Easter Weekend

I hope everyone had a great Easter. Our weekend was packed full of lots of activities. On Friday, Alex and I decorated Easter eggs. I decided he was old enough to help this year, and I was surprised by how well he did.

He was so surprised when the egg came out a different color!

Dipping the egg by himself

For the right price, I might let you hold my purple egg.

Our collection of rainbow-colored eggs

Friday evening, Rusty and I went to a Passover Seder dinner at our church. Alex stayed at his friend Mackenzie's house for the evening. It was our first time to participate in a church sponsored one. The other two we have experienced have been as guests of our friends, the Chans. The food was yummy -- they even served roast lamb! I was impressed. I always appreciate how celebrating Passover gives new and deeper meaning, not only to Easter, but also to the communion service we have each Sunday, because that's where it originated.

On Saturday morning, Alex hunted for Easter Eggs here on campus with the group from the Highland Church. He had such a great time!

Picking up Easter eggs

I snapped this pic about 5 seconds after he realized there was candy inside the eggs.

Alex and Mackenzie counting their spoils

This was about as close as Alex would get to the Easter bunny -- and only because there was a big basket of candy on the bench and he wanted some!

Saturday evening, it was our turn to keep Mackenzie so Sean and Laurel could go out. The kids had a great time, but Alex was sure tired after two late nights in a row!

Sunday morning, Rusty had to work, but Alex and I went to church and then had lunch with our friends and next-door neighbors, the Mullins. After Alex woke up from his nap, we put stickers on our dyed eggs. He only dropped one, which I thought was pretty good! The next morning, I made deviled eggs and egg salad -- yummy!

Hope your Easter was egg-stra special, too!

Big Boy Bed

First, there was the cradle. Then, for several months while we were in transition, the pack-n-play. Eventually, some friends from church gave us an old crib, and we all slept a little better. But, the time has now come for the crib to go to storage. We put it off as long as possible, but when your "baby" starts climbing out of the crib, it's past time to make the transition!

Alex has been sleeping in his big boy bed for over a week now. So far, it seems to have gone fairly well. He figured out very quickly that he could get out of it on his own, but we decided it was a battle worth fighting, so we have been pretty strict with him about staying in his bed at night-time or nap-time. The biggest disruption has actually been to our morning routine. Gone are the days of letting him lay in his crib and talk to himself while I take a shower, get dressed, put the dishes away, and start breakfast. Now, he wakes up bright and early and comes straight into our room, stands by the bed and says "Hi, Mommy. Hi, Daddy."

I suppose it does make for a better wake-up call than a blaring clock radio.

Next rung on the big boy ladder -- potty-training! But we have decided to wait until after our trip to Angola to begin that adventure.

Alex in his big boy bed (the quilt was made by his Nyanya)

Fundraising Begins

I have mentioned before that our family will be traveling to Angola this summer with the rest of our team on a survey trip. It goes without saying that a trip of this nature is not cheap; and so we begin the fundraising process. This week, Rusty and I finally got our first batch of fundraising letters (over 100 of them) mailed off. And more should follow next week.

It occured to me as I was folding letters and stuffing envelopes this afternoon, that I don't have mailing addresses for all of our blogging buddies. And we certainly don't want to overlook anyone who might be interested in contributing to our survey trip expenses! :) So, have a look at the letter (just click the link below), and if the Spirit so moves you, please... give generously!

http://rustyandlaura.googlepages.com/fundraisingletter1.pdf

Updates

I finally updated "Alex' Corner" (it's been about 6 months). Just scroll down the page -- it is at the bottom of the sidebar on the right.

Also, be sure to read the recent posts about our snow day fun and Alex' birthday party.

Snow Day!

