December 4th, 2004

6 years ago today, on December 4th, 2005, I was wed to the love of my life, Michael Scott Cameron Jr. It was the best decision I could have ever made in my life. My husband is my best friend and an amazing father to our children. I got lucky...he is a romantic. Through out the years on our anniversaries he goes to great lengths to plan in depth and detail these amazing date nights. One time he rented out a local skating rink at night and he took me dancing there to music..just the two of us. Another time it was to see a Christmas symphony orchestra and take a romantic walk. I love that he does this but before hand he will sneak around and plan things for days and it drives me crazy trying to figure out what in the world is going on. Well he started doing all this sneaking around and planning a couple of days ago. All I knew was that at 5:00pm our friends Ted and Holly were going to watch our boys for us so we could go on a date night (which is very very rare). He was still leaving and arranging things when I woke up this morning. When he got home with the boys around 9:00am he made bacon, eggs, and toast. A wonderful breakfest to start the celebration of our 6 year anniversary. And then it happened. The first of many, Keegan our 3 year old (sorry for the graphic detail) spewed his eggs all over the kitchen table. Scott and I just looked at eachother thinking "okay maybe he gagged"..because Keegan sometimes tends to gag on food and spit it up. Then we heard the dreaded words "my tummy hurts." We overlooked it not thinking Keegan was feeling that bad because at this point he was still running around the house playing with Kaid. Scott told us the first festivity of the day. We would be going to Wassil Day! He then explained to us what in the world Wassil Day even was. It is a Christmas celebration at Cold Spring Village, which is a village remake of the 1800's era, and that they would have St. Nicholas there. Now we don't do Santa at our house. We really want to keep the focus on Christmas being about Jesus birth and that He was the greatest gift of all. Since Kaid has been going to preschool and watching Christmas movies he keeps asking who and what santa and rudolph are all about. We explained to him St. Nicholas or Santa was a man that lived long ago who did nice things for children in his town that didn't have any presents. That he made the children presents and took them to them. So Scott wanted to celebrate the first part of our anniversary with our kids, by taking Kaid and Keegan to see who this St. Nicholas was all about and hear him tell stories about helping the kids long ago. So the boys were all excited and Scott was getting the car ready. And then together in unison both Keegan AND Kaiden started gagging and throwing up on the kitchen floor. I stood in shock for a second not knowing which one to help first..so panicking I banged on the window for scott to come inside and then I grabbed towels and wipes and started cleaning up my sick little boys. Into pajamas they went and on the couch with a movie with throw up buckets by their side. Many many times throughout the day those buckets were used. Scott told me of his plans he had for our date later that night..which sounded amazing. Instead we stayed home with our stomach flu sick boys, instead we had take out subs for dinner. And I saw the beauty in it all. This is what it means to be married for 6 years. To be with the ones you love no matter what the cicumstances. When things don't always turn out right. To love and care for eachother when we are sick. I loved today..December 4, 2010. I wouldn't have changed it for the world. I do think we will look back and have a good laugh about how Scott planned so hard and long to pull of our 6 year anniversary and how it really turned out! And most of all I just really want to say, I love Scott Cameron, end of story.
PS. It's 12:00 am and NOW Scott has the stomach flu! not fun at all!

Project Hopefull

There is this amazing organization called project hopefull that advocates for orphaned children who are HIV+. They created this awesome video to inform people about the diffrences between HIV and Aids.

Because people need to know

I grabbed this video from my mother in law, Faith's blog....it is awesome and everyone should watch it. They are in the process of adopting a little boy from Liberia. This video is for Gborlee.

Happy Thanksgiving! There are so many things our family are thankful for today and everyday. Most of all we are thankful that we got to spend thanksgiving with my husband Scott. Even though he was working at the firehouse today we and the other wives and kiddos got to join our husbands for an amzing thanksgiving feast at the firehouse.

pretty cool sketch of Kaid on his skateboard...and seriously...look how handsome he is! pretty gnarly dude..

PISTACHIOS - Kakenya from POCKO on Vimeo.

growing.... growing.... gone!

