Gabriel's gift

In the midst of all my gift-making for family and friends, I received a special hand-made gift from my nephew, Gabriel. He's been getting really creative with a certain type of craft, which you'll see below. I think it's great!

From the moment we arrived that day at his house, he kept mentioning that he was still working on a gift and that I was not to go into a certain part of the house. Then, after a long day of playing and hanging out, it was time to open presents. Gabriel's eagerness could not hold out any longer, so I was the first one to receive a gift--his gift of love.

He did some wood burning on a frame, and I love it!

On it, it says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart," Proverbs 3:5. This is one of my favorite verses.

Thank-you, Gabriel...I will treasure this gift always!

He also made some ornaments for a few others, including this one for Quentin. Isn't it awesome?

Coming up...one last gift I made for each family...I can't believe I forgot about this...it is SO. MUCH. FUN!!!

Christmas traditions, old and new

I love traditions, don't you? Here, I will share things that we've enjoyed doing the last couple of years, and then I'll share two new traditions we've begun with the girls during Christmas. I know this is kind of late, but with our trip to TN, and getting back into the swing of things, I'm now getting back into writing again. So, enjoy the next several posts with Christmas goodies and gifts we made. Perhaps you can tuck away the ideas and use them for other celebrations and next Christmas.:)

Last year, we began the tradition of having the girls choose out their own ornament for the year. Their name and year are written on each one, so that they'll have a collection of their own when they are grown. This year, we bought them at a thrift store for 99 cents each! Little S chose the horse and Alyzza chose the sparkly bunch of grapes (below).

Christmas lights around town are so much fun, aren't they? We went to Boulder to see this spectacular showcase of trees:

And now for the new ones...I heard about a "Journey to Bethlehem" event at one of my M.O.P.S. meetings and knew that we should go. It was held at the church where we have our meetings. I put it in as one of our advent calendar activities, too.

If you haven't been to something like this, search for one in your community. We experienced the story of Christmas, and the girls got to enjoy some fun things, too. Alyzza loved the headdress and the clay ornament she got to make!

This stocking was a fun idea that came together between me and Alyzza. It's called "Stocking Mail." We wrote notes to each other and passed them by placing them in the stocking and hanging it on each other's doorknob. It was always a great surprise!

What traditions do you enjoy with your family? I'd love to hear about them!

Our new advent calendar

This new advent calendar was created by putting together ideas from two different sources. The looks of it, made from a mini muffin pan, came from Family Fun Magazine (of course!:). It is sooo cute; we just love it! 

For the circles, I used leftover Christmas wrap from last year. Then I glued them onto magnetic sheets. The circle magnets that cover the holes are approximately 2-1/2 inches in diameter, but you might want to measure your tin to see if this measurement works. You want to cover the holes completely, but you don't want a lot of overlap between all of the circles. I stamped numbers onto the smaller circles made from scrap booking paper. They measure about an inch in diameter. 

Here's a look at this fun project....

The directions say to fill each hole with a trinket, candy or fun thing to do. While I like those ideas, I also wanted things that were meaningful....meaning that I didn't want to fill it up mostly with candy and trinkets!

I started thinking about the Christmas traditions that we like to do and wondered if those could be put into this calendar. Then, Money Saving Mom  shared with her readers a sale on a DVD and pdf book. For only $10 including shipping, I bought the Why Do We Call it Christmas? dvd and the book, Everyday Emmanuel from this website. 

The book is mostly comprised of ideas on how to celebrate advent by focusing on the real meaning of Christmas and making precious family memories. Using some of their ideas, I listed 24 things that I wanted to do with my family this season. Some only take a few minutes during the day, while a few are fun outings and projects to do together. The girls will still get a treat here and there with the piece of paper that says what we'll do, but it isn't the focus. I like that they look forward to each day's event, but they're not getting too hyper with that upcoming party or event. It's always a "last minute" surprise and it's great!:)

Here are the things we have already begun or will do. If you know our girls and see them regularly, please don't tell them! Shhhhh......


