Friends?

So, Jeremiah and I had date night at our church tonight. It’s a great time to come drop the kiddo’s off for only $2 a kid and have some fun doing whatever you want. So, we met up with some other couples for Tapa’s at this nice little place.

 When we got there, I recognized the two couples we were going there to meet, but there we two other couples that I didn’t recognize. “Cool”, I thought, “Some new people to meet”. We squeeze in to the table, and looking back I realize that the side of the table with our friends was very cramped, and the other “new” couples were surrounded with plenty of space. I very cordially and friendly said hello to the newbies and extended my hand and introduced myself. The response was underwhelming. And although they said hi, I never did find out there names.

 I soon realized no one was talking to these people, and it was then I realized that maybe these people weren’t with our group at all. I leaned over and whispered to the couple I knew for sure was my friend, and they informed me that, no, we don’t know them, and at this restaurant, people share tables.

 Oooohhhh……I don’t think I get out enough. And when I do, I don’t usually make it to restaurants with such swanky seating arrangements. Why is it that I am continually putting my foot in my mouth in social settings? Well, at least now I know, and as G.I. Joe always said, knowing is half the battle.

A lot going on.

I really don’t know where to begin. It seems that everyday, something new happens that would be totally blog worthy, yet I never get a chance to actually write about it because I’m too stinkin’ busy or tired. Then by the time the next day comes and something new happens, I feel like I can’t write about that until I write about the day before, and the cycle just continues. Excuses excuses, I know. So, I’ve finally decided that this cannot go on any longer. I don’t even know what I’m going to write about yet, but it will be something….or everything.

 So, did I ever tell you I totalled the car? Yep, I t-boned another car in the middle of an intersection as the other car was running there red light. Air bags deployed in both cars, and both cars were totalled. Luckily no one was hurt, and the kids weren’t in the car. So, since then we’ve gotten a “new” van (‘96 Plymouth voyager..yeah baby) and I’ve been going to the chiropractor’s office two to three times a week. Aside from having to find child care, the visits have been a total blessing.

 Let’s see, what else has happened. Oh, did I tell you about the bath tub? Yeah, one morning I decided to buzz the boy’s heads, and afterwards, I threw them in the bath tub. I needed to pick out songs for worship that Sunday, so I ran out to the piano to play through a couple of songs while the boys played in the water (I know, I know, I shouldn’t have left them alone…totally my fault) Anyways, about half way through my first song, I hear Silas yelling “mom, mom, Owen….” That was all I needed to hear to stop me from playing piano and go investigate. Before I even got up though, I noticed the water was trailing into the living room, from the bathroom. Eight soaking wet towels later, the floor was dry and the boys were out of the tub. As I descended to the basement to start the laundry, I noticed, ummm, a huge puddle on the floor. That’s right, all the water had leaked through the ceiling and into the basement….directly on top of our computer table, of course. I mean, really, it could have leaked anywhere, but it had to be there. There were puddles on the keyboard, the mouse, the printer/scanner/fax, our home phone, and our digital camera (which had been left on the computer the night before). For a day and a half I thought our computer was dead. It wouldn’t turn on, and I was so frustrated. Until someone who knows about computer’s told me to unplug the computer from the back up battery, and directly into an outlet that I know works(thank you TC). Sure enough, the back up battery took the blow for our computer, and so it was saved. And everything else turned out to work fine too. Amazing!

 Oh, last weekend was my ten year High School reunion. I know, I can’t believe it’s already been ten years!! I still feel like I just graduated…except for the fact that I’ve been married 8+ years and have four children. Inspite of the nerves I had going into it, I had a really great time. I went to a small Christian school of about 35 classmates, and so everybody knew everybody pretty well. It was great to see old friend and meet new spouses. Then the next day we had a family BBQ where all the kids were invited to come, along with siblings and parents, and it all went down at my parents house. Good times.

 Needless to say, life has been quite busy. Eden and Olivia started school a couple weeks ago, and Silas started Pre-School yesterday. Although it’s a lot of dropping off and picking up, it has been nice to have a little quiet time with Owen for a couple hours out of the day. I hope I didn’t bore too many of you with these longwinded stories, and I’m gonna try to be more consistent with my writings from hear on out.

