All I Want for Christmas . . .

. . . is my (1) front tooth!

 Emma Lee has had two loose teeth for quite a while now, but I wasn't really expecting one to fall out so soon (neither was she!). She was eating a pretzel last night and stopped and said "Momma." I looked up and saw a big gap. "Don't swallow, don't swallow!" was all I could say. We rushed to the bathroom, stopped up the sink, and tried to sort through (bloody, eww!) pretzel bits to find her tooth. She was SOOO excited and couldn't stop laughing and looking at her smile in the mirror (after we got the bleeding stopped).

 

She REALLY, REALLY wanted to keep her tooth, so she drew a picture and wrote a note to the tooth fairy: "Please let me keep my tooth and a prize." The tooth fairy did make a visit last night and left her a dollar, a book about Joseph (one of her favorite Bible characters), AND her tooth (along with a note saying she could keep her tooth as long as she gives it to her mommy to put in her scrapbook).

All I want for Christmas is my (1) front tooth, my (1) front tooth...

Walking on Water

When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." Peter said to Him, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." And He said, "Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately, Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"  -Matthew 14:26-31

God brought this passage to my mind today . . . wonder why? . . . it is exactly what I needed! I know that He called us to adopt (Just like He called Peter out of the boat.) We definitely had to step out on faith (No, we didn't have $30,000 in our savings account. We did have some money saved up to begin our adoption, but as the due dates for fees have quickly rolled in, that money is now depleted - maybe a little faster than I thought or am comfortable with.) In my moments of weakness, I allow my focus to drift off of Jesus and onto the wind and waves (you know, the bills & fees). My prayer is that I will keep my eyes on Jesus and have the faith to walk on water (not worry!). I KNOW that He is there, and I KNOW that He will provide!

Happy Birthday, Jesus

Here's a really cool family activity you can do to get you in the Christmas spirit. Andy and I did this with the girls tonight, and it was really cute! Here's how they explain what it is:

The Happy Birthday, Jesus Project is an amazing FREE interactive experience that allows families to interact with a LIVE children's ministry teacher, animated characters, fun games and activities and so much more—all from home, all while having kids at the center of the adventure. Join us for the biggest birthday party in the world!

• Visit reallywoolly.com
• Register and Log in
• Find a Happy Birthday, Jesus! Invitation session that works for your family

There's a live person that interacts with the animated story and with you (through a chat box). There are also games that you can play. Everything's personalized, which was really neat for the girls.  

Deck the Halls

The girls are really enjoying Christmas carols this year. (Ok, I'll admit it . . . it all started with Barbie and the Christmas Carol movie about TWO months ago.) It is so cute to hear them singing although they don't always get the words quite right. My favorite is their version of Deck the Halls, which goes a little something like this:

Deck the halls with fowls and jolly

Fa la la la la la la la la

Tease the season to be holly

Fa la la la la la la la la la

All we now on to gay 'parel

Fa la la la la la la la la

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

(They are going a little crazy in this take - it was about our

fourth try after some technical difficulties and maybe a

cooperation issue or two!)

Here are some pictures of our "decking."

(Our homemade advent calendar - each box holds a special

activity/project for that day.)

Adoption Steps

We are trying to involve the girls in our adoption process as much as possible. The hardest thing for them to understand is why we can't bring our little boy home tomorrow, or the next day, or the next, especially since he is already waiting for us. I tried to create a tangible way for them to keep track of how far we've advanced in the process and how much longer we have to wait. It's not perfect, but I think it will help. Emma Lee drew a picture of her little brother and put him at the top of the steps. Our family will move up each step as we complete a major part in the adoption process.

First Time Ice Skating

If at first 

you don't succeed

try

try

again!

Moving Along

We finished filling out and completing everything for our homestudy packet! Now we will be assigned a social worker and go through the visits/interviews. We also have our next packet of forms waiting to be filled out - I think that they are never-ending!

