Turkey and Tyson

Hello All!

Thanksgiving has come and gone and now it is already December 3rd! We spent a restful few days at home last week. I made cornbread stuffing, potatoes and pumpkin pies and ordered a smoked turkey from our friends at Stonewalls. Shaun and I had planned on just staying home and watching the football games.

One of our church members has had a very rough time and recently had back surgery and then another surgery on her back due to the staff infection that she acquired while in the hospital. Needless to say, she has had a bad month. Shaun and I brought her food on Thanksgiving morning. She was so positive and encouraging despite her pain. What a humbling and affirming visit and could not have been more appropriate for Thanksgiving. We are so grateful to have so many people in our lives who love us and truly care about us, both here in MS and in TX.

After our visit, we went and spent Thanksgiving Day with one of our church elders and his family. They are fellow Texans and we spent the day enjoying all of the Texas football! They fried a turkey and it was awesome! We truly rested and enjoyed our day.

The day after, we set up the tree and decorated the house both inside and out. Shaun did a great job on the lights outside! It is nice to have our own place again to decorate. The house is finally finished for now. All painting is complete and the floors are done.

On Tyson news....
He got his staples out last week and has been cleared by the Vet. The stitches are still there but will heal soon. He is already full of energy and his fur is growing back. We did have to buy him a sweater and a tshirt because he gets cold easily. You can see him here asleep on my desk in my office. We got Preston a Christmas tshirt too.

He loves to wear clothes, it is so weird! No worries, Christmas photos will be coming soon. Speaking of Christmas..... it is coming!!!! Christmas music is already playing, weather is changing, and there are 21 days left. We are looking forward to going back to visit friends and family in Texas. We will be leaving after Christmas. We are also excited to get to serve at our 2nd Christmas Eve Service at Mosaic.

More to come...

Jessica

Tyson Update for Thursday

Hello All,

Tyson is recovering nicely. The white "shirt" you see in the photos is not a shirt, it is bandages that cover his incision. He hates it! He is also shaved on the entire left side and one leg where the iv was. So, he is going to have one funky hairdo when this is all over! We picked him up last night from the vet. The surgeon said that his heart is strong and that his chest is clear. Apparently, the surgery is a very risky one and we are so blessed that he is recovering so quickly. The surgeon and the staff at the animal hospital could not believe how strong Tyson is and how well the surgery went. The Staff and the hospital could not have been more wonderful. I highly recommend Louisiana Veterinary Specialists and Emergency Hospital in Mandeville.

We have strict orders to not allow Tyson to run, play, jump, or bark for three weeks! Due to the exploratory thoracotomy, he can't bark. Due to the ductus arteriosus ligation, they suggested that we keep Tyson and Preston separate during his recovery. He is not to sleep with us either. With those orders, we purchased a playpen for him to play and rest in. So far, so good. Tyson is on antibiotics for 14 days and pain meds as needed. Great thing about the pain meds is that they help him sleep. Whoohoo! His chest staples come out in 12 days.

Thank you for your calls, thoughts, and prayers. We are so blessed to have such caring friends and family. God is good all the time and all the time God is good! We are seeing pray answered through this and are grateful.

Much Love,
Jessica

Tyson Update

As many of you know, Tyson has a heart condition called pulmonary ductis arteriosis. This is a congenital defect that usually is found in larger breeds. The condition causes the heart to not pump enough oxygenated blood into the left side of the heart. Without intervention, heart failure and death are imminent.

Due to this, Tyson has undergone surgery today to repair his heart. We took him to a specialist yesterday and they did the echo cardiogram to verify the diagnosis. Surgery was moved to today due to Tropical Storm Ida's arrival here on the Coast.

We just heard from the Doctor. Tyson is out of surgery and the irregularity is repaired. The difficulty that he faces now is recovery. If problems are going to happen, they typically happen now.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for his recovery.

Much Love!
Jessica

PS: Ida was not a big deal at all! We are all fine!

A month since last post?!?!

Wow! Time has really been flying. I apologize for the delay in posting. I have had trouble balancing everything lately.

We are in the new house, but we are still remodeling. It is my hope (fingers crossed please) that we will finish all remodeling this weekend. They are building the fence today and I hope that our doors and floors will be done this week as well.

Tyson is growing more and more each day. We take him to the vet on Friday to check on his heart. He does have a heart murmur but they think that he may grow out of it. We will know by 6 months of age. I have been delayed in posting his pictures. So, check these out....

We love ya'll! And look forward to a busy November, including Thanksgiving. We hope to visit during the holiday.

Love,

Jessica

New Home

It is official.

Shaun and I are moved into the new house and settling in. We still have some finish work to do with the doors and there is this small need for lights in the kitchen... You see when they cut out part of the wall between the living room and the kitchen, they cut the electric switches to the overhead lights in the kitchen. Good news is that tthe outlets still work so we are just using lamps until the electrician comes. Once he works his magic, then the sheet rock and painter will come and finish out the wall. We also still have a fence to build in the back yard as well. The guest bedroom is almost ready. I still have some boxes to unpack. My friends came over and helped me get everything set up. Thank goodness for friends who are interior designers! That is SOO not my thing! So, now that the house is ready..... all we need is some Texas visitors:-)

Email me and I'll give you our new address! I've included a few pictures. There are no photos of the guest room, Shaun's office or our master bath. They aren't quit ready to photograph yet!

