Backyard Pool

10 Year College Reunion

Did I mention we went to Texas for our 10 Year College Reunion?

Sasha, Lily, Mike and I flew into Dallas and took that long and flat drive to Abilene. For those of you who know me, you know how shocking this news is. For those of you who don't know me that well yet, let's just say Texas and I did not get along very well. At all.

Driving away from Abilene after graduation was such a strange day for me. I cried and cried as I said goodbye to my many good friends and memories. At the same time, I heaved a sigh of relief to be heading West again. Water! Mountains! Trees! Halelujah!

So going back to Texas, on purpose, still surprises even me. We talked my sister and husband into going with us. Well, maybe they would have gone anyways, but since we all went together we got a free place to stay out of the deal since Chad's mother, Jane, lives in Abilene. She graciously put us all up, a total of 10 extra house guests!

We went to the Homecoming Parade and I cried through the whole thing. What was that all about!?! I felt very sentimental and proud of my Alma Mater and could even envision my children moving off to ACU for college. (And then I came to my senses: NO WAY are they moving that far away!)

We spent some wonderful time visiting with our dear friends the Kasselmans and their two children. It was great to catch up and realize that no matter how much time you spend apart, good friends pick up right where they left off after all these years. We were saddened not to connect with more of our friends from those years. The Robinson's could not make it, but we know their hearts were with us! Now they'll have to come to Washington, since we made the trek out to Texas! (That of course is an open invitation meant kindly and genuinely.)

An odd and overwhelming realization for me: We are ten years out of college and 9 years out until Sasha goes to college. 11 years until Lily goes. 8 years until Chloe goes. 7 years until Isaac goes. 6 years until Gabriel goes.

Response? Terror and relief. Simultaneously.

Spring Happenings

The Johnson 5 are gearing up for summer!

The count-down is on:

• 2 weeks until Lily's gymnastics performance.
• 3 more weeks of school!
• 3 weeks until our 15th Anniversary! (wow, how did that happen?)
• 4 weeks until swim lessons start.
• 5 weeks until Ballet/Jazz recitals for Sasha and Chloe.

The swimming pool is already put up in the backyard, which is sort of like tempting the Rain Gods if you live in Seattle. However, we had 3 days in a row when the temperatures hit the high 60's, and since that is basically as good as it gets in the Northwest, we brought out the shorts, tank tops, sun screen, and pool toys. I confess to having a sunburn.

My sweet husband has been working on the yard for me non-stop. It's not that he loves yard work or anything. (He finally confessed after 15 years of marriage that he hates yard work. I've known it all along :) ) But he prefers working in the sunshine than in the rain, and so he put up a new fence that encloses the whole yard and then we puled up about 2 tons of ancient junipers. Those things of from the dark side. I hate them. They are dead now.

Summer in Seattle is an odd thing. We come out from the woods (sometimes literally) with flesh white and ghostly. And although it's only in the mid-60's, everywhere you look we are wearing sandals and tank tops. Within a day or two of sunshine, you start to notice that the white ghostly shades have been replaced by a vibrant pink. I'm not sure which is worse. . .

But it is a beautiful place to live and spring doesn't get any greener anywhere in the world. We'll spend the next few months leaving work early, taking 3 day weekends, skipping church, calling in sick to work, and generally making the most of absolutely every sunny day. By August we'll be complaining about the heat and running our fans non-stop. Air conditioning? What's that?

Wherever you are spending this spring, I hope you enjoy it as much as us Washingtonians do ours!

Family Photographs

I have discovered something about myself: I hate bad pictures. Call it vain, call it snobby, I'm sure you'd be right. But, what can I say? This picture is just awful.

So the question is: Why post it?

Well, to be truthful, I think it's a funny picture. You know how Olan Mills comes into churches and does their directory, and tries to sell you their pictures? That's what this is. So, this picture is what will go down in history for our church. This is what we'll be remembered by and this is what people who don't know us will see and this is what the other kids will make fun of when they see it. It's ripe for mocking, if you ask me.

Despite it's less than quality portrayal, it also is amazing in how utterly it misses the personality of every single person in the shot. But what can you do? Free is free.

Boys and Trucks

Isaac (left) and Gabriel (right) love their trucks. In addition to trucks, they also love: sticks, guns, dirt, noise, balls, jumping, yelling, and climbing.

What a shock after 3 girls! I was telling a friend earlier today, that God knew I needed these boys because before they came along, I thought I knew all about parenting.

Humility comes in many forms. My humility takes on the form of 2 and 3 year old boys.

Not only humility, but also joy and fun and playing in brand new ways. I learn a lot from these guys!

Washington Winter

Occasionally we get some snow around here. Not much, mind you, and it doesn't last for long when it does snow. But we make the most of it when it does snow!

