Confessions of a New Mom

A MUCH Needed Thankful Heart

2012-01-05T10:55:00.003-06:00

This seems pretty personal, but I feel like I need a little accountability here. And it seems writing something on my blog for the whole world to see is quite the accountability partner.... And so...
I've decided that I am a pretty cynical person. I always seem to see the glass as half empty. There are definitely moments were I am grateful and can see the good, but lately I just seem to always be this grumpy wife and mother. My thinking is the problem comes from a lack of thankfulness. And so, I have decided I need to make an effort to begin this new year with a grateful attitude. Afterall, I have a MILLION things to be grateful for. TRUELY. Not so sure how much I will be able to blog about this, but I'm going to make an effort to daily write down things I am thankful for (a practice I have heard so much about lately and NOW is the time to implement this practice). A thankful heart is MUCH needed in my life right now. I can't continue on being this way. For the sake of my relationship with my husband, my children, and MOST importantly, my GOD, I MUST do this. My attitude as the "keeper of this household" affects everyone here and I have got to change. Without further ado... here's the beginning.

#1 I'm thankful for a safe 19 hour road trip home from Nebraska. Cars can be dangerous and I am so grateful we made it home safely.
#2 I'm thankful for a good reliable car the Lord has blessed us with which keeps the anxiety of traveling to a minimum! ;)
#3 I'm thankful for this moment right now. Zeke is sleeping away and Clay is entertained momentarily by a video which gives mommy this quiet moment to begin something I have needed to do for a LONG time.
#4 Because I have been thinking about this, I decided I wanted to read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Volskamp. Just posted on facebook asking if someone had it an BOOM a few minutes later I'm picking it up TONIGHT! Thanks God for Your provision, even in the small stuff!

too cute!

2011-11-18T10:10:00.002-06:00

So, I'm potty training clay (will have to do a whole other blog about that one!). and on the potty this morning I told him to push some peepee out and his response was, "Mom, sometimes it does it all by itself."

Zeke is 3 Months and Clay is (almost) 2 1/2!

2011-11-11T11:04:00.006-06:00

Well, my baby boy is 3 months old! He is no longer my little newborn and is now my little infant! And boy does he act like it! I have not really been doing tummy time a whole lot because, well, he doesn't really like it and he is a little spitter-upper! On his 3 month bday, I decided to give him a little tummy time and as soon as I put him down he rolled from his tummy to his back. Of course, like all moms, I was like, hum, did he really just roll over? Maybe I helped him when I put him down, so I did it again and he rolled again! It was then that I realized that our little Zeke is not just going to be this little baby that eats, sleeps and poops all the time, he is going to grow and move and talk and walk, etc! And it all begins with a little roll! Craziness! Clay was a little behind in all the physical development stuff, so having a 3 month old roll seems really early to me! Plus he has been really trying to roll from his back to him tummy. He can make it all the way to his side and almost over, but not quite yet ;) It's been fun getting to know Zeke better. He loves attention. Often when he is fussy, all you have to do it give him a little attention and then he is fine! He is a smiley little guy, but of course, I get most of the smiles ;) He has really started to giggle which is always adorable! He seems to like all the typical things babies like ( and Clay hated) . Like his baby swing, the bath, and (my personal favorite) a paci! I am still amazed that I can just rock him for a couple minutes, give him his paci, lay him down and he goes to sleep without a peep! Never knew babies could be like that! He is such a sweet little guy! Here are his 3 month stats:
12lbs. 4oz. -50th perc.
24 inches 50th perc.
A pretty average baby ;)
And now for the big brother... Oh our little Clay is probably the most adorable 2 year old in the world ;) He has the sweetest personality. He is SUCH a happy little guy. Seriously, most of his day is spent with a smile on his face. All you have to do is look at him and he will smile at you! He LOVES attention. Really! he will do anything for your attention. His newest thing is his "surprised face" (shown in the brother picture) , which I think is absolutely hilarious! So he often looks at me through out the day and does this face just to make me laugh! too funny. He is a really compliant child. I rarely have to put him in time out. Really all I have to say is, "Clay are you going to listen and obey?" and he usually obeys! I know this is not typical for a 2 year old. Once he was getting close to 2, I was a little nervous about the "terrible twos" but it has been nothing but a pleasure. I am LOVING the twos. He is talking up a storm which is the best part! He comes up with the cutest things! Here are his 2 1/2 years stats:
29 lbs 25th to 50th perc.
37" 50th to 75th perc.
ok, enough bragging about my kiddos! I'll just leave you with a pic...

From Pallet to Bookshelves!

2011-10-28T10:39:00.010-05:00

I was introduced to pinterest.com about a month or so ago. It's been so fun to find all these great ideas of really creative things to make or do. One project I really wanted to do was make bookshelves for Clay (and eventually Zeke) out of a pallet. Knowing that Rob could get a pallet from his work for free, this wound be a really inexpensive but COOL project! We have a regular bookshelf in Clay's room for his toys and books, but all his books had found their way into a HUGE pile on the floor by the rocking chair. Clay liked to have easy access to his books and wanted to be able to see the front covers to know what book it was instead of just the binding. So, I knew these book shelves would be PERFECT! Rob's parents came last weekend and Rob took some time off work, (and Rob's parent like to help with projects) so I knew it was time for our first pinterest project! And they turned out AWESOME!! They are adorable and Clay really likes them and I LOVE not having all the books in a huge pile! If you have little ones and have access to a free pallet, this is so worth it... Here are some picks...
The before picture!Clay had to get in on all the action! Painting them was a family event!And the after! How cute are these! Can you believe that they were made from a pallet?!

Clay was SO excited!

Zeke is Two Months!

2011-10-11T11:46:00.004-05:00

Well, my little 2 month old is 11 lbs. and 23 1/4 inches long, both in the 50th percentile! At about 6 weeks Zeke started smiling! I'd like to say I got the first smile, but Rob did! I didn't believe that Rob got a real smile until later that evening I got one too! And now he's starting to smile more and more! He is also starting to try to "talk" a little too! Everyday he talks more and more! It's so cute! I guess it's official, he's not my little newborn anymore! At about 9 weeks he started sleeping from 11pm to about 8:30pm, but he got a cold a few days ago and has been waking in the middle of the night for a COUPLE HOURS because he can't breathe very well! Now I'm a little worried that he won't go back to his 9 hour stretch once he's over this cold. I guess we'll see, but I'm exhausted. It would be one thing if he would go back to sleep after nursing him, but instead he wakes and is up for a long time, making me a very tired momma! Besides that, he's really a sweet baby! Very pleasant! I'm so excited to experience all the "firsts" in the months to come! We love you Zeke!

Lovin the things my two year old says...

2011-10-04T15:43:00.004-05:00

Last night as we were driving home, stopped at a red light, Clay notices the moon. As soon as the light turns green and we start moving Clay exclaims, "Daddy, the moon is running!" Love that kid!

Zeke's Labor Story

2011-09-27T13:51:00.013-05:00

I can't believe our little Zeke is already 8 weeks old! Before any more time flies by I need to write out his labor story! Be forewarned, this is going to be very long with a lot of details! I don't want to forget all the little things which is why I'm writing everything out!
Towards the end of my pregnancy, I was so desperate to have him! Once I hit 37 weeks I was ready to do whatever I could to induce labor! I don't love being pregnant so I was beyond ready to push this baby out and stop waddling around! More importantly, I was having low amniotic fluid towards the end of his pregnancy and had to go twice a week to get it checked. At every appointment there was the potential for the doctor to tell me I needed to be induced immediately (this is what happened with Clay). Plus I had a little bit of high blood pressure, nothing serious, but high enough for them to want to watch me really well. So, needless to say, the end of my pregnancy was extremely stressful and I felt like I was living at the doctors office! I felt like the race was on for me to go into labor on my own before they wanted to induce me! Since I was induced with Clay, I really wanted the experience of just going into labor naturally plus, I just feel like it's just better for things to progress naturally rather than forcing the baby to come before he's ready! (Don't get me wrong, there definitely are good reasons to be induce, like I said, I was induced with Clay and I feel like it was the right decision.) Anyway, like I said I was doing everything in my power to induce labor. I went for walks often, drove in Rob's bumpy truck, sat on a labor ball, etc!
I had been having a TON of braxton hicks that were really painful and were pretty consistent but they would always stop. I was really worried I wouldn't know when I was actually in labor because I would just think it was braxton hicks.
On August 1, 2011 I was having contractions in the morning but they stopped and then would have a few all day long, but really far apart, like 30 min or so. I felt like I was getting really close but had no clue that he was going to be born in only a few hours. I took a nice warm bath that night, trying to relax as much as possible, thinking that it would help me go into labor. Went to bed, but never slept. At midnight I noticed that the contractions were starting to be really strong and coming every 8 to 10 min. I was hoping this was real labor but wasn't really convinced since I had had plenty of braxton hicks that close together but they always stopped. At about 1 am, I'm still in the bed at this point, they were getting really painful and I began to think about the day before and how I was having contractions but they were really far apart and how all day and night they were getting stronger and closer together. I was really thinking this could be it. By 2 am I woke Rob and called my mom and Crystal (my sister in law). I told both my mom and Crystal on the phone that I was so sorry if this is just a false alarm but that I really thought this was it! So, I began to finish packing but could hardly think... It all felt so surreal! Could I really have just gone into labor naturally? Was I about to meet our baby boy?! Because of all that was going on in my body in the past 2 months I had just come to the conclusion that I was going to have to be induced again that that I needed to give up the dream of going into labor on my own. So, it was hard for me to believe that I was really going into labor naturally!
Well, my mom and Crystal arrived at about 2:30 am and I just kept telling them I am sorry if this is a false alarm, but at this point they were coming about every 3 to 5 mins and I couldn't talk while I was having them. They both looked at me and said, "Christina, we don't think this is any false alarm. You look like you're in labor!" So, we called the hospital and they told me to drink a glass of water and wait an hour. So for about half an hour we were all just standing in the kitchen (don't know why the kitchen? all I knew was that it was better for me to stand!) talking in between contractions. At about 3 am they were about every 2 to 3 min apart and were really strong. We all decided it was time to leave. We said good bye to Crystal who was staying with Clay, and my mom, Rob and I left.
We got to labor and delivery at about 3:30 am and they checked me. I was 5 to 6 cm and about 50 % effaced! I was definitely in labor! woohoo! While we were waiting for them to bring me to a room, I was overwhelmed with exhaustion. I hadn't really slept in 2 days (was up the night before with braxton hicks in the middle of the night) and I just remember laying there thinking I was so tired! At about 4:30 am or so they finally got me to the room. As soon as they are trying to hook me up to the machines to watch the baby's heart beat, they were having problems, so more people, doctors, etc. came in the room and I started to get concerned. I thought he was going into distress (this happened with clay and they started preparing me for an emergency c-section. thankfully his heart rate went back up and I was able to have him vaginally.) Well, the doc told me she had to break my water because they had to put internal monitors on the baby and they gave me oxygen. I was getting really concerned, but once they put the monitor on him, he was fine. I think they were freaking out because they couldn't pick up his heart rate with the external monitor. Anyway, I told them I wanted and epidural so I could sleep until it was time! The contractions didn't seem like they were that close together and from what I remember from Clay's labor it felt like one big contraction for a couple hours before I was 10 cm, so I thought for sure I still had hours and hours to go. I just kept thinking it would be nice to sleep for at least 2 to 3 hours! So, they gave me an IV and after about half an hour called for the epidural. The guys came around 5:45 am or so. (I was about 6 to 7 cm at this point) My mom and Rob had to leave while they did the epidural. Well, I don't know who the guy was that was doing my epidural but he was taking FOREVER! He got it in and then had to take it out and do it again. I don't know what was going on but it was making me nervous. I kept asking the guy, is this normal?? Is something wrong? Everyone kept reassuring me everything was fine (all the while I was having to tell them when I was having really bad, had to moan and pray through them kind of contractions, but it still felt like I was having good breaks in between?) My doctor came in and asked what was going on I told her I was exhausted and wanted an epidural so I could sleep. The guy finally gets it in me and tells me it will start to work in the next 5 to 10 mins. My doc says, we really need to check you! She checked and told me "this baby is going to be out in less than 10 mins!" I couldn't believe it! I told the doc to get my mom and husband in here right away! (Mind you, the epidural guy was still in the room waiting for my epidural to start working, that's how fast everything happened) They come in. My doctor tells me to push, and just like that, with one horrible burning push, I was 10 cm. So, here I am with an epidural that hasn't started working yet about to push this baby out. I remember asking my mom and sister in law what it felt like to push without pain killers and they said "oh it feels good to push." I was so surprised because of what I had heard, they said something about a ring of fire, and well, it sounded horrible. Anyway, so with the next contraction my doc had me push twice and out he came! First of all, as I'm about to push, all I remember saying was " It hurts. it really hurts!" I was saying that for a couple of reasons. One I was told it feels good to push (yeah, so not true, at least for me) and remember i had that epidural? Yeah, it didn't start working until my doctor was stitching me up! Glad I got an epidural for 2 stitches!
I couldn't believe that he came so fast! It was only 6 hours of labor and here he was! I was only in the labor room for like an hour and a half! Plus I only had to push twice and out he came! I had to push for an hour before Clay came out! I remember asking my doc at one of my appointments if labor was harder when you are induced compared to going into labor naturally and she said "labor is labor!" OK SO NOT TRUE! Going into labor naturally was WAY BETTER than being induced. That's part of the reason I wanted an epidural, I thought the contractions were going to get horrible with no breaks at all for hours before he came. I couldn't believe that they were still further apart and I was ready to push! Crazy!
One of the things I really didn't like about Clay's delivery is that they took him to the nursery before I really got the chance to nurse him. I had told my doctor about this and she was really apologetic about it (she didn't deliver Clay, the on call doctor did) and said that this experience would be very different! And sure enough she handed Zeke to me right away and told the nurses not to take him until I had the chance to hold him for at least and hour and was able to nurse him! It was great! Zeke took to nursing like a champ and my mom, Rob and I got some quality time with him before he had to go to the nursery. Funny thing, Rob and I had two names picked out but we never decided on which one we wanted to use. Mom had to leave the room while we discussed which name to pick since we might use the other one if we are blessed with another boy. Funny thing is I thought we were going to use the other name, but somehow when we saw him, he looked like an Ezekiel instead! Ezekiel means "strengthened by God" which is one of the reasons we loved the name so much! And that was that. He was Ezekiel Scott Johnson!
We didn't get to the room I would be staying at til about 8 or 8:30 and at about 10 am Clay arrived to meet his baby brother! I couldn't believe how fast everything happened! Clay of course wanted to hold Zeke right away! There was one point when we asked him where his baby brother was and he pointed to my tummy. So I think it took him a little bit to understand that Zeke was his baby brother! The rest of our hospital stay was full of family and friends coming to meet our little Zeke!
Another nice surprise was how great I felt after having Zeke! What a difference from the recovery from Clay's labor! So, I only stayed in the hospital one night and was able to come home the next day!
Zeke we are so thankful that you are a part of our family! You are an adorable baby who we love dearly! We can't wait to get to know you and love you more in the years to come!