The Church is continuing to grow and we will be launching a Saturday night service within the next couple of months. We are averaging around 600-650 each weekend and 150-175 in Mo Kids. The need for counseling has through the church has been increasing as well so I have been seeing a lot of people. I am also getting to work with child abuse victims in a Christian Counseling Center, so that is really fulfilling.

I am still serving my internship hours at the psychiatric hospital as well. I am really learning a lot and enjoy being able to help. There are often clients there that have a history of sexual abuse as children and who never received help. It is affirmation that what Children's Advocacy centers do is vitally important. Children are resilient when given the proper support and skills to cope. So, the work that I have done for the past 8 years will have somehow made a difference so that 10 years from now, those kiddos won't be the adult clients who seek services at a psychiatric hospital.

So, here's the latest with Mosaic......

Dustin and Natalie took the weekend off, so Shaun was on the mound. He spoke on the importance of enjoying the sabbath. Taking time to rest in Him who gave us the gift of rest. Something that Shaun and I definitely need to do more of! I was able to sing with the worship team for the main service and it was really neat to get to worship with the church, something that I don't get to do very often and used to take for granted before moving here. Be sure to listen to Shaun's message through our website: http://www.mosaicgc.com/.


Things are slowly getting better at our house. We still miss the boys, but are so grateful for all the people who have been praying for us. We have been humbled by the love that people have shown us. With their encouragement, we will be seeking to get a new puppy soon. Preston still seems to be down and we don't want him to get too spoiled! So, more news to come later on our new family member!

Shaun and I are in the middle of our semester at Liberty and are READY for Thanksgiving break! I can't believe that it is already October! We have been enjoying the fall temperatures and of course the rain.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We are so excited to be able to share with you all the God is doing. I still am amazed how He moves through us despite us and when we are able to step out how much better His plans are than our plans.

Enjoy your Week!
Jessica

Rest in Peace

Hello there my Friends and Family.

As many of you know, we lost Jackson and Sebastian on Tuesday, September 15, 2009. Shaun and I are heart broken and yet we know that they died an honorable death, protecting one another until the end. Jackson was 7 and Sebastian,Tiny, was 5. God's timing is perfect and we are grateful to have a home that is ours where we were able to bury them and keep them with us.

Our dearest friend Andrea was truly a hero and she fought the vicious pit bull who attacked our precious pups. Andrea is a sister to me and she loves our pups as much as we do. There is absolutely no one who would have gone to the lengths that she did to protect and love our pups. We are heart broken for her as well. Her dogs were there as well and they experienced the trauma too. Her dog Rizer is actually Preston's dad and her dogs got along fabulously with ours. We are all one big family.

We have been overwhelmed by the acts of kindness bestowed upon us by our Mosaic Family. People here truly do love us and we are very humbled by their actions. Shaun and I actually moved to the house this weekend in order to go ahead and move forward. The ladies of Mosaic came to my house and packed us up and we had a group of men who endured the heat and the humidity to move us on Saturday.

Our own family has been so supportive as well. We are so blessed to be loved by so many. And, know that their hearts ache as ours do. Jackson and Sebastian were so special and loved by so many. They made a positive impact on every life they they touched, even non dog lovers!

Although we are still grieving, we are learning so many things through this. I feel like I must share these things with you all as you grieve with us.

First, we know that God is sovereign! The owner of the pit bull has a 10 month old daughter. According to the owner, he put the dog down because he did not want the dog to hurt his child. Perhaps God in His sovereignty used our dogs to save this man's daughter and open his eyes to the reality of the danger that these vicious animals pose to families.

I don't care what people say about these dogs. I have experienced first hand their devastation and I pray that others will realize that these dogs are not good for anyone. Supposedly this dog had not be aggressive and snapped. I do not think that anyone should own one of these animals, especially if they have children! What if their dog snapped on their child, or their grandfather, or whomever?!?! Why even take the risk!It is not worth the pain and devastation that it causes. If you know someone who owns one of these animals, please pass on your concern and tell them about the pain and heartbreak that we are dealing with because of this animal.

I know that Jackson died defending his brother Tiny and that Tiny died defending his brother Preston. They were honorable and loyal even in death. I only pray that I can exhibit that kind of honor and loyalty in my relationships and may I be used by Him to do whatever it takes to be loyal to those who He brings to me to minister to, even if it requires me dying to myself and my selfish and sinful desires.

Jackson and Tiny loved no matter what and were always there when you needed them. They always were positive and infected everyone with that energy. They sacrificed of themselves to bring joy to others and they were obedient to their calling to love and serve. I pray that I may learn to do the same. We are called to have joy, love, patience, kindness, goodness, peace, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. May we all be moved to live like this and be obedient to our calling.

Having Jackson and Tiny so quickly taken away from us and us not being able to be there with them, really spoke to Shaun and I that we must not take relationships for granted. We are not guaranteed one minute, so please know how much we love you all and appreciate how much you have poured into us. Life is so precious! So, hug you kids, tell them that you love them. Make the time to call your friends that you take for granted as always being there for you. Send the thank you note or email that you have being procrastinating on sending. Have dinner with your friends. Go volunteer and serve someone else besides yourself. GIVE of yourself in ways that truly mean something. Humble yourself and make amends with those who you have cut off. Forgive those who you perceive have hurt you. The time is now! Don't put off today anything or anyone that God presses into your heart!

These little pups meant so much to us and we are so grateful that we had them in our family these past years. Thank you for your support and we appreciate your prayer. We are so grateful to have you in our lives and feel so blessed and encouraged as we go through this together. May we all learn from their life and love as they loved.
God bless and keep you. Much love,
Jessica and Shaun

House Update

Hello there!
Great news! We are closing on the house next week, provided no more tropical storms appear in the Gulf. We have been waiting to close due to Ana, and Bill, and hopefully no more storms appear!

