Annie Jr.

In her next show, Joanna played an awesome role in Annie as Miss Hannigan. She was amazing! Here are a couple pics!

Joseph's Baby Dedication

March 28, 2010 The day we dedicated Joseph to the Lord!

Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe

So we've had such a blast at TLAC. This is week 2 of performances, and I got a chance to get backstage last night. Here are some fun pictures of the children getting into theater! -oh, and the BIG KID too. Nick does his solo as Father Christmas among other roles.

There he is, Father Christmas


Here are some minions of the White Witch


Joseph likes the role of a star as well! He's got makeup in his hands!

Daniel turns 12!

So, it was quite the crazy party. Daniel had 11 boys at his birthday party. We made a royal mess! Throwing chocolate covered marshmallows into mouths, finding a whistle inside of whipped cream and blowing it (without using hands), donut chocolate dipping!

How do you like Daniel's new doo? The "gel" look is really whipped cream. Makes a great styling agent!

Christmas 2009

We had a great trip to Ohio to visit Nick' sister and an overnight outside Toronto, Ontario with Nick's Canadian Campagna cousins. It was cold on the outside but warm on the inside. It was the best Christmas holiday away from home ever!

Vito Antonio and the clan in downtown Toronto

Crazy cold Georgians at Niagara Falls!

Some fun and crazy pics from last month

Some fun pics from our trip to Columbia and a bit of randomness!

We went to the Columbia Zoo and Botanical Gardens and the Children's Discovery Museum!

Joseph was enamored by the animals.

Happy Birthday Nicholas!

It is amazing how quickly a decade goes by. We celebrated with Nicholas' favorite food, nachos! My newest tenager! Happy 10th Nicky!

Happy Birthday Joanna!

Joanna got a day of the mall, dancing lessons, and a sleepover! It was quite a weekend!

Week 6

Wow. It's week 6 of school and we are as busy as ever. Do you see the theme? (my last post was 2 weeks down!) We've been eating, sleeping, and dreaming school for the entire time! The children are quite done already, and ready to go back to Sonlight and just mom being in charge. We're going to give this more time, though. We don't want to quit because the going gets tough. Unfortunately, we won't get our first real break until Thanksgiving! The good news is that we are not far off from our goals. One thing is for sure. I have had to become more organized than ever. I've also seen my own heart more clearly and don't like what so easily comes out. This has been a good growing experience for all of us.

Today, I have hope... we are just going to work through as much as we can and not worry about the rest. Also, I have now recruited Daniel to help with the schooling process. Instead of focusing on him and making him the center of our day, we are now allowing him to be a teacher. Today, so far he has schooled two subjects to Anthony (with some of my help) and I am about to have him begin his own work this afternoon. That is a huge blessing! May it continue to work!

Week 2 almost down, 34 weeks to go!

Our football kid

Here we are! Almost through week 2! GVA has been quite a learning curve. For those who don't know, GVA is a public charter school that is a virtual school. All of the students work from home, with the parents as a "learning coach." It is just like homeschooling, but I am now accountable to a GVA teacher and the state for getting the material taught. Last week we schooled pretty consistently from 8:30am until 10pm, taking only brief breaks for lunch and dinner. Daniel had football four nights last week (6-8:30), so when he got home, I'd hit the books again with him. There has been no TV, no games, no friends, until yesterday! We worked really hard and took the afternoon off to meet up with friends who have a lake on their property. So we tubed on the lake and played in the water. Now, here I am again at 9pm still trying to get through a couple more lessons! Once these munchkins are a bit more independent, I'm hoping the day will go quicker! It dominates our lives at this point.

And then there is the baby! He is so very social. He loves being held and easily distracts us! We can't help grabbing him up to cuddle. School came way to soon for us. We'd all much rather just play with Joseph!


Joanna and Joseph

School's In for Summer

Well, it's August 11th and we're in our last week before school officially begins. I'm sitting with my two big boys going through the "OLS" - the online learning school that they will be using this year as a part of GVA. Yep, we're officially in public school... at home! I'm very excited about getting started with the boys. All three will be learning as a part of Georgia's Virtual Academy (K-12 curriculum). Joanna is doing Sonlight's Core 200 this year studying the History of God's Kingdom. I can't wait for that to begin. We'll be learning about the affects of Christ's coming, and the early church all the way through the reformation!

I do love homeschooling! I'm hoping that we'll get an "IEP" for Daniel, should we need it. I'm ready for him to be more independent in his schoolwork. This year? Jo's in 9th, Daniel- 6th, Nicholas 4th and Anthony- 2nd. It definitely creeps up on you. It seems like just last year I was only schooling 3 children and Anthony was toddling around. Now they're all in different places and schooling separately from each other, which means much "Teacher Duty."

OH, BTW. Our new teaching spot is... the basement. Eeeww! Spiders! We kill at least two a day!

1 week out!

Joseph at 1 week old!















