Here We Go Again!!

“Life is too short to be normal…too short to do things the same old way….I am so thankful for a husband that feels the same and for children that love the call of adventure and have a desire to serve”….this is an excerpt written from my last journal entry from Ireland at the end of our family's four month round the world adventure that finished in June 2008. (For those interested or supremely bored you can re-live the trip at http://campbellsworldtour.blogspot.com) We finished that adventure and our backpacks were not even unpacked and we all said we would do it again in an instant. (ok…maybe we did take a bit of time to enjoy our own beds and bathrooms before we said that….must be honest here)
Well over two years have gone by and a lot of life has happened in those years. I have “retired” from my job at CRISTA and now enjoy being full time mom, wife and volunteer. We have watched Jessica spread her wings and fly first off to Thailand the summer before her senior year and now off to Japan for college. Kurt’s been busy weathering the challenges that comes with being a business owner in difficult economic times. Meg and Cole have been busy growing up and doing life. We have been blessed to have a new daughter, in every way that counts, when Natalie came into our lives last year.
We started playing the “what if….game” and the “do you think we could do it again…..game” and the “should we…..game” a few months ago and turns out….it works…we can and we are….so we officially launch….”Once in a Lifetime Adventure II” or “Campbell Family Adventure Again” or “Campbell’s Back on the Run” ….haven’t really thought of a good name yet but nevertheless HERE WE GO AGAIN!!….
We are so thankful for kids that not only are willing to go but are begging to go see the world, serve the world and get out of their comfort zone. So thankful for family, who may not always understand, but always support. So thankful for a school that understands the educational value of travel and service. And so thankful for a God that makes all things possible.
More details to come but for now….join us as we pray for our trip that starts on March 1st, for plans that align with God’s will, for my back to continue to recovery from surgery and for all the details that need to come together.
Our family will be smaller, despite being able to catch Jess at the beginning of our trip in Japan, it will mainly be the four of us and sometimes just the three of us as Kurt spends some time back here working. The places will be different for the most part, we are changed- older and maybe just a bit wiser but our hope is the same; that we will be exposed to people and places and situations that touch our heart, perhaps break our heart in a way that we can challenge ourselves to think less of the “normal-life” and more of what kind of life God wants for us and what kind of world-view we need to have. So here’s planning on more adventure…less hospitals…bigger backpacks….(I am afraid I am probably out of luck on that…for more info see June 13th entry in the http://campbellsworldtour.blogspot.com ) more amazing family time and memories and hearts that continue to be changed!
~Cari

The Next Chapter Begins

A week after saying "goodbye" to Jessica I feel for the first time like I can share a few thoughts without watering my keyboard. It was very difficult to hold her in my arms one minute and then to walk away knowing things will never be the same. I cannot explain my feelings other than to say that the 18 years of raising Jessica seemed to pass before me as I held her and then when I let go it seemed as if I was releasing Jessica into her new life. Surprisingly it is not the distance in miles that pulls so hard on my heart, but rather knowing things will never be the same. This of course is not a bad thing. We raised her to stand on her own and to fight the good fight, and we trust in our Lord to watch over her all the days of her life. Having said that our family is definitely going through a readjustment phase. Meghan and Cole talk or email Jessica daily, and fortunately Cari and I are included. We are so thankful to see how much these siblings love one another.

Cari and I came back from Japan only to once again say "goodbye" to Natalie, who is like a daughter to us. She headed off to England for her new life at Essex University. She is missed dearly and all I can say is thank goodness for Skype and email which has allowed us to stay in touch across the oceans with our daughters and to hear of their great adventures. More later....

-Kurt

Finding Our way

Cari and I have now been in Japan for 9 days and for the most part we have felt a lot like Dorthy in the 'Wizard of Oz' when she looks at Toto and says "were not in Kansas anymore". Trying to manage this behemoth city in the intense heat and humidity just about took the joy out of this whole exploring Japan adventure, but I am happy to report that all it took was a change of scenery to get us back on our feet again.

