A date with Papa

Wow! It has been a full and busy two weeks. We had a wonderful time in San Antonio and learned so much; we're just praying that we'll apply the truths we learned in every day life and use our new found knowledge to glorify our wonderful King.

There are several posts I've halfway put together, but haven't had the chance to sit down and finish. Perhaps life will slow at some point, and blogging the endless supply of pictures will find a place on my schedule. Until that day, an account of yesterday's blessed activities will have to suffice...

Yesterday we Johnson ladies had the privilege of a lunch date with our dear Papa. He took us to the world famous Golden Arches- and treated us to hamburgers and ice cream.

We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch, and papa patiently answered our array of questions about facts from his past. We love opportunities to learn about our heritage- what it was like during our grandparents childhood; the almost forgotten details behind how and when they met; the story of our great grandfather supposedly putting a skunk in the school furnace (lovely truths that explain some family quirks! :) ), and many other mesmerizing stories.

We had a blessed time together, and concluded our time by doing a little shopping and driving around town.


Grandparents are such a blessing and I'm thankful that we have been especially blessed!

Happy Birthday, Mother Dearest!

(Heather, Christie, Mom, Mema, Me, Hannah, and Essie)

Today marks the birth of a wonderful and dear person to me- My beautiful Mother!

It is hard to know how to describe her to those of you who have never been in her joyous presence- she sparkles! But that word doesn't do justice to the depth that she has countless times proven to hold. Her hands are always busy in a project of some sort- be it gardening, reading, cleaning, sewing, or nurturing. Nurturing: now that is a word which fully describes my dear mother. I cannot count the number of times each of us has had the smallest bruise or most trivial concern; but we would never have known it to be so small- for she would compassionately place a band-aid (sealed with a kiss) over the microscopic sore, or gently take us in her arms and understandingly counsel us.

As much as I could go on about the many qualities my mother holds- none compares to the love she has for her Savior. My mother is not without fault, as she continually reminds us, for she is human. But she is a woman seeking diligently to know and love her Jesus more than the day before. She is covered in the righteousness of Christ, and the fruits are being produced abundantly in and through her life. Praise the Lord for His goodness!

Mother Dearest, I love you so very much and am thankful for the Lord's sovereign grace in placing you as an authority to lead me to Himself! Thank you for your daily example of a willing heart- and thank you ever so much for your labor to have my heart. It is yours and daddy's completely, and for that I praise God!

I'm so sorry we're not there to enjoy this day with you! But know that we're thinking of you today and praising God for you!

I love you!

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

A quick note while packing...

This summer has proven to be an extremely busy and blessed one thus far- my lack of posting is full evidence of that :)
This weekend was our NCFIC Road Trip Conference, which turned out to be a wonderful encouragement and I'm so thankful the Lord allowed us to attend. We made many new and dear friends and were able to spend time in beautiful fellowship.
There were many exhorting messages throughout the day- but I must say that the ones which pierced my heart the deepest were the Brown and Bradrick ladies during the Ladies Tea. I pray I will remember the truths they brought out from the Word of God and diligently apply them.
I will have to post the pictures of the event later- as we are currently tying up loose ends before leaving, Lord willing, for San Antonio tomorrow morning. We are so excited to be attending the Baby Conference! Sadly our dear family wasn't able to come, but they lovingly sent Hannah and I along with Christie and Isaac under the title of Mommy's Helpers. While we are thrilled about the wisdom we will be able to glean while supervising Nina and Wosie, we will certainly miss our dear family back home!
I should now get back to being productive- although the sweet little one (aka Anna Bell) asleep in my arms is feeling rather comfortable and happy! That is my excuse for all the mistypes- I do best typing with two hands :)

May the Lord be praised for His goodness- and I hope each of you experience His goodness through His Word and creation today!

"Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.
Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works.
Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.
Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.
Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth"

Farm Friends and Garden Greens

This weekend was full of excitement and busyness. Friday morning brought 101 little additions to our homestead...

The masterminds!

So angelic. You're raising me for meat?

Having some fun

Things are going well in our organic, 2 acre garden. We've been busy battling weeds, potato bugs (it's actually rather addicting searching for the little boogers and victoriously counting your "profits"). We're so excited about the fruit of our labor coming in and are thankful for the Lord's goodness in blessing us!

Thank you so much, Mr. Craig, for the tomato seedlings! They're doing great!

Now for the part of gardening that provides time for conversations...plenty of time! :)Friday night we canned 28 quarts of beans from our first picking...

We had Christie and Isaac (and their dear little ones) with us this weekend. It was busy and we made many memories together- memories which I'll have to share later in one of my famous catch up posts. :)

After our usual weekly journey to church and back (which took a little longer this afternoon- as the result of an unfinished car game...:) ), we had some time this evening to relax and enjoy our daddy-dearest (i.e. singing together, watching a movie, and discussing how we can improve our "car game" strategy).

But on a more serious note, I can't even begin to record the blessings and peace involved in being called the daughter of Philip Johnson! The Lord is so good and I'm thankful for His mercy towards the undeserving! Thank you, daddy-dearest, for the sacrificial life you've lead to serve your family. You are truly a hero!

Let me know that book!

"Jesus exhorts us to search the Scriptures [John 5.39]; that is, we are to ransack the Word of God, to pore over it, subject it to every kind of analysis, and grasp its every shade of meaning. We are to be obsessed with a desire to understand it. This passionate concern is never to become incidental or secondary. It should be a priority in the Christian life, an activity around which our existence revolves. If man cannot live by bread alone but by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God, then God's Word must have an absolutely basic place in the whole of our Christian life. To its reading we must apply ourselves with the utmost industry.

