The Johnson Journal, online

a need to vent...

2010-04-26T11:54:00.001-07:00

can I just vent before i have to clean up all the messes that just occurred in the last half hour?

we were outside painting (Ev) and swinging (Nora) when the ice cream truck passes. these are year round here, and ev always gets excited to hear them, though we have never bought any ice cream from them. so, I thought we could have some ice cream.

as I'm preparing it, Ev doesn't make it to the toilet and Nora fills her diaper, and her cloth swing. ugh. at this point, im not going to keep from giving her the ice cream cone though we usually dont reward wetting herself. reminds me that i suggested she go to the potty moments earlier, but her big three year old self didn't think she needed to.

so anyway, on to cleaning up one mess, to another, to another-what was i thinking putting a clean outfit on Ev and handing her a dripping cone!!! hahahah. oh motherhood.

honestly though, I am so tempted to be bitter at my family when they make messes. Lord-you gotta help me! i know they're only babes, and i know i make lots of messes that you have to clean up too. you don't expect me to be perfect when i am unable to be, and i can't expect them to be either.

phew. deep breaths!

who has time..

2010-03-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

to blog?? i've done one post since nora's been born and i always feel like there's something more important to do! and it's quite depressing to see other moms on top of it. i feel like giving this up--i have been putting pictures on facebook, so maybe that's good enough. ugh, i hate feeling defeated.

our Mardi Gras

2010-02-16T19:49:00.000-08:00

Aaron is asleep in his recliner and the girls are down for the night, yet I'm still up and thinking.

Today was Mardi Gras, or I guess still is for many people partying in the French Quarter. This is our third here, and today we went to Baton Rouge to see a movie, if that tells you how excited we are about parades! But we had been talking about going to see the Princess and the Frog since before it came out and it had also been a reward for a potty chart for Everly.

Aaron and I might have enjoyed the movie more than Everly did. It was fun seeing an old New Orleans and the story line was creative and fun. The voodoo had a bigger role in it than I thought it might, but I was reminded that this is a reality and something that we can't just be blind to. Everly never likes the "bad people" (we call them) and afterward told me she forgot to leave and get a drink with Daddy during that part. Since we got popcorn and Sprite the first movie we took her too, she was a little confused why we didn't this time and was more worried about having snacks the whole time! Might be the last movie she goes to in a while! :)

It's kinda a long drive for a movie, so we also went to the new Cabela's up there. What a crazy huge store! We must have spent a couple hours there looking around, getting a snack at their cafe and feeding Nora. At one point Everly was drinking her prized strawberry drink and proudly pointing out all the animals we were walking by-I turned to Aaron and said that this was as good as Disney World to her. Many families go to Disney during Mardi Gras week here (no school!), so we're half way there-heheehh :)

The other place I wanted to be at today was Jackson, MS, where our friends Adam and Heather received their new baby boy, Jadon Paul. He was born on Feb. 4th and they got a call last Thursday that there was a baby to be adopted as they were traveling to visit some friends in Mobile and then on to us. So, they ditched us in order to go home and get ready for their first baby! I am in awe of their hearts-not just that they adopted, but that they did it in such a way that they were flexible, open to whomever God brought, and are able to focus on loving Jadon w/out having a complete nursery in order or everything else figured out. Jadon, by the way, is Hebrew for God hears-this little boy has some awesome parents and is going to be so blessed by them. my heart is just melting and aching too as i miss my beloveds... (a little Beth Moore in me :)

well, that was our day. we all got on the floor and played tonight after a simple soup and bread dinner. read a chapter in a new "chapter book" (as we call them) to Everly--trying to expand her imagination and attention span i suppose! im enjoying the simple things. i wish this day off w/aaron could go on longer. he's in bed now. i guess i'll turn in too. night :)

3 months later and...

2009-12-23T05:18:00.000-08:00

well, it's been 3 months since we've blogged. i didn't realize how little i would be able to get done around the holidays with a new born and 2 year old!