Monday we left our little hole in the wall studio (Cari calls it 'the cave') and joined the millions of people making their way to work. The train was so crowded to the main station that when the doors opened people just fell out like over packed sardines. We then hopped on the 'Romance Train' (a nicer train with reserved seats)and headed out of Tokyo to the mountain towns in the Hakone area for a much needed reprieve from the big city. It did not take long for us to appreciate the green hills and beautiful valley views as we took cable cars, trains, buses and even a gondola to our little guest house. The area is known for hot spring baths (onsen)and our guest house was no exception. It's like a hot tub that stinks due to the sulfur. Sorry, but that really does sum it up. The other big attraction to this whole mountain region is visiting a special sulfur hot spring where you can eat black boiled eggs. Now I can't speak for you, but if someone told me they had a tourist plan to get thousands of people every day to take tour buses to the top of a mountain and then have them walk 15 minutes up a winding path all to eat black eggs that were boiled in smelly sulfur water I would have to say they were mad, but that is exactly what happens day in and day out. There are even a couple restaurants and two large souvenir shops to boot.

The rest of our 3 day adventure was spent taking walks, eating traditional food and doing some souvenir shopping for those back home. It rained the last 24 hours from a typhoon that was near the area, but with our trusty umbrellas we seemed to manage quite well.

Tonight we are back in our little cave enjoying the fact that we have shared so much in this life together and that Jessica is safe and sound in her new school. God is so good and we praise Him for His abundant love.

Good night and enjoy the pictures.

-Kurt

Pictures; Best Viewed in a Suana

Instead of boring you with several train station stories I will just let you enjoy a few more pictures. These pictures alone won't do Tokyo justice; for that you would need to be in a very hot and humid place surrounded by umpteen million people. Tokyo, we are finding out, is having their hottest summer on record.

The first slide show shown here is of the ICU campus and the slide show below that are some photo's of Cari and I living out our days at the fancy backpacker resort of Shrek Watta House and some random sites from where ever a train drops us in Tokyo.
-Kurt

First 24 Hours in Japn

We made it, and by saying that, I mean that our plane landed in Narita, Japan yesterday and today Jessica is in her new home at ICU. Everything else is a hot, sweaty blur of trains, buses and too much luggage. We were saved by an angel however; our Japanese exchange student Sumika took us from the busiest terminal in Tokyo to our final destination -ICU.

Jessica's dorm room is very nice and her room-mate seems like a winner. The campus is larger than we expected and the grounds look great when the sweat wasn't blurring my vision. I guess even for Tokyo standards it's unusually hot right now.

Our first impressions of Tokyo is that it's enormous and it makes Seattle look like a country town in comparison. Cari and I already got lost once on our way to find our remote city studio guest room that has a shared bathroom one might expect to find in place that charges half the going Tokyo rates. I sure am glad Cari sticks with me.

More later. Right now we are going to find something cold to drink and then sit under some air-conditioning for awhile.

-Kurt

Jessica Heading to Japan

"Where has the time gone?" has been said by a hundred generations of parents all over the world and now Cari and I find ourselves uttering these words almost daily as we prepare ourselves for Jessica's college departure. A departure that will take her to Tokyo, Japan where she has enrolled into a 4 year program at ICU (International Christian University)to study International Relations.

To say we as parents have mixed emotions would be an understatement, but as the days approach we are filled with excitement that God has designed Jessica with a sense of adventure and has given her a relationship with her Holy Father that allows her to enter this new chapter in life with little fear. Cari and I can rest knowing God is everywhere and that He has a love for her that is beyond our ability to measure.

Yesterday the bags began to be packed and the reality of her leaving really started to hit home. One really takes on the understanding that every minute counts. This time has been all about Jessica enjoying those last fleeting days of summer with her friends and family.

This Monday the 30th of August Cari and I will accompany Jessica to Japan (a first for all of us). My mother will be staying in our home caring for Meghan and Cole while we are gone. What a blessing!

Jessica will check into her dorm on the 1st and begin a week of orientation while her mother and I attempt to navigate our way through various parts of Japan playing the role of tourist. Then on the 12th of September we will say our goodbye's and probably cry like babies.

Let me take answer a couple of commonly asked questions.
-Jessica chose ICU after attending a college fair and realizing her college choices were not limited to the United States
-Jessica does not know Japanese and will be required to take 35 credits in that language during the first year

Our one and only request from our friends and family is that you pray for Jessica. We each feel so blessed to have so many amazing people in our lives and give thanks to God for the gift of relationships.

-Kurt