Nothing

Last night, we hung out on the couch and did NOTHING. If you know us at all, you know that we are on the go ALL.THE.TIME. Tuesday is our only free night during the week and last night we took full advantage - worked out, fixed dinner, skyped with Jenni, cleaned the kitchen, then sat down with our laptops, coffee (tea for me), and leftover birthday dessert, and just enjoyed being at home together. Of course, we were in bed by 9:30 because 5:21 a.m. this morning came way too quickly...

Look for more this week (hopefully) with pictures and stories about Trevor's big birthday weekend...

Grow Up

I have to grow up.

I don’t want to, but I have to.

I want to rest on the assurance of things I’ve done already, things I’ve seen, things I know are safe, comfortable, easy.
I have to grow up.

I have to put childish things behind me. Laziness, procrastination, disorganization.

I don’t want to grow up.

I don’t want to, but I have to.

I have to grow up.

home is no longer my home

I started to title this post "home sweet home" but then I couldn't.

I'm sitting in the office at my Dad's house in Colorado, on a crisp, beautiful Summer Sunday morning, and having an absolutely smashing time visiting my family this weekend. Friday night we went to a Rockies game and watched our hometeam soundly defeat the Cubs. We played all day yesterday at our favorite Denver summer spot, Water World, and made the two and a half hour trek back to Yuma for dinner at my favorite mexican restaurant. After dinner we caught up with my favorite Yuma aunt, uncle and cousins, and chatted into the night/held a quick make-shift early birthday with my sweet mama.

After the day ended, I fell asleep next to my sister in a room that is not my own. There's been a little bit of shuffling around in the Campbell house, and my sister Kirsten now resides in what was my room (for one summer while I lived in this house after college). This change is certainly no problem for me at all because she's an almost 18 year old girl who needs her space and I'm glad she can use the room that I might have maybe stayed in once a year for the rest of my life.

What this change does represent, however, is how I've grown up and replaced my thoughts of home with a different place. While I will always say that Yuma is my home, ie: flying HOME for the weekend; going HOME for Christmas; as I began to title this blog "home sweet home," I realized that Yuma is not my HOME. My home is the little brick house in Nashville where Trevor will be waiting with open arms when I fly HOME on Monday.

My family will always represent my home of the past. One that I will cherish, and hope to visit often. But Trevor represents my home, both now and always, and I can't imagine it any other way.

Where we've been

Oh my gaahsh...you thought we fell off the face of the earth, didn't you? Well, we were close. After almost a month of company following a week of General Assembly and two weeks of intense GA prep, we were exhausted! BUT we had a fantastic time, and now we're reasonably rested and ready to reflect. The posts might be kind of random, but I hope to share some pics and video from our summer so far.

A major part of Trevor's new job for the first few months was helping plan Trevecca's promotional stuff for General Assembly. He even convinced them that he could build and furnish the booth for the convention center at 1/2 the cost. It was a TON of work, but he pulled it off beautifully! My photos aren't working right now, so you'll just have to take my word for it tonight. I'm sure we'll blog on General Assembly more in depth, so I'll leave it for that post. I know, I'm killing you with the suspense...

Then Mom and Jenni came on Thursday the 2nd to spend the long 4th of July weekend with us! We relaxed and shopped, played MarioKart Wii and ate lots of yummy food. The only thing we didn't get to do was see fireworks (it rained) but that just means that they'll have to come see them next year.

Unfortunately, Jenni could only stay for a few days, but mom got to stay through my birthday on the 15th. We had so much fun together. One Saturday we went down the the farmer's market and the bicentennial mall, enjoying the sites and fun things the city had to offer.
This little boy was making smoothies and lemonade at his parent's fruit stand in the market.

There is a huge map section at the Bicentennial mall. This one is 3-D.

This one is huge...maybe bigger than a regulation sized basketball court?

There is a giant amphitheater at the mall that looks up at the state capitol. I wish I would have gone and stood down there so you could see just how big it is...

That night, we headed down to Centennial Park to watch people swing dance.

She also got to watch Trevor and I play softball which we love to do in the summer, and we all got to go to a couple of minor league baseball games - thanks, Trevecca!

Trevor was able to score extra tickets, so Stephen and Brian came too. They're cool...they play worship with us at church.

(We had great seats)

We tried to go to the Loveless Cafe for lunch, but even at 2:00 in the afternoon, there was a line out the door. Come visit us on a weeknight and we'll be more willing to take you out there. It is an experience for sure!