Zeke's One Month Stats

2011-09-11T15:03:00.004-05:00

Zeke had his one month checkup this week and I was surprised to find out that he had gained more than 2 lbs. since his birth! Gaining weight was such a struggle with Clay! He was the skinniest baby! His weight was always at the 10th percentile or below! Don't know what I'll do with a chunky baby ;) but Zeke is definitely going to be bigger than his big brother ever was! Here are his stats:
weight 9lbs. 6oz. 50th percentile
length 20 1/2 inches 50th percentile

A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst

2011-08-08T15:40:00.002-05:00

I read the book A Year with God by R.P. Nettlehorst as a book review for BookSneeze.com. There are a lot of different types of devotional books on the market these days. I was excited to get this one, start reading it and see what Nettelhorst had to offer. Unfortunately, I came away pretty disappointed. Although the layout of the book is good; he puts it in topical categories in order for you to pick out the type of devo that you would like to read that day, and he uses different versions of the Bible instead of just sticking with one which is nice; but the actual content of the explanation of the verses was not well done. I normally think of a devotional as a written piece of literature that has something in it to inspire you or make you think specifically about a certain topic which you can take throughout your day and meditate on. Very few of the entries did this for me. There was a lot of interesting historical data, and I don't think he ever says anything wrong, it was more just a lack of deeper spiritual understanding that I could take with me through my day. I'm sure there are people out there who will love this book but it just wasn't for me. So leaving this one a little disappointed and hoping for better luck next time.

Baby #2 on the way

2011-07-18T12:12:00.006-05:00

Been wanting to blog about this pregnancy and just haven't got the chance. I've been running around after a 2 year old and, boy, does he keep me busy!
This pregnancy has been quite the ride thus far. Mostly, it has flown by. I don't love being pregnant, so I'm glad it has seemed to go faster this time around. Don't get me wrong, pregnancy is absolutely worth the end result, but I just don't love the process of getting to the end! Such is life...
The first trimester was actually much better than it was with Clay's. It did get sick, usually in the evening but not as much or as long as with Clay. I was extremely thankful for that, especially because I had a toddler to take care of too!
At about 20 weeks, we went to get an ultrasound and found out we were having another boy! We really didn't have any expectations, would have loved either. SO excited that Clay is going to have a brother so close in age. I think they'll be great friends. Clay is definitely ready for a brother! He loves people and will love having someone else in our family! I really think he's going to be a great big brother! We've been preparing him for baby brother's arrival. We've been talking about how our family will be "mommy, daddy, Clay, and baby brother." And how he will live in our house with us, sleep here, etc. Clay has been nothing but extremely excited every time we talk about baby brother! We even went to the store and let him pick out a present to bring to baby brother when he "comes out of mommy's tummy." If you know my son AT ALL, you know that he LOVES puppies and would not be surprised to know that he picked out a puppy for baby brother! I could very well eat my words one day, but I think he will adjust great to having another member of our family!
Been feeling him move around of course, but not nearly as much as I felt Clay. With Clay's pregnancy I use to think, when does this baby sleep? I really felt like he was moving constantly! This little guy however, is not nearly as active. Curious what this is going to say about his personality?! Thinking he might be a little more laid back. Guess we will see!
I was surprised to find out at about 32 weeks that my doctor wanted me to start going to prenatal testing TWICE a week for the remainder of my pregnancy. I had low amniotic fluid with Clay at 38 weeks and had to be induced immediately. I have had a little bit of high blood pressure off and on with the pregnancy too. So the combination of both, made my doctor want to start me on this testing. I was expecting this with this pregnancy however not so soon! I know my doctor just wants our baby and I to be safe, and like all doctors seems to be taking the cautious approach! Basically what prenatal testing means is that I go twice a week to monitor the baby's heart rate for 20 minutes, they take my blood pressure, and then do an ultrasound to check how much amniotic fluid I have. This would not be quite that big of a deal if I wasn't a stay at home mom to a 2 year old. Thankfully I have great friends and family who have been willing to help me watch Clay while I go to all these appointments!
At 33 weeks, I went to one of the prenatal appointments only to find that my amniotic fluid was low, not dangerously low, thankfully, but low enough to make them (an me of course) concerned! Great. my OB told me to make an appointment with the high risk doctor and get the big ultrasound where they check everything on the baby in a couple days. She told me that her goal was to at least get me to 34 weeks. Awesome. All of a sudden we were hit with the reality that we could very well have this baby a little too soon and have to deal with the complications of having a premie. It was a long few days until my appointment with the high risk doctor, however, it was a great opportunity for growth. Rob and I both really just needed to cling to the fact that we have a GREAT God who knows best and is the One in control of all our lives. We just have to trust him, no need to worry. Our appointment came and couldn't have gone better. My fluid levels had gone up a few points and were in the normal range. They checked all our little guy's organs and he seems to being growing great! The best news of the appointment was that they were able to tell us his weight and he was already 5 lbs 7 oz which puts him in the 70th percentile! The high risk doctor was so encouraging! He said that his weight is a great indication that he is growing just fine. Usually if there is any problems he would be struggling to gain weight but he wasn't just normal, but a little bit bigger! It felt so good to know that if something crazy did happen and I had to deliver before he was full term, he was already so big!
Praise the Lord I am now just a couple days away from being 37 weeks pregnant (which is full term) and our little guy is still safe inside my tummy! I have continued to go to the prenatal appointments twice a week and my fluid has not been low since that one appointment! My blood pressure has been very normal and baby's heart rate has been strong! I am SO thankful that I have gotten to this point in my pregnancy! I had a doctor's appointment last Friday to find out that I am 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced at only 36 weeks! Doctor says that she doesn't think I will make it to my due date! It's crazy, for so long I have just assumed that I would have to be induced and the possibility of going into labor on my own is not an option. But now, I feel like it's a possibility again, which is very exciting!
We have been working on getting everything ready for #2 and I have found myself getting really excited! For awhile there, thinking that we might have a premature baby was quite the overwhelming thought and now that I am basically full term, I feel like I can let myself get excited again! I can't wait to meet our little guy! Feeling a little overwhelmed at the thought of taking care of 2 instead of one but mostly feeling really excited about what this next little person will add to our family!
Johnson Baby #2 I can't wait to hold you in my arms! We are greatly anticipating your arrival! Here's the belly at 36 weeks!Baby Brother's profile at 34 weeks!

My Little Valentine

2011-02-20T14:55:00.004-06:00

So, this was the first Valentine's Day where we could do some special stuff for the little one in our house and he would actally understand it!! We had a special Valentine's breakfast on Sunday morning. (Yes, I know Monday was Valentine's Day, but Daddy gets up a little too early for Clay and I so we made Sunday Johnson Valentine's Day!) You know, what every mom of a pre schooler makes for breakfast on Valentine's Day. Heart Pancakes with strawberries and cool whip. I think Clay's favorite part was the cool whip ;)! Since Clay is getting more and more into crafts, coloring, etc. we made Valentine's for Daddy. Now that Clay is getting older, it is fun to be able to do some more creative things with him!

He's ready for crafts!

2011-02-08T17:22:00.011-06:00

So, last week was REALLY cold (freezing in my book, but most of you Northerners would laugh at me! It was in the mid 30's) I don't know if it's because I am pregnant or what but this winter is driving me crazy! I can never seem to get warm, no matter what! I am BEYOND ready for summer to come. I would much rather be sweating in the heat than shaking in the cold ANY DAY! OK, enough complaining from me. Just wanted to get that out.

Therefore, due to the weather, I refused to leave the house last week. Well, ok Monday was beautiful so we went to the park and went for a walk. So glad we did because the very next day it was really cold. I was thankful we had spent plenty of time outside on Monday! So, after Monday, I figured we could make due with what we had in the cupboard and freezer and we would be ok. No need to even go to the store, right?! By the end of the week I was feeling really bad for Clay. Poor kid was stuck in the house all week. So, I decided we would change things up a bit and do some crafts. We finger painted with some baby food I still had from our baby food days. Of course, once Clay learned that it was actually food, he was more interested in eating it than painting with it. Then, we did play-doh for the first time. Clay really liked it and only tried to eat it a couple times! Makes me realize he is ready for some toddler crafts and that I need to try to be a little more creative!

First Hair Cut

2011-02-04T16:22:00.012-06:00

A few weeks ago, I gave Clay his first hair cut. I had waited WAY too long and it was beginning to get matted in the back when he slept, but I just couldn't bring myself to cut off all his baby hair! I finally decided to just go for it. I am not the greatest at cutting hair. I have only cut Rob's, but he has wavy, thick hair so you can't really see all the mistakes. Clay's, on the other hand, is really thin and straight. Let me just tell you, it was stressful. I had Rob hold him but he was wiggling everywhere and shaking his head. God bless all those barbers out there who cut children's hair for a living! After all the fiasco, I learned that I should have let him watch a video while i cut it. Duh, that would have been smart, but the thought never crossed my mind! Oh well, the lessons you learn as a new mom!

I never realized how cutting a toddler's hair can change his look so much! I mean, my little Clay went from being my baby to my little boy in 5 minutes. The next morning when I got him from his crib, I had to take a second glance. Who was this "big boy" in my little guy's crib!!? It has taken a little but to get use to, but he is still as cute as ever!

So, without further ado... Here are the before and after pics...

Yes, my son's hair was ridiculously long!

An Update on the Little Guy

2010-11-17T16:34:00.003-06:00

Well, hello. Not sure if anyone is still out there checking my blog. Opps. It's been a while, I know, I know. I guess for a little bit there I forgot I had a blog!!! oh well, such is life.

Well, here is an update on the little man of our house:

- he is almost 18 months old and I CAN'T believe it!

- I am LOVING the toddler stage. I mean, really loving it! I love how he sometimes reminds me of a little boy, but still reminds me of a baby too. It's like the best of both worlds. Plus, I LOVE how he learns something new everyday!

- He is quite the talker. I mean the child knows so many words. and is NEVER quiet! I never really felt the need to teach Clay baby sign language because he comnunicates so well. His vocabulary often surprises me.

- He is a night owl. I never knew that you could tell this when they are so young, but he truly seems like a night person and not a morning person (a trait he gets from his mother)! He doesn't really get grumpy when we keep him up so late, but gets crazy! It's pretty nice for those nights when we are out late!

- He's a pretty cautious little guy when it comes to new things.

- He LOVES being outside and asks all the time to go outside (even now as I type!)

- He is definately playing like a little boy. LOVES cars and balls. Will make car noises as he drives them all over the house.

- He loves books

- His favorite thing is his "bankie" He MUST have it when he sleeps and it is always soaking wet when I get him from his bed. He likes to chew on it.

- He loves to go for a run with mommy. He often asks to go for a run and brings me my shoes (he's like my little running accountability partner!) He does so well in the jogging stroller and is quiet the whole time (the only time he is quiet). He loves to strech with me after we run, touching his toes and everything.

I LOVE my little guy and I love that I get the privilege of raising Clay and being a stay at home mom!

The Grace of God by Andy Stanley

2010-10-19T16:00:00.001-05:00

FYI, this blog was written by my hubby. He uses my blog to get free books lol

“The Grace of God” by Andy Stanley is an excellent read. He goes through the stories of the Bible, most of which are very familiar to anyone who has even an elementary knowledge of it, and tells them from the point of view of grace. He has a great talent for taking these well-known stories and telling them in a way that is fresh and relevant for our culture today. While I had heard all of these stories multiple times, I was never bored as I read through the book. God’s story is a story of grace. It was 4,000 years ago, and His grace continues its work through me and through you. This book is for anyone who believes that they have to work to earn the grace of God; it is also for anyone who thinks that they are too messed up and done too many things wrong that they do not deserve His grace. God’s grace is for everyone and we don’t have to do anything to get. How amazing is that. That is Good News!
I wrote this review as part of Thomas Nelson's booksneeze.com book review blogger program.

Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado

2010-10-01T08:32:00.002-05:00

Have you ever felt like your life isn't really making a difference?
Have you ever wondered if there is more to your life than what you are doing with it right now?
If so, Max Lucado's book, "Outlive Your Life", is a perfect read for you. A main theme that constantly runs throughout the book is a call to I would say the rich in general and the American church in particular (because face it, no matter how "poor" we think we are, we still as a group have more wealth than the rich of the rest of the world combined), to reach out to the poor and the needy wherever we are and look for ways to make a difference. The thing I liked about this book is how practical Max gets. He doesn't talk theories. He gives real life examples of real life people and ways to help. He also does an excellent job of building a foundation for why we should be so concerned about helping the needy and poor among us, namely because this is how Jesus lived. We as Jesus followers need to be doing the same.
I wrote this review as part of Thomas Nelson's booksneeze.com book review blogger program.

Couponin'

2010-08-07T15:32:00.007-05:00

So, yes, I coupon. And now that I have been doing it for the past few months, and see how much money I'm SAVING, I wonder what I was thinking all of those years of NOT couponin'! Really, it's amazing! Now that I know I can only spend a little over $1 for a box of cereal I use to pay $3 or more for, I don't know how I could ever return to not coupon in'. And that's just cereal, not to mention all the other things I use to pay full price for that I now pay less than half the original price. It does take time and can be a little work, but the return is definitely worth it!
Yesterday was one of my proudest days as a couponer. I never thought I would be one of "those" bloggers who would actually line up everything they bought, take a picture, and post how much I paid for it (not that I have a problem with bloggers who do. In fact, seeing all the amazing deals my friends have posted is what convinced me to actually try this whole coupon thing. I just never thought I would blog about it ;), but when you watch your transaction total go from a little over $30 to just 92 cents, it's worthy a blog right?! I took a trip to Target and CVS and here are all the things I got for FREE (yes, that's right, I said FREE) or for only a few cents.
And here is my CVS transaction that rang up at over $30 and, with all my coupons and ECB, went down to just 92 cents. Not to mention I got 5 ECB back to use on my next purchase!
Pretty fun stuff!

My Little 14 month old

2010-07-28T15:01:00.007-05:00

Oh yes, I am still counting months. I mean, when do you stop? Clay still feels like my little baby even though he is clearly in the "toddler" stage. Although he is not "toddling" around. Yes, my 14 month old still crawls. He is fast at it and isn't really interested in walking. He cruises furniture really well, but doesn't let go. He has shown a lot of interest in his walker lately, so I guess he is getting close, but I think it's still going to be awhile. BUT, the child is talking like crazy. Seriously, it seems like he learns a new word everyday, which is pretty fun. I just think it's hilarious that my crawling baby is talking. Seems a little backwards, huh?
Here is the list of his vocab: mama, dada, bye bye, shoe, socks, puppies, touch (comes from when I tell him "don't touch"), and ice. Who knows what he will try to say next. It's too cute!

Catching Up...

2010-07-01T17:33:00.011-05:00

Hello again blog world. WOW, It's been awhile. A LONG while. Oh well. we have been really busy the past few months. So, we have a little catching up to do. Here's what we've been up to!

On May 3oth Clay turned 1! I know, can you believe it? My baby is one. Feels like I gave birth to him yesterday. I can remember the first time I held him in my arms (screaming his head off) like it was yesterday! Oh Clay, we are SO HAPPY you are a part of our life. You bring such joy to your dad and I. We love you more than you will ever know!
We decided to have his first birthday party and baby dedication together at our house. It was a great time to celebrate Clay and to commit our little man to the Lord. It was a very special party.
In other news, we are now homeowners! I can hardly believe it. Really. We have lived in 9 different places since we got married almost 5 years ago. Yeah, quite the record. Now you know why I can hardly believe that we bought a house. There were several reasons for this. One is that we were tired of throwing away our money on rent and the other, bigger reason is that we are a part of a core group who is planting a church in the neighborhood we bought our house in. We really felt like God was calling us to be a part of this church and calling us to move to the community we are currently living in. It has been quite the journey being homeowners and we've only lived here for a month! We have renovated the bathroom (well, still renovating) as well as done some other renovations around the house, built a shed, painted like CRAZY, and well, had to clean up our first fallen tree in our yard this week. (Yes an enormous, termite eaten, hollow oak tree in the lot next door fell on our backyard! Could have been worse. At least it didn't fall on the house, right?! I'd much rather clean up a fallen tree in our backyard than clean up a tree AND fix a hole in our roof!)
Also in the past couple months we had my brother, sister-in-law, and family come in town. They recently adopted a little girl from Korea and we got to meet her for the first time. She is only 6 weeks older than Clay and is too cute! She is walking like a big girl and has been for awhile. It was really fun to see them. Wish we could have had more time with them. We had to move into our new house during the time they were in town. Although it would have been nice to do something "fun" we were glad to have the help!
Rob's parents also came in town to visit us for about a week. They were able to make it to Clay's birthday/ baby dedication party which we were really happy about. It was so good to have them here for such a special time in our lives. They helped us A TON on our new house (painting, helping to build a shed) as we had only moved in like 10 days before their arrival. It was great to see them!
Also, my other brother, sis-in-law and family moved back down to NOLA at the beginning of June. It 's fun to have them home, and to see Clay interact with his cousins. He loves crawling after them, and Eli (he's 2) especially loves to "play" with Clay. Eli is absolutely adorable with Clay, feeding him Cheerios, bringing him his cup, and giving lots of hugs. I think those 2 are going to be great friends one day when they can really play together. It's good to have them home.
Well, that was probably WAY more than you care to know about what is going on in our lives. Just seems like there are quite a few "monumental" things happening in our lives the past couple of months.

