Servants of the Most High

Bread

2011-10-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

2011-10-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

Bread I've been making a lot of homemade stuff lately and bread has been on the top of the list. I usually make 2 different recipes. Multigrain health bread and plain white bread.The white bread uses milk in the recipe and makes about 4 loaves and is good also to make cinnamon buns. But I haven't had all the ingredients lately so been trying new recipes without milk or eggs. I used an oatmeal bread recipe i had in my recipe box recently and John wanted to take pictures of the process so here they are. Just click on the picture to see all the photos. I also found
a recipe last night on allrecipes.com which i modified slightly and wow what good bread. I even made part of it into cinnamon raisin bread for breakfast. You can see the recipe if you click here. Just thought i'd share some of the goods!

Blessings and other things!

2011-09-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

Well I'm a serious slacker here on the blog. We have welcomed Levi James Campsall into our family on August 23rd 2011 weighing in at 7 pounds 5 ounces. He's almost 2 pounds heavier now 3 weeks later! He's definetely not wasting any time in catching up to his siblings in size! :) Dave has had the opportunity to take parental leave from work until thanksgiving so he is busily enjoying a change of pace and accomplishing some home projects as well as being a super help around the house with children and other things! Thanks Dave! I am recovering well from a fairly easy delivery so I'm very thankful for that. We are so blessed just now i'm thanking the Lord for his provision. First my grandmother, the children's great grandma, came and stayed with us over the last week before and a few days after the baby was born. Helping where she could and baking up a storm. Dave's mom also came and stayed a similar amount of time and put up meals in the freezer as well as cooking most days either lunch or supper! Then if that wasn't blessing enough my friend Melissa organized several of my friends here in town and they provided us supper every night for a week! Talk about grocery savings and recuperation time! Thanks to all those friends! Then... :) God grew our garden so well this year that i had several pick overs of my 2 bean rows.Enough to share with neighbours and still have some in the freezer thanks to Barb cornthwaite. Who babysat one day AND did up the beans I picked but hadn't the energy left to do anything with! lol We had zucchini and spaghetti squash galore and are still considering what to do with it all. Zucchini marmalade is a new hit here! Loads of tomatoes some carrots and onions and potatoes have really filled in our menu, its awesome! Another blessing came from one of Dave's uncle who took us to HIS blueberry spot and then proceeded to pick with us and gave all he picked TO us! I have blueberries in the freezer for the winter!! yay. Even small gifts of clothing and such for the new little one has been most gratefully accepted!

School has begun and my 3 oldest are now attending the public school on the next block over. It is with a bit of sadness and thankfulness that I send them. I haven't been able to put away the homeschool room quite yet... I miss them but after months of prayerful consideration thought it the best decision for now. They are doing well and seem to enjoy it. They are in french immersion which is more difficult as we are not french. I can help them to a certain extent but so far so good. Reuben and Levi are still at home with me. Reuben is having a bit of a time adjusting to no playmates so I am trying to get to playgroup and spend some playtime with him too. We recently had some family photos done by my friend at Northern Accents Photography. We hadn't had one done since Nahum was just a little baby and he is now in JK! :) Looking forward to enjoying those and sending some around.

Well hope the update is helpful in filling you in on our details! Hope that God is blessing all of you as well!

Amy

Father's Day Surprise

2011-06-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

The children and I thought to do something a bit different for father's day this year so they helped me make a short movie for daddy to watch while we brought him coffee and breakfast in bed. I asked and he said I could share (and this way you have some pics of the children which I haven't posted any in forever! two birds with one stone eh:) Just for fun

What if...?

2011-06-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

My little boys are napping and the older children are at school and Dave is at work. It is sooooo quiet... I found myself pondering (perhaps because i just read the book of Ecclesiastes??:) what life would be like now if some tragedy were to take all of my family from me...
Well, it would be quieter, I'd be able to go out on girls nights whenever I wanted, could read books, watch movies other then bob the builder and veggie tales, I could cook whatever whenever I wanted....
when I cleaned the bathroom the towel would stay on the rack the soap woul not be all over the counter, there would be no water on the floor or a stool to trip on....
when I swept and mopped the floor there would be no one traipsing through with work boots to the basement for tools or muddy puddle boot prints to the bathroom...
there would be no toys to trip on while cooking supper or no one spilling sauce on the floor while helping stir...
there would be no one drawing happy smiles or other interesting things on my freshly painted and washed walls...
there would be no handprints smudged all over windows and patio doors from trying to wave goodbye to daddy as he goes to work or looking at the latest antics of the neighbours dog...
when i woke up in the morning it wouldn't be to someone having peed the bed or throwing up...
I suppose we could all think of the things there would or wouldn't be if we had no children...
but for all we complain and are frustrated... i wonder..
I guess I'm thanking God today for water on the floor in my bathroom and stools to trip over and dirty boot prints and smudgy fingerprints...
Thanking God for the gift of my family...

The many faces of Reuben

2011-01-04T04:39:00.000-08:00

Reuben is a very busy little guy but how exciting it is to raise him. He has such a colorful personality. Just thought I'd share some of my joy with you today. God's Blessings for you and your family in 2011!

Another Birthday! 1 year old Reuben!

2010-12-23T15:36:00.000-08:00

These are just a few shots from the cake portion of the birthday. He's a fun little guy. Soooo busy and inquisitive! Happy Birthday to Reuben.

John's Birthday

2010-12-21T19:36:00.000-08:00

This is one attempt at a recent self photo shoot. We are all in it at least:)

Dirt cake is chocolate cake cut up ,mixed with chocolate pudding, topped with oreo cookies put through the food processor(to resemble dirt) and topped with gummy worms. Fun fun:)

Well the day has come and gone. My John boy is now a whopping 5 years old! :) He Got to have his friend Jackson sleep over. I took them skating, then we had at John's request Mac and cheese with hot dogs and a veggie platter with ranch dip and "Dirt" cake for dessert. They went sliding with Daddy after that and watched a movie with snacks and crashed without a peep between the 4 of them!:) I think it went great.

Pictures

2010-12-15T05:50:00.000-08:00

Chloe's Birthday

2010-11-18T09:21:00.000-08:00

Princess Chloe:)

Prince Charming??:)

Chloe asks every year for her birthday to go to a hotel with a swimming pool. So the last couple of years we've headed down to New Liskeard to the hotel(far enough away to warrant needing a hotel and not too far we couldn't do it in a weekend.) for her birthday. Despite the kids having the flu I think we managed to have fun. 6 years old.. wow. She is quite a little lady. I'm pretty proud of her. The cake was baked by and decorated by daddy:) He's pretty talented ya know!

I'm not sure how many more years we'll be able to do that as it's getting pretty cramped for bed space in one hotel room with 6 people! But it's fun for now:)

Boys

2010-10-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

Boys are a special breed! :) I once read a saying that said

Little boys are the only thing God can use to make men!

Sometimes i catch myself daydreaming what my boys will be like when they are grown. A missionary, a humble servant.. a sometimes even wonder if they will stray from the Lord.. my prayer is that it wouldn't be that way. I ask John lots if he will still give me hugs when he is older. He assures me faithfully that he will.. I thought i should write this down somewhere just incase he needs a reminder!:) Gotta love those boys.

Photos

2010-08-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

This is just a couple of quick photos of our recent trip to the toronto zoo and marineland last weekend. We met up with my grandmother who had never yet met the boys. I met up with a cousin and her fiance at the zoo and my brother and his son at marineland. All in all a good holiday and hopefully it won't be 5 years before i see my family again.

Blessings

Amy

A First!

2010-06-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

Dave is always telling Chloe to stop stretching she's not allowed to grow up, she has to stay daddy's little girl. But progress and change is inevitable.. Chloe has lost her first tooth.. here she proudly displays the prominent hole where "the tooth" used to be. What a cutie!

Blessings

2010-06-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics from the last week of the children. Sometimes I can hardly believe how fast they are growing up. Nahum will be 3 at the end of the month.

Nahum was playing watersquirters with daddy and the other chidlren but he said he kept getting water in his eyes.. after the glasses were on.. look out!:)

John at green lake at kettle lakes provincial park. See the rubber dingy in the back ground. That's dave and chloe fishing!

How sweet!

Reuben is so jolly and rolling all over the place. He was 5 months on the 23rd of may.

A couple new to us additions...

2010-06-04T18:44:00.000-07:00

Well seeing as i blog soooo often. I thought I'd update on some of the things happening here. We recently purchased a van for our growing clan. We are very thankful for it. It currently only seats 7 but a roomy easy to do up car seats 7 . It has the option to get a second back bench so in the future we may end up with that arrangement. For now we have lots of leg room and storage and towing capability. Which brings us to the next addition.
My brother in law had a tent trailer which he got from my mother in law and was looking to sell it. So ,with a name like "CAMPsall" we thought it would be great to move up from the tent we've used for the past several years. It makes the threat of bears a little less scary:) We used it for the first time on the may long weekend. It was wonderful. We hope to enjoy it with the children again this summer.

2010 - Amy - Picasa Web Albums

2010-05-19T12:49:00.000-07:00

2010 - Amy - Picasa Web Albums

Reuben

2010-01-17T11:51:00.001-08:00

All is well

2010-01-08T13:03:00.000-08:00

Again an update on Reuben. I had him at the fracture clinic this week and the doctor saw on the xray that already he's starting to grow new bone to heal the break. He's also gaining more movement in the arm as the healing starts. The doctor said that in a year's time if you were to take an xray again we probably wouldn't be able to see where the break was! So what a relief. He's going to be fine and have a fighting chance with those other "rough boys" as Chloe calls them!:)

Reuben update

2010-01-05T13:07:00.000-08:00

These are a few pictures from Christmas at my parents.
Reuben and I joined the crew Christmas morning from the hospital. It was a good day.

Just a little update on Reuben. I had him at emerg monday because when he was born he had gotten stuck with his shoulder under my pelvic bone after his head had been delivered so in order to get him out in a timely fashion the doctor had to reach in and get his right arm out and up over his head to turn him enough to get the other shoulder out. (yeah.. ouch) but during that process his collar bone was broken. I had been noticing his cries seemed out of pain when i moved him certain ways and he had little movement in his right arm compared to his left. I have an appointment at the fracture clinic this week with the specialist to see if anything might be done or if it's just a leave it to heal on it's own process which is what the ER doctors thought. But otherwise he's doing well. He and I are just about in the rythym for nursing. About 2 weeks old is when things start to toughen up during nursing for me and also his night times have been pretty easy going.. i get some solid chunks of sleep. Last night I slept from about 10:30 until 5:30. Nahum didn't even wake up. Nahum will often wake up once or twice a night to either pee or just say " I hug you" or something like that. Cute children i have:)

It's a boy!

2009-12-25T17:30:00.001-08:00

Before:)

After.

Reuben Jack Campsall was born at 11:45 December 23rd. 9 lbs 1/2 oz, 19 inches.

Glory to God as there was no induction necessary.. he was just finally ready to make his appearance.

Baby....

2009-12-19T18:33:00.002-08:00

There is no baby yet... Yes I was in the hospital.Yes I did have contractions 2-3 minutes apart yes they hurt.... then labour stopped.. yes I stayed over night. I woke up in the night and it suddenly occurred to me that "I" was trying everything to make labour happen... and I wasn't wanting to try what "They" wanted(induction, breaking my water, etc.)me to try to make labour happen. In any case I felt like nothing I or the doctors did at this point had brought labour on... perhaps God is not yet ready to bring this life into the world?? Why am I trying so hard? I read in Psalm 143 this morning when I woke up and a few things stood out.. perhaps not in context to what david was thinking but for me it made me think... it said.. deliver me, O LORD, and again quicken me, O LORD. Bringing a child into this world is God's job. I am merely the vehicle in which this takes place. So I left the hospital this morning at peace knowing that this baby is going to come but I am trusting that the Lord will show me the right time.. it's just not quite yet. My EDD(ESTIMATED due date) was December 16th. So I hope this helps explain a little why things have come about the way they are now. If you consider praying for me perhaps it would be more along the lines that God would deliver this child without the "aid" of interventions.. This is my plea and prayer now.
Blessings
Amy

My Little Singers

2009-12-10T08:20:00.000-08:00

Pictures!!

