Hello 2010

Hello blog world. 

Just wanted to say hi again. Life has been pretty crazy. School has been a whirl wind. The kids are taking off academically. They are starting to read sight words and follow along when I read stories. It is simply amazing. This has been a week of blessings for me. I am looking at my school and job and thinking about how lucky I am to have ended up in such a fantastic place for my 1st year teaching and hopefully many more.  It has been the neatest year of my life, being married and teaching.  I have wanted to be a teacher my entire life and now i actually get to do it. I LOVE my job and my class. They are so much fun. 

I can't wait to meet my new neice or nephew this summer. Haley is having a baby.  It will be a great adventure. I hope she stays healthy and strong the entire pregnancy.  Her puppy is sick right now and is not good, but hopefully he will be okay soon! Check her facebook for details.  The vet butchered his neutering and his ball sack bled and got all nasty and swollen.

Chad is as silly as ever.  You need to call and hang out with us no matter who you are. We miss everyone sincce we have been so busy and haven't seen many people.  Pray for us as we make decisions about our life and move into nearing our 1st annivesary.  I don't have much else to say except thigns are going well.  Being married is great. Our pizza just arrived. I'm going to go eat. Love you!

Merry Christmas!

Ok. So life has been a bit crazy. No big deals.  I am now feeling MUCH MUCH better.  I am a functioning human once again.  The day of my last post, they put me in the hospital for 4 days.  I regained so much strength with the tons of medicine pumped in me.  My wonderful husband spent the entire time hanging out with me and bringing me yummy food and movies.  It was not much fun, but I am feeling much better.  

Our Thanksgiving was a blast. His parents came and spent a few days with us.  It was very relaxing, except me and my MIL went Black Friday shopping.  That was exhausting but so much fun.  His cousin then got married the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  THe Johnson clan took over BCS. It was a blast.  It was fun seeing so much of the family at the wedding and the brunch the next day.  

Ok, lets skip to now.  It is Christmas season, my favorite time of year! It love the crisp cold weather, only for a few days though. I love being snuggled in blankets with hot chocolate and watching lights.  But one of my students has forced me to forcus on the real meaning of Christmas. Being a Christian school, I am spending three weeks immersed in the Christmas story with my students.  Part of this includes our Christmas musical.  On of the scenes in the play is a p.e. coach who is disgruntled about all of the Christmas shopping, parties, and commercial holiday mess.  A song in this scene mentions "stop making Christmas such a celebration." One of my students looked up at me during the song while we were practicing and was clearly upset. She said, "why do they want us to stop celebrating Christmas."  My sweet and precious students are yet untaited by the commercialism of Christmas.  They come from such wonderful families and could very easily explain to me that the real meaning of Christmas is that Jesus's was born and all that is to come from that moment.  We talked about how some people simply focus on presents and shopping.  Our memory verse this week was..And the Angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold I bring good tidings of great joy that will be for all people." Luke 2:10

Jesus did not come for a few rightous people.  He didn't come for the people who can put the most presents under the tree.  The joy of this season is for ALL PEOPLE.  I challenge myself and you to think about what joy this season is that our savior is born for ALL of us.  My assistant and I have been talking about, since one of our songs brings up the braveness of Mary, how we could not even imagine what Mary went through.  She sacrificed so much and was so strong.  Her story challenges me to think about my life.  Mary was no celebrity or rich person.  She wasn't the one with the best clothes or anything special. She was simply a girl and the Lord was pleased with her enough to carry his only son.  WOW. Is the Lord pleased with me? Does he look on me and my life with favor? 

I just love the beauty in the Christmas story.  A simple girl brings the Lord of all the Earth into the world in a manger with dirty animals.  He has come to save the world, but started off in a barn.  The Lord loves us so much that he came down to be with us on a beautiful Christmas night.  That brings me more joy than my fantastic Christmas tree across the room or the Christmas lights in the park.  So I am going to take the next few weeks to enjoy the real joy that the angels tell us about this season, our Lord has come for all of us. Amen to that.

Sickly Wife

Ok, for those of you who have been around me in the past month, you know that I have been coughing my lungs up.  It has been miserable.  My body is exhausted.  It has gotten worse.  I have been in bed, literally just sitting in bed, for 4 days now.  I am on Fall break from school which is a conveinant time to be so sick, but I would rather have enjoyed the pretty weather. Guess not.  I am asking that you pray the doctors would figure it out today because I am miserable.  I am so tired of being sick.  It is the story of my life.  I just can't fight it off.  WIsh me luck today with the Dr.

On a good note,  my in-laws came this weekend.  THe boys built a huge deck and storage building in our back yard that is AWESOME!! You should all come by and visit to see it. It is so neat.  My MIL helped around the house while I was sickly, a BIG BIG thank you for helping me out!!!! 