9 month stats

2010-03-16T15:44:00.004-05:00

We had Clay's 9 month check-up today and all is well. Learned that he had his first (of many more to come, I'm sure) virus. He was running a fever this weekend, but didn't have any other symptoms. He seemed fine on Sunday, but I did notice that he looked like he had some little pink bumps on his tummy. Since he is fair skinned and doing the army crawl these days, I figured it was just from crawling on the carpet. Anyway, yesterday evening, it was really looking like a rash. Thankfully today I had his regular check-up appointment and learned (Actually my mom diagnosed it about an hour before I went to the appointment) that he had Roseola, which is a virus common for babies to get at his age. Anyway, seems kinda like a milestone, Clay getting his first virus...

Anyway, here are his 9 month stats:

Weight: 18 lbs. 14 oz. -20th percentile

Height: 27 3/4 inches 50th percentile

Growing away

9 months

2010-03-12T17:23:00.010-06:00

I can hardly believe that my baby boy is 9 months. It's even harder to believe that we will be celebrating his first birthday is just a few short months. Ya know, I have always heard moms talk about how quickly kids grow up and I never really understood it until I had my own. I seriously feel like I just gave birth to him YESTERDAY. Ok, I can go on and on about how big he is and how I can't believe it, but I'll stop now...

So here are some things my little 9 month old does now:

- claps his hands on command, or when you sing if your happy and ya know it, or just for fun!
- does the army crawl and gets faster and faster everyday

- can pick up food with his finger and thumb and feed himself

- has 3 teeth, one has totally come in and is working on the other two

- gets his feelings hurt when you tell him "no"
- knows the car and will begin to whine before you even open the door to put him in his car seat

- smiles ALL THE TIME!
- has become more and more interested in toys ( but the stacking cups are still, by far, his favorite)
- plays "catch" (I roll him the ball and he rolls it back)
- says mama and dada

- talks constantly, except when we are walking around in a store (too much to look at I guess...)
- is very ticklish
-LOVES to eat solid foods. You would be amazed how much such this skinny baby can eat!!

showing off his 3 teeth (2 bottom and one on the top left... you can see the very tip of it if you look really closely)

if you're happy and ya know it clap your hands

eating finger foods!

ahhhhahhh I got it!

Funny Face

2010-03-12T17:17:00.003-06:00

I don't know what it is, but Clay has been constantly making this face lately. I think it's pretty funny! And here is another pic of a funny face, although he doesn't make this one as often!

Scooting

2010-03-11T17:17:00.005-06:00

So, almost 2 weeks ago, my baby boy learned to scoot on his tummy and has been getting faster and faster ever since, which means he has been getting into more and more things. And he makes way more of a mess than he use to. But it has been easy to adjust to so far. I guess in my head, I kinda thought that once your kid is mobile, everything changes drastically. But at first he would not go very far. He would only go for things within a few feet of him. And then he got more a more interested in things that were further and further away from him. But, like I said, it has been a gradual process where I am learning what things he can get into gradually. It's been kinda fun to see what he is interested in. He will often go for the diaper bag and pull things out. He also likes to go for my toes and thinks they are really funny. Oh, and the DVD player is definitely a favorite. He has already tried to eat my bible study workbook and torn an envelope for the blockbuster mail in DVD thing. It's funny, because I often see him start to go for something and halfway there, he will stop and look back at me, as if to see if I will let him, or tell him no. Or maybe it's to see if I am watching, so he knows what he can get away with! Anyway, it's been fun so far, except the whole teaching him "no" thing.
Here are a couple pictures of what he has been getting into!

Humm... mommy, what do you carry around in this bag all the time?Helping mommy unpack the groceries! (He really did take quite a few items out of the grocery bag for me. Now if I can only get him to put them where they belong ;)

Here is a video of our little guy's scooting skills

Bath Time

2010-02-27T17:03:00.004-06:00

So, we have come a long way in our "enjoying the bath" journey with Clay. He never really liked it. In fact, most times he would scream the whole time. I never understood when moms would say that their newborns fell asleep in the bath. Ha, yeah right... not this newborn. Needless-to-say, we never really liked giving him a bath, so we only did it when absolutely necessary! (I mean, how dirty can babies get anyway?) It wasn't until a couple months ago that he learned to splash in the bath and he LOVED it. Yes, ever since he learned to splash, it was like all of a sudden he realized how fun baths can be!!! Yay!! Finally it's not a struggle to give him a bath, he actually enjoys it now!!

And this is how baths use to be ... (taken at his first bath )And NOW...
Yay! Baths can actually be fun!!!

First Trip to the Park

2010-02-24T16:43:00.005-06:00

Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day here, so we decided it was a perfect time for Clay's first trip to the park. I have been looking for a park close by that actually has baby swings (because, well, really... what else can a 8 month old do at the park besides swing?!). Believe it or not, it has been quite the challenge to find a park around here that has swings, much less baby swings. On the way home Friday night we passed by a local park and I saw them!!! I knew this was the park for us!

Now, I have figured out that Clay is not like most babies in well, almost everything. He never liked pacifiers. He will NOT take a bottle. He HATED baths until he was 7 months old and learned how to splash. He hated riding in the car and would scream the whole time (unlike most who FALL ASLEEP). Oh the list goes on. All the things that most babies like, well, Clay didn't. One of those things is a baby swing. Yes, before we had Clay we figured we needed one of those baby swings because, well, every baby likes a baby swing, right??!! Oh how I had thoughts of him sleeping in it, or it calming him down. YEAH RIGHT!! He cried every time I put him in it!!! If he was crying and I put him in it, the crying would only get louder!!! So, although I wanted to take Clay to the park, I was not so sure he was going to like to swing. Well, much to my surprise he LOVED it. I mean from the moment we put him in it, he was smiling and laughing. It was too cute! We will defiantly have to take him to the park more often!!

I think this is my favorite one!

Although he did like the swing he wasn't so sure about the slide!!

Yeah, so I had the thought that the park would be a great place to do a little photo shoot! Ha! This is pretty much what he did the whole time. He was WAY more interested in the grass than me! This is the best pic I got!

Really he was more interested in eating the grass than anything else!

playing with leaves

Fun with daddy

2010-02-20T11:47:00.005-06:00

I love to see my husband and son play together, cuddle, or just hang-out. I think they will be great friends one day!Rob found baby einstein on you tube for Clay on half the computer screen and he was doing some research on the other half!!! too funny!Just cuddling with daddy after a nap

Rob built a little road with 2 ramps for Clay's caterpillar to roll over. (Good thing there are daddies. Mommies would never think of things like this!!!)

Teaching Clay the Ways of Manhood

2010-02-20T11:21:00.005-06:00

So, Rob took Clay after work and I found them in the bathroom doing this:
Ummm... Mommy, what is daddy doing?
Oh, that looks like fun!
I'm not so sure about this
I don't think I liked that daddy.

First Tooth

2010-02-20T11:08:00.005-06:00

Yes, it is true, Clay is finally getting his first tooth!! About 2 weeks ago, he was VERY fussy and I noticed that his gums where looking a little different. Of course, I had to feel, no tooth yet. Well, by the end of the day I could feel the little tip of the tooth!! It is still not fully in (not sure how long it takes for a baby tooth to come fully in???!!!) but he looks so cute when he smiles with his little tooth sticking out!! It seems like we are getting close to the stage where everyday there is something new...

Cups

2010-02-05T12:27:00.005-06:00

Not so sure what it is about cups, but Clay loves them. He is happy as long as there is a cup around. He doesn't love to drink from a sippy cup, in fact he usually shutters when we try to get him to drink from a sippy cup. However, when we let him drink from a regular cup, he loves it! For months his favorite toy was and still is stacking cups. Crazy kiddo...It seems that the "love of destruction" that all boys seem to have starts at such a young age!

Go Saints Go!!!

2010-01-30T13:02:00.004-06:00

Growing up, I have to admit, I was never really a football fan. Mostly because, well, my family always rooted for the Saints and they ALWAYS lost and (in my little girl mind) everyone would just be mad and in a grumpy mood for the rest of the day. So, I never really liked the Saints that much until, well... after August 29, 2005. Some of you probably don't even remember what happened that day, but it is a day that I (and many others) will never forget. It is the day Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. My life will forever be defined as B.K. and A.K (Before Katrina and After Katrina). After that day, Rob and I decided to pack our bags and move on down to a place people were moving AWAY from. We had no jobs, no place to live, and no real plan. Just the conviction that this was a city in need, and we were called to be there.
When the Superdome reopened after the storm and the Saints played for the first time, there was a sense that this was the beginning. New Orleans will come back, it will be rebuilt. The Saints became so much more than just another football team to this city, they became a symbol of hope. As you can imagine, winning the NFC Championship was so much more than just a game. If you don't live here, I'm not sure you will ever understand what it meant to this city. New Orleans is coming back. We are coming back stronger than ever!
Can't believe I am writing a blog about the Saints. If you would have told me this 10 years ago, I don't think would have believed you. But I LOVE how this team has brought this city together and what it means to so many here. When the Saints won, my mom cried. (I know... not too surprising considering, well it is my mom.) But it was so much more than a game. She lost everything in the storm, the house I was born in, the pictures of us as children, the memories, everything was gone. And here is her team, she has rooted for for 42 years, through all those years of loosing! And they are going to the SUPERBOWL!!!! She is now in a house in a different neighborhood, rebuilding her life. We're coming back stronger than ever! NICE!
So, I can't say that I have been a huge Saints fan since the day I was born. But I am more of a Saints fan than I ever thought possible. Go Saints! Who dat!!!!
Check out this video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugV6gcXGPwk

7 month stats

2010-01-14T13:29:00.004-06:00

Went to the doctor today, and our little man is growing away.... He is:
15 lbs 12.5 oz - 15 percential
26 3/4 inches long - 50 percential
head in the 50 percential

6 months

2009-12-29T15:59:00.006-06:00

Now that my baby boy will be 7 months tomorrow, I decided to post his 6 month pics I took a few weeks ago. Man, these months go by so quickly!

He looks like such a big boy in this one!

As you can tell, he likes to stick his tongue out when he smiles, well, as far as he can stick it out anyway (he's tongue tied!)

A Saturday Full of Christmas Tree Fun

2009-12-17T12:24:00.006-06:00

Getting bundled up to go find our Christmas tree!

Doesn't Rob look like he's having fun?!

I think he likes the ornaments!

Helping daddy decorate the Christmas tree

Playing with the garland

Our Finished Product!

Do we really understand what poverty is?

2009-12-07T15:28:00.004-06:00

This is driving me crazy and I just need a place to blow some steam. Blogging seemed like a good place.
I don't know if this has to do with living in a third world country for 10 months or what, but I am SO TIRED of hearing about how bad the economy is. I mean, SO TIRED!!! Do Americans REALLY know what it is like to be poor? I don't think there is one person in America who TRULY understands what it means to be poor. Here we are moping around complaining about how our retirement might be in a little bit of trouble or how you can't spend thousands of dollars on Christmas (only hundreds this year). We live in our 3 bedroom, 1500 sq. feet houses with air conditioning and heating. Our pantries are full of food we never eat and will probably just be thrown away once it expires. I mean really people. Wake up and open your eyes beyond your 401Ks. Do you know what poverty really is??? It's the little girl in Africa whose parents have died of AIDS, she is now homeless, taking care of her 3 younger siblings and can't even find clean water. It's the two little kids that came to our front door in the Philippines with dirty torn shirts (no pants) asking for a clean shirt to wear. It's the family of 15 in Thailand, living in a one room shack made out of things here and there they found in the trash. AMERICA, YOU ARE RICH BEYOND BELIEF! Stop complaining about how you can only afford 2 cars instead of 3. How you aren't going to become a millionaire when you retire, and start thinking about people around the world who have FAR LESS than you could ever imagine having. So next time you think about how bad the economy is, start thinking about the little girl in Africa, or the two little kids in the Philippines, or the family in Thailand. Shut your mouth, open your eyes, and be grateful.

My First Thanksgiving

2009-12-05T22:12:00.016-06:00

We had a great time Thanksgiving weekend in Dallas with my mom and my brother's family. We left on Wednesday after Rob got off work and drove the 8 hours. Clay did a great job in the car (he's doing much better in the car these days, doesn't scream the entire time like he use to), which made the drive a lot more pleasant. On Thursday we did the typical Thanksgiving day, girls cooked, boys watched football and the kids, ate yummy food and yummy pie, topped off with a rented movie. Friday we did a little "black Friday" shopping but came back with nothing... no big deal, it's just stuff anyway ;) and went to a park that had a drive through Christmas lights display. At the end was a place with a couple rides (including a carousel) and hot chocolate. Clay took his first carousel ride, wish I had pics, but forgot m camera and so did my sis-in-law! Saturday we went to an arboretum (very cool) and just walked around taking pics and enjoying the beautiful fall colors (something we don't have down here). In the evening, we went on a double date with my brother and his wife!!! woohoo! Only about the third date we have had since Clay was born (the joys of having a baby that will not take a bottle). The only requirement was putting Clay to bed before going. We left on Sunday afternoon, once again, Clay did great in the car. We had a great time visiting with family!!! Clay supervises the thanksgiving dinner table being set!
This is what the boys did while the girls were in the kitchen.

Clay's thanksgiving dinner: bananas for the first time!

Friday morning breakfast with Mimie!

walking around the arboretum

Caiah waves hello to the fish

I LOVE the colors of fall!

Mimie with the 3 grandsons at the arboretum.

Grass

2009-12-03T16:13:00.007-06:00

While we were in Dallas for Thanksgiving, we went to an arboreum for a few hours. While we were there, Rob decided it was time for Clay to have his first grass experience (although the grass was much softer there than the hard long grass we have here!) Clay seemed to like it!Hey! What is this stuff?!

Happy Birthday Clay!

2009-11-30T22:13:00.003-06:00

Today, my baby boy is offically 6 months! Happy Birthday Clay! We love you so much!