I will have the address and pictures soon. We will have plenty of room now, so make plans to come visit us before beach season is over. Gulfshores is absolutely beautiful this time of year!

School has started back and with that we have seen an increase in church attendance. We have been averaging over 600 now and are praying about launching a third, Saturday night service. Our next baptism will be September 13th.

Shaun and I have both started back to school as well. I am actively interning at Gulf Oaks psychiatric hospital. And, no, they didn't think that I was a patient there, so I must be doing something right!

It is a hospital that serves patients with inpatient psychiatric needs as well as those who have inpatient chemical dependency issues and some have both. It is always very eventful and I am learning so much. Additionally, I do private practice counseling for individuals and premarital and marital. I also start a class this week. Shaun is taking 6 hours. We can't wait to get out of school. I swear.... this is the last degree for both of us! :-)Just 2900 hours until I reach LPC!

We lost one of our church members this week, so it has been a bitter sweet time. The funeral was yesterday. Death is never easy to deal with, but how amazing is the peace that God provides through it?!? I have never seen a family deal with death in such a healthy way.

I hope that you all are enjoying your day. Please keep praying for Shaun and I as we continue on this adventure. It seems that it just keeps getting faster and faster and while we really enjoy the ride, sometimes we need a minute to recuperate and get our bearings.

Much love!
Jessica

PS: For those who care: Jackson celebrated his birthday on the 18th! He will be treated to a new toy sheep soon as his old one, Matilda, recently suffered an untimely death at the hands of Preston!

AND a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD on August 24rth!! Whooohooo!!!

House

Hello there Peeps!

Ok, so it was supposed to be a secret for a little while longer, but most of you know now... thanks to Jidi! Love him and who can blame him for sharing?!? He's excited and he's lived long enough that he has earned the right to share whatever he wants to share
!
So... here goes... Shaun and I found a house!!!!

It is not a done deal yet. We are still awaiting the appraisal, but the inspection went well and we should be able to close by the end of the month. The house is 3 bedroom and has an office as well. It sits on 2 lots and is right by the bayou. But.. no worries, it is not in a flood zone and it did not flood during Katrina.

It isn't anything really fancy, but it is nice and reminds us of our home in Texas. More details (including pictures) will be coming. But in the mean time, thanks for your continued prayers and support!We are excited and can't wait to have our home group over and all of our Texas friends come and visit.

The house is too quiet now since Maddie and Alec left. We had them with us for almost 3 weeks and loved it! Even the dogs are lonely now. Preston keeps going downstairs at night looking in the bedroom for Maddie!

Love,
Jessica

Extreme Week Video

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

August already?!?!

Hello there Family and Friends.

I know that it has been quite a while since I have posted anything. I am sorry!! It has been a great and busy month. Shaun's Mission trip was a huge success. The Youth had a great time serving and I think that some of our kids even found their calling while there. We have a great video that I will be posting soon. The kids at the Boys and Girls Club of Fort Worth even wrote over 300 thank yous to our kids for coming. How awesome is that!?!?!

Mo Kids Extreme Week was a great success too! Our biggest night had 118 kids! And we had over 130 volunteers serving... that is unheard of in the volunteer world! My friend Steph came down from the Met and she truly was such a great help, not to mention that she rocked our faces off with her mad electric guitar skills! She was even kind enough to make a video for me as a surprise at the end of the week. The Sunday during Extreme Week we had a family style service where the kids worshipped with their parents. After the service, we were able to feed all the Extreme Team barbecue from the Shed as way to say thank you. It truly was an amazing week. The most exciting part of the week is that we had 35 kids put their faith in Christ!!!!!!!!

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

I am now able to sleep again at night..:-)

Shaun was on the mound last Sunday in the service and I think that he did a fabulous job. He seems to be getting better and better! You can listen to it on our church website: http://www.mosaicgc.com/. Click on the listen button on the ipod in the lower left hand corner.

Shaun and I have been very busy these past two weeks. Our neighbors from Texas, Maddie and Alec have been with us. We did manage to take them to the beach over in Gulfshores one day, that was awesome. Maddie is about to be 12 and Alec is 13. I had forgotten how much teenagers eat, sleep, and dirty up the house. Thank you Mom and Dad for loving us through our teenage years! The kids leave next week. Their dad, Pete will be here this Sunday and we can't wait to see him. His kids were the fist kids that Shaun and I got to baptize.

This Sunday is the anniversary of our 1 year grand opening at Mosaic! Time flys! This time last year we went from 130 people and 25 kids to 350 people and 75 kids! Now we have over 500 people each weekend and 150 kids.

News on the home front... Shaun and I start school next week. I start my counseling internship at a mental health hospital and will be working there 25 hours a week. Shaun is taking 2 classes. I can't wait to be out of school!

We are still looking for the right house to purchase. We enjoy living here and can't wait to have our own house to make it feel more like home. That and the electric bill here is over $300 each month! Keep us in your prayers.

We hope to take some time off soon so that we can get in a quick 3 days to rest. My vote is on a beach somewhere, still trying to talk Shaun into that one.

Please call us or email us.. we miss our Peeps!

Love ya'll!

Jessica

Heat and Humidity

Hello there friends and fam!

