The Bret and Beka Wiley Family

James Trysten Wiley

2009-09-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

8 pounds 10 ounces...19.5 inches long.

Born 11:05 AM...everyone is doing well. It takes something THIS major to update the blog apparently. :-)

Me in the "birth suit." It had legs and everything, I felt like I had the swine flu and had been quarantined!Here is Rebekah - how exciting! Not really...

HEEEEEEEEERE'S TRYSTEN!They actually let me hold my own child!

In the room waiting for Mommy to wake up again...

At last......

2009-02-09T15:48:00.000-08:00

Tyler went potty today. Any mom out there knows what a HUGE victory this is. It is not the first time, but I think the lst time was a fluke anyway. He likes wearing "big boy pants", and was sporting a pair today, when it occurred to me that he had worn them all morning and not wet them yet, so I told him to eat lunch and then we would try. Well, he sat down and did it like a pro. We cheered like he had just found a cure for cancer. Later, after playing outside and eating dinner, wearing the same dry pants, I put him on the potty again and he grunted, but nothing happened. About 5 minutes after that, he ran back to the bathroom saying he had to go. I put him on and he again went like a pro. He's pretty proud of himself and I'm hopeful that we have turned a corner....

Life's Little Joys Pt. 2

2009-02-04T18:53:00.000-08:00

Tonight Trey was singing as he ran through the house after dinner. He was singing "Do Lord." Where or how he heard this song none of us can figure out. We did, however, have a chuckle at the 4 year old version, turning the song into a question.

"Do, Lord, oh do, Lord - do you remember me? Do, Lord, oh do, Lord - do you remember me?"

Children are so cool.

Life's little joys

2009-01-29T17:28:00.000-08:00

Today, amid feelings of nausea, tiredness, and general apathy about all things household, I was preparing dinner thinking I would really like to order pizza instead. But, being as it is the end of the month, we could not. So, I was dutifully making chicken casserole. yum. Anyway, I heard a muted squeaking sound and giggles, so I went to investigate. I found Tyler lying facedown on the floor with the dog's toy under his stomach. Trey was lying faceup perpendicular to him and kicking his feet on Ty's back repeatedly. With every kick, there was a distinct squeak from the toy plus the little squeaks that came from Tyler laughing. I couldn't help myself, I laughed for 15 minutes which, of course, the kids all had to try Tyler's position and take turns kicking, because they cracked Mom up. We made sure to show Dad when he came home. I love the spontanaeity of children, and the little moments in life they create!

Is anyone out there?

2009-01-15T19:53:00.000-08:00

THEN LEAVE A STINKIN' COMMENT!

Is it just me, or do I check my blog more than anyone else?

What do you people want from me?

If the voices in my head could comment, it would be stupendous!

Trey Turns 4!

2009-01-08T11:16:00.000-08:00

Daddy is helping Trey-Trey with his new toys!

Here is Trey blushing because everyone is singing to him!

Trey using all that hot air for a good purpose!

Christmas and Christmas Dinner!

2009-01-08T10:36:00.000-08:00

Here's Kari!

A Wiley tradition! Pepsi in crystal!

Here is Trey - he was saying "Ho-Ho-Ho! Merry Christmas!"

Here is the Ty Ty...

And Kari with her stupid Rescue Me Puppy she wanted so bad....dumbest Christmas gift ever, but it was VERY important to her, and she plays with it all the time.

LAST ROUND - I PROMISE

2008-12-24T08:39:00.000-08:00

Beka and #3.Josh and Anna Banana.
Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion...or something like that.
These are funny if you know the sisters and the Royalty "secret language." This language causes the most amusing facial expressions. I think Diana was saying, "Tolja not to, Hi-O."
I think Beka was saying that Diana was going to marry her "abishtene."

We just had so many good pictures it was hard not to post them!

Second to Last Round of Wedding Pics

2008-12-24T08:14:00.000-08:00

Here are the flower girls - enjoying the best part of the wedding - dessert.