Nora at 1 week old

in all the craziness, though, we are enjoying life right now. Nora Amelia is just precious. she was born on October 29th at 2:42 pm, and was a big new born at 8lb, 11oz. and 21 inches long! she is gaining about 2 lbs a month, and is long too--she fills 3-6 month clothes now! we love her brown hair and blue eyes that haven't changed yet, and she loves to talk and smile--just a perfect, precious baby!

a recent photo: this didn't last long, but i thought it was super cute!

Everly is doing well-no crazy outbursts but you can sense that she is a little attention hungry, but then again, she has always loved getting attention, especially when friends come over! she's also getting more used to Nora and likes giving her kisses from time to time, or watching tv together ;) and, the BIG news is that Everly is potty trained!!!! we started again just two weeks ago and she knew exactly what to do! i'm so glad that all my hard work from last summer was not lost! yay! :)

What a big girl! cutting coupons after dance with mommy

I just got back from a little retreat with the ladies in our community. there were 20 of us, with a few from different circles outside of the gathering, so it was a lot of fun! we looked at the Hebrew word Selah-which means to stop, listen and measure. it was also very refreshing- no kids and I got to take some walks in nature! ahhh... :)

i should probably give an update on aaron, though i feel like he could do that better! he is still focused on finishing the building. some returning volunteers just got here today. he has seen some awesome ways that the Lord continues to provide for that-including donated heating and air units, and someone challenging our community to provide the rest of the plumbing $ with a match of half. Aaron also started playing in a new basketball league in the Parish. he plays with one of our neighbors and some of his and aaron's friends. and, he is a great friend to me. we are always working on something and i feel like he tries to be so understanding for the most part. i am very blessed :)

well, the girls just got quiet-love nap time! now i must finish unpacking and start packing for thursday-we are heading up North to see our grandparents and supporters, and also stopping in MS and IL to see friends-woo hoo! our trip will be broken up, but our longest drive will probably by 11 hours with stops- so please pray for us that day if you think about it-this Friday! :)

thanks friends!

due date...

2009-10-26T19:40:00.000-07:00

welp, it's here- tomorrow- October 27th. our "due date." so much pressure is put on this date and only 10% of women actually deliver on it. hmm... wonder if we'll fall into that category! so, Everly was 3 days earlier than her due date, and this little one is holding out... we saw the Dr. today and she said we could induce if we wanted but she knew that we were wanting to hold out and let my body do it's job. so, we're waiting some more-this baby has to come sometime... soon really!

gary and leah (Aaron's parents) are here until Friday, my sis gets in Friday. should be an interesting next week. we'll update/text/make calls when we know more! :)

shauna

oh, and if you want to pray- please pray for stress-free time, good labor, and healthy baby! thanks :)

August, September, October...

2009-10-08T12:26:00.000-07:00

at the end of August I started a new post and never finished it... now it's October and every time I come to check blog updates I feel guilty of our lack of them and a little overwhelmed with writing one. So, here goes, while Everly is still taking her nap! (oh, and if you get our monthly newsletters then you are caught up on most of this! and if you want to receive them, just let us know!)

Some highlights:

Everly started attending a little pre-school here. It's at the Lutheran church and 2 year olds go Tuesday and Thursday morning for 3 hours. I kept her home today as she has been battling a cold for a while and I wasn't feeling well either... it was sad to hear her say "Mommy, I want to go to school"... she has so much fun there!

Ev on her first day of school

Aaron and I were able to getaway for an overnight in a nice hotel in the French Quarter. Aaron knew a man who worked at this hotel, so he blessed us with the room- a balcony and all!

A view from our room during our getaway

All has been well with the pregnancy. I have weekly check-ups now with less than 3 weeks until our due date! I am enjoying the last weeks of intimacy--being the only one to feel this baby moving around all the time :) I had started getting anxious about the delivery and not feeling as prepared this time (I had read sooooo much and gone to lots of classes including lamaze last time) but the Lord has calmed those fears as I have been praying! Our Dr. is great and each week she says something about our faith. She is grateful for the peace we have in our belief of a "Higher Power" to take care of things. I have started to pray for God to do something to reveal Himself to her through the delivery. With Everly, when my Dr. started pressuring me to be induced, I told her that I was praying for God to bring the baby by Friday- that was Wednesday, we had Everly on Thursday. I really wanted to have the baby soon because my parents were on their way to visit, but I hope this was a testimony of our God to this Dr!

at 36 weeks along!