I can not believe how hot it is! According to the Coasties it isn't usually any hotter than 89 degrees here in June and it is supposed to rain at least once a week. We have been in the 100's with no rain. The water at the beach is actually hot. The hurricane chasers say that is not a good sign as the warmer the water, the more likely we are to have a hurricane. Yikes!

I wanted to say thank you to all of you for the awesome birthday gifts and the birthday wishes. I had a great birthday. Those things come way too fast!

Shaun left on Monday for Texas with the Youth for the Mission Trip. They come back on Saturday night. Pictures to be posted soon. From all that I have heard, everything went really well.

We are still preparing for Mo Kids Extreme Week. Registration ends this week and I still have space left. Please be praying that we have another 50 kids sign up this week. I know that God has big plans for this event. The volunteers have stepped up in awesome ways, now we just need the kids.

Summer time is in full swing and so are we! I will post pictures of the Mission Trip soon.

Love,
Jessica

Pictures

June!!

Hello there Amigos and Familia!

We went on our Texas adventure and made it back safely home to MS. We hit the ground running as soon as we got back. It was so good to get to spend time with everyone and take some time to relax. We have been so pulled in so many directions for so long. Thank you friends and family for allowing us to take some time to just enjoy our company without an agenda. We love you!! We are so proud of Clayton and know that God has big plans for his future. Way to go C, can't wait to see you play for University of the Ozarks!

We even got to spend some awesome time shopping!!! I missed Macy's and Sephora. Thanks to Rachele and Patrick, we got to spend some time at Nordstrom's Rack.... and eat at Gloria's and even had homemade breakfast....hello love!

It was so good to see all of our friends too! El Gordo's with the Whitfields was awesome. Jude can't wait to come here and check out Mississippi's pirates. We could not believe how tall K and N are now and we got to love on the Sherman! Thanks Mo Family! We also got to hang out with Pete, Maddie and Alec. We can't wait to see them in the summer.

The pups stayed here with their Aunt Andrea. Preston LOVED hanging out with his daddy Rizer. Jackson and Tiny loved visiting Andrea and Danielle's Mamaw. I loved having dinner with Dani, although bummed at the miscommunication and missing Steph. I appreciate all that Andrea did to love on our babies. Thanks Andrea!

As you guys know, it isn't a trip to TX without a trip to Shaun's heaven on earth, Taco Casa. We ate there several times, including as our last meal out of town, at the TC in Garland. Shaun met the owner of the store there and is more convinced now than ever that we must bring one here to MS. The Golden taco that could buy us a church building.... all we need is an investor...any takers? :-)

We heard from the owner of the TC in Garland that there was indeed a TC in Vicksburg, MS, which is right as you cross over the MS River. Check out their logo...As seen as we cross the bridge here...So, guess where we ate on the way back home? You guessed it TC MS. IT IS NOT THE SAME.... I repeat.. IT IS NOT THE SAME! It was soo gross! So, good news is that Shaun's dream of serving good food to good people is still intact. Yeah??? Pictured below are Shaun's beloved golden tacos...

Since we are back to work, that means that Extreme Week is inching ever so much closer. I am still working on getting everything and everyone in place. Check out the promo video that our buddy Leslie did for us!

Dustin and Natalie are back in Texas this weekend preaching at the Met and letting them know how influential they all are for us. This weekend we are also doing promotion Sunday in the Mo Kids area and launching a brand new room for 4-5th graders complete with their own teaching time and small groups. Lots of great stuff happening here, as always it is busy, but we love it!

Thank you for your prayer and encouragement. Shaun and the Youth will be heading out to Texas on June 22 for their summer mission trip to FTW. They will be planting a church inside the Boys and Girls Club. How cool is that?!? I will be preparing for Extreme Week and celebrating my b-day with my Mississippi peeps!

We would love to have lots of visitors this summer as we take some time off to rest. So, come see us! We will not be coming back to Texas until at least January... so come see us! We love ya'll!

Jess

Last of the Trailblazer

Hello All!

I just wanted to share with you the last of Jackson's adventures in Mo Kids in our trailblazer series.

Check it out!

Busy weekend

Hello there Amigos y Familia!

Let's see.. where to begin??!?

First, I am officially done with school until Fall! Yeah! I am hoping for an A, but at this point in life would settle for a B!

Shaun is wrapping up his class this week and has 1 paper left and then he will be done until Fall as well. We are both taking the summer off from school to focus on work and give us a little bit of free time!

Celebrate Recovery launched on Thursday and we had 35-40 people in attendance, not too shabby! There has been several media promotions about the ministry and one is coming up tomorrow with Dustin and I. You should be able to watch it online at WKFK “Spotlight on Jackson County” - Wednesday 5:30 and 11pm and Saturday at 3pm. http://www.wkfk.com/ . Be sure to check it out!

I am praying that this ministry will continue to grow and that lives will be changed. We had several people sign up to attend this weekend, so that is a good sign.

This weekend I was able to help with Main service worship. It was weird not singing with hand motions or jumping up and down! Props to my friend Steph for sending me the song I needed. I can't wait until the summer!

We started recruiting for Mo Kids Extreme Week. We need 100 volunteers to make it happen! Check out the logo for Extreme Week.

We are looking at the possibility of 150-200 kids! WOW!!!

We held a big baptism event this past Sunday night. Clouds and rain rolled in, but God allowed the storm to stop just long enough for the event. Pretty Cool. We baptised right around 40 people, including some of our very own Mo Kids! THAT is something that I can never get enough of!

Check out just a few of the pictures!

