My Wonderful Weekend

Above, is a poem that Scott wrote for my 22nd birthday.
It made me cry.

As you can tell, i just woke up. And i woke up to all these candles below.

With 22 licorice sticks spelling "I Love You"

And we got to go to fireworks the night before.

He made me this picture album with 22 pictures in it.

It was a special birthday.

This fireworks show is the biggest in North America. Louisville does it to celebrate the beginnign of the Kentucky derby.

And below is our visit to Southern Seminary.

We absolutely loved it, and we're making plans to attend the seminary in the fall.

Scott really like the library.

Answer to Prayer

Below was posted by my sister Janelle Johnson about her precious kids. Please pray!

Yesterday, Jason and I were able to talk to the kids! It was so good to hear their sweet little voices, although they sound so different on the phone.

We talked to Kalynn first. She said she is honoring Jesus.

When we talked to Paul, he said "Mom, I'm sad, I miss you Mom."

We didn't talk to Preston much. He doesn't have the patience to be still and talk on the phone.

Courtney held the phone up to Anna's ear. She didn't say anything, but Courtney said she was waiving "bye bye" to us.

It was so good to hear their voices and be able to tell them how much we love them.

I talked to Courtney for a few minutes. She said everything is going "really well". Anna has an ear infection and is on an anti-biotic. The kids all leave really early in the morning for their daycare, and do not get home until after 6:00. (Courtney works full time and is also in nursing school.)

This morning, I got a phone call from Rayman Kilgore, the child service worker. He said he got a frantic call from Courtney at around 7:00 this morning. He couldn't understand her, because she sounded so upset. He said that Courtney and the kids are having a difficult transition. Courtney has called him numerous times, and has been very frustrated. He was going to call her back and remind her that she can "get out of this", but she seems very determined to do this for her cousin Karen.

Will you pray that the Lord will soften her heart to the idea of Jason and I adopting them? The kids need love, time, attention, and Christ. God knows, and I am so thankful to have hope in Him.

Good Memories

Scott drove all the way here from Rochester, MN to be my date at my highschool's senior banquet. i was a junior, he was a senior. My hair is hideous!

The above picture is the next time we saw each other after our little date in the Daily Grind in November 2001. This picture is January 2002.

This picture is july 4, 2002. Scott is standing like a foot away from me. We were still a little shy and awkward.

This is still summer of 2002 at leadership camp. Scott and I are in the front, and Jennie Borchardt is behind me. We really got to know each other that summer.

The above pic was my first time at Scott's house in Rochester. We had just gone golfing with Scott's sister Jodi and her husband Ryan.

This was Scott's favorite dog, Duke. Someday we'd like to get a German Shepherd.

Our First Date

This picture is the very first picture of Scott and I together, although i know we have a better one somewhere that we're both smiling in and looking at the camera actually. It was just after what you may call our first date in the Daily Grind. The date was November 13, 2001. It was our second time seeing each other. We met the previous summer at camp. Yes, we are a camp relationship that actually worked. I was 16, and he was 17. I was in volleyball camp, he was in soccer camp. Jodi, Scott's sister was the one that introduced us (thank you Jodi!). I remember shaking his hand, and though the sun was shining directly into my eyes I noticed his beautiful blue eyes. He was so gentle and sweet, I couldn't help but like him. That was basically all the communication we had that week. But two weeks later I received an e-mail from him. It was dated August 9th. I still have that special e-mail to this day. And from there we kept communication by e-mail. I remember longing to get the next e-mail from him. And then we got instant messenger, and we would chat for hours late into the night. So, the picture above was the next time I saw him, when he came with a group of prospective students from his highschool. I'll let the diary excerpt below tell the story:

11-13-01
It is already 12:00am but I cannot go to rest w/out writing a word of my wonderful day. First, I'll explain yesterday. Yesterday, Scott Mohler came w/ his youth group to visit Northland as a college. I saw him and Jodi at the Dining Hall and went to say hi. I was shaking and not much was said besides, "How are you?" and so forth. I went to sit where I was eatin and he never stopped by. I didn't know what to do b/c I couldn't let his visit go by w/o doing anything w/him. So I went to the rechall and saw him there. I asked him if he wanted to do somethin the next day. He said "yeah." and I called Jodi and set a time w/ her and met them at the coffee shop. He was sitting alone on a high table. It was so exciting. We then got a drink. We talked alone for a while and then Jodi came up. We talked a little more and then decided to go to the rest of the basketball game. There, Jodi bought some of us pom poms to cheer w/. Me and Scott sat together and waved our pom poms. It was really quite fun. Then after we tried to decide what to do and after swinging w/ the pom poms to hit the ping pong we went to the rechall to play fooseball. I played w/Scott for a while and then at 10:00 i had to call my mom. I had to go home at 10:30 and so we all just sat around and kind of talked. But thankfully I got a picture of us two together. Then i left as he gave me the pom pom. I only wish that this evening could last forever.

As you can tell, i was the outgoing one in the relationship, and Scott was kind of shy. I always tease Scott about how if it weren't for me being so outgoing that night, we wouldn't be together. But, actually it's because of him that we stayed together because of all the special things he did to win my heart.

