The ocean makes me happy. Ask my family, and they will tell you mom’s dream vacation is basking on the sandy beach, sitting on a beach chair with a good book. I love sand on my toes, and I don’t even mind the sand that magically appears on towels, shoes, floors, kid’s hair (except Zoie) and eventually, every bag we pack… it’s like taking a piece of the beach back home with us. As a child, I would spend every waking moment on our beach trips until the darkness made the water too scary to swim. My brother’s and I would spend hours jumping and riding waves with my dad, as my mom waved at us sitting on the beach with a book. I didn’t understood then how wonderful it was for “mom” to get a few hours break from mommyhood and relax. To me, it looked really boring.

When the Campbell’s announced we were going to the beach for a 2-day getaway, I was the one jumping up and down ecstatic with the kids! The little beach hotel was 40 miles from Pignon, but a rough, bumpy 4.5 hours drive. We were all up for the crazy journey and packed our bags with swimsuits and beach toys. Jennifer gently reminded us we were still in Haiti, and the hotel was a little rough around the edges, but it was right on the ocean. We didn’t care, just the idea of fresh fish and ocean breeze was worth spending 2 nights with 2 full beds and 5 people. After all, we are on an adventure! We were so thrilled our son, Michael joined us for his college winter break, and we were excited to bask in the Haitian sun together as a family.

The hotel was full. Seriously, the manager at the front desk gave us the bad news with a nervous smile, “Sorry, come back in a few days, we are all full. No rooms.” I gulped down my enormous disappointment and tried not to cry in front of the six kids holding on to their buckets and sand shovels. The UN had filled most of the rooms, and a medical team was coming in the next day, so the hotel was stuffed full to the brim. In a last ditch attempt, Bill Campbell asked if there were any rooms for just tonight, and we would pack up and leave the next day before the team arrived for the weekend. The manager, with relief, welcomed us to Hotel “Cormier” with a warm smile and agreed to a 24-hour stay. We all ran to our room (1 King bed only) and ran to the beach. We were not going to miss a single second of beach fun.

It was paradise. A little piece of heaven carved out in Haiti, only a few miles from the dirtiest city I have ever seen in my life, Cap Haitian. The sand was soft and the waves perfect for playing and snorkeling. We ate homemade ice cream mixed with a sprinkle of sand and played until the hotel served dinner at 7pm. Meals were included in our package deal, so we could eat lobster and not worry about the price. I ate Lobster Friccasse, (lobster with butter & garlic) the best vegetable soup, and homemade Haitian bread. Roger and I took a romantic walk and much to our surprise …. basked in the huge orange full moon. We had no idea we just watched a rare lunar eclipse seen from around the world, with front row seats on the beach.

The next day, we all decided to play at the ocean until noon check out. Inside, I was a little sad … not wanting to leave and cut our R & R short. I told all the little girls to hold hands and pray for a beach miracle. We prayed and asked Jesus to let us stay for one more day. I made a big circle in the sand (thanks to my favorite book!) Can you imagine our surprise when a few hours later, the owner himself, came out to greet us and announce we could stay one more day!!!!! We made quite a scene celebrating the good news, even the UN were cheering! I love God-surprises! Later that day, our son went kayaking with “Captain Bill” and when their ship capsized, Michael’s foot slammed into the coral rocks below, and was speared by a black, spiky sea urchin. I know he was in terrible pain. The staff yelled for someone to pee on his foot (I promise!) and later explained that the spears were calcium and would eventually dissolve in his foot, ordering us not to dig them out to cause infection. Finally, the pain eased and he returned back to the beach to soak his foot in saltwater, instead of pee. We enjoyed another 24 hours playing, eating, swimming, snorkeling, and making sand castles on the beach.

Living 6 months on the mission field, has been non-stop action. As a family, we were so grateful for the 48 hours to chill out and relax together, doing absolutely nothing. We are grateful for the family for inviting us to join them at the beach, and also enjoying time for R & R. We all felt renewed and energized and refreshed to go back to real life living and serving at Haiti Home of Hope orphanage. It’s a tremendous amount of work raising 40 children and caring for the community of Pignon. The Campbell’s constantly amaze me. This year, they are celebrating their 10th year anniversary living in Haiti. We are so honored to learn from them what it means to live James 1:27.