In Ministry-

Aaron's one focus right now is the community center. Today we passed another inspection for our plumbing! Next week we are pouring concrete, and the week after a group from our home church is here (including Aaron's dad) to put some walls up on that new slab! so, pretty exciting, and challenging. this is teaching us lots about depending on God; aaron and I are growing in our faith together as we talk over his stresses, pray, and see God providing encouragement, His Word, and the means to make this all come together!

Aaron with Dave and a volunteer from Xavier on a recent workday

our church family is growing well too. We learned about Rosh Hashanah this last month and were challenged to really seek God for the ten days that the Israelites would have during this festival. then we came together to break bread, eat a meal together, and have a burning of sins that God had revealed to us during those days. it was pretty neat- Matt even read the prayers of blessings in Hebrew that they would have read.

We have also had work days at the community center and lunch in our homes afterward. We had a young couple just get married, so a bunch of us were cleaning and preparing their apartment while they were on their honeymoon. And of course, we're getting ready to celebrate a new baby (ours!)- so lots of family excitement.

speaking of family, most all of ours is going to be visiting us in the next few months! Aaron's mom is flying down the on the 25th to join his dad who arrives the 18th. They leave on the 30th right after my sister arrives from CA who will be here until Nov. 3rd. My mom (and other sibs/niece?) is coming around Thanksgiving, my dad is coming before and through Christmas, and Aaron's entire family will be here from Dec. 27th-Jan 2. So, we have a full schedule of visitors! And through all of this Aaron will be busy with the community center. Oh, and a new baby. I think we'll need a small vacation soon! :) But we are excited. Lots of blessings, challenges, and an awesome God to lean on!

Please be praying for us- your prayers mean so much to us! hopefully it won't be as long before we post again- maybe some baby pictures soon, huh?!

aaron's birthday and more

2009-07-23T20:52:00.000-07:00

i'm trying to de-clutter the desktop. i put some favorite pics on there that i wanted to remember to share with you, so here goes... 10:50 and I really want to go to bed but know that if I don't do it now it may never get done! :) and aaron's not home from bible study, so...

a few from before our trip--Everly fell asleep on the guest bed all by herself and we were working out a disagreement in our bedroom. she hasn't ever done this, not since she was a sleepy newborn! :)

we were having a drought so I prayed for rain one night at bedtime with Everly. the next day it rained and I reminded Everly of how we prayed. she loves to play in the rain and repeated my excitement: "Jesus made it rain!" now every time it rains she tells us that Jesus makes it rain.

a new favorite of Everly's: dominos.

Aaron's 27th birthday was the day after we got back- a little crazy to celebrate it! but we did, with a few presents here- Everly got him a balloon and aaron said it was his first balloon anyone ever gave him so it was special. :)

we had friends over that night, too (phew- still exhausted thinking about that day!) and had peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter and chocolate ice cream- there was a theme ;)

the guys- gavin, matt, brandon, matt and aaron- enjoying coffee

liz and adrianne, ron and becky in the backround

Everly making me chicken and cookies for lunch. :)

Around the Midwest in 12 days...

2009-07-11T12:08:00.000-07:00

8 airplane rides (2 up, 2 to and back from Iowa, and 2 more home!) and three states later (not including our layovers)- phew! What a good trip! It was almost all planned out, but we had some good surprises and randomness, too. Here's a summary of our trip in pictures :)

On our first full day we went to a lake in Indy to swim and cookout with my (Shauna's) family. It was Everly's first time to swim in a body of water like that and she had a lot of fun.

She also enjoyed smashing watermelon all over her face!

That night, we took Everly to our friends' home to stay for the weekend while we traveled to Iowa to visit with a supporting church, East Side Christian Church in Council Bluffs. Here's Aaron helping fix their 'A' that had come loose--with duct tape. What a great idea...