2009-12-10T07:35:00.000-08:00

Our friends the Mauno's recently gave us a camera so we are back in action here with pictures!! (Thankyou Mauno's!) The children grow so fast I can hardly believe it myself sometimes and I see them everyday!

Mommy and her little girl! Chloe has a hard time being serious in pictures!:)

Playing in our load of snow yesterday. This was them in their cabin with their snow blanket on to keep them warm

Nahum is cute even if he has the leftovers from breakfast on his face!

Chloe and John on a lazy saturday morning.

At our homeschool group on monday mornings we get together and play and learn. This past week we made decorations and wrapped gifts for the daddies who usually have to work when we meet. Here's daddy opening the gifts. The children were so excited to give them!

2009-12-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent pictures of the children that a friend has posted on her blog.Just click on the highlighted word "pictures" and scroll down to find them. We still don't have the camera working so we haven't taken any pictures recently. I am 11 days away from my due date for baby number 4 and doing fine. Bags are packed, freezer is full, and friends have gotten me everything pretty much that I will need when the new one arrives. I'm so very thankful for these blessings which seem to relieve some worry.. (although why worry.. but hey i'm human:) I'm baking some christmas bread today.. 8 loaves! hoping that will last until christmas as it is dave's favourite and you could call him a little hooked on pastries! :) We hope to have christmas with the family on both sides this year and it may be that i'll be opening up our house but sitting down to a meal prepared by others.. My family is great and are all planning to pitch in to make stuff and lighten the load for this soon to be new momma.
The children are fine. Chloe is on the mend as we recently found she has allergies to makeup and she landed in the hospital for a night with her asthma acting up. She's out now and seeming to do better. I'm slowly learning what triggers these asthma attacts for her but it sure is discouraging at times to have to do this the trial and error method. I'm just thankful that it hasn't ever been life threatening. Dave has been out recently staking a mining claim close to town here. After a few attempts and a broken compass and nearly getting lost i got him a GPS and that seemed to help a tremendous amount in time and energy. So he recorded it at the mining claims office so now we have a place to scout out with the children and do our cookouts and dave said he even came across the remains of an old cabin we might be able to fix up a bit! So we are looking forward to some family adventures. Not till after the baby arrives mind you:) Sorry to have left this off for so long. Real life gets busy and without a camera it's hard to motivate and fill everyone in on the details of every day busyness. Hope all is well in your part of the world and we want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
I hope to have some pictures up on here after the baby is born so don't forget to check back.

Visit to Kap-kig-awan Provincial Park

2009-08-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

We came for the long weekend down to Englehart to visit with Grandma. We had beautiful weather and a lot of fun!

Nahum's 2nd Birthday

2009-07-14T18:58:00.000-07:00

Nahum turned 2 on June 28th. We ended up going up to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Timmins to share a birthday party with Wilfrid who turned 11 on June 30th. Wil had asked if he could have the cake say Happy Birthday Wil and Nahum. Nahum seemed quite happy with that. The children and I had left Barrie that morning and picked dave up in matheson at our house and arrived in Timmins just in time for the party:) Chloe thought we "needed" party hats. We also put together some goodie bags for all the children.. well my 3 and wil and Lily my niece and nephew. It was a really fun day. Sarah and Greg were there to help BBQ and make the day that much more special. It's so nice to just celebrate our little ones with the family. Simple but they feel important and loved:)

Nahum is a really sweet kid. He loves his mom right now.. maybe a little too much but I will enjoy it as he may not always be so in to me:) Him and John as a result of our move have now got bunkbeds. Daddy built them out of cedar wood. They are nice and Nahum is doing well. He did however peel the paint off the wall at the head of his bed to reveal the paneling behind.. eek!
Nahum got a few little gifts from Grandma as you can see from the picture below he thinks he's a coolio in his new sun glasses!

This is a picture of Greg and Auntie Sarah! Way to go on the BBQ eh!

The Birthday Gang.

Nahum my coolio:)

Moving

2009-06-23T11:07:00.000-07:00

Wow I hadn't realized how long it had been since i posted anything on here! We are busy packing as we have a move date of July 27. We are glad to have a spot to call our own and there is some fix up stuff that needs to be done. I'll try and take some pictures and post them up shortly. Nahum is turning two June 28th! My nephew Wilfrid asked if he could have a double party with Nahum because his birthday is on June 30th(Wil will be 11 though:) So we are planning to have a cake and such like on sunday night with my parents. Chloe and John are signed up for a school readiness program through the ontario early years center here and will be attending that a few days a week for the next several weeks. It's 9-3 so it seems like a long day so we will see how they do. I am looking forward to some time with just nahum and to work on some areas that need work.. such as obedience!! eek.. haha. John is an expert on his little 2 wheel bike with training wheels.. so much so he surprises me! We recently got bathing suit for the older two with built in lifejackets right in the suit and they got to try them out the other day(this hot weather is lovely.. maybe a little less heat would be ok to though don't you think;) They loved swimming at the local swimmin hole and chased the minnows all around. Nahum has no fear of water it would seem so i'm IN the water right at their sides making sure everyone is good to go.. (i can't say i mind in this heat)The children and I have planned a trip to Peterborough thursday till sunday to visit some friends that I haven't seen in a long time. Amanda is over from Ireland with her family and a few other couples and their children will be around too! I am soooooo excited! This summer's camp season is starting soon at Northland Bible Camp. We hope to catch some of the meetings at the family camps. WE have no holidays this year planned so we are thinking to just maybe camp out at some local campgrounds and dave can join us there after work. Well trust all is well in your world. Sorry no pics this time:)

Pictures

2009-04-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

From matheson

Well I'm no whiz when it comes to this computer stuff but I think I have the pictures all on here... i didn't leave any out.. so there are some on there that my 2,3, and 4 year old took of me... Haha.. Hope these little happy faces brighten your day.. they often brighten mine:)
Amy

(just click on the picture below to view the photo album attached)

matheson

2009-04-24T05:21:00.000-07:00

Birthdays have passed I'm older yet and so is dave! We have some sun peeking out of the clouds these days and making a dent in those snow banks out there. Woohoo for spring. We didn't get the house mentioned in the previous post due to water problems so the Lord obviously has other plans for us. We shall see. School is still going ahead. A little bit changed mind you as my printer isn't working which makes things tricky but we are learning and that to me is the main thing. Kids club at the chapel is encouraging to me. We just started a series on daniel that should take us through to the end of the school year. We had just finished up a series on John and ended with the easter story. We have about 15-20 regular comers and they are really enthusiastic. I trust that the Lord will work in the word through these times. Dave has been pretty busy at work these days with the gold mill trying to start into production but there have been plenty of setbacks to make things long and tedious. He'll be glad when things are on the go. Nahum will be 2 at the end of june.. sooooo.. i guess it was time to have another one right? I don't have a firm date yet but we are expecting sometime november december.:) I hope to get those pictures today so maybe the next post will have some pics!
Hope all is well in your world. Blessings!
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (last week's memory verse for the kids)
"Be ye kind one to another" (this week's memory verse for the kids)

Spring is coming... right?

2009-02-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well i must say it is pretty hard to blog without pictures! But I will do my best. We have been here in matheson since november and now are completely ontarion as we now have ohip coverage and coverage from work! I didn't realize how long 3 months could seem until you move provinces and need some medical help. It does make me appreciate the health care system here in canada. Although i would say they could use a little reconstruct on the way they handle things when someone moves provinces. Chloe's teeth were pretty bad over the holidays and we had to have one tooth pulled as it was absessed. We finally had the surgery at the hospital the beginning of february and they ended up pulling another tooth because it was absessed as well and 2 root canals and 8 fillings... soooo i am hoping that will be it for a while.. john and chloe eat the same things.. i brush their teeth at the same time.. and john has nothing wrong with his teeth and chloe.. well don't know what's up with that. Oh the fun with preschoolers!
I have been seeking out my way for homeschooling this year. I had purchased a curriculum for preschool through Rod and Staff. It's very good and thorough but I was having trouble enjoying it with my children. I found it was hard to get it done when we weren't having fun and I felt i had more trouble teaching that way. So I began reading some homeschooling blogs and found that a lot of people homeschool different ways and they all learn. I began looking on the internet for materials and started creating "Amy style" something that would work for us.
I decided to take the Alphabet one letter a week and base our schooling around that theme. We are now finished letter F and going onto G next week. I have a box where i keep my materials and goodies to pull out for the children which is not allowed to be touched by the children and everything that comes out is a surprise. It's fun for me and for them!I've been pleased with this sitehttp://www.first-school.ws/theme/alphabet.htm for free material. We are also trying to put a bible verse that dave is giving us up for every letter and learn them during the week. We also are colouring through a Psalm 23 colouring book and using that as the verse we say at sunday school. The other thing that I found was lacking was the teaching of "work" to the children. I found a neat site on the web http://www.handipoints.com where we have been keeping a chore chart and have made it part of our school. Usually(as I am not always on top of things:)) we do our chores in the morning after breakfast before school and check them off on the chart and play a little game in the handyland before going to the school room. If I had a camera I would take a picture of the school room and insert here... haha . We have a bedroom on the main floor of the house we are renting and it is cleared out to make a little laundry/school room. It works for me! So that's our attempt at schooling this year. I'm sure things will evolve and get smoother and more scheduled as things go along but i'm pleased so far with how it's going.
We are also looking to purchase a little country property still although there has been a lot of things to overcome in getting it but if the Lord wills we hope to have it for sometime in march.
Click here to see the property.
Psalm 39:4

Matheson

2009-01-25T12:43:00.000-08:00

This is the bridge going into matheson from the quebec highway. We are back here in matheson now and are glad to be back. Within the first week of being back walking down the street I saw many familiar faces and was known also of them. It was a nice feeling. We are attending the matheson chapel and are encouraged with the work going on here. The Lord knows we all have struggles but the little assembly is trusting God for what is ahead. We are currently renting a house only a few blocks from this picture which is much appreciated. We are thinking to purchase or build Lord willing in the future but as of yet no real door has opened to us. Chloe and John and I are attempting some homeschooling still. The new year has brought in a good start and the children seem to be enjoying it. Chloe is 4 and John is 3. Nahum is now 19 months and very talkative. He is wearing the clothes that John is just growing out of. So he is gaining speed in the growing department. We are only a few blocks from the chapel and the playgroup/library is at the end of our street. My parents are only 45 minutes in timmins and we have had opportunity to help out there and have good visits. We had my niece and nephew over for a few days over the holidays and had some good times. Dave's mom lives only 45 minutes or so the other direction and the children and i have hopped on the bus and taken drives down to spend a night or two there. We are very blessed to have the opportunity now to spend with grandparents as the last 2 years have been sparse. Dave is enjoying his job. April the operation is scheduled to start up so the spring could be pretty busy. Last week he was sent to Ottawa for a mineral conference and was put up at the Chateau Laurier for the week. He was struck by the excess when walking out of the hotel and all it's luxuries to be met by a man asking money for only coffee and soup. Truly the Lord said the poor you will have with you always. The camera is broken just now so I haven't any recent pictures of the family but will attempt to somehow or another catch up with you on the faces of the littles in my life.

As to the title of this blog.. I'm at a loss as what to do... to completely sever ties with newfoundland seems to hard to do... but we aren't in newfoundland physically anymore... any suggestions as to a new label? Trust all is well in your world... please leave me a note in the comments spot so I know you were by.