Busy week ahead as we move forward with a new series and lots of new people coming. Good stuff. Please continue to pray for wisdom, courage, and protection for us as a Staff and for our people.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Jess

Jackson's latest adventure

I forgot to add Jackson's latest photo... This week is trailblazing in Kansas. This should make all the peeps up in tornado alley laugh.



Enjoy!
Jess

CARES Ministry

Hello All,

Please be in prayer for the services this weekend at Mosaic. We are promoting the new recovery ministry and allowing people a time to take off the mask and get real about their brokenness in order to let God put them back together again. The Recovery Ministry begins THIS Thursday at 6:30. Please pray for me, pray for the Leadership Team, and pray that people will feel safe enough to come. Check out the Cares Ministry Video that our buddy Leslie did for us to promote. It hopefully will be on the website soon, too: www.mosaicgc.com 

Celebrate Recovery Teaser from milkmedia on Vimeo.

Update after Easter

First, Check out the above picts of Jackson in our new Mo Kids series: Trailblazers: Convicted to stand for what is right EVEN when others don't.

Now.... that you have had a good laugh.....

Hello there Friends and Family!

I know I say this a lot lately...but things have truly been busy. Easter was AWESOME!!!!! Mo Kids had more than enough help and everything went so smoothly. We had over 800 in attendance church wide and at least 10 salvation'. I am still processing the fact that God allowed me to be a part of this. For Easter, we added a 7:00AM service where no child care was provided. Since we set up the children's program the evening before, I was able to attend the 7:00 service. This literally was the first service that I have attended at Mosaic Church! And I got to sit with Shaun, so we attended together. It was such a blessing to be a part of.

This week, we have been busy doing follow up and preparing for this weekend. We had over 600 attend this week. Not to shabby! The kids area was packed house at 11 and the 9:00 had just a little room. We had 150 kids this weekend. Wow! I serve with the most amazing and loving group of volunteers. No matter how hectic, hot, or crazy, they love and serve and children's (and their family's) lives are being changed for it.

I had a really neat opportunity this past week to speak with two children who became Christ followers a few weeks ago while in Mo Kids. We are doing our fist big baptism at the beach on May 3rd and the family wanted to be baptized together and asked me to talk with the girls to clarify what baptism and salvation mean. So, Shaun and I sat down with the first girl, she's a 3rd grader and asked her if she could tell me what big decision she made a few weeks ago. She told me all about how she prayed to Jesus to forgive her of her sins and to come into her heart. She understood so clearly! I then explained to her that baptism was an outward sign to the inward change that she had already made. Her sister, who is almost 5, then came to talk with us. I asked her the same questions, just more in her terms, and she did the cutest thing. She scrunched down and looked up at me and whispered,"Jesus died on a Crwass for me and he wrrosse againn from the grwave for me. I asked him to come into my hweart." Talk about melt your heart! We then explained baptism and she was excited because she was going to get to bring her beach toys to the baptism!

Something that I am learning everyday in teaching kids about just how much God values child like faith. I mean, I knew it, but now to see it and be a part of it is truly amazing! Kids are just so willing to take that step and trust God knowing that He truly has their best interest in heart. In fact, they have been like, why wouldn't I trust Him? Why wouldn't I believe and follow Him? I mean it when I say that they are teaching me.

I got to sit with a child and discuss how to handle anger and we looked it up in the Bible together. It was so neat to get to use all my training as well as the placing Christ at the center of it all. She took away skills in how to handle her anger in good ways, but also learned what God has to say about anger but in a loving way. Not in that I am going to beat you over the head with scripture and quote Christian cliches kind of way, because we all know how effective that is in reaching people, especially children who are hurting. But in a way that showed her how much Jesus cares for her and how she can trust Him no matter what. How profound is that? Good stuff!

On another note, I wrapped up a class at Liberty this week, whoo hoo. I got a B, but I am okay with that considering all the craziness. I am taking one more class right now and then taking the summer off to focus on Extreme Week and the Cares Ministry. I also plan on helping Shaun as he plans his mission trip to Fort Worth.

The Cares ministry officially launches on Thursday, April 30th and lasts 25 weeks. It encompasses Celebrate Recovery, Life Hurts, God Heals, Divorce Care, Divorce Care for Kids, and counseling. God has brought together a great leadership team and once again, I am so blessed to serve with them. A little overwhelmed by the huge need for the program and the amount of hurting people, but deep down I know that this is what the people here so need.

Shaun continues to do good stuff with the youth of Cross Culture. We average around 40, and that is pretty good size for around here. He is also working on the Community aspect of his job, getting new home groups started and running ministry fairs. I am so proud of him and how he manages all of it. Even though working together as leaders has brought its challenges, it is still such an amazing thing to be a part of this together. It is hard to believe that we have almost been here a year. It was this time last year that we were giving our notices and telling the family about our decision.

I thought I'd share a few photos. Some are from Easter and some are from the Ministry Fair we had this weekend that Shaun led and organized. The goal of the fair was to get new people connected to a home group or other area of ministry. He did a great job and our church did a great job in participating! This is what it looks like between services.

Above: Shaun and Rick, who runs our parking lot ministry: the Cone heads. What a great name!Below: This is our Outreach Pastor, Jeremy Allen, our Children's Ministry Assistant, Ashley Coleman, and one of our great greeter's Kyle Gilmore.

Above: This is one of our elders, Doug Molyneaux and Pastor Dustin at Easter. That's all the pciture of adults that I got. I was back in the back with kids after that. :-)

Please continue to pray for protection and wisdom for Shaun and I and the rest of the staff. We love you guys and look forward to some good Tex Mex soon!