There were plenty of babies born this month.  I am desperately trying to get better so I can visit them.  Chads friend was the first baby.  Julia Faith was born a few weeks ago.  I got to hold her at 3 hours old. She is precious.  Then, the Turner's had baby Benjamin Micah.  I babysit for them and took care of big brother Wesley when I was in college still.  I adore that family so much.  It is killing me to not see them yet.  Then, this past week an old dear friend of mine that mentored me in college had her baby girl Ragan.  She is adorable! Courtney will be a great mom. That is going to be one tall, skiny beautiful girl. Chad's cousin also had a baby a few weeks ago, Ty Johnson.  he is precious as well.  He has two loving and excited big sisters!! His other cousin will be havign her baby around Thanksgiving.  So many babies!!!!  My assistant is also having a baby in January and I got to feel her baby girl move for the first time last week.  It was really cool.  Jesse has 2 kids and is a great Mom.  I am so blessed to have her in my classroom wiht me.  We have tons of fun.  

Well, not much else to say.  I am LOVING my job.  School is going great.  The kids are really soaking it all up.  We are on Fall Break which is a super neat week-long vacation. I had tons of things planned to get done, but guess not.  We are going to be staying in College Station for quite a while.  We have made some decisions that will keep us here for at least a few years.  Just pray that the Lord will be guiding us in the way to go.  Chad will be starting school and there are many things up in the air for us to figure out.  It is VERY VERY Exciting!   

Being married is such a beautiful gift.  We have had a bumpy road to get to this point over the last 5-6 years, but the Lord has given us something truly beautiful.  I enjoy seeing my husband every morning when we get up to that stupid alarm.  I love the way he wants the same thing in his lunch every day .  I love how he calls me just to say hi throughout the day.  We make a great team and I can't wait to see how the next 100 years will be! 

Awful Beautiful Life

Ok, so I haven't blogged in a while. We have been going 90 to nothing moving, working, and hanging out. We are officially moved in to our new duplex. It isn't decorated or cute yet, but has come a VERY long way since we drug in all of the boxes. We have NO boxes left! We have been cleaning ,organizing, and cleaning some more. The dogs are loving the new place. They got brand new dog houses. They have tons of room to run around, and for the first time, they have each other. Brazos is having a little bit of trouble from being Momma's only puppy to having an obnoxious baby sister. She kind of bugs him all the time, but she adores his attention so much. They are cute together. I love playing with them when I come home.
School is going fantastic. My students are incredible. I have 11 of the most beautiful 4-5 year olds in the state of Texas. They keep me laughing ALL DAY! I love my job, my coworkers, my families, and administrators. Work is good. :)
Chad is still very busy working hard. He got a grill last weekend and we enjoyed some smoked steaks, ribs, and pork tenderloins (however you spell it) with some friends this week that Chad works with. That was fun, especially to hang out with some of our new friends together.
My old roommate Allie and her husband came by on a drive around College Station and hung out to talk about their upcoming move to Estonia. For those you who don't know, Estonia is not a city in Texas. It is across the world in Western Europe. I'm not ok with that. I was her maid of honor, and she has meant so much to me through my college years. I am beginning the good-bye process in my mind, but I am very sad to see her go. My other roommate from that house is living in Cameroon Africa, who I miss so very much. I am sad to see them go but am so proud of them. I want any of my readers to pray for the Jordan's journey to Estonia, and Ashley in Cameroon with the Peace Corps. I miss them each so much and pray on the work they are doing for the Lord.
well, my husband just pulled some yummy food off the grill. Ganna go eat. Love to all.

Married Life

So, now it has been almost 4 weeks since the wedding.  I have the worlds greatest husband.  He is so funny, caring, determined, and helpful.  He helps me so much with things I'd always done on my own like carrying in suitcases, washing/ drying dishes, cooking dinner, and laundry.  He has really taken the husband role to heart and it has made me so very proud. 

He has been working very very hard and excelling at his new job.  He is enjoying having something to do.  He is much more relaxed and chill now that he is busy and working hard.  It is such a joy to see him loving me by working so hard to provide for us.  

I do miss my sisters terribly.  They came for a few days for the wedding but 4 days was certainly not enough time spent with them.  They bring me such joy and strength.  Chad has been so good about spending 100 % of his time off work entertaining me since I am alone all day while everyone is at work that I have been way to distracted and enjoying my husband to be too sad about missing them.  I talk to them as much as I can so that helps too.  