Love Amy

2008-12-02T04:51:00.000-08:00

We are settling down now in Matheson. We miss the saints and friends we made in newfoundland and will have many special memories of our time there. We are renting a house in the town of matheson for the time being. It's an old house with shall we say "lots of character"! We are thankful for a place to live as matheson is a small community with not much in the way of rentals. It's a big 4 bedroom house. So lots of room to scatter toys and dirty laundry.. hahaha. It's nice to see some friends from a few years ago from around town here as well and get to know a few new faces. We are attending the matheson gospel chapel and are happy to be of service there. We recently had a ladies coffee hour which went well. The topic was the greatest present is the gift of salvation. Chloe and John are to be mary and joseph in the christmas play.. (chloe john nahum tim and david) in the small sunday school we have. The children are enjoying having grandma and papa and their cousins around and Grandma Campbell(dave's mom) had us down not to long ago to watch the santa clause parade and stay over night. The children and I took the bus down to her house as we can walk from our house to the station and get off just outside grandma's house!! The children and I are helping at kids club on tuesdays in the afternoon and are able to walk over (or rather i walk pulling slieghs with mounds of kids!!)

Nahum is really growing up. He is saying so many things. He's nearing 18 months. He's graduated to a toddler bed simply because we brought the crib minus a rail which really isn't useful then now is it! haha. He's getting better at staying in the bed but the transition hasn't been too easy. He shares a room with John so the temptation is there to get out and fool around. He loves hockey.. we'll have to get him some skates and take him for tryouts pretty soon... haha.

Grandma comes down now and then and the children love visiting. I thought this was a classic picture of grandma in the rocking chair reading with chloe right besdie in her rocking chair. Very precious memories that i'm glad we are able to have.

Dave's job is back at the same mine as before. They are not started yet so the mill is being changed and improved and dave's helping with setup just now. The drive to work is only 20 minutes which get's him home for 430 if he leaves on time! He doesn't have to leave till 720 in the morning. A nice change from 530 am leave time and 6 pm hometime. So we are appreciating that. We don't know all that the Lord has planned for us but we are trusting to be of service and use here in northern ontario. Ok, so if anyone still ever checks here there is the update. We just got the internet back yesterday.

Amy

Friends and Birthdays in Newfoundland

2008-10-28T03:38:00.000-07:00

Friends and Birthdays in Newfoundland

Only a few more days in newfoundland. Packing is coming along. Dave has reminded me that stressing out doesn't do much good. Trusting that the Lord will get us through is a much better idea. My mom also remided me of the verse in Phillipians "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" We've had lots of friends visit over the past few weeks and last night our neighbour "nanny" Carrol and her daughter Margie and her children came over and brought little cupcakes to celebrate the children's birthdays before we leave. Margie is in business selling cakes and had promised the kids diego and cinderella cakes for their birthdays. They have been really good friends and neighbours to us. We will miss them. Answered prayer about finding a place in matheson. My mom was able to rent us a large house right in the middle of town withing walking distance of the assembly and stores. We are most thankful for that. We plan to leave next sunday and to stay with some friends in Fredericton on monday night and then take another couple days to get back to the north!!

2008-10-21T02:54:00.000-07:00

The latest from the Newfoundlandcampsalls is that we are soon to be no longer in Newfoundland! The Lord has taught us many things out here far from home. We are thankful for the saints here and the opportunities to grow in ways we would not have probably done back in northern ontario. Truly our God is all knowing! We have accepted a job offer back in the matheson area in northern ontario and the time is coming quick for our departure in the first week of november. We are sad to leave behind treasured friends and neighbours here in Newfoundland. We look forward to what the Lord has in store for us back in Matheson and only pray as servants of God we can be of some help to the north. The above picture is our house. We had a yard sale on saturday and were able to clear out a good many things. We have limited resources and means to move everything so we are packing light. (The back of our open pickup and perhaps a small uhaul if any will be light enough to be towed on a bumper hitch) We put the house up for sale on saturday and so far have one interested party asking for rent to own. We hope to sell the house outright but we will trust the Lord to work things out there.
The children are doing fine. Nahum is starting to say lots of words and even spilled out a few on the phone to gramps the other day. Chloe and John and I are trying some homeschooling from Rod and Staff and it seems to be going fine. We are still working on smoothing out the wrinkles and at this busy time of moving a few days have been late starting school or like yesterday with company all day we didn't even get to it. Dave is tying up things at work here and praying the truck makes this last run to ontario! He was asked to share a word at the gospel meeting sunday evening and enjoyed getting out in the afternoon to distribute some gospel pamphlets to some of the houses near the assembly here. We have a prayer request that the Lord would provide a place for us to live when we get there because as of yet we do not have one. So I may get to post once more before leaving here but if not.. See you on the mainland!

Tis Fall and other things...

2008-09-30T10:26:00.000-07:00

Well Sarah has notified me that I have been more then a month without blogging.. was it really that long!! Woops! Computer time has been pretty sparse and motivation probably lacking as well. I just arrived home yesterday after our time in Ontario. Dave's Father passed away only 4 days after flying home from a visit here in Newfoundland. We were thankful for the time we had spent with him so close to the end of his days here. He brought the children each a harmonica when he came and I know that it will be a nice memory of him. When I told the children about their "Gramps" I asked them what their favourite memory was of their recent visit. Chloe said "he tickled us!!" We shall miss him.
I'm trying this web album in my post. I have never done it before.. If you move your mouse over the pictures and click it should come up with a bunch of pictures instead of just the one you see.

Blogpost

Nahum is starting to talk and run and "pick" at everything.. Keeps me hopping for sure. Chloe and John and I are hoping to start some homeschooling this year. I was a little late ordering and with us being gone to ontario for a while we will be starting late but we are all excited and hopeful that it will be good for us all. Any tips from homeschoolers would be appreciated as I seek to set up a "classroom" and schedule.
The Garden is picked over pretty well. Only some potatoes and carrots and onions left up the hill to dig out. We have loads of green tomatoes. The season just wasn't long enough to ripen them on the vine. I have zucchini everywhere so now that i'm back i hope to use that and freeze some for later.
I was at a conference in Matheson, Ontario this past saturday and saw a presentation done by John Meerstra with New Tribes Missions. It was a serious reminder to myself that sacrifice is involved in a victorious life for Christ. When men and women put aside the comforts of things and even have to leave aging parents or whatever it is, if they are following the Lord he will show them blessing and joy. Sometimes being out here in a spot far from home and surrounded by many who know nothing of Christ's precious love and sacrifice for them I find it can be discouraging. BUT the discouragment comes, I am persuaded, not from the lack of goodness from God but from my misperception that to be happy I need a certain set of circumstances. I believe(putting this into practice is a different matter) that I can find contentment in any spot on earth if I know the Lord is in it.
"Does the place your called to labour seem so small and little known?
It is great if God is in it and He'll not forget his own.
Little is much when God is in it
Labour not for wealth or fame
There's a crown and you can win it
If you go in Jesus name."
The Lord bless you all!
Amy

The Kids

2008-08-11T03:57:00.000-07:00

Here's nahum picking weeds .....

or rather pulling up the marigolds!:)

Flowers at my house

2008-08-11T03:29:00.000-07:00

This is our house from the road. We repainted it last year from white with mint green trim to this blue with white trim.

I dug some gardens out the front this year (the tree roots just about deterred me from doing any! but I managed to dig out two small ones and one ring around the signpost which i dug out last year. Here are some of the flowers(weeds and all! haha) that we have growing around. I'm pretty excited cause I've never had gardens before so for all you pro gardeners (like aunt dorothy:) please excuse my excitement over a small turnout. haha.

Picture trials

2008-08-04T11:42:00.000-07:00

Well I'm learning how to put pictures on here hope this works..

Back Online

2008-08-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we got our own computer again! I will try to get back in the habit of updating on how we are doing over here.Nahum is 13 months now and has started to wobble around. Sure makes traffic flow around here pretty busy! The other kids are all doing well. John is potty training.... He's doing much better then chloe did but i think i have a little more experience at it this time too.

I recently took the kids up to Boyd's cove to visit friends on holidays here from New Liskeard, ON. Maggie and I took the kids on a whale watching tour.. I wish I could say we saw whales but not that time. But we did see a seal right in the cove where they live and walked down the road with the kids to get a better look as it got up on the neighbours wharf.

Dave's still working at the mine 1 1\2 hours from here. We were out camping at a park near there recently and took the kids canoeing for the first time. I thought it would be crazy but they were too scared to tip into the water to try fooling around so they held the fishing poles while dave and I paddled. Nahum stood up the front pointing us in the right direction and babbling out his commentary on the scenery. We loved it! I'd love to do more of it! Hope all is well in your world. Leave a comment to let me know you stopped by! Thanks for the recent comments on Nahum's Birthday article. To God be the Glory!

Amy

Happy Birthday Nahum

2008-06-28T16:07:00.000-07:00

The silence is broken! If anyone out there still ever checks here. Nahum is 1 year old today. We had a nice little supper and cake withe special little party plates etc just with the 5 of us.. wow.. there are 5 of us in our family.. nice!:) Dave is scheduled to be one week up in alaska starting July 7 for a couple of mine tours as a representative for the minesite here. I think it will be interesting for him and a nice experience. (But one week without daddy will put me in mind just how much he does around here and I will miss him!) Also scheduled for July 7-18 are gospel tent meeting here in Bishop's Falls which if you have a moment prayer would be appreciated as we are still in diligent search for a spot to put the tent. Chloe is signed up for a local bible club at the pentecostal meeting and i trust it will benefit her and she will enjoy it. The vegetable gardens here are slow but some things are coming along well.. not everything is succeeding but I imagine we will get sunshine out here soon to help things grow.John is a fire... haha... if we can curb his energy he is a great little helper.. but let him think up something to do and you're pretty sure to have troubles come along. I finished another baby quilt for one of dave's coworkers wives. I'm almost down to the quilting part on chloe double size double irish chain quilt started a good year ago. Ok still have no computer but for anybody who checks here now and again I'm still out here in Newfoundland and learning lots of good lessons in life and faith. The Lord bless and keep you.
Amy

2008-02-18T18:05:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note here. Computer is still not functioning. I'm on Dave's work laptop. We are doing well. Nahum is 2 teeth strong with 4 more just about to pop out. He's army crawling his way into all sorts of mischief now. John got a new potty seat today and actually peed on the potty.. is it possible that i could soon have 2 potty trained children! Oh the dreams of young mothers.. haha. Dave is busy enough at work. He's been doing minor renovations here at the house lately so things are looking a little more pretty:) He says there is an audit happening at work in the next weeks so there may be some changes there.. if anything sgnificant i'll try to update. We have gospel meetings planned in our town here as an outreach from the Gander gospel hall the last week of February you could keep in prayer. I also recently was asked to teach the elementary sunday school class at the hall and am totally enjoying it! Doing a study on galatians called law and grace. Chloe and John both are in a preschool sunday school class so Nahum and Daddy take in the bible study upstairs and all is well!! I miss all of my internet buddies and hope you are all doing well. Ok bed time!!!
Goodnight.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Galatians 3:13

Christmas...

2008-01-14T09:39:00.000-08:00

Wow.. it's taken me a while to get back on here after our holidays. We are (well at least I am) still lagging after our trip. It was soooo great to get back to ontario and visit you all!!! I loved my time and am glad we were able to go. The Lord knows what we need and when we need it. A little visit back home makes being far from home not so tough. :) We had a relatively easy going trip with only one delay of flight on new years eve. So that was great. Our neighbours daughter and her husband had paid to have our driveway cleared for our arrival home!! We have some great neighbours (friends). Well i'm still catching up from our full weekend here so a few pictures and a few comments and that will be all.:)Sigh... after waiting twenty minutes for this thing to upload 5 pictures.. it didn't..:( I have no time to wait again.. I'll have to try again soon.. sorry..

Daddy Time!

