2010 - All Things are New!

Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

"Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you." 2 Corinthians 5:16-20 (The Message)

May you come to know the peace and forgiveness that is in Christ Jesus in this New Year. Happy 2010!

Unto Us This Day, a Child is Born....

...Our Saviour who is Jesus Christ.

Addie's Christmas Dance

(Push Pause on music in sidebar)

Thought you'd all enjoy a little Christmas dance today...
Our little girl's got some moves!

Hope you're all enjoying the season as much as Addie Grace.
Merry Christmas!!

25 Days Until Christmas!"

Happy 1st Day of the
"25 Days Until Christmas"!!!

I Love Gifts. I mean I just love them. I love giving them, I love receiving them. There is nothing better than finding the perfect gift for someone you are thinking of. One thing my sweet sis-in-law and I do, are to surprise each other with "happys" when we are together. It's certainly neverexpected, and it's not all the time, but we have so much joy in finding fun things that we would never purchase for ourselves ~ and it doesn't ever get old!

Some of the best gifts, however are ones that don't come in a "box or bag":
My personal favorites:
Unexpected Kisses from an almond-eyed 16 month-old
& Great Conversations (time) with my 16 year-old

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

God, thank you for the gift of our daughter this year. Thank you for giving her birth-mother the strength and courage to let her go and trust that she will be taken care of and loved. She is a gift that I will forever treasure, adore and be thankful for. She has blessed our lives eternally. And just like you gave your son to us, may we never take this love for granted.

Here is a gift to you: the scripture that helps us with our life's journey

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." James 1-4 MSG

Addie Grace learning to say "Bye-Bye"

Nope. I haven't had a clean Living Room since June! And I LOVE it!

Guys' Trip to Lambeau

Kenny & Alec had an amazing guys weekend in Green Bay to go to the Green Bay/Dallas game. They stayed with an awesome family who took such amazing care of them! Thank you Kathy & Dan & McKinzie & Drew!

After landing in Chicago, Ken & Alec head to Green Bay!

Alec is a great travel partner

I have deducted that the pictures taken on the way to GB were by my husband...while he was driving. hmmmmmm....

 "Butter Burgers" for lunch at the famous Kroll's

Alec lining up behind Bart Starr at the "Packer Hall of Fame" 

 

Alec walking through "the Tunnel" on the Stadium tour. Yep...he'll be runnin through those tunnels in Green & Gold one day...well a parent can wonder anyway 

Kenny, in heaven, enjoying a brat while tailgating 

Dunt, dunt, dun-na-na-na GO PACK GO!!!!

It's Game time

LOVING that the Pack won 17-7!!! Wooooo 

 Of course, the trip could not have been a success with out the Purchase of some Packer gear. Kenny couldn't imagine leaving out the worlds smallest, biggest Packer Fan!

Addie Grace LOVES the blanket that Kathy made for her while the boys were at the game. SOOOO Sweet! 

 

I love her! 

Thank you Wendy Jones for calling us about the tickets. You have the sweetest family! We are so blessed with our new friends ~ NOT just because they are Season Ticket Holders (haha), or because they cook amazing meals, or are the world's most hospitable family, or because they make homemade blankets for our sweet baby, either!!! We are anxious to return the favor, somehow!

Most of all I am thankful that my husband is such a great dad to our son. Every parent should be so blessed to get this one on one time with each child, to go do something fun and meaningful.

"I'm writing as a father to you, my children. I love you and want you to grow up well, not spoiled. There are a lot of people around who can't wait to tell you what you've done wrong, but there aren't many fathers willing to take the time and effort to help you grow up. It was as Jesus helped me proclaim God's Message to you that I became your father. I'm not, you know, asking you to do anything I'm not already doing myself." 

I Corinthians 4:14 The Message

Playing "Catch-Up"

~A Beautiful Girl on a Beautiful Fall Day~ 

Whew...It's been busy to say the least!

We are  totally and completely smitten with this amazing  blessing that  keeps us busy and on our toes! (and knees, and backs, and feet...) I can't believe we've already been home 5 months and our little love is 16 months old!

She is not walking yet, however she takes 3-5 steps, then falls down laughing! She prefers "walking" on  her knees and crawling ~ which is fine  by me right now, because that girl is INTO EVERYTHING!!! She is exploring the world at lightning speed. She only stops when she sleeps, and apparently, she thinks that sleep is highly overrated.

We are finally into a routine, and we are getting used to this high-energy lifestyle she is forcing us to lead! 

Everywhere we go people stop us to love on her. She really is a "joy-maker"!

Addie sharing "the love" with Daisy. She gives Daisy half her meals.