Oh Kaiden...the other night when I was trying to get Keane to sleep you and your 5 year old self walks in and asks "MOM, is this is a zit?" and points under your neck. I stifle a laugh and answer you "No kaid that is just a vein, you won't get zits until your 13". This is my boy who I swear is 5 going on 13. He begins many sentances with "when I'm big like daddy.....", and he tells me in the car one day "Mom when I grow up and am big like daddy I'm not going to live with you anymore"...oh that broke my heart! He then went on to say he would probably be a surfer. You do that Kaid! You do anything you want to do and your dad and I will support you. I'm coming to the realization that in another 5 years Kaid will be 10 and then 15 and then 20. This growing up thing goes way to fast. It is bittersweet. I will miss my children as babies but will enjoy seeing the many seasons in their lives. At 5 years old I can already see Kaid's compassion for others. He is very sensitive and although not always the kindest with his brothers (rightfully so) he is the first to sense when someone is hurt or left out and he will try to fix that. I also see in Kaid and Keegan a child like faith for God which brings me much joy. I can only pray that God will protect them and help me be the best mom I can be as they are growing older.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6

This says it all right here

Ethiopian Orphans from Simon Scionka on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday Kaid & Keegan (Part 1)

On October 3rd Kaiden Riley turned 5 years old! We came a week early to Michigan before the Chicago Marathon so we could visit family and we were back just in time to celebrate Kaid's birthday on Sunday (Oct 3rd). Grandma Faith made it a fall birthday party for all the boys and they each had their own cake with candles to blow out. Keegan turned 3 on September 3rd..and Keano turned 1 on October 13th. There were 16 kiddos in all that day and our first event was going to the pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins and go on a hayride. We also got talked in by the men (Mike & Scotty) to go in a corn maze with all the kids. Thankfully we had 6 adults to keep everyone in tow. The adults were Scott's cousins Kelly and Tona, her husband Billy, Mike, Faith, Scott and me. Yes we were largely outnumbered. Thankfully nobody went MIA in the corn maze and we all made it out safely. We then hopped on the wagon and rode over to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. The older kids picked out their big pumpkins in what took seconds as soon as they hopped off the wagon. 3 year old Keegan however wanted to find the perfect pumpkin. His qualifications for the perfect pumpkin: it must be tiny (the smaller the better), it must have a good handle on it for holding aka: a long stem, it must be a bright orange with no other spots, and it must be round. Pumpkin after pumpkin failed Keegan's test and he finally found the perfect one 10 minutes later. After all the 16 kids pumpkins were measured and paid for we headed over to the barn were there were horses, goats, chickens, sheep, and kittys to be pet. Keegan loves horses and their were two beautiful giant horses that he enjoyed petting. As we were petting the horse I heard some commotion going on behind us. Come to find out...one of the kids let the sheep out of the fence! It was running around outside. I personally thought this was the funniest thing ever. You gotta love the mind of a child...we'll never know if it was an accident or on purpose! This wraps up part 1 of the birthday party day. Here are some pics of the hayride...stay tuned for part 2!

Happy 1st Birthday Keano!

Keano...to my funny little guy...you turned 1 year old on October 13th, 2010! How the past year has gone by so fast. We've watched you grow so much the past year. We love you so much!

Chicago Marathon

Yesterday 10-10-10 I ran the Chicago Marathon as most of you know! It was such an amazing expierience that I will always remember. 45,000 people and I place 8,126. I ran the 26.2 miles in 3:59:16...just under 4 hours (the time I was going for)! The first 22 miles felt like nothing. It wasn't until the last three miles that my muscles started tensing up like I've never felt before, but there was no way I was about to stop running. I put one foot in front of the other until I got to that finish line. The end was all worth it as I was greeted with a medal and a nice cold gatorade. I ran the race in my Team World Vision jersey with our two sponsered children Bonface from Kenya and Dinkishe from Ethiopia pinned on my shirt. (Which is kind of ironic because the first place winner for the marathon was from Kenya and the second place was from Ethiopia). Looking at our sponsered childrens faces kept me going till the end as I knew I was running this race for them. Our team raised this money specifically for wells to be built in African villages of Kenya and Ethiopia. It was so cool how everyone on Team World Vision supported and encouraged eachother through out the race. You saw an orange jersey and you hooped and hollared to eachother! There was a connection there with eachother. As we all knew exactly what we were running for. This is definatley not the end of my marathon journey. It's like eating chips and salsa...once you eat one you can't stop. I already have my next marathon I will be training for in March, the ocean drive marathon. I will still be running for team world vision and gathering donations to be built in Africa. So if you couldn't donate this time, you'll have your chance to donate again. Thanks so much for those of you who did this time. And a special thank you to my husband who encouraged me when I wanted to give up.