2007-12-19T12:17:00.001-08:00

I haven't really posted much on my awesome husband on here! So I got a little collection of "Dad" shots on the recent picture cd so I thought I'd share him( Just this once!) Haha. Dave and the kids play "Hiya" as the children call it. They can't play that game except with dad and not without their special "hiya hats"(this is mom's rules as hiya is basically karate chopping one another! Dave is fun and the kids love that time. They run in and grab the spit blankets and beg dave to play now.

Chloe is now 3 and I finally got a picture of her birthday back:) The neighbour Mrs. Carroll(who they call nanny carroll made the cake and brought it over. She's a lovely neighbour and we are pretty thankful for them and their daughters.

Dave and our sweeties in a saturday morning snuggle session.

Housecleaning on a budget.

2007-12-13T02:50:00.000-08:00

Well I found some great recipies today for household cleaners. I like the idea of having safer cleaners and I always like the idea of making it myself! Check it out at Passionate Homemaking

Watcha eatin' Wednesday?

2007-12-12T02:38:00.000-08:00

Here's a wonderful and fast microwave dish!

Tangy Mustard Cauliflower

1 medium head of cauliflower

1/2 cup Kraft salad dressing(here i usually use some kind of ranch dressing)

1/2 tsp chopped green onions (optional)

1 tsp prepared mustard

1/2 cup shredded cheese

Method: Place cauliflower in 1 1/2 quart casserole or other microwave dish that holds a good size cauliflower. ( a glass pie plate works very well). Add 2 tbsps water. Cover with saran wrap and cook for 7-8 minutes or until tender. Combine salad dressing, onion and mustard and mix well. Place cooked cauliflower on serving plate. Spread mixture over top and halfway down sides. Sprinkle with cheese and parsley flakes. Cook uncovered 1 minute to heat topping and melt cheese. Cut in pie shaped pieces.

This recipe was given to me at my wedding shower 5 years ago and I've loved it! Thanks to Bev Tulloch:)

Have you got any good microwave recipies to pass along? Feel free to post it in the comment section here.

I also tried a new recipe yesterday that was really quick and Dave and the kids really love it..

(Found at Biblical Womanhood)

Christmas Candy

On a baking sheet, spread out:1 sleeve of Saltine crackers

In a small saucepan over medium-heat, melt:1 stick butter 1 cup brown sugar

Once the mixture is gooey, pour evenly over crackers.

Bake at 350 degrees for five minutes, until bubbly.

Remove from oven, and sprinkle on top:2 cups chocolate chips(here i tried spreading one side with chocolate and one with butterscotch chips and we kinda like the butterscotch better)

As the chocolate melts, spread it evenly around.

Pop into the refrigerator until set, then cut apart the candy and put into gift containers.

(above photo courtesy of FreeFoto.com)

Making our home a Haven

2007-12-10T03:27:00.000-08:00

Well ,recently I've been inspired by the Making our home a haven challenge over at Biblical Womanhood. The one thing that I've started with has been the Morning routine list. I'm not an organised person so I find it hard to keep things together on a regular basis. So the following is my morning routine and has worked fairly well for me this last week!
My Morning Routine

1.Read and Pray
2.Get dressed(yes.. i have a hard time to leave the sleepy comfort of pj's)
3. Tidy Kitchen
4. Start Laundry
5. Plan Supper.

My house hasn't been so clean in a while. I like having the dish rack off the counter.. it never used to disappear from the counter top!
I was hoping to post pictures but alas the walmart photo center had a broken machine.. will post the pics when i get them back!

Another fun looking recipie!

2007-12-05T02:23:00.000-08:00

I came across this recipie the morning for Milk and cereal bars. click here to check it out!

Watcha eatin' Wednesday?

2007-12-05T01:58:00.001-08:00

Last week i made one of my standard recipies past down to me by my mom. So I thought I'd share it for our recipie this week.

Banana Loaf

Cream: 1/2 cup margarine

Add: 1 cup white

Beat In:1 Large mashed banana (2 small)

2 eggs

3 Tablespoons milk

Sift together and gradually add

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon Baking soda

1 teaspoon Baking powder

Optional: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup raisins (soak in hot water first)

(add these to flour mixture to dredge them)

Pour batter into greased and lightly floured loaf pan. Bake @ 350 for 50-60 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan. Cool on rack completely. Wrap in aluminum foil. Store at least 6 hours or overnight in fridge before serving.

Important Note: When adding dry ingredients stir gently only until all are moistened. Do not over beat.

PS. Did anyone give the quick fish supper a try? I imagine it could work with any type of fish??

Have a good day!

Chloe's Photography

2007-11-28T02:25:00.000-08:00

Ok.. so my mom asked me to post a picture of me.. seeing as i'm home alone with toddlers and babies most of the day the only photographer i could get was chloe my charming 3 year old daughter. So here you go.... ( Is there a resemblance between this picture and the cod fish picture in the below post??):) Love you mom.

Watcha eatin' Wednesday?

2007-11-28T01:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I thought it would be fun to share some recipies from my home to yours. We all eat differently and I surely love trying out new food ideas. So Hopefully each wednesday I'll be able to share some recipie that we have enjoyed here. So for the first one I thought we'd go with a little taste of newfoundland cod. While visiting my elderly neighbours with the children one day I mentioned we were planning to have cod for supper and that's when skipper(or so the older gentlemen are called out here) pulled out his recipie book and said try this one it's really good! And it WAS good...

Quick Fish Supper

2 1/2 lbs cod fillet

2 eggs (beaten)

1 cup soft bread crumbs

1 tomatoe (sliced)

1/4 cup margarine

1/2 cup onion chopped

3/4 cup grated cheese

salt & pepper

Directions:

Place flillets in greased baking dish. Spread beaten eggs over fish. Sprinkle with bread crumbs. Add salt & pepper. Garnish with tomatoe slices. Add chopped onions & margerine. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake @ 350 for 25-30 minutes. Do not overcook.

It's very fast and I think can be easily enlarged or lessened depending on your family size!

Enjoy! If anyone has any comments or ideas about this recipie or any other recipies you'd like to share please leave a comment. I'm always looking for a good recipie!

THE QUILT

2007-11-27T10:29:00.000-08:00

Well it's taken me a while to get to putting up pictures of the quilt I recently finished for Dave. He picked the pattern from one of my quilting magazines and told me the colours he wanted (copper, gold, Iron,... can you tell he works in a mine! lol) And the other request was that it didn't have flowers. So.. as most quilts go this is not one I would have chose but its nice and i'm glad to have been able to bless my husband with a little homemade love:)

Three little Monkeys...

2007-11-27T03:00:00.000-08:00

Nahum will be 5 months tomorrow. He's over 16 pounds and is as happy as a baby could be. He's rolling everywhere and really loving interaction with Chloe and John.
Yesterday we had a babbling session and he was starting to get out some da's and a couple days ago in a bit of a cry he popped out mamama(interesting how they say da da when they are happy and ma ma when they are in hysterics...)

Chloe and John love to read(unfortunately they also love to rip books.. we're still working on that.. any tips?) Here they are reading an old second hand book i got on how to make kids rooms and playyards.
My singers. Sometimes when i sit down at the piano they will request songs and sing. Other times they say stop that i'm "resting" haha but here they are doing their own duet. They often will take hymn books(or any of dad's shelf books) and sing about any words they have been learning or such. Recently it's been about Balaam and his donkey(don't beat your donkey balaam and so on!)

I had a good laugh about this picture! I can't even remember what I was making.. maybe Chloe's birthday cake?? Chloe always hanging on to some furry friend and john busy at eating. Very typical of the two of them:)

I call these my Brrrr Babies. They are fresh out of the tub and in the "assembly line" to get cream and pj's before bed. All cuddled in Mom and Dad's bed.

This that and the other...

2007-11-16T09:50:00.000-08:00

Well I have ventured to start some "schoolwork" with Chloe. I really have no particular plan as of yet but have found some useful stuff on the web and just made up some ideas. Today she did a little bit of the tracing page for Letter A that i found on this website. She also drew this picture of Noah and the rainbow.

I explained to her about student and teacher. She was really excited about that! She said after lunch "John's a toddler and I'm a student and your a teacher" haha how sweet is that. So hopefully she will enjoy being a student.

Uh... did i forget to mention Chloe had a birthday? Yep she is now 3 (november 11th). I showed her how put up three fingers for her 3 years old. So now if I ask her she says i'm three and likes to show how many fingers. John is funny If I ask him how old he is he does say 2! He won't be 2 until the end of December technically but that's all good.

Also we recently got our pictures done at walmart. The last time we had a family picture done was when chloe was 3 weeks old now she is 3 years old! So if you are one of the "chosen" :)you may receive an actual picture, but if not I hope you will be appeased with the below photos:)

The Campsalls 2007!

My sentiments exactly!

2007-11-09T17:56:00.000-08:00

I came across this site Biblical Woomanhood a few months back now and have really enjoyed a lot of what the website offers and promotes. Tonight I was feeling rather discouraged in my handling of this role called "Mom". I read the following article and it was a very good reminder and help to know that I am not the only one who struggles along. It's also good to be reminded that really.. I dont' need to struggle along on my own.. I have a gentle Shepherd who is right there leading me and helping me on my way! " The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." Psalm 23:1
Here is the article for your encouragement too!

If Only I Were Perfect

by Crystal Paine

I've wished so much recently that I could find a way to have a spotlessly clean, organized, and well-decorated home, serve delicious and elaborate meals on time three times a day, spend the necessary time to maintain a business, while at same time not in any way neglecting my relationship with the Lord, my husband, or my daughter.I wish I could get out of bed every morning at 5 a.m. to an immaculately clean home. I wish I could shower, dress, and fix my hair before anyone wakes up. I wish I could spend a solid hour of uninterrupted time reading the Bible and praying before I begin my day each and every morning. I wish I could have the house all perfectly cleaned and in order by 8 a.m. every morning (though, I guess if I woke up to it immaculate, I wouldn't even need to clean!). I wish that the laundry and dishes magically washed themselves and put themselves away or that I had a live-in maid.I wish that I never said an unkind word or had an unkind thought. I wish that I would never disappoint my husband. I wish that I could spend all day everyday playing with my daughter. I wish I were never tired and had a boatload of energy all the time. I wish that I could live on 3 hours of sleep or less every night.Instead, I'm just me. My house is often messy and always in need of some type of cleaning. I'm always behind in some area. I never get to spend as much time playing or reading with my daughter as I'd like. I'm forever behind on the ironing. My husband comes home some nights and I'm exhausted, the house is messy, dinner is only a figment of my imagination, and I'm still in my pajamas. I often say and do things that I regret. I fail in some area on an hourly basis and can easily become discouraged and overwhelmed.Yes, sometimes I wish I were perfect. But, then I realize that if I were perfect, I'd never have anything to trust God about. I'd never need anyone to pray for me. I'd never need anyone's help. I'd never have to cry out to God for mercy when I'd failed yet again. I'd never need comfort from the Scriptures. And, I'd never know the depths of God's grace and mercy to one so undeserving as me.

Crystal Paine is a 24-year-old homeschool graduate from Topeka, Kansas. She is the blessed wife of Jesse and joyful mother of Kathrynne. Visit her site, Biblical Womanhood, for books, articles, encouragement, and inspiration!

The Simple Gospel

2007-11-05T02:30:00.000-08:00

Ok so I was again struck by a thought that popped out of an unseeming passage in the scripture. I was so excited and there was no one awake here to share it with so I thought I'd share with all here:)
My daily reading was in Numbers 19! The Red Heifer and the water of separation. When I first began reading I wondered again what could I glean from this but here is how my thought process went today.
The ash from the burnt heifer mixed with water,sprinkled on anything or anyone, cleansed from the contact made with a dead person. There was provision made for a person to be cleansed from sin. ("...and it{the ashes} shall be kept for the congreagation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin." verse 9)
God gave the instruction and provided the means to carry out the instructions. All that remained was the obedience of the offender.
This reminds me of Christ!
He gave the instructions "Verily, verily I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5:24
The instructions?--> Hear the word, Believe!
The provision?-----> Jesus Christ!
"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
(Romans 6:23)

That's the GOSPEL! Simple!