Solids

2009-11-30T21:46:00.008-06:00

Last Saturday, Clay hit a new milestone in his young life. We started solid food! It's a little sad to see my little baby grow so fast. Eating solid food from a spoon! He took to it immediately! Even with the first spoonful, he opened his mouth and swallowed it like he had been eating from a spoon his whole life. Of course, he made the whole, "what in the world is this" face, but quickly opened his mouth for more. We find him kicking and squealing during meal times because he loves it so much. And we just can't seem to shovel it in quickly enough! Also, we often find him whining when we are eating in front of him. Well, we went from only one meal a day to 3 meals a day very quickly. His first food (like most babies these days) was rice cereal. Since then he has eaten peas, bananas, green beans, and as of today, oatmeal. He is doing great and really loving it. My plan has always been to make his baby food, but since we started solids a few days before going to Dallas for Thanksgiving, I decided to just start with baby food and make it when we got home. Today, I made green beans. Funny thing, he didn't really love the baby food green beans, but the fresh ones I made for him, he loved. I guess this little guy just loves nice fresh veggies (which I don't mind). I'm looking forward to making sweet potatoes and peas tomorrow! These are some pics from his very first taste of rice cereal!Humm... I think I'm full mommy!

Cousins in Town

2009-11-18T17:48:00.005-06:00

This past weekend my brother's family came for a short visit. It was fun to hang-out with them. Their two little guys are growing so fast. Orin and Caiah were a lot more interested in Clay this trip than they have been in the past. I have a feeling it has something to do with their baby sister that their family is adopting from Korea who is only 6 weeks older than Clay. We kept telling them that Sora (their sister) is about the same size as Clay (yes, she is really small). We can't wait to meet our little Sora, who we love already. Hopefully they will be going to get her in February. These were the only pics I got of the cousins lovin' on Clay:

Clay is very into grabbing things, especially faces. Orin and Caiah loved it. too cute.

Caiah kisses
Orin kisses

New Trick

2009-11-15T15:38:00.003-06:00

We just figured out today that Clay has a new trick! He can sit up, well, proped up on his hands!! Woohoo. He's getting so big.

Little Rock

2009-10-22T13:48:00.009-05:00

A couple weeks ago, I drove with my mom (and of course, Clay) to Little Rock to see my brother, sister-in-law and nephews. We had a fun time running around LR with the family. We were even able to make it to the LR zoo (Clay's first time to the zoo) on a very cold day. In NOLA it had been very warm until recently, so it was quite different having to dress a baby for cold weather, always wondering if he is too cold or maybe too warm. Clay had quite the time adjusting to a new place and new routine, but did ok considering. We had a fun time and I am glad Clay got to hang out with his cousins (he'll remember I'm sure ;)
Sam being goofy by the bears

Zach by the zebras (what a cutie)

trying to stay warm at the zoo

enjoying some baby einstein with his cousin

after school snack time

Clay's Favorite Spot

2009-10-07T17:10:00.005-05:00

This, by far, is Clay's favorite spot in our house. He LOVES his changing table. Not sure what it is, but the kiddo loves it. If he is crying, you can bring him there and he will usually (unless it's a major meltdown) stop and even smile at you. Since, he loves it so much, we often stay there for awhile and just play, blowing on his belly, giving eskimo kisses (my absolute favorite). This is probably one of the reasons he loves his changing table so much, because it often becomes playtime! This is a FAR CRY from the first few weeks of his life where he absolutely HATED getting his diaper changed. He would scream and pee everywhere, evertime, without fail. Oh I am glad that phase is over and now we have a little boy who loves it! They grow up so fast. (Oh and he no longer pees everywhere when we change his diaper, well... not everytime anyway :)

Oh No We Missed It

2009-10-06T13:33:00.007-05:00

So, I love seeing all of Clay's "firsts." I got the first smile, I saw the first rolling over from his tummy to his back. I got the first laugh, etc. (I know, I am such a 1st time mom!) Well, all day yesterday he was on his back rolling over to his side, and almost to his tummy. He was so close, so I was watching him all day and even video taping him, hoping to get the first on video. Well, he just couldn't seem to make it all the way over. Rob came home from work and I put Clay on his back to show Rob how close he was to rolling over, and again he almost did it, but just couldn't seem to get all the way over. I even commented that it would be fun if Rob were home to see one of his "firsts." Rob went to get on the computer and I went to tend to dinner, leaving Clay in the living room playing under his activity gym ON HIS BACK. I said, now watch, he is going to roll over in the minute no one is their to witness it. Sure enough, I go back into the living room, and this is what I found... Yep, I was watching him all day long, waiting to see the roll over and I leave for one minute and he does it, that little stinker!!! It's like he knew, and he wanted to tease me! It starts already....
I still haven't witnessed it, hopefully he will do it again soon, this time, while I am watching.

My Little 4 Month Old

2009-10-02T10:48:00.013-05:00

Did a little photo shoot the other day with our little man, here are some of them. Will try to post more on facebook.

What a Tough Little Guy

2009-10-01T16:11:00.005-05:00

These were the exact words out of the pediatrician's mouth this afternoon, when Clay proceeded to smile at her right after she gave him a shot!!! He has never really cried a lot after he has gotten a shot, but he at least gives a pouty lip and cries a little. Nope not this time. Instead he decided to surprise us all and smile through the whole thing! Crazy kiddo. She also called him a little charmer as he kept talking to her and smiling at her through out the whole examination.

Well, here are his 4 month stats:

length 25 1/2 inches in the 75th percential

weight 12 lbs. 10 oz in the 25th percential

head in the 50th percential

So, our little man continues to be a long skinny baby!

From Week One to 4 Months

2009-09-30T15:26:00.004-05:00

Since we have fully transitioned Clay from his cradle to his crib, we are getting ready to put the cradle away until the next Johnson baby comes along. I had to take one last picture of Clay in his cradle before it goes to the attic. Clay only a few days old.
4 months

Adoption

2009-09-29T16:51:00.007-05:00

My brother and sister-in-law are adopting a little girl from Korea. They just got her referral a few weeks ago and are filling out the paper work, hoping to go get her in 3 months or so. My brother and sister-in-law have been working on adopting overseas for over a year now, and it has definitely come with it's own trials, disappointments, and frustrations. But they will be the first to tell you it was all worth it when they see the pictures of this precious little girl God has chosen just for them! Her name is Sora Bada Daspit and I think she is just the cutest little thing. I CAN'T WAIT to hold my new little niece and just love on her. Not to mention she is only a month and a half older than Clay, so he is going to have a cousin very close in age to him!!! Renee and I have joked about putting them in male/female matching outfits and see if we could pass them off as twins!!! LOL!

I have to say that I MORE than respect my brother and sister-in-law for their attitude and passion for adoption. They truly have a great perspective, one that I want to have more and more. We are called by God to care for orphans in one way or another. While we don't all have the ability to adopt a little one into our family, we can still pray for them, financially support them, etc. After all, it is what God has called us to do. Adoption is something Rob and I have talked about and would definitely consider doing, but we know that it's all in God's timing, whatever that might be.

4 months

2009-09-29T15:36:00.004-05:00

Well, our little man is 4 months old. It's hard to believe. I know, one day I will look back when we are sending Clay off to college and think today was just yesterday. I'm sure a mom will always see her baby boy, no matter how old he gets! Since I have decided my blog is going to be somewhat of my journal through out this time of motherhood, I will try to post more often. In fact, I have heard you can make a book from your blog, something I plan on looking more into. I would love to scrapbook, but have decided that i am more of a "social scrapbooker" than a passionate one. I would much rather journal than play with paper. Having said that, I might post a little more than you want to know, but things I don't want to forget.

Anyway... back to the whole reason for this post. Clay is 4 months and here are some things our little man is doing:

- rolling over from his tummy to his back.

- sucking on his hands and fingers.

- he screams when he gets excited.

- he LOVES to have his diaper changed. I think maybe he likes the perspective from where he lays to where we stand. Plus, since he is so happy at his changing table, it often becomes play time, which might have something to do with loving his changing table. This is quite different from the first few weeks of his life where he would SCREAM and PEE everywhere at diaper changing time.

- he makes a good pouty lip

- can grasp a rattle

- hits at toys above him, but more than that, LOVES to use his feet to kick things. He is definitely more interested in using his feet than his hands. (we might have a soccer player on our hands)

- he smiles TONS.

-beginning to laugh

- trys to stand when I hold him in my lap

- HATES the car, he cries harder when we are in the car than any other time. It's mostly when we stop at red lights. so, we pray for green lights and no traffic!! (yeah, you know when you have a colicky baby and they say to take a ride in the car to calm him down, yeah, that would definitely NOT work for our little Clay.)

- has moved from his cradle to his crib.

- has two bumps on his bottom gum??? they have been there for a few weeks, wonder when he is going to cut some teeth.

- thinks pacis are for chewing and not for sucking.

- loves to play peek a boo

- often sticks out his tongue when he smiles

- is constantly moving when he is awake

- loves when his daddy blows on his belly when it's PJ time.

- loves when his daddy gets home from work.

- likes to be outside, ever since he was born, if he was crying and you took him outside, he would stop.

- loves going for walks in his stroller.

-lifts his head up and supports himself on his arms

- loves to stretch, and makes the cutest face while doing it!

He is such a sweet baby and we are so glad he is in our lives.

Our Little Sleeping Pro

2009-09-24T17:20:00.002-05:00

Yep. I am convinced that it had to do with the virus I had on Monday, and that my milk supply was not quite up to par. Clay slept all night, back to his little sleeping pro ways! woohoo!!!

5 am feedings

2009-09-23T20:54:00.003-05:00

Well, I knew it would happen at some point. It was inevitable. It always happens when you have a baby in the house. Our little Clay is an AMAZING sleeper. I mean really, he is a sleeping pro!! Since he was 8 weeks old, he has been sleeping though the night. For the past two months I always went to bed wondering if this would be the night he would wake-up and I would deal with the "do I nurse him, or just try to get him to go back to sleep" dilemma most moms find themselves in at one point or another. I began to get REALLY use to Clay sleeping until at least 7 am if not later, so I was quite surprised to hear him crying at 5 am this morning. At first, I just thought, ok, maybe he will cry it out and go back to sleep. He really wasn't "crying" it was more of a whine. Anyway, he only got louder and it sounded more and more like a cry, so after about 15 min I decided I should probably do something about it. At first I tried the paci and well, he's not a fan of the paci, so that didn't work too well. So, I just gave in and nursed him. He nursed and than went right back to bed and slept til 9am!
Rob and I were really sick on Monday, throwing up and everything and I think Clay had a touch of the virus too. He slept A LOT on Monday, and ended-up with one less feeding than normal. But slept great that night. He slept quite a bit on Tuesday too and he had one less feeding. I thought maybe he was coming to the point where he only needed 5 feedings a day instead of 6, but maybe I was wrong. So, I guess when I think about the fact that I had not really eaten anything or really drank anything on Monday, and even Tuesday I did not eat as much as normal, I am sure my milk supply was not really up to par on Tuesday plus the fact that he had one less feeding, I'm sure those were factors in the 5 am feeding. Today we are back to the 6 feedings and we will see how he does tonight. Hoping that this whole 5 am waking is not going to become a pattern we are going to have to break. I know... I know... I really have nothing to complain about. I understand that Clay is an AMAZING sleeper and there are plenty of moms out there still waking up in the middle of the night to have to feed their 4 month old. I guess, I was just so surprised because he has not woken up for 2 months. And really, 5 am is not that bad! I guess some people would really not consider that a "night feeding," but this mom is NOT a morning person and does not want to start her day at 5 am. We will see how tonight goes...

Yesterday was quite eventful

2009-09-11T09:56:00.006-05:00

Yesterday I went to put Clay down for tummy time, and no sooner do I look over to grab some toys for him to look at, do I see our little man rolling over to his back! I thought it was a fluke because I had just put him down and I thought maybe I had put him a little on his side so it was me helping him to roll over. Well, I put him back on his belly again and sure enough, he rolled over again!!! I got the 3rd one on video. I can't believe it. Now begins the time when they become more and more mobile. So tummy time quickly becomes laying on his back time, which he doesn't seem to mind so much because he has never been a fan of laying on his tummy. He's so big.

This is what I slept next to last night... oh no where did Clay go???
Oh, there he is.. in his crib, in HIS room!

We have been trying to transition Clay from his cradle in our room to his crib in his room. We went on a trip this past weekend, where he had to sleep in many different places, so I thought when we came home, it would be a nice time to transition him, since he probably wouldn't remember his cradle anyway. All the naps since Tuesday have been in his crib, but I still put him in his cradle at night. Last night was the time. I was a little worried because since about 8 weeks our little guy has been sleeping 8-10 hours at night and has not woken up in the middle of the night since. So, I felt like changing his environment might do the trick, and we would be up all hours of the night. Plus, I kind-of like sleeping in between my two favorite men. And I like having Clay at an arms reach (you know, like all new moms do, you have to check sometimes just to make sure they are breathing!). Well, last night went great. He slept through the night like the little sleeping pro that he is. He woke up only about 30 min earlier than he has been. He had scooted himself up all the way to the top of the crib, and his head was hitting the top of the bummer, so that might have woken him up, who knows?! I'll know to position him a little lower tonight. It's a little sad to me. I mean, he is not my little newborn anymore. I almost felt like he was going to be so lonely in his room all by himself (I know, he doesn't really care, he just wants to eat, sleep, poop, and now ROLL OVER!). His room is right next to ours and we left both doors open which made me feel better, like we were sort of in the same room. I know he will only get bigger and bigger and hit more and more milestones, which is sad and exciting all at the same time. In some ways I want him to be my little baby forever and in other ways, I want him to grow into (Lord willing) a godly man who loves the Lord with all his heart. I know, I am already missing the newborn stage and he is only 15 weeks old, that's a little ridiculous.

Clay's 3 month appointment

2009-08-28T16:04:00.002-05:00

Well, went to the pediatrician today for Clay's 3 month appointment. He took a 3 hour nap this morning, I didn't want to wake him up because I knew what was coming, wanted him to be rested. Well, he is 12 lbs. (I know, he's a little guy.. I promise I feed the kiddo all the time, I think he is just not going to be one of those chubby babies. If the kid would stop pooping all the time, maybe he would gain a little more weight ;) He is 24 1/4 inches long. So he continues to be about in the 25th per for weight and 75th for height. But the pediatrician had nothing but great things to say. She checked him all out and said that he looks very healthy! Of course at the end of the appointment comes the shots, 2 of them this time. And he was a trooper. Of course he cried, but really not for long and ended up falling asleep on the way home. Appointment couldn't have gone better! Thank you Lord for a happy, healthy baby boy. We love him so much

O the Joys of Traveling

2009-08-06T17:05:00.008-05:00

This past weekend we flew (yes all 3 of us) to Pennsylvania for a friend's wedding. I have decided that it is much easier traveling when it was just the 2 of us. (I know, I am stating the obvious.) who knew you had to bring so much stuff for such a little person. I mean, we had the diaper bag, stroller, car seat, not to mention a third of our suitcase was filled with stuff just for Clay. It is quite the process getting through security with all this stuff. Our flight there was a direct flight and everything went well. Clay nursed on the way up (thanks mom for letting me know I needed to do that, never would have thought about it otherwise), was awake for a little bit and then slept the rest of the way. We had a great time in PA helping our friends get ready for the wedding and being there for them. Rob was a groomsman, so he was a little busier than I was. Friday came and so did a virus. I was running a fever and felt EXTREMELY tired and nauseous. I knew exactly what it was, and was actually expecting to get sick with this virus because it had gone through everyone in my family. (Rob still hasn't gotten it, what's up with that??!!!) So, Friday was not the best of days and of course Clay has been sleeping great lately, doing a 6 hour stretch, but on the night I am running fever and sick, he decides to get up every 3 hours (that little stinker). The people we stayed with were great. The lady took Clay the morning before the wedding while I got ready and took care of him until it was time to leave. She was really sweet. Although I wish they hadn't had cats. Yeah, not only was I sick with this virus, but I was also dealing with allergies for their cat, and well, I also got a plugged milk duct too, not sure if there was anything else that I possibly could have gotten at that point. Let's just say Friday was not the best of days.