Love,

Jessica

Easter

Hello there Amigos y Familia!

Shaun and I have been pretty busy the past few weeks. Shaun preached the main service this past weekend. From what I have heard, he did an awesome job! To listen, please visit our newly redesigned website: www.mosaicgc.com. The site also has tons of info on the new Cares ministry that we are preparing to launch and the new series in the Mo Kids areas.

It is technically spring break here for the kids. But no break for us..... we are preparing for Easter. From what we have been told by our local members, Easter is a huge deal around here! We are hosting a 7:00 service to accommodate the visitors at 9 and 11. Awesome thing about that is that there is no Mo kids at 7, which means that I get to attend my first ever service at Mosaic church and I might even get to sit with Shaun as an attender. It has been almost a year since I have gotten to do that and I miss it sometimes. Please be in prayer for the services and for the staff. Also for all the visitors that will be coming!

We launched our new series this weekend in Mo Kids. Jackson was back for an appearance and he did a great job. The theme for the month is conviction: standing for what is right even when others don't. So we have a theme of Trailblazers. I haven't posted pictures in a long time, so I am finally posting some! Check out the volunteers and the new theme.


Shaun and I are still in school and working hard. I had planned to take my last courses in the summer and then graduate in the summer, but due to all the craziness of work, I am going to postpone and graduate in December. This sets me back, but I have had such a hard time finding a site to do my internship and in locating a Supervisor, that this will buy me some time and allow me to focus on all the work that is coming my way for the summer. So, I am sad, but know that it will work out. Summer is going to be crazy with Celebrate Recovery, Divorce Care, Counseling, Mission Trip, and the ever impending Extreme Week! Please pray for me for strength and focus.

We are planning a weekend off soon! We hope to return to Texas at the end of May. We can't miss the opportunity to see Clayton graduate. Go Clayton! We miss our families tremendously and I hope that they will come see us soon!

Thank you for all your pray and support. Great stuff is happening here and we are grateful to be a part of it. Some days are really good and some days are really hard. But we are learning that you have to have both and that through both He is sovereign. Please continue to pray!

Love,
Jessica

Video

So, I forgot to attach Shaun's birthday suprise video, check it out and be sure to wish him Happy Birthday on the 24rth.....

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Birthday Wishes

Hello All,

Shaun has a BIG birthday coming up. On Tuesday, the 24rth, Shaun will turn 30. Last night at Cross Culture, we suprised Shaun with cupcakes, a walker and this video. This kids loved it and Shaun was totally suprised.

Other news worthy of note. Mo Kids in the Main Service went fairly well this past weekend. You can hear the message that Dustin and I did on our church website: www.mosaicchurchgulfcoast.com. During worship, I did have one little girl fall off the stage while jumping, however, she was okay and got right back up and continued worship. What can I say, working with kids is always unpredictable.

Easter is quickly approaching and with that comes the need for more volunteers for Mo Kids as well as the launch of Celebrate Recovery and the Cares ministry. Mark your calendars for April 5th, Shaun will be up to bat and be preaching the main service while Dustin is in Texas preaching at Terry Chapman's church.

All of our Texas peeps are on spring break this week and we are jealous, kind of! Our Spring Break is the week before Easter. It is already fully spring time here on the Coast though. Allergies are in full force and the weather is B-E-A-UTIFUL!

Now all we have to do is get our beach body ready! We have been walking the 4 mile bridge that connects Ocean Springs to Biloxi and trying to watch what we eat, but southern food is a tough battle to fight! But we have a goal and we are moving forward. Mississippi is the fattest state in the nation and I can believe it!

I hope that all of you are doing well and enjoying the spring weather. Feel free to call us, ya know!

Love,

Jessica

Long time no update

Hello All;

So, it has been a little while since we updated. My bad!

Let's see what has been happening in the world of the Campbell's.

1. Earth shattering news....... Shaun has discovered a substitute for Taco Casa! What? Say it ain't so?!?! Yes, that's right people. Shaun has been wooed by a little place called Taco Sombrero. It has a similar mascot and decor, but the menu is more varied. They have chicken! Shaun has been there several times and has met the owner Lynn. And, yes, Shaun has had the Taco Casa discussion with Lynn. Lynn already knew of taco casa. The only drawback is that it is in Gulfport which is 15 minutes away.

2. Shaun preached. Shaun preached the main services a couple of weeks ago. You can listen to it on the website: http://www.mosaicchurchgulfcoast.com/. For those of you computerally challenged, I can mail you a copy for your listening pleasure. He did a great job and I am so proud of him!

3. Celebrate Recovery. Shaun, Dustin, Natalie, and myself attended the Leaders training for Celebrate Recovery last weekend. The founder, John Baker, from Saddleback Church in CA. was there speaking. It is amazing how God has used him and his hurts to help so many thousands heal. All he did was say yes when he was called on to share. We are very excited to launch this new ministry along with Divorce Care and Divorce Care for Kids. This ministry fits into the dna of Mosaic and the people we serve: Christ Centered and a Me, Too! philosophy. I am still praying for leaders, so please pray for them as well. I will actually be responsible for the Cares Ministry. This will encompass Celebrate Recovery, Divorce Care, and all Counseling needs in the church. There is not another church here on the coast that offers these programs for entire families, so this is huge! We launch the services on April 30th.