We had a lot of fun getting to know the East Side family who took care of us very well while we were there. Aaron got to speak for both of their Sunday services and we both talked to the kids that night at VBS about the ministry in St. Bernard. It was our first time to be VBS missionaries, and they were doing the Crocodile Dock/bayou theme so it was perfect!

A neat thing while we were in Iowa was that my college roommate happened to be visiting her parents who live 45 minutes away, so she got to come spend the morning/afternoon with us. Here we are standing in front of the entry way that ESCC had painted for VBS, which actually had a cool story. They hired a guy who did this for a living- painting window fronts for stores- and as he talked with the minister he opened up a little about his own life and problems, having no work, family stuff, etc. When he finished, he decided to donate his services- very cool!

Another random thing from our trip was that Aaron had been to Council Bluffs a couple different times as a kid to help at the Deaf Ministry there. So, Sarah drove us to their headquarters to see the building and whether or not it was still tan and blue- and yes, it was! But they had built on and two ladies who worked there happened to be there and gave us a tour. As we talked, one lady told us that she was a prayer warrior for Team Expansion missionaries and had just prayed for us in New Orleans- how cool is that!

Back in Indy, we got to hangout more with my family.

We had a short visit with my grandparents--here's my grandpa who calls Everly his girl because they are born on the same day! We were listening to some music and showing Everly what a record and cassette tape is!

Hanging out in New Palestine, we hit up Frosty Boys (a must) and went to my elementary school to play. It was fun to tell Everly that this was where I had gone to school when I was little and to see her run and play where I once did. They had built this school when I was in 2nd grade, and the original playground pieces are still there, quite old and faded!

This used to be orange and we used to have so much fun playing on it!

We also got to see my cousins, have our teeth (thank you Dr. Harty!!!!) and my wedding rings cleaned and polished, and spent two hours at the Sprint store when my three-year-old phone finally broke. Then it was off to Michigan to visit with Aaron's extended family up there for the Fourth. On our way up we got to stop and have dinner with dear college friends and to meet their two boys for the first time! Crazy good, short stops, which we love!

Well, Aaron's family lives in Muskegon which is on Lake Michigan. Here is Everly and our cousin Donna wading in the Lake- I'm sure it wasn't the warmest but Everly had a lot of fun and was soaked afterward! We had a lot of fun staying with Donna too- she's our age and Everly bonded with her well, possibly a blonde thing :) She even painted her toes one night- it was the cutest thing!

For the Fourth of July we drove an hour north to Aaron's uncle's lake house. The house had been in his Aunt Nina's family since the 50's, and Aaron has lots of childhood memories of spending time here, so it was really special to be back. I don't think it broke 80 that day, so it was a little cool for swimming- not that that stopped the kiddos! Everly and Aaron got in a little, but she wasn't too thrilled about the cold water.

Nor did she like this "funny man"--she is so funny about the things she says these days. Full sentences that are just so bright! "I don't like that funny man!" She'll tell us. I don't know where she gets all these things!

We enjoyed throwing the balls around in the sunshine though. It was kinda funny because there were aunt hills all over and I had to keep telling myself that it was okay because they don't bite. Funny how living some where very different changes you; I even caught myself wanting some Tony's (local seasoning) for some fish once!

Everly and her cupcake- I took the star decoration out and licked it when I gave it to her, but she wanted the star back and then proceeded to eat all the icing with the end of the star stick. so funny.

Well, there are lots of pictures on Facebook of more family if you want to see more. Here's a final one in MI of Everly playing the piano at Donna's house. Sometimes I really wish we could live near our family so that Everly could grow up getting to know them, so that Donna could be the one to teach her the piano that's been in the family for so long, etc. When we first arrived that night, Aaron's cousin Eric exclaimed, "Look at that blonde hair! She's definitely a Johnson!" I hope Everly will get to know her Swedish heritage and family who lives so far away.