I'm a little disappointed that I've been working on this post for an hour and I'm not even close to covering all the fun we've had this summer. I haven't even mentioned our amazing week with Torrey and Anni last week...that's definitely coming in another post. Trevor is ever-so-patiently waiting for me so we can go home, so I'd better wrap this up. There WILL be more to come, I promise...and with more frequency then I have been posting, to be sure!

Making Progress

We started this morning at 8:00. We finished *almost* this evening at 9:00. About a quarter of the living room (including the bay window) has yet to be completed, but we're so close. And tired. We are so close and so tired. Here are some pictures of the living room phase
Before:

Before: (stay tuned for the fireplace makeover next)

Getting closer...

I over budgeted a little for the floors, so we had some extra to buy a rug for the living room. Trevor likes the one I picked...and he is so tired from all his hard work!

Well friends, I am about to fall asleep as I type. Tomorrow comes early with church worship department rehearsal at 8:20. Hopefully we'll get a chance to work on finishing things up, but since Trev worked so hard today, I'm not going to press my luck. Whatever strength he can muster for tomorrow will be fine with me.

Progress

Entryway phase I is complete. Hardwood is harder to rip up than I anticipated. Trevor told me it would be, but I'm not sure I fully believed him. We got it though. Here are some before pictures and some of the entryway floor as we get ready to begin laying the new stuff down.

Floors TODAY!

Today we begin our biggest DIY home improvement project to date: ripping up all the carpet downstairs and replacing it with this:


Gotta get to it...I'll post pictures as we go, and hopefully by Monday night - a final product!!

I.love.Saturdays

Today was a good day.
We slept in 'till almost nine.
I made whole grain waffles while listening to A Fine Frenzy


Finished cleaning the kitchen in time to enjoy my favorite cooking show: Everyday Food
Listened to a thunderstorm while I got ready for a late lunch at the Frist with Trevor.
After lunch a trip to the newly opened Urban Outfitters where Trevor picked up this little gem for his new office: I'm making him return it if anyone in the office seems even slightly offended by it's ahem...porcelain perch. Did I mention that the paperclips go in the bowl and when you pick him up, they cling to his magnetic behind? Classy. But funny...
After a quick drive through downtown to look at pretty buildings, we headed to the store, grabbed some chocolate, coffee and tea, and headed home to give second chance to a movie we both hated the first time around.


Not much better this time. Maybe we appreciated it more for its artistic merit, but I don't think we need to watch it again. So Trev whipped up a little soup and grilled cheese while I napped. Now we're on to a little Super Mario Brothers 3 action on the Wii...Look out, T, you are officially going down!
I.love.Saturdays!

What God Has Done

Today Trevor got his first paycheck for his new job and we became, once again, a two income family. Praise the Lord for His provision!

I remember sitting on the couch with Trevor in late February, after his last day of work at Towne Park. We were looking into the future with uncertainty, but with faith that God would provide. I'm sure you've all read Trevor's touching post about the faithfulness, generosity and love of our church, and you've probably even heard us talk about the ways that God provided during our time of need, but I just want to say, publicly, one more time that our God is so faithful! We were able to live for two full months on one paycheck - not neglecting any of our financial obligations, or dipping into our savings account. Don't get me wrong - we were stretched to the max, but the Lord sustained us, strengthened us, and blessed us immeasurably. I will always be a tiny bit thankful for our time of trial; for the extra time it allowed Trevor and I to spend together, for getting Trevor out of a job that he hated, and for giving us the opportunity to really re-evaluate our life and remember the things that truly are important: eachother, our families, our church family, and our faith in the One who truly cannot be shaken. Praise the Lord for all He has done!

Religion vs. church

This is Trevor. Jamie is really dominating me on the blog count so I thought I would post one.

I was let go from my job a little over a month ago. It was a rough couple of days. I didn't feel like much of a man. I was dealing with thoughts of not being able to provide for my wife, not knowing where I fit in the big scheme of things and that nasty feeling of rejection. Little did I know that this would end up being one of the biggest blessings ever.

I have deeply and fully experienced the love and faithfulness of God. I have also grown in my understanding of religion verses relationship. First of all, God blessed me with the most loving and supportive wife. Jamie has been everything for me. She has been a shoulder to cry on, a rock to lean on and a friend to kick it with. My family has been as supportive as you can be from 3000 miles away. Now here is where it gets even greater.

