Merry Christmas!

We wanted to wish all our faithful blog readers a Merry Christmas!

We are back in the States after a fairly uneventful trip. The kids were champs (thanks for your prayers!). Tricia, as she was trying to make sure she had all the kids with her, left her purse on the airplane in Zurich. They wouldn't let us get back on because of security reasons, so we had to leave Switzerland without it. Now they say that they found it and it made it to Chicago, but because of the holidays no one is answering the phone there! Hopefully we can get it after Christmas, but at least we know that it wasn't stolen!

It has been very hard coming back to the States, knowing that this time we are not returning to Africa after the holidays. Jeremy will be going again in January to help with the training of new missionaries, but the rest of the family will stay put. Please keep us in your prayers as we are getting readjusted to our home culture, which is of course very different from the one we lived in for the last three years. Jake is missing his friends from the complex, especially his best friend Manny, and also missing his friends and teachers from his school, Happy Hearts. It will be hard during this transition but we keep telling him it will be better once we get settled down.

The nice thing is that we are all distracted from our "home sickness" by all our friends and family we haven't been able to see for so long. It has been nice spending time with everyone! We are thankful for our family and friends that have been very supportive and thoughtful during our time of transition. Please keep praying for us!

Of course, all of these little "life" concerns pale in comparison to the significance of the event we celebrate tomorrow. Our hope is that among all of the presents, food, family and fun that we remember that into the messy stables of our lives (he didn't require the Four Seasons!) came a Savior... what a cause for celebration!

Once again, thanks for all of your prayers and support during our three-year term as missionaries. We will have a couple more updates, and then will transition to a new blog about our life in the US (we will make sure to post the link here). In the meantime, have a very merry Christmas, and please pray for Jeremy to find the job that God has waiting on him and a smooth transition for our family.

Gloria in excelsis deo!

The Johnson Five

So much going on!

We haven't blogged about our trip to Cape Town or of Jake's end of year concert and awards. Here are some pictures.

Ryan was just happy to sit back and watch, when we put his feet in the ocean he did a crazy growling noise, we figured he would rather just relax on the towel.

Katie really enjoyed the sand and ocean, she didn't want to get out.

Jake having fun swimming with the penguins. Man, this kid has had so many wonderful experiences. (Notice the penguin posing for the camera)

Kids at the beach.

Jake touching a starfish at the Two Oceans aquarium.

The torture chamber in the Castle we visited in Cape Town.

Babies playing at Mineral World. We had to keep dummies (pacifiers) in so that they wouldn't eat the rocks.

Jake is looking for the perfect rocks to fill his bag and Mineral World.

He was the best little pirate at his concert.

He won a trophy. ("what he always dreamed of") It was for the best swimmer in each class. His teacher was great and Jake really liked him. Thanks, Uncle John!

This will most likely be the last post we do before returing to the States. We have alot of work to to before we leave on the 15th. We are very sad to be leaving Africa and all our friends. There has been alot of tears around here as we close down our lives in South Africa and prepare for the move. Jake is having a really hard time with leaving. He is such a special kid in the way he makes such deep friendships at just the age of 5. His friends have been crying to their parents telling them they must also move with Jake to the States. At school they gave him a certificate, he won the Best Buddy award. We are so proud of him for having so many great friends but that just makes it REALLY hard for him to go. Please pray for him as he goes through a very tramatic experience in leaving his "favorite place in the world" and all of his "hundreds of best friends".

The babies don't have any friends but sure do love the lady that comes to babysit sometimes and also helps us with a little cleaning. Here are a couple of pictures.

Everytime you think of us, please pray for all the things we are dealing with right now. Here are a few but I am sure you all can think of more.

1. Job hunt

2. Jakes coping with leaving

3. Our coping with leaving

4. Safe travels

5. Flying with all three on a 20 hour flight

6. Getting our shipment off and all things packed up.

Thanks for praying!

Until next time,

The Johnson Five

Thanks for the Prayers!

Jake is home and his surgery was successful. Apparently, Jake will continue to have ear problems, most kids grow out of it, but the Doc said that Jakes ears are bad and don't seem to be getting better with age. So once we are back to the States we will still have to keep getting him checked out and watch for more hearing loss. Jake is in a little pain but is still enjoying himself. We rented three movies for him and he is enjoying popsicles and lots of juice. Thanks for your prayers.

Prayer Request

Just wanted to let you all know that Jake will be having surgery tomorrow (Wed. at about 1pm South Africa time). He is having trouble hearing and has lost 30 percent of his hearing. This is the third time he is getting grommets(tubes) put in so hopefully this is the last time. Please pray for the doctors and for Jake as this is a little scary for him.
We have lots of pictures to post, just no time to post them. We hope to get some up before this weekend.