The Lord Jesus Christ assures us that in the Scripture is eternal life. That is, it is the means through which God communicates eternal life. How can men believe in someone of whom they have not heard? They must know the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Scripture is essential to that faith in him by which they may live. Also the transformation of their personalities to be like the Lord Jesus can only be accomplished by a constant and conscious exposure to the Bible. 'Desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby', says Peter [1 Peter 2.2]. Eternal life, whether in the knowledge of Christ, conformity to Him, or growth in love, is not going to come without the searching of the Scriptures. We are all dying men and women in a dying world and there is one book alone in which eternal life is revealed. Let me know that book! "

Memorial Day Picnic

Last Monday was a blessed and encouraging day spent at the precious Brown family's home. Christie and Isaac were courageous in making the four hour drive- and were gracious to let Hannah and I tag along! We drove down Sunday morning and sat in on the NCFIC Road Trip kickoff. It was wonderful to hear the speakers and get a taste of our upcoming conference in Atlanta.

Monday was a beautiful day of fellowship, food, music, and wonderful speakers. It was sobering to reflect on the lives lost for our freedom. We have so much to be thankful for! And it certainly hasn't come without a cost.


The start of the day...

There was quite a crowd. It was wonderful meeting and enjoying the fellowship of so many members of the body of Christ!

A few of the speakers:

The music:

The Smith family

The Kendall ladies

Gleaning wisdom from the wise:

The wisdom Hannah and I were instructed to carry home: "don't compromise! Wait for the right one"

Fellowship and Fun:

Prentiss and Anna

Anna admiring her big brother's rescuer, Dr. Kendall

We went for dinner with our dear friends, the Kendall's, and had a sweet time of fellowship!

Davina looks a little suspicious :)

Between dinner and dessert, we took the kiddos to a park to burn some energy. We ladies enjoyed each others company while Isaac played a combination of volleyball, baseball, and soccer with the girls and William. Quite entertaining!

I can just hear little William saying it now in his adorable accent...Anna Bell!

To conclude a wonderful day, we went for ice cream with Phillip and Katie Bradrick. Hannah and I enjoyed listening to Christie and Katie discuss babies and motherhood preparations. So exciting!

Thank you Phillip for the picture; and thank you both for the encouraging fellowship!

Isaac's incentive for having us packed and in the car by 6am- Starbucks! He knew it required extreme measures :)

Busyness and Blessings

This week was a blessed and full week for us Johnson's! Before the start of the week we celebrated my dear sister, Heather's, birthday. We worked on some sewing projects together, enjoyed some delicious cake (yes, A slight splurge!) and, as is typically the tradition, the celebration concluded with singing around an amazing bonfire by our guys.

Thank you so much, Heather dearest, for your example of charity and meekness! I've been so encouraged by your wonderful example and am thrilled to witness the fruit produced by our loving Saviour. Love you!

Nana and Mercy

Monday is "grocery day" in our household, so we ladies headed out the door early morning to start the business. To our joy, we met up with Christie and her little ones to spend the day in... chaotic fellowship and fun! :)

Because of our commitment to complete the Maker's Diet 40 Day Health Experience, meals have become a little more of an ordeal than they used to be! Tuesdays we spend most of the morning chopping veggies for chicken and beef soups. I had to stop this week to take a picture of all the pots. I think we're all ready for summer- no more soup!

The diet is going well thus far; we're officially half way through- and everyone is hanging in there. Hannah and I are learning some valuable lessons of joyfulness despite circumstances, (or despite how exhausted and grumpy you may feel in the morning!). Because most of the foods we can eat require time and preparation- our coffee intake has increased a little! But I have to say that it sure does make it worth the effort to watch your family eat well and their health improve.



It was such a delight to have Christie, Nina, Rosie, Willie, and baby Anna with us for a few days. Each day they were with us seemed full and blessed; in spite of the surprises along the way- like pink eye. Poor William didn't feel well and looked pitiful!



We worked in the garden most mornings and some afternoons. Christie and the girls were so sweet to help out!









The guys built this chicken pen last weekend, as a preparation for, yet another, exciting Johnson endeavor! They're hoping to begin raising meat chickens. We girls helped out by testing it Sunday night. Essie creatively convinced Nana and I to sleep outside under the stars, (don't worry- the chickens weren't in there with us!).

One afternoon during nap time, we girls went for a walk in our front "field" to spend some sister time gathering flowers. It was so beautiful outside, we couldn't resist the opportunity to take pictures!

I am so thankful for the Lord's blessing of such dear and wonderful sisters!

Christie and I love to practice by using each other as photography subjects!..

I loved these angles Hannah got! It's so much fun having a house full of photographers

Wednesday night our guys were so precious and let us girls have a night out. Of course it consisted of coffee and pictures...

While we were downtown, we ran into some dear and old friends of ours: The Lebo ladies. It was such a blessing to fellowship with each of them after so many years!

Anna didn't seem to mind that we spent quite some time "catching up"!

For traditions sake! I'm not sure how the tradition started- but we can't seem to be able to walk past a statue without posing. My sisters are so sweet to play along with my crazy ideas!

We thank and praise our Lord for His guidance and mercy in our lives! His mercy endureth forever!