What a pleasant surprise it was for me when I received word from my friend, Stephanie that the folks at Wild and Free requested two more months worth of writings from her and hoped that I would do the photography again! Again, thanks to the way Stephanie set up learning time for her kids, the candle creation that her son made was one of the results. It made for such fun photos! My favorite quote from the article reads, "By giving our child the time, freedom, and space to embark on their own learning processes and chasing the rabbit trails (or in this case the dripping wax goodness), we get the beautiful opportunity to witness the magic of joyful learning, one curious, connected moment at a time." To read the articles, sign up at https://www.bewildandfree.org/bundles . They not only release about 20 beautifully designed articles to download every month, but you receive their magazine.

It was quite surreal as I looked through Wild and Free's magazine for the month of December and recognized my photos on page 19. It was also fun when Ralph was looking through it later and said that he liked the Christmas Carol photo without knowing it was mine! What an honor to have my work published alongside Stephanie Radcliffe's beautifully written words in this encouraging homeschooling magazine! I am so grateful for this opportunity given to me by Stephanie and Wild and Free these last five months. In faith, I am trusting that God is using this how He wants to. I continue to seek Him with my next steps and in full reliance for our daily needs. May He get all the glory through this. To check out Wild and Free, go to: https://www.bewildandfree.org Front cover of magazine (NOT my image)

I say this constantly. It hasn't changed. Parenting is the hardest thing I've done and I do not believe anything will top it. It's not an uncommon writing for me when I get the chance to share my thoughts publicly. To add to the challenge, I homeschool. I could be doing a lot of other things right now. The amount of ideas that I have paired with my skill set and training could have me in a different situation than I am now. Yet, here I am, still choosing to die to most of those things. Nothing is more important to me than the spiritual, emotional, and physical wellbeing of my children. What life is supposed to look like next year, five years, or ten years from now is unknown for me. I rely on God to direct me, not my feelings. I certainly have ideas, but that will never change as I am an innovator. If and when to implement my ideas, I continue to lay at the feet of my King. I made mention in another blog post that I counted about 13,000 photos captured last year. That doesn't count videos or my clients work. All three of my boys love to document, too. Nuts, right? I just upload most of these photos right now thinking, "oh that's a good photo" and it stays on my hard drive. I can't even finish this writing before one of my children comes in to the room. That's my reality and I am convicted by God to remain in it. I don't love every minute, but I choose it. I have three boys that need constant direction and supervision. I cannot sit and stare at a screen all day just to satisfy my desire to produce. So, I treasure most of the photos and believe that some day, some of them will have a greater purpose than just taking up storage on my hard drives. God sees and knows. I don't fully know what will come of all of the photos and videos that I can't stop myself from producing, but having three boys that share in this same interest, paired with my encouragement and investment in them, this could be something bigger than my mind can fully comprehend. Until then, I will do my best to love and raise my sons in the way they should go, pointing them to Jesus all the way. That's all I've got time for, but I am sure those that struggle to spend more than two minutes on one thing will be satisfied. ;) I get it, don't worry, no judging. Much love and appreciation to my ADD readers who still hop on here to look. :) If you wanna spend another thirty seconds on here, below are photos that my boys took while testing our new lights. Liam, my creative twelve year old with the same constant desire to produce as me. Devin, our tender hearted, mechanically minded eight year old Connor, our five year old spitfire who steals my phone to take photos and videos every chance he can get. This blog post was written and edited by me. I believe in the authenticity of real people, faults, typos, grammatical errors and all. I also believe that God is intentional with the words that He gives me. If you enjoyed this honest writing, please consider subscribing  to our blog to be updated about what God has been doing in our lives.