3 1/2 weeks till CHICAGO MARATHON!!!!

Okay so if you couldn't note the excitement in the title to this post...there is only 3 1/2 weeks till I run 26.2 miles! yoohoo! So pumped! A few weeks ago I did a 15miler and this Wednesday will be my big 20 miles before race day. So please please keep me in your prayers that day. It'll be long, it'll be hard, but very worth it! I only have 3 1/2 weeks left of fundraising as well. Which means we are down to the wire. If you wanted to donate to world vision to help build wells for clean water in Africa and support me in running this 26.2 miles please right now go over to my fundraising website and click on donate. $5.00, $50.00, or even $100.00! Whatever is on your heart to give please do it. This is exactly why I'm running....our team will have raised over a million dollars to build wells in Africa so they can have clean water when this is all said and done. My website http://twv.convio.net/goto/irunforafrica
donate! Thank you so much everyone!

Last days of summer

It's school time

Tonight we had Kaid's preschool orientation. It was for parents only so our amazing friend Ted came with two of his sons last minute to watch our boys for us so we could go. Kaid is going to Trinity nursery school. I love it because it is a hands on montisorri type learning. I also love that it is a Christian preschool and September's focus will be "God made me special" and "God made everything". We came home with a little tshirt for him and his first "homework" assignment. He will be collecting things around the house to put in a little paper bag to take to school. The things he has to put in the bag are things that describe him and what he likes to do so his classmates can get to know him. So far he's put a skateboard wheel in the bag, and he says he wants to put a picture of him surfing and riding a dirtbike in the bag. I love these fun little projects that he gets to do! Kaid is so excited to start next tuesday. Also Kaid and Keegan will be doing Zumba classes on Fridays at the preschool. Zumba is a dance excersice program and his preschool is offering one for kiddos. So I think this will give Keegan something to be involved in as well. However I will be doing some homeschool preschool with Keegan this year when Kaid is at school. We will be doing some fun crafts and doing some fun stuff. I just ordered Kaid his first pair of Tom Shoes for school! If any of you haven't heard of toms shoes it's an amazing company where you buy a pair of shoes and they give one to a child in need. It's a one for one program. www.tomsshoes.com I plain on getting a pair for all the boys because they are too cute and I love the fact it's helping three other children have a pair of shoes as well. I will post some pictures of Kaid's first day of school next tuesday!!!

memories in the making

At this very moment Kaiden is sound asleep in "Papa's Camper". Scott's mom and dad arrived in Jersey around 5:00pm today with ten kids (Scott's cousin Tonna's kiddos joined us this time and they are adorable!) and two doggies in tow. I can't believe they made it! 24 hours....they arrived and all the kids got out and stretched their legs running around the yard and jumping in the pool. After a couple hours of that we headed to the campground down the road wear they are staying for the next two weeks. Kaid and Keegan always love when Papa's camper comes out. It brings so many fun memories and good times. There are plenty of beach days, some good eating, and plenty of friends to play with. I will probably not see Kaiden much for the next two weeks. He will want to be spending the night in the camper and that is okay. This is a once a year event. Something the boys look forward to every summer! So how exciting they are here and it is happening right now. I will have pictures to post soon! A couple of days ago we also had a visit from Uncle Jeff and my cousins Emily and Jay. Uncle Jeff is touring the east coast with his band all the way from Colorado. It was so fun to see them and to hang out with them. We had such a good time. Thank you God for good family and friends and great times spent together!