Mike took the kids up to Snoqualmie Pass, which is a great place to go play in the snow almost all winter long. They had a great time sledding together, while I stayed home and had a quite morning to myself!

The first two pictures are from our yard, the third is at Snoqualmie Pass. Notice the look on Gabriel's face. . . He spent most of the time in the van with the heater on!

Catching Up

Hello all! It has been brought to my attention that I am extremely delinquent in my posting. What can I say? 5 kids!

Well, here is an update for all of you who faithfully follow the 5JohnsonKids.
October 2005: Chloe turned 4! This crazy kid has not stopped moving since the day she turned 1. (She was sooooo sweet and QUIET up this then.)
November 2005: Lily turned 7. My sweet Lily is so smart, so tall, and so helpful. She is doing gymnastics this year and loves it. She really is strong and built for a competetive sport.
November 2005: Sasha turned 9. I'm not sure how this happened, but all of the sudden she is in 3rd grade, having sleep overs, wanting her ears pierced, and truly a delightful person.
December 2005: Christmas. . . . . I survived.
January 2006: I turned 35. Mike turned 37. We both are hoping to age gracefully.
February 2006: This was a great month. Mike and I took 8 days vacation and went to Boston and Washington DC. We spent a few days with my sister Amanda and her husband Ben at their new home outside of Boston. We had a wonderful time catching up with them, saw their adorable apartment, their campus at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, and doing the tourist thing in Boston. As great as the visit was, now I miss Amanda more than ever and can't wait for them to wander back to the west coast.
We then went to DC for the National Prayer Breakfast and had an amazing time. We met some wonderful people from all over the world, spent a day or two being tourists in DC, visited my Aunt Kathy, and saw the President and First Lady at the Breakfast. Bono was the keynote speaker and really challenged the Christian world to be serious about living out the gospel to the orphans and the widows. This group of people seem to concentrate in the continent of Africa in the AIDS ravaged communities. His call to service was timely and godly.
February 2006: The Johnson Grandparents came to Seattle to watch the kids when we went to DC. What amazing people! They loved on the kids, kept house, got the girls to dance, made it to church, and even managed to sleep! We are eternally grateful for Richard and Betty, who certainly qualify for "Best Grandparents in the World."

Well, that's my recap. In addition to all of the family stuff, we also have made some good friends at our new church.

We've been blessed by the friendship of Terry and Marrell Greutman who open their homes to us each week, and we've so appreciate the phone calls and emails of Arlene Kasselman, Michele Harris (after more than 10 years!) and the tremendous joy of watching Micah, Samuel, Joseph, and Elijah get bigger.

Sasha's Portrait of Grandma as a Bride

Sasha adores brides. She saw a black and white picture of her Grandma Betty as a bride and this is her representation of the portrait. For those of you who know the picture, you may notice what a great imitation she did!

In addition to adoring brides, Sasha absolutely loves her Grandma. She tells me often that when she is grown she's planning on moving to California to live with Grandma. I think that sounds like a superb plan!

Lily Johnson's Night-House

Lily Rene’ Johnson September 2, 2005 Night-House


Lily is a great artist. Her pictures are a unique combination of reality and imagination. We are studying the moon, stars, and sun in science right now, and so her pictures reflect what she is learning. What I like about this picture especially is the way the windows are orange, showing light from within the house at night.

Lily takes great pride in her art-work and shares her drawings with people as a special gift. If you’ve ever received one of Lily’s pictures, you know that it is a gift of love and of her heart. Consider yourself blessed!

Brothers-In-Law and Family Rules

It has been brought to my attention that I am also the fortunate relative of two fantastic brothers-in-law (brother-in-laws?). I humbly accept the rebuke and gratefully acknowledge my blessings.

Ben, the newest addition to our family, is responsible for this timely reminder. I might point out that being the newest addition to our family, he obviously doesn't know the number one family rule: Don't be a smart-alek. Actually, that might be Rule Number Two. Rule Number One is: Don't mock your sister-in-law.

With that said, I would like to thank him for all of the many ways he is rocking this family boat. Any man who can love my sister the way he does is more than welcome aboard. It is a delight to see him challenge her, comfort her, confront her, and love her with such consistency and passion. How could anyone not adore someone who clearly adores my sister so much?

The other brother-in-law is Chad. What a guy. He is not unlike Ben in his consistent and persistent flouting of Rule Number One. He keeps me in check, and in stitches. If I had to choose one thing about him that I enjoy the most (which would be a hard task) it would be the way he laughs until he cries. I've looked over at him on a number of occasions to see tears running down his face as he is laughing at something that just hit him the right way. I've never known anyone else to do this, and it really means the world to me. It makes me laugh harder, but also it makes me appreciate the beauty of that moment even more. It makes me pay attention more closely to the experience, the joy, the guffaws and snorts.

