Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Blogging At Last!

I have a little time at the library by myself, so I get to blog, very exciting! Josh told me he posted about June 8. I am very excited! It really has been a long time coming. When I was younger, I "got saved" cause I didn't want to go to hell. Or at least I thought I got saved. Good reason, but my life didn't really change. I wanted to live how I wanted to live and used the Bible when it was convinent for me, like in proving a point. Anyway, when I got to college the Lord put people in my life who were really living for Christ, who had a relationship with him. He also took some people out of my life. And during that time I was really able to meet with the Lord and get in His word. One night some people from small group were going to a concert, (I actually almost didn't go). Anyway, there was some great music there and then they had a speaker. The speaker was sharing about Christ and about sin and about how sin, my sin, put Him on that cross. I think for the first time I really got that, or as much as anyone can comprehend what Christ did. I remember being broken and crying and just asking for forgiveness. I believe in my heart that that is when I asked Christ into my heart. Things in my life that had once been a struggle started to not be. Not that I was perfect, but I was and am forgiven. I had tried to change things and they never did until after that night. I got into the word and enjoyed it so much and just wanted to spend time with the Lord.

So, baptism. I had always thought I was saved when I was younger, but after writing our testimonies in a small group, I really don't think so. But I had been baptized when I was younger and since I thought I had been saved when I was younger I didn't think I needed to.

I struggled with if I was saved and baptized when I was younger, than I didn't need to again. But, after really looking at my life, I didn't come into a relationship with Christ until that night in college. So, on June 8th, I get to show a picture of what happened in my heart those many years ago. I know that baptism doesn't save you. It's a relationship with Christ and faith in Him for salvation. It will be nice to just be obiedient.

I hope that everyone in blog land is well. We miss you guys so much. We are starting to make some friends and meet people, which is nice. We love our home and are thankful for how close we are to Josh's work. It has been a little bit of a culture shock. I grew up in Ft.Worth/Arlington, but never really considered myself to be a city girl. I guess there is more city in my than I thought. We love our small little town though. The schools here are really good. And, it has been so good to be close to our family. We have really enjoyed getting to see more of them.

Well, 'til next time!

Monday, April 21, 2008

Mark Your Calendars

As of April 06, 2008, the Campbell family has become a part of the Grace Fellowship Church in Paradise, TX family. We took the membership class on that day. After hearing everything the pastor had to say, and realizing how much we agreed with their vision and mission, we knew this was were God has called us to be. When we attended the membership class at Denton Bible, we did not feel the call to be a part of that body.

But let me just tell you...ever since moving up to this area, a little over a year ago, even when I was still staying with Sarah's mom, GFC has been brought to my attention. When I was calling around for lots to put the trailer on, one of the ladies I spoke with mentioned GFC. Two of my co-workers attend there. And the small group pastor came into the branch one day.

I wish I could send you a copy of their class book...just so you all can see how similar they are to LH. It's almost uncanny. And we love it. We are looking forward to finding a place to serve. We already have a small group lined up to attend, in Alvord, no less.

But you know, all this is not why I want you to mark your calendars. On June 8th, in between 6pm and 9pm, Sarah Campbell will be getting baptized at GFC in Paradise. That's right, Sarah's getting dunked!

The course of this has been long in coming. Just know that Sarah has wondered for quite some time when she actually accepted Christ. She was unsure of whether or not she came to Him when she was a kid, or when she was in college. I think she has come to the conclusion that it was in college. So...since that point in time, she has not been obedient to the Lord in baptism, and she's going to rectify that on June 8th. So...I know it's a Sunday. I know summer is a crazy time. But any of you readers out here in blog land would like to come celebrate with us on June 8th...well, we'd love to have you.

You can email me at joshua.david.campbell@citi.com if you want more info.

See ya later!

Friday, April 04, 2008

Monthly Update (heh)

Howdy gang! Josh here telling how things are going down over here in Campbell-Land.

First of all, I want to apologize for not being able to respond to comments all the time. Again, I can view the blogs and comments from work, but I cannot comment on them. And since our only access to the Net is at the library, obviously time constraints exist.

Anyway...with the church search.We will be taking the membership class at Grace Fellowship this Sunday. They are very similar to LH in many different ways. We'll even have to sign a membership covenant if we decide to join. I met with their small group pastor yesterday during lunch, and I believe our family shares their vision. So...after this weekend, we may know for sure where we will be plugging in. Please continue to pray.

Family updates...