My boys are all grown up

Kaid and I had fun tonight editing some photos just to look silly. He said he wanted a beard. He wears it nicely.

clean..unpack..clean some more..

The past couple of weeks have been crazy! We have moved! Went up north a little..well only 26 miles to be exact...is it crazy I live at a mile marker the same distance as a marathon? How ironic. One day before we move I will run down to mile marker 0 just for fun. So we moved into our awesome friends house who we are missing like crazy (Zach & Age). Having them gone is not worth the house in any way! It's alright though....we have a new Vay K destination and are planning many visits in the future:) As for the move...we are exhausted. Keegan and Keane both had fevers and Keegan had asthma attacks on "moving day". So much for things being easy, not that I was ever counting on it being so. I love it though. All this craziness! It adds so much craziness into the mix and at least we have stories to tell. That is why I haven't posted any pics yet. Will get to that asap. As for today my brother has left for bootcamp for the US Marines. I'm a little nervous for him just because I know what he'll be going through. Come on who ever said bootcamp was fun?! But I know he will do awesome because he is a strong person and really wants to serve his country. So here is one photo I'll share at my brothers graduation from highschool a couple of weeks ago. My sister and two brothers.

Beginning of Summer photo shoot Cameron Boys

Clean out the clutter

Today is a day where I am cleaning out the clutter (well right now I'm taking a break). A friend of ours is having a yard sale and let us know that if we had anything we wanted to sell we could at their yardsale coming up in a couple of weeks. So this got me excited to actually find stuff to sell and get rid of. Last night Scott and I tackled our room and filled up a laundry basket full of clothes we never wear that were just sitting in our drawers and closet. Today I'm going through the boys room sneaking out toys to get rid of that they never play with or never will. Though Keegan did see the colorful plastic of a toy barn that never gets played with sticking out of the trash can and brought it back to me. Which led to Kaiden going over to the trash can picking out every broken toy I threw away saying that he loved and played with them all and why was mommy throwing them away. It's funny how hard it is for us to throw stuff away, to clear out the clutter. Sometimes I even give things a third or fourth look before I actually decide to get rid of it though I haven't used it in years. So here is a good thought for me and for all of us today as I'm cleaning God tells us not to hold on to material things for our treasures are stored in heaven. Now back to cleaning!

three's a charm

As you can see I haven't updated our blog in a while. With the days getting warmer we have been busy outside. The summer is our favorite time as we love to be outside and at the beach. We've had the chance to go to the beach already at the end of April beginning of May already with some good friends of ours The Pashkins:) It was so warm the last couple of weeks that I already got a head start on the summer tan that turned into a peeling today. Summer also brings me closer to my marathon which is 6 months away. So the days Scott works I'm stuck training inside on the treadmill which is not really fun at all. So a couple times latley since Scott's been at work I've been lugging all three boys 6 miles on our bikepath in a double jogger stroller. It's pretty intense. The boys are funny and keep me company on our runs. We looks for bears and tigers and we pretend that we are a sled dog team and a bunch of huskies are pulling us. Little do they know mama is the sled dog. So I've come to the conclusion today that running outside with the boys is fun and that we should start saving for a triple jogging stoller to get us through the summer. I figure it will go a long way through Keane and the next kiddos as well. Here's a little look of what I'm talking about.

And no the happy running family is not us...yet..but soon to be.

laying it all out

Some thoughts on my mind. The way society is as a whole is irrelavant. I have come to realize that certain things do not matter in this life. Examples: #1 Material possesions #2 how and what people think of you. I have found the only thing that does matter is knowing God, loving Jesus, telling others about Him and loving others the way Jesus would..and that is it. There I said it. Some of you who read this may not like hearing what I just said. I am not ashamed and as for example #2 I don't care how or what people think of me anymore. It saddens me to think that our society and lives focus on our material objects. We have money to buy a mocha frap from starbucks (this is ME I'm guilty of this) but then we think a lonnngggg time about giving to a humanitarian organization. Why is it so hard for us to give to somebody who has a NEED? But we can fill our selfish desire of a WANT so quickly? It makes me sick to my stomach...if someone said "raise your hand if your guilty?", mine would be waving eagerly in the back row. How can I even think about valuing a material object over a human life???!!! Are we crazy?! This I want to change. I defintley think that there is more God wants us to do then showing up for church every sunday and praying every once in a while. How can we be Jesus to somebody? That is exactly what I want to teach my children. So God please help me teach my children to love thy neighbor as thyself. To take care of the widow and orphan. To sell all they have and follow You, and to thank God for all the blessings in life. I guess the best way I can teach them these things is to be the example myself.