Well, to finish our trip, we enjoyed a quick stop in Wabash to see Aaron's grandparents at their church's annual 4th of July picnic, and then some celebrating of my brother and Aaron's birthdays with some ice cream at Cold Stone. Everly really did well on the plane rides being 2 and not wanting to sit still too long. Flying, however, will probably not be in our future for a while with #2 coming! This was actually our only trip North that we are planning, as of now, for this year. We are hoping that both of our families will be able to make trips to see us this winter. So maybe next spring we will make the 12 hour car ride up with babies in tow.

What an adventure this life is. I think there's a saying about going 'home'--it definitely is nice to be in places that are so familiar to you, to see people who are so loving and encouraging. And yet to be so excited to return to this home that the Lord has given us. Thank you for journeying with us!

our little talker

2009-06-16T18:01:00.000-07:00

i feel like all our blogs are about Everly and i apologize for that! she's just changing and growing all the time and it's so much fun to write about her :) so, over the last few weeks she has really taken off with putting sentences together! One of her favorite things to say right now is, "My birthday is coming up, on next week. on Saturday." we tell her to say next year, but she never remembers to! I guess because there's always a birthday to celebrate she's learning that she wants hers to come!

And now when we look through pictures she says that everyone is her cousin. So funny. And whenever she sees anyone who looks like Jesus she thinks they are. :) She loves to look through pictures-online, in photo albums, in magazines. She's a people person.

potty training update

2009-06-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

I think we're on the right path with this. Everly is doing very well with "holding it" only she doesn't tell us she needs to go potty, just gets a little spastic and does the pee-pee dance... hehehe :). I'm learning to spot when she needs to go and can convince her most of the time. Also, she has been very proud of going pee-pee in the grass when we've been out and about, ie. at the park or ball field where there were no close-by toilets (and there weren't very many people around!). We always have a pull-up when we're out, but I realized that it probably wasn't the best training for me to tell her to just go in her underwear, hmmm.... This is quite the interesting process!

i started to blog about other things but i am still in the process of uploading photos, so that will have to wait! thanks for journeying with us! :)

just a little somethin', somethin'

2009-05-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

So, I have this grand ol' plan for my second trimester which officially starts tomorrow (15 weeks along, yea!). We are hoping (& praying!) that Everly will jump right into potty training.... not going so well yet--any advice from some moms out there? I've been reading the books and we got some essentials today so I'm excited to really plug away at this. Everly seems excited about her step stool and the toilet seat, but she wants to flush the toilet when she doesn't really go, and wash her hands forever when she doesn't need to. How do you teach a 2 year old not to waste water?! oh my....

My other hope for the second part of this trimester is to re-arrange the bedrooms. Everly is going to get the top of the bunk beds we got from some friends while the baby is going to share the guest room-- he or she won't need that much room, right? :) And we're going to paint Everly's room. It's been a pretty light blue since she was a baby and I'm just ready for a little more girly! I'm pretty excited about setting up the crib again and pulling out our bedding- I never got to do this with Everly because we didn't move into our house until we came home from the hospital, so friends did it for us while we were there. I'm excited to have it ready waaaaaay before then! ...even if my plan to have this all done before third trimester doesn't work out! ;)

some pictures...

2009-04-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

Here's some recent pictures of Everly

Her 2nd Birthday Party--all Elmo :)

Enjoying marshmallows on her first camping trip

Aaron's parents are here visiting right now and building a swing set for Everly, and our kids to follow! Everly says the slide is "too fast"--we decided to go bigger than smaller for growing room. hopefully she will play on it when it's done!

We have our 2nd appointment with our OBGYN this Friday- excited about that! we're 12 weeks along now. And on Sunday we take off for FL- We are going to a church planting conference in Orlando with the staff. Our friends in Gainesville are going to watch Everly while we're there, and then hopefully we'll get some time to play, too! yea for semi-vacations :)

Everly's first camping trip

2009-03-21T20:30:00.000-07:00

So, I thought I would make a list of the lessons we learned from taking Everly camping for the first time. Some have to do with her, others don't.

Top Ten Lessons (In order that they were learned)

1. Don't take the Causeway bridge at rush hour, unless you want to jump off it!

2. Do have your dinner ready when you arrive, get the fire started and get cooking fast! That way you can feed your toddler while you set up the tent.