There's a shift in the winds surrounding the Campbell household. I have noticed it since September, but haven't taken the time to articulate it until recently. That writing is not ready to be released yet, but I am pretty confident that God won't let me get away with not sharing it. Even though I didn't want to write, He has His ways of saying nicely, "too bad." Ha! Rest assured, I'll be saying the same thing to Ralph as he DEFINITELY needs to write about what's been happening, too. :) Photo Credit: Liam Campbell, our 12 year old Though God gave me the reverse title of, "Earning More Than Learning" today ( the reverse of this writing series ), we are not there yet. This kind of thing is not uncommon for me to experience in my relationship with God. He sometimes gives me thoughts about people or things that haven't happened yet. I have to wait the days, weeks, months, or years until what He has revealed to me happens. And because this sort of thing both weirds me out and scares me at times, I do not rush into what I am sensing He is wanting to share with me. I do NOT want to act ahead of, or incorrectly understand something from the Creator of the Universe. If I am being honest, I am tired of and somewhat embarrassed to say that things are shifting again. However, I would rather go through this than be disobedient and ignore something that God is clearly pointing us towards. Living by faith is challenging. Very few get it and even less choose it. Photo Credit: Connor Campbell, our five year old I take comfort in knowing that Abraham, Moses, and David didn't lead a nation when they were younger. Just like myself and Ralph, they had to learn how to hear God's voice and obey. And through the time leading up to those points, He still used all of their failures to prepare them. That's where Ralph and I are. We've fumbled a lot, we're being challenged greatly in our faiths, but we haven't stopped seeking God first and looking for opportunities to give Him the glory. 2025 will look different than 2024 and 2023 because life following Jesus is not monotonous. Photo Credit: Liam Campbell, our 12 year old If you are reading this, know that we are praying that God uses this to draw you closer to Himself. It's truly our motivation behind why we have this other blog. We long to be used by God to point you to Him. Being transparent in our writings along with sharing (hopefully) captivating photos are one of the ways I believe God wants to use us. I know for some of you these posts can make you feel uncomfortable or even angry. Thank you for still being supportive of Ralph and I and reading anyway. For others, I am encouraged to hear when these help you see that you are not alone in what you are going through. Thank you. Seriously, thank you, for reaching out to me to tell me that you read it and were encouraged. It probably goes without saying, but I am a words girl and TREASURE those texts! Like I say in our bio, this blog is Holy Spirit led. Never do I want it to become something that is forced or just for the sake of releasing content onto the internet. I share when God says to share and sometimes I shut up for months when He says to be silent. Other times, I just don't have the mental capacity to touch it with three boys and now two cats. Brown Tabby is Hunter and black tuxedo is Echo Below are some photos from this past year that I never took the time to share publicly, like going to Tennessee twice, Kentucky once, New York twice, and people coming to see us. Also, we were blessed with Sea World/Aquatica annual passes which our family really enjoyed. My favorite moments still, though, are the simpler ones where our family is in the word, enjoying a home cooked meal, playing a game, hanging with friends, or hiking together. Those moments help us all grow closer together and learn to be content. May 2025 be a year of healing and restoration for you. Whether you have millions, thousands, or hundreds of dollars stored up, you are equally blessed because you have breath in your lungs, a beating heart, eyes to read this, and a mind to understand. Ralph and I pray that you steward all that God has given you wisely this year. Life is short. Love deeply. Live Simply. ;) (These were about 1% of what I had took in the year 2024. Literally I added up what I could in a few minutes and got to 13,000 photos. #problems) This blog post was written and edited by me. I believe in the authenticity of real people, faults, typos, grammatical errors and all. I also believe that God is intentional with the words that He gives me. If you enjoyed this delightful, genuine writing, please consider subscribing  to our blog to be updated about what God has been doing in our lives.

Not a single one wished me a Happy Mother's Day all day. They didn't even know it was. Ralph didn't know until last night when I said, "for Mother's Day I want to hang up shelves and have the lawn mowed." He responded with, " When's Mother's Day?" I answered, "tomorrow" and he said, "Oh!" Liam was the only one who sort of figured it out as we were walking into church talking about the photo op that they usually have set up. "Wait, it's Mother's Day today?" I don't make a big deal out of this day. I don't make a big deal out of most Holidays...especially Hallmark ones. However, I appreciate that the vast majority of America wants to honor mom's and dad's. Heck, even people from certain religions who don't celebrate Christmas or Easter will acknowledge this day. I guess I should, too. Drawing attention to myself and asking to be pampered is just not my idea of fun. However, I still wanted to pause and share some thoughts I've been having. Like the one where I look at my three boys and think, "I can't believe I am their mom." And I don't mean this with an excited tone. It's also not the opposite in having a melancholy one. It's the sobering realistic tone. Nothing more in my life has caused me to die to myself more than motherhood. You can't shut it off, though it may be tempting at times. You can't run away from it, though the desire has risen in my most exhausting and frustrating seasons. Nope, this is my reality whether I like it or not at times. I asked the Lord to be a mother and he answered that prayer by surprising us with Liam. After that, Ralph and I both wanted a sibling for Liam and God gave us Devin. At two years old, as hard as I felt parenting was, I felt like our family was not complete. Ralph was content, but agreed to try for one more. On 7/3 at 7:30, weighing 7.3lbs and 21inches (7x3) long, Connor entered our clan. Through those numbers we knew God was saying, "your family is now complete." And we are. Nothing has made me die more to myself. Whether that sounds depressing to some or not, it's just a fact. I have chosen the harder route in homeschooling and having them around all of the time. I know I can put them in school anytime I want. The temptation has been strong on more than one occasion. But, I have this continuous conviction that comes so strong from the Holy Spirit that I cannot ignore. That conviction is this: I have been given these children by God for a purpose. He didn't give them to anyone else. My boys didn't come to this earth just to grow up and do whatever they want until they die. They are God's incredible creation that He wants to know personally through Jesus. He wants to show His glory and power through them to a scoffing, wicked, and faithless world. And God chose Ralph and I to teach them those things. Though the days seem long, our time is short. It's the hardest thing we've ever done in our lives. Motherhood is easy to start well, but not to finish. Ask any seasoned mom or ones with adult children. My prayer is constantly this: That my children see Jesus in me more than anything else. That they choose to follow him all of their days. That God gives me the wisdom and discernment to raise them in the way that He wants. That I see and love my boys as God sees them. There is nothing else more important than that. No money. No job. No house. No fame. No blog post. No video. May the Lord never take that conviction away from me. I asked Ralph to take photos of me with each of the boys this time instead of all together. I am in love with them and will cherish them forever. What a beautiful perspective I was able to see through these! Liam, our 10 year old. The one that is proud when I call him, "the one that made me a mother." I wanted to show how tall he was in comparison to me. Devin, our 7 year old who is the first to encourage me, express his love to me multiple times a day, and reflect on whatever is going on. Connor, our 3 year old. He's determined to be as big as his older two. It is true what they say. The youngest grows up the fastest. And yet, he still constantly plays with my hair like he has since he was a baby, runs into our bed practically every night to snuggle, and climbs up into my lap every chance he can get. This blog post was written and edited by me. I believe in the authenticity of real people, faults, typos, grammatical errors and all. I also believe that God is intentional with the words that He gives me. If you enjoyed this delightful, genuine writing, please consider subscribing  to our blog to be updated about what God has been doing in our lives.