Our church, our family away from family, has surrounded us with love and prayer. Not the kind of prayer that you never know about, but this active, aggressive prayer that makes me tear up with disbelief every time I think about it. If I have a prayer cup, it is overflowing. We only told a few of our closest friends about my situation because it's hard to go through a normal conversation and avoid that topic. Out of concern and love, a huge number of people from our church now know about our situation. Since then we have received so many cards of encouragement, grocery store gift cards, money, food and most importantly, love.

This is what church is. This is what the body of Christ should be. It is not a list of do's and dont's or a checklist to be completed before you can join. It isn't a place to debate who is not going to make it to heaven or a place to create clicks in which you can feel good about yourself. It wasn't meant to be a place you go one day a week to fulfill a cheap promise to a God you never spend time with during your week.

It is people. People who are connected by many obscure ways but directly united in Jesus. People who would normally look out for themselves but instead they love others because they have recognized that their life was given to them and they live because God loves us and he died for us so we wouldn't have to die, EVER! That is the church I have been blessed with and the church I want so desperately for everyone to know.

Because the church is people and people make mistakes you can bet that there are mistakes in church. That is where God and His beautiful grace enter. I'm one of those faulty people and my mistakes are many. God is working on me because I am allowing Him to overtake my selfishness. Since I have done that I have been blessed beyond measure. I may not have much money right now but no amount of money could buy love. Nothing can duplicate love. EVERYTHING can be solved with pure, Christlike love. Science cannot explain love. Evolution cannot trace love. We cannot truly live without love.

I wish it didn't take the loss of a job for me to lose my religion about God in order to gain a relationship with Him. I wish it didn't take that but I am so glad it did. My prayers used to be, "God, give me that job because that's what I want and I would be good at it." Now I pray, "God, you know me better than I know myself. You know my strengths because You gave them to me. Help my eyes be open to whatever You have for me. I pray I don't get in the way of what You want because You can do more through me than I could ever imagine. Thank You for Your love. Thank You for all the blessings I tend to overlook. I love You."

If you don't "go to church" that's fine. If you aren't apart of God's church you are missing out on a huge, crazy, loving family and we are missing you.

instant gratification

I (Jamie) generally pride myself on being fiscally responsible most of the time. Trevor and I try to be very careful with our finances as we plan for the future and attempt to eliminate all unnecessary debt. We have a detailed monthly budget and for the most part, do quite well sticking to it. We've come to appreciate the fact that we don't have cable or go to many movies; that we share a car and try to keep our eating out to a minimum (okay so we fail at this sometimes, but we are trying).

>>>Fast Forward>>> to today: I have been trying to figure out a way to get more cardio in to my exercise routine. Okay let's be honest, I've been trying to figure out a way to get motivated to exercise at all. I LOVE my Denise Austin Pilates for Everbody DVD, and who doesn't love a little Yoga Booty Ballet action, but I find that without additional cardio, these don't do me as much good as I would like, even if I would do them as often as I should. Ahem. :)

Oh right, so TODAY I found a top-rated workout DVD on Target.com. It just happened to be the 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michaels, the sassy trainer on The Biggest Loser. (If she can help people lose 100+ lbs., surely she can whip me into shape.) I decided that DVD would be just what I needed to kick start my workout plan. Better yet, it was only $8.49, a good price for any DVD, and I was excited to have found my thrifty little self a bit of a bargain. I thought that since Target was only a few miles away, I would just head over there at lunchtime, pick up my $8.49 30 Day Shred DVD and save myself some shipping cost. Plus, I could start my workout TONIGHT. As in, just a few hours from right now. I walked into the store at 11:45, and to my surprise, the workout DVDs weren't $8.49 like they were online. No, no. They were $14.99! $14.99, ya'll! Usually, I would have the self control to walk out of the store, head back to the computer, order the DVD for $8.49 + shipping, and give myself a mental high-five for having exercised good money management. But instead, (you guessed it) I walked out of the store at 12:00, having gained one Jilian Michaels DVD, but having given up $16.37 (tax included). I tried to justify it by saying that with shipping costs my purchase would have been close to that anyway, but to tell you the truth, I feel icky that I know I overpaid. I probably won't take the DVD back to the store...and...I probably will open it up the moment I walk through the front door and get ready to shred. But now, as I'm sitting in the in-between, I feel like I lost to the man.



I was too impatient to wait a week for something that I didn't know I needed three hours ago.

