Chap, Chap, Chaplain

So for the last 14 months, Brenner has officed out of the Med Group here on base.  The idea was for the chaplains to be where the people are as much as they can and this has allowed SO much more interaction with people than I think he would have gotten at other places.  He has loved getting to know this group on base.  At the last Commander's Call for the group, the Col. asked everyone to attend so that they could say goodbye to Brenner.  He was so touched!  He had also prepared this song for them to show his appreciation and love for his job and the people he gets to work with.

Brenner is a man of many talents :)

One year and off he goes

So the Campbell clan has officially been in California for a year.

Over a year, 13 1/2 months to be exact, and I meant to write this post right after we hit our one year mark but I procrastinated.  A lot.  I love to share with everyone how amazing this change has been for us, how much we have grown, how much stronger our marriage has become and how we feel like we are both being used by God in too many ways to count just because we said "yes" when He asked us to trust and follow him.  But the first year here and the second year here are going to look very, very different.

The reason for my huge procrastination in writing a family update is because Brenner is deploying in less than a month and my heart just hurts to write that.

It is not a surprise, we knew that this would be coming, and yet when we got the orders it was still a shock.  And so, here we are, reveling in all that God has taken us through in the last 13 months, grateful for the challenges of changing houses, careers, states, and time zones, amazed at the relationships formed, humbled by the love we are shown by the Air Force community and honored to given the chance by God to do such great kingdom work for full time ministry.  And now we have to gear up for another challenge, a 7 month deployment.

While my heart hurts, I mean truly aches, at the thought of sending him off for such a long time, I am also very aware that once again, this is part of God's plan for us and there are specific reasons that this deployment is not only happening, but necessary.  Every major challenge that we have faced I can look back and see so many reasons why that had to happen in order to change me in some way.  Challenge and suffering and changes in our lives should change us into people more like Christ.  So this past year, with the challenges we faced with our move to California and new AF life, has blessed us tremendously and we are so grateful for each day we are here.  I can see why I needed to relocate, I already can pinpoint areas of change in my life that are for the better and areas where I feel Christ is shining more than he was.

And I really think that this next year, even though Brenner will be gone for so much of it, will still be a great year.  My prayer for us is to grow in Christ, to have joy and contentment in our hearts, and to be used well in our full time ministries.  This is not going to be a seven month countdown of when our life can start again, this will be a seven month journey imitating Christ and treasuring the season we are in.  Be sure to remind me of that on the hard days :)

Life lately

Here is a little glimpse into our recent days....

Cole is reading like a champ these days and we are focusing primarily on that during school.  When it is nice outside, which it has been so much the last month, we take school outside to the treehouse, our favorite study spot

The weather has been so nice that we took the boat out and hope to do it again soon.  

Chapel family day in downtown Sacramento with some of the chapel family.

Clara Beth.  My girl that loves to hoard and carry multiple purses full of treasures like baby dolls, dried flowers and tubes of toothpaste.

One morning after breakfast we had nothing to do and nowhere to go so we crawled back in bed and read books for an hour....hello perfect morning!

Playdate with some favorite friends.

I love it when she picks her own outfit 

The girls got new bikes for their birthday and I cannot believe how big they look riding them!!

This little monkey ( Elise) can basically do the monkey bars by herself

Came out to the front yard to find Cole hacking the ground digging for treasure and with Brenner's hoe

Sweet whispers I overheard between the girls....about babies, puppies and stinky feet.  These two crack me up and melt my heart.

Loving these days with these three....

A celebration!

A few weeks ago when the girls turned 3, Brenner's mom was able to come out and be a part of the celebration as well as stay for an entire week!

We had such a great visit and I was able to get a couple great photos with her before she left!

On their birthday, we had two chaplains and families over to dinner and celebrated with cupcakes.

Our friends spoiled them with play-doh, tiaras, and ring pops :)

The day after their birthday was Presidents Day and we headed to Nevada City with Ch. Lowe and Ed for the most beautiful weather and a great family day of exploration.