Deena and Melody - in all their black (hair and dresses) beauty.

Deena and Melody again.
I thought this picture below was really sweet - Jason was playing his guitar and Kari was just absolutely taken with him and the music.
Here are the progenitors of the Royalty Race as we know it.

Wiley Winter Wedding Pics

2008-12-24T08:04:00.000-08:00

Here are pics just of our family at the wedding.

This (above) is how Trey spent the wedding. He sat behind me in the back of the auditorium. I was on the video camera.
The bride was beautiful, but this was the best looking couple in the house - no contest. Rebekah and I sang "The Prayer" during the ceremony.

Here is Trey - after he woke up...or maybe before. It makes no difference with him.

Here is Kari in her flower girl dress. She was wonderful! She had a great time - very magical for her!

Family Fotos from the Winter Wedding

2008-12-24T07:47:00.000-08:00

Here is the Jason Royalty family. Jason and Melody, Andrew, Matthew, and Micah (oldest to youngest.)Here is the Joel Royalty family. Joel and Deena, Isaac, Abbey, Caleb, Nathan, and Anna (and expecting!)

And we all know the Other Wiley's. Bret and Beka, Kari, Trey, and Ty.
Here are the Royalty children. What a blessed family! Joel, Jason, Rebekah, Josh, and Diana.
I took these pics of Joel and Deena (aren't you proud of me, David?) I just thought they were the greatest pictures of a most beautiful couple! Joel and Deena (and fam) are real blessings to us.

A Wedding Fit for Royalty Pt. 2

2008-12-24T07:32:00.000-08:00

Joel Royalty wrestling with some very handsome young men. From left to right: Andrew Royalty (belongs to Jason's), Isaac Royalty (Joel's), Caleb Royalty (Joel's), Joel holding Micah (Jason's), and Nathan - "Nasey" (Joel's.)

A picture that could only be taken with the courtesy of Rebekah's strange antics. She is patting Diana (as only sisters and husbands can do) - in the middle of the reception.

Here is the beautiful bride.

A Wedding Fit for Royalty Pt. 1

2008-12-24T07:20:00.000-08:00

Here is the bride and the beautiful matron-of-honor. Diana was one of the most beautiful brides we had ever seen. She really took everyone's breath away.

Below is Christopher Stivers, now head of the Christopher Stivers family.

Here are the brides' maids, the matron of honor, and the bride. From left to right: Melody Royalty, Deena Royalty, Diana (now) Stivers, Rebekah Wiley.

Random Pictures of Our Kids

2008-12-24T07:10:00.000-08:00

Cute kids? Check. Random pictures for no reason? Check. Enjoy? That's up to you.

Kari - the ever serious one.

Tyler - the ever cheesy one.

Trey -the never serious one.

Fall Family Fotos

2008-10-27T06:52:00.000-07:00

Ty Ty the gorgeous. Rebekah is always proclaiming him her little infant model. He does seem to know how to pose just right.

Trey - looking very man-ish. 3 years old and yet so very old...and big.

Here is Kari - looking very old and very pretty. Boys beware...Daddy is big and very serious.

Here's Dad and the boys.

Here are the progenitors. More fotos to come.

Tyler Turns Two

2008-10-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

Here is Kari - ready for pictures, ready for cupcakes.

Here is Trey - ready for anything.

Here is the Ty-Ty. He has so far avoided the terrible two status - he has a bit of an attitude, but or the most part he aims it the other children and not us - it's hard to beat him for that :-)

Here are the three goons. Kari, 5, Tyler, 2, and Trey, 3. When you look at this picture, can you believe Trey is only 3??? He looks so much bigger and older than that. He will be 4 in January.

Notice the "cupcake cake" in the shape of a "2." Rebekah is completely incapable of making a normal cake. Tyler just crawled up here while I was posting this and he said, "My birthday! Yaaaaaay!"

Hilton Head

2008-10-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

Here's Grandpa Wiley with the kids...we were all so mentally inept we could not make a sand castle - so we made a sand, um....volcano instead. I know, very sad.