1. Christmas party put on by our foster care agency
2. What God Wants for Christmas, part 1 (an interactive nativity by Family Life Publishing)
3. Buy the girls their Christmas ornament for the year
4. Give mailman a holiday treat
5. What God Wants for Christmas, part 2
6. See the Christmas lights in our community
7. Go to Journey to Bethlehem (an event put on by the church that hosts our M.O.P.S. group)
8. Make gifts for school teacher, nursery workers and MOPS teachers with girls
9. What God Wants for Christmas, part 3
10. Finish making presents and wrap gifts while listening to Christmas music
11. Watch new Christmas movie, Why Do We Call it Christmas?
12. What God Wants for Christmas, part 4
13. Dad and Alyzza have a coin club Christmas party/I will help Little S buy presents for family
14. Play Christmas game/Uno
15. Build paper nativity set and/or decorate church reception hall for party on Sunday
16. What God Wants for Christmas #'s 5 and 6
17. Alyzza's Christmas program at school
18. Put on a Christmas puppet show
19. Make treats for neighbors
20. Christmas caroling and give treats to neighbors and possibly shut-ins
21. Our Christmas (we are going to TN in a few days....)
22. Drink yummy peppermint hot chocolate
23. What God Wants for Christmas, #7
24. Special activity to do on the plane trip to TN (probably a busy bag or activity book)

Other ideas can include....playing together in the snow (we just haven't had any in a while, but probably will put it in and take something out of my list), make snow ice cream, read a Christmas book, etc. We have begun reading Christmas books when we do our reading time, since we have so many to choose from, and it's fun to read them all during this time of year.

So, there you have it! A fun new way to do an advent calendar while keeping it meaningful, inexpensive and full of family fun!

More to come on some of the projects and recipes we will be doing as part of this calendar's events....stay tuned....

Our Thanksgiving Weekend

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone...and that the Christmas season is here! Here are some fun activities and crafts we did over the Thanksgiving holiday.

I found these paper place mats at Target for the girls to do before breakfast one morning. They had fun coloring the turkey, doing a maze, unscrambling words and writing down what they were thankful for.

Of course, Little S just scribbled away (we didn't know what she was writing, but I'm sure she did). She had a crayon in one hand while holding a spoon in the other!

Alyzza made this costume at school and had fun wearing it all weekend.

I don't remember what spurred this idea on, but I ended up doing a quick craft for Q and Alyzza. I made these rubber band shooters out of dowels and clothespins (a fantastic idea from Family Fun). They had a blast, and of course, some of us got caught in the middle of it all (I need to make one for myself, too!)

a close up view of this fun, handmade toy

I found this banner at Target, too. A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, we started these links of thankfulness.:) It was fun to see what the girls would say. Little S said she was thankful that Jesus gave her water and then said almost the same thing about milk the next day. It was too cute!

Little S and I went on a short walk and gathered the best pine cones we could find.  I made this trio of owls for her. She chose the craft out of a fall-themed Family Fun book that my secret sister at MOPS gave me. Alyzza chose the craft below out of the same book. If you haven't noticed already, I really like Family Fun. It is the source of so many of our creative endeavors around here.:)

Here is Alyzza's pilgrim pal. We started off working together, but then I had to finish it later because we ran out of time. He is made out of a toilet paper tube, felt, yarn, pipe cleaners, colored paper and a bit of aluminum foil.

On Thanksgiving morning, Q read the story of Squanto to the girls (and yes, that's a bow in Daddy's hair, compliments of Alyzza).

After nap time, we drove to Loveland to have Thanksgiving dinner with Q's cousin and her family. This acorn squash with beet soup was the appetizer. After that, we had so many dishes to choose from to complete our meal. And of course, we kept some room in our bellies to enjoy some pie. We all had a fun time together and hope to get together again before too long.

