Family Updates

In case you didn't get our holiday card, visit our online holiday card. Campbell Holiday 2018.

These are some wonderful pictures taken by my brother-in-law. These were actually taken in front of our wonderful home (our neighbor's home is in the background). I love this pic of Murad and me. We will celebrate 10 years of marriage in March 2019.

I absolutely love these three children. Abigail Lynn (17), Joel Tariq (7.5), & Lena Elise (3.75-- 4 in February).

New Year

I don't really do New Year's resolutions, but I do have overall goals for the New Year. On the 26th day of 2019, I'll turn 37. Let that sink in. I feel like I'm closer and closer to the woman I want to be, but still have a ways to go before I hit 40. Here are some of my goals:

Become Financially Secure
Last year, my husband worked a great job financially. Instead of saving like we should've, we pretty much blew right through it. Then my husband lost his job in August and we went into major debt. Like we're having to dig ourselves out of huge hole. He makes more money than I do, so it was hard to shoulder all the expenses for the past five months. Luckily, my husband is now gainfully employed, but we will spend the first part of 2019 paying off debt and saving.

Travel
That  being said, I do hope we get to travel this summer. We'll go to Colorado at the end of July for my final summer seminar in my doctoral program. Abi and I are taking a service trip with the UU Youth in June. Usually, they go to New Orleans, but I think this year we may go to Houston. UU GA is also this summer in Spokane, Washington, but I'm not sure if I'll get to go. I'm really, really hoping we can spring another summer trip to Disneyland. I know we won't be able to stay on site like we did two summers ago (prices have jumped), but I so wanna go! That was hands-down the best vacation we've taken as a family. Now that we're a family of five, I'd really for Abi to go.

Live Healthier
I need to get back on the healthy eating and exercise train. I know what I need to do, but I just need to do it. It's so hard being a doctoral student, mom, full-time worker, wife, etc. As I inch closer to 40, I need to take my health into consideration.

And those are my major goals. What are you looking forward to in 2019? What are you dreading?

MLK + UU

Over the break, I've made time to read for pleasure, but mostly to learn more of the history of the UU faith and the church's relationship with African-American's.

I bought a book on Kindle called Darkening the Doorways: Black Trailblazers and Missed Opportunities in Unitarian Universalism by Mark Morrison-Reed. It's interesting to read about early Black UUs (Unitarians, prior to becoming UU) and how this liberal religion has consistently missed the mark in creating a truly multicultural community. However, I do have hope for a more inclusive future. I think as we close the achievement gap, we'll see more diversity within the UU church.

I read this article that examined the possibility of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a UU. In fact, Dr. King and Coretta Scott King both thought of becoming UU, but noted that, it would not help to build the Civil Rights Movement. "What surprised and saddened me most was what she said next. Though I am paraphrasing, the gist of it was this: 'We gave a lot of thought to becoming Unitarian at one time, but Martin and I realized we could never build a mass movement of black people if we were Unitarian.'"

As I mentioned before, UU intrigued me because of its open support of Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ rights. However, as I learn more about the church, I realize that it is full of issues that mirror any other church or house of worship. I do think that the more we look to the past in our search for truth, we'll be able to make the church a diverse place. Murad and I are starting the path to membership for our current church. We are excited for our family to officially become UU members. 

Anyways, here's a link to the article about MLK + UU.

What it means to be UU

As many of you know, Murad and I attend a UU church. Most people are not quite sure what to make of UU, but for us it makes perfect sense. Murad was raised Muslim and I was raised Protestant (Lutheran). Neither one of those faiths worked for us, and for Murad it was important that remained Muslim. I maintained my Lutheran identity and even had my children baptized as Lutheran. However, as I became a mother, I didn't feel comfortable raising them Lutheran or Muslim. My car accident really changed my perception of religion, and so I visited a UU church periodically. I typically attended alone, but I started bringing Murad and the children. When Abi moved in with us in March, I knew that we had to be part of the UU church. We are now going through the membership process and our children are actively involved in Religious Education. I'm so happy my children will be 1st generation UUs, and I hope that if they have children, they will raise them as UUs.

Murad and I recently became involved with a growing organization called BLUU (Black Lives of UU). We completed a living history project in which we detailed our journey into UU. I won't share the project here, but I am so proud of how it turned out. Through it all, it helped me to solidify my beliefs and my hopes for my little family.

• We desire for our family members to be loving, accepting, compassionate individuals who seek truth and light.
• We desire to develop, maintain, and share our pride in our Blackness and our UU faith.
• We desire to connect with other Black UUs.
  

I'm including a link to a great article on visiting a UU church.

Looking for more: Why visiting a Unitarian Universalist church matters

Fall Semester 2018 is done!

I got straight A's again!

This semester was great and I'm excited by the work I produced. Click here to see my completed projects: Recent Projects. 

• In my Qualitative Case Study course, I worked on a group project with three other members of my cohort. We examined writing in mathematics. We are now looking to publish our study, Multiple Case Study Examining Teacher Application and Perceptions of Incorporating Writing Strategies in Mathematics, in a refereed journal.
• In my Social Justice in Education course, I completed a staff development project on School Social Workers. I also wrote a paper on the concerns of Muslim students in American schools.

During the school year I also worked as a GRA for Dr. Ku. I mostly edited drafts that he prepared to submit for publication. However, I just started working on a literature review with him and a colleague on teacher quality.

Next semester, I'll have Dr. Ku for a technology in education course, and I will also take a literacy as social practice course. This doctoral journey has been pretty amazing so far. I feel like I'm learning so much, and able to apply it to my job as a program specialist. In turn, my job as a program specialist guides my research. I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to my dissertation topic too. I'm excited as it combines my current work in SEL with Womanist theory. More on that later as I still have a whole year before I take comps and submit my dissertation proposal.