Journaling..(and kids)(:

2007-11-02T02:23:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been challenged as I said in an earlier Motherhood Post to reasses my training of my children. I had a wonderful conversation with a friend the other day and we both feel similar in that we are wanting to be better at the job the Lord has given us but we both admitted we feel unsure at times on how to proceed. So after some discussion we've decided to keep a little journal and to try and regularly encourage eachother to seek the Lord. I sat down this morning to do my daily through the bible in a year reading in Numbers 16!! So at first I thought.. I'm not sure how this is going to apply to me as a mother but nonetheless the scripture itself says ALL scripture is profitable... So as I read through the chapter it was talking about Korah and Dathan and Abiram who decided they could do the job Moses and Aaron were doing just as well as they could. They came up against them and challenged them. Moses told them to get their incense ready and then God would decide who's to do what. (This is obviously me telling the story in my own words. If you want the real deal read Numbers 16 eh!) Anyway the end of the matter was that God was not happy with them trying to be something they were not meant to be. God had given them a job to help in the tabernacle. They were not to run the show! So after they get swallowed up into the earth for this sin of rebellion, I began to think.. hey.. I was given a place.. don't take it lightly and don't look to be something I wasn't given to be. So I was given to be a mom and wife and that's just what I ought to be about doing. (Nothing new here folks.. just a good reminder.) Also the fire went out and consumed up the rest of the folk who were burning incense that shouldn't have been. And if that wasn't a good enough warning to the rest of the nation they began to murmur again the next day and the wrath of God was kindled and the plaque began spreading through the people. So Aaron took his incense and ran into the middle of the people and stood between the dead and the living and the plaque stopped! 14,700 people died that day and were it not for Aaron interceeding as it were on the behalf of the people many more would have gone too! My thought was on the power of prayer then. So if Aaron can affect a change through intercession on the behalf of the people then perhaps I can affect a change through intercession on the behalf of my children. I need to pray for my children! Ok.. so that's the product of my first journaling experience.

Here are some pictures of the kids playing at the park. This picture was obviously the end of the roll and it makes it look like chloe is leaning forward there just to stay in the picture and not drop off the "end of the roll" as it were!:)

Halloween......

2007-10-31T10:30:00.000-07:00

Today is "Halloween" to most of the known (canadian) world at least. Often when this day comes we as christians are at a loss as how to go about handling it. I've done a good many things in days gone by. I've went to play games at someones house with other christians. I've lived in places where it's unlikely to get any visitors(such as those good matheson sideroads) and i've hung out in the dark. The last two years we've began passing out candy with bible materials. (Living smack in the middle of a town has a way of making you deal with this issue!!) Although we are not at all saying halloween is something we want to participate in as we do not go out with our children and we do not celebrate it as if it were a wonderful thing. We however are not against passing out the gospel to those who freely come to our door. What about you? What will you or did you do for Halloween this year?

Motherhood

2007-10-17T02:38:00.000-07:00

Bandaid was to help her stop scratching bugibtes we are scheduled for a long overdue family photo on saturday!
He's a toddler for sure now.. He looks so much more grown up with his hair cut!
Hehehe... what a cutie!
This is a picture taken by our friend Stephanie Feltham who had come saturday with her friend Victoria(pictured here with us) for a nice visit.

Being a mom is very rewarding and sometimes very challenging. I wouldn't want to have it any other way!! I find in those moments that I feel like i'm losing the battle are the moments when you can lean the hardest on the Lord and come out victorious! I've been challenged in my parenting lately in the sense of, am I doing this God's way or my own way. I read somewhere that we go to the bible for godly living in other areas of our lives and yet somehow neglect looking for how to "train" our child God's way. I am challenged to consider a commen known verse of scripture and rethink what it means. ("train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he shall not depart from it" ) I wondered what the verse meant. Did it mean do your best and hopefully he will follow the Lord?? Is this a promise that if you train a child in godliness he will for sure follow God?? I am beginning to lean toward the latter idea. I want to take God at his word. I do believe the bible in it's completeness to be the inspired word of God. I therefore should believe what this verse says. So thinking it over makes me reasses then HOW I am training my children. Am I merely giving them an outward appearance of godliness that will be shunned in later years? How do I train my child so that when he is older he will not depart from the things of the Lord?... I am still pondering such things...

Around the town...

2007-10-11T17:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is a lot of posts all at once but i can only upload 5 photos at a time. So these are some shots from the town of King's Point and some from rattling brook. These two towns are one after another along the coast.
This i took just to prove i was really there too.. (someone was supervising these little cuties!)

There was a fishing boat just coming into town so I thought the children would like to see the boat. Once we were right at the side of the boat we could see the sunlight shining in the water below and could see a bunch of fish swimming around! If only i knew how to work those fishing nets!

Haha.. the pictues you often think are terrific just aren't so great once you get them developed! But this is the bridge over the brook coming down from the falls. The falls are the little white specks just to the right of the red tree!!
Now this was a neat find! This is a pottery shop of one of the local newfoundlanders. The wood they used to make the outside posts and deck above is quite something. Inside the store they have similar gnarled wood made into shelving stands! I was tempted to take pictures of the inside of the pottery shop but i didn't want to look like to much of a tourist. :) I bought some bakeapple jam. Now for those of you not familiar with newfoundland I am told this is something native to newfoundland?? Bakeapple berries. That's the name of them..when i first heard tell of it i thought the girl was saying baked apple pie.. (what do i know eh?!) So it's pretty good stuff i tried it out on some toast tonight! But at 8.50 a small jar i probably won't be adding it to my regular grocery list anytime soon! Also bought a nice pottery candle holder with a whale on it. Check out the Pottery website too!.

So it was a nice day with the children and it was nice for mom to be able to enjoy them enjoying God's world!

On the Trail...

2007-10-11T17:10:00.000-07:00

On our recent outing we walked, as far as a mother with two toddlers and a baby in stroller could go, up the trail to see the waterfall at Rattling brook. The trail followed the water and the children here are catching a glimpse of the rushing water along the way. This is mom at the same spot only daring to get a little closer to see what was up ahead:)
Baby Nahum is pretty cool with whatever is going on.. Chloe however tripped and fell while we were looking at the boat before going on the trail and took a little chunk out of the palm of her hand. So... she wasn't as happy to be going down the trail as the rest of us were but was convinced to go by me allowing her to ride in the stoller with Nahum!:) I didn't know she could fit in there! John patiently enduring my picture taking!
Can you see the waterfall just up and to the right of John's head? That's as close as we could get... But i still think that this is a neat picture!!!

Newfoundland Scenery...

2007-10-11T16:42:00.000-07:00

The Children and I took a ride to King's point and Rattling brook today. It's about a one hour drive from where we live. I came across the place a while back on another trip and wanted to go back to devote some time to looking around. It's geourgeous really and my pictures don't do it justice(novice photographer with a disposable camera!) but we really enjoyed the day.
This first picture is on the road going into the town and you can just make out the little houses in the village on the far side. This is once we were in the village looking back to where we had come from.
Well this was an attempt to get some driftwood in the foreground and the fishing boat in the background.
Can you spot John?? This little picnic stop is across the road from a very large waterfall which is hidden behind the trees on the left in this picture. The falls however start at the top of that hill! Pretty neat.
Haha!! I love newfoundland... northern ontario we get moose.. newfoundland has moose and whales!.

2007-10-07T17:30:00.000-07:00

Where there's a will there's a way... I got a disposable camera put onto a cd and voila!! We are back in business here on the blog! Chloe and John are becoming quite good friends. They have their moments but it became very apparent the last few days when Chloe spent a couple days in the hospital. John was often asking... "Where's OE" as he fondly calls her. Chloe was in the hospital 2 days as a result of asthma. I didn't know she had it but am glad to find out what is causing all the troubles for her. She is back home now doing much better. She's got some puffers and medicine to get her back to normal and hopefully we can help her control it for the future. And John is sure glad to have his "friend" home again to play with. Well one of these days I'll figure out how to turn sideways pictures around but for now you'll have to do the "hold your head sidways" look to check out this pic of John in one of his favourite spots outside in our yard..
Baby Nahum is getting that same campsall baby "chubby" look to him. He's a very happy kiddo. He's starting to follow the other two with his eyes as they play about the room while he happily watches from his "mat".
Me and my little Newfie!! Yes folks.. we have produced the first ever Campsall newfoundlander!! Yes By!
1,2, 3 Jesus loves me... Ah my little people.. this was part of a photo shoot i had one day.. I'm not the greatest at taking pictues so I thought I'd try and put some effort into it! This is taken in our living room. One other neat thing and a prayer request too is that about a month or so ago Dave met a man hitchhiking one evening on his way back from a business supper. He told the man that he needed to get home to see his kids for a bit but if he was still at the gas station needing a ride in an hour he'd come back and take him home. Well it turned out he needed the ride and dave drove him the 40 minutes or so to his home. I remember praying for Dave to have opportunity to speak with this man of the Lord. And also to find some encouragement in spiritual matters. So when Dave returned home he said that with a few minutes of starting on the ride this man confessed his need to get back to things of God!! Dave said the man was interested in coming with us to the meetings on sundays. So every Sunday for 3 weeks we returned to his home to see if he would come.. he was never home. So the next 2 weeks we were not able to get out to check for him but the next saturday which was two saturdays past now he called us up! We were glad to hear from him.. but.. not only did he call... he had moved into the same town as us.. and not only that.. he only lives 2 blocks if that away from us!! So he's been to the meetings with us the last 2 sundays. He's a very humbled man as he is seeing his need of help to overcome sin. He used to attend meetings elsewhere in years gone by but had stopped going and had fallen back into his sinful lifestyle. So last sunday before getting out of the van he asked how can you be sure you are going to heaven?! Dave pointed him to the verse in 1 John 5:13 "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that YE MAY KNOW that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. "
Again tonight he asked "how do you get saved at your church..like do you go up to the pulpit or what.. i've seen people going up and then a bunch of people crowd around you and put their hands on you and pray..." Dave pointed him to another scripture that says " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved"(Acts 16:31) Suggesting to him that it mattered not where you were or what position you were in but how your heart was before God. He also shared how often times in the midst of sin his heart would be sorrowful knowing what he was doing was not right... This man is certainly looking for something that he hasn't quite found but we trust that the Spirit of God is working in the heart of our friend Hilary and it won't be long before he can say "Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now I AM FOUND, was blind but NOW I SEE!" Will try and keep you updated.
Also one other bit of interest is that at our meeting today we were told that 32 chinese folk who are currently in Gander schooling to become pilots attended the morning meeting!! The saints as led of the Lord changed the regular meeting plan from sunday school to a gospel meeting so as to share the good news that Jesus died for them! I pray that they will return again next week.
One last thought... My mother once had a saying posted in her kitchen and I have never forgotten it.. it went something like .."If tasks are not done no one will remember... if people are not won God will not forget!"
Amy

Quilting

2007-10-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

When can you really say you are a "Quilter" is it when you have finished at least one quilt..maybe when you've finished two??? or maybe when you're actually good at doing it?? Whatver the case.. for the purpose of this post I'll say I am a quilter:)I had the opportunity about 3 years ago now to join a quilt guild in matheson ontario. I didn't know a thing about it. I had only taken a sewing course maybe a year before that.. so needless to say i wasn't the greatest seamstress. But i took a course with the guild and the below picture was the result. I made it for Amanda (Cooney) Hayes for her birthday and sent it by mail to Ireland where it currently resides:) Since being in Newfoundland I also found a quilting shop that did courses so I took an evening course while I was pregnant with Nahum. (Thanks dave for my once a week night out!) So this is the quilt I am currently working on as it never got finished before our move to our new house in may and the baby coming in June! This is a double Irish chain single bed quilt I am making for my little sweethear Chloe! She'll come in and see me sewing and say.."are you sewing my quilt!?"