A family tradition we have is to set up the Christmas tree and decorations the day after Thanksgiving. The girls were so excited and helped Daddy put the ornaments on, while I put out some of the other things. Do you want to see how it all turned out?

Come back soon and find out!:)

The Little Nativity Family

Last week, we did another craft at our M.O.P.S. group. Because we wouldn't meet up again until after Thanksgiving...and some of us like to decorate for Christmas the day after that, I thought it would be a good idea to make this little wooden spool nativity set:

 Some of you have seen a couple of the other sets that I've made in the past, so this one isn't much different. It took me a few tries to realize that the best fabric for the head coverings was felt. We also used fine-tipped Sharpie markers for the head details and used the yarn for the bodies.

I found this stable at the Dollar Tree right before we did our craft, so it was a neat thing to show the ladies how they can complete their set. I made a star out of craft foam and glued it on the top. You can also add some animals from a barnyard play set, as well as other wooden people to represent the shepherds and angels.

For the most part, I thought the craft went well. I had to set up the steps on two tables, so the ladies made their sets in assembly-line fashion. I only wish that we had more time though and that I could have set up more glue guns to keep the line going faster; those were the main problems that I did not foresee or have control over...oh well. However, the last group that went had ladies who were so understanding and they loved the craft so much they thought they could enjoy making it at home with their kids. That made me happy.:)

The girls have played with our set a couple of times already. Little S loves the baby Jesus story already and enjoys singing, "Away in a Manger." Two days ago, she played with the set and lost baby Jesus, so we'll hope and pray he returns to the stable soon!:)

Coming up soon...Thanksgiving activities this year....and as time permits some random Christmas gift and organization ideas! Stay tuned....

Alyzza's Adoption Day Celebration!

I thought it was about time to reveal pictures of the day when we finalized Alyzza's adoption. All of these pictures came from my sister-in-law, Abigail, so I'd like to give a special thanks to her for these. The pictures also show mostly family, and those which did not include Little S (they were sooo cute, but still can't show you her face on this blog). Anyway, here's the story of Alyzza's Adoption Day:

After a half-day of school, Q went to pick Alyzza up to bring her back home to get ready to leave. We needed to drive an hour away to Fort Collins for the hearing, so after lunch we had a time of rest and getting dressed up to go. Alyzza chose this fancy dress, given to her by her cousin, Annalina, to wear. We also gave her a couple of gifts from us, and revealed to her a special gift from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson. See that beautiful necklace she's wearing? It has her new initials on one side and the date of adoption on the other. It was such a thoughtful gift and one that she'll keep forever.

Two sweet girls just hanging out--Alyzza Joy and Annalina Joy! :)

More cousins....Gabriel, Alyzza, Annalina, Carson and Ross

Daddy and her big girl

After our waiting time in the lobby, we went inside the court room. Besides Alyzza's caseworker and lawyer, also joining us were Abigail and her kids and our friend, Shannon, and her boys. They sat in the jury section as they watched. It was neat to see that the majority of our "audience" were children.

The judge asked us a few questions,

then had us check over some paperwork to make sure all of our names and things were correct. He was so down-to-earth and friendly. We could tell that he loves kids and that he enjoys doing these hearings.

He shook Alyzza's hand to congratulate her, then he gave her a special certificate.

We hugged when it was all done....it was finally official! What an awesome feeling. I've never given birth to a child before, but I'm sure my feelings that day were pretty much the same to those who have. I didn't know whether to cry or jump up and down with excitement.:)

The jury (aka my fabulous nephews and niece!)

me with the youngest of the crew, cutie pie, Jedidiah

Alyzza having a great time with Carson

After the hearing, we headed to a park nearby where Q had reserved a shelter. We ate some yummy chicken fingers from Raising Cane's, then enjoyed a piece of cake. Several other friends from our church here and from our former church in Fort Collins joined us in celebrating this special day with us. All of them have prayed and cried with us during this time of adding children into our family.

