L-O-V-E

Yesterday we celebrated 9 years of marriage. Can it have been that long since we stood in front of the altar of my childhood parish in front of 200+ people to vow to love and honor each other till death do us part?

Fr. Lehrberger who celebrated the wedding Mass talked about L-O-V-E vs. L-U-V. LOVE is a self-sacrificing action which extends out to society. LUV is the world's concept of romance in which the couple, as Father said, lives in a cottage by the sea, wrapped up in each other without living their vocation in the world which needs their love in action. These words have stayed with me over the years and reminded me that marriage creates a family, a little domestic church, which can't thrive and grow if it does not go out of itself into the community.

Thinking about that day reminds me again that a wedding isn't about just those two people. Our families were instrumental in not only the wedding preparations, but our preparation as future husband and wife. Two different families were united and our little family started. My mom, dad and sisters took care of so much for me in Florissant, since I was living in Virginia, and they were in town from Australia. My brother traveled from Colorado where he was living at the time to be in the wedding. John's mom made Miriam's flower girl dress (it was beautiful) and his dad wrote an awesome story for the paper (where he's an editor) about our engagement and wedding. His brothers and sisters were in the wedding as well as our nephew, Andrew, who at 3 years old was a very entertaining ring bearer. Christina got him prepared and made a beautiful ring pillow for him to hold. Christina also organized a long distance Pampered Chef catalog bridal shower.

The more I thought about this day and the many people who were involved and did so much work, and the many friends who got on planes to get to a cold St. Louis where we were nervous about the weather holding out, the more I realized how blessed we are, how much love in action there was, how much grace showered us. So, for us as a newlywed couple to 'live in a cottage by the sea' would be a rejection of the love shown us by so many.

These 9 years of married life have been beautiful, difficult at times, a chance to grow in virtue and love someone as we have never loved before. John is the kind of husband I want my future daughters (God willing) and nieces to meet and marry. I love you, John. God bless you always.

God knows why

This evening, Rob Susil passed away. He is at peace, God willing, and helping his dear wife, Gwyneth, through mind-numbing sorrow. I cannot imagine losing my husband so young. God only knows why good people are taken so young with growing families.

God rest the soul of Robert, and give His strength and comfort to Gwyneth and little William. Words fail me to express my condolences to them. Love and prayers surround you and lift you up.

Prayers, please.

Most of the people who read this blog already received an email from me or saw my FB post about the husband of a woman John and I went to college with. Gwyneth Weigel Susil has been updating her husband's blog which has chronicled his 2 year battle with a rare cancer. He's now in the hospital in very serious condition. So many people are praying for him, Gwyneth and their young son, William. Would you please pass this on to others for more prayers to storm Heaven? God bless Rob.

GIVEAWAY!!!

Leave me a comment on the blog for a chance to win a couple of Darly Bird prizes on Wednesday. My only request is that you say a prayer for me after you leave a comment. Thank you!

The little prizes are:



Cute, ready-for-spring earrings which are vintage Japanese decaled plastic stones. 15mm. Sterling plated posts.

Bright pink cupcake liners just in time for St. Valentine's day.

Enjoy and thanks for the comment!

Stay Tuned

Stay tuned for a small giveaway on Hidden Fern starting Monday! When the give away starts, leave a comment and I will randomly pick a winner. :)

Catch up

The blog has been neglected for a couple of weeks. :( In a nutshell, John is back in school, I am super busy at work, and we just had our first guests at our house for respite care. Having M and A at the house for the weekend was a nice intro to our foster care lives. M was really sweet and since she doesn't know much English, the language of the 2 days was Spanish. I told M that my head hurt the first night because the gears in my head were so rusty. Spanish is her second language, Quich'e being the first.

We took the ferry to Seattle on Saturday and walked to Pike Place Market. She enjoyed the ferry ride and talked a lot more than I anticipated, which was great. At 5'2" I felt so tall around her! She's very petite, so John and I were like giants.

Sunday came and we all went to Mass. Little A did great for the hour in church. After a quick lunch, we headed to Tacoma to meet up with her foster family. Hopefully, she had a good weekend, because we loved having them. And hopefully, we'll get to see them next month.

I heard from our licensor tonight that there is the possibility that little ones from Haiti will be in the international foster care program. We are on CCS' available list. The kids of Haiti have been on my mind a lot, obviously, and I wanted to be able to do something to help them. Maybe this will be our way.

God bless the children who suffer.

A Campbell Christmas

Welcome to our Christmas home. We spent Christmas Eve at my parents' house in Port Orchard and went to Christmas Day Mass at our parish. Christmas Day was spent relaxing at our house. Before we went to the Campbells' house on Christmas night, we drove around to see the lights. One house in Bremerton had their house decked out in lights which were synchronized to music. On Boxing Day, John and I hosted our annual brunch for our parents and Joe and Miriam. We love doing that. Besides John getting sick, we had a really nice Christmas. Some of the other photos were taken at Jim and Sue's house on Christmas night.

New Year's Eve was spent with Tammy and Andrew in the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle at a Belgian restaurant called "Brouwers." Tammy is in school with John. We got home around 10:30 and had a quiet ringing in of 2010.

Happy New Year and all of God's blessings to you and your families!