Lots of Fun!

This last week has been quite busy. Jeremy is in Kenya working with communications equipment and this left Tricia home by herself for the first time since the twins have been born. Now granted, she takes care of everything by herself during the day normally, but this has been four days now. The worst part is first thing in the morning when all three kids are starving and one of the babies is crying because they have to wait their turn. The next most difficult time is right before bed when everyone is very tired and not wanting to tolerate Mommy taking too long to get them to bed. Jake is a big help but he has his limits also. We are all looking forward to when we are all back together and on our smooth schedule again.

While Daddy was in Kenya, Jake's school had a fun walk. Jake worked really hard doing chores for neighbors and raised R100 (about 11 dollars).

The crew Tricia walked with for the Fun walk.

Jake and some friends after the walk.

Jake and his girlfriend Gabby.

Jake and his friend Emmanuel showing off their medals they received for completing the walk.

Next are pictures taken over the last week around the house. The babies are 7 1/2 months now. Katie is finally sitting by herself and has her first tooth. Ryan does really well holding himself up while on his tummy but has a long way before he sits by himself. The therapy is going well but it will just take him some time.

It is amazing how one little toy can keep all three entertained.

Cuddling before bed.

I had to take this picture because this is how Ryan looks most of the time. He likes to have his bib in his mouth. So funny!

I asked Jake what he learned at school today and he said, "I learned how to make glasses from pipe cleaners". We think that is a very valuable skill.

Katie relaxing in her boat, reading.

Please Pray:

1. For Jeremy's safety while in Kenya and during his travels back to Joburg.

2. For Ryan, as we are trying to figure out how to get him caught up physically.

3. For all of us as we deal with packing and selling things.

4. For Jake's emotional state during this big move, he is very nervous and sad to be leaving South Africa.

Jake's Quote:

Jake: "Mom I feel like I need to cry now because I don't want to leave South Africa and all my friends"

Tricia: "Go ahead and cry, it will make you feel better. I am going to go to your school and take lots of pictures of your friends so you can always remember them."

Jake: "No, you can't Mom, because I have hundreds of friends."

Until next time,

The Johnson Five

Haircuts!!!

Tricia's expertise of cutting hair has its limits. There is either the really short cut done with the clippers, or she can do minor trims as it is growing longer. Once it gets too long, it is out of her league. Jake's hair was longer than it has ever been before and it was either a minor trim or a massive cut. We think this time he needed more than a minor trim. We like to call it a "summer cut"... so out came the clippers. Ryan didn't escape the fun, and got his first hair cut also. Lots of fun around the Johnson house!

Jake loves that he can spike his new 'do.

Katie is holding Ryan's hand, giving him moral support before the big hair cut.

Ryan before his cut.

He is getting a little nervous.

He got his bangs cut and realized that he isn't having fun.

I don't think he likes his new haircut.

But... he really did enjoy wearing the haircutting cape!

Until Next Time,

The Johnson Five

Lots of new pictures, enjoy!!!

If you have been following our blog for a long time, you have heard about Lindi. She is a little girl from an orphange that we volunteer at. Jake loved her when he first met her. He thought she was the cutest baby there. She is now three and living in a foster home. The lady that is fostering her is the music minister at our church. Every Sunday we would go pick Lindi up from the orphange and bring her to church. Cathy, the music minister, fell in love with her too. We are so happy that now she is living with Cathy and we still get to see her every Sunday. Jake has been begging to have her over to play again so here are a few pictures from her visit last Saturday.

We took the babies to the doctor this week for a regular checkup. Katie is doing great and staying on track for a preemie baby. However, Ryan is still giving us trouble. While at the visit the doc diagnosed him with asthma. He also thinks it is best to send him for some extra help from a neurophysiotherapist. Katie is behind appropriately for a premie but Ryan is even more behind than that. Ryan keeps us on our toes with the medical stuff while Katie keeps us on our toes with her behavior. :)

Katie trying to escape her bouncy seat.

Jake and his friends all wearing goggles to play in the sprinkler.

Katie modeling her new outfit from Don and Cheryl at the Spanish Church in KC. They also sent outfits for Jake and Ryan but it has been hard to get them all in their outfits at the same time. Someone is always needing to be changed. Thanks for the Chiefs outfits, soooo cute!

Just relaxing, they sure do love each other.

Ryan and Jake cuddling before bed.

Ministry Update:
World Mission Communications is partnering with our French Equatorial Field on a DVD of a drama geared towards children at the end of this month, which is an exciting project. We also have gotten approval to proceed with finishing our animated DVD of the Articles of Faith StudyMap. This is a the teaching tool that the Africa Region is using both for evangelism and discipleship purposes. It uses graphics to teach the Articles of Faith. The creator of the AOF StudyMap is also working on a series of StudyMaps to teach the entire Bible, book by book. It really works too! It has been an awesome tool that we hope to teach other regions (including the US) to utilize.

Prayer Requests:

1. Prayer for the millions of things we need to do to close out our time here.

2. Ryans health: his eating problems, his asthma, and his physical delays.

Jake's Quote of the Week:

"Feel my finger, it feels so soft. It feels so soft because it loves people."

Until Next Time,

The Johnson five

Long awaited pictures

Sorry it has taken so long to post. I wanted to quickly get some pictures posted but we will do an actual update soon.

Our little fish

Katie doesn't stay on the playmat very long, Ryan tries to hold on to her with all his might.

Thank you for all your prayers, keep them coming.

Love,

The Johnson Five