“Use your platform wisely” were the words God gave me this morning when I woke up and immediately started processing Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Knowing that this man loved and followed Jesus with all his heart, I believe Dr. King would say the same thing if he were alive today. Imagine what he would have said about the fact that practically every person who has access to this thing called the internet had their own platform. How would he respond if he was told that they had the opportunity to say just about anything they wanted on it, and whenever they wanted. Would he like what he saw? The internet, followed by social media, revolutionized our world. Truly, its freeing and therapeutic to say and share whatever you want without much consequence, right? That’s why just about every human on the planet that has access to the internet and a computer or phone, are on social media. They want to be seen, known, and heard. They want to know that they aren’t alone in whatever they are going through. When I became aware of MySpace and Facebook shortly after I graduated from high school in 2004, I thought it was so fun. Being the producer that I am, I loved having MySpace where I could customize the color and design and share photos! Facebook simplified it, but still kept the freedom to post photos and add text. I loved being able to keep in touch with people I didn’t get to see often or that didn’t live nearby. Fast forward to around 2009 when Obama took office. I started to see people posting about him, both good and bad. For the next year or so, Ralph was one of them. He would post things that he agreed with in relation to Obama’s presidency. I started to hear him make comments about people who didn’t have the same stance as him. Eventually Ralph got so mad about all of it that he got off of Facebook and stayed off for the next six or so years. He not only saw it as a time suck, but he didn’t want it to further divide himself from the people that he loved who weren’t in agreement with him. It was a very wise move, for which I am extremely proud of him for making. I have loved what our old pastor in Buffalo, Jerry Gillis of The Chapel used to say about people on the internet. He referred to them as “Keyboard Cowboys.” Any person with a social media account would be lying if they claimed that they have never said anything on it that they would have never said to someone’s face. For many years, I didn’t have the same issue as Ralph did when I went on there. Sure, I saw things other people said that I didn’t agree with, but it didn’t bother me nearly as much. I remained on because I loved people and enjoyed staying connected. As the years went by though, I found myself getting annoyed by various people on there. These were people I had spent time around and whose company I enjoyed. Anyone else found themselves saying, “I like this person better in person than online,” too? I didn’t like how I was feeling. It was all very conflicting for me. At the same time, I was super sensitive about what I was posting and how it might be perceived. Surely there were people thinking the same things about me. Was I creating tension, too? In 2020, with the explosion of Covid, the massive divide it created online and in close relationships, something shifted in me. There was so much yelling, arguing, misinformation and deception that I didn’t know what people, groups, or companies I could trust. Then that Fall, during the presidential running between Biden and Trump, it got worse. Led by the direction of the Holy Spirit, I de-activated both my Facebook and Instagram accounts. During those fifteen months that I was off, our family completely uprooted from Buffalo, NY and moved to Orlando, FL. The only people that knew were the people we told and who they shared it with. It was like living in the dark ages for a time and we were at total peace with that. I didn’t miss social media for one moment. My faith had grown so much. Not long after we moved, I started to feel a shift again. I felt like God was releasing me to be a light once again in the world of social media. He had given me a renewed mission. I re-activated my accounts in the Spring of 2022 just before I launched this website. Ralph and I are certainly not perfect, but as it says on here, we are broken, but redeemed and willing vessels. The internet truly has become like another dimension of our world. We have universally accepted it to be that. I have said many times in the last five years that social media is a world that people treat as more real than reality itself. I am deeply concerned that people have subconsciously switched in their minds that, what they see on the internet is more real than what’s physically around them. It’s also concerning to me when someone begins to prefer the world of YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and whatever other major platform out there, over their own life. I don’t know how to open people’s eyes to that other than to be on it, too. If I desire to see less division, less confusion, less depression, less anxiety, and more revival in the hearts of man, I need to be willing to be present on it to share these convictions of mine. But, alas, I am faced with the problem of how to communicate on it. I am a strong proponent of face to face interaction. What is said when I am not face to face with someone must be thoroughly thought through (hows that for a tongue twister?). This still applies to the person that I am sharing my thoughts with who knows me well. Even then, it can still be wrongfully received despite my best efforts. Last year, our family memorized James 3:7+8 which says, “for every species of animals and birds, of reptiles and sea creatures is being tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison.” We constantly refer to its accuracy. Before sharing anything with anyone, whether on the internet, in a text message, or face to face, I try to remember