4. Mo Kids. Mosaic Kids continues to keep trucking. We are still in our Ready. Set. Go! series and we are actually taking over the Main service this weekend. So, kids will be sitting with their parents and the worship, teaching, and even communion will be done together as a family. And yes, all the energy that goes into Mo Kids will still be the same. It will be on the website as well. Two weeks ago 7 kids became Christ followers in Mo Kids. THAT is beyond awesome! THAT is why we do what we do and I am blown away by the fact that I can be a small piece of that. We are still short on the number of volunteers, but hope that this weekend will serve as a spring board to getting more people involved. And we are already gearing up for Easter and then... Mosaic Kids Extreme Week in July. Mark your calendars for July 13-17. I need 100 volunteers, so feel free to come and vacation and serve if you want. :-)

5. Cross Culture: Youth Group. Shaun is continuing his messages from the book of John with the youth group. The group is continuing to grow each week. There is a huge number of junior high kids who come which is good to develop and maintain a strong group. We had 47 kids last night. Thanks to our great friend from Texas, Word to P. Hammond, we have an awesome video to promote the mission trip that the youth will take in June. More to come on that soon....

6. House. Shaun and I have begun searching for a home to buy here in Mississip. Yep, we have resigned ourselves to the fact that we may be here for several years. We are good with that and look forward to seeing what happens. Our lease is up soon on this house, so in the next few months, we may be moving... again.

7. School. Shaun is still working away on his Masters at Liberty. He is pulling good grades and should graduate in a year or so. I am nearing the end of my road, but the end is the hardest. I am still seeking a place for my internship and a Supervisor. I have to land one by April 15th, so yikes!

I think that is all for now. We hope that some of you plan on road tripping soon to come and see us. I hope to have some pictures up soon of the services and our world.

Thank you for your prayer and support. We love you guys!
Jess

PS: Please be thinking of Shaun's Grannie. She had back surgery this week and we hate that we couldn't be there for that. We love you Grannie!

Update

Hello All!

We officially celebrated our first Mardi Gras season here on the Coast. It is pretty interesting. The schools close down for a week, kind of like Spring Break, and there are Carnival Balls and parades everywhere! Now, for those of you thinking Mardi Gras= nudity, well..... not really here on the Coast. Now, 100 miles away in New Orleans... you betchya! But here, it is for the most part a very family friendly event that draws crowds from every socioeconomic background.

Now, I have asked several people what exactly Mardi Gras is and no one really could tell me, it is just something ingrained in the culture I suppose, but our friends at Wikipedia have all the answers as always (Note the sarcastic tone in my voice). So here is what the "experts" had to say:

The terms "Mardi Gras" (mär`dē grä) and "Mardi Gras season", refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, ending on the day before Ash Wednesday. From the French term "Mardi Gras" (literally "Fat Tuesday"), the term has come to mean the whole period of activity related to those events, beyond just the single day. The time varies from city to city, as some traditions consider Mardi Gras as the Carnival period between Epiphany or Twelfth Night and Ash Wednesday. Others treat the final three-day period as being Mardi Gras. In Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras events begin in November, followed by mystic society balls on Thanksgiving, then New Year's Eve, formerly with parades on New Year's Day, followed by parades and balls in January & February, celebrating up to midnight before Ash Wednesday.

So, with that being said... we still have no idea how the beads and the king cakes play a role, but we did enjoy the event and look forward to next season. :-)

For those of you who may not remember or know. It was right before Fat Tuesday last year when Shaun and I drove down here for the first time to see about the possibility of our moving. We left Ocean Springs and on the 10 hour drive back to Texas talked about the crazy possibility that we could actually do it! We placed the house on the market on February 21st and announced our move to the family in March. Looking back, it still seems like yesterday at times. And then sometimes if feels so long ago. Weird huh?

Things are still moving at an incredible pace here with the church. We ordained our elders and we are now gearing up for Easter. Shaun and I will be going to a training next week to plan for the launch of the Celebrate Recovery and Divorce Care ministries. We will launch these much needed things after Easter. Please pray for Mosaic and for the Staff. Our Tech Pastor and our Outreach Pastor are both still working 2 jobs. Adam, our Tech Pastor, has been working as a Manager for Circuit City and this job will be ending soon due to the store closings. Please pray for his family and for provision for him.

I know that many of you know that Shaun did his first wedding a few weeks back. I finally am posting the picts to prove it. Note that his hand stayed in his pants pocket for most of the ceremony AND his leg was shaking the entire time! I think he was more nervous than the bride and groom. He did very well and even instructed them to say thier vows to one another and face each other. Unlike, when he and I married. He said his vows to Brother Greg!

The Campbell Casa Home Group is still continuing to grow as well. We have 32 people that attend now! We went from 8 to 32 within a month. Home Groups are such a blessing. Shaun and I led one back at the Met in Texas and we still maintain friendships with the people from that group. I thought I'd show you a few fun picts from our last party. This one is Katie and I being silly with our 3D glasses: we are fly yo!

The girls were banished to talk in the dining room so that the boys could watch the game. But we didn't really want to watch it any way! So there! We love our group and it is so nice to have people that love you and want to share life together.

This weekend is a big one for Shaun. He is preaching the Main services, so please be in prayer for him. He will be preaching: Friends with benefits. So be sure to podcast it. He will also be preaching at the first of April.

Finally... Mark your Calendars! Shaun turns 30 on March 24rth!!! Please be sure to give him a hard time!

We love you guys and really appreciate your prayer and support. Things are crazy here, but crazy good if that makes any sense. Please continue to pray for protection for the staff and for provision. Lives are being changed and it is so neat that God moves through us even despite of us!