The biggest fear of a missionary is passion burn-out. If you don’t take the time as parents to rest and relax … you set yourself up for major burn out no matter where you live in this world. I think one of the greatest gifts you can give a full-time missionary, is the gift of rest. If you support a missionary, prayerfully consider sending them on a R & R retreat and I promise it will be a priceless gift of love and support and restoring passion! Jesus Christ is the ultimate Life-Giver and our source of passion. “He breathes life into us in all its fullness, comprehensively and completely! If we play sports, we should play hard. If we’re musicians, we should create heavenly music. If we love photography, we should search for the perfect moment with perfect lighting. If we’re coffee lovers, we should drink good coffee with gusto. Only a passion-filled person can live dead; a passionless person cannot.” (Live Dead Journal, missionary, Brett Nelson- South Africa, Burundi & Madagascar)

Do you support a missionary? Prayerfully, consider asking God to allow you to financially bless someone, and restore their passion on the mission field.

To learn more about our ministry, Simply Love click here and support our 12-month mission adventure.

I love being a mom! I can’t believe the adventures being a mom has brought to my life. I’ve had the honor of mommyhood for 19 years and grateful for the hours and days and years I’ve spent with my three beautiful children! The ups and downs and challenging mom days have prepared me in so many ways to have the courage to face the new dreams in my life. I’ve made so many mistakes through the years, I lost count after the first year of my son, Michael’s life. Every day is an opportunity to grow in love, wisdom, forgiveness, prayer, perseverance, and faith. I often tell my friends, I wake up every morning grateful for another day my kids are making good choices, and committed to living a Christ filled life. We all know life is hard, and parenting never gets any easier, no matter where you live in the world.

I think the greatest challenge this year has been mentally, asking myself countless times, am I a good mom on the mission field? It was the scariest decision to bring our two daughters, five year old, Zoie and sixteen year old, Hannah with us on our mission-adventure. Making the choice to home-school was easy, but actually homeschooling scared me to death. The fear rippled through me for months, can I really do this?Will I ruin Hannah’s education? Can I do a good job? The fear kept me up at nights, and even though the theme I rewind over and over … do it afraid played in my mind, like a broken record, I really had no idea if this was going to work out. It’s amazing the people God put in my path to encourage me as a mom on the field. Mom’s came out of every corner helping me pick the best programs and reassuring me, I could do it!! Even though, I doubted, I moved forward with baby steps and a whole lot of prayer. I’m happy to report, homeschooling my girls has been such a joy and privilege this year. They have both had great attitudes (which really helps) and have handed me the gift of grace. The last thing Zoie’s preschool teacher (my best friend) told me before we headed to Haiti was, “make every day count and don’t mess this up!”

Michael and Hannah and Zoie have made big sacrifices going with Roger and I on our 12-month mission adventure. Believe me, I’m reminded every single day sleeping on bunkbeds, and taking cold showers … battling killer mosquitoes and critters when we go outside our little cement house. I’m constantly worried about one of us getting malaria or worse, dengue from the day mosqs. At night, when the voodoo drums are pounding, I wonder really how safe we are in the village of Pignon. This much I can say, Jesus has never failed us. He has been faithful and caring and patient with our family. It’s so hard for me to understand WHY He asked our family to give our stuff up and go. He could never have picked a bigger wimp than me. Seriously, I’ve lived life as safe as I can … just ask my family and friends. They will testify that I am a big chicken, that I like being comfortable, that I have been at times, selfish with my time and money. I’ve lived many years thinking only about me and my needs. It breaks my heart to think of all the time I’ve wasted in my life. I feel embarrassed knowing how many people I’ve hurt in my past, due to un-forgiveness and selfishness. I’m the last person in the world that would have thought God would ask to serve as a missionary. Writing this, I have tears streaming down my face, because I know how many chances God has given me as His adopted daughter. He never gave up on me, and continues to hold my hand as I learn to live in His will. I will be forever humbled and grateful that God gave me grace grace in every area of my life, and decided to take a chance with me serving and loving big on the field. I’ve lived an out-of the box life and I know what a privilege it’s been to have the family I grew up with and the unique opportunities being Gary Smalley’s daughter gave me the past 46 years. I try to call or text my parents often to thank them for being the best parents and believing in me, even when I didn’t believe in me. I’m working on forgiving myself most of all … asking the Lord to allow me for the rest of my life to share the gospel and serve Him through Simply Love ministry anywhere in the world where He needs me the most. Am I willing to go? Yes, I’m willing to continue to be stripped, and used, and molded to do the purpose God called me to do. Am I scared? Oh yeah!! But, I don’t want to waste another second of my life not doing what He has called me to do. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

So, am I a good mom on the mission field? I pray that God works through all my crazy mistakes and failures as a mom, and … I want my three children to have the courage to take risks, try new things, obey God at ALL costs, and never be afraid to live a God-adventure. I hope I have in some crazy way, modeled for my kids to serve big and love big … no matter what you have to give up in life, no matter where you live in this world. God can use us if we are willing to simply love.

