CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS!

Christmas has been a much extended series of days, and it isn't over for us, yet! We spent Saturday in Connersville with the Campbell side of the family. Lots of kiddos, not a lot of space, and of course a lot of fun! Here's Mike with Emma-- only because he won the M&Ms. She was on his lap in about 2.5 seconds. Then there's Mike and Hunter. Mike was tall enough to let Hunter peek into "Santa's box of gifts," so he was quickly Hunter's best friend!

Here's Rachel & Shaun. He had his wisdom teeth taken out the day before, so this is the best smile we could get out of him! And then there's me with baby Carter. What a sweet boy!

Sunday we had the day to ourselves... went to church and did our Christmas exchange with eachother. Monday morning we then drove to Butler, IN for the Vanover Christmas. It was full of even more kids, but it was very entertaining. Hailey (our niece) is getting SO BIG! She loves her "unca Mike" as you can tell....

We spent Christmas morning at Mike's grandparents', opened presents, and enjoyed time with his family. Then we drove the 2.5 hours to Greenfield for Christmas with my family. It was nice to finally be done with traveling and have some down time. We played lots of games, including the Wii, which was a huge hit! We even spent the night there to just enjoy the evening and not be in a rush. (Not sure how we didn't get any pictures of the two of us, but I'm sure my mom has some.... We were just too busy playing with the kiddos.)

Now we have a few days off work to just enjoy being home! Saturday we're headed up to Kokomo for the Wittig Christmas celebration. What a great time of the year!!

Merry Christmas!

From our home (literally), to yours-- we wish you a wonderful, God-blessed and joy-filled Christmas! Remember the incredible miracle of Jesus' arrival, which is the reason for this holiday.

Giraffe Viewing

More South Africa pictures! It's been a while, so I thought I'd add a few more.

While we were out on our safari drives, we had the most incredible giraffe sightings. We discovered two about 30 feet off the side of the road who were just hanging out, happy to be posing for our photos. They are beautiful animals! Very graceful, peaceful and incredibly made. They have as many vertebrae in their necks as we do... Another interesting piece of information is that the little horns on their heads are actually bone structures!

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We were in awe as we sat in the jeep and the giraffes stood by the road looking right back at us. After a little while of watching, we drove down the road, turned around and came back. The two males we'd been watching started to cross the road we were about to return down. They stopped just to the left of our jeep, sharing the road we were on, and started to graze. As we were watching the beautiful creatures, the sun began to set. Eventually, they tired of their eating spot and walked away down the road. The photos are incredible!!

Our weekend

Just a few photos from our weekend... We spent Friday evening with the Lands and their beautiful addition, Sarah Elizabeth! She wasn't wanting to smile for me, but she's just so precious! (I think my flash was disturbing her trying to fall asleep)

Saturday night was the Firestone/GenFlex Christmas Party. A good chance for us to get dressed up and go out. It was a great opportunity for Mike to get to know the crew I work with, too. We had a really nice evening schmoozing with the big dogs.... I am SO thankful for my job and this great company!

Appreciation

Life is good! It's been really busy lately, but it's good. As I sit in my hotel room for the 10th day in three weeks and read my dear friend, Aim's blog about how much she loves her husband, I dearly miss mine. I've had to catch up to a year's worth of work in three months, which has taken me out of the state way too often. It's been crazy. It's been fun, but I miss my home.

I am so very thankful for a warm, comfy, love-filled home where I wake up beside Mike every morning.

That's all. I am terribly in love with the man at my home and can't wait to get back there. You may be gagging now, but it's true. So, no matter what's going on at home, be thankful for being there. Happy Thursday!

Merry Christmas from the Macks!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1168784278

Welcome, Sarah Elizabeth!

Our good friends, Cam & Katie Land welcomed their first child into the world on Thanksgiving day! She wasn't due to arrive until 12/4, but the little sweetheart wanted to bless them early. She's healthy, beautiful and happy as can be.

We visited her very briefly before I headed out to California early this week, and we can't wait to get our hands on her again!! (I forgot my camera when we were there) More pictures of her will come, I guarantee it. :)

Welcome, baby Carter!

My cousins, Chris & Molly, (well Chris is my cousin and Molly is his wife) had their third baby on November 14!!! Beautiful baby Carter came into the world a few weeks early but absolutely perfect. We can't wait to meet him on Friday!!

Congratulations, Chris & Molly! We love you!

The whole Day family: Chris, Molly, Emma, Morgan & Carter

Precious pictures of the girls with their baby brother.

South Africa, Chapter 2

We had incredible animal sightings while on our game drives throughout the week. Our guide was taking pictures a few times because he was so amazed!

Lions were the hardest to view because they managed to hide themselves so well. We spotted a few male lions who blended in to the scenery so well I couldn't figure out how people spotted them. They were fantastic, though! Such massive manes and beautiful eyes. I still have a hard time realizing they could tear me to shreds in a matter of seconds! If you look closely, you can see the lion laying down in the bushes.












Here was our best lioness sighting, too. Just after she crossed the road, impala started running out of the bushes. If it were for ignorant tourists who zipped by, we might have seen a kill!








Overlooking the Sabi river.












Leopard tracking… look closely for the paw prints! We tried all week to see the leopard. Finally, on the last game drive, we heard impala crying. JP quickly turned off the road to check it out. He listened to the cries and told us he was certain the leopard had to be nearby. As we were looking through our binoculars, trying to see ANYTHING, JP shouted "Look behind you!" We saw the leopard running off about 50 yards behind our Land Cruiser. It wasn't long enough for a picture, but he was beautiful. The leopard rounded off our "Big 5!!"









