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Tuesday, 25 November 2008

  • So it's been a very long time again since I posted.

    Having a baby keeps my time limited :) It's quicker for me to go on facebook. MaggieSloan is sleeping right now and I'm taking a quick break from cleaning.

    MaggieSloan is going to be 5 months on Thanksgiving day. What a wonderful addition to be thankful for this year!! She is an amazing baby. Happy, cute, etc. She is doing all th ecute baby things like playing with her feet, rolling over, and grabbing everything and puttng it in her mouth.

    Jamison is still so great with her! He is very excited about the trip we leave on tomorrow. We are heading to the Big Apple with my mom and stepdad to see the MAcy's Thanksgiving parade! Can't wait!!! We will be there for 4 days. I hope Jamison will have fun. We are going to eat out Thanksgiving dinner in Chinatown. I love that we are doing something different. I'm hoping that it will become a tradition.

    We brought our practically new fridge with us when wemoved to Virginia but didn't need it. It is only 1 year old in perfect condition. I decided to sell it. I had been praying that we could sell it by today to pay for our trip so nothing would come out of our pockets. Last night a guy came and looked at it. It is exactly what he wants. He wanted to match it other appliances. He's coming tonight to pick up and paying in cash. GOD is GOOD!

    I can't wait to decorate for Christmas. Hopefully, after we get back form NYC we can start.

     

    Santa arrived at our mall Nov.7. That is early! However, we were at the mall last week so I let Jamison and MaggieSloan go ahead and see him. I'll post their pic.(I post lots of pics on facebook if you want to see more) Speaking of CHristmas. I ordered our Christmas cards today. I like to get them out at the beginning of December. I can't wait to start getting cards in the mail. I love hearing about everbody's past year and see pictures!!

    I hope y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and have lots to be thankful this year. I sure do. I am blessed beyond comprehension for sure!

    #2

Sunday, 19 October 2008

  • I'm still alive.

    We moved into our new place on October 1. It was a 2 day event. The movers came and brought all our stuff from South Dakota. Then, my mom came the next day with a big truck of new furniture that we bought from my aunt. She is a decorator for my uncle's model homes. So she has warehouses of furniture that have only been used in models.  We have lots of new furniture now which is great but our old stuff is stuffed in the one car garage. We have a lot more living space now but less storage space. I have listed a bunch of stuff on Carig's list and so far some has been sold. This new place is a 3 story town house. It feels weird to be so spread out. I'm still getting everything just right. We are so blessed to have neighbors with  4 and 5 year old little boys. Jamison is loving that. They are Christians and we've enjoyed visiting their church twice. We only live half a mile form Jamison's school so we walk when I'm not running late. Speaking of school- Jamison is enjoying it and has made lots of friends. We've already been to 2 bithday parties. Jamison lost his first tooth our first week here(when we were still in the hotel) The tooth fairy was very good to him! He looks so sweet with that missing tooth. I can't believe how big he is getting. I am so proud of how smart he is. I can't wait for report cards to come soon.

    James is enjoying his work. He is in research now. He never has any deadlines and says it's very laid back. The other new guy they hired and started when we did moved from Kansas. I told James that it would be nice to be friends with them since they are new and they have small children but we were sure they would live nowhere near us. Things here are VERY spread out. There are so many towns and people commute from long ways. It turns out these people live right across from Jamison's school in the same exact townhouse model we are in. We thought was pretty neat. James and Matt carpool to work.

    I have loved being able to see my brother!!! We about 35 miles formt he heart of DC where Jeff lives but we have dinner together several times. Jeff travels atleast 3 days of every week and is gone a lot on weekends. As a matter of fct he just ran the Amsterdam marathon today.

    I am so excited because we are planning a Thanksgiving trip to New York City for the Macy's parade. I can't wait. We are nly four hours away. The plan is to spend 3 nights there. I think Jamison is the perfect age for the parade. I am anxiously awaiting he announcement of the parade lineup. I am stalking the Macy's sight to find out who will be there this year.

    My best friend is coming to visit Nov.7-10. She's never been to DC so I can't wait to show her around.

    I haven't even mentioned MaggieSloan. She is such a sweet delightful baby. She is 16 weeks now. She smiles and talks all the time. I told James I have to work in extra time on every trip out for people to ooh and aah over her.

    I hope all of you are doing well. I'll close with pics of Jamison and MaggieSloan. Okay it won't let me upload any photos. You can check them out on facebook. Alison Hiott Johanson is my name to fnd me there. I'll gladly make you my friend if you aren't already :)

     

Monday, 08 September 2008

  • So I haven't blogged in awhile. Too much going on that it's hard to arrange thoughts in my head that are worth typing.