This Memphis weather is somethin' else! The first weekend in March, we had highs in the 70's. Last Saturday, this is what we woke up to:

That's snow, ya'll! At least six inches of it. In Memphis. In March. We just don't get snow like that very often 'round these here parts. I don't ever remember snow like this in our previous Mid-South winters, and Memphians tell me it has been a very long time since this area has seen a snowfall this big. It started snowing about noon on Friday; by 4:00, it was really coming down thick and starting to stick; and it finally tapered off around midnight. Of course, two days later, it was gone (highs in the 70's again this week), but not before we got the chance to romp and play in it:

Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!

Making tracks

Alex and Mommy (love those rosy cheeks!)

How to make a snow angel (clockwise from top left):

1) The stance

2) The fall

3) The "swish swish"

4) The finished product

We went sledding on a cardboard box on the hill by the soccer field.

Even Daddy got in on the action.

Alex went by himself several times on his own small piece of cardboard. Every time he got to the bottom, he would cry. He hated that he had to get up and walk back up the hill to go again!

Brooks let Alex ride with him on his real sled a few times. It went much faster and farther than our pathetic box!

What a fun way to spend a Saturday morning!

Party Time

Last Tuesday, we had Alex' birthday party. We invited three of his little friends -- Mackenzie and Esther who live here on campus with us, and Joshua from church -- and their parents, and the Reeses, and Miss Rachel. The original plan was to meet at the park near our house and let the kids play for an hour, then go back to our apartment for dinner, birthday cake, and presents. I was hoping for some nice spring weather, especially seeing as the previous weekend had brought some lovely temps in the 70's. However, as Murphy would have it, the party happened to fall on a very cold and yucky day (I think the high that day was in the low 40's). It's a good thing we live about a 5-minute drive from one of the only Taco Bell's in the entire country with a play area! So, we started the party out there instead.

Alex and Gina going down the slide

Esther and Joshua

Mackenzie managed to have a great time, despite having hurt her arm the day before. X-rays later revealed her arm was BROKEN! Poor baby!

After about an hour, we went back to our apartment for dinner. I made chicken and white bean chili, a fruit tray, a veggie tray, and pigs-in-blankets. Considering our son's love for all manner of balls, we went with a sports ball theme for the decor and table ware.

The kids ate in the kitchen.

We sure crammed a lot of people into our tiny apartment!

After everyone had eaten their fill, I brought out the birthday cake and ice-cream. In keeping with the sports ball theme, I did a basketball birthday cake. This was my first attempt at decorating anything more complicated than cupcakes, and I must say, I was quite pleased with the results (although I did have to use an entire tube of yellow food coloring gel to achieve the desired bright orange for the frosting).

Alex blows out his candles with a little help from Mommy.

After eating cake, Alex opened his presents. He got some really fun new toys, but the favorite so far seems to be the toy lawn-mower from Mommy and Daddy. He pushes it around the house all day, running over our feet and making a lot of noise. It may be relegated to an "outside toy" before too much longer!

Thanks to everyone who came and helped us celebrate Alex' 2nd birthday!

Who's Two? Alex, That's Who!

I simply cannot believe that my baby is now two years old! It just boggles my mind to think that in two years, he has gone from being a tiny, helpless mewling little creature to a walking, talking, exploring, learning, loving little person. Amazing!

We had a nice family dinner at home tonight. I made Japanese curry (one of Alex' favorite suppers) and a fruit salad. Danny and Katie joined us later for the singing, candle-blowing, and cupcakes. It was very low-key -- we didn't even have any presents for him to open! Not to worry, though, his actual birthday party is next week and he'll have some presents then. He's only two; he'll never know the difference, right?

Happy 2nd Birthday, Alex! We are so very proud of you!

My apologies to those family members who tried to call us today. We were not intentionally ignoring you!

"Mud" About You!

Happy Valentine's Day

to all my peeps!

XOXO, Alex

Annual Family Newsletter

I've been experimenting with Googlepages and have figured out how to upload our family newsletter to the blog. This is really great, because I decided this morning after checking on what it would cost to actually have this newsletter printed at Kinko's, that it was beyond what we could afford this year. So I will be taking the content and reformatting it into a basic, no frills letter and then ordering prints online of the photo on page 1. For those who care to see what it would have looked like, had money not been an issue, you can click the link below.