Simple Trey Trey...playin' like always.

So much has gone on I could not begin to tell....so I will post some family pics and be done! It's that simple! Here are some pics of the kids at the beach. Here is Kari and Trey.

Here's Tyler...running.

Here is Kari....I think that is me in the background. Kari is her usual serious self.

Dollywood with the Kids

2008-08-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

While we were vacationing in TN, we went to Dollywood - here is our beautiful family!

Here's the boys - Trey Trey is ready!

Here they all are. Kari - smiling. Tyler - frowning. Trey - otherwise engaged.

More King's Island Pics of the Kids

2008-08-13T04:58:00.000-07:00

Ty Ty was NOT so sure about this one...he eventually calmed down. The funny thing is that no matter how hard Ty cried on the ride, he always came off and said, "Do Aggin. I wan do agin." even through tears and heavy breathing. SO - we strapped him in again!
Here's Kari - being a ham. She is the hammiest ham ham on the east coast. She loves to have her picture taken. She thinks she has to put on a show each time.
Here is Kari and Trey on the Dora coaster. Trey - having the time of his life. Kari - scared to death. You can see how tense she is in this picture. More pics coming!

An Island for a King Hosting A Reunion of Royalty

2008-08-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, we mainly use our blogging space to post pics of our family for everyone to enjoy at their leisure. Let me make a long story short - the Royalty family recently had a reunion at King's Island and Mom and Dad paid for the tickets and for a night's stay at the nicest hotel we've ever been in, not to mention this is the greatest trip the kids have ever had. Thanks to Mom and Dad, and enjoy!
The kids met Diego - a highlight of their day. I think they had two or three hugs!
This is Trey enjoying the live Dora the Explora show. The kids were just as enamored with the live show as they were with the tv show.
Here's the kids in front of the fountains. Getting Tyler to smile (for a picture) is like trying to get Trey to stop running - NEAR IMPOSSIBLE.
Bumper cars are the greatest thing Trey has ever done. They were on and off the bumper cars about 4 times in a row at two or three times during the day. Trey asked to ride bumper cars for the next two weeks straight. More posts and pics to come!

A Birthday for Our Princess

2008-08-03T20:40:00.001-07:00

Here is Kari on her 5th birthday. So as not to spoil the kids, we only have "big" parties for "big" birthdays. 5 is HUGE. Kari had all her girlfriends over for a princess dress-up party.

Rebekah made the coolest cake. It had upside down ice cream cones covered with icing to make a castle. It was probably the best cake she has made yet. I can't wait to see the next one!
Here is Kari and the gang. They had so much fun together. More pics and posts to come!!!

2008-07-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

We went swimming today at the Kleman's house (members of our church.) They were out of town and invited us to use their pool while they were away. We had special 4th of July services and ended our second service at 1:00, so we had the rest of the day to relax. Here are some pics of the kids swimming. Everyone had a great time!

Kari likes to swim, but is generally scared to DEATH of going under the water. We tried to persuade her, but she is a very serious child.
This is Trey, about to jump in. He tackled me on the float and pulled us both into the water. He is KA-RAZ-EE.
This is Tyler throwing sandals and shoes into the pool. He did really well in the water today - he had floaties on both arms and had a life-vest on. He bobbed like a bouey. Trey actually picked him up and threw him in the water once - it was quite funny - but we had to spank Trey - while Ty was bobbing up and down.
We can't wait to go to Grandma Pat and Grandpa Wiley's house to swim! Later this month!!!

More WILDS pics

2008-07-01T15:35:00.000-07:00

Our teens are still bragging about the wonderful time they had at the WILDS. God worked in their hearts and lives in a very special way. I thought I would share some more pictures. Enjoy.

This is Breken, Me, Ryan, Liz, and Whitney.

