May Jesus Christ Be Praised

Well, the news came yesterday morning around 8am that I was in fact displaced from Merck. I had been preparing for the news of the layoff for quite some time now, but you never know exactly how it will hit you at the time. While I was very content and felt at peace about it I did get a little sad speaking with my boss, Vicky, because I could tell she was upset to be losing me as a member of the team. It is nice to know that you are appreciated and so the separation is certainly bittersweet. After the call of course I spoke with Mike first and then sent out a basic text to many close friends and family members who were anxiously anticipating the news. At that time I wasn't really in the mood to speak to anyone just yet, although I was appreciative of all the kind texts/notes that I received throughout the day.

Within the hour I went to play the piano to ease my mind and played through some Hymns in a Hymnal that I received several years ago when I used to play in church on occasions. There were several that touched my heart, but one in particular that stuck with me throughout the day. "May Jesus Christ Be Praised" This was one verse:

"Does sadness fill my mind? A solace here I find, May Jesus Christ be praised! Or fades my earthly bliss? My comfort still is this, May Jesus Christ be praised!"

What a wonderful Savior we serve. I just can't help feeling that this is just one small piece of God's plan for our lives and this is just the beginning. While the future is still a mystery to us I know that God has us in his hands and we have no need to worry. I am hopeful there may be an open window for us to move back to DFW to be closer to friends and family. However, only time will tell. I just wanted to share this with you all so you know not to feel sorry for us that we are certainly taken care of. The next few weeks will be a little challenging as I lose my work car, computer, phone, and accessories so I will be busy getting all of those things together and transferring some important phone numbers & email addresses, make sure I have yours!

I am happy to have worked out two days in a row since finding out about the layoff and plan to make it to the gym every morning this week which feels great! At least I will be getting into better shape right? :)

Other than that, Fort Myers, Florida vacation coming up March 7-11th. YAY! :) We are certainly looking forward to some beach time and seeing the Gaynors. That's all for now.

Love,
Emily

Merck Happy Hour and San Antonio Stockshow & Rodeo

Greetings! It's a lazy Sunday afternoon in the Campbell household so I am taking this opportunity to update the blog and hopefully post some photos from this weekend.

Friday after work we had a Merck Happy Hour at the Flying Saucer to celebrate the end of another week and an opportunity for everyone to get together before the big news on Monday. It was very nice visiting with co-workers and relaxing over a couple of drinks. Here are a few photos that I took:

Sasha & Emily

Carmen and Lauren

Lauren and Skipper

Lauren and Emily

Then, on Saturday we ran a few errands and decided to go to the San Antonio Stockshow & Rodeo with our friends John and Kristy Wood. Montgomery Gentry was playing the evening concert and Cross Canadian Ragweed had the 1pm show, but unfortunately we did not get tickets so we just walked around the grounds and enjoyed the animals, shows, exhibitors and even some new cars. The weather was nice, but very windy and after a few hours we were done being outside and went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner then to the Wood's home to visit and relax. Here are just a few pictures of us enjoying ourselves:

Kristy and Emily

Kristy and John Wood

Mike and Emily

Well, that is all from us today, but we hope that you enjoy the rest of your weekend and that you have a wonderful upcoming week. My notification time for the Merck layoffs will be from 8-8:30am tomorrow. Be prayerful about the outcome and the Lord's wisdom and guidance for us.

Love, Mike & Emily

2 Peter 1: 5-8

Mike and I are trying to add to our knowledge of the scripture with a verse or a few verses each week. I thought you might be encouraged to try to learn this verse with us. We prefer the NIV (New International Version) but I will also copy it in the RSV (Revised Standard Version) to see it in two different ways.

NIV-
"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

RSV-
"For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these things are yours and abound, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Have a great day!
Love, Mike & Emily

Our first blog entry...

Well, here goes nothing. This is officially our first blog entry. I have been reading friends' blogs for years, but have never branched out to creating my very own. I must say thus far I am surprised how much actually goes into one of these. There are all kinds of settings and options and things to choose. I am sure that this will be a work in progress, and I certainly have a lot to learn, but for now it has been created.

This past weekend was very busy for us as we traveled up to Fort Worth for my older sister, Lauren's wedding. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and I know that Lauren is very excited to have all the planning behind her and to be married to the love of her life, Christopher. Here is our personal shout-out to the new Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Allen Keene. I have very few pictures from this weekend since it was crazy busy for me, but I hope to post some for you (if I can figure out how to do that) once the photos become available.

In closing, today I found out that the layoff notification date for representatives at the company I work for, Merck, has been moved up from February 26th to February 23rd. Therefore, a week from today I will know whether or not I will continue to be employed. We would ask that in your prayer time throughout the next week that you would lift us up that God's Will would be done, regardless of the outcome. We are going to have quite a year of change ahead of us and would appreciate you keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. God has blessed our lives so tremendously thus far in our marriage and we have no doubt that he has wonderful plans for us in the future. We just don't know exactly what those plans might have in store for us. We are seeking his guidance and wisdom through our decisions and will know the answers when the time is right.

Thanks for reading through our first blog entry. We hope there will be many more to come!
Love, Mike & Emily