The Callahan Family

Maverick, Dad, Kevin Michael, Mom, Damian, Dylan

                            Lacey April, 1998

    Well, here we are!  :)  This picture is from an impromptu photo session, during which Uncle Kem obligingly assumed the role of photographer.  Damian was in town, so we wanted to get a picture of all of us together.

    I guess that if there's any such thing as a "weird family" we'd qualify.  We have our share of abnormalities...
    There's "Dog Night" and "Filipino Night".
    Then there's the time that 3 year old Dylan chased 10 year old Kevin around the yard wielding an ax with "that look in his eye".
    Lacey accidentally dropped 3 year old Kevin Michael while trying to help him wash his hands in the bathroom sink, and his underwear caught on the cabinet door handle, causing him to be stuck on the vanity hanging upside down by the hem of his Teddy Ruxpin briefs.
    Dad didn't secure the lid on the ketchup bottle before standing in the dining room and performing his "swing-the-bottle-upside-down-and-make- the-stuff-come-out-faster" trick, an oversight which resulted in globs of ketchup distributed in a neat circle around the dining room--floor, wall, bookcase, ceiling, wall, floor (much to the shock of our dinner guests).
    Lacey saw a huge bag of Brach's peppermints (something Mom had been seeking) sitting in a shopping cart in the store and quickly, unthinkingly, grabbed it, announcing, "Okay, Mom, I've done it!".  Then, noticing the owner of the aforementioned shopping cart standing there with a horrified look on her face, quickly added, "I've taken something from someone else's cart!" (with an equally horrified look on her face) and rushed, purple-faced,  to return the item and offer a jumbled stream of apologies.
    And who could forget the time that Dad mistook a herd of cows for a flock of ostriches!
    We have a lot of fun times at the Callahan house.  We've had our share of laughter and tears, good times and sorrow.  Through it all God has been faithful, and it's our fervent hope and constant prayer that His light will shine through each of us individually, and our family as a whole.
    Dad's career has taken us on an endless adventure! We've lived in 7 states thusfar, and moved many times.  So far, our favorite location has been our home in the Vancouver, Washington, area.  We had grand times there!  We made a lot of friends and formed family ties.  We also suffered the pain of losing friends and family ties.  God taught us a lot.  I don't think that any one of us would have traded the experience for the world.  What an especially great blessing it was to our family to live there!
 
 

Mount Hood, Oregon
A view from one of the many breathtakingly scenic highways
in our beloved, former Washington home. :)

Let me tell you a little about each of us...

    Dad is a production supervisor in the vinyl siding industry.  He loves to make jokes and laugh.  He is extremely patient.

    Mom is our "home keeper".  She does all the household stuff, and teaches three grades in the "Callahan Christian School".  Mom also loves to laugh.  She's good at coming up with interesting ways to prevent monotony. :)

    Damian Wyatt is 28 years old, and lives in the Kansas City area.  He visited us for a few months last year.  We had a lot of good times with him.  He has a great sense of humor.  His daughter, Ashton Nicole, is 4 years old.  She also lives in Kansas City.

    I am 18 years old.  I just graduated homeschool high school in 1999.  I love to talk! :)  I also enjoy reading, talking on the phone, Bible study, listening to music, (attempting to) play my guitar, e-mail my dear friends, etc.  After sharing my woes with him about my lack of musical savvy, my guitar teacher, Sam, once said something which gave me a ray of hope: "Lacey, it's not that you don't have an ear for music. You just have a *very untrained* ear for music."   Two years later, I'm still plinking and strumming away!  :)  I'm interested in, and have begun studying, herbology.  If I get married, I'd like to have children and homeschool them.  As long as I remain single, I plan to be involved in any ministry opportunities God brings along, and continue studying independently and helping out at home.

    Kevin Michael is 15 years old.  He enjoys keeping up-to-date on current events.  Lately, he's been our "reporter", since the rest of us kids and Mom are usually clueless as to what's going on around us. ("What!?  We've been at war for how long?!")  :)  Kevin is in his freshman year of high school.  He's still unsure of what career path to pursue.  Kevin and I were playmates as small children, and he endured my "older-to-younger" torture like a real trooper...until he became the "big" one! :)  I doubt I'd try anything these days!  We get along fine now...I'm the oldest, he's the biggest--a good balance.  :)

Dylan
Dressed in the robe Mom made him to wear for his baptism.
Pretty cool, huh?!

    Dylan John is 8 years old.  Our fountain of information!  He likes to drag his Peanuts junior encyclopedia around, distributing tidbits of information to whoever has a spare moment to listen.
    "Hey, Mom, did you know that if you cut a starfish in pieces, each piece grows into a new starfish?!"
    "No, really?"
    "Yeah......Hey! We should put a starfish in the food processor--then we'd have a whole bunch of starfishes!!!"
 
 

Pastor John, Dylan, Dad, Pastor Du
Dylan's baptism in Cresap Bay, Washington

Dylan is still trying to decide on his career.  When you're 8 years old, the possibilities are as endless as they are exciting! :)  One day he's a future scientist, the next an artist, astronaut, author, geologist, missionary, pianist....
 
 

Maverick
Age 2

    Maverick Carson is 4 years old.  I guess he's a bona fide "real kid" now, but in our family he's still the baby!  We call him "the baby" just as often as we call him "Mav" or "Maverick".  :)

(Incidentally, these aren't his glasses.  They're Dad's safety glasses from work.  Mav and I were just having some fun with a little photo session.)

We all adore him.  He's a ray of sunshine in the house.  He has a vocabulary that just won't quit, and an excellent grasp of syntax.  Maverick is a very busy little boy!
 
 

"Aren't I the cutest?!?"

He loves to play outside.  Off and on throughout the day, we'll hear the back door slam, then one of us will call out, "the baby just escaped!", while another runs to grab him off the porch where he's standing in his socks and underwear (so hard to keep his clothes on him!!)--or dash across the yard after him as he runs to hop on his mini four-wheeler and ride into the sunset (or at least to the end of the driveway and back).  We all know he's more than worth it, though, when he climbs in a lap, gives a hug, and softly says,
"I love you..........Will you wead me a book?"
 
 

Maverick
Taking first prize in the "World's Cutest Baby" contest,
while frolicking on the beach.
August, 1997

Click here to read about
my weirdness partner.

Click here to meet
Suzie.

Click here to read about
my sister in Christ.