Gorgeous Mermaids

This was the first year that I didn't have a costume plan. Instead, I took the girls to a store and said go ahead and pick whatever you want (although I admit I did try to steer them toward a super cute little red riding hood costume). They spotted the Merliah (a mermaid from a Barbie movie) costume right off the bat and there was no other option for them in their minds, especially when I agreed to pink hair dye to get the real Merliah look!  (It was too hard to not give in after laughing so much at them asking if they could get their hair "dived.")

Here's their conversation as they were getting ready:
Emma Lee: "Kerri! You look gorgeous!
Kerri: "Gorgeouser than you??"
Emma Lee: "Welll, not that gorgeous."

Of course, Mommy had to make the decision that they both had the same amount of gorgeousness. Don't you agree?

And . . . just in case you're wondering . . . here are their answers to "What's your favorite candy?"

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Silly Faces

Just Plain Weird

I think that the hardest thing about being in a completely new place is not so much that I don't know anyone -  it's that I don't know anyone but they all know me!

I was minding my own business in Target today (happily alone with my thoughts since I was without the girls, which rarely happens). I guess I was focusing too heavily on important things (you know, like what type of (free!) chips to get for the girls) because next thing I know some random man with a deep voice is standing next to me asking me if I'm settling in Macon - that's it - no introduction, no "hi" first, nothing. I hope I wasn't visibly startled, but my mind was working overtime to process who this strange man was, where he came from, why he was talking to me, while it was also registering that he had a little boy standing there with him and remembering that yes, I am in Macon. I'm sure all that happened in a split second, but it felt like quite a while and I think I just smiled and mumbled something I hope was somewhat coherent as he started to walk away.

It kind of made me feel weird to think about how many people I might pass everyday who recognize me and just watch what I (or my kids!) am doing without me ever knowing it. I don't know why it made me feel weird - I don't really do anything that differently whether I'm around someone I know or not. Then I remembered that Someone is always watching how I live every second of my life, and if I'm making Him happy that's all I have to worry about.        

Smiles in the Johnson House

There's a lot of smiling, laughing, squealing, shrieking, and giggling going on in the Johnson house.

Yesterday we added a new member to our family. His name is Oreo, and he's a 10 month old yorkie-poo.

If you've spent any time at all with Kerri, you know that she is completely obsessed with animals (well, any type of creature, really, remember this??), but her absolute favorite is dogs. I don't know how long the girls have been begging for a dog, but I do know that we promised them that they could have one in May after Andy graduated from school. Well, because of all the traveling we did during the summer and then with our move, it just didn't work out. As soon as we got settled in here, I decided that one of my top priorities should be to find a dog for our family. I thought that it was going to be a lot harder than it was because we had a pretty specific list of the type of dog we wanted and a pretty low budget of what we (read Andy) were willing to spend on a pet. I found out about this one pretty quickly, and the girls and I took off to check him out. It was love at first sight between him and Kerri, Emma Lee and I were a little nervous that he might be too hyper, but he started calming down a bit after his initial overly excited greeting. (Although, I'll take our greeting over how he greeted Andy for the first time. As soon as he walked in the door, Oreo ran up to him and soaked his shoes - and it wasn't from kisses either! Not exactly getting off on the right foot!)

He's a really sweet dog, and the best thing is that he's housebroken (as long as his initial greeting for Andy won't be an everyday occurrence!) and past the stage of wanting to chew or bite on everything. He's fully grown and weighs about eleven pounds. He's got enough energy to where I'm not sure whether him or the girls will wear out first, but either way, they should all sleep good at night! He has the soft silky hair of a yorkie, but it's wavy and has loose curls because of the poodle part. He's rarely barked since he's been here, and he's not too interested in Felix, who is definitely not appreciating his solo pet status being taken away. 

Emma Lee has already invented a game called Tumbleweed where her and Kerri roll around on the floor and he climbs all over them trying to get them.

I'm definitely going to have to put a limit on the amount of treats they're allowed to pass out because they were handing them out for "tricks," which somehow includes anything and everything - even wagging his tail.  

Welcome to the family, Oreo!

Timing

I like to have a plan. I don't live and die by the plan, and it's okay if the plan changes . . . as long as I'm the one in charge of the changes. So far, our adoption has not been very cooperative with my plan. What was originally a 9-18 month wait (which I initially - and naively - thought began as soon as we applied to our agency instead of to our country) has turned into already being one year into it and being told that we have at least two more years to go.

Needless to say, this has drastically changed my plan. Aside from just wanting to have our future son with us as soon as possible, the more practical side of how the timing is not going according to my plan has been causing me to do a lot of worrying and fussing. I keep thinking about how much older my girls will be in two more years and that big of a gap in their ages does not line up with my plan at all! My mind has been busy trying to come up with another plan to fix the timing. Every type of thought ranging from "Maybe I should have a baby now before our adoption is complete" to "Let's look at the waiting child list" have been serious considerations in my mind as I try to fix my plan.

Last week, something changed. God spoke to me. I've heard people say that my whole life, but I've never understood or experienced it before. In the past, I've made decisions that went against everything I wanted because I knew through various other ways that it was what God wanted me to do, but I've never heard him speak to me before. I've even doubted others' stories because a part of me didn't think that kind of thing actually happened anymore. But it does happen. It did happen. It wasn't an audible voice. It wasn't a thought going through my head. I didn't see lights or fire or angels. I didn't hear harps playing or thunder booming. For lack of a better explanation, I heard the words in my soul, and I felt his peace in my heart. He was telling me to wait; to trust. There is a plan, I'm just not the one in control of it. In that split second, my fears, worries, questions, and doubts about the timing and my plan disappeared (and so far they haven't come back!).

In the days following, other things have reinforced the message that I'm supposed to wait on God's timing. The account of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar was brought to my mind. What a perfect example of how things got messed up because people took things into their own hands instead of trusting in God's timing. On top of that, here's one of the points from today's sermon at my church: "Jesus lived with the confidence of the Father's timing in his life, and I should too."

So, here's the new plan. It's not me trying to change my plan into Plan B or Plan C; it's not my plan at all. My plan is to wait because that is God's plan. God has called us to adopt. He has made it clear that it is to be at this time in our lives and from this particular country. He knows who our son is going to be. He knows when our son will become a part of our family. For the first time in this process, I can honestly say that my plan is to wait on God's timing. Whenever it is - I know it will be right.   

Taking the Stage

After much planning, Emma Lee and Kerri put on quite the ballet performance (complete with live musical accompaniment and a "fancy" wardrobe) for me yesterday. At the end, Emma Lee decided to give an impromptu song that she made up as she went along. At the last second, I decided to video it - so glad I did. Andy and I sure got enough laughs out of it last night (safely away from little eyes and ears who would think we were making fun of her great talent!). So, without further ado . . . Emma Lee Johnson singing, "Princess"
Emma Lee Singing from Michaella Johnson on Vimeo.
*Disclaimer: Emma Lee and I recently had a conversation about heaven and hell, which I'm afraid partially inspired a portion of her song. ;)

Little Things

Dancing feet,

leaf rubbings,

   

and an organized spice cabinet: 

Today, it's the little things that are making me happy.