Mom he's a sinner

This past Sunday night we went to the firehouse to eat dinner with Scott and wash the truck. A good benefit of my husband being a firefighter is the free car washes that come with it. As Scott was spraying the truck down Kaiden kept saying, "sinner, sinner, sinner." Then he asks me, "mom what's sinner?" I responded that "a sinner is a person who does bad things that Jesus doesn't like us to do. Like if you tell a lie or steal something that is a sin." Kaid then said, "that's why Jesus died on the cross." (I kept telling him Jesus died on the cross for us during Easter). Then I asked him were he heard the word sinner and he said in his class (at church) that morning. Later when we went back in to the galley to eat some grub Keegan kept picking on his brother. He kept hitting him and doing the mean brotherly things Keegan sometimes likes to do to Kaid. After about a few yells back and some threatning looks Kaid looks at me and yells, "MOM KEEGAN'S A SINNER!"

vanilla twilight

The stars lean down to kiss you
And I lay awake and miss you
Pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere
'Cause I'll doze off safe and soundly
But I'll miss your arms around me
I'd send a postcard to you, dear
'Cause I wish you were here

I'll watch the night turn light blue
But it's not the same without you
Because it takes two to whisper quietly

The silence isn't so bad
'Til I look at my hands and feel sad
'Cause the spaces between my fingers
Are right where yours fit perfectly

I'll find repose in new ways
Though I haven't slept in two days
'Cause cold nostalgia chills me to the bone
But drenched in vanilla twilight
I'll sit on the front porch all night
Waist-deep in thought because when I think of you
I don't feel so alone

As many times as I blink I'll think of you tonight
I'll think of you tonight

When violet eyes get brighter
And heavy wings grow lighter
I'll taste the sky and feel alive again
And I'll forget the world that I knew
But I swear I won't forget you

Oh, if my voice could reach back through the past
I'd whisper in your ear,
"Oh darling, I wish you were here"

Wordless Wednesday

I'm now a college student! what did I get myself into? something good....

With Scott having two years left in the coast guard I decided that I need to get on the ball with my college education. My husband Scott is currently enrolled with Liberty University and has been taking classes for about a year now. They are the number one and largest Christian college in the country. And what can I say..my man Tim Lahaye (author of the Left Behind series) founded the Tim Lahaye school of Prophecy at LU. So I only choose the best of the best to get an Associate of Arts in Education through LU's education program. 2 years of college and I'll have a degree to teach in a Christian school or I can teach preschool, be a teachers aid, or a substitute teacher at a public school. Wherever God wants me to be. I would rather be in a public school (that's where Christians are needed most). My first classes I will be taking for the summer semester are English and Theology for 8 weeks, and then Philosophy and Education for 8 weeks. I'm super stoked! Scott and I at least have English we are taking together and he's already taken Philosophy so he can help me out if I have any trouble. So my nights will be spent on my computer and school work..when the boys settle down to a movie and chocolate milks and Keane falls asleep around 9:30pm. May 17th is when I start and Scott starts up again as well...he's on a 2 week break now. I'm going to be a busy woman! Speaking of...I must go get my run on..Keane is asleep and the boys are watching a movie. Till next time!

You are 6 months old Keane!!!!