What are you willing to give up to live a new God-adventure?

I’m so excited to share a special post written by my husband, . You can follow along on our mission adventure from a man’s point of view on his facebook page

Roger shares: I’ve heard voodoo is the national religion of Haiti, but I never really believed it. Within the first four days of being in Haiti, I came face to face with a “real” witch doctor. I was with our missionary friend, Bill Campbell and their Pastor at the home of a family that we were building a new home. While we were there, the witch doctor that lived next door came over to say, “Bonjour.” Pastor Clebert whispered in my ear that he was a witch doctor, but when I looked at him, he didn’t actually look like a witch doctor. He was dressed very simple. Wearing tattered jeans, Hawaiian t-shirt, and a baseball cap. I was expecting a witch doctor to be dressed more like a … witch doctor. Wearing a grass hula skirt, chicken bones necklace, long dreadlocks, face paint and blood shot eyes. After I got past my disappointment of his wardrobe I wanted to learn more about him.

As Pastor Clebert walked toward the witch doctor, I quickly join him as he made his way over to him. As we walked up to the witch doctor, Pastor quietly said to me, “One of his girlfriends goes to my church.” As we approached the witch doctor, he instantly greets Pastor with a smile. Again, I wasn’t expecting a smile or a warm greeting. This was a meeting of good vs. evil. This was Darth Vader vs. Luke Skywalker. I wanted to see the light sabers drawn and a battle of good prevailing over darkness. Instead, I got small talk and laughter. Pastor in between sentences would translate as the witch doctor was said, “bonjour” to me and welcomed me to the community. I didn’t want to hear “how are you” and “good to see you” shallow type of conversation. I wanted a showdown!

In the hype of coming face to face with evil I wanted to fight, but in my heart I could hear the Spirit very loudly say, “Be quiet. Just pray.” I was promptly reminded to pray for the witch doctor’s heart, for Pastor Clebert, and the unseen forces at war for his very soul. As I started to praying silently, Pastor changed gears and began sharing the gospel with the witch doctor. After much talk between the two, pastor turned to me to share with me that the witch doctor said, “His time is not now.” I blurt out to pastor, “How will he know when ‘now’ is? He could die tonight and miss the ‘now’ .” Pastor asked him that question and they went back and forth in Creole with me just standing there between the two trying to decipher by their hand gestures how the conversation was progressing. Finally, pastor tuned to me and said to me that he said he will know when the “now” is, but the “now” is not today. In my mind, I wanted so bad to witness the witch doctor fall down to his knees in repentance just like at the end of movie with the bad guy begging for his life and the good guy gives him a second chance. Instead, he would remain in darkness.

Special note: The photo of the little boy with red dreadlocks, is actually a child who has been dedicated to voodoo religion. When Haitian children are sacrificed as babies to witchcraft and voodoo, their hair grows in red. This is NOT a made-up story, it’s the real deal. Please pray for this precious boy to come to know Jesus as his personal Savior. We will continue to witness to his family in Pignon.

Arriving at Haiti Home of Hope orphanage I’m immediately swarmed and surrounding by kids. I have boys jumping into my arms, onto my back, and hugging my legs. The kids don’t let go they are holding on for dear life. As I try and make my way to the house I notice two boys quietly sitting on a bench. Instantly, I’m captured by the smile on their faces. This wasn’t just a smile, but a smile captivated by joy, happiness, and gratefulness. I changed my direction and headed over to the bench.

They are brothers, both blind, and have been living at the orphanage for about two months. Later, once we got settled and the other boys ran off, I learned that the boys were found naked on a dirt floor in their home that was made out of sticks and mud. Lemonez is 14 years old and weighed in at 38 lbs. and Cozo is 11 years old at 29 lbs.

Their family of nine was originally in the Haiti Home of Hope feeding program, but due to the lack of funds they had to cut the program for a short time. Once they got the program up and going again they noticed that a few of there families were missing. So, Bill and Jennifer Campbell went out to look for their “missing” families to check on how they were doing. Upon arriving at Lemonez and Cozo’s home, they immediately saw the circumstances … it wasn’t good. Picking up the boys, their father begged Bill and Jennifer to take them into the orphanage. He was an older man who was a widower. He just didn’t have the resources or the strength to take care of the boys. Without hesitation the Campbell’s took the boys up into their arms and put them in the back seat of their big 4×4 pick up truck and headed home.