to ask the questions, is what I am saying true to the best of my knowledge or research? Will it tear them down or encourage them? Respectfully challenging is much different than blatantly stating a strong opinion. I know that Martin Luther King Jr. thought the same way. If I have to share something that is thought provoking or convicting, my body sometimes shakes before I share it. I do not want to cause division. I want people to know that they are loved, seen, and known. I truly don’t want to upset anyone, but I recognize that sometimes words need to be spoken to challenge a person whether that be someone closest to me, someone I physically encounter, or someone in the big, wide world of social media. In the end, when I stand before God, will I have cared more about what man thought or what God called me to? I feel it is wise to consider that now before it's too late. I, like Dr. King am called to something greater than myself by God. That is to accomplish His purposes while He has still graciously given me breath in my lungs. He has given me a love for others that can only come from him, thanks to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. I couldn’t do any of this without HIM.  I could go back to the stone ages again. Perhaps I will, if God directs me to do so. However, I am certain that He has placed me on this earth for such a time as this. He has slowly molded me into a person with a heart after His. I consciously choose to rely on Him every time I say or write something on this blog or on social media. Just like Martin Luther King Jr. said in his convicting speech on August 28, 1963, I, too have a dream. I, too desire to see people undivided. I know that ultimately unity will not be complete until the return of Jesus, as did Dr. King. Yet he still chose to be used by God to speak out despite the horrific tension and division in America. God saw Dr. King’s willingness and used him to help bring forth the eradication of segregation against the African American people. That is why, over sixty years later, we pause our usual work and school days to reflect and celebrate how God used him and the massive impact it has made in our country. I thank God for the beautiful diversity in this nation, have such an appreciation for the differences in ethnicities, and Dr. King played a role in that. Just like my courageous brother in Christ, I am choosing to use my platform to inspire unity and not division. There are “influencers” out there with well over the approximate 250,000 people that were present in Washington, D.C. to hear his, “I have a dream” speech. What would both the real world and the world of the internet look like if we all shared this perspective? Words have power. May we choose to use them and the platforms we have been given wisely. May we be inspired by Dr. King’s actions and our hearts be moved by the Creator, who ultimately moved him. Photo captured by Liam, our twelve year old son. This blog post was written and edited by me. I believe in the authenticity of real people, faults, typos, grammatical errors and all. I also believe that God is intentional with the words that He gives me. If you enjoyed this writing, please consider subscribing  to our blog to be updated about what God has been doing in our lives.

(Photo credit: Liam Campbell) "Before there were blogs, I wrote. Before there were social media platforms, I photographed every precious moment. Before there were vlogs, I recorded. It’s how I was made. If no one but myself saw anything I documented or wrote, I would never stop. For every one photo that I share publicly, hundreds of others have been taken. For every piece of writing that I have shared, dozens were not. For years, I have kept most of it to myself. I don’t like the spotlight. But, God. He is persistent. What would our world be like if C.S. Lewis kept every revelation from God, every imaginative story, or every profound thought to himself? What would our world be like if Paul didn’t share all of the miracles he saw, trials he experienced, and places he traveled to for the sake of the gospel? No one would choose to do those things without the Holy Spirit moving them. His drive to share Jesus was unshakeable. What would our world look like if musicians like Zach Williams who was a former rock singer wrapped up in drinking and drugs, walked away from all of it, and turned back to Jesus, decided to hide in his shame and not do music again? How many people that lived similar lives as he had would have ever come to know Jesus if he hadn’t written down those first Christian lyrics that were swirling around in his head? What do you do when you have been gifted with things that you know God gave you to use for this present age? Even if it meant you had to step way out of your comfort zone and ignore the fear of losing approval from those you love most and care about? Would you ignore the constant groaning of the Holy Spirit inside of you that says, “share what you’re doing with the world?” Or would you risk it, take one little step at a time, push aside every fear, and fix your eyes only on your Creator? 