Ethiopia or Bust

My mind is on Africa tonight and our adoption. It has been 2 years now since I have been researching on adopting from Ethiopia. 2 years now since God has put this passion into my heart for adoption. I am a strong advocate for adoption and loving the orphan. I have seen this first hand from my mother and father in law who have adopted 7 children and working on 3 more (1 baby girl due any day, and 2 from Ethiopia due soon). It is amazing how they have taken these children into their home and loved them and you know what the sad part is? They get a lot of slack for doing so. So many negative comments and are they done yets?! Is that not a horriable and selfish thing to hear? To give a child a home = you are crazy for doing so! Shame on the people who says these things. Is it better for a child to go unloved and without a family then for him or her to have a home? Common sense says no. God says NO. God says love the orphan and the widow. And that is exactly what our family is about. God is tugging at our hearts and leading us toward this adoption. Tell me why I ran into two families in Maine this past weekend who adopted from Ethiopia? I don't know when it will happen. Soon I hope. We hope to bring two children home from Ethiopia. The boys are excited about it. Kaiden says he wants a sister. I say whoever God wants in our family...just maybe he'll have a sister afterall. Until then we are prayerful about this. And we are also praying our Ethiopian siblings home to the Michigan Cameron Family as well:)

The way life should be

Well I'm posting our "Maine Trip" we took over Easter weekend a little late. Yes it is April 7th and we went last weekend but what can I say...my life is filled chasing after three little handsome boys. Now...for our Maine trip. We had to go up to Portland, ME unexpectedley for Scott to take a firefighter test. He is trying to get into the Portland Fire Department when he is done with the coast guard in a little less then 2 years. Yes it takes that long to line a job up in a fire department. For most fire departments you have to apply a year or so in advance. This lined up perfect for us! Scott took the test and we have to go back up a couple more times this summer to complete the process. Here are a few memorable highlights of our trip:
We spent Friday walking around Portland. It is in awesome city! It's very small for being the biggest city in Maine. And that's what we love about it. There is so much going on in this city. So many different types of people...tons of music, art, good food, and all it needs is a new coffee house/music venue ran by well US (more to come on that;) Needless to say Keegan did have a melt down in the Old Port sandwich shop and we were the loudest ones there. Keegan screamed his little heart out as the Quakers were having a silent protest for peace nearby (at this time I was thinking of joining them). Kind of ironic. Kaid and Keegan and Keane also saw their first street performance. Two guys..one on guitar and one of mandolin..very cool..Kaid got to drop money in the bucket for them and he thought it was great. Future street performer?




That evening we drove down to our old stomping grounds. The seacoast...York County...Kittery (our old home) and the Yorks. We took the dogs to Long Sands so they could get out and stretch (yes we took BOTH dogs on this trip..crazy)! The boys all fell asleep in the car so they didn't even get to see the ocean. I did take some pictures though.






Later that night we went to KTP (Kittery Trading Post)...our favorite adventure/recreation/sporting store ever! This place has anything and everything you could want for any activity to do outdoors. The boys got to see two moose (if you've never seen one up close they are HUGE..I mean HUGE..even stuffed. Kaid enjoyed getting his sillys out by dancing on a rock outside KTP and I couldn't pass the oppurtunity to snap a pic of his handsome little face.





The next morning (Saturday) Scott had to go and take his test so the boys and I hung out at the hotel. We stayed at a Days Inn in South Portland. It was not worth the money and I get grossed out by sleeping in the beds. For some reason sleeping in a bed that hundreds of other strangers have slept in just doesn't seem that appealing to me. Bed bugs anyone? The next time we go up to Maine we are camping. We did get a free breakfast though and that was good. Bagels and doughnuts!






We decided to go home that night instead of staying an extra night in the hotel. So we packed up and headed to get some lunch at the Lobster Shack in Portland. Best lobster roll ever! And it was fun for the boys to eat right on the cliffs over the ocean.



We then headed back down to York and went to one of our favorite places Mount Aggie. The first trail we went on had some rocks. Keegan tripped on a rock and cut his face by his eye. Thankfully we have an EMT daddy who makes it all better and he back in the game in 5 minutes running the trails with Kaid. The views are gorgeous on Mount A. You can see the White Mountains in New Hampshire from the top...as you can see in the pics below.








That about wraps up our trip. We had a great time and we look forward to going back up this summer:)