                                                         

Cow-a-bunga Dude

So, even though Silas’ birthday was July 1st, and Owen’s was June 8th, we weren’t able to celebrate until August 10th. One of the things I knew I had to make for month’s was a cake for Silas with a ninja turtle on it, and not just any ninja, but it had to be Michelangelo!

 So, after watching a few episodes of “ace of Cakes” I was feeling pretty confident. The end result turned out to be pretty good, and Silas loved it. Owen was equally happy with his basketball cake. The boys had fun blowing out the candles and being sung to, and spending some time at mima and papa’s house. Here’s a couple pictures of the evening.

A very Brief Update of our Chicago Trip…..

So, I’,ve been meaning to write a post for the last week, but time has gotten away from me, and now, here I am, a week later, and I’m making myself write. First of all, thank you so much, everyone who prayed for us while we were gone. In general, the trip went great.

 We were away from the kids for the entire day, except for meals. I thought that was going to be hard on the kids at first, but after the first day, Silas was already asking to go home with his class teacher after dinner. We got to stay in dorm rooms, which the kids absolutely loved. The three older kids were in a room together, and Jeremiah and I and Owen shared a room. The twin beds were soooo romantic Olivia and Eden each made some special friends and some great memories, and Olivia has already e-mailed back and forth with her friends a few times.

       

There is so much detail that I could go into about our trip, but I’m afraid you would stop reading due to the length of the post, so I’ll just say this. We walked away feeling so refreshed and excited about the next phase in our lives. We learned a lot of practical things we need to know for our next phase of raising a support team.  But most of all, our mind set has changed from being overwhelmed and a little fearful of sharing His vision and asking for support, to excitement. Excitement about how He will change our lives in the process. And who knows the opportunities we will have to speak into other peoples lives and give them the opportunity to be a part of the vision He has called us too. And maybe along the way, you might be moved to come and join us, or begin your own journey to bring His message to the lost.

We’re leavin’ on a jet plane……

Well, this Thursday we are takin off to Chicago. It feels like we’ve been waiting forever to go on this trip, and now it’s only two days away. We are headed there with the whole family. The first couple days we get to spend with my aunt and uncle. We are so excited to see them and let them get to know the kids a little more.

 Then we’ll head to the agency for a week of training. There will be so much to learn this week. Lot’s of cross cultural learning, and training to get us ready for our move overseas. The kids will be in class all week as well, learning about other cultures, and just having fun. But I think one of the hard parts will be that we’ll away from them, except for meals, from 8am to 6 or 7 pm. We’d love for people to be praying for us and the kids while we’re away, and we’ll fill you in on our trip when we get home.

As a little extra, I’m posting a video of Eden. She was listening to music on the computer and singing, but when I came down to video tape it, she said she was too shy to let me see her. But she said I could leave the camera there and she would sing if I left. So, this is what I got. It starts off a little quiet, but picks up in the middle. I think it’ll make you laugh.

               

Deep thoughts with the Johnson kids…

A conversation we had earlier this evening…..

mom “oh kids, it’s gonna be hot tomorrow at church!’”

Eden “we’ll have to wear the littlest clothes that we can find”

Olivia “tank tops and underwear!!!”

 I’m not looking at them, but I’m smiling.

Eden “No, we can go NAKED!”

Olivia “we have to wear tank tops and shorts”

Eden “nope, let’s go naked, and no panties either”

Then Eden goes on to sing the “nakey nakey nakey” song while Silas laughs hysterically, and Owen dances back and forth with his lips pushed out like he’s really feelin the music.

 Don’t worry, they’ll be wearing clothes to church tomorrow.

Another tiny conversation with Olivia and I…..

 I’m on the floor cleaning up watermelon juice (thanks mom) with a sponge and Olivia is standing there watching me, and this is what she says…

Olivia “hey mom”

Mom “yes?”