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.' Jeremiah 29:11" I posted the above writing on March 1, 2020 on my photography website/blog just before our world was flipped upside down. I had completely forgotten that I even did. Yesterday, I just felt led to go back into my older writings on my computer and it was the first one I read. I checked to see if I had done anything with it and in fact I had. When I read that forgotten writing, I was absolutely struck by it. It was as if I had written it last week and not over three years ago. How encouraging to see that my God given conviction had remained the same! I struggled for six years trying to act on that conviction until recently when Ralph came home . I am in awe of how God has orchestrated our lives to get us to this point. Ralph's focus is on Tradeway which takes up much of his time, but we are working on making more time for Flipped Lifestyle. Learning what Flipped Lifestyle teaches and then applying it has been a challenge for us both, but we believe that it is a great tool to help my creative mind narrow down an idea in order to generate an income. When we started Simply Campbell, we had no idea Life Surge existed and that nine months later Ralph would be home . I was simply being obedient in creating a website that was designed to do what I believed God had been calling me to do for the past six years. As I wrote in our about page , it was created for whatever God saw fit to use it for. We can see now that God was preparing us. Courtney is the mastermind behind Simply Campbell. She is the creative one. I do not usually think to write, take photos, or videos on my own. I just trust Courtney. Like her, I believe that our story has the ability to help others that are going through similar circumstances. Since launching Simply Campbell, I have been surprised by the amount of people that have had an interest in hearing what we have had to say and that there are people that have wanted to come along with us on our faith journey . This website has allowed me to do many of the things I love: write, sing, photograph, video, podcast (future), encourage, and share Jesus (if only I could add baking...). The cherry on top is that it's all with my favorite person. They say in Flipped Lifestyle that if you love what you do so much that you would do it for free, that's a good indicator that you're choosing a source of income well. We have heavily discussed starting a marriage community called "Simply Marry" that would be accessed through Simply Campbell. I also have been encouraged by many people for years now to publish a book. We have audio equipment to start a podcast. So many ideas... What we know is that God is up to something with Simply Campbell. For those that believe in the power of prayer as much as we do, please pray for us as we seek the Lord on the future of it. As we have shared in many of our other posts, we want God to lead this and be glorified through it. And so our faith journey continues... (photo credit: Liam Campbell)

If you prefer to hear Courtney, Ralph, and their boys share this delightful story instead, click the link below : https://www.simplycampbell.com/podcast/episode/21172408/mouth-guards-at-goodwill It was close to 10pm. Ralph and I were climbing into bed, both exhausted, like we are most nights. Ralph was feeling very discouraged about our financial situation and wished to talk about it. I shared that I didn’t think it would be wise of us to do so that late at night. He didn’t disagree. Things feel much more hopeless at the end of the day after we have expended so much mental, physical, and emotional energy into our boys and work. I don’t like having big conversations when he or I are super tired. They tend to be more negative than positive. I volunteered to pray for us instead. Praying together before bed is something I treasure with Ralph. I have also seen God move in big ways through these times. From my perspective, praying was more effective than talking. “God, you know our situation. It still looks grim but you have promised never to leave us or forsake us. We know that you are in what we are doing, therefore we can trust you. Give us your peace; the one that surpasses all understanding.” In that moment, God reminded me of Philippians 4:4-9. I continued. “Let us rejoice in you always. Let our gentleness be evident. We know you are near, therefore we will not be anxious about anything. In everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, we are here presenting our requests to you to receive your peace that surpasses all understanding. The kind which will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.” It hit me as soon as I said, “guard our hearts.” Our family had just finished memorizing Proverbs 4:23 the week before. It says, “Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.” I love it when God reveals things like that to me. I made the connection out loud as I continued in my prayer. “We choose not to be anxious about our finances, but to trust in you instead. This is one of the ways in which we are guarding our hearts. This is what brings forth the wellspring of life. We pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.” That brought enough peace to Ralph that he didn’t say anything more about our situation. We kissed, exchanged our, “I love you’s,” and Ralph rolled over to his side like he always does. I turned with him, wrapped my leg around his leg, arm around his arm, laid my head on his pillow, and nestled my face into his back like I do every night. We were quiet for a few seconds, but like every night, even though I was tired, my mind was going a mile a minute. I had been thinking for days about getting a mouth guard to cut down on the wearing. I decided to say something to Ralph about it even though we had already said, “goodnight.” With my cheek smushed up against his back I said, “I want to get a mouth guard.” As those words were still coming out of my mouth, a funny thought came to mind so I shared it. “Maybe I can find one at Goodwill.” “That’s disgusting,” Ralph snorted. I burst out laughing. I literally could not stop. This was that uncontrollable, deep belly, abdominal muscles hurting, unable to catch your breath kind of a laugh. The boys were still awake in their room reading. I could hear them starting to laugh, too. Devin asked, “why is mom laughing so much?” It didn’t take long before they all came running into our bedroom. They jumped all around me and were laughing without knowing what they were even laughing about. I could barely tell them what happened without another bout of laughter coming over me. “Ow, my stomach hurts! Oh my gosh, I can’t breathe!” came out in between my hysterics. Ralph sat in silence, not understanding why I was laughing so hard about