Here's to the New Year!

Welcome 2013!  A new year!  A fresh beginning...sort of.  At least it always kind of feels that way, especially after I get all of the Christmas decorations put away and lots of cleaning and organizing done.  It also gets me in the mood to get rid of a bunch of stuff we really don't need/use anymore!  I love it!  I am always a little sad, taking the Christmas tree down....no more beautiful, twinkling lights in the evening, making our living room feel so cozy and inviting.  But once I do get everything put away, I truly enjoy the simpleness of it all.  Happy New Year!

Brandon and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary on January 1st!  Can hardly believe how fast 8 years has flown by, and how much has changed in our family!  We are so thankful that God continues to bless our marriage.  We can honestly say that each year has truly been better than the last.  It just keeps getting better and better.....what an immense blessing that is.  Here we are celebrating our anniversary - a night away at Grand Superior Lodge.  It was an amazing, relaxing, get-away....just a little too short.  :)

I enjoy having a new year's wedding anniversary....for one, it's a great time to want to get-away!  A warm get away would be fabulous of course, while we are in the dead of winter in Minnesota.  Maybe that will come down the road, I hope!  But I also really like being able to reflect on the past year, what God has done in our lives, and then to look ahead to the new year.  We like to spend time reflecting on what our goals should be for the new year and what big things we expect to happen.  Some big things ahead in 2013....or some possibilities, of course....getting the house back on the market this spring, hopefully we sell it this time around, and find a new house that we fall in love with (Lord-willing!)  We will be beginning a missional community with some friends at church, and Maddie will be entering kindergarten in September!  Some big things that we are committing to the Lord right now.  We are praying for Him to direct our steps, and most of all, I'm just trying to trust in His plans for us.

I have a couple of verses that I am keeping close, as we head into this new year.  I was relying on these two verses, as we were in the thick of trying to sell our house last year, (and what a long year that was...), and I think I need to keep reciting them to myself with many possible BIG things ahead.

Ephesians 3:20

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, 

according to His power that is at work within us.

Mark 9:23

Everything is possible for him who believes.

Who knows what God has in store for us this year.  Maybe many of the things we HOPE to happen will not happen at all....who knows!  But the best thing....God knows, and I find so much peace and comfort in that.  

We had a wonderful, very busy Christmas.....hope you did too!  Happy New Year!

Elise - as always, bringing much joy!  And smiles!

What a blessing!  All of the Johnsons together for Christmas...except for Angelo.  42 people in one house!  What a crowd....this doesn't happen much these days.  We were thankful to be able to be a part of this!

Santa brought them their "Our Generation" dolls....what they were hoping for!

A Kelly gift!  :)  Makes Brandon a pretty cool dad in our house.  

Auntie Kelly is working on making Maddie into a future cosmetologist!  I would love that! 

Norah playing "chef" at my aunt & uncle's house....at the Johnson family Christmas

Helping Grandpa Mike open gifts

T is for being THANKFUL

Even though I am a horrible blogger, I am keeping up with my preschool letter of the week theme.  Here are a few things we have done....D is for duck, dragon, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you," and making Dirt Dessert!  

Yummy!  Dirt Dessert!

We also did F for Flag and sent flag pictures with my parents, for "mail call" when they went to Washington D.C., as guardians, for Honor Flight Northland.

 The girls and I are really enjoying this theme of the week, though I have gotten a little behind.  Once fall activities started up, things got so busy, that letter of the week took the back burner, unfortunately.  We have gone through letter J and today we had to skip to letter T....because turkey and thankful start with T, and there is so much we can do with those things, at this time of the year.  :)  It is also an awesome opportunity to be teaching my girls about gratefulness!

Norah is thankful for her mom, dad, Elise, Maddie, crayons, toys, and our house.

Maddie is thankful for her family, Ella, all of her friends, school, God, Jesus, super heroes, and baby Elise.

I love it - I love hearing what comes out of their mouths.

In other news....I have a new niece!  Lucy Kate was born on October 15th.  She is so so sweet, and last week, we got to spend lots of good time with her, as my sis was visiting.  It was so much fun, holding and snuggling with little Lucy.  She is beautiful!  I am so thankful for her!

AND....Elise turned one year old on October 19th!  I can hardly believe it; that year flew by.  She continues to be quite the little sweet pea.  She is getting close to walking too!

Maddie turns 5 in a week and a half....that is even crazier!  I feel like we just brought her home from the hospital.  She is pretty excited about her birthday.  I am excited too....I love seeing their joy when it comes to birthdays.

I feel like I have had so much on my mind, that I would love to blog about....but lately, I have felt so spent by the end of the day, that I haven't had the energy.  I really don't know how some people do it!  I hope to get back to blogging a bit more.....I guess we will see, maybe after the holidays.

Only by the Strength of God!