The plunge pool. It's basically a deep hot tub (private to each suite) that overlooks the African bush! Very relaxing in the evenings, and a perfect animal spotting location in the afternoons. I love this picture!

AFRICA, beautiful Africa! (Chapter 1)

There's no way to show all of our incredible pictures on here, but I'm going to give it my best effort through several postings. You will need to come by the Mack home for a full display of photos and video!

We had the most unbelievable experiences in South Africa. Every morning at 5:30 AM we went on an open jeep game drive for three hours. In the middle of the game drive, our guide, JP, stopped for a quick cup of coffee and biscuits overlooking the Sabi river or the African bush. We'd return at 8:30 for a full made-to-order breakfast buffet at the lodge. The morning was ours to enjoy. Incredible lunches were served at leisure, and high tea with scones and other treats followed at 4.

We left again at 4:30 or 5 for another three hour game drive. We stopped half way through the evening drive for a "Sun downer." JP set up a table and table cloth with wine, beer, liquors, juices, dried mango, biltong (African beef jerky) and dried apricots. It was a fantastic way to watch the sun set in the African sky.

We were always greeted with the cheeriest "Good Evening" upon returning to the lodge as well as hot, lemon-scented towels to freshen up with. That was followed by an elaborate spread of native foods such as Ostrich, Impala, Chicken, vegetables, salads and more. The dining was probably the finest we've experienced... and never ending!!!

That's it for chapter one. Stay tuned for plenty more stories. It was an experience of a lifetime!!

Our bed draped with mosquito nets.


The fantastic outdoor shower that overlooked the bush and Sabi River. We watched elephants, a rhino and impala walk by our suite from here.



Before we even made it to the lodge on the first day, we had the most incredible white rhino sighting! He stayed and ate for a good 15 minutes before we drove off.


"Our Group." We spent every game drive, and a lot of our free time, with the Adams and Hermans. Kelly (the tall, blond man) was Mike's greatest audience!


Our "Sundowner" being set up by JP. South African beer and wine in the middle of the bush!


Our first elephant sighting. This was from the lodge when we were eating lunch the first day. Many more elephant photos to come!

Campbell Photo Shoot

We're home from the beautiful country of South Africa! It was the most fantastic trip we may ever take, and we had a wonderful time! To see God's country in all of His glory was so amazing.

You'll have to be patient for pictures, though, because we took almost 900!!! I'm in the process of creating a DVD with photos and video clips. I'll post pictures along the way, too.

In the meantime, we got the Campbell family portraits back! My parents also gave us the gift of a portrait of Mike & me for our first (paper) anniversary! Here are the proofs, which turned out great… You can also check out all of the Campbell/Mack photo shoots at www.joelcookston.com. Click on "Proofing," and type in "Campbell" as the password. I must admit, it's a pretty good lookin' family! Enjoy. :)

Show-OW-er

Did you thank God when you showered with hot water today? Me neither. Mostly because we didn't have hot water!

Mike came home from the men's breakfast at church yesterday to find water trickling out of the water heater closet. It took a four hour wait and a 30 second look by the service man to determine, yep, we need a new water heater. Once Mike realized the service man was trying to sell him way more than we needed, he politely paid him his highway robbery fee and sent him on his way…. Which meant waiting 24 hours until another company could install a new water heater!

So, my morning shower was altered to hair washing under the shower faucet and then general cleansing plus leg shaving over the bathroom sink with COLD water. Yikes! :) It was one day, no big deal. Lindsay (in Haiti) does that daily. But I know it was another way of God reminding us of how very blessed we are, even with the little things in our lives!

Enjoy your warm shower in the morning, and give God a little shout out while you're at it.

p.s. The picture was way too appropriate and looks scarily like Mike! (I found it online, though)

Excuses!

Our new favorite excuse: "Sorry, we can't… we'll be in Africa!"

Several invitations have come our way in the last few weeks that we've had to turn down because we'll be on a safari in SOUTH AFRICA!!! Our financial analyst I work with at GenFlex died laughing when I used that line the first time. Then he realized I was serious!

We are getting so excited for our 9 day safari… I've been picking up clothes and such for us for the last month. In August we updated our tetanus boosters and Hep A immunizations, wer vaccinated for polio, took typhoid fever pills and picked up Malaria anti-biotics as well as anti-diarrheal pills "just in case."

Last week Mike got a box in the mail with incredible descriptions of our private suite where we'll be staying, the activities to do there and instructions for every step along the way. We also received two small duffel bags with "Edward Jones, South Africa, 2008" printed on them. I thought it was a nice gift until I realized we have to pack NINE DAYS worth of travel wear in those tiny little bags, not to exceed 33 pounds each. Every time I think about it, I laugh! I'm the girl who just packed four pairs of shoes, three outfits and three dress options to go to Butler, Indiana for two nights. Yes, this will be an experience of all sorts for the Macks! :) But it's going to be INCREDIBLE!!!

That's the Africa update for now. I'll have to scan in pictures of our lodges in Kruger National Park because they're unbelievable. We have our own private "plunge pool" looking over the river that runs through the park. I'm pretty sure that's a direct contradiction to the word "Safari," but we will thoroughly enjoy both parts of the safari trip equally.

Here are a few photos I found online of our private suite, its deck, an aerial view of the whole place, and a safari vehicle! Oh yeah, and a lion!