Jack is potty training. As a matter of fact, he went all day Tuesday in undies ('cept for nap time) with NO ACCIDENTS!!! We're excited for him. And I'm excited for us. Once we get him out of diapers...hey, you all know those things aren't cheap. Bella is involved in helping brother go potty. She gets all excited. It's pretty funny...you'd almost think Jack was a puppy the way she carries on. "Do you need to go potty? Do you? Come on, let's go potty!"

Speaking of Bella...she's growing up fast. And she's as funny as ever. She told us the other day that we were "wrecking her brain". I guess we were confusing her or something. But she's doing well. We have our typical four year old moments...and remember, this one is VERY strong willed, but we're making it. Every time she says she hates us and wants a different family, she comes back later and loves on us. Yes...yes...our sweet Bella sounds like a teenager. *sigh*

Sarah is doing well. She'd like it better if the neighbors' animals didn't think our yard and carport wasn't a great place to do their business, but in light of eternity...

We've made some "friends" with the neighbors across the street. One family has a little boy who comes over and jumps with the kiddos. They're nice. And the wife of another couple has asked Sarah to watch their house when they go out of town...so that's cool.

Me? Doing pretty good. Still adjusting to the new role at work, trying to make my quota and all that. But that comes with the territory. It's hard to believe we moved away a year ago this month...well, at least, I did. It's crazy. It seems like forever, and not all that long at the same time.

At any rate, we miss you all. Keep commenting. I love to read them. Sarah says hello and so do the kiddos.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Decisions, Decisions

We are still hunting for a church home in our area. So far, we've found two that we like. The first one is the church in Decatur called Cornerstone Baptist.


What we like:
-Has AWANA/Cubbies
-Worship is contempary
-People are super friendly

What we are unsure of:
-Teaching. (have yet to attend a morning sermon that was not a guest speaker) However, we have attended a few evening services while Bella was in Cubbies. Last night, in fact, was their Lord's Supper service, which was actually really cool. No message, per se, but spent about 45 minutes in reflective prayer, having stations to go to, including nailing name to the Cross, and prayer candles, before taking the elements.

-No Home Groups. (At least, not like we know it. They do have small groups, but it is currently at the church, and are typically like LH discipleship classes or are sunday school classes.

The other is Grace Fellowship in Paradise.



What We Like:
-Solid Teaching (Sermon series much like LH)
-Home Groups that include children
-Contempary Worship

What We Are Unsure of:
-Worship is almost like a concert. (Or: We miss Aaron's heart for worship)
-30 minute drive
-No AWANA!!!!

Sadly enough, it is the no AWANA that makes it a difficult choice. They don't have an evening service, so technically we could go to Cornerstone for our AWANA needs since we wouldn't be skipping out at Grace.

What we need is prayer, and wisdom. We do not want to be torn between two bodies, you know what I mean?

We would welcome your thoughts.

Thanks, and we love ya'll.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

1st Snow

On Monday of this week, it snowed up here in the Decatur area. Yep. Snowfall in March. And we are forecasted to get more this weekend. How cool is that?

At any rate, it was the kids' first time to see snow, aside from on TV and stuff. They were super excited, Isabella especially. She insisted we take a walk when we bundle up and went outside to check it out. I took some pictures of them catching flakes on their tongues, and standing in some snow that had stuck to the ground. It was very cool...literally!

Unfortunately, it melted the next day and we didn't get enough for the kids to actually play in it, but maybe this weekend we'll be able to do that. However, it still was quite a blessing to watch my daughter gaze out the window at the snow and say repeatedly, "It's so beautiful Daddy."

Jack wasn't as excited. But he still caught some flakes. I don't think the boy likes the cold.

Speaking of the Jackster...we will be having his party the 15th. So...I know it is probably pretty much out of the question, but if any of you Living Hopers want to come, we would love to have you.

You may email me at joshua.david.campbell@citigroup.com if you want/need directions. The time frame is like 5 pm.

Whether or not you can come, we love you. And we hope to see you in June or July. Maybe we can plan a 4th of July get together. We are open to ideas.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

New House InCommunicado

Hey all! Just a quick update to let folks know we have moved in to the new house in Alvord. At this time and point, we have no internet connection at the house. So...if you would like to contact us, you'll have to call our cell phones. If you would like to call us, but don't have our numbers, leave a comment, and we'll call you or email you or something with the number.

At this time and point, we can check email and blog at the library in Decatur. However, since I |(Josh) am the only one with a library card, and since it's sort of hard to surf the web at the library when you have wee ones crawling around, just know Sarah's input and consequently ability to read comments and posts will be limited. In other words, since ya'll love her, call her sometime. She'd like that.