Life as a mom can be so tough!  Yikes!  It was a rough day yesterday....which is what made me sit down to write.  I always dreamed of being a stay-at-home wife and mom.  That's all I really ever wanted to do.  I knew I'd go to college, to get a degree, and hopefully someday I will use it, :) but for the most part, all I really wanted was to stay at home with my children.  So....while I love what I am doing and am so thankful that we can afford this opportunity for me to stay at home, it still gives me some rough days.  (which we have wherever we are....working a job, staying at home, retired, doing all you ever dreamed, etc.)

I love my girls; they bring me so much joy and laughter.  Brandon and I do have a blast raising these 3.  While I do love them so much, I have never felt so inadequate and pulled in so many directions!  This job, of being a mom, has made me realize, more than ever, how much I need the Lord's strength.  I cannot do this on my own.  My life verse, over the last 5 years has been:

 Isaiah 41:10

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

At times, I can get so frustrated with my lack of patience, my short fuse when breaking up yet another fight, the way I roll my eyes at being asked to do something for the 50th time that day, and how I can be consumed with keeping the house a certain way....instead of using that time to be teaching or playing with my children.  How are my children ever going to grow up to be young ladies who long to follow Christ and serve Him, when they have me for an example???  It is scary!  I am reminded, over and over again, that I cannot do anything, unless the Lord gives me strength.  (Phil. 4:13)  I keep getting smacked in the face with the Holy Spirit, saying, "Katie, you need to commit them to prayer!  Give it to God!  He will provide and mold them into beautiful women of Christ."  Really, that is all I can do....give them over to God and keep praying that God would keep molding me into the person He wants me to be.  (Which, hopefully, will be a good example to them.)  :)  

Well, here is to a better day!  

A friend loves at all times

"A friend loves at all times."  Proverbs 17:17

My daughters have great friends, and it is no surprise....because I have some pretty sweet friends myself.  :)  Just check out these pictures....aren't they the cutest??

Isabel, Ella, Aubrey, Zander, Maddie, & Norah (about 2.5 years ago!)  See how they've grown & continued playing together, below....

Maddie, Isabel, Norah, & Ella - we are with them multiple times a week!

Hanging with our dear friends, Zander & Aubrey

Kara & Norah - only 2 weeks a part....they love to play together!

Isabel & Norah - quite the reading buddies, they are :) 

Elise & Eli

It is a blast, listening to these kiddos play together.  So sweet.  I am thankful for dear friends, and I am so thankful that my girls are growing up with wonderful friends.  I pray they have friends all their lives - that they can count on for anything, look to for encouragement, have fun with, and make tons of memories with!  I know I do....and it is such a blessing.

Joy, Grace, & Faith

My sweeties - Madeline Joy, Elise Faith, & Norah Grace

I changed the name of this blog.  I didn't like what I had had for a long time, so I asked Brandon if he had any ideas.  I changed it to a "Joy-Filled Life," but then Brandon came up with the idea that it should be "A Joy, Grace, & Faith Filled Life."  I loved that idea!  And in case if you are wondering why, it comes from our girl's middle names.  My husband - he is so creative.  :)

Our life truly is full of joy, grace, and faith - thanks to my Heavenly Father.  He has blessed me in so many ways, that it is hard to get down, even when this economy is so frustrating, and we cannot sell our house.  We thought we had...for about 2 weeks, things were looking really good.  We did sign a purchase agreement with a buyer....it was so exciting!  We were going to be breaking even....not getting any money back after closing costs and realtor fees, but we weren't having to pay to sell our house either.  That was pretty much the lowest we were willing to go, and we really didn't want to go that low, but it seems like we can't get much out of this house, in this depressing economy.  Anyways, things were looking up.  We started looking at some homes for sale in Duluth.  Then the inspection happened.  The boiler became an issue.  There is nothing wrong with it - but the buyer used it to try to get us to lower the price we had agreed on.  We haven't felt at peace about leaving this house, paying to sell.  That just seems silly, when we are doing just fine.  We are a little bit cramped, but things could be, oh, so much worse!!  Needless to say, we have been living on a roller coaster around here - highs and lows in the emotions.  I keep holding onto the truth that God has everything under control.

I have been holding onto this verse, whenever I start to get frustrated with this process:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9 

He is good, and He will provide, in HIS time....not mine.  All I have to do is look at my loving husband and 3 beautiful, healthy girls, and know - I have nothing to be angry at God about.  Absolutely NOTHING!  I am filled with absolute JOY.  God has given me much GRACE each day.  And I have FAITH that He is in control of each step our family must take before this house sells or whatever!  Above all, I am thankful for all He has done for me, and I can praise His name because of that.  

AND....we have a showing tomorrow afternoon.  I am praying we don't have to have TOO many more of those.  :)  Continuing to pray and trust God.  It's in His hands now. 

