This is love in action.   I had spent the morning running in and out of the house helping Rick put siding up, and it was fun.  I enjoy helping my husband with these jobs even though I am VERY afraid of the nail-gun.  THe closer he gets to me as he nails down the siding I am holding up, the more I cringe!  WHen I cringe I close my eyes, when I close my eyes I am not looking to make sure the siding is exactly on the line…….  my Command man is ALL about straight lines.  I am getting better at keeping an eye on the line while cringing.  :)   Later in the morning, our dear friend and brother in the Lord came and took my place, helping Rick finish the front of the house.  It looks so great!  I am thankful for Mark and his willingness to bless us.

We taught Sammy to play Sequence and he really liked the game and caught on quick.  Here, he is trying to smile his way into Melody NOT blocking his sequence.  I do not remember if she went for it, I kind of doubt it as he is a decent player and as competitive as a Johnson!

This is Mia, looking like a nerd, brushing her teeth to a Justin Beeber singing tooth-brush.  So cute!

Games….. we love them, we play them, we enjoy having friends over to play and we like to represent!  My man says “why even play if you are not going to win!”   Yes SIR!

Annie got new head phones and took a nap with them on, clutching her blanket and guarded by her dog.  Looking precious!

What’s not  to  love about a girl who enjoys C.S. Lewis and stops and reads quotes to me!  She rocks!

This is what I miss now that Kristi is back at Liberty.  She loves to sit and play beautiful classical music and worship music as well.  I caught this picture with the sun shining in on her hair and the memory brings delight to my heart.  Beautiful woman of God praising her Lord.

Christmas morning was unusual to us as we had our church service.  Christmas has not been on a Sunday in quite awhile and with no Christmas Eve service we were thrown off a little from our customary routine.  We had a nice breakfast and relaxed a bit, opening stockings and then headed to church.

Here are the children that were home, doing their Packer poses before we started opening presents.  It is obvious that there is a Packer game that evening.

Someone with a new camera snapped this picture of me, I never seem to get my apron off before pictures get taken!

Sometimes Matthew gets a little overwhelmed with all the blondes, and the dark haired one, but they sure do love him!

After dinner we opened gifts and the girls alway enjoy buying clothing for their brother.  Here he is opening as they all watch in anticipation!

One of the things that  Kristi asked for was that her father would take her to the Packer game on Christmas evening.  How can a Packer-loving father say no to that!   Despite cold temps they bundled up and headed out with Matthew to head to the game.

I just adore this picture of Matthew, he looks so good!

This is dear to my heart as well.  Kristi and her Uncle Randy!  SHe was in good company at this game.  :)

Well, three out of four is not bad!  Kristi and the guys! And doesn’t she look adorable??

This was earlier in the week, Kristi and Sammy doing cookies together.

I close with a little sister fun and their beautiful faces.

Christmas was blessed and wonderful.  The service in the morning had me in tears as we worshipped and adored out Savior, remembering His birth and all that He came to do for us.

We were so glad for having some of our children home and the joy of being together.  We laughed and talked and enjoyed each other.  It was a wonderful day.

Our Christmas tree.  Annie had me go and buy extra lights as she thought we did not have enough after our first attempt at decorating.  It seems that many of our strands had given up the ghost!  She was correct, and with all the extra strands it turned out beautifully!

Melody had her Christmas recital and did a wonderful job.  We are always so proud of her beautiful music.

Mikey Ball married his love, Mary.  We joined with everyone in celebrating their marriage which was so beautiful.  They headed out the next day for Malaysia where Mikey has a job.  They have already started attending a Baptist church in their city and we are enjoying their updates on life in that part of the world.

THe whole family was invited to the wedding but the girls needed to work, and the dog needed someone to watch her, so…… Rick and I had to go all the way alone, spend the night together and enjoy a wonderful day together at the wedding.  It was hard to get away like that…… but we suffered through!   HA!  :)

Here I am with Cassidy, Mikey’s sister and dear friend.  It was good to get to be with her as well.  She lives in Indiana so we do not get to see her often.  :(

We Christmas caroled for all the shut ins at our local Nursing home and then went and caroled for Betty, who has been struggling with health issues this fall.  What a delight to bless and minister to those we love.

The girls did cake decorating for all the folks we enjoy giving cookies too for Christmas.

Mia turned 2 and we helped celebrate with her family.

The Johnsons love Mia and here are the girls helping her to put two fingers up for being two years old.

I wrapped the presents for the girls soon after I bought them and then used a basket and well………..  you can see what I did to it.  It’s not that I don’t trust our children………….  

Eating sushi for the first time at our delicious Japanese meal with Andrew and Lydia.

Cooking at church for the Thanksgiving dinner — everything is more fun when we work together.

Sushi — Japanese style

Just another awesome Packer party

My sweet husband is always happy when his children are home — his smile says it all!

Three funny girls on the couch — Rick enjoys his girls being home but he does have to put up with lots of extra noise!

Lovely Annie

Christmas shopping in Green Bay with our friends Karen and Gretel

Blurry picture…… but we are really sharp women!!!

Mandy and Melody in the mall — beautiful women

One Sunday before the game started, we had a sushi making demonstration and then we all got a turn at rolling and making it.  It was so much fun and we had learned to love sushi a few weeks before, thanks to our favorite international, Lydia!

Melody with our teacher Lydia.

A mother and son team learning the fine art…

Here I am in the learning process, and not to brag or anything….. but the teacher said mine were the best…. just saying!

Kristi came home for Thanksgiving and we were so delighted to see her!  Matthew was too!

We learned a new game called Dutch Blitz over Thanksgiving and here we are having it out — obviously Annie thinks someone is cheating, that is her evil eye look  

Family dinner –

Jason calling Annie out on something, love it.  He is such a great brother-in-law and we enjoy him so much.