You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer in order to view the file. You can download it for free here.

http://rustyandlaura.googlepages.com/Xmas2007.pdf

The Quest

What to say about Quest? It was... emotionally exhausting... intensive... draining. It was, in the words of Danny Reese, "a 2-day cross examination of every aspect of your life." Each couple and single on the team was interviewed in a round-robin style by 2 people from MRN as well as four experienced missionary couples. Over the course of 2 days, we sat through ten 1-hour interviews (no wonder we were tired)! We reviewed some of the assessments we had taken in the weeks before. We answered questions related to our physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, financial, and marital health, our ministry experience, our response to stress and trials, our theology of missions, and a variety of other topics. I talked until my mouth was dry and my throat was hoarse!

In addition, we (meaning the Angola Team) prepared lunches and dinners for the entire group (shout-out to Teague for coordinating this), and had a group project to complete by the end of the second day. Each couple and single also had to prepare a 20-minute self-introduction (Rusty and I did a Power Point of pictures to tell our story) and a 20-minute devotional.

Although we were tired at the end of the 2 days, I have to say that it was a good and helpful experience for us as individuals and couples, and for our team. During our "exit interviews," each couple/single was given a list of strengths as well as growth areas and recommendations. They had some really wonderful and encouraging things to say about Rusty and me that just brought tears to my eyes! Then, we met all together and they gave us a list of team recommendations.

We look forward to continuing our relationship with MRN in the coming months and working through the team formation and preparation process with them. For right now, however, our thoughts are focused mostly on the upcoming survey trip to Angola this summer. I am really starting to worry about how we will raise the necessary funds in the next few months as well as the more practical aspects of traveling in Africa with a 2-year old. Please pray that God will calm my anxious heart!

And while I am asking for prayers, please also lift up our trip to Texas this weekend. We will be traveling to Denton, TX to meet with a church that is interested in our plans for Angola and possibly supporting us. This will be our first presentation to and interview with a missions committee, so we are understandably a bit nervous. We are thankful that teammates Danny and Nathan will be accompanying us to help with the presentation and to lend their emotional support.

Group photo from our Quest weekend below:

Back row from left: Greg Brooks, Henry Huffard, Robert Meyer, Rusty Campbell, Danny Reese, Evertt Huffard, Paul Schwartz

Middle row, from left: Dottie Schulz, Jane Huffard, Roger Pritchett, Nathan Holland, Ileene Huffard, Mary Lane Schwartz

Front row, from left: Laura Campbell, Karen Pritchett, Katie Reese (and baby!), Teague Meyer, Jordan Yarborough

Not pictured: Alex Campbell

Auntie Again!

I have a new neice! Yesterday, February 4th, Jana Faith Marcum was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia. To see pictures of this new little bundle of joy, head on over to my dad's blog. I'm sure that Josh and Julie will post pictures of their own within a few days as well.

I am so looking forward to this summer when the Marcums will be back on furlough, and I will be meeting two of my neices for the very first time!

Congratulations, Josh, Julie, Michaela, Eliana, and Jana Faith!

First Day of "School"

As I mentioned in my last post, Alex has started attending a Parents' Day Out program one day a week. It is not technically school, but since "skoooo" is easier for Alex to say than "Parents' Day Out," that is what we are calling it. So far, he seems to be really enjoying it. He has a wonderful teacher, Miss Rose, who has been teaching there for 27 years. 27 years, people!

Below are some pictures of Alex on his first day of "school."

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

Give Daddy hugs before you go.

Nothing says "school" like your very first backpack!

More to follow soon on Quest... once I have had time to process everything. We are still trying to recover from the mental and emotional strain of the weekend. It definitely lived up to its "intensive" label!