Thanks again to all of you who have prayed with us as well. Through this I have realized that God always has the perfect plan in each of our lives. If it hadn't been for my roller coaster of physical adversities and miscarriages, Alyzza may have never been a part of our family. We can't wait to join Little S and perhaps others to the Johnson household. Please continue to keep Alyzza in your prayers during this time of adjustment as well as the situation that is holding back Little S's adoption. We appreciate it!:)

So, where have I been?

In recent weeks, I have been emailed by a few friends asking where I have been lately. I'm sure you've all noticed my absence on this blog that has lasted longer than I anticipated--six months to be exact! 

This momma has been busy with life in general. In these last several months, there has been heart ache, answer to prayer, celebrations, transitions, and tons of organization around the house! We have seen the girls grow in many areas and we've grown as a family. Here are some highlights to catch you up on everything!

1.  In March, we celebrated A's one-year anniversary! Although it was a joyous time in our eyes, for her it was a struggle because it brought back memories and some uncertainties in her heart. So, this brought me tons of heart ache. Lots of tears on both ends left me wondering if I could handle being a foster mom any more. Parenting is a hard job, but when you are dealing with a five-year-old who has had lots of scars in her life, it makes this job even harder. We prayed lots (and continue to do so) during the spring and summer for things to smooth out with her.

2.  Crafting has become a rare occasion around here, but instead, I've been organizing many areas of our home. It started with the girls' rooms and now, I'm working on the basement. Although A's room is decorated, Little S' room is not so much. The basement has come a long ways, but it is so worth it. I have boxes of kids' clothing all labeled, which is what the majority of the stuff is down there. This spring, we switched rooms with Little S', so my room isn't feeling very homey yet. My sewing machine is set up, but I have yet to figure out how I'm going to set up notions and such.

3.  In May, we heard about a glitch in Little S' adoption process. Even though it is something beyond our control, we are determined to prayerfully get it settled so we can move ahead and adopt her. I can't go into any details here, but if you think of it, can you pray for this situation? We should know more specifics in October.

4.  We went to California for a conference and family vacation in June. While Q and I went to sessions designed especially for those in ministry, the girls had child care workers who kept them busy with lots of fun stuff to do. A huge highlight of that time was for A to meet Patch the Pirate! We even took a picture with him. Then, after a few days, we headed up north to be with my side of the family. Everyone there fell in love with the girls. We had so much fun doing things around the Bay Area and just hanging out together.

5.  In July, we began getting things ready for A to start school. We enrolled her in a Christian school knowing that her adoption day was close. At the end of July, we received an email saying that the finalization of adoption was happening on August 21. It was also Little S' 2nd birthday! So, on that day, we celebrated her joining our family. We had Q's sister and family and some close friends join us in the court room. Then, we had a party at a park nearby with some additional folks who have prayed during this journey. Thanks to all of you who have prayed for this day to happen. She has been our daughter for over a year, but in the eyes of the state, she has been our daughter for almost a week now. Continue to pray for us as we go through some "growing pains" post-adoption. Lots of conversations and tears have already happened, but at least now we all know she's here for keeps.:)

And now, may I introduce to you Miss A, who we've kept her first name the same, but we've changed her middle name to Joy (named after Aunt Abigail and cousin Annalina who share the same name!:)

Here's Alyzza Joy Johnson....

We could not share her name or picture up until now because of foster care regulations. I will have more pictures and details about her adoption day later. For now, I hope I've caught you all up on what's happening in the Johnson household and given you additional things to pray for.  Love you all.--Theo

The Thankful Tree

We started a new tradition in our house this year for the Thanksgiving season. We have a thankful tree on our dining room wall. It is not complete yet, but hope to have more thankful hands on it before the month is over.