Thanksgiving day during the game time –

The Johnson women, usually blonde but sometimes things change  

The men of the family — strong, handsome, hard-working men, who bless our lives.

Our family – 2011   These precious people are the greatest treasure we have on earth  and are so thankful for them all.

This is one of my favorite pictures of these two — so beautiful

Poor Jeni, the little sisters are always trying to make her share, and Jeni does NOT share her man!  The facial expressions always crack me up!

Poor Bailey,  she finds these family gatherings just EXHAUSTING!    That dog is pure drama, no wonder we like her so much  :)

These are some old pictures but they show the seasons of our lives.  Here is the apples-sauce making for 2011.  Gretel had stayed overnight so being one of our dark-haired daughters, she was called to this chore.  They did a great job and after a whole day of work se ended up with well over 50 quarts.  With Rick at the helm, not a pan scorched and the taste was delicious.

Kristi saw a picture of our working together in the kitchen and her comment was that Gretel had better not be taking her place….  one of the joys of a large family is the working together and producing our good organic food together.  Everyone is needed and learns early to be a part of the process as they will also reap the benefits of good food for the next year.  No one is replaceable and as the children are leaving the nest I do have concerns about doing all this work on my own!   That is a few years away so for now I will enjoy the work with my daughters and sweet husband.

Because it’s not polite to tell a child their age, many people don’t know whether they are the eldest, middle, or youngest sibling in the family. Take this quiz to find out which one you might be:

Your favorite way to influence the future is by:
a. Organizing your son’s social studies binder
b. Deconstructing Lego cities built by children to teach them to doubt the establishment
c. Chewing!

Your workout routine involves:
a. Bench-pressing smaller humans
b. Contemplating
c. Running on a metal wheel!

It’s dinnertime. You take your place:
a. At the head of the table. Everyone in the family will be excited to hear you regale them with the story of how you won today.
b. In your bedroom. Watching your family members chew makes you sick.
c. In the food bowl! Hopefully you’ll be able to pick out some of those delicious sunflower seeds!

If you could redecorate your home you would:
a. Expand. You need a home for all your cars and a garage for all your children. Oops! Other way around.
b. Burn the thing down
c. Add more tubes!

Answer key: If you picked mostly As: You’re the eldest sibling, congratulations! Your assertive type A personality makes you a leader in the family and a difficult person to watch television with.

If you picked mostly Bs: You’re the middle sibling. You’re artistic, emotional, and immune to romantic comedy.

If you picked mostly Cs: Your name is Oreo, you’re the fifth child in a litter of 14, and everyone here just wants you to come home.

Rick and I were up early as I made him his lunch pail and we had coffee together and then he headed out the door for his work in Sturgeon Bay.  I always say an urgent prayer for his safety in driving as the deer are moving during these early morning hours and then again at dusk or later when he eventually makes his way home.  We discussed Thanksgiving and went over the time to eat due to there being a Packer game at noon which interferes with Thanksgiving dinner, or Rick may say that the Thanksgiving dinner interferes with the Packer game!  Either way, we are eating munchies during the game and eating the big meal at 4 ish.  That will make for a fun day!

I will go and check a caretaking home in a moment but first I will get the girls up to do a little cleaning up.  It is not too bad, but since we are having our home check for foster care re-licensing there are a few things that need to be picked up and plugs that need to be put in outlets and smoke alarms checked.  I worked on the paper work for relicensing last night for two hours!  I understand the need for it all, I just under estimated the time it would take to get it all done.  Our Social worker comes at 9 and when she leaves we will finish school, and chores, one of which for me is getting some bills paid.  I also need to get the meal plans done for next week so that I can do our shopping as Thursday is market day for our home.  Kristi gave me lots of ideas so I just need to make sure that I have all the ingredients, mostly the meat is what I will need to buy.  This is going to be a feast week with Rick’s birthday being celebrated on Saturday and Sunday and then lots of gatherings for the following days and Thanksgiving besides!

Melody has a violin lesson which we will leave and head to Sturgeon Bay for the shopping when she is through.  It will be a mad dash around the town due to needing some insurance signatures to verify insurances for our foster care license, then getting groceries.  I need to decide whether we should grab a bite to eat in Sturgeon Bay at a drive through to eat on the way home, or try and have something in the crock pot.  We will have little time to eat a meal when we get home before we need to head to Bible study, if we are even able to make it on time for study!

It is going to be a wild day!

Hoping all of you are having a calmer day, and are enjoying these beautiful fall days!

Choosing joy,

Joyce

Hey Mom,
I know you wanted my list of wants at the beginning of this week so I’ll list what I can think of.
Basically I’m starving, but I miss cooking so I want to do some of this myself

Cinnamon Rolls are a must. I have been dreaming about them recently I am so deprived.
Basil Pasta.
Quiche->preferably ham, onion, broccoli, and cheese.
Chicken Pot Pie
Tacos.
Steak/or chicken/or ribs/or pork chops/ basically any truly edible tasty meat
Jen’s Potato Fennel soup (this is one I would love to make for dinner one night like we did for your birthday)
Ham and Potato Soup or Sausage Corn Chowder
Aunt Laurel’s Garlic Bread
Matteo’s Pasta

Ok I think thats pretty much it. I am drooling just writing the list as I am about to leave to go eat at the Rot where they put laxatives in our food (true fact)
We frequently torture each other at dinner in discussing what our favorite foods are that our Moms make so that we can somehow make it through eating
the so-called “food” we get served daily. Many of my friends are from the south so Fried Chicken is always at the top of the list along with Sweet Tea lol.
Well I had better get ready to go, but I’ll call you tomorrow.
I miss and love you all!
Kristi