As I'm posting this, Joseph is sleeping soundly on his play gym. He has begun sleeping a 5 hour stretch at night, which has been wonderful for me! A few more nights of this, and I will be spoiled. We're both pretty sleepy most of the time, so this new season has been marked by lazy days. I've tried to get out at least once a day to do something. Pediatrician on Monday, to the beach for 1 hour on Tuesday, bowling with friends on Wednesday, and yesterday Jo, Nicholas and I went food shopping- and they played all day with neighborhood friends.

Today? Just taking Jo to a party this evening, but she's babysitting ALL DAY today for a friend. I dropped her at 7:30am and she'll be there until 5pm. I haven't been called to rescue her so I suppose she's doing just fine. Glad we got her that cell phone since there's no house phone there. By the way, the party tonight, it's a 13 year old girl's dream. A 5 course dinner, sleeping in the barn with horses, and boating on the lake tomorrow. I'm jealous! Well, all except the barn thing. Horse slobber on my PJ's - no way!

Loving how the children have taken to our new baby. They love to hold him, talk to him, change him, etc. There are times when I have to say, "HEY, I'm the mommy! Can I hold him now!" LOL All in all, God has been good. Nick has been back to work all week, and holding together so far. We're making ends meet by God's grace. Meals have been coming thanks to good friends, and we're basking in the new baby. Daniel said this morning that he loves having Joseph in our family. That fills my heart!

The Boy's Rooms- As Is

Just waiting for decorative touches- the boys' rooms are done! Well, except for doors and baseboards, but those can wait!

Baby Campagna has arrived!

Welcome Joseph Gregory! We arrived at the hospital to be induced at 12:30pm yesterday, July 7th. The pitocin began at 3pm, and after a slow and calculated labor, Joseph joined us at 2:45 am on July 8th. He weighted in at 8lb 2.4oz and 21 1/2 inches long. He is a very active and content baby. What a blessing! Here are some pics.

New Beginnings, Part 8

So I'm 39+ weeks and the waiting game begins! A big part of me is really ready to just go into labor and have this baby! But I'd also like to see the boys rooms finished first. God knows!

Joanna just got back from the Barker Family Reunion. She had a great time, and now that my teenager is home, I'm really ready to move to the next thing! The baby is moving constantly, but I don't seem to have dropped as much as I think I should. And I added a summer cold to the scenario. So I don't feel so hot. Well, I'm hot all the time...but I don't feel so well!

Good news...I don't have to wait much longer. I think I'll feel so much better once the baby's here - on the other side! I tell the boys often "no, I can't carry that for you," and "I'm not heading up the stairs to get that... because I'm carrying a baby 24/7. I can't put him down and he's heavy." My mom suggested I tie a 14 lb sand bag or sack of potatoes around their middle so they can experience the sensation. Wouldn't that be funny!

Renovations...again

We've been working really hard to try to keep up with the renovations to get ready for new baby!
There have been a few setbacks, in particular the recurrence of Nick's battle with C-diff. It's really interesting that a simple procedure in the hospital can lead to such a nasty infection. We gave a full 10 days trying a more homeopathic route while we waited for test results but no matter what we did, the colitis type symptoms just kept getting worse. So now the GI doctor has put Nick on three separate antibiotics for C-diff simultaneously. We're also probiotic 'ing it, and praying over every dose. Nick has missed so much work that I think he's only been in the office for about 10 days since April 1st. This has been a real walk of faith for us!

The best thing is, we have the greatest group of church folks. These guys came over today to help us finish the rooms- plus a few more I didn't get pictures of. Nick has been so weak that he crashes after being up for about 3 hours each day. Pray that the Lord heal him completely.

New Beginnings, Part 7

Now at 37 weeks, everything seems to be moving in slow motion. I'm trying to do something fun with the children each day. Unfortunately, I wear out and they can't get enough. So, I've resorted to assigning extra little chores to keep them busy. It has been a sweet time with a lot of daydreaming and preparation. Nick is still battling infection, so he's been moving in slow motion as well. We both are trying to pace ourselves and not worry about all the little things we want to accomplish. With less than 3 weeks and the baby's arrival day unknown, I am trusting God with the timing of all things. I do have a sense of uneasiness with Nick still sick. I'd like to know for sure that he'll be better when the baby arrives. But that, too, is in the Lord's hands.

I discovered I was anemic about 5 weeks back, and although I've been taking supplements, my iron hasn't improved much. I've recently added new ones and am taking smaller doses throughout the day. Hopefully that will help my energy level and keep complications away. Amazingly, I've been anemic the entire pregnancy, but didn't know it. I'm usually borderline and I should have suspected it, but I think I am so used to being low that I didn't feel it. Even now, I don't feel nearly as tired as I should, but just tired enough to find it annoying. I'm a 9.5 now - better than the 9.2 I was 5 weeks back. I'm so glad that it is Christ who upholds us!

"By him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible... all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." -Colossians 1:16-17

Building for Baby!

We began some renovation last weekend and for those who know me well, I'm resisting the temptation to do too much. I mostly "supervise." I also de-nail studs and do basic demolition. The boys are getting into helping and I've taken a few pics to show their training!



Phase 1: The framing Phase 2: the electrical



Phase 3: the sheetrock!