The boys now have comfortable beds to sleep in, three meals a day, and a lot of fun. (I’m holding Cozo in the photo with Lemonez hanging on my shirt on the 4-wheeler.) Plus, they have Jesus in their hearts. They are so excited about what Jesus has done in their life that the first thing they want to do when they first meet you is sing. And, they sing really loud! That is what I want to see for the witch doctor, for the hopeless, for the fatherless. To be excited for Jesus! To be grateful. … thankful … happy … joyful for all he has done for us. Regardless, of the hardship we are facing right now or how many presents we have underneath the tree we can find love wherever we are.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalms 118:1

Year End Giving

We are currently raising support for the year 2012-1213 as missionaries with Simply Love. We have raised 30% of our support goal and thankful for our mission-hearted friends giving, praying, loving, and supporting our family’s mission adventures!

We ask that you prayerfully consider giving to our ministry, Simply Love as we serve on the mission field in Haiti, Nicaragua, and Ethiopia. We have our TOP 8 financial needs listed here for fundraising on the field.

You can subscribe to our Simply Love e-newsletter here or click on the icon email news on the home page.

Year End Giving: All checks must be postmarked by December 31st for 2012

tax credit. Contributions can be mailed to:
Simply Love Ministry
706 North Lindenwood Drive
Olathe, Kansas 66062

My Crazy Adoption bloggers “save the stamp” and donate online by clicking the following link:

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• OPERATION:HAITI is our paypal donation link.

 

Post edited by writer, Kathi Woodall. You can check out her blog Grow Barefoot here.

My Life Is Crazy Too is a new series of reader submissions. This is your opportunity to share stories about life, love, and mommyhood to provide understanding, hope, and compassion in the unique situations each of us face every day. Today’s crazy guest is You can follow Jennifer on Facebook .

I should have known that I would never have what others would consider a ‘normal’ life. I was always a little different from those around me. Okay, my siblings would say weird! I never worried about being popular, which worked out well, because I never was popular. I had my group of friends, and did the things I wanted to, wore the clothes I liked.

One desire I had as long as I can remember, was to live in a foreign country. Not just to visit, but really live. I also wanted to go and care for the poor, feed the hungry, nurture the sick. This was always a desire of my heart, even before I was a Christian. My grandma used to tease me, and say I was part gypsy, so I just chalked up all those strange desires to that strange part of me.

When I was 17, I enlisted in the Army National Guard, and spent 8 years in it. I loved it. I spent the first part of those years moving around the country, Texas and North Carolina, doing those things I wanted to do. I knew in my heart that there was a God, who was calling me to Him, but I was not ready. I was aware that once I submitted my life to God that it, my life, would no longer be my own. I just wanted to do things my way for a while longer.

Although I would never admit it to anyone, living life my way was losing its shine. There was a deep desire in me to serve God. I caught myself at times singing some of the old hymns. I would stop, because I felt it was not right to sing hymns, living the way I was. I also had a longing to be in a church. I didn’t understand these feelings, so I continued to push them down, and ignore the gentle tugging from God. I dug my heels in, insisting on my way for a little while longer. There was time for God later.

In the fall of 1989, I was in a very serious car accident. On my way home from working the night shift, I apparently fell asleep, and hit a semi truck head on. I was life flighted to Duke University Hospital, where they literally saved my life, and put me back together.

Suddenly, I was unable to do anything I wanted to. I had broken bones and internal injuries. Because of a severally broken leg and arm, I was in a wheelchair for 2 months. My jaw was wired shut. My life was no longer mine. I had to be waited on and helped with the simplest tasks. I couldn’t even eat.

After I was able to walk again, I decided to fly home to KC, to spend time with my family. I planned to be gone for a few weeks, at the most. That was my plan, but I had no idea what God had planned for me!

Within weeks of arriving in KC, my life was completely changed. I found that I really did not want to go back, that I wanted to stay for a while, and go to college. I signed up for some classes, found a job, and moved in with my aunt. I started attending church with her and my uncle. It was at this point that I recognized my need for a Savior.

Another great thing that happened then, I met the love of my life, Bill. We met at church, and fell in love almost immediately. We were married in just under a year. Our son, Jesse, came along, we bought a house, and acquired a dog.

For once, I was leading a pretty normal life, going to church, homeschooling Jesse, teaching Sunday School. I am sure my family was glad to see me settle down! But I would still, on occasion, have the feeling that there was still something more out there waiting for me. But that was silly, right? I was sure that was my old nature trying to assert itself again. Was I in for a surprise!

God was about to grant me the desires of my heart.