I will post more pictures of the quilt when i get a bit more done. Also I also started one just after moving to Newfoundland and finished a couple weeks ago one for my husband Dave. I will post a picture of that one when i can get it from him long enough to do so! It's very rewarding to be able to make things that are useful and people enjoy having... so yeah.. there you have it... another post!!!!
Love Amy

OVERDUE!

2007-09-27T03:47:00.000-07:00

Well seeing as my babies were all overdue isn’t it fitting that this post is over due as well!!
Sigh.. Motivation to blog is much hampered by the loss of a camera to put up pictures. So I thought I’d get to writing my birth story about baby Nahum who is 13 weeks today! June 18th was the actual due date… but as happened with my previous 2 children the day came and went .. still no baby. So in one sense I wasn’t surprised. But after having a c-section my first time around and having a successful VBAC I didn’t want to end up with another c-section if at all possible. I spoke with a doula friend of mine and thought I’d give a few days and try the castor oil route (as I did with John) So dave took the 21st off to see what would happen. N-O-T-H-I-N-G. Haha so Dave went back to work. Over the next week I had cramping on and off especially at night which felt like early stages of labor.. but still nothing. On Monday the 25th I went in to see my doctor who said she had already scheduled me to be induced the next day at 8 am!! Wow.. I wasn’t really ready for that.. so I talked with her and asked her to give me more time as the baby was showing no signs of stress. She gave me till the 28th now. Not much more time but at least I felt better to have a few more days to see if baby would come on his own. So with things scheduled in we had a friend from the hall come and get the kids on the Wednesday afternoon. Thanks Margo and Jim!! (Here’s a little side story) Then dave and I went inside and sat in the living room and were chatting for a few minutes when we realized… we had no children ..that was the first time in almost a year that we had had this happen… so I said to dave.. what are we doing sitting here!! Haha So I said why not go out for supper. So we went out to Jungle Jim’s for supper. Was really good. Then we took a drive for fun and then went back to Murph’s a café for Tea and dessert. What a treat! OK back to the original story here.
So we had to be into the hospital for 8 am… after a good wait and some decision making after talking to the doctor and another phone call to my doula friend Julie we decided not to have them break my water as he wanted to do but take the gel option which isn’t recommended for women who’ve had c-sections…(Yes yes always going against the flow here!)So that was given to me at about 12 noon. After that I did start having contractions about 3-4 minutes apart but for any who’ve been in labor before they were still walkable talkable. So not too intense.. The doctor had only given me a sic hour dose so would be back around 6 to see my progress. It was nearing 5 PM and I was beginning to think that I’d have to see the doctor again and he’d have to do something more which I wasn’t at all interested in! So around 5 Dave and I tried a little technique my friend told us off in my last birth. Within about 5 minutes my mucus plug came out and thing started to progress..(started to get ouchy!) So Dave began counting for me.. I would tell him when my contraction was coming and he’d start counting down so I knew how many seconds left till I reached the hardest part of a contraction when it would start to slow up again! What a difference that made! He hadn’t tried that in the last delivery but I’ll say we’d try that again the next time. So anyway, (my room was right outside the nurses station) the nurse heard me laboring away I guess so she came in to check me and said my bag of waters was bulging and she tried to break it during her exam!( wasn’t to pleased about that but whatever eh?) She didn’t succeed but after she left it was only 4 or 5 contractions before my water broke on it’s own. Then things were a little more intense.. 4 or 5 more contractions and I said Dave.. I feel like I gotta push! I told him to get the nurse to check me again.. I was fully dilated with just a little rim left so I was instructed not to push quite yet.. I was still in my hospital room too so they got me in the wheelchair and headed me to the labour and delivery room. (It’s really hard NOT to push when you FEEL like you need too!!) Once there they were waiting for the Doctor.. so once he arrived they said OK now you can push… I remember turning to the nurse beside me and asking… ok how do I push again!! Haha.. I remembered my last birth my doctor said don’t push like that! So I needed a little reminder how to push more effectively.. chin to your chest (why this makes a difference I don’t know but it does!) and of course the old time saying push like you’re having a poop!! Haha.. that’s so funny. Ok so 4 or 5 contractions with 2 or 3 pushes each.. and Nahum had arrived! So from 5 till 6:27 wasn’t too bad a labor time I’d say!! I had a nice big tear which I got a few stitches for but that healed up and all is well! We had picked names only the day before on our "Date" . Matthew Benjamin and Nahum.. (interesting combination now that I look at it in writing) but Dave was holding the baby while I was being stitched up and Nahum just seemed right. And then we were thinking what’s the middle name? I just thought.. hey .. we haven’t named anyone after Dave and he was holding him at the time, so… welcome to the world Nahum David Campsall !

Nahum at Nine weeks(today)

2007-08-30T11:44:00.001-07:00

Nahum David Campsall!!

2007-08-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

So I finally had a friend scan some pictures in for me. So here's chloe and john and dave enjoying a little cuddle on the couch.

This is for you mom!! You wanted my belly picture:)The new mom. A very happy happy mom!

Baby Nahum visiting with daddy at the hospital.
Nahum starting to settle into what is now "the boys" room.
Sorry it took so long to update you all on my happenings. Life is going well with everyone and I'm enjoying my new family. Thanks aunt dot for all your comments.. comments are often what give bloggers encouragement to keep blogging... (hint hint to all others) hehe Talk soon

2007-08-29T05:12:00.000-07:00

Well this is the only picture i have available on the computer at the moment to share with you of our newest little addition Nahum David Campsall born June 28th, 6:27 pm. Weighing in at 8 pounds 9 1/4 ounces and measuring 19 and 3/4 inches long. He's 9 weeks now and is a quiet happy little fellow. We are very blessed. This picture is my sister sarah holding Nahum while we were both visiting my parents back in Ontario just 2 weeks after Nahum was born!! We camped through the states on our trip out and back. It was quite fun. Chloe loved helping daddy set up the tent and get the fires going. We enjoyed sitting by the fire for bedtime story and singing and then drifting off to sleep under the stars. The weather was great so there were no major troubles that way either. Thankyou Lord!! We're now back in newfoundland and have been here one year this weekend! Hard to believe really. I'm sorry we missed all our sothern friends on our recent trip but we only had 10 days to get to northern ontario and back again so it was a quick trip. Well I will post our birth story soon for any who are interested. So nice to be back online again!!!

More pictures!

2007-06-05T02:59:00.000-07:00

Mommies baking helper!
Dad and the kids.
This is in our new house on the deacon's bench. How do you get two kids to look at the camera and both be smiling their best??? They make it look so easy at Sears!!!
What a handsome fellow!

Last but not least. May I introduce Brian George Ian Ratschmeier! (He's definitely a cutie and I wouldn't mind claiming his as mine!..) but this is my brother and his wife Lori's newest addition born on May 25th. Congratulations! He's a keeper.

2007-06-05T02:42:00.000-07:00

Well we finally found a way to get my pictures back! Good ole Walmart!:) This is John learning to brush those pearly whites.Chloe wanted to have a picnic for their snacktime..
In Grand Falls there is a playgroup where I can take the children to play with others and also to interact with other moms. They have one here in Bishops Falls too but it only runs once a week. So this is the children at the sandbox there. They never miss out playing in the sand when we go! I guess i better get a sanbox for the yard here for the summer!!
For those of you who remember we were able to purchase thanks to a little blessing from the Lord and a little bonus from Dave's work, a van for our growing clan. We are so thankful for it. In the back of this picture is the shed behind or house and some of the garden/lawn.
What can I say.. she's my cutie!

Settling In

2007-05-31T08:27:00.000-07:00

Well i didn't realize how long it had been since I last updated my blog! The camera is still out of commission but I am almost done a disposable so maybe i can scan some pictures??? I shall try soon. So the update... We got the keys for our new place on the 27th of April. On the 28th, bless them and thank the Lord!, some saints from the gospel hall and 1 friend from dave's work came to help us move! We rented a uhaul and had to make just two trips to get everthing from here to there. Only a couple items were broken which I didn't really have any attachment to so that's quite alright:) The men were able to bring my piano in the front door and it still works so I'm more than happy:). On the Sunday we attended the meeting up in Gander and took a break from all the business. Then on the Monday evening we ended up at a cabin at Osprey Landing Cottages. We had stayed there before so we knew it was a great place to stay. I spent the week with the kids at the cottage with very little phone contact or hardly seeing another person and I had no real work to do ... let me tell you under normal circumstances i might have gone a bit stir crazy but after all the work of packing and business of paperwork in trying to buy this home i was glad of the break in many ways.. i did little but keep the cabin in order and play with the kids and sleep sleep sleep:) What a treat. The house needed to be completely rewired during our electrical upgrade so it took longer than expected. 2 weeks instead of 1. So for the second week we decided to try staying at the house while the work progressed. That was a hectic week with two kids running around and wires everywhere but we all managed and the work is now done and paid for and we are truly thankful to have it that way. The one workers name was Dave and he had a saw for cutting the holes and such but John didn't like the noise... so everytime dave came in to work John would run and begin to cry " noise, noise!" hehehe. Chloe on the other hand didn't mind the work and quite the opposite tried very hard to help and make them laugh. She often offered up cookies to the men who happily took them and she even sat on Jim's knee while he was puting the outlets back in and chatted away to him.. he was very obliging. Anyway the weeks since then we've just been unpacking and puttering a little everyday to get things organized here. Dave has done a renovation to make the one bedroom into two by building a dividing wall and making a second door so each of the kids have a little space to call their own. soon they will be referred to as the boys room and the girls room. A friend asked me the other day how many days i had left till the baby was due.. i had never thought of it in terms of days but just 19 days to go!! I'm feeling pretty good but have had the chance to slow down quite a bit in the last little while so i get a nap in just about every day and do little more then the average housework. So I'm thankful for that. The Lord is bringing all the little details together about who will watch the children when i go into labour and dave has already asked for a couple days off spontaneuosly in the next month:) So I'm less worried about that..(why should i have worried anyway! it doesn't help anything eh!??) :) Dave has a summer student helping him at work now and is thankful as she seems to be a pretty good worker. Also another man arrives for an interview sunday monday this coming week for a senior metallurgy position which would be a boss for dave but he is glad of it as it relieves him of some responsibility and gives him an opportunity to do the work and not have to deal so much with the workers which isn't one of his favourite things. We are continuing to be involved with Friday night bible study out in Grand Falls. Last week we had to mormon fellows call to join us. We were pleasently surprised at the opportunity to share the gospel through a study of the life of Joseph without any real opposition. They have called back to return again this week to the study (held at our home) this friday night. So pray about this opportunity as Dave feels the need to be more prepared if there does happen to be a situation arise where they desire to dispute the truth. Our garden ventures hopefully will be succesful this year. We have a few plants started and also from the previous owners there is a well established strawberry patch and 4 good bunches of Rhubarb:) guess i know what i'll be making a lot this summer.. strawberry rhubarb pie! Anyone got some good recipe i can give a try to for the combination of strawberries and rhubarb? Well it's getting close to my nap time!! hehe.. so for now I hope this satisfies those who have longed checked here and have found nothing! My apologies.. hopefully pictures won't be too long in coming.
God Bless
Amy

Moving Day

2007-04-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

Hello to all. Well camera is still not working so no pictures yet... Maybe next month! I did want to update on our current happenings. We get possesion of the little house i linked to in the last post on Friday this week!! Yay!! We can move our things in on Saturday but we are still unsure as to wether we can stay the weekend due to the water not being on there. But we have to have an electrical upgrade done before we move in for good and that is to take approx. 4-5 days. So dave and I have an idea to rent a little cabin not to far from here that we rented when we were originally looking for a place to rent when we first moved to newfoundland. It was nice so we may be able to have a mini vacation at the same time!! It will be nice however to get settled again before the new baby arrives in June though. This is our first home that we have owned and we are very content that the Lord brought it all together!!That's the major update... Dave's busy at work and the kids are keeping me busy. Hope all is well with all of you.