This is the whole group. (Top row) Me, Nick, Breken, Whitney, Liz, Stephen, Anna, (bottom row) Jared, Tyler, Ryan, Matt, and Luke.
Our teens are still bragging about the wonderful time they had at the WILDS. God worked in their hearts and lives in a very special way. I thought I would share some more pictures. Enjoy.

A Week at The Wilds

2008-06-19T04:45:00.001-07:00

This past week (June 9-14) I took 11 of our teenagers to The Wilds Christian Camp in NC. They had a blast. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

This is Breken and Luke. Breken is about 6'5 and he was saved at camp. I baptized him Sunday night. On the right is Luke. Luke is a Christian and made decisions to live for Christ.
This is Liz. Liz is a real gem of a girl. She is a member of another church in town, but we invited her and her twin brother to come with us because some of our own kids dropped out.
This is me and Luke. The picture speaks for itself - could two guys be any more awesome?

Our Beautiful Children

2008-06-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

In the hustle and bustle of everyday and in the battle with the flesh, it is hard to maintain the focus that children are the most beautiful and amazing gift that God has bestowed on earth. We work so hard to make sure they behave and learn obedience, we work hard at making sure they are taught right and are protected. Those are good things - but the truth is, they are the constant reminder of the joy of life. They enjoy life so much and get such happiness out of the little things - we have as much to learn from them as they have to learn from us. We truly need each other - Matthew 18:3, "And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

A REAL Philly Cheese Steak

2008-06-03T19:56:00.000-07:00

A trip to Philly means that you have to do the important things - you know, the highlights. Highlights of any city always include food. Here we are at Jim's Steaks - supposedly the best cheese steaks in Philly. Rebekah is standing next to some autographs of some people who had been there - including Baron Davis, Kobe Bryant, and Bruce Willis.

Rebekah's cheese steak - with onions. Mine - without. Provolone cheese - soft bun. Can you taste it? It was every bit of the seeming fifty mile walk between historic district and, um....cheese steak district.

That's right - crazy good!

Historic Philadelphia

2008-06-01T12:45:00.000-07:00

Rebekah and the kids at the Liberty Bell. The Liberty Bell is...historic...and cracked...and Pennsylvania is misspelled on it.
This picture is just here to impress David Scott. This is Independence Hall.

This is a memorial in the middle of the park in downtown Philly. The park is actually a large mass grave of soldiers. This is a memorial to them and their sacrifice. It is a beautiful scene right in the middle of the city.

Trip to Philadelphia

2008-06-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

Our church recently decided to purchase a new van for picking up kids for church. We found a great one in Palmyra, NJ at FC Kerbeck. Palmyra is only about 15 minutes from downtown Philadelphia, so the fam decided to raid Philly. The church was very kind and offered to pay all of our expenses, which made for a comfortable trip. Here are some pictures from our trip - enjoy!Tyler is sleeping. Can you tell?

Kari and Tyler are ready to go! Trey is pretending to sleep and Kari is always so happy!

I thought this was funny. This is a stop sign with a sign below it that says, "No stopping any time." Hmmmm...

Rebekah Fits In (pics)

2008-06-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

Rebekah Fits In

2008-06-01T12:09:00.000-07:00

We haven't been in West Virginia for an entire year but my wife decided she wanted a garden. This attracted the attention of one of the leaders in our church and he decided to help us out. This gentleman and another one of our members share a garden and they brought us the best corn on the cob known to man last summer. This year Rebekah wanted to grow some of her own. This man in our church decided the church should help pay for it, so they approved some money to put in a garden for Rebekah - and voila! Here it is! We are happy to report plants are actually growing...

Bible Conference Pics

2008-06-01T10:19:00.001-07:00

Bible Conference

2008-06-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

I promised pictures from the Bible Conference, so here are a few. If you want to see more, go to http://davidandrebekah.blogspot.com/ because David put up some great ones. Here are a few. The conference was great and each night was a blessing. Having David and Rebekah here was the greatest blessing. Our people bragged and bragged on them and said they felt like they had been here for years, kind of like old friends. Imagine that!