I used brown packaging paper to make the tree and wrote "The Thankful Tree" on it as well as First Thessalonians 5:18 ("In everything give thanks....). Then, on most days after lunch we trace one of our hands and write something we're thankful for. It's been an encouragement to me in so many ways. I have been delighted to see A get so into it. In fact, she has written a few of them herself. My heart smiled after I asked her what one of them said. She said, "I'm thankful for you, Theo." :)

What traditions do you have for Thanksgiving? I'd love to hear about them!:)

Snow fluff cookies

As mentioned in my previous post, we got our first big snow of the year. It was really cute to hear A talk about how it was Jesus' birthday and suggest making gingerbread cookies. She immediately associated the winter scene outside with Christmas. I had to explain to her that the holidays weren't for a while yet. She was disappointed as she cannot wait for Christmas.

This snow picture right outside our door was so beautiful and peaceful. Hard to think that it was so much warmer just a couple of days before this happened!

Remember the mobile I told you about? It has a completely different look with the snow in the back ground.

We began a tradition in our house a few years ago that involves the first day of snow. We make cookies and drink hot chocolate. Now with kids, this day is even more fun. I have enjoyed making snowball cookies, but this year I chose to do something different. By looking in a couple of cookbooks, I came across a recipe for snowfluff cookies. Another recipe called them cornflake kisses. No matter what you call them, they are perfect for this special day.

A and I used the recipe in this Mix and Fix Cookbook (published by Parents Magazine years ago). This book has been mine since I was a young girl. Flipping through the pages has brought back memories of making some of these recipes.

Here's the recipe where it's called cornflake kisses:

2 egg whites

2 cups cornflakes

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

1 cup dry shredded coconut

1. Beat the egg whites until they are stiff.

2. Gradually add the sugar, and keep beating!

3. Gently fold in the other ingredients, just barely mixing everything together.

4. Drop the batter onto a greased cookie sheet, a teaspoonful at a time.

5. Bake in a moderate oven (325 degrees) for 12 minutes.

Makes 30 small kisses.

After lunch, Q and A went sledding for a while. When they returned they were drenched, but had such a good time together. We all sat down to eat snowfluff cookies and drink hot chocolate. This is such a neat tradition for us to continue with the kids.:)

Fall Leaf Mobile

I began this post last night while it was still looking like fall. Snow began falling tonight so tomorrow will look more like winter has arrived. It may not be the case where you live and you can still enjoy the gorgeous colors of autumn for some time.

A and I put together this fun decoration a few weeks ago to celebrate this season. If you have some leaves right outside your door and you'd like to preserve them, this is a great project to use them for.

I found this idea in last month's edition of Family Fun Magazine. After you press your leaves in a large book for a couple of days, place them between two pieces of clear contact paper. Cut around them, leaving a small border. Punch holes, tie a string to each, then hang them from a branch. We found our branch near our garden then taped it to the curtain rod. When the sun shines these leaves really glow. It's amazing!

Take time to enjoy this wondrous season God has given us. He is the Master Painter of the universe!:)

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad Johnson!

At the end of our vacation, there was a little surprise for my in-laws. Their 45th wedding anniversary was soon approaching, so Q and his siblings decided to honor them in a special way. Since Abigail and her family were now in Colorado, this was going to be the location of the surprise anniversary bash. She and her family worked hard to decorate, cook a meal and add some unique touches to the evening.

When we walked in with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson, we saw this sign:

Her kids traced their hands and colored in their hand prints. I love all the colors in their sign.:)

This was the kids' table....

The flowers in this centerpiece were so pretty....

This was the adult table....

Abigail put some gorgeous flowers into two vases. The vases showed pictures of everyone in the family.

After a fabulous turkey dinner, it was time for dessert. My in-laws were told to close their eyes for something BIG....

That two-layer cake was quite the surprise for them! One layer had bavarian cream, while the other had raspberries and chocolate. Blackberries adorned the cake beautifully.

This event was so special to them. I'm so glad they enjoyed it. I'm thankful that they have been married for all those years....what a great accomplishment and an example to all of us.