Just in case you're interested, here are some selections from the autobiography I had to write. (I know you don't want to read the entire 5 pages! And, yes, it took a lot of condensing to get it that short!) :)

For those of you who don't know how Andy and I met - here's the short version:

Andy and I met in 2001. He worked full-time at the YMCA as a teen director. I was still in college and worked part-time at the YMCA as an after school counselor. Our paths didn’t cross that often at the YMCA, but I later found out that he had been talking to my boss about me. We ended up working together one day and hit it off right away. At the end of the day, I was expecting him to either ask me out or at least ask for my phone number––he didn’t do either. I didn’t think about it too much more until I received a message from him on my answering machine. I was uncharacteristically giddy about his call and asked many of my friends to come listen to it to determine if he was calling about something work related or if he was calling just for me. Turns out that he was calling just to talk. We had a great conversation, and he asked me out. I already had plans with a group of friends but invited him to come along. This gave us another chance to get to know each other a little better without the pressure of a “first date.” Our first “official” date after that was perfect, and I think that we both knew that it was the start of something special right away. At the end of the night, though, he confused me by telling me that I was a “sweet girl” as he dropped me off. I took that to mean something along the lines of “let’s be friends” and was a little confused when he asked me out on another date. Little did I know that he was just trying to complement me! We became engaged on our six month anniversary and were married about nine months later on Dec. 28, 2002.

A little bit about our marriage:

I would definitely classify our marriage as a strong, healthy marriage that is filled with love for each other. From the beginning, I was very impressed with Andy’s outgoing personality, his sense of humor, his love for kids, and his sincerity and genuineness. We are similar in many ways and our differences seem to complement each other. His love of being “in the spotlight” is helped by my enjoyment of doing stuff “behind the scenes.” His tendency to become stressed out at times is tempered by my laid-back personality. His attention to detail counters my lack of organization. Our ability to compromise is seen even in small areas. For example, he loves watching NASCAR (which I definitely do not love), so he spends those hours every Sunday folding and putting away the laundry while he watches the race, which receives NO complaints from me! In addition, another important key in our marriage is that in spite of our busy schedules and the hindrances that come with having two young children, Andy and I realize the importance of having quality time with just the two of us. We know that we can’t have a strong family without a strong marriage. Above all, our common ground in our love for Christ gives us the ability to work out any differences that might come up in our marriage. It makes it easy to keep sight of what is truly important.

A little bit about how I feel about adopting:

Our family already consists of two children: Emma Lee, who is five years old, and Kerri, who is four. Andy and I both see them (and all children in general) as gifts from God. Nothing gives me more joy than being a mom. I see it as a fulfillment of my life’s desires and embrace all that comes with it with excitement and anticipation. Although we have our own biological children, Andy and I have known since before we were married that we wanted to adopt. I know that God placed this desire in my heart way before I even knew it! Looking back, I can remember how affected I was as a child reading books about orphans. In college, one of my best friends and her brother grew up in an orphanage in Albania, and we had many late night talks her experiences. After we were married, Andy and I hosted two girls from an orphanage in India while their group was visiting our area. These and other things laid the foundation and enhanced my desire to adopt.

I don’t have any concerns over loving this child as my own. Even now, without knowing who it is going to be, I already have a love growing inside of me, much like a pregnant mother before she meets her yet unborn child. I also do not believe that our daughters will have too hard of an adjustment. They have been talking about getting a baby brother for years, and not once have they ever shown the slightest hint of jealousy. Children their age make friends so quickly, that I’m expecting their bonding process to be without too many hindrances. They are both entering a more self-sufficient and independent stage, wanting to be “big girls” and do things on their own. I think that in the face of me being occupied with another child, they will find pride in being able to be a “big helper” instead of resentful of having to share my time and attention with another sibling. I am not delusional that everything will be perfect from the moment we step off the plane. The concerns that I have stem from the perspective of the child we will adopt. I worry about what he has had to deal with already in his short life and how that will continue to effect him throughout his life. I worry about the confusion he will face coming to a new country, a new environment, and a new family. I worry about the pain my heart will experience if he is hesitant to accept our love at the beginning. At the end of the day, I remember that we are following the desire that God has placed in our hearts and that we can trust in Him to reward our efforts.