The wedding was great. It was sad to see them drive off. Do you know what I mean? I know at our wedding we were so excited to just be married and go on a honeymoon and just spend time together, but, when you're the friend, there is all this excitement and activity and it is fun and exciting, and then they leave you, and you just find-of feel sad. ya know? Like they left you behind. Anyway.

Then comes our attempt to get home on Sunday. During Saturday night, I could hear a little bit of thunder, but it didn't seem like a big huge storm. Well, come to find out, it was a big huge storm. We were on our way to the airport (it was about an hour and half from where we were staying) and all of a sudden we hit all this REALLY slow traffic. We thought it was just a bad accident, but then we heard on the radio that there was all this flooding around Philadelphia, and a lot of roads were closed. Well, eventually we find that there is a cop directing everyone off the interstate onto an exit. Thank goodness for our GPS or we would have been lost. We finally find our way to the airport and go to check in for our flight only to find out that our flight was delayed and that we were probably going to miss our connecting flight in Memphis. (now begins when I began to feel like we were in a comedy on a movie) So, this crazy lady begins to tell us all our options non of which got both us and our luggage to the same place at the same time. At one point, this woman says, "I don't know who is more confused, you or me." Yeah, not a good sign that this lady who is suppose to be figuring out a way to get us home, is super confused. Eventually we opted for the only choice to get us an our luggage home, which was flying to Memphis, getting a hotel there and leaving the next day on a flight in the afternoon. So, finally we get our tickets, accepting the fact that we are going to be stuck in Memphis for the night. we go to security they send us through the "family" line, which just takes us all around and eventually back to the same line everyone else was in??? Not sure why they even have a family line. Then we give the lady our ids and tickets and she tells us that we have to have an infant stamp on our tickets for Clay and that she could not let us through without it. So, Rob had to go all the way back downstairs to get this stamp from the crazy airline lady so they would let us through security. Meanwhile I am waiting by security holding Clay because we had taken him out of the carseat and stroller to go through security, when he starts grunting, and yes he had a major blow-out. At this point his poops have just begun to be "blow-outs." and I was a little nervous about all of it staying in the diaper. Well, I look down and sure-enough, yes poop all over me. Poop on my arm, poop on my shirt. Great! Here I am holding a baby with all this stuff, waiting for Rob to come back with poop all over me. (OK, "all over me" might be a bit extreme, but you know what I mean...) So, Rob gets back we show the lady the "stamp" and are able to go through security. Not sure why but Rob had to get "frisked." The alarm didn't go off or anything in fact they told him he would have to before he even went through the metal detector thing. So, while Rob is getting frisked I am trying to hold Clay with poop all over us and get all our stuff coming off the conveyor belt. I finally just gave up and let our stuff pile up at the end until Rob could come help. So, thus began my adventure to find a bathroom. I find one and go in, no changing table. I come out and no Rob. I was so frustrated, I just sat down on the ground, right there in the hall that lead to the terminal, where EVERYONE passed and changed his diaper. Of course Clay begins to cry to bring even more attention to the crazy lady changing the poopy diaper in the terminal hall. I get both of us all cleaned up and who comes traipsing back from a book store, MY HUSBAND! Glad he had a great time shopping for books while I was changing his diaper in the middle of the airport!!! (I still tease him about this :) I go back into the bathroom, go into the stall, and guess what is hanging on the wall... of course a changing table!!! argg.... oh well.
we finally make it to our gate, eat some lunch and wait. We called a family member to book us a hotel in Memphis for that evening with a hotel shuttle. We get to Memphis only to see that we had made up time in the air and probably could have made it on our connecting flight to NOLA. We shouldn't have looked, it was too late, our bags were only checked to Memphis and we had tickets for the next day. Anyway, we go to the hotel shuttle place, our van comes, we get in and it is hot!! yeah, their AC was broken so the only source of ventalation was the 2 windows in the front. We see our driver talking to the other people waiting for other hotel shuttles and then about 6 other people get in our van and we drive off, only to realized that he was taking them to a completely different hotel with their promise to "take care of him." So, we finally drop off these other people, at this time Clay has had enough and begins to scream. We finally get to our hotel, told them we needed a crib and went to our room. Well, we call 30 min later to the front desk to ask when the crib will come. She tells us we have to wait until the shuttle bus man comes back because I guess he is "house keeping" too! We get a call 30 min later to find out that their one crib was broken and there was nothing they could do. Sorry. OK??!!! So, we had a couch with a pull out bed, can we have some sheets? OK. 10 min later the shuttle bus driver shows up at our door with a bundle of sheets blankets and pillows. He said that he had gone to the room next door and pulled all the bedding off the bed, and hands Rob this huge bundle? Talk about great service?! Wow, it was the weirdest hotel experience we have had. So, we put Clay in the middle of the pull out bed with a pillow below him, and just hoped that he wouldn't squirm his way down. He did great! Anyway. It was a very strange day, probably one of the strangest days I can think of. The rest of our trip was pretty uneventful, we made it home Monday evening.

2 peas in a pod

2009-07-28T14:51:00.003-05:00

We had a great time visiting with Rob's parents a few weeks ago. We were able to take them downtown, to Oak Alley Plantation and on a swamp tour. Clay sure did love meeting his grandma and grandpa and definitely misses them :)

I think Clay is going to take after his grandpa. We went to the doctor last week. Clay is now 23 1/2 inches long and weighs 10 lbs. 7oz. Probably more now that it has been a week. It's amazing how quickly they grow. Since he was born, he has always been in the 20-25 percentile for weight and 75th percentile in height. I am curious to see if he is going to take after his grandpa, being tall and skinny. Rob's dad is about 6'3" or so, can't remember exactly what he said. Anyway, seeing the two laying together, you could definitely see the similarities in their body shape. I have a feeling Clay is going to pass-up both his parents one day. We will see.

A Paci Theif

2009-07-03T11:59:00.003-05:00

I thought this was hilarious, but I don't think Rob did...

So, last night we went to my brother and sister-in-laws for dinner. They have 3 kids, ages 5, 4, and about 18 months. Well, there was a thing at our church to help out preparing crafts for the upcoming VBS. I had just fed Clay so I asked Rob if it was ok for me to go and help out. I would only be gone for an hour and a half. The only time I have ever been away from Clay was for 30 min and my mom was watching him. So, Rob has never had him all by himself. He said it was ok. So, off I went.

Well, I get this phone call about an hour and 15 later, and it was Rob and I could hear Clay screaming. Of course Rob was asking, "So when are you coming back?" Then Rob told me this story:

He said that he got Clay to sleep with his paci and he put him in his car seat to sleep. Well, he left Clay in my brother and sister-in-law's room, but he forgot to close the door. Rob said he went into the living room and just as he was thinking that he should close the door, my 5 year old nephew says, "Eli has Clay's paci in his mouth." Rob was like, "no he doesn't." He looks over and as he realizes that Eli DOES have Clay's paci, he hears screaming from my brother's room. So, I guess, as soon as Rob left the room, Eli went in, found Clay and STOLE HIS PACI!!! Well, I guess Clay did not like this because Rob said he kept trying to give the paci back to Clay and calm him down, but it was not working. Rob said he tried everything to calm him down, but nothing was working. So, when I arrived, the house was quiet. I go into my brother's room and I find Rob in the rocking chair and Clay swaddled with the light on and just laying there on their bed looking at the light with a mad look on his face. Rob said this was the only thing he could find that would make him stop crying. As we are on our way home, Rob says, "ok Christina, that's the last time that is going to happen." I guess it will take a lot of convincing the next time I want Rob to babysit.

Growing... Growing...

2009-07-02T11:35:00.007-05:00

I can't believe our baby boy is one month already. Before we know it, he will be off to college! Here are some one month pictures:

My Labor Story

2009-06-19T16:41:00.009-05:00

Since my blog has become some what of my journal, I figured why not write out my labor story here. It was quite the journey, very scary at times, but we are so thankful everything turned out well. So, here it is...

When I was 37 weeks pregnant I went for my routine doctor's appointment and had high blood pressure. My doctor wanted to watch Clay and I really well to make sure the high blood pressure was not effecting either one of us. So, she had us do a non-stress test. This is where they put you on a monitor for about 30 min and watch the baby's heart rate to make sure he is doing well. Then they do an ultrasound to check your amniotic fluid. I had to go in twice a week to do this testing. Well, the first two went great. On Friday May 29th, (when I had just turned 38 weeks) I went to my regular doctor's appointment, and everything was fine there (my blood pressure wasn't even that high). Then I went to do my non-stress test. I was on the heart monitor for 30 minutes and Clay's heart rate was fine, then I went to do the ultrasound. I was LEAST worried that anything would go wrong with the ultrasound. Well, she kept looking and looking for the amniotic fluid and then told us to wait there while she went and got someone else to look. They came in and tried to find the fluid. Then they told us that my fluid needed to be between 10 and 20 and it was only at 3.6. So, the nurse said "happy birthday" and I freaked. I was like "whoa whoa whoa, what do you mean happy birthday." She said that there was no way the doctor was going to let me go home with that low of amniotic fluid. She said they would either want to induce me or hospitalize me and put me on IV for 24 hours to see if the fluids went up. So, they went and told my OB, she came in and said that they had to induce. I asked her about the IV thing and she said, "no way... we have to induce, not with fluid being only 3.6." And of course, I started crying. This was soooo not the way I expected my labor to go. I was barely 38 weeks. I asked her if we could go home just to get our stuff and she told us no, that we had to go up to labor and delivery right away. Of course I had heard of your chances of having to have a csection going up when you are induced, especially that early. We had found out that I was 2 cm and 60-70% effaced, so my doctor told me that I was "favorable" for a vaginal delivery.

So, off we went. It was such a surreal experience. Before I knew it I was hooked up to a fetal monitor, a contraction monitor, had an IV (yeah, the nurse couldn't get it into my wrist because my veins were so small and so she had to put it in the bendy part of my elbow (?? yeah, I don't know what it's called). I kept thinking this is SOOOO not how I wanted to labor. I mean, I was preparing and trying to have a natural labor, with no epidural. I had talked to my doctor about just monitoring me once in awhile and not having an IV, ect so I could move around and get comfortable. Well, not only was I being induced (which I have heard makes harder labor) but I was basically strapped into this bed for ALL of it, even before I had my first contraction.

As I am getting hooked up to every monitor in the world, Rob called my mom, and (I heard) she freaked, although she did come to the hospital with a calm look on her face (anything for her daughter). We had to give her our keys and she had to go to our house and get all our stuff. (Remember, we went to the hospital just expecting to have a doctor's appointment and go home. We even made a grocery list while I was doing the fetal monitor in prenatal testing to stop by Walmart on the way home) Yeah, I mostly had everything packed, but Rob hadn't packed anything. So mom went and got all our stuff and came back. You should have seen her walk into the door with all our stuff by herself. She had found a wheelchair to put most of our stuff in and was carrying my birthing ball. It was hilarious!

So, they started the patocin (sp?) at about 2 pm and I started having contractions about 30-45 min later. They progressively got worse, but I was still doing fine. At about 6 cm, my water broke. When I was 8 cm (yes, going into transition, the hardest part of labor) I felt the urge to push so my mom went and told the nurse and all of a sudden about 15 doctors and nurses came rushing into the room. At this point I am in a lot of pain and had my eyes closed the entire time. All I knew what that there were a ton of people around me and they were telling me to move around. I could tell something was wrong, but I had no idea if it was something I was doing wrong or something was wrong with the baby. Then they made me lay on my back (I was having back labor, so this was extremely uncomfortable) and I could tell they were putting something in me. Ok, here I am in transition, no pain killers and they are doing all this stuff to make me even more in pain. It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. I still have a had time recalling what happened, what I heard and did. Anyway, come to find out, Clay had gone into distress ( his heart rate went down). They put 2 internal monitors inside of me and on the baby. One to watch his heart rate and one to watch the contractions. They also put a catheter in me and had called the anaesthesiologist because they were getting me ready for an EMERGENCY C-SECTION! They tried one last thing, putting fluid inside my uterus to try and cushion the umbilical cord and said that if his heart rate did not go up in the next contraction, they were going to bring me to do the c-section. I guess his heart rate went back up (PRAISE THE LORD) and everything calmed down in the room. I still had no idea what happened. I just knew something had gone wrong and I was freaking out. I didn't know if I was doing something wrong and I couldn't think straight. So, I asked how much longer I had and the nurse told me probably and few hours and I said, I want an epidural.

So, the anaesthesiologist came in (almost right away, I think he was there because they had just called him for my emergency c-section) . I got the ep. and the nurse checked me and I was 10 cm. Now, most women's reaction when they get the ep is so grateful to the anaesthesiologist, and say that they are their favorite person, etc. When I found out I was 10 cm, my reaction was "You mean I just got an ep. and I am 10 CM!!!" The nurse did tell me that Clay was still very high and that even though I was 10 cm, they did not want me to push but wait to let him come down more. OK, this is proof to me that Clay was not ready to come out. In all the classes and books I have read, when you are 10 cm, that's it. It is time to push. NEVER did I read that they would not have you push yet because the baby was too high. It just didn't seem right. It was like we were forcing the poor little guy to come out and he was resisting.

Anyway, I went for another hour and a half before they had me push. This is when Rob and mom told me what had happened and that I almost had a c-section. And since it would have been an emergency c-section, and I had not had an epidural they would have had to knock me out and I would have woken up with a baby. I am SOO thankful that did not happen. Well, about a little after 12 midnight, they said Clay was still pretty high, but that I could start pushing if I wanted to and I said sure. So, I pushed for about an hour and out came baby Clay. The doctor put him on my chest and he was screaming!! All I wanted to do was hold him and tell him everything thing was going to be ok. About 2 seconds after the doctor put him in my arms, Clay pooped ALL OVER ME. I mean it filled my hand and ran down my arm, was all over the bed and even all over the blood pressure thing. The nurse came over and said she had never seen a baby do that before. It was awesome! I wish we had taken a picture.

The whole experience was crazy! I mean, I still can't believe it happened. All I said for about 30 minutes after having him was "I can't believe we have a baby." over and over again. Although I don't think Clay was "ready" to come out, I am thankful we did what we did. Especially after what happened with the distress thing. The doctor explained later that there is this coating on the umbilical cord that helps it keep it's shape after your water breaks, so the baby continues to get blood while you are in labor. Well, what happens sometimes when you have low amniotic fluid is that that begins to dry up, so when your water breaks, it compresses the cord. So, when they put fluid back up in me, it must have cushioned the cord enough. Who knows what could have happened if we went longer and I had even less amniotic fluid. Although this whole labor and delivery thing did not go anything like I had expected or planned, I believe in the sovereignty of God. I know that God is in control and everything went according to his perfect plan! Oh, man, what a crazy experience.