3. Do use your truck lights to see as you set your tent up in the dark (grr.... traffic!).

4. Don't forget the pack-n-play!!! Then you'll have a toddler sharing the air mattress with you.

5. Two year-olds don't know how to sleep in sleeping bags, no matter how cute it is (or is it just our child??).

6. 50's in the evenings means long pants.

7. Do bring a bag of sticks and some newspaper to get the fire started; Don't forget some logs to keep it going!

8. When you're pregnant, try to sleep as close to the bathroom as you can.

9. Warning: When you camp right next to the playground, your toddler will not understand the need to set-up, cook, tear-down--they will just want to go play, all the time!

10. Camping with kids is a lot more work, but it's worth it to see them experience what you love.

We have tons of pictures on our camera that I need to download--from before Everly's birthday! I'll try to do that soon. Thanks for reading :)

I thought this was cute...

2009-03-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

I wasn't feeling very good so I told Everly that I wanted to lay down and that she could either play or rub my back. I showed her how and she did it, but then went running to the back of the house I thought to play in her room. She came back quickly with our back massager knuckles that she found once and we showed her what they were, and continued to rub my back. Ahhhh, what a nice little girl, and sooooo smart!

Childhood

2009-02-25T12:37:00.000-08:00

I love these recent pictures of Everly. They tell so much about her life and I decided to label them what I thought they said about her. enjoy! :)

sweet.

serious.

tender.

innocence.

joy.

exciting.

contemplative.

Everly's little bedroom makeover

2009-01-21T11:32:00.000-08:00

Hi! This is Everly- welcome to my newly decorated room. Let me show you around.

My door has a new sign on it to replace the piggy one.

We also replaced "Oink" with my name, the pig picture with this one my mom's had since she was little, and put up a pretty piggy bank- I have so many to choose from! :)

Here's my new bed- I just love it! Today I got in it all by myself at 11:30 for a nap!

Daddy is silly!

This is my new table that I love to sit and color at. Mommy put these pretty "flies" (as she calls butterflies!) up on my wall.

Daddy showed me how to get in my bookshelf- it was lots of fun!

Mommy and I watched the TV all morning yesterday about the new President...

And here's my mommy's new herb garden that she got for Christmas- she is very excited how fast they are growing!

Thanks for looking at my room with me!

First haircut & big girl bed!

2009-01-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

Finally, this Saturday we went to get Everly's first haircut! The lady did it soooo quickly which I'm guessing is best for squirmy toddlers, but I was sad that it didn't last longer! Everly did pretty well too- she had to keep looking down at a toy so the lady could cut it and she is just the best little girl!
Before...

hehehe... during!

Trying to keep her looking down at the toy...

And, after! Ain't she cute? :)

We also found a used and free toddler bed for Everly and set that up last weekend. Every one warned me about this process, but Everly hasn't been difficult going to bed at all! She even crawls into her bed all by herself and sometimes during the day pretends to go "Night night!" :) She loves it, and we had a Disney Princess blanket and table/chair to match it already. Our baby is growing up!!! (I'll get some pics soon!)

...I know it's been months since we've posted--now that life is getting back to normal after Christmas I will try to keep up a little better! thanks to all of you who post and share your lives with us! :)

November is flying by!

2008-11-22T20:34:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I haven't posted on here for almost a month! crazy. I always want to put pictures on and I never get around to it. :( well, a little update..

We are so busy these days. I started helping at a Christian dance studio in our Parish called Leap of Faith. In exchange for my help, Everly is taking her first dance class for free! I know... she's only 20 months old--we've thought about taking her out and doing it next year, but she seems to like it, after she gets over crying when Mommy leaves. The first night we went she was a champ, but her babysitter Emma was there that night helping and she doesn't anymore. The second time Mommy didn't make it back to her room right away and she cried until I got there. The third time there were other babies already crying when we got there, so needless to say she cried and I stayed for a while hoping that she would get into it, especially when they started Tumbling, cause that's her favorite! She can now do a somersault all by herself on our bed! :) very proud.