Olivia “did you know that when you use an overused sponge, it works just as good as if you were cleaning the floor with a piece of raw chicken?”

 Yes, my seven year old has been watching too many Lysol commercials.

“Hey Mom, Was that Cool?”

The other day, I let each of the kids do something, you know, whatever they wanted to do in front of the camera. This was Silas’ impersonation of Raphael, from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, apparently. He didn’t let us know until after he had done the impersonation though. Yeah, I think he has a brilliant acting career ahead of him!

Father’s Day

So, We had a great father’s day.After church we headed over to Jeremiah’s parents home to see his dad. He was painting the outside of the house, which ended up being the high light of our visit for the kids. There was scaffolding up to the second story of the house, and the kids immediately wanted to climb it. So one by one, Jeremiah climbed to the top with the kids. Thank goodness Jeremiah’s mom wasn’t there, she would have had a heart attack! I was a bit terrified myself, but I kept my composure enough to take some pictures of everyone climbing. I now understand why my mom would freak out every time I climbed to the top of my favorite tree in the back yard as a kid. I think , as a mom, it might be better just not to watch at all.

 

 After that we headed to my parents house and had a nice time just hangin out with the family and my sister Abby. It’s always good to catch up on what everyones doing. Then Jeremiah went out with a couple of friends that night.

 I thought, since it was Father’s day, that I would say a few words about one of the greatest father’s I know, my husband. It amazes me, that even with the hard job he works everyday, he still comes home with so much grace for me, and is always ready to jump right in and take the kids off my hands without a second thought. He still changes his fare share of diapers, even the stinky ones. I love how he talks and teaches the kids about God in every opportunity he can, and is so patient with them. He provides for our family and for me. The love he has for his Father, and his family is astounding and I am so thankful that God has blessed me and the kids with such an incredible man. I love you Babe.

                      

I’ve got a ladies man on my hands……

So, here’s a little conversation I had with Silas today. It happened after I picked him up from nursery after church today. The worker had told me he had been holding hands with a little girl while they were reading a book together. So, I sat down with Silas to ask him a few questions and this is what he said

me:”So, Silas, did you play with you friend  today?”

Silas: “Um, yeah, we read books, uh huh.”

Me: “did you hold her hand?”

Silas: “Um yeah, I hold her hand, and we read books.”

Me: “Silas, why did you hold her hand?”

Silas:”um, ’cause she’s my best friend, mom.”

there’s a slight pause.

Silas: “isn’t that wonderful?”

Later on we were at my parents house and I wanted Silas to repeat what he had said to me, to my mom, cause I thought it was pretty cute, and he proceeded to tell me a little more….

Silas: “Yeah, I held her hand, And I kissed her.”

Me: “What? Did you kiss her, or did you WANT to kiss her?”

Silas:”Um I want to kiss her.”

Me:”So , you didn’t kiss her?”

Silas: “Yeah, I kissed her.”

Me :”Um, Silas, You can’t kiss your friends. That’s not respectful or nice to your friends. You have to wait til you’re as big as dad before you kiss girls.”

Silas :”But I want to, I want to get married. I am big. She’s my best friend.”

Olivia:”Silas, you can’t kiss until your sixteen!”

Me: “NO, not sixteen!”

Olivia :”Oh eighteen.”

Me :”No, Your want to try not to kiss until you’ve found the person that you want to marry.”

Silas :”OK “

 I’m not sure if I handled this one the best way possible, but no matter what, I know Jeremiah and I have a lot on our hands as these kids get older. Lord help me. Yeah, how are the ladies going to resist this kid?

 

                                              

work weekend

 

So, I know I haven’t written anything in a while, and I still feel like I’m in a bit of a slump when it comes to creative writing. Yet, I feel the need to post something, otherwise you may stop checking out my blog So hears a project I worked on last weekend. My mom got me a beautiful deep purple lilac tree. One of my favorites, thanks mom. But then I realized we had no place to plant it. So Jeremiah chopped down a rhododendron tree that I didn’t really care for, and on Friday and Saturday, I dug out the root and planted my beautiful tree. Fun fun fun. I’m still sore.