She says all sorts of things now without prompting: of course, dada and mama (even though she is a HUGE fan of daddy~and I mean HUGE), Daisy, Diaper, Night-Night, Knock-Knock, Nana, Bubbles, and whole other vocabulary that I am totally unaware of! She says Alec like: "ow-ow" in a growly voice. too cute for words. She loves that guy!

Alec is a sweet big brother, he took a break from volunteering at "All Pro Dad" to fix her headband that she just yanked off her head! 

Zoo Time!!!

Addie Grace & I went to the Zoo for the first time with our friends. I think she was more interested in all the people there instead of the animals, though! She had a great nap in her stroller, then some good play time in the jungle gym.

We were 6" from a digging meerkat

We were 2 feet from a leopard. Here Kitty Kitty.

We were 2 minutes into a nap! Wake up Addie....Let's ride the carousel

or not...Hallie, Bailey, Madison, Devyn

Devyn & Hallie

Still asleep! Wake up Addie...Look at the giraffe!
or sleep for a while, that's fine too!

Finally awake, playtime on the mat with Bailey

Madison & Bailey love Addie Grace, and she definitely loves them too!

Nicki got "sprayed" by birds flying overhead in the bird sanctuary..HA!

Happy Bday Kenny!

The wives of our favorite families, coming together to play games on the lawn, eat BBQ, & Key Lime Pie, to celebrate Kenny's Birthday!
No matter how much we all have going on~and believe me, it's ALOT (between our 4 families, there are 16 kids!), they always make time to stop in for a birthday, or cookout...

Addie Grace showing Maddie how to play Rachmaninoff (oh...and Larry)
(Poor Alec was quarantined to the bonus room with the flu...)

Kenny making his famous Lattes & Cappuccinos! Decaf, steamed milk, 1 1/2 Splendas and a touch of flavored creamer please!!!

See how it is??? The Living Room has been taken over.

" A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away."
- Arabian Proverb

Friday Night Lights!!!

Oh Happy Day!!!!
The Johnsons LOVE our Friday Night Football!
Especially When #6 is on the field, carrying the ball or rushing in for a tackle

Here is the Raptors' youngest Cheerleader. She loves cheering for her team~well...actually, she just loves being held for 3 hours straight!

Go #6!!! Alec had a great night! He had 3 carries for 29 yards! (and 2 tackles and 1 assist)

Here's that #6 getting ready for a play!

We played Good"Pasture"...I love the signs the cheerleaders make for the games!

Running through the sign~not sure what the white powdery stuff was...but hopefully the guys held their breath running through!

Here's the most amazing Mimi in the world, with her biggest fan! Mimi is so great to jump in there and help us out with Addie Grace when we need to go somewhere...

Even though the first game of the season was a loss for our Raptors...They came out strong, and looking good! Our new coaching staff is doing great and the team, and student body LOVE the new coach!!!...More to come!

Oh Yeah...I DO have a blog!!!

ok...It has been over a month since our last post...I can not even begin to tell you the enormity of the life-change we are experiencing having this new bundle of "wiggly-worm" energy around all the time! Since our last post, there have been 2 birthdays, a dedication, an anniversary, 3 football scrimmages, family visits, and lots of playtime at home!

We have taken hundreds of photos over the past 2 months, and I put most of them on Facebook, but totally neglected my blog ...sorry!!! (if you are on FB...please "friend" me...you'll see them there)

Here is a photo of our family that Ken's mom took after Addie Grace was dedicated at church. We all wore our Chinese outfits in honor of her birth country. It was a special day where our sweet friends and family joined in to celebrate our precious angel.

Ken says she has on her "Ninja" face here! Ha!

Addie Grace Update:
~We canceled her physical therapy appointments, because she has learned to sit-up, pull-up, military crawl to all the places I don't want her going, and almost crawl without it! (Could be the endless hours on the floor that I spend with her playing!) However...I may need it for my bum.

~She LOVES to bang things on her head 3 times and wait for a "Bonk, bonk, bonk" response. We have a friend who was impressed with her sign language until she realized that bonk, bonk, bonk, was indeed not a word..but definitely communication, and makes her laugh like mad!

~She LOVES cheerios...we are still working on her pincer grasp...so she mostly "rakes" them to the dog unless I feed them to her! (makes Daisy happy:))

~ She LOVES people, yet is very aware of where mommy and daddy are at all times.

~She LOVES Alec...which is true love, because she does not mind being held by him after 3 hours of sweaty f-ball practice!

~Lots of $$$ on toys...a Water Bottle is still her favorite!

~She seems to not function well without music! She is a Johnson indeed!