it, which made the whole thing even funnier to me. The boys were sent back to bed by Dad because I still hadn’t contained myself. In their room I could hear them making jokes about getting mouth guards at Goodwill. “Mouth guards! Mouth guards! Get your free mouth guards!” Liam said. “Ew! No way! I don’t even want it if it’s free!” he responded in a silly voice. A chorus of laughter rang out between our two bedrooms, minus Daddy. Finally, I calmed down. The boys, of course, took longer, but eventually everyone fell fast asleep, still smiling about buying mouth guards at Goodwill. The Goodwill store has become my favorite place to shop. I walk out of there just about every time asking myself why I had been so foolish all of these years to buy so many things new. I knew the deals existed, but I didn’t want to take the time to look for them; especially not when my boys were younger. Now, I can’t even imagine paying full price or buying just about anything new anymore. I love the surprise of shopping at it, as do the boys. They are learning more patience through it. We have a list that we check every Sunday after church to see if they have anything that’s on it. If they don’t, we wait until the next time we can go. Ralph and I have had this convo on many occasions about the foolishness of paying full price for things that do not hold their value. Being in a season where we have been selling SO much of our stuff, it is definitely accurate that most everything you buy isn’t worth half of what you pay new. The next day at the dinner table, it happened again. I started thinking about what I said the night before. The timing wasn’t the greatest as Ralph had just asked the boys to stop talking so loud and making silly noises. My laughter broke the silence. It wasn’t as long as the last time, but it was that same deep belly laugh as the night before. The boys couldn’t help themselves either. I looked at Ralph, who was just looking at me and shaking his head. “I don’t understand what is so funny,” Ralph said; the corner of his lips slightly curving up as he looked at me. He still didn’t laugh, but he didn’t get mad at Mommy for disrupting what was supposed to be a peaceful moment. Very little makes me laugh like that these days. What I shared with the boys at the dinner table after I had calmed down was that this was good, clean humor. I don’t find mockery funny and that’s what a lot of comedy is these days. I am most certainly over jokes relating to the rear end having three boys in our house. I don’t relate to most cultural jokes either because I don’t watch much TV or pay much attention to anything in our media. You’d think I’d be over this thing about the mouth guards, but that same night when I was laying down, Ralph was reading and I was trying to go to sleep. Again like every night, my mind was going. I was thinking that the mouth guard joke would be something that our family will bring up for a long time. I even imagined being on my death bed, one of those respirators attached, the boys are around me, and Liam brings it up. I saw myself bursting out laughing and the respirator falling off my face. I was doing so good with keeping quiet as I imagined all of this, trying not to laugh. I could feel myself smiling bigger and bigger the more I imagined other scenarios. I started to snicker as I was seeing them play out in my mind. Suddenly, laughter burst out again. Somehow, Ralph knew what it was about. “I don’t get why this is so funny,” is what Ralph said and then went back to his book. I don’t know if I totally do either, to be honest. All I know for sure is that since we moved into our 997sq ft house, I have had on many occasions now these deep belly laughs. Prior to living in our quaint home, this hadn’t happened in probably a decade; maybe more. Before we moved to Florida, I have been praying with Ralph for peace, joy, contentment, and patience. The peace, contentment, and patience came for me, but it didn’t feel like the joy had yet. I didn’t stop praying for it, though. As I was laughing at the table for the second time over buying mouth guards at Good Will, the Lord had brought to mind the verse about a cheerful heart being good medicine. It’s from Proverbs 17:22 that also says that a crushed spirit dries up the bones. I am glad to still be taking good care of my body without having to buy supplements or organic food. Those two things are what Ralph and I now call, “rich people stuff,” but I digress. We are eighteen months into Ralph being home and we still have not generated enough to cover our bills (which we keep lessening) and yet God continues to provide enough for us to remain in this lifestyle. Despite that, our family has never had so much peace, joy, contentment, and patience. Mine and Ralph’s faith has never been stronger. It looks and sounds crazy to refer to ourselves as being purposefully poor, but living like that is what has allowed God to fully answer that five year old prayer. You can take my couch. We barely sit on it anyway. If you want our boxspring and mattress, we’ll sleep on the floor. We have never owned a bed frame in our seventeen years of marriage because we haven't cared enough to spend money on one. I’ll sell my wedding ring if I have to. It doesn’t change my commitment to Ralph. It’s just stuff. Our relationship with Jesus, each other, and children are far more valuable. We will continue to die to those fleeting desires and focus our energy on things that have eternal ramifications. To think that this writing was triggered by my joke to Ralph about buying mouth guards at Goodwill. I love how God works. This blog post was written and edited by me. I believe in the authenticity of real people, faults, typos, grammatical errors and all. I also believe that God is intentional with the words that He gives me. If you enjoyed this delightful, genuine writing, please consider subscribing to our blog to be updated about what God has been doing in our lives.