Recap of Our Surprise Trip to Disney

The girls party was a success! I finished the cakes in time, in spite of also having to take cupcakes and visit Emma Lee's preschool class. I really think, well - I know, that there's no way I could have finished everything if my Mom hadn't come early and spent the day finishing up for me at the preschool and taking the girls out to lunch (and a little extra b'day shopping trip), so "Thanks, Mom!!" :) I also managed to keep our surprise! Yay! :) I caught myself right before it slipped out SO many times!! We showed the girls their DVD that explained their birthday surprise. I didn't get the hysterically excited response I was expecting (they do have the nickname "the screaming girls" after all), but I suppose that was partially due to the all the party craziness that was going on. Instead, we got an is this for real kind of reaction. Looking back on the video (sorry, I can't post it - it hasn't made it to dvd format yet), it is really cute because you can see their eyes getting bigger and their mouths slowly falling open while they didn't dare take their eyes off the tv to turn and ask us anything. We finished up the party and went to bed for an early departure time (which ended up not being until 10:00 am but was early enough).

Saturday, we finally arrived, did a little shopping while we waited for our check-in time, got settled in, attended a Sat night church service since we would not be going to church on Sunday, and hit a McDonald's on the way back for some quick dinner.

Sunday! Finally after promising the girls since Thursday night that we were going to Disney, we arrived at the Magic Kingdom! (The girls got buttons that said Happy Birthday with their name on it. ALL day long they got individual birthday greetings from park attendants, characters, and just random strangers.) We entered just in time to see a parade coming down Main Street. What a welcome! They had an appointment scheduled for the Bibbidi Bobbiti Boutique, so that was our first stop. They got all dolled up with jewels, make-up, fingernail polish, and more glitter and hair spray than you can even imagine! We had time to get on a few rides like Dumbo, the Carosel, and Snow White's Scary Adventure (which they HATED!) before our lunch reservation at Cinderella's castle. So, Cinderella was the first character that the girls got to actually go up and talk to, and Kerri decided that (for the first time in her life!) she was shy. She did not want to go up to her but kept peeking out from behind me and smiling at her. I think that she was just so overwhelmed with the thought that Wow! I'm actually here with Cinderella! that she didn't know what to do. She did let us take a picture with her, as long as I held her. She quickly got over her initial shyness as all the princesses came and greeted them at our table throughout our lunch. After we were finished, she just HAD to go back down and hug and say hi to Cinderella. :) Throughout the rest of the day, we rode as many rides, caught as many "shows," talked with as many characters, and saw as many parades as we could squeeze in. We ended up staying at the park for 12 hours and still only covered about half of the park!! (All without a stroller! We had planned to rent one half-way through the day but the girls never asked for one or asked to be carried - a miracle for Kerri!!) Almost as soon as their heads hit the car seat, they were out! :)

Late Monday morning, we decided that we would go on to Sea World (which we hadn't planned on doing until Tuesday. There was a chance of rain and I didn't want to end up not being able to go). It was incredible, and the girls liked it almost as much as Disney. We saw the Shamu show, the dolphin show, and the sea lion and walrus show, rode a bunch of rides, and got up close and personal with a lot of different kind of creatures. :) We liked it so much we decided to take advantage of our 2nd day visit free tickets (which we hadn't planned on doing so we wouldn't overdo it for the girls) and go back for a few more hours the next day.(Yes, their hair is STILL up! Two full days and then I just HAD to take it out to give them a bath!!)

Tuesday morning we slept in, ate a good breakfast, and went swimming at the resort. We went back to Sea World for a few more hours and then headed to downtown Disney for some shopping and dinner at Rainforst Cafe.

Wednesday morning came so fast. I couldn't believe that it was already time to go back home. We were all exhausted though and spent 12 hours driving back home all in one trip. Thank goodness for DVD players, a good book, and a husband who doesn't mind doing most of the driving!!

So, now all I'm left wondering is how in the world do I have a
4 and a 5 year old already??!!

Have a great year, sweet girls!

This post is long enough, so if you want to see more pictures of the birthday and trip click on these links to view the albums I created on Facebook. Don't worry - I didn't post all 477 pictures I took!! :)

Girls' Birthday
Disney
Sea World


*Ok, these links weren't working, but I think I've fixed them now.