New mom

2009-06-18T18:03:00.004-05:00

I wanted to blog this story only because I want to remember it. I needed a few things from Target the other day and thought, well here is my chance to go out to a store all by myself with Clay. There were only a few things that I needed and they weren't urgent, so I figured this is my chance to get my feet wet. Clay was awake when I put him in his car seat, but I thought surely he would fall asleep in the car on the way there, and then I could have a peaceful little shopping adventure. Well, that sure didn't work out. We get to the store and he is still wide awake. So, we get there, mind you I only needed a few things and normally would not have gotten a sopping cart, but I guess those days are over. Had to get a shopping cart to put the car seat in. We go to look at Father's day cards (the very first stop) and there are a ton of people looking for cards. So, I pick up the very first one and Clay starts crying, not just a little cry, I mean one of those I am mad and I am going to let you know it crys. So, I think, well, first card is good enough so I just start walking thinking that at least I won't stay right by the same people for too long so they won't begin to wonder about my mothering skills. So, he crys as I walk down the aisle and it seems like he has been crying forever, which really was like 30 seconds, but it feels like 10 years. And I have this thought of, I can't do this, I almost put the card down and just left the store. I mean what are you suppose to do if your baby screams the entire time you are at the store. Talk about feeling like the whole world is watching. As soon as I have the thought, he stops crying. ok, I think, should I still go, I mean, what if he starts again? I decided to just pick up the pace and shop like I have never shopped before. So, I am running around the store grabbing all the things I need and hoping like crazy Clay doesn't have a melt down. And he was fine, until I remembered another card I needed to get, so I go back to the really busy card aisle and pick up the card, I pick up the first one and Clay begins to cry again. So, I think ok this card is good enough, time to go. Praying to find a short check out line and I find a farely short one check out and I can breathe again as we walk to the car. We get home and Clay NEVER slept through out the whole outing. Well, talk about a new mom moment. I never knew how nerve racking it can be to have your child cry in a store like that. WOW. I will definately have sympathy for any mom I see with a crying child in a store from now on. I guess I have just joined the new mom club!

Clayton "Clay" Robert Johnson

2009-06-10T17:18:00.003-05:00

For those of you that don't have facebook.... We went in for a routine doctor's appointment on Friday May 29th and came home on Monday with a healthy baby boy! He was born May 30th at 1:04 am, 7 lbs. 8 oz. 20 1/2 inches long. We love him so much and are so happy that he is apart of our family! I will have to write out my labor story, because boy is it a story... but for now, these two pictures will have to do.

Rob is going to be a great daddy!

2009-05-28T21:37:00.007-05:00

It has been so fun to see my husband love our neices and nephews over the years. He is going to make a GREAT daddy! I can't wait to see him hold our baby boy! Any day now...

More Appointments

2009-05-26T11:23:00.002-05:00

Well, I went to prenatal testing yesterday. Everything seems to be ok. They monitored our little man's heartbeat for about a half an hour and it was fine. Even though I have to go in twice a week now, it is pretty nice to just lay there and be able to listen to his heart for awhile. I still think it is the best sound in the world. Then they did an ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid, which was also at fine levels. My blood pressure was towards the higher end, but not really high, so that was good. The nurse was really great about explaining the situation to us. She said that there are actually quite a few women who get high blood pressure at the end of their pregnancies. They cannot find an explanation for it. And the only cure is to have the baby. She said it's like your body begins to have an allergic reaction to the baby. She also said there is hypertension and preclampsia. Hypertension is when you just have high blood pressure and thats all it is. But it can develop into preclampsia, which is where it can affect your liver, kidneys, your platelet count, etc. Hypertension can turn into preclampsia very quickly, which is why they want to monitor you so often. But there are plenty of women who have hypertension that never get preclampsia. Anyway, all that to say, she actually made me feel better about it. I really wasn't sure how concerned to be. But it really seems like they are just being cautious and all this could just be nothing. Anyway, so I am going to pack my bags and get as ready as I can so if he comes tomorrow we will be ready. Even despite all this high blood pressure stuff, it is such an exciting time! It is so fun to think that I could go into labor at any moment. I don't feel anxious about it and I am not dying for it to happen right now, but it is just fun to think about. It's really amazing because I truly feel like God is giving me a peace that I don't understand! In knowing my personality, I would normally be freaking out about this not going perfectly, but God keeps reminding me that He is in control and I have no reason to worry. Of course there are moments when I am still struggling with worry, but for the most part I feel at peace. It's amazing all the Lord teaches you through this process.

Doctor's appointment

2009-05-22T20:25:00.002-05:00

Well, I went to the doctor today and had quite the eventful day. It was way more eventful than I thought it was going to be anyway. Found out I am 1 1/2 cm dilated and about 50 % effaced, which was a big surprise considering that I was nothing at the last appointment only a week ago. But I had high blood pressure which is never something you want to hear. So, my doctor had me go up to labor and delivery and do a non stress test. Which is where they watch the baby's heart beat for about a half an hour and watch your blood pressure, pulse, etc. They also had me do a few blood tests. It was a little scary, but everything seemed to be ok. It was crazy because the doctor was talking about how if something came back wrong that they might have to INDUCE!!! oh man, first of all, I don't want to be induced, especially this early (I'm still 3 weeks from my due date). But it made me really realize how close we really are to having this baby. I mean, I am full term now. Not to mention that my friend whose due date was only 4 days earlier than mine just had her baby today!!! Oh man. Anyway, like I said, all of the tests came back fine. I just have to do a 24 hour urine test (yuck) and now I have to go to the doctor 2 times a week to have the non stress test done until I have him. I guess they are just taking a lot of precautions. My mom told me that she had slightly high blood pressure with her first pregnancy, and everything was fine. So, I am not too worried about it, I am probably just following in her foot steps. Anyway, if you think about it, I would appreciate your prayers, just that I would remain calm and not worry about my blood pressure. Worrying is just about the worst thing I could do right now. I need to just give it all to God. He's got it all under control, I don't need to worry about anything.

May 12th!!!

2009-05-12T16:55:00.002-05:00

Yes, I have stated the obvious, it's May 12, which for most of you is just another day, and well, it's just another day for me too. BUT, it does mark me being exactly one month from my due date, June 12!!! OH MY! I never thought I would get to this point and now it seems like time is just flying by. I feel a little overwhelmned with all the stuff I feel like I still need to do to get ready for our little man's arrival. I have been trying to space out preparing because I didn't want everything to be completely ready 6 weeks before my due date and then all I have to do is sit and wait for him. But now, I am thinking I maybe should have been doing a little bit more. It's amazing how much you have to do (or rather feel like you have to do) to get ready for this 6-8 lb. baby. All the stuff to read, practice, wash, organize, etc. I mean, really it's just this little baby. Not to say that I don't LOVE going through and washing all of his baby clothes and cute little blankets! All a part of the nesting, I guess. One month... wow... that's all I can say.

Baby Pictures

2009-04-28T15:17:00.007-05:00

One of my favorite things to think about these days is what our little guy will look like. Like most first time mothers, I am so curious. I know he is going to be the cutest thing I have ever seen (although I might be the only one that thinks that). Of course, all this wondering makes me look back on baby pictures of Rob and I. I must say, I hope he looks like his daddy (and has his daddy's personality too! :) I know what you Johnsons are thinking, but Rob looked like E.T. when he was a baby. I have to say, I think E.T. is pretty cute then. Here are some of our baby pics. We will see in about 6 1/2 weeks!

Newborn Rob

Newborn Christina

A Passion for Motherhood

2009-04-17T13:48:00.004-05:00

I can't say that I was ever one of those little girls that dreamed about getting married and having babies. Don't get me wrong, I definitely played with dolls, although most of the time I was their teacher, not their mother. I did play with Barbie and Ken and they had a family, etc. But being a wife and mother was never my ultimate dream. And then, the summer before my Senior year in college God placed a certain young man in my life. We started dating and eventually I came to realize that I did not want to live the rest of my life without him. So, in July of 2005 we got married! I am so blessed to have this man in my life and could not imagine living one day without him.
Of course when you get married, the next logical step is starting a family. Now, being that I never "dreamed" of having kids, it was not a priority for me. I was definitely not ready 4 years ago, and the very thought of having a baby scared me to death. In fact, in the summer of 2007, before we went to the Philippines, there was a point where I thought I was pregnant and I freaked-out. I did not want to even take a pregnancy test because I did not want to know. I felt like if I found-out I was pregnant, I was not going to be excited, I was going to be terrified. After putting it off for a few weeks, I finally took a pregnancy test and (obviously) I was not pregnant. I have to admit, I was relieved. Then, God moved us to the Philippines for 10 months. Through-out my time there, I felt like God began to prepare my heart for motherhood. And in the last few months we were there, God gave me a desire and a passion to raise children to love and serve Him. I felt like God was confirming again and again that motherhood is the ministry He has for me. It is a desire and passion that is so foreign to me, but that began to burn in my heart.
So, here I am, 32 weeks pregnant and getting ready for the arrival of our baby boy. I am amazed at how God has prepared my heart for this next chapter in His will for my life. There is nothing else in the world I want to do more than have this baby boy and raise him to love and serve God with all his heart. I still can't believe how God has worked in my heart to bring me to this point. I stand in awe of how our Lord works in our lives to prepare us for the plans He has for us!

We Registered!

2009-03-23T17:33:00.002-05:00

Well, we did it! We registered this weekend. We ended up going with Target and Babies R Us, you know the two common ones people end-up registering at. I was surprised at the lack of Target's baby inventory. Since it seems so many people do their baby registry there, you would think they would have a lot better selection. But we registered for what we could there, knowing that Target is a lot more accessible for people than Babies-R-Us. Of course the bulk of the things we registered for, especially the big items, are at Babies. It was really fun and tiring. Rob was really good about being patient and trying out strollers, etc. even though he wasn't nearly as excited about the whole experience as I was. Baby stuff is just really cute! Anyway, if any of you want to check out our registry, you can find it online with our names and state.
Thanks to everyone for all the advice! I truly appreciate hearing all the wisdom from so many mommies! I am sure this won't be the last time I ask for advice concerning our baby boy! 2 and a half more months to go!!! We can't wait! Time is going a lot faster than I expected now (the first 20 weeks felt like years!) and I feel a little overwhelmed with all the stuff we need to do, but super excited that the day is fast approaching!

Missions Conference

2009-03-19T16:45:00.005-05:00

This week is missions conference at our church. It has been great to hear from so many missionaries about their ministry and their passion. I have been so consumed with this whole pregnancy thing that I really have not thought about the Philippines in awhile. Of course, this week reminds me of the great year we had in the Philippines and how much we miss it. This week reminds me of how much people around the world need to know about the love of Jesus Christ. So, I began looking at our pictures and came across the slide show I made to show at church when we came back. I thought some of you might like to see it!
Rob and I only know what we are called to do today. We are uncertain of where the Lord might lead us in the future. But one thing we know for sure, we have a heart for missions and will always be involved in missions in one way or the other. Whether it be supporting missionaries or going overseas ourselves, we will always support missions.

A Little Adivce...

2009-03-10T12:28:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure how many people still check my blog anymore since I have been horrible at posting lately, but I figured i'd try... So, I am going to register for our baby boy soon and of course, being a 1st time mom, am not sure what to get. There are so many choices out there of strollers, car seats, monitors, swings, bouncers, carriers, oh the list goes on... So, I figured I would just ask all the moms out there if there is something you really liked having when you had a baby, what brands you thought were good, and even if there was something you got that you never used. I would appreciate any advice!!! Thanks!

Our Growing Baby Boy

2009-03-05T14:05:00.006-06:00

Here is our little guy at only 7 weeks. This was taken at our first doctors appointment. Even though he did not look like a baby yet, we could see and hear his heartbeat. For those of you who have had children, I'm sure you would agree that hearing your unborn baby's heartbeat is the best sound in the world! We could also see our little peanut moving. It was absolutely amazing, and yes I did tear-up.
13 weeks- we had another ultrasound, unexpectedly. I was spotting a little and went to the doctor. She examined me and did not think that the blood was coming from my uterus, but it was coming from a little abrasion possibly just from all the extra hormones (which ended-up healing after the medicine she gave me). She wanted to make sure that all this was not affecting the baby, so she ordered an ultrasound. We got to see our little guy moving around, and it was confirmed that he was ok (Praise the Lord!). The greatest part of the whole thing, well was of course finding out that he was ok, but we were shocked when the ultrasound tech asked if we wanted to know what the gender was. Normally the doctor does not do another ultrasound until you are 20 weeks or so and that is when you find-out what you are having. But, they were able to tell us at only 13 weeks that our baby was a boy! Isn't God amazing? At only 13 weeks, a baby has developed so much that they can tell you his gender. What started as a very scary day, ended-up being a celebration that the Lord has blessed us with a baby boy! I kind-of think that God did all this for me. (well, I know, God always has a plan) I had been so scared that I was going to loose this baby, that I was not allowing myself to truly accept the fact that we were really having a baby. I did not want to get too excited. Finding out that we were having a boy made him so real to me. I am not sure how to explain it, but it really changed my attitude. I realized there was a real, living little boy inside of me and I need to celebrate and be thankful for his life, no matter how short or long God has ordained his life to be. Life is a blessing from God, no matter what. Of course I still worry that something is going to go wrong but I am continuing to learn that I need to be thankful for right now. Every time he kicks me, moves, does flips in my belly, and even when it feels like he is using my bladder as a punching bag, I need to celebrate his life and be thankful for right now. This little guy is teaching me so much and we have only had him for 26 weeks now!! I am sure there are many more lessons to come! Wow, I was not planning on sharing all that, but it just came pouring out.
And here is the latest picture, 22 weeks. At this ultrasound, he weighted 1lb. 1oz. This was the big ultrasound, where they look at all his organs and make sure he is healthy. Thankfully, we were told that he looked perfect! It truly was amazing, they showed us his heart, and you could see all 4 chambers and all the valves. You could see his bladder and stomach. Oh, it really was amazing! He was so cute, he had his hand up by his face almost the whole time (C- maybe he will take after Sam!) and then he started sucking his fingers. Towards the end of the ultrasound, he even got the hiccups. It was really amazing (I know, I have used that word a lot, but I just don't know how to better describe this whole experience) to see our little guy just acting like a real baby, mannerisms and things that he will probably be doing when he enters the world in 14 weeks, and he was only 1 lb. I am just amazed at God's handiwork.
And here is his hand, the one that was up by his face almost the whole time, until he started sucking his fingers. Oh, I can't wait to count those fingers and hold that little hand!

A miracle

2009-01-22T18:19:00.002-06:00

Rob and I have been volunteering at the New Orleans mission (a homeless shelter here) on Tuesday nights. We help serve dinner. This past Tuesday, we were serving pork chops. The cook was a little nervous when she found out that there were 165 people there for dinner and we only had about 160 pork chops, at the most. She said before we began serving that God always has a way of providing, no matter how many people we have. Sure enough, every person got a pork chop and there was even about 20 left over. I have to admit, I was a little skeptical at first, maybe she miscounted the pork chops, or maybe they had miscounted the people. The more I have thought about it, the more I realize my lack of faith. OF COURSE God can feed 165 people with 160 pork chops and still have 20 to spare. Who am I to think anything is impossible with God in control? The cook even told us another story about the morning before where she cooked breakfast for 120 people and they ended up having 150, and still there was some to spare. Isn't God amazing? Nothing is impossible with Him! Amazing, absolutely amazing.

It's been forever...

2009-01-09T16:55:00.003-06:00

Ok. I apologize to all. Although, I doubt anyone really checks my blog anymore since it has been so long since I have posted anything. Not much going on right now, well, besides growing a baby in my tummy! What an experience and I am not even half way there (almost!). I never really thought about all the stuff that comes with pregnancy. Like feeling so moody, tired, nauseous, etc. etc. etc. Boy does a woman's body do weird things when you are with child.

The greatest part, feeling our baby move! I have been feeling him for the past couple of weeks, but was not sure it was really him until this week. And boy is he active! In case you have not heard or caught it in my language, we found out we are having a boy. We are beyond excited and can't wait for his arrival. I am a little nervous about all the activity in my tummy. I think we might have a wild child on our hands! We will see.

Well, here is the ultrasound pic we took at 13 weeks. I am 18 weeks now. He looks quite a bit different now, but he's a cutie. I can already tell... We have another ultrasound feb.8. I will have to post the pics of that one after our appointment.

