Disappointments and Surprises

Sarah here. I have a disappointment and a surprise to tell you. Bad news first...

I joined Breland Health and Fitness club here in town so that I could keep my new year resolution and lose about 20 lbs and and 10% of my body fat. (And that's the weight/fat I need to lose to be healthy; I'm not just freaking out about being skinny.) I joined on January 28th and have worked out at least three times a week (if not four or five most weeks) and yesterday, I weighed and did the body fat analyzer. Results: I have lost 1.4 lbs (not bad, but not great) and gained .5% body fat. SERIOUSLY? How does that happen? Jim encouraged me to keep working out, so we'll just see what happens. I'm trying to avoid giving up Dr. Pepper completely, but it may come down to that. Bummer...

Good news...On Valentine's day, Jim took me to the AT&T store to get an iPhone. The deal was that when we paid off my credit card, I could get an iPhone. Well, we were able to do that with our tax refund. When we got to the store, I was so disappointed. I was going to have to wait till May 13th because of upgrade options to save $200. I was so let down. I had been waitnig so long for it. But, I was going to have to put my big girl pants on and get over it, and I did. Thursday morning, we had an all staff meeting at church. Our Pastor went before us to let us know that everyone was receiving a bonus because our church had been so blessed this past year. Praise God for His blessings! Not just because I get to take part in it, but to be out of debt, and still growing, is just such a blessing for a church body. Because of that, though, without me asking, Jim said that I could go purchase my iPhone as long as I saved the other half. YES! I was so excited!

I love the phone. It's just so smart and it syncs with my laptop. I love things that help me stay organized, and so I'm really really excited and grateful to be an iPhone owner.

Busyness is of the Devil

Well, life has continued to keep my busy. Since Sunday night, we have been baby/house sitting for the Frank's (we LOVE their family). Everything has gone super well, but all of the sudden having three kids keeps you busy. Getting these (we do this for them often) small tastes of motherhood are a couple of things for me: (1) I have much more respect for all the Mom's out there, especially those who work and mother, and most importantly my Mom who does this on a weekly basis with eight kids (well six who still actually live there). (2) I really hope and pray that it works out for me to be able to stay at home with my kids. Jim and I have considered homeschooling, but not looked thoroughly into it. Even if we don't, though, I still hope I can be a stay at home Mom. I love driving around in the suburban running kids back and forth. 

School continues to be school. I took my first test this morning, and it didn't go so well. Actually, my whole day didn't go so well, and yes, I'm going to tell you about it right now. This morning, I woke up at 6:15 and was extremely tired! (I haven't been getting to bed before my usual 9:00 pm bedtime- yes, I know I'm old. But see, I'm savoring this now BEFORE I have kids because I see that it won't happen!) I was in charge of taking Sydney to Rider and then I was going to go sit in the MSU parking lot until 8, which is when my statistics test was. Well, I'm in the Frank's suburban, and so I had turned the car off, and was studying. At 7:55, I get out, hit the lock button on the door, and shut it. I walked about halfway across the parking lot before realizing that the keys to the suburban were in my purse, which is now safely locked inside the car! DANG IT! I won't bother you with the unnecessary details, but it got unlocked by an MSU police officer for free, so that was a super duper blessing. Being worried about the keys, and somewhat anxious for my test, I started feeling really bad in class. I tried to psych myself out of it, but it just wasn't happening. I had to go to the bathroom. I got up and asked my professor (who knows of my condition) and he said it was fine this time but from now on, I was going to have to take my tests with disability support services. MAN, that was a hit on the heart- DISABILITY? I hurried through my test (which got me a disappointing 70), still feeling sick, and when I got up to turn it in, he tried to comfort me by telling me that it wasn't that he didn't trust me (because cheating goes on in the bathroom apparently!?) but that he just couldn't have it; I totally understood, but man. Disability... the word rang in my head all day. 

Work today for me was a day of learning. I don't think I did ONE thing right the first time. Everyone was patient with me, and I learned a lot, but it just wasn't a good day. 

Tonight, while at Wal Mart, I was putting the groceries in my car, and this couple pulls up next to me in a car. They proceed to tell me that they are from Denton, had been in Lawton for a funeral, and now needed to get back to Denton, but only had three dollars. Of course, they want money. Now, mercy is my spiritual gift, so I'll probably always give them something  (like $6 bucks that I gave them tonight) but I always wonder, are these people telling the truth? I wonder what their real story is. How humbling is it to drive up to someone and ask them for money? Surely you would need it pretty bad to do that? Or, are they seriously just conning people out of money? I'll never know, but "some have entertained angels without even knowing it" and "whatever you do to the least of these you do to me" is in my head, so I think I can spare $6 bucks. What about you?