That's all for now!
Jessica

Happy Valentines Day

It has been a while since I have updated the blog. Sorry for the delay!
Let me see if I can catch you back up..........

Church: good, busy, Home: good, busy. School: Hard, not enough time!

The weeks are just flying by! We are still serving around 450-500 people each weekend. This weekend we are ordaining our Elders. We have wrapped up our tool time series in Mo Kids. We have set design tomorrow. The new series is called: Ready. Set. Go! And we focus on the virtue of fairness. It is a sports themed series. So, good times.

There will be more updates soon, complete with pictures. But for now, I have to sign off and get back to work.

We love you guys and thank you for your love and support.

Back to MS

Hello All;

Shaun and I are back home and back to work. We made it out of Texas before the crazy ice storm hit. Our friends back home got 3 days off of work due to the storm. SO jealous! Due to the storm, we didn't get to see everyone that we had hoped to see. But, no fear, we will return again or ya'll can come see us here!

We spent all of our time in Wichita Falls this time. We spent lots of time with family and even managed to see a few good friends. It was so good to get to see all the family. We didn't take many pictures, but I did manage to get a picture of Jidi and Siti. They are enjoying their new home at Rolling Meadows. That place is such a nice retirement home! No cooking, no cleaning, and seriously, they have good food. While we were there Jidi's long time friend, Sammie Kouri passed away. Please keep Sammie's wife and family in your prayers.

We left early Monday morning and headed to Fort Worth. Our plan was to stay the night there and leave out for MS on Tuesday morning, but due to the ice storm, we ended up driving to Shreveport and spending the night. So I missed seeing Danielle on her birthday, sorry Chic! And, I missed seeing Steph, can we say double bummer?! Maddie and Alec, we'll see you guys this summer!!!

We did manage to run by the Fort Worth Boys and girls Club to take the pictures that we needed to create the promo video for our summer mission trip. The kids were awesome and I can't wait until this summer. It will be such a great experience for our students here at Cross Culture to see and serve.

Being in the area and in the Club really made Shaun and I miss our old life in Fort Worth. Serving the kids in the Club and at Alliance for Children was such an honor and a blessing to us. We are so grateful for that chapter of our life and know that it prepared us for the chapter that we are in now, but we still miss it.

Serving the Church here is a completely different environment. The needs of the people we serve are very different and we are grateful to be serving, but still learning how to meet all the needs. Our Church is continuing to see growth and lives are being changed. It is all moving very quickly. We have had our first funeral and Saturday, Shaun is officiating his first wedding. In April, we will launch our celebrate recovery ministry and the counseling ministry is beginning to take shape for me as well. Please continue to pray for Mosaic and for the people we serve. Also, please pray for the Staff. We are few and the needs are many.

We ate TONS of Mexican food while we were in Texas and even stocked up on supplies like REAL hot sauce and supplies to make Lebanese food. For those of you dying to know.... yes, Shaun got his beloved Taco Casa fix, twice! Once in Wichita Falls and as we drove out of the metroplex, our "last" meal was Taco Casa, of course. Check out the commemorative photos Shaun took of our last meal. Beloved taco.....

Beloved Taco Casa......

So, that pretty much is the latest update for us. We are gearing up for this weekend. It was good to have the weekend off, but back to work.

Love,

Jess and Shaun

PS: We didn't take the pups with us when we came home. Dustin took care of them for us and they are now even MORE rotten. But, we missed them! Check out the photos Shaun took of them.

Southbound 35!

Okay loyal readers!

We are officially heading to Texas. We roll out at 3:30 AM Thursday morning. Taco Casa beware!

We are headed straight to big Wichita Falls and should arrive late Thursday evening. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and we will be traveling without the pups!

We look forward to seeing all the family for our delayed Christmas! It has been a couple of crazy weeks and we are looking forward to resting, eating Mexican, and drinking a couple of Shiners!

Exciting news for when we get back.... Shaun is doing his first wedding. Crazy huh?!? Things are moving so fast here, but it is an awesome ride!

We head back home on Monday.

Love,
Jess

Back home

Hello Everyone!

I made it back to Mississippi in one piece and with my suitcase! Thank God for small miracles! Shaun picked me up at the airport in Gulfport: wearing a lion costume! Yes, that is right, a lion costume! Everyone at the baggage claim was hanging around to see my reaction. It was funny but embarrassing! He also had a sign that read: I missed you and I'm not lion.. get it?!?!

I am attaching pictures of the new Mo Kids set as well as pictures of our home group. Our home group did an awesome job at the church ministry fair. They came up with the theme for our booth and recruited new members. Check out the theme!

We are recruiting volunteers this weekend. I am hoping that we have a ton of volunteers sign up to serve in Mosaic Kids! We had a record number of people attend this past weekend. We had almost 500 people! The Kids area was almost 130! Our 11:00 service was super packed. Our 9:00 still needs to grow, but it is growing slowly. The kids are having fun learning about resourcefulness and it is fun to incorporate the tool time theme, complete with videos from Home Improvement. Check out the set photos.

Last, but certainly not least, I am attaching a few pictures from our day in New Orleans with Stella and Dennis. It was so great to have them here with us. We hope that they enjoyed the Coast and come back soon, maybe even for Mardi Gras?!?!

We are looking forward to this weekend. However, we have experienced our first death of a church member and will be experiencing our first funeral this Friday. Please continue to pray for the church and the staff.

Blessings,

Jess