I know I have been doing a poor job of making appearances on my blog, so I figured maybe the best thing to do is to summarize the last three months of the Johnson's life. I will try to be brief...if that's even possible with me. :)
March
After recovering from Natalie's hospital stay, we enjoyed a gorgeous March with very warm weather! All of our neighbors said it had never been that warm in March for as long as they could remember. We began to enjoy the responsibilities of taking care of our yard and home, which is SO fun! We have been enjoying mowing the lawn, laying mulch, watching our flowers grow, and watching the many bunnies, squirrels, and birds (many cardinals) that grace our yard each day! It is SO neat to enjoy God's creation right in our back yard.
A couple days after coming home from the hospital...happy to be together! :)
Still refusing baby food at this point...but LOVING table food, especially meatless drumsticks.
This tree is on the corner of our street and was beautiful in March!
We were able to go to the zoo for the first time (and many more to come, hopefully, as we were given season passes from a dear friend!), and had a blast!
April
I can't quite remember if this was in April or March, but I think it was April. :) Anyways...my mom had a long layover at our airport, so the girls and I were able to have a long lunch with her, which was so fun! Kansas City is a "layover" type airport, so if any of you are ever "stopping by" for a long time, let us know! The girls really enjoyed seeing Grandma, even though it was kind of a mean teaser. Easter seemed to come quickly this year and we loved our first Good Friday and Easter service at MRBC. It was such a joy to celebrate the glorious gospel with our new church family. After church, we enjoyed an Easter brunch at the Ochs' (pronounced Oaks) home. Dr. Oaks is an elder at our church, and his wife, Patty, lead the ladies' Bible study that I attended this spring. They live in a beautiful home out in the country and spoiled our girls' with gifts and eggs full of treasures for Easter. Linnea had a blast looking for eggs along with their grandchildren...somehow she ended up with the most eggs (thanks to MUCH help from the oldest grandchild, Ella). She couldn't have been more thrilled! :)
Lots of walks in the beautiful weather.
We decided to teach her young. :)
Grandma!
Enjoying the torture or tickling!
Patty Ochs made these for the girls before Easter. Aren't they cute?
Easter Fun! (Linnea tries not to smile in pictures now)
And of course, when we do get them to smile, they are not looking. :P
Bath time!
Still our fashionista.... :)
Playgroup turned into everyone joining the babies on the blanket!
Helping me at Trader Joes. I do believe this girl is going to be vertically challenged like me. She couldn't see very well. :)
Natalie LOVES the swing! She fell asleep in one on Sunday!
Right after Easter, Aaron attended Together for the Gospel with the two other pastors at our church. Praise the Lord, there was no hospital emergency that demanded he come home, so he was able to enjoy bonding with Rick and Bob and sit under some great teaching and encouragement from the Word! Shortly after coming home from that, Aaron then got to explore a little more of the Midwest by going to an overnight conference with the guys in St. Louis Missouri. They went to a famous BBQ place there, which only confirmed for Aaron that Kansas City truly does have the best BBQ. I wholeheartedly agree (not that I have experienced much else)...all I know is that the BBQ is goo-oood here! :) The girl's and I prefer to have Aaron home ;), but I'm thankful for these times, as they truly have been good for building friendships with the men he works along side of, which is so crucial to their ministry together!
The end of April brought on what I would call a new season in our life. The number of children has doubled in our home for about 20 hrs. a week in our home! A need was shared at church and the Lord burdened my heart to meet that need (with Aaron's full support). A gentlemen in our church suddenly became a single daddy when his wife left him and his two little ones. His prayer was that someone in the church could help watch his children, instead of putting them in daycare. Sam will be 4 next month, and Adah, his little sister, will be 2 next month. Aaron and I prayed about it, and as long as I could keep my family and home a priority, we felt that I could meet that need. The Lord has already used these children to work in my life in amazing, sanctifying ways, and Aaron and I are both so grateful for this opportunity to serve Scott (pray for him, please!) and his kids. (I am not doing it for free, in case you were wondering, so the extra little bit of money is an answer to some other prayers as well!) Linnea LOVES having playmates, and it most certainly has presented MANY teaching opportunities for her, as she learns what it means to obey, even when others are not, and what it means to regard others as more important than herself (well, she will probably be learning this one for the rest of her life!) :)
Block time with Sam and Adah
Coloring time...yes, we do lots of "times" (book time, room time, etc. It helps keeps life sane! :))
May
This month has gone by incredibly fast!! We spent this last weekend in Seattle for my brother Paul's wedding, and had such a wonderful time! Everything took place in downtown Seattle, so we didn't even bring the girls car seats! We took trains, buses and stroller everywhere we went, which honestly was so fun! I love the fact that we had to exercise to get anywhere. :) We were able to rent an apartment vacation rental with James and Kimiko (and Hannah, too!!:)), and due to a last minute change on the rental company's part, we were moved to an apartment with a gorgeous view that should have cost us twice as much! What a sweet little gift from the Lord it was! We greatly enjoyed our time with the entire Parker family and are so excited to welcome Sarah to the family! Their wedding was truly a God-glorifying wedding with an incredible message from their pastor. Jesus definitely shined brightly that day, which I know was their prayer. And if I may say so myself, the two flower girls were some of the cutest I have ever seen. ;)
Just had to post this one!
**I will post some wedding pictures in a seperate post, as there are many I want to post)**
We came home from the trip more tired than when we left (that is just how weddings are...but so worth it!), so we recovered this week and temporarily moved into the Holland home yesterday for 13 days. Rick and Kim, along with two of the other elder's and their wives are went overseas to the German Shepherd's Conference (hehe...no, it is not for dogs) as well as Russia for another conference and a few other places in Europe. We get the privilege of watching their three older boys. They would be appalled if I said babysitting them. In fact, I guess "watching" them isn't appropriate either :)...really we are feeding them, driving them around, and hopefully having some fun with them!
Well there you have it! There are MANY beautiful lessons the Lord is teaching me in between the lines of what I wrote, so if time allows, I really do desire to blog more and actually keep up, so that I can write more in depth! So hopefully next time I won't have to give a 3 month summary! :P I guess we will have to wait and see! There are certainly no promises, as blogging simply can't be one of my priorities right now...not in this season of my life with all these little munchkins running now (and apparently now teenagers!)