I'm still here!!!

2007-04-02T09:27:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of blog news from this end. Dave somehow deleted the program thing to get the pictures off the camera onto the computer.. and somehow I feel speechless without pictures! hehe. So I notice in my last post i mentioned that we were renting a house here that was up for sale... guess what.. IT SOLD!!! And we didn't buy it.. so May 1st is our moving deadline. I said to dave I'm glad it's now and not right at the time the baby is due. (June 18th) And he said to me.. it seems to come with my pregnancies.. a move about 2 months prior.. hehe. With chloe due at the end of october we moved the first of september.. and with John due near christmas time we moved for the first of october!! Anyhow... so we are on the move... not sure where just yet.. we are currently thinking of buying a little place http://www.generationrealty.ca/Listings/338mainst/338mainst.htm
you can check it out at that link. Other than that there isn't much else on the table.. maybe we'll have to rent again.. but this is all in the Lord's hands.
So for now we are busy packing up and sorting out details about buying a home..
As for the children.. I am pictureless but the latest is chloe is in the potty training stage and I am not willing to give up as I've been at it now for ages.. she goes when I put her there(on the potty or the big toilet) but has rarely ever told me she has to go. She has started recently to tell me just after the fact so I can change her.. so maybe someday in the not to far future a toilet trained toddler will be on my list of accomplishments as a mom.. hehe. It would be nice if she was trained before the next baby arrives in June.. thus only 2 diapers to change not 3:)
She is a joyful little thing that loves her daddy to pieces(and I dare say he's quite fond of her as well) She loves to color and is quite able to memorize and say her verses at sunday school. Last week she had "It is time to seek the Lord" She's so funny she can say all 5 or so memory verses that she has already learned and along with her list of verses she also rhymes off our phone number! 8493 hehehe.. not sure how those all came to be in the same connection in her little brain but it's cute:)
John is this hustle bustle ball of energy that follows his sister all over and tries to say anything that she says(which is just about anything!) He loves horses and I will often see him riding our stick horse around or any stick type thing saying "neigh neigh" He's getting quite efficient at eating soup with a spoon. He's very smiley but is still quite mommy dependent. Dave is willing however he said to me on Sunday to work that out.. even if it means a few weeks in the nursery letting him get some excercise with his lungs..so we shall see!
My pregnancy is going fine. I do have low iron this time around but am hoping with some diet changes i have made to improve that. I have an appointment this week as well.. Every two weeks now!!
So this is our update.. God Bless!

Playing Outside... Spring is in the air!

2007-03-01T09:05:00.000-08:00

This is our house on 11 Peronne Road in Newfoundland! It's for sale if anyone's interested hehehe.

It was such a beautiful spring like day out today that the kids and I took full advantage of the beautiful day with a walk to the bank and then playing in the yard. Now they are both peacefully resting in their naps!! Yay. Nap time is a nice time..

Well just a quick note here to let you know we are out here still! Have a blessed day all!
Love Amy

"The Look"

2007-02-24T11:04:00.000-08:00

Well Chloe has got "The Look" down already... Haha. Just thought I'd post a few pictures of the children as of late. Things here are going well. There have been a few days where we feel spring coming! We were delighted to find out that the growing season here is better than Timmins and even Sudbury!!! (sorry guys!) hehe But we hope to be able to plant something somewhere. It seems every year we have a garden but we have moved so often that we have never had the chance to make a good go of it but have been blessed with what we have gotten from it. We are still new at gardening however so we will keep at it and hopefully learn from all our attempts:) John is starting to chat more now. He often repeats what we say and is beginning to imitate animal sounds. Chloe and him are starting to get along better which i'm very thankful for. John is still very clingy to mommy and I hope that he will be a little more independent before our new arrival in the summer. We are planning a trip back to ontario in the summer but no firm plans. I'll keep you all posted. (A quick dip down to say... Lincon Nebraska might be nice.. but Dave may have something to say about that!!) hehe. Chloe also said her first memory verse at sunday school last week!!! God is love! What a big girl she is getting to be. Oh!! I had another ultrasound done on friday. I was pleased that Dave was able to get the afternoon off. He took the children and got some needed paperwork done in town while I was at the ultrasound. This time I got to see the baby and get a picture!!!:) How thankful to the Lord I was for this unexpected opportunity. He knows our hearts! So thankyou Lord! And thankyou Dave for taking the time.
Well both the children have had the flu of some sort this past week. I hope dave and I escape without getting it. But John is back to normal, and Chloe although not throwing up is still not a big eater and is lacking in energy but is on the mend. So again thanks to the Lord.
Ok that's all for now Have a blessed Lord's day tomorrow!

2007-02-14T05:12:00.000-08:00

Well last night the children and I made a party for daddy. I emailed dave at work with the subject "party tonight" his response... "party?... count me in.." hehe so we put up streamers and balloons and put on the red table cloth with fake flowers and all hehe. We had heart shaped pancakes with our sausage and potatoes. And chocolate cake with vanilla frozen yogurt for desert. It was fun. Then we played with balloons in the living room and went for a bried walk outside with the children. Then the children went to bed and Dave and I had a nice evening just visiting and chatting. Our company that's been living with us I asked to spend the night back at her own home so we enjoyed our time. Happy Valentine's Day to all!!
PS.. we did our little party last night because I have quilting tonight..(you just can't skip quilting you know!!!) hehe
Love Amy

Nobody Knows...

2007-02-09T09:39:00.000-08:00

Nobody knows of the work it makes
To keep the home together,

Nobody knows of the steps it takes,
Nobody knows--but mother.

Nobody listens to childish woes,
Which kisses only smother;

Nobody's pained by naughty blows,
Nobody--only mother.

Nobody knows of the sleepless care
Bestowed on baby brother;

Nobody knows of the tender prayer,
Nobody--only mother.

Nobody knows of the lessons taught
Of loving one another;

Nobody knows of the patience sought,
Nobody--only mother.

Nobody knows of the anxious fears,
Lest darlings may not weather

The storm of life in after years,
Nobody knows--but mother.

Nobody kneels at the throne above
To thank the Heavenly Father

For that sweetest gift--a mother's love;
Nobody can--but mother.

~~ Author Unknown ~~

2007-02-09T02:18:00.000-08:00

Well these are some of the recent snack attack photos in the kitchen. Chloe as you can probably tell isn't too willing to share her cheese and crackers with John. Also there is the "dish doing" view, also referred to as the kitchen window in many homes! Love the Campsall Clan

Recent Happenings

2007-02-08T09:28:00.000-08:00

Today the sun is shining bright and the kids are both napping as I type away! I finally got batteries for our camera! Took pictures.. and alas.. i cannot find the cord to plug the camera into the computer:( So pictures will be forthcoming if I can find the cord(maybe Dave will know)

Anyhow. The Lord provides in ways that we just can't imagine and can hardly begin to thank Him for! Recently Dave got a bonus from work for the New Year. Also.. our old station wagon has recently been laid to rest as the shaking and backfiring were a little too much for the old beast to overcome! Thus we were in need of a new vehicle. Seeing as our family is expanding just about once every year or so we thought a van may be helpful as a next vehicle. We found a 97 plymouth voyager, green in colour and grey interior with double sliding doors just under our budget by about 100 dollars!! What a blessing from the Lord. We are so pleased.

Also.... Dave found out (get this!!) by talking to the car dealer that there was a QUILTING class starting up in town here. (I wonder how men in a car dealership get on to the topic of quilting!) Anyway happy for me.. Dave told me of it and offered to watch the children if I wanted to join the class!! What a gem! So I was there with smiles at my first class on Wednesday night. I chose pink (and if you know me at all you know I'm not a big pink fan) to make a double Irish chain quilt for my daughter Chloe. It's a twin so should do her till she's married! hehe. I'm quite thrilled and it gives this mom a little break to do something just for mom.

Other than that Dave is busy at work these days. Lots to do and they have hired one fellow from Europe who is here now for about 3 months. Also another fellow arrived from Ireland yesterday I think Dave said. All to be working with Dave. So it keeps him on his toes at work and often snoring on the sofa at home!:) It's amazing how they can sleep through children jumping and squealing all about them when they are tired!!

We still have our houseguest staying with us and I've had my ups and downs about the situation but a verse came to me today.. If a man asks you to go a mile go with him twain.. is that paraphrased? but most of you will know the verse I mean. It made me think that when we go the extra mile to help others in the name of Jesus what a great blessing He bestows on us. I've not always been a willing participant in this time and have struggled with my own emotions and feelings of having company in my home at all seasons. She has been a blessing in helping with certain chores and watching the kids now and then so I can have a shower or just run up town to do a couple errands without the children. We are still praying and trying to help her find a place for her to live and to be able to get her children to. So we will continue to pray and seek the wisdom and help from the Lord in this matter.

Ok enough babbling on for now I'll hopefully get a few pictures of the children and the van! up on the site in a day or two.
God Bless, Amy

Wife first Mommy Second

2007-01-29T08:18:00.000-08:00

Hello folks.. I was looking through some stuff on my computer and came across this article I had done up for another blog a short time ago. I thought it might create some chat on here. Let me hear what you have to say on this subject!!
Wife first Mommy second
Can you think back to those beautiful days of your courtship with your husband?
What a wonderful time. I can remember (and I still have them all in a box!!) the letters that my husband would write before we were married. He knew I liked tea so he used to send me tea bags in his letters. I remember the excitement of sitting beside him at chapel! I remember the first time we held hands. We shared a lot in those times about what kind of future we could see. Children were definetely high up on our list of things to do
After we said "I do" things just got better between my husband and I. We were now one. A constant friend. Someone to lavish my love on. He had my full attention… then it happened. We had a baby.. my attention.. diverted… and then we had another one… more attention … diverted… and now.. we are expecting another…do you see the pattern!?!?!
Obviously the Lord planned families this way.. husband and wife first.. then when that relationship was established he sends children. But what happens to that first relationship? Our husband wife relationship should be a top priority. Somehow from behind the mountain known as the laundry pile, and around the new carpet of "toys" and the sink pile of dishes we need to divert our attention back to our "first love" Our husbands!!
First, build your marriage on the foundation of Christ. Second, I don’t think there could be a more healthy thing for our children than to have mommies and daddies who are totally in love with eachother. And a love that shows even when the children are around! With a lot of one parent families and a divorce rate out of this world we have to take the time to make our families work. I believe a child can be more secure about themselves if their surroundings are secure.
I like to think of marriage like this, the word marriage could also be said like this "merry- age" It’s supposed to be a happy thing! So how do we keep it that way?
Think about this. How do we speak to our children about their dad? Do we always speak kindly of him or do we say things like. OH!! Your father is so..!!! Your Dad doesn’t know how to do anything right…?? The Bible speaks on this subject of our tongue. Blessed is the women who can keep her tongue!! When you are positive about your husband it gives your children every reason to think the same way.. and thus when dad comes home from work.. they will be glad to see this wonderful man mom talks about during the day. Not an ogre waiting to pounce on the first thing he sees!!
What about when your husband is happy. How does he then relate with his children? We all know how fun Dad can be. If we take the time to tend to our husbands specific needs he will be happier and so will we when we see him playing on the floor with the kids or out throwing snowballs in the back yard!! My marriage is not perfect (close) but not yet there! I have a few ideas that I have used trying to accomplish this task of diverting my attention back to my husband.
Don’t let a day go by without saying "I LOVE YOU!"
Do special things just for him. Make his favorite batch of cookies. Send him a love note in that lunch you pack for him!! Make the effort to be interested in how his day went. I try and pick a quieter moment in the evening.. for us it’s generally when little mouths are full at the supper table… to ask " how was work today"
Pray for him! Being a leader of your home is a great responsibility.
Date night. Need I say more??!! (but I will!) We haven’t been much for spending a great deal on expensive restaurants and elaborate nights out. Instead we have done other things that don’t cost and yes sometimes were held at home after the little ones are tucked in! Sometimes we’d get out a puzzle and some snacks and visit over a puzzle! Hey don’t knock it we have some nice puzzles hanging on our walls and a memorable night to go with it. Sometimes it might be a walk with the kids in the strollers.. did you know you can push a stroller with one hand and hold your husbands with the other. Sometimes I’ve taken the effort to create a personalized game or thing to do. This week we ended up putting the kids to bed and ordered in a pizza and watched Narnia and Loves enduring promise( picked by my husband)oh yeah.. he bought me flowers too when he went for the pizza and dvd’s!!
Well I suppose there’s lots that could be said. I would love to hear anyone else’s ideas on this subject!
God bless you and your husbands!
"The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life." Proverbs 31:11&12