Disney Trip - Day 1

A whole lotta this:

The girls did AMAZING in the car all day today! We are in Jacksonville tonight and will finish the trip to Orlando in the morning. We have two very excited little girls on our hands! : )

Girls' Surprise!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The long awaited day has come!! I've kept this secret since Jan 2008, which for me is incredible! I get really excited about gifts and special surprises and just want to share them right away! The girls will watch this video tomorrow night (well, today, Thursday, since it is past midnight and I'm waiting up for a cake cooking in the oven), and we will leave Friday morning. The plan is for them to open up a gift, which is this on dvd, watch it, and find out their surprise. I can't wait to see their reactions! We plan to get those on video too, so I'll post an update after we get back next week!

A Little More Info

Three weeks ago, I posted here to announce, officially, that we are beginning the adoption process. I didn't realize how many people didn't know that we have planned on adopting (ever since before we were married), so here is a post about some of the specifics.
*Disclaimer: This post has the potential to be exorbitantly long, and the Johnsons are in no way responsible or liable for any damage or harm that occurs to your eyes by staring at your screen too long for the purpose of reading this post.

First, to start things off, I'll list a few answers to some FAQ:

Adopting from?
Bulgaria - a country in Southeastern Europe. It is slightly larger than the state of Tennessee. (You can click on the map to get a larger picture.)

Gender?

BOY! Nope, I don't know what I'm going to do with a boy! (Except buy coordinating outfits to go with the girls' matching dresses.) Yes! Andy is very excited that, counting our cat Felix, he won't be outnumbered anymore! Seriously, we are all very excited to bring a little boy into our lives! After all, the girl's have only been begging for two years for a baby brother!

Age?

We are planning on somewhere between 2-3 but are somewhat flexible on that. The big thing is we don't want to mess up the birth order in our home, so he will have to be younger than Kerri and the youngest they adopt out is 1 year old, so really somewhere between there. 

The timeline/process?

After we submit our dossier,* it is translated into Bulgarian, legalized, and presented to the Ministry of Justice, which is the central adoption authority. Our names are submitted into the Registry, and we are matched with a child** - this can take 9-18 months. After this, we make our first trip to Bulgaria, for about a week. We will have daily visits with our little boy, fill out paperwork and then return home (without our little boy, which already makes me cry just thinking about how hard that is going to be). While we are back at home, the paperwork is presented to their court. Once the adoption is final, we make our second trip to Bulgaria. This trip typically comes 3-4 months after the first trip. We will be in Bulgaria for 4-5 days for this trip and will be finalizing things by interviewing for his immigrant visa. We return home - with our little boy, who then automatically becomes a US citizen! We then have to work on things from this end, like "re-adopting" him in the state of NC.  So, the short answer is with everything going miraculously as fast as it can, one year; with everything taking the longest amount of estimated time, two years. (This timeline all starts AFTER the things we need to finish up on our end like some paperwork and the home study, which we are now ready to get busy with after hitting our first little bump in the road.)

*dossier  (dȯ-sē-ā) A set of legal documents and adoption papers used in international adoptions. The adoption papers include the home study, marriage license, financial statement, and health certificates - to name a few. 

 ** This referral will include information about the child's background (as much as possible) including his medical, social, and developmental information. We will also receive pictures of him.

 

What YOU can do for us:

PRAY!! 

• Please pray with us as we begin this crazy race called adoption. We started out by having to hit pit road pretty early on, but we are back on the track. I know that it is pretty impossible to expect a completely smooth and perfect adoption process, but we have our "spotter" who is able to see the whole course and lead us around and through any obstacles that come up. (Sorry about all those metaphors! That's all - I promise, mostly because that's the limit of my nascar knowledge, although I think I threw enough in there to make my  husband proud. See - he needs a son to actually care about and enjoy these type of things with him!)  

• On the IMB website, I found this virtual prayer walk through Bulgaria that will give you a little more information about ways to pray for the country. 

• Also, please pray for our future son. The orphanages in Bulgaria, like many other countries, are overcrowded and understaffed. They are full of Romas, or gypsies, who experience a great deal of prejudice in Bulgaria and surrounding countries.

• Please pray for the financial aspect of adoption as we trust in God to provide, as well as do "our" part.
  

• Please pray for our patience as we go through the "hurry up and wait" part of adoption.  
  

Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

 

My Precious Girls

My dear precious girls, 

 

Please always stay this sweet.

Please always stay best friends.

Thank you for the precious memories you give me.

Thank you for moments to cherish. 

Don't forget -wherever you go in life-

You will always be Mommy's precious little girls.