Wow, 4th Post In July Already!!!

We have been so bad lately about posting blogs, but we already have four in for this month! I guess that is a sign that we are getting the hang of having three kids now. We can't believe how this month is flying by. The winter here is more than halfway over already. The month of August is really windy here, it is the strangest thing, but we know once the wind comes then it begins to warm up. We can't complain about the weather though, because it is beautiful all year round. We get to enjoy being outside in the parks even in the winter.

Quick update:

Ryan still is having trouble taking his bottles so we now feed him a teaspoon of rice cereal everyday and it is making a world of difference. He is still classified as "failure to thrive" but is now on the upswing, we feel. As you can see, he doesn't like the cereal either, but is a champ about eating it anyway.

The babies are really into putting their hands in their mouths! It makes it difficult to take pictures when you have to constantly pull their hands out of the way!

Here is a picture where I actually got them both smiling at the same time but now I have to get them to smile and look at the camera at the same time. Maybe in a year from now...

Jake's Quote of the Week

"I just can't stop loving Katie! I think I should have her as a stuffed animal."

Prayer Requests

1. Jake would like you all to pray for his cough. He has had a bad cough all winter. We think it is an allergy thing to have lasted this long. He is getting really tired of having a cough.

2. Please pray that we are always listening and open to Gods direction in our lives.

3. Please pray for Pastor Madela and the Africa Trinity Church of the Nazarene.

4. Please pray for Ryan as we are still battling with his eating problems and weight.

Until next time,

The Johnson Five

"Oh Say Can You See...

...by the dawns early Nkosi (Zulu word for God)", repeat at least 5 times and this is Jake's version of the Star Spangled Banner. I think he needs some work. He knows the South African national anthem (Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika) and has started to learn the American national anthem but has gotten a little mixed up. So we had a fun time playing with sparklers, having a cook out at another missionary's house and listening to Jake signing this song. We thought, "This is a true missionary kid, combining two anthems in one!" Hope you all had a nice 4th. Here are a couple pictures of our celebration.







The babies slept through the celebration but here is a picture from the 4th also. I tried for a long time to get them both to smile, this face is the only one that I could get that they were doing the same thing. I will settle for it, for now.




Until next time,
The Johnson Five

Fun with Grandma Cont'd

Well, we all got a little spoiled while Tricia's mom was here. She helped a lot around the house and with the kids. Thanks Mom for all of your help!

Jake had a really hard time seeing her go. She had been sleeping in his room for the past month, so not only did he cry for a really long time after she left, but the crying started all over again when he had to go to bed and he didn't have his MawMaw to sleep with him. He had a lot of fun and made a lot of memories.

This past month, Jeremy made a trip to the States to promote a project (Study Maps) that the Africa Region is working on. It was really tough having him away, but he was able to accomplish a lot in the week and a half he was gone. It looks like the project will be able to get off the ground, which will be good for Africa and the Church of the Nazarene as a whole! When Jeremy got back to South Africa he couldn't believe the changes in the babies, mainly that Ryan had a lot more hair and Katie had a lot less :)

Please keep Ryan in your prayers! He has recently been losing weight, as he is not eating well. They labeled him "failure to thrive" and are looking to see what is going on. The initial tests all came back okay, so now we just wait and see if he snaps out of this soon or if we will have to begin some more testing. He is an active baby and is so full of smiles, but is just really having trouble eating. Please remember him in your prayers that this soon resolves itself.

Until next time,

The Johnson Five

Fun with Grandma

Grandma and Katie hanging out.

We watched this giraffe for quite a long time. He was just sticking around the watering hole.

It was thinking, "Don't you have something better to do?"

It is really hard getting both babies to smile at the same time. One of these days I will get it.