Adoption Just ROCKS!!!

So, for my "fun" Wednesday Event...It was Water Slide day with LOTS of my adopting buddies over..... I LOVE my group of Mommas that get together from time to time to fellowship and bond over our adopting "similarities".....

My friend Gwen gave lots of LOVIN to Lucy lane....LuLu seemed to like her :) (yes, we're coming up with all kinds of nicknames for LL :)

Let me just tell ya....Hangin with women "that get it" is just awesome...We spend the whole day talking about "orphans" and "adoption" and we never tire of thinking of new ways to raise money and bring more children home.....We ordered pizzas and enjoyed lots of yummy food too, of course!! That's always a bonus :)
And, Katie came to hang with us crazy women too....I mean, she does have 13 daughters of her own in Uganda that she is raising...She puts the rest of us adopting Mommas to shame :) Here we are above posing for a pic with my sister Kelly on the far right....OH, and for any locals...Kelly is being featured on the local Fox news tonight and tomorrow night...Catch it if you can....

The face of ADOPTION is just beautiful....Here is Levi enjoying the water slide today....He's getting so big...........

Elle, Levi's older sister, just got back from Africa from doing Mission work, and she shared pics with us of the many orphans in Africa...they are all so beautiful...I'm so thankful my sweet baby girl is home and no longer one of the MILLIONS of orphans still there...What a blessing!!! Oh, but how my heart hurts for the ones left behind....

Faces of adoption.......

Our girly is never short on attention....

She and Macy seem to be bonding :)

Another face of ADOPTION!!

Levi having fun with Cameron, my nephew.

Another beautiful face of Adoption.........

The face of Foster Care.... If adoption isn't your thing...then consider domestic "foster care"..there is such a huge need here in our own country....

Cousin Nathan heading down the water slide.....

Julia having fun with LL in her walker............

Another beautiful face of Adoption............

The Mommas of Adoption....(and note: not all the women above have adopted...some support adoption by supporting Katie's kids in Uganda...It takes everyone doing their part to bring life to the orphan)

More faces of Adoption...........

Helen's sign she made for today...Let me translate...It says, "We care for the orphanage"...too sweet.

Someone had fun with the pretzels..but I'm not naming any names........... :)

Looked who took a little snooze on Gwen O....What a love!!!

above, sweet friends that are always ready to support....

The water slide is always a hit...Even George decided to get in the water at the end of the day....

Baby Macy.....Such a sweet face of Adoption.....

Macy and George having some fun together under the table...............

And, finally, if this isn't the picture of SUMMER I dont' know what is...George, age two, enjoys his Popsicles....LOTS of them every day!!! :)

****It is just plain and simple...Adoption is an awesome thing to be a part of...whether you're adopting or supporting it...it feels good to take part in bringing children home to their forever families..... I'm so thankful for this wonderful group of strong Christian Women and our love we share for adoption.... Together the women pictured above have brought homes to 29 orphans!! Can you believe it!! So amazing!! Happy Wednesday to you all, kj

A Summer's Day Adventure with 5 Kiddos!!

Well, as you all have learned from my past posts.....my hubby and I don't like to "sit around"...We stay on the go and we LOVE taking our kids to do fun activities that WEAR THEM OUT!! Well, tennis and swim team have ended for us for the summer..so now it will be me finding fun activities to do for the month of July....Today's activity was taking my 5 Kiddos to the Nashville Science Museum...(yes, I went by myself with 5 kids...crazy i know..but that's how we Johnsons roll :) It literally takes me all morning to get lunches packed, kids dressed, snacks and baby bag packed, bottles ready, breakfast out, etc...We were finally out the door and ready to go..SO, the first thing we did is have an early lunch at the museum and make sure we were ready with lots of energy for the day...I had the double stroller packed and ready....and as you can see above, Lucy lane rode attached to my body the entire day.......
And, here are my 4 enjoying some PBandJ's before hitting the excitement.....

The kids had lots of fun as you can see from the pics....

I did move LLM over into the stroller hoping she'd fall asleep but that never happened, so it was back attached to my body so I could chase down George all day and NOT leave her behind sitting in a stroller some where :) The girl was all smiles in her stroller...(I couldn't get these pics to turn for some reason..I'm techy challenged :)

More pics of the 4 big kids having fun running around..........

Oh, I got a pic to turn...Here is one of those cutie smiles I was getting from the stroller.....