Like I've already said, I'm a lucky woman. I love and am loved by some pretty fantastic people.

Amanda's Wedding

I am the lucky big sister of Amanda and Randi. Despite all the grief I've dished out over the years as the overbearing and bossy older sister, they still love me and fill my life with amazing friendship and wonderful times together.

My sister Amanda (The Bride) started this blogging ordeal, or rather her husband Ben did. (Check out teamlanghans.blogspot.com) They have recently treked crosscountry to begin seminary at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston. Great, just what this family needs, two more theologians!

As I said to Amanda the other night, I miss her tremendously and have come to the realization that the unique role she plays in my life is that of Trouble Maker. Everybody needs someone in their life who instigates crazy ideas, or who at least is ready and eager to go along with crazy ideas! Amanda is my eager, crazy, sister and I am missing the opportunities to be silly with her.

Randi is my sane sister. Better said, Randi is my sanity. Don't misunderstand, she is equally fun and adventuresome (any mother of 4 boys has to be) but she is also a calm and lovely woman. People have often said to me after getting to know Randi, "She's really funny!" As if I didn't know this! She's my best kept secret.

I am truly blessed to have such sisters. They make me laugh, make me cry, and hold my feet to the fire like only those who truly love you ever do.

Sasha Anne

This lovely young lady is Sasha Anne. I find it simply astonishing that she is about to turn 9.

I look at this picture and see the hints of the beautiful woman she will someday be. Already she is quite a lady.

As a person, she possesses such charm. She is the social butterfly of the family (outside of her Mama and Papa, of course). Sasha takes very seriously her role in planning for any event our family may undertake. If someone is coming for dinner, she hustles around to set the table with the "pretty tablecloth" instead of the "just family tablecloth." She wants the candles lighted and the pretty napkins. She thinks of special music for the evening, and usually will rope her sisters Lily and Chloe into preparing a performance for the guests. She is all about entertaing.

What I love about this is how much it mirrors my own heart. Sasha gets as excited about baby showers or bridal showers as I do! Besides the purely narcissistic aspect of my enjoyment, I also admire this trait in Sasha because it shows her love for others, her desire to serve and please, and a heart that gets filled and blessed through interaction with others. She understands and experiences community in a way that most of us have ceased to do. She still gets her hopes up, she still gets butterflies about meeting new friends, she still gets heartbroken when people let her down. My prayer for her is that this tenderness does not grow hardened as people (me) disappoint her.

Gabriel's Adoption Day

This handsome man is Gabriel Richard Johnson. He doesn't know it yet, but his middle name honors another handsome man, his Grandfather Richard Johnson. If Mike and I were the "fertile type" we'd call Gabriel our "oops baby." Suffice it to say, we were not planning on 3 children under 3!

We received a phone call from the state the week we finalized our older son's adoption, informing us that his biological brother was about to become legally free and that because we had already adopted his brother, we had the option of choosing to adopt Gabriel, too. With my heart beating very loudly, I called Mike at work and told him the news. Fully prepared to hear him say all the wise and appropriate things about finances, stress, our large family already, etc. I was stunned to tears to hear him say, "Well, I guess we'd better let them know we'll take him." What a man. What an amazing, big hearted, brave man.

We went to court to finalize Gabriel's adoption 6 short months after he came home. Now that we're old hands at this, we were able to relax and dress up in Hawaiian Theme for this adoption day. Who'd have thought we would have so many adoption days that we would distinguish them by what we wore!?! Our Judge, a man named Judge Wilkins, was himself one of 7 children. He was so kind and supportive of our family that he really made the day special for us.

Spring 2005 Ballet Recital: Cinderella

These beautiful ladies danced their hearts out in the ballet Cinderella this spring.
Sasha finished her 5th year of ballet in 2005. In case that doesn't seem amazing, consider the fact that she's been dancing longer than she's been: reading, riding a bike, brushing her own teeth, sleeping through the night, and going to school.
Lily has also been dancing since she was 3. This is her third year of ballet and she danced beautifully in Cinderella. Her slender and tall body make it hard for people to believe she is only 6! She's begging to begin gymnastics, however, and she seems to have the courage and strength of an athlete. Mama will accept this gracefully. I will.

4 Johnson Kids

Well, here we are with only 4 Johnson Kids. Little did we know, but at the time this picture was taken, our 5th son, Gabriel was weeks from being born!

From right to left, starting with Mike, is Dena, Isaac (age 1 at the time), Sasha (age 7), Chloe (age 2), and Lily (age 4).

Our family has grown through the unique and adventure filled process of adoption. We'd love to share some of our story with you.

You will also find some interesting and fun-filled facts about our amazing kids! They have asked to share some of their own thoughts, as well,so this is truly a family experience.