I was teaching my boys how to use our new studio lights. After eighteen years, I sold my older set that was twice the weight and size. The case that held it took up half of the closet. In a 997 sq ft house, that's a lot. Plus, they were dinosaurs in the lighting world. Despite that, they had been so good to me. We set them up in our living room and spent much time trying to figure out how to work their newer technology. Wireless is great, but a whole new beast. Our family spent the next couple of hours playing and taking turns with the camera. Towards the end, Ralph got a call from his buddy, Jake asking if he could swing by and grab Liam to take him to youth group with a couple of his kids. He said that he was coming from work and only had time to stop at home to get his kids so I knew he would be still dressed up. Immediately I said to Ralph, "tell him to come in for a minute to take his photo!!" I quickly adjusted the height of my lights before he pulled in our driveway. I didn't even know if he had gotten the message in time. Seconds later, Jake ran inside our house and into our home studio. "Wow, you guys went all out!" Jake said as he looked around at our set up. We literally spent one minute and fourteen seconds taking these photos. What was so great about doing these was working under the time pressure. In the world of corporate, which is what Jake is in, a photographer needs to be quick...and still get good photos of the people at the company. This was great practice for me. :)

(Photo credit goes to Liam, our eleven year old.) 17 years of marriage. This one is extra special for me because I love the significance of number seven. Also the number three. Add that I am 37 celebrating my 17th wedding anniversary. That’s just fun. As I was reflecting (shocker I know) on this day, I was taken back a little by the number. 17 years. Wow. If there is one number that I can be proud to see increase, it would be this one. I LOVE saying the amount of years Ralph and I have been married. This morning, I was at church at 6:45 to prepare to lead worship. For my microphone check, I started singing “Good morning” from “Singin’ in the Rain,” but at the end I added, “It’s my 17th anniversary and I am singing next to someone who hasn’t even been married for a month.” I love it. I love marriage. I love to talk about marriage. I love to encourage others in theirs. I want to see them succeed. Coming from a broken family, I am very sensitive to this and so is Ralph. I love to love my man. No, marriage is not easy, but it is possible to succeed in it. We live in a country where many people either won’t get married or stay married, Christian or not. It truly saddens me. Marriage is one of the greatest glimpses of what Christ’s love is like. It’s one of the reasons for why He intentionally created it. When done well, we get the ability to experience what forgiveness, grace, and unity is REALLY like. What a gift!!! My heart breaks for the marriages that are struggling to say the same. (Photo credit goes to Liam, our eleven year old.) My love for Ralph grows and changes constantly and that’s because life does that. He has changed. I have changed. In many ways we are still the same people we said, “I do” to, but in lots of ways we aren’t. That's a wonderful thing to me. Seventeen years ago, Ralph would not have asked me to buy a homeless veteran an ice cream cone, instead of getting one for himself and then proceed to talk with him for fifteen minutes. He also would not have decided to sell off some of his gym equipment, which is one of his passions, in order to have more time, space, and money for his family. Seventeen years ago Ralph would not have stepped WAY out of his comfort zone and into the world of entrepreneurship with me.  When we were dating, Ralph told me that he would die for me. At the time, I took that as a literal death. Perhaps he meant it that way, too, but now it means something different to me. This is very vague, but to say that Ralph has died to himself for me and his children is an understatement. I see Ralph's desire to be a better husband, father, and most importantly, man of God. He is willing to be still before the Lord in order to allow every pain and every shame surface so that he can heal. That takes courage and faith. He is not too prideful to be open and gut level honest with me or a friend. Ralph is not afraid to admit when he’s wrong and is always quick to apologize. At one point, Ralph told me couldn’t memorize scripture, and now, in front of his family, he’s reciting the entire armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20). I am more proud of the man Ralph is now than I was seventeen years ago. And that’s not to say that I didn’t genuinely feel that way then. For crying out loud, I wrote and framed a 10x13 list of all the things I loved about him for our one year anniversary! It is a gift and an honor to be married for seventeen years, but an even greater one because of who I am married to. May that be said by many others, too. May there be a renewed, Christ centered love within them. May there be healing and restoration in struggling marriages. God can do incredible things when there is. These posts are written by real people and not AI. If you would like to read more REAL writings by REAL people with REAL gray hair, and REAL varicose veins, click this link  to be notified of our next post! Is it appropriate to end this post with a photo of us kissing on our anniversary? :) (Photo credit goes to Liam, our eleven year old.)

It all started because of my father and grandfather. Both loved to take photos and videos. When I was allowed, I would take their camera and do my own documenting. I am the reason for the obscene amount of photos of my baby brother who was born when I was nine years old. 1995, Nine years old ​ In middle school, I received my first camera.   My  parents would comment that I went through rolls of film too fast. When I turned twelve, they bought me my first digital camera.   It  was all downhill from there. ;) Fourteen Years Old My childhood friend, little brother, and pets were my favorite subjects. I enjoyed experimenting with poses and taking them in unique places. I often tested them on myself, thanks to the camera timer.  (My little brother and friend in 2000) Going into my senior year of high school, I was uncertain about what to focus on. God showed me that I truly loved to document people and special moments. The idea of having my own photography business was birthed out of that. 2002, Sixteen Years Old In order to do this successfully, I had to start somewhere. I started at JCPenney’s Portrait Studio at seventeen years old and worked there for two years. There I learned how to work with people of all ages and come up with poses under time pressure. ​ Though I did well in school, I was not the "spend four years in college" type, but I thought it was my only option so I enrolled in a local college in Buffalo. It was during my orientation that I learned that it would take approximately two years before I could really dive into the photography side. Instead I would be bogged down with completely unrelated classes. I wasn't thrilled about this new reality. Still, I moved forward with attending my first day of college. I went to my psychology class and then had a couple hours break in between that and the next one. "This isn't for me," I kept hearing God say to me. But what other option did I have? I walked to my next class, late, because I was completely unmotivated to be there. My hand was on the door knob about to walk in... ​ "This isn't for me," I heard again. ​ I took my hand off the knob, walked to the library and searched the internet to see if an all photography school existed. I was relieved to find a few. I went home and told my surprised parents. Eighteen year olds aren't always the wisest, but in this specific case, I knew what I had to do. The next day, I went back to the college and filled out whatever paperwork needed to unenroll.   