Here are my 4 big kids trying to pick up a car by pulling on a rope....I told George to go and help them and this is HOW he helped:

He just rolled over on the ground and looked at me......

Look who finally passed out on my body in her sling so I carefully placed her back in the stroller and we got a whole 15 minute nap...I thought that was pretty good for such a loud place....


****It was lots of fun and the kids did great....The only disaster was the Planetarium Show where George wouldn't quit crying once they turned the lights out, so we had to get up and leave...Oh, well...most of the day was fun :) And, taking 5 kiddos to the museum was very "doable"...I'd rather do that any day than have to take them to a pool....Give me air conditioning and dry land and I'm a happy Momma.....I'll post tomorrow on "Our Adventures on Wednesday"...Happy Tuesday to you all, kj

Looks Who's Sitting Up..........

So, yes, our little Lucy Lane is sitting up....When we picked her up in Ethiopia 3 weeks ago today, she couldn't sit up AT ALL!! She had great head control and could roll like a champ, but couldn't begin to sit up at all....So, after 3 weeks and lots of practice, she is sitting up pretty well now....

Above, is the rest of my crew plus two friends that stopped in today to visit with LL...My friend Laura brought lunch by so she could see LL...Thanks Laura, it was great hangin with you and Karen today....and lunch was delicious!!

Here's LL sitting up in her boppy pillow...She will still fall over after sitting for a while, so I don't dare take the boppy away yet, but she is getting so much stronger after 3 short weeks...Her age has been a mystery from day one (which is typical in Ethiopian adoptions)...They have her birthday as November 15th, but Almaz (our director) thought she may be younger than that...They kind of have a calculation for how they come up with their birthdays, but if there was no birth certificate (which LL didn't have one) then Almaz is quick to tell you that the birthday is an "estimate"....

So...since I have 4 little bio kids already, I've been trying to figure out if I thought she was really 7 months old or not...When we got her she couldn't bare any wait on her legs either, so I was thinking that maybe she really was younger...but she SO quickly picked up all those skills once I introduced them to her that now I'm thinking that maybe she really is 7 1/2 months ...So, I realize in the long scheme of things it doesn't matter a bit, but it is kind of fun trying to figure out HOW old your baby really is.....So, my guess (and my pediatrician) is that November 15th is pretty accurate...Since she can clap her hands, wave bye bye, babbles a ton, jumps in her jumpy thing like a champ, and learned to sit up so quickly...my Ped thinks 7 1/2 months is right on......

Oh, and don't forget Silly George...He had to jump right in the pic too...He won't be left out :)

I love this little profile...I could sit and stare at her all day...OK, so seriously, with 5 kids age 7 and under..I never sit at all, but IF I could sit, I'd sit and stare at her all day :) She's still just as precious as can be...God truly blessed us...I'm not sure HOW I deserved such a wonderful, loving, easy baby, BUT for some reason God deemed us WORTHY and gave us Lucy Lane!! And, we'll all forever be grateful!! I mentioned to Almaz while in Ethiopia "I don't know how I got so lucky"...and I loved what Almaz said....She said, "God Blessed you after having to lose Baby Kalkidan...Losing a referral is a very hard thing to have to go through"....Almaz is a wonderful, wise woman...

Happy Monday to you all, kj

4th of July 2009

There is so much to be grateful for this 4th of July.....I remember LAST year's 4th when I dreamed of this year holding our new baby girl....AND now she's here and we're all together.......It was such a GREAT day filled with family fun....Let me share some of it:

***My sister, Kasey, and her family came into town and spent the night with us the night before, so the 4th always starts with lots of coffee to go round and the kids hit the back yard EARLY....
Above, we have Uncle Matt (sister Kasey's hubby) getting to know LL first thing in the morning....

Then right after breakfast it is downstairs to decorate the bikes for the annual neighborhood "bike parade"......

Here we all are off to the parade...The kids love this and it is so much fun for the whole family...

Even LL had her red stroller and was ready for the parade...........

Here are my girls during the "judging" of the bikes.....Julia actually won for her age group...She was very proud :)

Here above is Julia coming in on her bike....I love our neighborhood because of its family feeling...

Here are my 5 as the bike parade ended and the candy was handed out....

***Then it was lunch back at home and then everyone hit the pool for the annual neighborhood pool party...I stayed back at home while LL and George finished their naps and just as I was packing up headed down to the pool to meet everyone....The pool got closed because someone got sick in it...(thank heavens it wasn't one of my kids :)

So, then it was packing and getting ready for the afternoon festivities at the local Crockett Park...We go every year and have a blast.....We get there early to save our spot and the kids run and dance all night waiting for the BIG fire works show....