Lessons in life

2007-01-23T01:59:00.000-08:00

Well friends I have been a little slow to update on things here. I had an interesting "funny" the other day. I was chatting on msn messenger with my brother and I was telling him about my blog. So as usual I typed in my site address but had left out the "s" on the end of campsalls... hehe well he clicked on the link and to his surprise(and mine later when i clicked on the link) he arrived at a mega bible site!!!! hehe.. imagine a small typo leading him to a BIBLE page.. we had a good laugh (well at least here in our house we did!) sorry Ian!!
Other than that life has changed a bit here. We generally have a friday night Bible study with other believers here in Grand Falls-Windsor as Gander ( 1 hour away) is quite far to drive for an evening midweek meeting. Recently there has been a coupl and 1 single fellow who have been joining us. Leon seems to us to have the desires of a new born again believer and we praise the Lord for this. However he is quite a troubled man and needs quite a lot of guidance and encouragement which is for us becoming a challenge to know when to stay up to all hours of the night speaking with him or to call it quits for the night and speak on the subject again another night. So you can pray for Leon. Also recently the couple Calvin and Debbie that have been coming have needed more help as well and prayer!!! They both claim to be born again... Calvin's dad being an elder in a gospel hall out here.. but satan has got a hold of Calvin through drink violence and drugs. He recently went on a bit of a drinking spree and beat debbie which resulted in him being arrested and in custody where debbie cannot see him. They also have 4 children which have been in the hand of children's aid for several months now. Debbie desires to have them back and doesn't harbour hard feelings against Calvin. She has been staying with us the past few days now while Calvin is being now moved to St. John's either in the mental ward or to the penetentiary(?) This is sad as we would have liked to have opportunity to visit him and speak with him concerning the Lord. Please pray for us as we seek to help Debbie and for the spiritual aspects of this situation as well.
Also another incident as of late was my recent ultrasound. I think the Lord uses all kinds of situations to teach us valuable lessons in our walk with Him. .. So to set the scene(as they say! hehe).. I had spoke with Dave about him taking the day off to help with the kids and to come to the ultrasound.. he is quite busy at work as of late and they have had a few men paid quite a bit for every day they are there helping the company. Dave has been the one working with these fellows and needs to be there to get things done.. so he wasn't sure about the day off but said he'd try.. monday.. not sure about getting friday off.. tuesday.. not sure... wednesday.. not sure.. thursday... still not sure!! I only know 3 women in town that could have taken the children for me.. one was out of town.. the other was going out of town for the afternoon and as I found out later the other one was already busy babysitting elsewhere.... Friday morning came... Dave did not think it possible to take the day off.. (thank the Lord he did however have the opportunity to leave me the car!) So.. I had no choice but to take a 2 year old and a 1 year old to the ultrasound with me. I prayed. :) It was if nothing else to be calm! The lady stopped short and sternly told me what an inconvenience it was to have the other children in such an exam.. (didn't I know it!!) I felt bad but I didn't have much of a choice. So with John in the stroller and Chloe on a chair beside the bed she reluctantly proceeded. Part way through I could smell it... (yes moms you know that "smell" ) what could I do but hope for the best... she didn't for some reason want to sit on her chair anymore.. so Chloe got down and began to wander in the room playing in the curtain hanging from the ceiling.. John began to cry.. and fuss... Chloe banged her head on something while playing in the curtain.. I thought at this point I could almost see steam coming from the lady's ears..(and was that blush she was wearing or the red of frustration?) She did however manage to get the ultrasound done... with an abrupt.. you're done.. with children screaming and fussing.. a poopy diaper to tend with and a super full bladder to empty.. she did not allow me to see the baby on the screen nor had I time to wait to buy a picture... I came home and put the children to bed and cried. I was quite disappointed... upset? hurt? wasn't this just the worst most terriblest thing that ever could have happened.. OR was it??? I checked my email and found dave had emailed from work to see how it went... should i tell him!! hehe i did and then I took a nap.. After this I began to look at the fact that.. my world had not ended.. life was no different now than it had been hours earlier before this exam.. This "disaster" had not affected or deterred the work of God nor had his kingdom suffered any loss.. what seemed to me sooo important.. was in the light of eternity.. quite small.. I know that God cares for me.. and in this disappointment has comforted me with his word and presence. So I think for me the lesson learned is that even though it was a disappointment.. I can trust God to work things out for the good, for those who love God. ... So I have no ultrasound picture to show but I have one more lesson learned on the road which is called life!!!
Have a blessed day all
Love Amy

2007-01-10T06:35:00.000-08:00

Here are some of our recent at home pictures doing what we do best... Having fun!!!

2007-01-10T06:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I only managed ONE picture from Bev Bondt's(Clarke's) wedding! But, it does prove i was there! She was absolutely gorgeous and the ceremony was the nicest i have seen. I was quite pleased and shocked to find that Ross Kearney, an old friend from KLBC (Kawartha Lakes Bible College) took the wedding ceremony! (Except for the official ring part which the pastor of their church i believe did) . She had christmas trees with white lights sparkling behind her as the ceremony took place. They had a unique candle lighting part where the mothers light a single candle each and then Bev and Joseph took each candle, representing themselves and lit the candle in the middle.. but the candle in the middle was a 3 wicked candle which they explained represented the three fold tie in their marriage of Joseph, Bev, and the Lord!! What a nice picture. A wonderful time. I saw other friends as well, Sean and Hailey Cuthill, Matt McLeod and his lovely, very pregnant wife! Ryan McLeod also and Josh and Colleen Mc Faddeon(hmm.. i don't know how to spell their last name!) Also Little Amanda Hicox!! Hey.. she's married and pregnant. I did meet her husband Joel. A very nice fellow.

Well, Dave and I had booked into a hotel with a pool so between the ceremony and the reception we took the kids to McDonalds and then for a swim in the pool. John was not fond of this but Chloe after a little prompting and encouragement enjoyed a good little swim with mom and dad! Dave offered to keep the children in the hotel for the night and put them down to sleep while I caught a ride to the wedding reception with Ross,Leanne, Holly Christy, and Heather-Lynn. It was so nice to catch up with old friends. It had been i believe near 7 years! Thanks for the opportunity Bev! And thanks Dave for being gracious enough to oblige to the whole trip!

The only bad patch we hit in our whole adventure was a snow storm in Newfoundland on our way to the boat.. and thus.. the boat ride over was..hmm.. BRUTAL! hehehe Chloe began the ride by puking on Dave. she didn't take long however to fall asleep after this. Thank the Lord. John.. wouldn't sleep a wink till around 4 am! we arrived in Nova Scotia at 730 am.. so.. needless to say it was a sleepless type night.. he wasn't too quiet about it either.. and mothers... you'll know the feeling of a crying baby in a room full of tired sleeping people isn't the best thing for your relationship with those people! Anyhow.. a stewardess was nice enough to show me to a nursery room with a rocking chair because walking was really hard on such a swaying boat... well let me tell you something i discovered... if you want to be sea sick.. sit in a rocking chair on a stormy sea!! And that i did... John quite contented himself playing on the floor while i took care of that business.. and i soon after found the sleeping daddy and ... plunked john there and fell into my seat.. I don't know how he does it.. but Dave took all of 10 minutes to get that boy to sleep!!! hehe Other than that the weather, travel and children were all wonderful!!! What a trip!

Holiday News

2006-12-27T05:56:00.000-08:00

This was part of a Christmas present Dave made me. Dave had organized for me to have this piano last Christmas!! But with the snow in northern ontario it wasn't possible to get the piano until my birthday ....in APRIL!! hehe But i was more than thrilled to have a piano. It however had no front board to cover the piano. SOOOOO... for Christmas this year dave made a front cover. He stained it and routered a verse and design on the front! Isn't it beautiful!!! I love it!. Thanks Dave!!!

Our first newfoundland Christmas was nice. We however were ll struggling with a cold and cough but we were at home where we could just relax. Our landlord came by a few days before and passed me in a turkey(and a big one at that!) and a ham! What a blessing. So I went ahead and cooked a turkey dinner... I have only ever cooked a turkey once before in my life.. well.. it was pretty good.. I even remembered to take out the inards this time!:) We had stuffing and cranberries.. all the christmas stuff... just for us.. now.. we have enough leftovers to have soup, stew, sandwiches, casseroles, .... anyway.. the freezer is full and we are blessed. The kids both got a few clothes which is always handy, and some books. We spent a little time reading a few verse cards together and daily devotionals to help us remember the Lord over the season. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas too. I would love to hear how your family celebrations went. Please leave a comment!

OHHHHH I almost forgot! We leave Friday for Bev Clarke's wedding in PEI. As usual with us Campsall's arrival time in PEI according to driving time and ferry schedule is 2:00 pm sautrday afternoon. The wedding you say?... 2:30 pm!!! Hehe.. see you there(oh.. if you're not going.. i'll post some pictures when we get back!:)

Happy New Year

Love the Campsalls

2006-12-22T08:31:00.000-08:00

This is john

this is Chloe!!

2006-12-22T07:55:00.000-08:00

This is chloe getting ready to go sliding with daddy

This is the newfoundlandcampsalls

Amy, David

John, Chloe

Just a little update

2006-12-22T04:36:00.000-08:00

Well today is an at home day with my children.John turned one yesterday!! I dressed them up and took them out to the play group. Chloe loves the playgroup. This morning she woke up early because she wasn't feeling well so i brought her down in our bed. While dave was getting ready for work she began telling us about yesterday. She said she played in the sandbox. Played with toys and sat in a chair and had a snack. She is really a chatterbox now but it is so lovely. Well John was officially walking on december 14th and also learned to stand up without help and just go! on the 18th of December. Also on the 20th of December i heard the new baby's heartbeat at the doctor's for the first time!! It was a relief to me cause right now i can't feel any movement and i feel normal..haha.. not that im not normal when im pregnant but i feel well so hearing the heartbeat gave relief that all is well in there!!! We expect , hopefully a fellow from Dave's work to join us for christmas as he is from Bancroft Ontario and is here alone for Christmas. Lord willing we will all benefit from the company. Dave has only a half day of work today and a special lunch then he is off till after christmas. Yay!! I am still working on a quilt to give him for christmas. I need to get a move on though. Im a slacker!!. What else is new here. Oh, i've started reading the book called Peace Child. It should be good!. Well that's all for now. Hopefully in the future i'll be able to post some pictures of the family. God bless for today
Amy

Welcome to my blog

2006-12-18T18:27:00.000-08:00

This is so exciting!! I love the idea of having like a family update page so i can keep track of me and the family and let you all know how we are and what the Lord is doing out here in good old Newfoundland. This is very new to me.. soooo heeeerrrree weeee gooooooo!!!!
Love amy