A Trip to Charleston

2008-04-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

This past week we were privileged with a visit from David and Rebekah Scott. I invited them up to lead our music for our Spring Bible Conference, April 23-27. They did an excellent job and I am sure David will have more pictures on his blog. For some goofy reason, we did not get a picture of the four of us together while they were here - not like this was a once in a lifetime thing or anything!

On Friday morning we went to the Capital Street Market in Charleston, where they have a butcher, several little shops, and an outdoor market for flowers and plants. Here are some pictures (that David took, of course.) I will post more from the conference and such later, but these should tide you over.

Enjoy. Here is "Daddy-Dad-Dad" and Kari Kare-Kare.
Here is Rebekah and Rebekah - looking at something mildly gross apparently.
Daddy and the boyz.

2008-03-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE I love pictures....not in the David Scott way - you know, climbing trees and hanging out of airplanes to get good ones, etc. Anyway, here are more from Pastor's School.

Here is a picture of Ron Hamilton of "Patch the Pirate" fame. He and his wife Shelly provided some of the special music for the week. They (FBC Hammond) do things a bit differently, very informally. The special music will begin about 1o minutes before service actually begins so people can listen but still talk and begin to find their seat. It was nice to see some BJ people at a Fundamentalist meeting.

150 violins! These were violin players - from probably 6 or 7 years of age all the way to adults. They played in unison and it was amazing. They did two or three songs before the service started.

This is the opening night. The white you see at the front of the platform is the pastoral staff (all wearing matching white suitcoats - don't lie, you want one, don't you David?) The black dresses and tuxes behind them is the church choir (which is AMAZING.) The large group of white you see to the far left of the picture is the kids choir who sang with the church choir. GREAT stuff.

These next two pictures go together. I could not get it all in one. The final night of the Pastor's School they had a 1,000 voice choir singing "All the Glory Belongs to Jesus." It was astounding. The choir started all the way at the far right of the platform (first picture) the middle and far left (second picture.) This was a lifetime experience that I hope to be able to duplicate. I will post another blog later with pics of Jack Hyles old auditorium and some of the other things around town. For now, I'll blog ya later!

Pastor's School - First Baptist Church of Hammond

2008-03-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege to attend Pastor's School at First Baptist Church in Hammond, IN this week. If any of you in the ministry have never been, please plan on attending. This was the most practical week of training I have ever had. Dr. Jack Schaap (the pastor there) was very kind and gracious the whole week. Here are some pictures with some commentary.

This is the front of the church. It is the best picture you can get really because the church is right in downtown Hammond. In fact, the church pretty much IS Hammond. The church even bought the town's three level garage for parking.

Below is a picture from the sanctuary. This picture is taken from the front. There is another large screen on the right side also, but I could not really get it all in one picture. The brown spot right above the bald guy's head (with the blue shirt on) is the pulpit.

This is a picture of the church from the left side of the pulpit looking straight (from the platform.) There are televisions displaying what is on the large monitors so everyone on the platform can see. As you can see, it is stadium seating and is built very intelligently.

Okay, I could be wrong, but I believe this is the greatest pulpit I have ever seen. It is solid across the top with an elevated platform for the middle, four pillars and the base has a cross that lights up in the bottom of it. When the lights go out for video presentations, etc. the first thing to light back up is the cross at the bottom of the pulpit. (Don't mind the powerless college student they made guard the platform.)

This is a picture of the auditorium from the VERY BACK of the balcony. This is the furthest you can get from the pulpit. This shows you the absolutely ridiculous (in a good way) size of the place. Underneath the huge cross on the middle of the wall are two huge doors. This is where all the pastoral staff, choir, speakers, etc. enter from.

I am hitting the "add image" button and it just stares at me, so I apparently have hit my limit. I will add more soon. Great week, wouldn't miss it next year for anything.

Some more random pictures...

2008-03-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our spaghetti dinner at church - served by our teens. We took up an offering for camp that night. The other pictures are of the kids in our church eating spaghetti wearing their new "Fairview Baptist Temple" shirts. Enjoy. Or don't - but here they are.