So  I guess you can say that I am technically a college drop out. :-P ​ After much research, phone meetings, and visiting of multiple art schools in places like Tampa, Florida, I landed on a school in Massachusetts called Hallmark Institute of Photography. It was a 1400 clock hour, Mon-Fri school compacted into ten months. ​ At nineteen years old, I chose to live alone in an old house next to train tracks, having no desire to live with a bunch of other artsy young adults (if you know what I mean ;). I was determined not to have any distractions from pursuing photography as a career. I went into Hallmark knowing NOTHING about cameras, exposures, and lighting. It was thanks to this school that I learned the technical, artistic and business aspects of photography. Photo taken by one of my teachers in 2006 At  the end of the year it was required to create a portfolio that was to be judged by three successful, professional photographers who didn't know the students. ​ An older classmate that lived above me saw my portfolio and said, "Oh yeah. This will get one of the top portfolio awards." I had no idea what he was talking about. I didn't even know that existed until the last week of school. When it came time for my portfolio to be reviewed, one of the outside, professional photographers commented," it is evident that you make your clients feel comfortable in front of the camera." I had no idea what an advantage that was yet. (Some photos from the portfolio) As predicted by my classmate, these photographers scored my portfolio in the top 10% of my class. At graduation, myself and four others out of about 100 in our class, received this award of excellence for that accomplishment. ​ All my focus, hard work, and determination had paid off. June 2006 Upon graduation in 2006, I worked for Lifetouch for a year. There I received an award for being a National Finalist in the “Expressions on Underclassmen” category (meaning, I could get people to smile easily). Though I enjoyed it, I quickly moved on because I knew how God wired me. I wanted to put more focus on building my own photography business. ​ Eighteen years later and doing photography still hasn't gotten old. It is not just a job for me. It is a part of me. Click here to inquire about my photography services!  :)

In the Fall of 2018, I was having a conversation with a fellow homeschool mom named Crystal about the obvious challenge of doing my photography work with my six and two year old boys at home. I just needed a little bit more uninterrupted time to keep up the pace I believed was necessary to give my clients their photos. Here's just a few photos to give you the proper perspective of what life looked like then... In that conversation, Crystal said to me, "My daughter, Audrey is dying to babysit!!" They apparently only lived about five minutes from us and had six kids that could keep my boys plenty busy. This sounded like it could be a great fit. We decided to start having my boys come over to their house for three hours on Mondays. Audrey and the Schmitts (as we referred to them) were obviously TOO helpful because about ten months later, baby Connor was born and added to the chaos...cough...I mean fun! (First photo, April 29, 2019- second 1-20-22 saying goodbye when we moved, third photo taken on 12-11-23 when we flew Audrey in to surprise the boys and watch them for a few days.) They LOVED having so many kids around that less than a year after that, they adopted three kids from Latvia. Now there were twelve kids playing on Monday's at the Schmitt's household. Nate, the husband worked from home, too. What an amazing family! (I had the privilege of taking their first family photo with their wonderful newest additions on October 13, 2019) Mondays became, "Audrey day" in our home. It was a day that both families looked forward to every week. Just picture twelve kids running up and down the stairs, baking or crafting, playing outside in the snow, holding bunnies, chickens, dogs, or swimming in the pool. It was epic.   In  my busier season, sometimes they got two days of this in a week! This went on for about three and a half years before we moved to Florida. A year later, the Schmitt's moved to Tennessee. Geez there are a lot of parallels going on here! Ha! We had talked for many months about moving to Tennessee, both feeling the shift out of New York, but God had different plans for our family. I have fond memories of the many conversations standing by their door chatting with Crystal, Audrey, Nate, and sometimes others about parenting, homeschooling, moving, the Buffalo weather, and LAUGHING. Crystal was a gift to me and Audrey was a gift to my boys. It's why they were included in my post about our big move down ( https://www.simplycampbell.com/post/the-journey-part-two )! When I informed Crystal that we might be in Tennessee in October, she said they could use a photographer for the oldest of the three amazing kids that they adopted, Kristine. She was a senior in high school this year!! She had grown so much since I had last photographed her! When we drove to Tennessee for the session, of course one cannot just stop to take photos and continue on with such a family as this and a history as ours. We stayed for dinner and visited for the evening before heading back on the road at 10:00pm. We had been out of town for 18 days at that point. As much as we would have loved to have stayed longer, everyone in our family was mostly spent and ready to be home! Next time, God willing. ;) (Left photo 1-20-22 in NY before we moved, right photo 10-23-24 in TN-Their oldest went off to college and is not pictured.) Kristine was such a delight to photograph! It was more challenging to try to catch her NOT in a smile. According to her, I am "very funny." I guess that works out well when you are a photographer. It was wonderful to see her flourishing and hearing what she thought about living in Tennessee. To move from Latvia, to New York, and then Tennessee in a matter of a few years is a lot, but she and her siblings have adapted in an incredible manner...her great parents, pointing her to Jesus may have a little bit to do with it, too. ;) Without further ado (because I could seriously say more), I present to you some of my favs of the stunning Kristine! If you're interested in a session, go to my contact  page, and let's chat! :)