Snowmobiling Season and Steven

Well, yesterday we went snowmobiling with Dad and Antonio. It was such a nice day for it. And here we are in our helmets. I'm actually wearing Marco's helmet. It actually fit me pretty good except that it squeezed my cheeks so much that I couldn't bite down.
Below is Scott, Dad , and Antonio. Dad just bought Marco and Antonio their own smaller snowmobile. We had fun following each other through the trails.

Aren't we the happy couple?

Below is a picture of one of my students from when I taught in China two summers ago. I think he's about 14 years old now. He recently wrote me an e-mail including this picture of himself. Isn't it so cute?

This is what he wrote:

"April:

Hi,I'm Steven.I have long time didn't talk to yo.u.I'm very miss you.Now The Chinese Spring Festival is coming.So I hope you are happy in the Cinese new year.Here are a photo for you.Do you think I'm cool and tall? Good bye.I hope you can happy every day. Your friend:Steven"

Miscallaneous Pics

I had to post a nice picture above to justify the one below. But I wanted to post the one below to see if any of you who have seen the show 24 think i look vaguely like Chloe O'Brien.

Now the one below is just an ad for the hormonal lip enhancers we've been taking. I think they're working.

The next few pictures are of my little brother Antonio. Somehow he got a hold of our camera. He took these of himself. I guess this could be an ad for muscle enhancers. What do you think?

What's with the dog?

Peace out!

Below are a few pictures of my tasty and delicious turtle caramels. They just melt in your mouth, that is after you stick them in the microwave for a few seconds because they turned out to be a little hard. It's not always easy to cook at just the right degree. They could easily be too soft or too hard depending on the temperature. I think i need a digital thermometer for some accuracy. Anyway, I love making caramels. Yesterday I made cappuccino caramels. They turned out pretty good. I don't even have to microwave them before eating. I must say that caramels are my weak spot, and Scott doesn't mind them either.

My Valentine!

I know this is a little bit after Valentine's Day, but I thought I'd still post some pictures. This was taken on that very special day. And below are the cards we exchanged. I must say that though I always heard married couples say that they love each other more than the day they got married, now I can say that myself as well. I love Scott so much, and I am so thankful for him. He always makes me feel so beautiful and special. He is always so patient with me. He is very handsome. But what means the most to me is his love for our great God. That means more than anything to me. That's what really makes me feel secure. I'm so thankful to God for the husband he has given me, and my prayer is that our marriage will speak the truth about the relationship between Christ and the Church. I pray that our marriage will send off a special aroma that speaks of Christ's love and the Church's submission to Him. The sad thing is that most marriages speak lies about Christ, maligning his word. And I'm so thankful that God has been working on me lately, showing me how His way is the only way to make a marriage work. My prayer is that God will mold me and shape me to be the Proverbs 31 woman for my husband. I have a long ways to go, but He has been working on me. I trust He will complete that work.

Safely Home

January 26th was the day that God chose to take Mr. Doolittle home. His memorial services was such an encouragement to me--to live the kind of life the Mr. Doolittle did. One thing that impacted me was the man of prayer that he was. I was one of their campus kids while in college and so he would always send me a regulary email telling me that he had prayed for me that day. I come to find out that he not only did that for his campus kids, but all the faculty and staff were blessed in that respect as well. What an encouragement it was to know that a godly man was praying for me. And now, as was expressed at his funeral, we feel greatly lacking without all his interceding on our behalfs.

Another amazing aspect I found out was that Mr. Doolittle never complained through out his cancer ordeal. Mrs. Doolittle was the witness of how he trusted God till death. It could be that his death impacted more people than his life ever could have.

The following is from their website:

The happiest day of Doug's life is the day of his death. "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain."

Doug is Safely Home with His Savior. He was welcomed into his new HOME on January 26, 2007 at 1:44 pm.

God's grace is more than sufficient for us still here.

We continue to rest in the fact that God is good....all the time.

In lieu of flowers, Doug has chosen to establish an endowment for the Missionary Apprentice Program because of the influence that his MAP experience had on his life. Doug went to Haiti to fulfill his MAP requirement in August of 1984. While in Haiti, Doug stayed with a missionary who had a computer, which was a novelty in that day. Doug quickly took to the computer and was even writing programs for games for the missionary kids. God has greatly used Doug's gift of working with computers for His honor and glory as Doug worked faithfully in the Technology Department at Northland Baptist Bible College beginning in January 2000. With his knowledge of computers, Doug could have made a large amount of money working a secular job but his heart's desire was to use his talents for the Lord and to be able to influence college students with his life. He definitely let his life touch life...in a quiet, strong way. He intended to stay at Northland and work in the Technology Department until retirement.

Continue to pray for Mrs. Doolittle, Lauranne, Wessley, and A.J. The youngest is only 2 years old.

Lauranne who is seven said that her daddy is in heaven with the other three children from previous miscarriages and her mommy is on earth with the other three children.

Our Prank on Ol' Daddio!

Well, this afternoon at Grandma's house, Antonio decided
to pull a little prank on Dad by writing on him while he was sleeping
in the living room. So we used a orange and blue highlighter to make
a really cute heart on his head. It was hard not to laugh, but we managed
to do it without waking him up. So this picture is of him after he looked in the
mirror and noticed it.

The boys decided to draw on him more. And Dad is so patient that he let them.

Do you think I take after my dad?

Here he is before he even knew he had it on his head.
He just woke up from his nap.