I WILL NOT YIELD!

2008-03-04T13:53:00.000-08:00

Just when you thought you would never hear from us ever again - the blog is back! Hopefully someone checks this once in a while at least...although I am doubting it. Who goes to everyone else's blogs? I know I do - but I will not visit my own - there would be no point in that because I would not be surprised if there were a new post. Do people's families check their blogs? Mine doesn't. Do other people's friends check their blog. Mine don't.

I could be wrong. So prove me wrong. Leave comments for this post.....lots of comments...and if you do I promise I will put pictures up within one week!

FAMILY UPDATE: Rebekah is good - just working on some upcoming family events and thinking about a new baby - which I say is unlikely. Kari is good - she loves singing Wiggles' songs, but is always about a beat behind the song. Trey is good - he is a bull in a china shop. Tyler is good - he stinks and we want him potty trained ASAP! And me? Well, I am working on my doctorate (Th. D) and should finish the book of Exodus soon; that will be 3 credits finished. From then on I get 3 more credits for Daniel, Luke, then Romans. I was going to exposit James, but since I am preaching expositionally through the book of Romans on Sunday mornings I thought that made more sense.

Ministry at Fairview has been great. Everyone seems to be ready to move toward the future in UNITY - which is our theme for the year. We are in the process of paying off our church debt and then purchasing property to extend our parking so we can build a gymnasium. Please pray for us!

2008-01-05T11:20:00.000-08:00

Trey is trying out his violin. Notice the perfect form!! Child prodigy.....

2008-01-05T11:08:00.000-08:00

BIRTHDAY CAKE!! Trey enjoyed singing to himself several times.

2008-01-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

Trey rode this car about 18 times with this boy. They had great fun pretending that they were being chased. This was a smart boy, though, Trey paid for all of the rides.

2008-01-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

Trey enjoying the ride at Chuck E. Cheese while Bret turns the pedals to launch him in the air.

2008-01-05T10:28:00.000-08:00

Tyler is enthralled with all the balls at Toys R Us. With his huge eyes and adoring smile, he won Grandpa over and left with a small one. He held it all the way home.

Trey's Birthday!

2008-01-05T09:45:00.000-08:00

Trey was three yesterday. We celebrated by taking our bi-weekly trip to Charleston. Mom and Dad Wiley met us there and we ate at Famous Dave's since Trey's choice to eat would have ended us in McDonald's. We then took him to Toys 'R' Us for a balloon and to pick out one thing then walked next door to Chuck E. Cheese and played for a good two hours. It was lots of fun as you can tell from the pics. Kari and Trey enjoyed dancing to Veggie Tales in front of the "play" camera up front while Ty watched and clapped. Ty's favorite part was to play the wooden balls while Mommy played Skee ball for the umpteenth time. He actually became pretty good at rolling the ball up the ramp! I hit it big on the jackpot game and won 200 tickets. I like this place. Anyway, after we got home for the night and started to prepare for bday cake and presents, Trey threw up and became ill. We put off the celebration until this morning and had cake and presents as a mid-morning snack. Trey got a violin (which he loves to play like Quincy on Little Einsteins) and some x-men to play with carrying on the bret wiley tradition of Christmas and birthdays. Enjoy the pics.

Some random pictures

2007-12-24T17:50:00.000-08:00

Here are some Christmas pictures - the kids and Beka making a gingerbread house and the kids in their Christmas PJ's!

And So It Begins

2007-12-24T17:34:00.000-08:00

Since all attempts at normal communication have been lost, I will join the art of blogging.

Only time will tell if this is a lasting commitment or only a short-lived blast of online energy.

Check back regularly and let me know what you think - if what you think is positive. If it is negative we will take the motto of the Barter Theater in Abingdon, VA. That motto is, "Keep your mouth shut." In this instance, it would be "Keep your fingers still."

Thank you and Merry Christmas.