several days, we just lived life, including school work, celebrating Hannah’s birthday, evening visits from Mr. Traylor – a business associate of Daddy’s and now a great friend of the family, and Jennifer Jennings, also a good friend of ours, house cleaning, afternoon rest times, an overnight visit from Jon Hynes, and even a tea party!… All of this (and so much more!!!!) took place with the extra special blessing of having four extra special ladies around. Sisters, both biological and adopted, are such treasures from the Lord! Words fail to describe the beauty of our time together… but I can’t give bunches of pictures to help out because sadly, the ones from this are few due to the absence of one camera during the visit and the loss of the shots from the other! But praise be to God that we have memories (and journals )…

But I will leave you with the reminder to truly treasure the times you have with your sisters, both biological and your sisters in the Lord! Learn from each other! Disciple each other! Laugh together! Talk… for hours! Make fun and unusual memories!

The bond of love that will be created is priceless!

“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment…” (Philippians 1:9) 

“And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another… to the end that he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13)

A few more pictures from the times when the guys were in…