~My favorite...she wakes up every morning and every nap with a smile. She anticipates us walking into the room, because she's got that smile on so big that it crinkles her whole face.

Ken and I are constantly saying, "who are we that we are so blessed to have her". We have 2 very special, amazing, GREAT children. We have no doubt that Jesus loves us by who He has entrusted us with. We do not take our jobs lightly.

There will be more photos to come, I promise...perhaps even some video (Ken attached a "walker-cam" to the back of Addie Grace's walker - hysterical!)

"Gotcha Day" & China Video

We've just put together our "Gotcha Day" video that also chronicles our journey in China - showing you some of the places and faces we encountered while overseas. Thanks to our amazing son, Alec, who captured "Gotcha Day" on video as well as many of these other great shots and video you see!

If you were one of our Dear Friends who Gave, Prayed, or Cared in any way...YOU helped to "Change Her World". Addie Grace is home because of YOU. This video is for you.
THANK YOU!!! (You'll need to "pause" the music in the sidebar to hear the video)
"If we all just do one thing
No, we can't save everyone
But if we all just do one thing
Lotta boys and girls out there"



About the Song:
Prior to our leaving for China, as you know, we had a benefit night where many of our incredibly talented friends gathered to share their gifts in song. The last song of the evening was performed by Tommy Sims as he was accompanied by Drew Ramsey, Dan Needham and Jason Eskridge. Tommy sang his most famous song, "Change The World" - that you would remember being made famous by Eric Clapton in the 90's...

However, this rendition is so much more special... Tommy wrote this song as a teenager and most of the original lyric is not included in the song that you're familiar with... we hope you enjoy this video of one of the most amazing times of our lives.
"Change The World"

Wake up ol' heart of mine
State of the world before you
I know we ain't got much time
To do these things that we must do

But listen you can hear a change
It's ridin' on the wind like a holiday
And I hope you got your ticket straight
When the peace train comes your way

Say you don't know where we're goin', babe
Take these hands and I'll show you where
And if we run a little short on faith
I'll still believe we can make it there

Where we might change the world
Who's got a dream you can give away
Help put an end to the lies that say
You can't change the world
I believe if we all get together
We can change the world

If I could be a king, maybe just for one day
I would take you as my little queen
I'd have it no other way
And our love would rule this kingdom we have made
'Til then, I'll be just another fool
Dreamin' and wishin' and believin' in the day...

That we could change the world
I would be the sunlight in your universe
You would think my love was something good
Baby, if I could change the world

Change the world
And I would be the sunlight in your universe
You would think my love was really something good
Oh, if I could change the world
Baby, I believe...

If we all just do one thing
No, we can't save everyone
But if we all just do one thing
Lotta boys and girls out there

It's really a foolish thing to think that you can change the world
I was just a kid when I wrote those words down
You know how you are when you're a kid
You think you can do things
Then you get older and realize how foolish you are

Change the world...
One boy... one girl...

I guess in the end it takes the fools
'Cause the fools are dreamers and believers
And people God can use at the end of the day

Baby, if I could
For you I would do everything I could
I'd do everything I could
To help change your world
-------------------------

Thank you, Tommy and friends... this really captures it all perfectly!

Happy Birthday Addie Grace!

Look who's One today!!!

Fairy Princess Adeline Grace is ONE today!!!
Happy Birthday to our sweet, smiling, adorable joy-maker!
She is an amazing blessing and we have fallen in love with our precious baby girl.
We are beyond grateful that we get to celebrate her First Birthday with her ~ FINALLY at home!!!
Thank you Jesus for this amazing gift to our family!

Addie Grace will have her first party on Sunday after her dedication at church.

image from Polka Dot Market

Football Season has begun!!!

Here is Alec (#6) as Safety, tagging the opponent

at the 7-7 Tourney at WKU

We've stocked up on the Deoderant and Detergent...we've dusted off our pompoms

And I'm in the process of teaching Addie Grace to yell for Alec and the Raptors! So far...all we've gotten from her is AAHHHHHH...but it's a good start, because it's LOUD, and we're pretty sure it means hustle, and run, and intercept the ball, make the tackle and score 6!

#6 makes another tag

We have always stopped what we were doing to drive out and watch the team practice. It's been a tradition for the 7 years Alec's been playing.
Here are Addie Grace & daddy watching as the team breaks it down.
Here is Addie Grace at WKU 7-7...She wants to cheer, but facing the wrong direction
It's been a long day outside..but we're still smiling, and drooling a little bit too!
"Go Raptors"..or in the words of the Raptors' biggest smallest fan: "AHHHHHH".