    We are moving this week! The packers come on Thursday and the movers on Friday. We are going to pull out of Sioux Falls late Friday. We are going to take a few days to get out to Virginia. Stop a few places, swim in some pools. We have to stay in an extended stay untilt he 1st when we take possession of our new place.

    MaggieSloan is now 10 weeks old and is a delight. People are constantly telling me how perfect she is. I agree :) Sweet Jamison has been going to alld ay long kindergarten and doing very well. I am just praying that moving is going to be a breeze for him as we change evrything for him. He's a trooper. My children are amazing!

    I'm sure there's much more to write but got to go.

    Hope everyone is great!

Wednesday, 20 August 2008

  • The story that follows is kind of long but I beg you to read it. I could not stop crying when I got to the end because I really want to be that obedient to the Lord. I want to love people in practical ways.  I want Jesus to be my boss. I hope you enjoy this and it moves you to be more like Jesus.

    HAIRBRUSH EXPERIENCE OF BETH MOORE AT THE AIRPORT

    For those of you who do not know Beth Moore, she is an outstanding Bible
    teacher, writer of Bible studies, and is a married mother of two daughters.

    This is one of her experiences:

    April 20, 2005, at the Airport in Knoxville , TN   waiting to board the
    plane, I had the Bible on my lap and was very intent upon what I was
    doing. I'd had a marvelous morning with the Lord. I say this because I
    want to tell you it is a scary thing to have the Spirit of God really
    working in you.

    You could end up doing some things you never would have done otherwise.
    Life in the Spirit can be dangerous for a thousand reasons not the least
    of which is your ego    .

    I tried to keep from staring, but he was such a strange sight. Humped
    over in a wheelchair, he was skin and bones, dressed in clothes that
    obviously fit when he was at least twenty pounds heavier His knees
    protruded from his trousers, and his shoulders looked like the coat
    hanger was still in his shirt. His hands looked like tangled masses of
    veins and bones.

    The strangest part of him was his hair and nails. Stringy, gray hair
    hung well over his shoulders and down part of his back. His fingernails
    were long , clean but strangely out of place on an old man.

    I looked down at my Bible as fast as I could, discomfort burning my
    face. As I tried to imagine what his story might have been, I found
    myself wondering if I'd just had a Howard Hughes sighting. Then, I
    remembered that he was dead. So this man in the airport... an
    impersonator maybe? Was a camera on us somewhere? There I sat; trying
    to concentrate on the Word to keep from being concerned about a thin
    slice of humanity served up on a wheelchair only a few seats from me.
    All the while, my heart was growing more and more overwhelmed with a
    feeling for him.

    Let's admit it. Curiosity is a heap more comfortable than true concern,
    and suddenly I was awash with aching emotion for this bizarre-looking
    old man.

    I had walked with God long enough to see the handwriting on the wall.
    I've learned that when I begin to feel what God feels, something so
    contrary to my natural feelings, something dramatic is bound to happen.
    And it may be embarrassing.

    I immediately began to resist because I could feel God working on my
    spirit and I started arguing with God in my mind. 'Oh, no, God, please,
    no .' I looked up at the ceiling as if I could stare straight through it
    into heaven and said, 'Don't make me witness to this man. Not right here
    and now. Please. I'll do anything. Put me on the same plane, but don't
    make me get up here and witness to this man in front of this gawking
    audience. Please, Lord!'

    There I sat in the blue vinyl chair begging His Highness, 'Please don't
    make me witness to this man. Not now. I'll do it on the plane.' Then I
    heard it...'I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to brush his
    hair.'

    The words were so clear, my heart leap into my throat, and my thoughts
    spun like a top. Do I witness to the man or brush his hair? No-brainer.
    I looked straight back up at the ceiling and said, 'God, as I live and
    breathe, I want you to know I am ready to witness to this man. I'm on
    this Lord. I'm your girl! You've never seen a woman witness to a man
    faster in your life. What difference does it make if his hair is a mess if he is
    not redeemed? I am going to witness to this man' Again as clearly as
    I've ever heard an audible word, God seemed to write this statement
    across the wall of my mind. 'That is not what I said, Beth. I don't want you to
    witness to him. I want you to go brush his hair.'

    I looked up at God and quipped, 'I don't have a hairbrush. It's in my
    suitcase on the plane. How am I supposed to brush his hair without a
    hairbrush?' God was so insistent that I almost involuntarily began to
    walk toward him as these thoughts came to me from God's word: 'I will
    thoroughly furnish you unto all good works.' (2 Timothy 3:17)

    I stumbled over to the wheelchair thinking I could use one myself. Even
    as I retell this story, m y pulse quickens and I feel those same
    butterflies. I kne    lt down in front of the man and asked as demurely as
    possible, 'Sir, may I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?'
    He looked back at me and said, 'What did you say?'