I know it's silly to be bent out of shape over $5 or $6, but I thought it a good eye opener today at what our society and ultimately what we have become. It goes far beyond dumb things like DVDs and $5...maybe if we were all wiser, more patient, and less selfish about material things, this world, and our economy would be a much, much different place.

we did. did you?

the closest spot

I ran to Kroger today on my lunchbreak to pick up a cliff bar for lunch [thank you Katie]. The clouds were threatening rain and I was in a hurry. I spied an open spot near the door and of course, I did what I always do: rejoiced in my good fortune and parked without a second thought. I finished my shopping and headed for the car. It wasn't raining hard yet so I was relieved - Until I realized something. Walking in front of me, struggling to lug her two sacks of groceries and hold her hood up at the same time, was this precious little woman. She wasn't that old, but was sort of feeble - maybe she's been sick or experienced some other type of misfortune in life. I started to feel really bad when I realized as I walked to my car in the second closest space, that she was walking to the end of the lot. The store was pretty busy for a Thursday at noon, and the lot was quite full. And I was just selfish enough to think that because I was in a hurry and not wanting to get wet, I had a right to park in that close spot.

Humbling.

Now I know what you may be thinking, if I hadn't taken that spot, someone else just like me might have. We live in a society that teaches us to circle the mall lot for hours (figuratively), looking for the perfect spot. But the thing is, I have the fortune of being in relatively good health. It doesn't cause me pain to walk an extra 100 yards, and you know - it doesn't inconvenience me that much to do so. I feel awful inside that it might have been because of me that that poor woman had to walk so much farther in the cold windy mist...and I was just a hop skip and a jump from the door.

Think about it. I know I have been.

Prison

As many of you know, Trevor is leading music for a service at our church that attempts to bridge the gap between our recovery ministry with lifelong church-goers. His involvement has touched me so deeply and I can see the Lord working in powerful ways in his life.

I didn't realize how much it was affecting me until I read a letter we received from a prisoner at work today. In the letter, he spoke of how he got messed up with the wrong crowd, went to prison, lost his family, his wife, and thought his life was over. There in prison, someone told him about the Lord and his life was radically changed. He believes that God intervened and after serving only 8 months of his 5 or so year sentence, he was released. God restored his family, his marriage and his life. He began to attend church services with his family, desiring to live out his days in service to the Lord. Until, because he was an ex-con, he couldn't find work. They lost their home and moved into a motel. He still couldn't find work, and they lost their car. He and his wife were forced to send their two young sons to live with a grandmother so they could go to school and have some kind of a normal, stable home-life. His wife was still working, but they were barely scraping by. Pretty soon their marriage fell apart. Still unable to find work, he was forced out onto the streets with no where to go; no way to get there; nothing to call his own. He said in the letter that he dropped 30 pounds in 4 months for lack of food...he had hit the bottom. Pretty soon, he was in trouble again and now back in prison. No one comes to see him. No one writes him letters. He feels utterly hopeless and alone. He is remorseful for what he has done and feels that even the Lord can't forgive him for what he has done. Says that God gave him his chance and he blew it.

Three months ago, I would have struggled to find a ton of compassion for this man. "He's paying for his crimes," I would have said. "He must face the consequences of his actions." But today as I read his letter, my heart was stirred. What would I do if because of wrong choices in my past, my future looked completely hopeless? If I had nothing - not a roof over my head or food to eat or a warm place to sleep...What would I do if I believed that not even God could love or forgive me for what I had done?

To be honest, I just want to run to that prison cell and embrace him and tell him about a Loving God who cherishes his very being, wants to forgive him for what he has done, and invites him to come back to the table.

I think of the women and men that I have had the privilege to meet through our recovery ministry. I only know bits and pieces of their stories, but I know that some have been addicted to drugs for 20, 30, 40 years. Some have walked the streets, sold themselves, done terrible things - and today rejoice at what God alone has done in their lives. I am humbled because these folks know what it is like to be in the very pit of despair and to allow the Lord to come in, take over, and lift them up. I don't have enough adoration in my being for what God deserves...He is truly the awesome, loving, almighty God. May I never forget what He has done for me - my sins, like filthy rags can be left at the foot of the cross where Christ hung so I can walk free, clean and blameless to the throne of the Father. As it is written: "Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." Isaiah 1:18

Glory be to God alone for all that He has done!

John 8:36
"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." I pray that this man will encounter someone this very day who will share with Him the message of glorious redemption that is found in Christ Jesus our Lord.