Lucy Lane was having fun rolling around on our blanket...........

Here are my two girls with cousin Haiden in the middle...Always BEST buddies.....

My grandparents even went with us....These are my mom's parents and they wanted to spend the 4th with all their grandkids and great grand kids...It was lots of fun and we're so glad they could come with us........

Here, above, are the Johnson 7 this 4th of July.....I couldn't be a prouder Momma!!!

Here is Julia age 5...........

We have Helen age 7...........

We have George having fun at age 2.....
We have Hal (in red behind Daddy) at age 4 this year...He and cousin Matthew like to fight Daddy...such boys!!And, our sweet Lucy Lane age 7 months taking a snooze during the festivities...Oh, how I love her sucking her thumb...so cute!!

My sister Kasey and her family.....

My friend Angie and her family joined us too for the fun...........

Above, we have Baby Macy running around......

Cousin Haiden holding Lucy Lane.......Me entertaining some kiddos on our blanket.........

Above, cutie Macy....

Ok, so it rained a couple of different times while we were there....Everyone ran for cover...My kids threw up the blankets and got underneath them....I thought the rain just added a little excitement to the day...it was fun!!!

The Putty family came too.....Above we have nathan........

Here is George after one of the rain storms...He refused to stay under the blanket to keep dry..

There was LOTS of dancing going on................

Then it was finally time for some fireworks...Everyone takes their seat and the BIG show begins...It is always a great one.......

above is one of my favorite pics from the night...George climbed up and sat next to Julia....too cute...No one was scared this year....LL stuck her lip out a couple of times, but quickly got used to them.....

And, my last pic of the night is my sister Kelly and I posing with our Ethiopian cuties for their FIRST 4th of July celebration ever.....I'm sure their bio moms back in ET don't even know one another...but I can only think of how happy they'd be knowing these two get to grow up together and share their same culture....Those two Ethiopian women could pass each other on the street and never know their children are being raised as 1st cousins in the United States....Oh, What a blessing it is for each one of us to be born in this great country of ours....where we have everything and more we could ever want or need!! But even more is the blessing these two children bring to our lives...reminding us each day that we're so lucky and blessed to have every opportunity and freedom that we have here in the USA....Happy 4th to you all...Hope it was a blessed one, kj

Happy 4th of July "EVE"......

We had a great day on this "eve" of July 4th...Daddy was off work so we were able to hang as a family all day....The in-laws came into town aka..."Poppy and Jules" and they are spending the night so we grilled out tonight with them and a few neighbors that stopped in to have a bite with us..... We started off the day by going to breakfast at one of our favorite places.....Puffy Muffin!! I got the kids all dressed in their "red, white and blue" and we were off....Well, I had to snap a couple of pics of my patriotic cuties in front of our house before leaving..........

Here, above, is LL's first time at the Puffy...She seemed to enjoy herself :)

Here's all 7 of us having breakfast this morning...Always exciting!!!! :)

Then it was back home and we got our food ready for out "grill out" we had tonight with Poppy and Jules....There's nothing like fresh corn...The kids love helping me....Even Cousin Nathan was back over and he loved helping me cook too :)

Well, since Nathan was back to play today, I decided to get a couple of more pics of Lucy Lane and Nathan together....Nathan was all about getting pics with LL for some reason today...He totally was into today for some reason :)

What cutie Ethiopian kids!! I'm just so thankful for both of these adorable kids........What a neat bond they can share their entire lives....

Cousin Nathan and my Hal!! Always BEST buddies!!! (Nathan isn't that tall by the way...he's on his tippy toes :)

Julia and LL above......

Jules and LL above..........

Above, my 5 kiddos tonight in their 4th of July gear :)

Aunt Kelly holding LL during our fire work show tonight...I was chasing down George making sure he wasn't getting in the middle of it while Daddy lit all the fireworks.....

above, I got George sitting still with some cake...This was his face when another firework was sent up....hilarious!!!

And, here's one last pic of LL before she fell asleep on me tonight...She wasn't scared of the fireworks at all...Lets hope tomorrow nights BIG fire works don't scare her either.....It was a great night and I hope you all are enjoying your 4th of July with family and friends....Gotta get to bed...more fun activities planned for tomorrow :) Happy 4th of July EVE....kj