New Blogs

Sarah here. I've created two new blogs. I know you are thinking, "Sarah, you don't even have time to post daily on the one you have. Why have you done 2 more?" Well, I think it is a great idea, but Jim seems to think there is a better way. To me it is the greenest and easiest way to keep up with the things. 

I have tried to keep up with recipes and Bible lessons for years. There was just no way to file them the way that I wanted to. But, since the blog has the labels, you can file them that way. So, if we have chicken to cook, I can look under the label "chicken" and find what to cook. Also, there are lots of times when I need a specific verse study or topical study and can't find that one lesson I knew I had, I can use the labels.

So if you are interested to know what we are eating at the Johnson's or what Sarah is studying feel free to visit this blog for the recipes and this blog for the Scripture studies. 

Janey's Favorite Toy

Sarah here, posting my first video to the blog. When we dog sat in January, we put an old plastic bowl (that I think actually belonged to my Mom) outside with water in it so both dogs would have enough. Well, it turns out, that Janey loves to play with it. I could sit out there for hours and watch her chase this thing around. Maybe you will find it as funny as we do!

Small things...

Jim here, first things first. Most of you know that I grew up in a Southern Baptist Convention church and it was a great church to grow up in. Jesus brought me to Himself and helped me grow in my faith there. Well, Baptist youth groups are interesting places. I say this for a lot of reasons but especially because I remember there being a trend my sophomore or junior year where guys and girls began writing down lists of traits he/she wanted in his/her spouse. I remember meeting students from all sorts of faith and denomination backgrounds at OU and I don't think I ever met someone who had done this list-making thing who wasn't from a Baptist youth group. I could be wrong though.

Anyway, I actually never did this but I thought about it a lot. And, it's funny, Sarah is the perfect woman for me for a lot of reasons. It's a lot of the small things that no list made in high school could have captured which causes me to so completely dig my wife.

For example, when trying to come up with something romantic to do for Valentine's Day...I came up with the following. I am giving her a certificate for a pedicure (she REALLY wanted that). However, we are also driving down to Southlake (it's in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area) to eat lunch at Cheesecake Factory. However, that is all secondary to the main reason we are traveling there...in Southlake lies Sarah's favorite store on the face of the earth...The Container Store. Yes, for Valentine's Day, I will be taking my wife on a small shopping spree at The Container Store. And, you know what, she is PUMPED!

Never in a million years would I have put on a list: "Organized...so organized that going shopping at The Container Store is equivalent to shopping at Neiman's for most girls."

Let there be dirt!

Jim here, I was off on Monday so that I could do some much needed garden preparation. Just so you know, I have zero skills when it comes to building things or rigging up workable contraptions...I had no access to it growing up and just never learned how to do any construction or repair stuff. However, I have somewhat gotten over my fear of messing up so I will at least try to do things now. I had to put up a fence around the area where I'll be growing veggies and fruit because Janey loves to go produce shopping. In fact, if this gate were not here, she would have already eaten the pea seeds which are planted as well as the blackberry plant I have started. I took away half of her back yard area but it will be worth it if Sarah and I can have our own supply of good food. Not to mention, I am LOVING this gardening stuff. It is still too early to plant most items (grapes, blackberries, and peas are the exceptions right now) but I have a thriving greenhouse going in our sun room at the back of the house. My wife is fantastic for letting me have free reign in the yard and sun room to try my hand at growing!

In the Doghouse

Janey is in the doghouse. This week, Jim came home at lunch and she had had her way with the house. In the mornings, it is still pretty chilly here so we don't want to put her outside just yet. Usually, we shut the door that leads from the living room into the back part of the house and shut the door that goes from the dining room into the kitchen. She has the living room and dining room to play and look out all the windows, plus her favorite chair. And for the past 2 months or so, it has been the perfect situation. She stays in those front rooms until lunch when Jim comes home and lets her outside.

Apparently, she has gotten bored with that.

When Jim came home this week, Janey had discovered that she could push the swinging door open between the dining room and kitchen. The first stop was the trash can, one of her favorite things to eat. Then she had a little fun with my crocs, got into the bathroom trash can, and then made her way to the sunroom.

She has already torn up a chair in the sunroom (dug into the arm). That chair is right next to the table that is holding Jim's plants. She proceeds to get onto the table, apparently, eat three pots of plants and half a bag of soil. WHAT A MESS! For dessert, she heads back into the dining room, and eats 4 candles.

Later on that night, she did her business on the bath mat again! This is like the 10th time I've had to wash this bath mat, so we decide to throw it out. So, last night at Wal Mart, we got a brand new one! We got home about 9 pm, and Jim started cooking him some dinner (I wasn't hungry) and I started watching TV. An hour later, I go into the bathroom, and you will not believe it: she had pooped on the NEW BATH MAT! SERIOUSLY?

I don't know what we are going to do!