Holiday Travels and Current Events

After Christmas in Michigan, we spent several days traveling back to Memphis. We stopped in Clarksville, TN (to see Uncle Dennis and Aunt Diana Campbell), Huntsville, AL (to see Rusty's cousin Linda and her family), and Dechard, TN (for Uncle Lyle and Aunt Shirley Starnes' family get-together). We had a great time with everybody, but it sure was nice to get back to our own beds again! Pictures below.

Alex and his second cousin, Naomi.

I'm a big boy now!

I can go down on my tummy, too!

After we got back, we enjoyed a few quiet days at home before I had to go back to work. We spent some time rearranging, organizing, and decorating Alex' room. Rusty began another semester of school. And Alex has started attending a Parents' Day Out program one day a week. We have also been busy preparing for our intensive Quest weekend with the Angola Team and Mission Resource Network. This included taking numerous psychological tests and personality profiles (oh, the joy). Quest is next weekend, so please keep us and the rest of the team in your prayers!

Please Pray for Kenya!

If you follow world news at all, you have probably heard about the recent violence in Kenya. The situation sounds very scary, worse than any I remember facing during the years my family lived there (and yes, I know the media hype tends to make things sound worse than they really are). Still, things could spiral out of control very quickly. Reading stories of riots, looting, shootings, and church burnings just breaks my heart. Kenya is, after all, the land of my birth and where I grew up. A part of my heart will always think of it as "home." Please, please pray for Kenya, that this situation can be resolved and the violence will come to an end.

Click here to read a report from CNN.

Scroll down for a recent post on our Christmas activities.

Favorite Christmas Memories

Happy New Year, everyone! I can't believe it is already 2008. The last 5 months have really flown by for us. For the year's first post, I thought I would recap some of my favorite memories from this past Christmas. We had a really great time with my parents and brother in Michigan. Our stay was too short, as it always seems to be. Still, we managed to pack in a lot of good visiting and special experiences. Some of the best:

• Watching Alex experience the snow.
• Decorating sugar cookie cut-outs.
• Our traditional pre-Christmas (used to be Christmas Eve, but it has now been moved to the Sunday before Christmas) lamb roast dinner with spiced peaches. This year we shared it with the Burtons, also affectionately know as Grandma and Grandpa "B". Always good to visit with them. Visit my dad's blog for more on what this wonderful family has meant to us over the years.
• Watching "The Polar Express" -- I especially loved seeing how mesmerized Alex was by this precious movie.
• The bottomless cookie trays -- yum yum!
• Homemade chex mix.
• Going to see the model trains at the Henry Ford Museum.
• Reading "Clarabelle the Christmas Cow" on Christmas Eve -- this has been a tradition in my family since about 1985.
• Homemade cinnamon rolls and fresh strawberries on Christmas morning.
• Opening presents on Christmas morning -- Alex really got into pulling the paper off the packages this year, so that made it fun!
• Christmas dinner with my aunt and cousins.
• Family game night -- There was no time for the traditional game of Risk, and we didn't even play Scotland Yard or eucher (a card game popular among Michiganders). We did, however, break in a nice new set of dominoes!
• Playing "Guitar Hero" with my brother -- this game rocks! He has two controls, so we played duets (he played the lead on "Expert" level, and I played bass on "Easy"). I have already told Rusty that when he gets his X-box (a promised graduation gift from my parents), we are going to get this game. It is one of the only games I have ever played that didn't make me nauseous after about 5 minutes (I know, I am a wimp).
• Turkey leftovers (especially Turkey Divan and Turkey Tortilla Soup)
• My mom's awesome home cooking -- notice how many of my favorite memories are food related? I decided this needed a bullet point of its own.

And some pictures of all the fun:

Alex in the snow

Building a car with Daddy at the Henry Ford Museum.

Alex and Uncle "Map"

Alex with Nyanya and Babu

Alex with Mommy and Daddy

Opening stockings

Opening his Brio train set (a gift from Nyanya and Babu)

"The gang" after Christmas dinner

"Speed. I am Speed."