As for how things are going, well...
Any house you buy has kinks to work out. We've had to change the cord on the dryer, saw off the top of a pipe so our washer can drain. We've had to call a plumber once for leaks under sinks, and we've called out a repairman for a leaky/broken garbage disposal, and may be calling one for the dishwasher as well. And we've had one of the closet doors in Jack's room fall off. I think I can fix that, just haven't yet.

Our first week in the house, I was sick with the flu. Isabella has woke up twice now and gotten sick numerous times. She and I are feeling better now.

The dog loves the yard, when he isn't cold. The cat is still adjusting to being cooped up in the laundry room as a opposed to our bathroom.

Jack |LOVES his big boy bed. He has slept in it without trouble since we've moved in, and has done so without a pacifer. I told him weeks before we moved that if he was going to sleep in the car race bed, he'd have to do so with no sucky. He looked up with me with the sparkling blue eyes, and said, |"Okay" So far, the little man has been true to his word.

Isabella, I think, is still not quite used to having a room to herself. She still sneaks out and sleeps in the living room on occassion, but by and large has slept in her room.

The kids love the house. They love running through the house...often times yelling at each other, us, or just to hear themselves scream. Sarah loves the house. She'd love it alot more if the kitchen was working properly, but by and large, she comments every day how much she likes it.

I like the house. I'll like it a lot more when we have energy efficient windows, working kitchen appliances, and various odds and end things I see need to be done. I love only driving a few miles to work, instead of taking almost an hour to get home.

We do not relish the idea of finding a new church...yet again. We'll finish out our Wednesday study group with DBC, but will be finding a new place to worship on Sundays. Thankfully, there is a church in Decatur that has AWANA/Cubbies so that's no sweat. We need to prayerfully consider whether we will just go ahead and be a part of this congregation, since we know we'll be going on Sundays for Bella, or whether God will lead us to a body that has an equally awesome kid program, as well as all of the other things we find agreeable. Or. We just need to be okay with whatever programs the church God leads us to has, and be obedient when He points it out. Pray that He points it out quickly.

And that is that...for the moment. I'm sure I've left something out, but that's what you have for now.

FYI...Jack's birthday is coming up around the bend. We would love for any of you who can to come and join us. More details on the date will be forthcoming. But see if you can set aside the weekend prior to the 17th, or the weekend after. And, I am taking vacation the last week of June and the first week of July. It would be great if we could make plans to come to College Station. So...if one of those two weeks/weekends look good for you to plan with us, please let us know.

Love you all!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

More House Pictures

And now...what you've all...and by "you've all" I mean, you Kathryn... :) have been waiting for...

More Pictures!!!! Yay!!!



This is the front of the house...obviously.

And here is a picture of the back if the house.



And this is our huge backyard.



Here is our living room.






And the kitchen...






Our Dining Room and/or Study Area...



With a cute little breakfast bar attached to the kitchen...



The Hallway!!!



The Kid's and/or Guest Bathroom




Bella's Room...as if you couldn't tell by the color.




Jack's Room, complete with as of yet unassembled big boy Race Car BED!!




Our Room



And our master bathroom!







Hope you've enjoyed the tour. We would love for you to take a live tour. Come visit when you can!

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Oh boy, Here we go!

We have a move date. We will be moving into our new home on Feb. 16th. Yeah! I am getting pretty excited. We have been able to take boxes and other things over there already, but the 16th will be for all our big stuff. I really want to make our new house a home. The Lord is always so good and He has been showing me some stuff about myself and in my life that needs to change. Changing these things will help to make our home a place where the Lord is the boss and then on down. I haven't always been the best wife at not complain about decisions that my sweet husband has made. He is so kind and when making a big decision considers my thoughts and opinions. In that though I sometimes tell him what I think we should do and then, if we don't do it my way, I pout or whatever. Thankfully after reading Heather's blog on submission and with a book that I have been reading, and with verses that have been coming up, the Lord has gotten my attention. When I pout or get all huffy because my husband didn't do things or pick out the things for our home that I would have, that doesn't really help to give him the confidence he needs to lead our home. We have been having to get some things for our new home, like a mattress for Jack's new race car bed, a new fridge, possible newer windows for some of the rooms. Anyway, Josh has been taking such initiative on getting stuff done and picking stuff out. I like to pick things out, I like them to be the things that I have seen and said yes, this is what I want. But, the Lord has been working on my heart and telling me that it's not about me and what I want. I need to be thankful that I have a husband who is stepping out there and making decisions, getting stuff done so we can move in and enjoy our new home. It is awesome to see my husband getting stuff done. He went and ordered the fridge, got the mattresses ordered and is working on the window situation. Why have I wanted to take such control? Why have I wanted it to be my way or no way? I don't know, sin. I want to be the kind of wife whose husband can wake up confident knowing that his wife will stand beside his desicions, big and small. My husband is amazingly caring and loving, and a wonderful daddy to our children. He really tries to be the kind of husband and father that the Lord wants him to be. He is so good to me, may I always be thankful. I want to be the kind of wife and mommy that the Lord wants me to be. Lord, please continue to change and mold my heart to be like Jesus. It's scary to ask, but I know that following Jesus is better than any temporary reward from this earth. Please help me to consider others better than myself, even in traffic and the grocery store.