I have been setting up my classroom every few days so it will be ready for my cuties come Aug 14th! I cannot wait for the school year to start, but I am also really nervous.  My room is Dr. Suess and it all red, blue, and yellow.  It is so much fun! Pictures will be up soon....maybe.  

My parents put down our dog Marksberry's Captain Maxwell...aka Max. Last weekend so we suprised my parents to help them not think about our dead dog.  We got a cookie cake and made homemade ice cream.  It was a bummer that Max is gone.  He was a good dog for sure, just very very old.  He loved to swim but was totally scared of fireworks.  He loved to go roller blading with Haley, but liked to take off into the street from the back yard and has been hit a car. 

Ok, ending this blog.  We are really enjoying Franklin.  Dale and Teri are AMAZING!  Their house is so much fun with a big pool!  They are soooo sweet to let us live in their guest house all of July and into August.  It is a cute little town and it is an easy drive o Bryan for school.  I miss all of my friends but this down time is teaching me a ton.  

How about a few pictures...mostly from the Johnson Family Reunion on July 4th.

 

1.Playing "The Newlywed Game" at the hotel with Steven, Ashley,                                                        Elizabeth, DJ, Jared, and Kathryn....all married 6 years or under

2. The kids in the pool at reunion. There we 68 people. Tons of kiddos swam ALL day all three days.  This is Dale and Teri's house where we are staying.  This is the AWESOME backyard.

3. This is Dale and Teri. Dale is Chad's 1st cousin.  This is the gracious couple that is housing us for the time being.  They are absolutely wonderful!! Love Em!

4. The Johnson Siblings.  This is why the family is so big.  9 kids from Ed and Stella Johnson. They are in no particular order.

L to R: Uncle Bobby, Aunt Mary, Aunt Linda, Larry (Dad-in-Law) , Aunt Jo (standing in for Uncle Jim), Uncle Donnie, Uncle Billy, Uncle Jerry (current living oldest), Nathan (standing in for Uncle Tommy)

5. The Larry Johnsons. Me, Chad, Larry, Marilyn.  Missing Kim who was as camp still.  My new family. Check out my new short hair! I cut 6 inches off after the honeymoon!! 

There will be plenty more to come. Stay tuned...

Ok, love to all!!

Karen Johnson :)

Love from Mrs.Chad Wayne Johnson....aka ME!!

Ok. We are finally married.  It was a perfect day.  Gorgeous and wonderful.  It was so special to have everyone around us for support and love.  It was such a joy to have my sisters around for a few days. Love them to death!!!!  Pictures soon to come.  

The honeymoon was absolutely perfect.  Our hotel was RIGHT on the beach.  It had a little walkway over the dunes to the beach.  We spent so much time in the sand.  It was so wonderful.  The sunburns aren't so wonderful.  We went deep sea fishing on Monday.  We each caught two huge Red Snappers for a combined total of 16 lbs of snapper.  They were tough fighters but I reeled mine in all by myself.  WE have plenty of stories form that trip, just ask.  They are not appropriate enough to type out and not near as funny without faces and sounds :)  I will put up pictures later.

So now, I am sitting in bed in our room at La QUinta in Waco.  We got here late Tuesday night and stayed with the Walkers.  They are such incredibly sweet people.  I enjoy them so much. TOo bad Tyler wasnt around to cause some trouble with Chad. That would have been too much fun.  Chad is in training for work and they put us up in a hotel for the next five weeks.  We will be back and forth from Waco and College Station, but we are going to be staying with some of his family in Franklin, just north of town.  He has some training days of on site triaing in the College station office and some classroom training in Waco.  Its complicated but they are takign care of us.  I get to relax and find fun stuff to do all day while he is in class.  At some point in July, I am going to stay in College Station and set up my classroom before inservice.  

Well, those are the details of life here is some fluff.  I absolutely love being married.  I love being a wife.  I love being Chad's wife.  It is such joy to be here when he gets home at night from work and just hang out with him.  Even this week, we have encountered some crazy situations with work, traveling, food, and such.  He has taken the husband role very seriously and has taken such good care of us.  I love my best friend and this has been the most incredible 5 days of my life.  

OMG JOB!

I GOT A JOB! I will be the Pre-K teacher at Brazos Christian School starting in August. I will have a classroom full of little crazy babies! I am so very excited and  cannot wait!! 

So....today is June 14th.....and

-We both have a job...Praise Jesus!

-We have a duplex! It is aboslutely AMMMAzing! Juust call us to plan a visit to paradise..haha it coms pretty close.

-We are a six days away from the wedding!

I have a pretty semi-intense todo list for this week. But I am excited! I have gotten a tons done so it wont be bad at all. My sisters, neice, and aunt get here Wednesday night. I am so excited.

So...let the party begin!