Visitors from Atlanta

Mark, Charity, and Freedom Chan were passing through Memphis on their way to Missouri and then on to Kansas, so they stopped and stayed the night at our house. What a blessing it was to spend some time with them again after so many months. There just aren't words to adequately express how much their friendship has meant to Rusty and I through the years. Charity's sweet, smiling face was one of the first to greet us when we stepped off the plane at Narita Airport over eight years ago. Mark and Rusty have many common interests, including travel, missions, and let us not forget disc golf. Charity and I had our babies within 6 months of each other, and the Chans were some of our first visitors in the hospital, so I guess that makes Freedom one of Alex's oldest friends! We have worked together, camped together, eaten together, worshipped together, played together, and prayed together... and experienced the joys (and the trials) of living in a foreign country together.

Rusty made his famous Thai curry, which Mark is especially fond of. Rusty and Rachel Woods, from two doors down and also with Japan connections, joined us for dinner. Rachel brought some yummy cookies and cupcakes to enjoy after dinner along with the chai (by popular request).

Freedom and Alex enjoyed watching "Nemo"...

... taking a bath...

... and jumping on the bed together.

We stayed up entirely too late, trying to squeeze in as much visiting as possible. The Chans left this morning. We were sorry they couldn't stay longer, but we'll just look forward to the next time we can enjoy each other's company.

Thanks for stopping, guys. Jya ne! (See you later.)

Slightly Traumatized!

Okay, I just have to share that watching the doctor pull the pins out of my son's arm this morning was the most frightening thing I think I've witnessed in a long time. Alex was so good while she was cutting his cast off of his arm. I thought he would be scared of the cast cutter because it's so loud (and he hates the vacuum cleaner), but he just sat there quite contendly in his daddy's lap.

With the cast off, we could see the pins sticking out of his elbow. So I asked the doctor, "Now what?" And she says, "Now, I pull the pins out." Then she proceeds to grasp his wrist and pull on one of the little knobs, and a pin as long as my finger came out of his elbow! I am not kidding! If the way Alex started yelling was any indication, it hurt like you know what. I am still kind of in shock that she didn't even give him a local anesthetic.

Oh, well, it is over, and the good news is that the bone is healed, and he won't have to wear a sling. She wants to see us again in three weeks. In the meantime, I am not supposed to let him be too active. Ummm... okay. That will be a piece of cake, I'm sure.

See? I told you I wasn't kidding!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

With everything that has been going on lately (broken arm, Alex being sick with a double ear infection, Rusty stressing out over term papers and finals), Christmas spirit has been in short supply around here. Until last weekend, that is. Last weekend, we finally got our tree up, lights hung, and our apartment decorated for Christmas. Holiday candles are filling the house with yummy scents, Christmas music is softly playing in the background, and I am finally feeling a bit more festive. This is the first year since Rusty and I have been married that we have been able to hang all our ornaments on our tree at the same time! We had tiny 3-foot trees for the first several Christmasses of our marriage. When we celebrated our first Christmas "at home" in Japan in 2005, we had a 5-foot tree, but we had left a lot of our ornaments in boxes at my parents' house. Seeing that tree in the corner hung with all the special ornaments we have collected over the years just warms my heart. It's not Martha Stewart, but to me, it's just beautiful!

Last night, Rusty put the finishing touch on our Christmas decor -- he set up the model train that belonged to his dad around the base of the tree. The look on Alex' face was priceless. I think he would have watched it go around and around all night. When Rusty would turn it off, he would say "More choo-choo!"


In other news, Alex gets his cast off tomorrow (hallelujah!), we enjoyed a nice visit with my parents this past week (pictures to follow soon, I hope), and the end of the semester is in sight. Rusty has two finals to take this week and then he is finished (for a couple of weeks anyway) and can enjoy a well-deserved break. We will be heading to Michigan for the holidays this year, and I am hoping for a white Christmas!