Not Much Going On

2008-09-18T21:33:00.002-05:00

I know. I know. I have been such a horrible blogger lately. I will try to be better. I guess my life has all of a sudden become quite boring since moving back to America. I am not sure what to blog about anymore. Maybe we should go back overseas just so I have something to write!!!
Most of you probably already know this, but we survived Ike and Gustav just fine. In fact, Rob got more of hurricane Gustav at the place he evacuated to than he would have if he had stayed in New Orleans. He enjoyed going through his first hurricane, although he did not enjoy sleeping without aircondit. or fans. The joys of no elecetricity. We got Damien, Renee, the boys and all their stuff to Dallas and they are doing great. Now we are back in NOLA, not really sure what the next step will be. Only God knows... I will post some pictures of what we have been up to later (almost all of the pics are of my adorable nephews). I have also been thinking alot about our time in the Philippines and will have some posts coming soon once I get all my thoughts together.

Hurricanes and Travel

2008-08-30T15:54:00.002-05:00

Ok, I know it has been forever since I have posted. And I don't have much time now. But as most of you heard there is a hurricane in the gulf and it looks like it will be heading towards Louisiana. Needless to say, since Katrina any hurricane that comes close is big news and a big threat. So, everyone is packing-up all their valuables and heading out. I am currently in Virginia. No I did not evacuate all the way to Virginia. I am here helping my brother and sist-er-in-law, watching their 2 cute boys while they pack and then drive all the way to Dallas. Which means that Rob is left to evacuate by himself. He will do fine, although I think he is realizing that evacuating is not all that fun (ever since we moved to New Orleans, he has wanted to evacuate for a hurricane). Especially since it seems that everyone else around him is freaking out about it! No one wants to loose the few sentimental things they recovered from the storm. I am sure the interstate is going to be crazy because everyone will be taking all the cars they own and stuffing them full with all their stuff! We will see... I know that God is in control, no matter what happens.

Ireland Part 4: Northern Ireland

2008-06-29T17:58:00.015-05:00

The last leg of our trip was to Northern Ireland, which is where my grandmother is from. We went to Bangor to see where my grandparents met. We also did a day in Belfast, touring the city and seeing the house my grandmother used to live in! And one day all the way north at a place called Giant's Causeway, which had beautiful scenery! It was amazing!

Cliffs at Giant's Causeway

At Giant's Causeway, it was beautiful!! Sitting in the giant's chair!
There was this section on Giant's Causeway that had all this natural pillars. they were amazing!
Crossing a rope bridge!Donegal Castle near Giant's Causeway

In Dublin... all cities a little towns had a clocktower in their city center and a church, no matter how small the town. If you look closely, you can see that this one is leaning!

This is the house my grandmother lived in when she lived in Ireland. In fact this is the very house she was in during WWII when a bomb landed at the end of their street!
In Bangor, my grandparents met close to this clocktower! she was sitting on the sea wall when my grandfather first talked to her. Although the sea wall is no longer there, I was able to sit on a little wall by the clocktower! Do you see me? By the harbor in Bangor Castles... castles everywhere....

Ireland Part 3: Galway

2008-06-25T21:45:00.016-05:00

From Kilkenny we decided to drive all the way to the west coast of Ireland to a place called Galway. We stopped in Galway city for a few hours, just to walk around, then we continued our trip to Clifden which is a small town right on the coast. It was a gorgeous drive! There were mountains and rivers. Oh, it was beautiful. We only spent one night in Clifden. The next morning, we decided we wanted to climb one of the mountains/big hills, so we went to a national park that had a trail up one of the mountains. When we got there, it was overcast and there was a cloud over the top of the mountian, but we were determined, so we trucked all the way up to the top, in a cloud. It was lightly raining the whole time, and we could not see anything from the top. In fact it started raining pretty hard when we got to the top. On the way back down, the clouds started to move and we had a beautiful view on the way down! It was a fun experience. The rest of our day was filled with traveling. We drove all the way to Northern Ireland, around Belfast, where we would spend the rest of our trip. Galway CityHere we are in the ocean on the west coast of Ireland!!! There were tons of these stones walls all over Ireland. They would just stack-up stones to make a wall! The view on our road trip from Galway city to Clifden!

We had to watch out for the random sheep in the road. On the coast at Clifden.

The beautiful cliffs in Clifden

Our hike in the rain up the big hill/mountain.

I love this picture. You know how you make this big hike all the way to the top of a mountain and you take a picture together at the top, with the beautiful view behind you! Here is that picture. We are squinting so much because of the rain and my hand is up by the camera trying to keep it from getting soaked.Here I am at the peek.

On our way back down the mountain, the clouds started to move and were were able to enjoy the view.

Ireland Part 2: Kilkenny

2008-06-19T10:24:00.009-05:00

After spending 3 days in Dublin, we drove south west to a town called Kilkenny, where we stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast. Most of our day there, we spent at the Kilkenny Castle, taking a guided tour and just walking around their gardens and park. For lunch/dinner we had traditional Irish fish and chips!!! The rest of the day was spent just walking around the little town. It was a great day! Kilkenny Castle

It was a beautiful day!

You can't go to Ireland and not eat fish and chips! The little town of Kilkenny!

Ireland Part 1

2008-06-18T22:37:00.009-05:00

So, there is WAY too many pictures to share from our trip, but I will share a few. What I decided to do is just have 4 different posts about our trip, since there were 4 places in Ireland we visited. One post about the whole trip just seems overwhelming, so I am just going to split it up. The 4 places were Dublin, Kilkenny, Galway, and Belfast.

We arrived in Dublin, and stayed there for 3 days. The first day we just drove around the "city center" (for all you Americans "downtown") of Dublin and went to a museum. It was good, but tiring since we had just arrived from our 28 hours of traveling. The second day, we walked around the city center of Dubin, where we visited the Dublin Castle, Trinity University, and just walked around. It was a nice day, but ended up raining, which was ok except that I was wearing sandals. I was still in Philippine mode, wearing sandals all the time... however the temperature was a little different in Ireland! Needless-to-say, I learned my lesson and wore tennis shoes and socks the rest of the trip!!! The third day we decided to drive a little south to a medival castle, where they have actors that reinact the medival family that use to live there. When we showed up, there was a camera crew there. They asked us if it was ok if a local Ireland children's show could tape during our tour. So, I have never been on TV in America, but it only took us 2 days in Ireland to be on TV!!! After that we went to Powercourt House and Gardens. It was the most amazing gardens I have ever seen! We walked around for a long time! It was a a great day! Here we are at the Dublin Castle!

This is the medival castleHere is the crew filming the tour.

This is Powercourts House and Garden. It is beautiful!

The view from the house.

Some of the gardens at Powercourt.

Back in NOLA!

2008-06-16T13:51:00.002-05:00

Well, we made it! We are back in New Orleans. It's fun and weird all at the same time. We were welcomed at the airport by 4 cute little boys holding a sign that said "Welcome home Rob and Tina!" as well as my mom, both brothers and sister-in-laws, and our newest nephew Eli! Very fun! We went to church on Sunday morning and were able to see some friends, although due to a really bad rain storm church attendance was really low. We spent Sunday with the family! Today we have just been relaxing, getting laundry done (I can't tell you how nice it is to have an automatic washer and dryer!!! Our clothes have not been this clean and felt this soft in 11 months!) We also took a trip to Walmart. That's enough culture shock in itself. It took us a while to pick out a tooth brush and toothpaste... it's amazing how many options there are!!! Tonight we are helping out with our church's Fisher 5 day club (basically a VBS done in a lower income housing area). I guess we are hiting the ground running. Rob has already talked to his old boss about doing some temp work there.
OK, I know... I know... most of you want to see and hear about the Ireland trip, and I don't blame you, it was amazing. I just need to sit down and take the time to write it out a post the pictures, I just don't want to make the time to do that quite yet. Too much family to see and things to do. But stay tuned... I will try to post them soon!

On Holiday in Ireland

2008-06-10T15:27:00.002-05:00

So, I thought I would have more time to blog while I am here, but there is SO MUCH to see and do... not much time for blogging. It will have to wait until we get back to America! But, I have TONS of pictures (as you can imagine) and would like to share them with you. There is only time for one... this is Powercourts House and Gardens which is pretty close to Dublin... It is absolutely beauiful (as is EVERYTHING here in Ireland!)

We've arrived!

2008-06-04T13:00:00.002-05:00

Here we are, in Dublin Ireland. I still can't believe I am here! Our flights went well, for the mots part. Unfortunately, when we got to Manila to get on our international flight, we found out that we were only allowed to have 20 kilos per person of baggage (this is usually the rule with domestic flights, but international flights usually allow us more. Well, we found out that this airline did not!) Needless to say we had well above 2o kilosper person, considering the fact that we are moving back to America after living in the Philippines for the past 10 months. We ended up having to pay 37 USD per kilo over the weight we were allowed. I almost passed out when I saw that she was charging us 1130 USD for our overweight bagage! I am not lying! We really did not have any other option, we were in Manila and our flight was leaving 2 hours from then. We talked her, down a little bit, but still had to pay 1000 USD. I still feel sick to my stomach when I think about it. She did inform us that if we had bought business class tickets, we would have been allowed to check that much bagage. We asked if we could tranfer our tickets, but there were no available seats. The thing that makes me feel a lot better is that all the other plane tickets to Dublin from Manila were $700 more expensive than this particular airline. I thought it was too good to be true! That's where they get you, with the bagage. We still paid less paying all that extra money for the excess bagage than we would have had to pay for the same tickets with another airline, so when I think about it that way, I'm not quite as mad. I still think it is a rip off though... To some degree, it is my fault that I did not look into how much bagage this particular airline allows. If I would have known, I would have mailed a lot of our stuff home instead of taking it as bagage... Oh well, you live and learn. Ok, moving on, enough about the bagage. I think I just needed to vent...
It took us 32 hours of traveling to get here, but we made it in one peice! And the airline we did take was really nice. Both planes we took were very new, with all the latest technology, everyone with their own personal TV, the seats were a little bigger than normal, etc. It was actually a pretty plesant traveling experience. We arrived here in Ireland at 7:30 am, so we have planned to stay up all day. We rented a car. Rob has had fun trying to drive on the other side of the road. We ran into a slight problem trying to find the hotel we are staying at. Um, we printed out the directions, but Ireland does not beleive in having street signs, not sure why, but very rarely have we seen street signs on any street here. So, what was suppose to be a 20 min drive turned into a 1 1/2 hour drive! Not to mention, we were both tired. We finally found it! Crazy. The rest of our day we went to the National Museum of Ireland and just drove around downtown Ireland. It was nice, although I am not so sure a museum was a good choice to go to too when we are so jetlagged. Speaking of jetlag, I am exhausted. Sorry there are no pictures. I will try to post some soon. We have internet access at our hotel! I am just too tired to post any now, it's 7:30 pm here and we are going to bed! Good night all!

Goodbye Philippines... Hello Ireland

2008-06-01T21:58:00.003-05:00

Well, we have had quite the adventure. There is no denying the fact that God has lead us here, and been with us every step of the way. I would not trade this experience for anything. The friends we have made here, the lessons we have learned, the culture we have been able to be apart of, it's all been amazing. I am not even going to begin to try and blog on my relections of ther last 10 months. I still need time to process the whole experience. Look for those blogs to come in the future...
Although we are so sad to leave, we are excited about the adventures to come. We fly tomorrow from Davao, Philippines to Dublin, Ireland. We decided to fulfill my life-long dream of visiting Ireland on our way back to America. We will rent a car, driving around the whole island for 10 days,ending up in Northern Ireland to see places like the house my grandmother grew up in and the spot where my grandparents met! I have dreamed of these places as a little girl and now I will actually get to see them! I am excited beyond words! I am not sure how much we will have internet access while we are there. I will try to post pictures, etc. during our trip but I won't make any promises!
On June 14th, we fly back to America! Wow! We can't wait to see you all! We love you and miss you! Ok, I need to go... have to finish packing and saying goodbye...

Yearbook

2008-05-30T01:55:00.009-05:00

I have had the privilege of teaching the yearbook class this year at MICA. Although it was a little stressful there for a little bit, the yearbook came together quite nicely. It came in on time and the quality was very good! Overall I would say that it was a success. My students did a great job! It was fun to see their creativity through their page design! I was very impressed with them. Most of them enjoyed it so much, they want to be in yearbook again next year! Here are some pictures of the class and our yearbook signing party. Helping one of my students edit one of her pages.

Two of the students getting their first glance at the yearbook during the signing party. Most students seemed to be very pleased with how it turned out!

The School Year is Coming to an End...

2008-05-25T23:43:00.010-05:00

It seems that our last days here are getting busier and busier. This weekend was full of wonderful, exciting events. Friday night there was the "End of the school year Ceremony/ 8th grade graduation" for Faith Academy Davao. Rob (amongst a few other teachers) was recognized for his teaching, and serving through being the maintenance manager. It was a fun night watching a video filled with pictures taken through out the school year, and watching the 8th graders give speeches and graduate! We are so proud of them and have really enjoyed getting to know them and love them over the past 10 months!

Saturday was the MICA Awards Night! Awards were given for Student Council, Sports, Academic, and Character Recognitions. I had the privilege of giving out the student council awards, technology award (to one of my yearbook students!), the leadership award (to our student council president), and the service award (to another student on student council). Our students have grown so much this year, it was really neat to recognise them for all they have accomplished!

Sunday was filled with church, lunch with one of the high schoolers, and our very last bible study with our small group here. There are so many "lasts" happening right now, it's pretty sad. I can't believe we leave in 8 days. Oh how time flies...

This week we will have to: Do a yearbook signing party! Go to a Student Council Party. Go to a high schoolers b-day party. Go to the MICA graduation. Finish all our grading. Pack! Say good-bye to all those we have grown to love here! It's going to be a pretty emotional, busy, sad, but fun week!

Recognising this year's Student Council! I LOVED being the Student Council Advisor this year. These students are great!

Making a little speech about one of the students before giving out the award.

with one of my yearbook students and her technology award. (It's so weird, usually all the pictures are of Rob, but he did not give an awards that night, so he was the one behind the camera)
The FAD 8th grade class singing a song before they graduated. Don't they look good! they clean-up well.

Teacher's Appreciation...

2008-05-20T20:54:00.008-05:00

Well, the school year is coming to a close. There are only 2 more days left of classes, and then students start their exams. Wow! We will be leaving the Philippines in 13 days! I can't believe it! How time flies... It's so bitter/sweet, as is most transitions in life...

On Saturday the students prepared a teacher's appreciation dinner for all the MICA teachers and their spouses. The weird part is that the student council was in charge of organizing it, and I, being the student council advisor, am in charge to oversee their events. Well, this is the one event I did not know anything about. They wanted it to be a surprise for me. They really did a great job! I was very impressed! We had it at the SIL office building, which is right next to MICA. They had decorated one of the rooms and it looked great! They served us finger foods through out the night, gave each of us a card from all the students and then the teachers and students played a game together. It was a great night!

The decorated the whole room with paintings, messages, couches, lamps, rugs... It looked great!

The students served us finger foods.. there were about 8 different courses! We were stuffed by the end.

Enjoying the game!

We played a game called Mexican charades. Basically where you act out a scene and someone has to guess what you are acting... Here Rob is being a student in class who really has to go to the bathroom. It was really funny! (He's going to LOVE that I posted this picture of him!)
Here are the teachers (plus their spouses)

Trip to the Market

2008-05-11T22:33:00.012-05:00

The first time I went to the market here, I only had my little camera. I have been wanting to go back just to take pictures with my SLR camera and yesterday I got the opportunity. Since we have a friend in town from NOLA, we asked if he would like the cultural experience and he did! Here are some pics I took:

The Meat section, oh the smell... yes, these are pigs feet hanging!

Of course we are quite the specticle, especially a white person with a camera. These two cute guys wanted me to take their pictures with their ducklings! So cute!

Dried Fish!