B is for Bumblebee & C is for Caterpillar

I have fallen behind in updating my preschool, "Letter of the Week," theme.  A lot of it is because of the ups and downs of trying to sell a house.  I will post more about that later.  It has been a roller coaster, just let me say that.

The girls and I are are still keeping up with our letter of the week theme.  I am really enjoying these structured activities, and they love it too!  A few weeks ago, we did the letter B.  The girls made these cute bumblebee pictures for their ABC books that we are compiling.

This is Norah's bumblebee.  I found this idea  here

We are also adding a page, to our ABC books, devoted to the memory verse of the week.  Here is the letter B verse:

Maddie's illustration of being kind to others - "handing out popsicles to her friends."

We baked bread during B week and kept our eyes open to find B's wherever we were, around town.  

Last week was C week.  We baked Chocolate Chip Cookies and made our beautiful C projects (a caterpillar idea that I found on pinterest.  Click here for the link.)  And last but definitely NOT least, we learned this pretty important verse: 

Children obey your parents, in the Lord, for this is right.

Ephesians 6:1

Another of Maddie's beautiful creations.

This week, we are studying the letter D.  We are having a short week of it though, because we got to go on a family vacation!  The vacation couldn't have come at a better time, with everything falling through on a possible house sale we had.  Some friends from church generously gave us a week at their Wisconsin Dells time share.  We stayed at Odyssey Dells, which is attached to one gigantic water and amusement park, Mount Olympus.  We stopped first in Hayward and enjoyed the Wilderness Walk.  We especially enjoyed the deer that walked right up to us!  

In Wisconsin Dells, we had a beautiful, spacious room - 2 bedrooms, a living area, and kitchen.  It was perfect with kids!  We could walk to the water and amusement parks and had wristbands that lasted the entire time we were there.  The outdoor stuff pretty much shut down when we got there, as Labor day is the end of their outdoor season, but we got to use the indoor water park.  Maddie especially enjoyed the water slides in the kids area.  She was going down them all by herself, no problem.  Norah was a little more nervous.  She hates getting water in her face....a water park really isn't the place for her, I guess.  :)  Her and I enjoyed a few more of the amusement park rides.  She was my ride buddy.  

 Our family is so thankful for the chance to get away like this.  It was wonderful for us to get away, relax, enjoy each other's company, and not think about our house for a few days.  God knew we needed it.  He is so good to me.  

Apple Pie begins with A!

To continue on with our letter A theme of the week, yesterday, the girls and I tackled making an apple pie.  Making pie is not one of my favorite things.  It's time consuming, chopping up the fruit, making the crust, rolling out the crust, (which never goes well for me), etc.  Anyways, so making a pie with a 4 and 3 year old was especially time consuming and taxed my patience...but that's okay.  That's what I'm learning more of in this season of my life....PATIENCE!!

Yesterday morning, the girls and I went to the grocery store to buy what we needed to make our apple pie; all the while, Maddie was yelling out every "A" she saw along the way.  :) We got home and started the pie making business.  First we had to chop up the apples.  The girls LOVED using my cool pampered chef tool - the apple-peeler-corer-slicer.

You can see Norah is taking this job very seriously.

Step #2: adding sugar and cinnamon to the apples and stirring them up.

Here is what Elise was up to while we were baking....

Step #3: Make the crust & roll it out...

Step #4: Fill the pie plate with bottom crust layer and apples.  As you can see, Norah looks awfully proud.

And there you have it - a finished apple pie, with a capital letter A!  :)  The girls were very proud and excited to tell their daddy, as apple pie is one of his favorite desserts.  We got to enjoy a slice of pie with vanilla ice cream later that night.  We received daddy's stamp of approval!  It was very yummy. 

Ready to go into the oven...only after about an hour and a half of labor.

Daddy gives us an A+!

The whole pie making process was a long one.  In the past, I have avoided letting the girls "help" me with cooking and baking, but lately, I have been convicted of missing out on important teaching times with them.  It may take an extra dose of patience and take longer to clean up the mess, but in the end, we are creating good memories together and they are learning new things!  We had fun baking together...I hope to do more of that with them.  

Another thing I spent some time doing yesterday was making a prayer photo album.  I was going through all of our Christmas pictures from last year and was about to throw them away.  I would usually have our fridge covered in photos, but with all of our house showings, I have had to take them down.  So, I was about to throw them away, when I decided that it would be a great idea to make a photo album with all of our Christmas card pictures, and use it as a reminder to be praying for our friends and family.  So yesterday, the girls each closed their eyes, opened the book, and pointed to a picture....and we prayed for that family!  The girls LOVED it.  It's a good reminder to me, to always be in prayer for our many friends and family and the different missionaries we support.  

Don't throw away your Christmas card photos - make a prayer book!

We love praying for our friends and family!

Also, we went to a member appreciation night at the Duluth Children's Museum last night.  Here is my little knight and princess enjoying the castle.  They just love that place.