    'May I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?'

    To which he responded in volume ten, 'Little lady, if you expect me to
    hear you, you're going to have to talk louder than that.'

    At this point, I took a deep breath and blurted out , 'SIR, MAY I HAVE
    THE PLEASURE OF BRUSHING YOUR HAIR?' At which point every eye in the
    place darted right at me. I was the only thing in the room looking more
    peculiar than old Mr. Long Locks. Face crimson and forehead breaking out
    in a sweat, I watched him look up at me with absolute shock on his face,
    and say, 'If you really want to.' Are you kidding? Of course I didn't
    want to. But God didn't seem interested in my personal preference right
    about then. He pressed on my heart until I could utter the words, 'Yes,
    sir, I would be pleased. But I have one little problem. I don't have a
    hairbrush.' 'I have one in my bag,' he responded.

    I went around to the back of that wheelchair, a and I got on my hands and
    knees and unzipped the stranger's old carry-on, hardly believing what I
    was doing. I stood up and started brushing the old man's hair. It was
    perfectly clean, but it was tangled and matted. I don't do many things
    well, but must admit I've had notable experience untangling knotted hair
    mothering two little girls. Like I'd done with either Amanda or Melissa
    in such a condition, I began brushing at the very bottom of the strands,
    remembering to take my time not to pull. A miraculous thing happened to
    me as I started brushing that old man's hair. Everybody else in the room
    disappeared. There was no one alive for those moments except that old
    man and me. I brushed and I brushed and I brushed until every tangle
    was out of that hair. I know this sounds so strange, but I've never felt
    that kind of love for another soul in my entire life. I believe with all my heart,
    I - for that few minutes -     felt a portion of the very love of God. That He
    had overtaken my heart for a little while like someone renting a room
    and making Himself at home for a short while.

    The emotions were so strong and so pure t hat I knew they had to be
    God's. His hair was finally as soft and smooth as an infant's.

    I slipped the brush back in the bag and went around the chair to face
    him. I got back down on my knees, put my hands on his knees and said,
    'Sir, do you know my Jesus?'

    He said, 'Yes, I do' Well, that figures, I thought. He explained, 'I've
    known Him since I married my bride. She wouldn't marry
    me until I got to know the Savior.' He said, 'You see, the problem is, I
    haven't seen my bride in months. I've had open-heart surgery, and she's
    been too ill to come see me. I was sitting here thinking to myself, what
    a mess I must be for my bride.'

    Only God knows how often He allows us to be part of a divine moment when
    we're completely unaware of the significance. This, on the other hand,
    was one of those rare encounters when I knew God had intervened in
    details only He could have known. It was a God moment, and I'll never
    forget it.


    Our time came to board, and we were not on the same plane. I was deeply
    ashamed of how I'd acted earlier and would have been so proud to have
    accompanied him on that aircraft.

    I still had a few minutes, and as I gathered my things to board, the
    airline hostess returned from the corridor, tears streaming down her
    cheeks. She said, 'That old man's sitting on the plane, sobbing. Why did
    you do that? What made you do that?'

    I said, 'Do you know Jesus? He can be the bossiest thing!'

    And we got to share.

    I learned something about God that day. He knows if you're exhausted,
    you're hungry, you're serving in the wrong place or it is time to move
    on but you feel too responsible to budge. He knows if you're hurting or
    feeling rejected. He knows if you're sick or drowning under a wave of
    temptation. Or He knows if you just need your hair brushed. He sees you
    as an individual. Tell Him your need!

    I got on my own flight, sobs choking my throat, wondering how many
    opportunities just like that one had I missed along the way . . all
    because I didn't want people to think I was strange. God didn't send me
    to that old man. He sent that old man to me.

    John 1:14 'The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have
    seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father,
    full of grace and truth'

    Life shouldn't be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving
    safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather, to skid in broadside,

    thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly shouting, 'Wow! What a ride!

    Thank You, Lord!'

    Please share this wonderful story.

    If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light........ Mt. 6:22

    By God's grace I am what I am..... 1 Corinthians 15:10

Tuesday, 19 August 2008

  • If you happen on this today would you please take a moment and say a prayer for my family. Please pray that we would have a place to live in Northern Virginia. We are planning on leasing a place and the place we are working on right now has become a lot of work. The people are making it more difficult than getting the mortgage that we have now. I just feel like I am at my breaking point with all that has happened in the past few weeks and I'd like an address to move to. Thank you so much for your prayers!!!

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