Of course, lots of fresh veggies!

This is how they sell soy sauce, cooking oil, etc.

A Familiar Face

2008-05-05T00:07:00.003-05:00

Some of you might recognise this face! Yes, Dan is here in Davao! For those of you who don't know, Dan is a friend of ours from church back in NOLA. It is so weird to have someone here from "our other life" in the States. It is fun to show him around a little and have him meet some of our students! Last week, the student council organized a water day (the reason Rob is wet in the picture) and Dan was able to join us for awhile and meet some of our students. Dan is here with a group of people teaching Christian doctors how to take care of the "whole person": Taking care of not just their physical needs, but also their spiritual needs.

Last night we were able to join his group at a local hospital where they visited the patients, shared the gospel, and prayed with them. It was really neat to be a part of their ministry for an evening. I appreciate someone like Dan going into the medical field to be a light to hurting people! I have never really thought about the impact a doctor can have in someone's life until we went to the hospital with his group. There is something about ministering to people who are hurting physically, which makes them open and vulnerable. As a doctor, to be a pillar of strength and pray with your patients truly ministers to them in a time of great tribulation in their lives. What a great impact a doctor can have for the glory of God!

We look forward to spending some more time with our friend this week!

What's for Dinner?

2008-05-01T22:32:00.004-05:00

Crystal, this is for you...

Yes, that's right we had corn on the cob for dinner! One night this week I really didn't feel like cooking dinner. I had just gone to the grocery store and bought corn on the cob ( I had to buy a pack of 5). Produce here in the Philippines does not last that long, so I thought I might as well make all 5 of them in one meal.

For those of you who don't know, when Doug and Crystal first got married she told us that her family had meals where they ate corn on the cob. Of course, we all asked, "Is that all?" When I met Rob, being the Nebraska boy that he is, he said that his family use to have nights when all they ate was corn on the cob. Well, if you can't beat them, join 'em!!!

Funny Picture

2008-04-29T23:48:00.002-05:00

This picture was taken on the boy's retreat during the dye war. My crazy husband...

Boys and Girls Retreat

2008-04-28T05:31:00.001-05:00

Girls and Boys Retreat

2008-04-27T23:55:00.014-05:00

Thank you so much for all your prayers for our retreats this weekend. They both went really well. It's so funny to think about the activities of each and how different they are. At the girls retreat, we spent most of our time talking, crying, and doing a spa night. The boys went caving, and had dye wars (like paintballing but with waterguns filled with water with food coloring). Oh how different boys and girls are!

The girls retreat went really well. I have been praying about it a lot over the past two weeks. I knew that there were a lot of girls just suffering this year. So, on Friday night I shared my testimony with them and we watched the Rob Bell video "Rain." Then I gave the girls an opportunity to share "storms" in their lives. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it ended up being so good! Almost all of the girls shared something going on in their lives or something they struggled with. Needless to say, the kleenex came out and we all had a good cry. I think a lot of the girls just needed a night to be real and get it all out. After our 3 hour sharing time (we're girls... we like to talk!) we had a spa set up for them in one of the classrooms. We had the girls retreat here at school and one of our goals was to make it feel like a different place. So, we met in the library and transformed it into a living room with couches and lamps, we even covered up all the books! At the spa, we had candles everywhere and one of the other teachers and I gave massages and we had face masks and let them soak their feet. We also had a nail stations where they could do each other's nails. I think they really liked it! Our sharing time had gone so long, we ended up going to bed at 1 am. Saturady morning, we watched cartoons and had a morning devotional from one of the other teachers, then we had a question and answer time. The girls had written down questions for us the night before and put them in a basket. They got really into it! It was great! We answered questions for 2 hours and did not have time to go through the half of them. What was so neat is that we had 5 teachers there, all in a different season of life. We had a single woman, me: the young married without kids, another married woman with young kids, another married woman with older kids, and a woman with grandkids! How cool is that?! So, we had a great time answering questions! The retreat concluded with watching Enchanted. It was such a great retreat. I am so glad we did it. I LOVE when people get to the place where they can really be real with each other!

Boys retreat... umm I wasn't there, but it sounds like it went well. They had 3 sessions talking about sexual purity. One that the 3 seniors did, one where they watched the "Every Young Man's Battle" video, and one where Rob shared and had question time. They loved going caving and doing the dye war. My husband came home on Saturday night looking like this picture. It was quite the sight! Luckily, it all came off when he took a shower! I was a little worried that his face would be pink for a few days! Fortunately one of the male teachers that went took some pictures. So, here are some pics of both retreats (in the slideshow above)!

This Week

2008-04-20T20:45:00.002-05:00

We had a relaxing weekend, which was really nice. No major events to plan or attend, which is pretty rare. However, we do have a pretty busy week ahead. I am teaching the yearbook class here at MICA and it is due to the printers next Monday. So, this is our last week to work on it. There is still a lot of tweeking and editing to do. I am pretty anxious about it. I would appreciate your prayers if you think about it. I just want to make sure it turns out ok and on time. It's pretty different from every other class because all your work from the entire school year comes down to one due date! Ahh... I spend way too much time thinking and worrying about it. Hopefully it will all come together!
Also, this weekend we have a guys and girls retreat from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon, which Rob and I are helping to plan and speak at. Another thing we would apreciate your prayers for. Please just pray that as we prepare this week for our talks, the Lord would show us what He wants us to say. Please pray that both the boys and girls would be open and honest this weekend and that they would learn to love God more. We are pretty excited about this opportunity! We are thankful that the Lord gave us a relaxing weekend, because we have a busy week ahead! Thanks for your prayers!

Masquerade...

2008-04-13T23:22:00.004-05:00

On Friday night the high school had another banquet. This one was a Black and White Masquerade! We had it at a hotel, which was really nice. All the students looked great in their black and white and masks. Immediately after the banquet, the high school had the All Nighter. Rob and I got the 2am to 6am shift! So, needless to say, Saturday and Sunday we just rested!

The students voted and elected a King, Queen, Jester (Funniest), and Artisan (most creative). They each got a ring, and had to be refered to as "Your Majesty" for the rest of the night. If someone forgot and used their real name, they had to kiss the ring!

Here are all the students! Almost everyone came! Two of the students playing a game.

From the Back of a Motorcycle

2008-04-08T01:01:00.012-05:00

Monday was a Philippine holiday here and we did not have school. (There are so many national holidays here, it's amazing. I guess that's why our school year has to go from the beginning of August to the end of May) Rob and I have been wanting to go to this island called Samal which is just a short ferryboat's ride from Davao. Monday sounded like a good day to us. We borrowed a motorcycle and were on our way. The only stop we knew we wanted to make was at a waterfall on the island, other than that we just wanted to drive around. I thought it would be fun to take pictures as we went... So here are some of them... Don't tell my mom but I had to take off my helmet to take these pictures! Ha! (Just kidding mom, I know you read this... when in the Philippines, be like the Philippinos!)

The kid on the back of this bike had to ride backwards because he had to hold onto the bags!

This is a suri-suri store. They are EVERYWHERE here! They are just little stores that sell snacks and drinks.

This is not an uncommon sight here. We have seen up to 6 people ride on one motorcycle!

Here are some sweet girls on a tric! Philippinos are so nice. They always smile and wave at us!

The big town on the island.

This is a typical Philippine house.

Eventually we made it to the "waterfall." It was more like a river with rocks in it.

Chapel

2008-04-04T00:29:00.004-05:00

So every Friday at MICA we have chapel. We usually have someone lead worship through singing and then have a speaker. The speaker is generally a teacher, parent, or local pastor. This morning, Rob was the speaker! Of course, I could not resist taking pictures of him when he spoke. He had the students split up into groups and play a game. Of course, the game comes with a lesson. The lesson?? Putting others before yourself. Although, he ran out of time (chapel started late due to techinical difficulties, and the game took longer than expected...) he did a great job! (This is for those of you in my family... I have really grown to LOVE taking pictures, especially of people... sometimes I feel like Uncle Jack at a family reunion!!! HAHA!)

ANTS

2008-03-30T21:01:00.003-05:00

One of the things we have had to get use to here in the Philippines is ants. They are EVERYWHERE! It was really frustrating when we first got here, finding foods we had to throw away because the ants got into them. Eventually you get to the point where you just pick the ants out and eat the food anyway. It's amazing how quickly they find any available food. If any crumbs are left on the table at all, ants will find them in a matter of minutes. It's amazing. So, everything in our kitchen is in ziplock bags or plastic storage containers. One of the ways we have learned to keep ants out of our food is this: This is what you do: You get a plate and put water in it. Then you put a cup on top of the plate and the food on the cups! When I first saw this, it made me laugh! But it really works. The ants can't swim through the water! The things you learn as a missionary...

Lessons from our Househelper

2008-03-26T21:36:00.003-05:00

One of the cultural things we have had to adjust to is having a househelper. Things take quite a bit longer to do here than they do in the States. Instead of just mailing in a check to pay for your electric and water bill, you actually have to go to a location where you can pay. We have a side-by-side washing machine, which means that almost everything is manual. We can't just put to clothes in the washer and they come out clean and spun. It's a lot more time consuming. And we don't have a dryer, so we line dry our clothes and then a lot of them need to be ironed. Many American foods need to be made from scratch. You can't buy them ready-made at the grocery store like you can in the States (for example, floured tortillas). Things are a bit slower here as well. If we go to the grocery store, we have to leave the house, walk a few blocks to where we can hail a taxi (sometimes it takes awhile to get a taxi). The taxi takes us to the mall, where our first stop is the ATM (Everywhere you go, you have to pay in cash. There are hardly any places that take credit cards and debt cards). Then we have to go to 3 different stores: the main grocery store, the meat store, and the bread store. Then we have to hail a taxi to get home. I could go on and on, but you get the idea, things take longer here.
So, needless to say, as both Rob and I are teaching, it is the culture here to have househelpers, not only because it takes a lot of time to just do daily activities, but also because it gives someone a job (this is the BIGGEST reason, in my mind, we have a helper). We have recently hired a new helper in the past month, whom money is very hard to come by. I pay her weekly so that she can buy food for her family that week. On Monday, I had her pay our water bill and there was some change P100 (about $2.50 USD). I was not at home when she was there, so she left me this note:
"Maam Johnson I take advance of P100 because I don't have money for our supper today. I'm sorry that I did this because my husband left us and had work to Cagayan 2 weeks ago and I am the one to feed my kids. Please forgive me to do this. I hope you won't get mad. Just deduct it on my wage on Friday. Thank you."
She works for us on Monday and Friday afternoons and Wednesday all day. This was on Monday that she left this note. So when she came on Wednesday, I left her a note that said it was ok and that I understood. I gave her some canned goods and a kilo of rice. She left me this message, "Maam I don't know how to express my gratitude of saying THANK YOU SO MUCH. You don't know how happy we are and my kids of what you have given to us." She was so grateful for a kilo of rice, $2.50, and a few canned goods. WOW! How much more should we be thankful for all those things that we are blessed with everyday. There are people who don't know where their next meal will come from, and we have our fridges and pantries full. Be grateful today of all the blessing the Lord has given you, even down to the fact that you could eat breakfast this morning.

Earthquake!!!

2008-03-24T01:45:00.003-05:00

So, the other day Rob and I were reading in bed before we were going to go to sleep and the bed started swaying back and forth. Rob said "Christina, stop shaking the bed." But I wasn't moving. I thought he was shaking the bed. Weird. And then we looked around and the door to the bathroom was moving back and forth and things were rattling a little. We experienced our first earthquake. It wasn't that big, and lasted only about 30 seconds, but it was an earthquake. It wasn't how I imagined it would be. I thought it would feel like everything was shaking, but it was more like everything was rocking back and forth. Interesting!

High School OE

2008-03-18T00:12:00.005-05:00

We had a great time! I am not really sure where to begin! We were in Nasuli for 10 days! On December 27, 2007, there was a great flood in this town that swept away many houses. There were a few people that died and many who spent the night in trees, while the water subsided. This is the reason the administration picked Nasuli as our location for OE. There were still quite a few very poor families that have not been able to build their houses again, so we can with our truck full of eager students to help build them a home.

Throughout our time there, we built 7 houses (6 cement houses and 1 wooden house), built 4 CRs (bathrooms), built a shade/classroom (that will be used to give literacy classes and to build relationship so that they might present the gospel), painted 14 classrooms at the local High School, and did 8 kid's clubs, where we presented the gospel!! Our schedule was usually get up at 6:30 am, go to the worksites from 8am to 4:30 pm, go back to where we were staying, wash-up, eat dinner, then have a group meeting at 7pm to talk about the day, sing songs, and listen to a speaker. Needless to say, our days were packed. On the weekend, we were able to go to the Kaamulaan festival, which happens every year. During this festival, there is a parade from people groups all over the Philippines. They wear the traditional dress and do traditional dance. It was so amazing to see. It was one of those "I can't believe I get to experience this" things! On Sunday, we split up and went to different churches, some smaller churches that had services in Cebuano, and one larger church that has services in English. Rob and I took a group of students to a smaller Cebuano church. As is the culture here, when we arrived, we were asked to lead songs for the children's Sunday School class! My favorite thing we did was on Friday bnefore we left. We went to each of the houses we had built and dedcated those houses to the families by praying for them, giving them Bibles in Cebuano, housewarming gifts, and writing Scripture on their walls! At each one that I went to, the women were crying! It was so sweet to see how thankful they were for the small houses we built them. Not only that, but I think this helps in the healing process that they are going through after the storm (Those from New Ortleans know exactly what I am talking about!) The family that we built a house for, the wife is 18 and the husband is 19. She was 9 months pregnant when the flood happened and spent all night hanging to a peice of bamboo. Praise the Lord that she was saved and had a healthy little girl (there is a picture of her in the slideshow).

It was a great week, although, as you can imagine, we came back very tired! We are so thankful that we had this opportunity. Please pray for the families we helped. Some are Christians and some are not. There are missionaries working with all the different people groups we ministered to during this trip. I think pictures speak louder than words, so here goes...

We're Back...

2008-03-16T06:13:00.002-05:00

Well, we survived!! We are back from the High School OE. We had a great time! It was fun getting to know the students better and building homes for those that really need it. We are at home right now, where the internet is really slow, so I am not going to bother trying to post pictures and all the things we did over our trip. I will try to make it to school soon to post! Hope you are all doing well. Just wanted to let you all know that we are back!

High School OE

2008-03-03T22:00:00.005-06:00

If you read my blog regularly, you know that Rob and I recently went on the Middle School OE (Outdoor Education). Have no fear, the high school goes on OE too!!! From what I hear, the high school OE is a lot different from the middle school OE. The High school OE is more like a mission's trip, where we go into a village and help build things, do kid's club stuff, etc. This one is also 10 days long, twice as long as the middle school one. This year, we are going to Nasuli, where there was a big flood in December. Many of the houses in the surrounding village were completely destroyed in the flood. So, we are going to help rebuild some houses, build CRs (bathroom... they are just like an outhouse), dig a well, paint a school, etc. I am really excited about it! I LOVE trips like this. Each teacher is incharge of a group of students. Unfortunately Rob and I are not together this time. We each have our own group, so I am not sure how much I will actually get to see him! This is a picture of my group... We are minus one, Diego, because he recently got really sick. Well, we leave tomorrow (March 5th) and will be back on March 14th. We would appreciate your prayers over this trip. Just pray for the people we will be ministering to, that they would see the love of Christ through us. Please also pray for the students, that this trip would impact their lives in a way where they learn to LOVE God above all else. Also, there are a few students who are not Christians, please pray for their slavation. We will have no internet access... so there will be no bloging while we are gone. But don't worry, as soon as we get back, I will have plenty of pictures to share with you!