Okay, that took a little turn. Back to moving. We should have some more pics of the new house up soon. It's a cozy older home in a tiny little town. We have already met our neighbors to our left. People our there are really friendly. Bella and Jack are SOOO excited to get our dog Ace back. He has been living at my sisters house. We aren't aloud to have fences where we are now, and that was hard for him and us. Anyway, we will also get to put our trampoline up outside. I am very excited about that! We can't have those up here where we are now. But we can at our new home.

Well, time to get kids to bed. Hopefully we will get pics up soon.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Woo Hoo!

Just got a call from the surgeon. The tissue they removed was benign. Yee Haw!!!! All you people, praise the Lord!!!!!

Thought you'd want to know. Thank you for your prayers. More later.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

New House


We closed on the house on Friday, picked up the keys on Monday, and I turned on our utilities today.


Here is the first look for all of you at our new home in Alvord, TX.

Granted, more pictures will be forthcoming. :)

Monday, January 14, 2008

More On Josh

I know, I know. It's all about me these days. Last you heard, I had a doctor's appointment to reveal the results from the colonoscopy. Well...turns out they got just enough tissue to make them worry. Last Friday, I had some surgery to take out a peace of my colon that had a polyp or nodule that may have been cancerous. We do not know whether or not it was. The whole reason the doctor wanted the surgery done was so they could get more tissue to examine. The good news is that the surgeon felt like after she removed the nodule, the rest of the surrounding tissue looked good, healthy. So that's good. Now, I'm just trying to recover from surgery so I can get myself back to work.

Pray with us as we await the lab results. Know that we aren't worried, that it is in God's hands.

Also, pray for Sarah. She too is beginning a testing process. She'll never admit it, but she's been having pain for a bit to. Hasn't been as bad as mine, or she isn't as big of a baby as I am, but it's gone on long enough. Her doctor thought she had a hernia at first, but a scan ruled that out. She's now being tested for gall bladder related things. So...pray for us. Call us. Check in on us. We miss you guys.

Friday, January 04, 2008

Doctors Doctors and more Doctors

Wow, I feel like that is all we've been doing lately! Anyway, didn't post to complain but to ask for prayer. Josh went in the day after Christmas and they did a procedure to check out why he has been having so much stomach pain. The doctor did say he found something where they had taken out his appendix like three years ago. Anyway, he goes in Monday afternoon to find out what they found from that. We are a little nervous. We are used to getting calls with the results being they didn't find anything. So having to go in this time is a little scary. I know that no matter what happens here, Josh will be okay. Just a little scary waiting to find out the news of what it might be.
Jack had a dentist appt. today. It went okay. Bella has one on Monday and the cat is going to the vet tomorrow. And then, hopefully we can all not have to go to the doctor for a while.

Also, on a lighter note, we are currently waiting for our loan to go through for our new home. Well, it's not exactly new, but it is new to us and we are excited! We moved our mobile home up here in May and we like our home. We have nice neighbors and a roof over our head. However, we didn't realize how much we would be spending in gas for Josh to drive 45min. to and from work everyday. And his hours here are a little different so there are days when he leaves at 7:45 and then doesn't get home til 7:00. It can make for a long day. So, we started looking for places to live that would be in Decatur and closer to his work. We found a place in a little small town about 10 minutes away. With what we pay here for lot rent and in gas, it will be about the same cost. We are really excited about it! We have a yard, so we will be able to have Ace, (our dog) back. He went to live at my sisters house shortly after we moved here. We aren't allowed fences out here, so it made it kind of hard. Also, the kids will be able to have a trampoline. We have one, but you can't put it up here. So, we are excited.

Well, that's all for now. I have to go get lunch finished. Thank you all for your prayers
In Chirst,
Sarah