So, last week we decided I should just drop her off and leave. Her teacher Hope took her and told us that after about 5 minutes of crying she was having fun, pointing her toes and everything! So, we've decided to keep taking her- I help with 11-13 year olds during her class so it all works out. I also go another night to help with the Competition Team and am going to start dancing Modern with some of the older girls. So, it's been fun, a little hectic, and just taking some time to get used to the studio and how things are run.

I didn't grow up in a dance studio so it's all kinda new--we've already done 2 fundraisers! Today was the second-a fashion show and the girls got to go to a local dance store and pick dance attire to model. The moms made a bunch of food that the older girls served before the show started, and Everly modeled a pink tutu! After waiting with all the girls for her turn, she was crying for her mom, but she did a great job walking the runway with Grace, an older girl. Here's a pictures of our little dancer and I put a video on YouTube--check out our new video bar on the left-pretty nifty! :)

Trick-or-Trunk!

2008-10-28T12:31:00.000-07:00

It's our third year to be a part of St. Bernard's Trick-or-Trunk, started in 2006 for kids to have some Halloween fun after Katrina. This year our team decided to be super heros and painted some comic book scenes and cutouts to decorate our truck. We had a bunch of candy, but we had over 2000 things of popcorn to hand out too that a friend from here donated! There were a little over 2000 kids, I believe, because the people next to us had 2000 cups to handout and were just a shy short. It was a lot of fun for the kids--we were one of the last vehicles and they were really excited to see a bunch of their favorite super heros in person ;). Here are some pictures from the day that our friend Amanda took.

Here we are- Aaron was Flash, I was Super Girl, and Everly was batgirl! She was really excited to dress up- we had been practicing the batman theme song with batgirl in it for a month now!

Here's our group with our friends: Parish President Craig and local business man Mark.

Our counselor and his wife, Ron and Becky Koval, were Everly's "bat family"! They're daughter is whose wedding Everly is in in December.

This took us over 3 days to do! It was tedious but a lot of creative fun! :)

The kids could take pictures as Wonder Woman (here's Everly)...

...or Super Man! Since I was Super Girl we had to take a picture :)

A lot of the kids wanted to take pictures with us...

...a lot were dressed like us!...

...and some we're afraid of us, especially Lucas as the Thing from the Fantastic Four!

Some of our new friends joined us later in the day as the Incredibles- they are Robert, David, Meghan and Liz- all from Clemson University and living and serving here now at the Methodist Church and coming to the Gathering too.

By the end of the day, Everly was all tuckered out! But not too tired to climb up into the steering wheel!

She looked like she was resting here, but really she is reaching for my phone! sneaky girl :)

One rough day at the park leads to X-rays...

2008-10-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

yesterday we were at the park practicing for our cabbage ball game. when we were done and standing around talking, Everly started throwing a ball down the sidewalk and incline to me and then i would throw it back a little way for her to get. unfortunately, she was leaning down at the edge of the sidewalk and fell head first onto the cement. Ow! She was scratched up and upset, so mommy thought it would be good to go to the playground.

Ev loves to slide, and we didn't have much time so we headed up the playground for one quick slide. she slipped again and fell, just upsetting her more. so i grabbed her and headed down the slide. now, this slide was really fast, which scared me a little bit since she was on my lap, and Ev's foot accidently got caught between me and the slide as we went down. It yanked her foot back really quick and she started crying again. I knew it had probably hurt her, but I thought she was more just still upset from falling and probably ready for a nap. When we got home I told Aaron to put her down to make sure she could walk on her foot since and she couldn't! it was such a sad sight seeing my baby limp and cry! I wanted to go to the Urgent Care in town right away, but Aaron thought it would be better to give her a bath, eat dinner, etc.

So, we had our game at 10:30 last night and Everly was spending the night at our counselors home since it was a late game. We thought we'd wait until the morning since her foot didn't swell up or anything, but she still wasn't walking on it. This morning was the same so we called the Dr. and she had us go to Children's Hospital here to have x-rays done. No visible fracture, though they said it could appear in a couple days (baby's are a little different, or maybe the x-ray just didn't catch it). So, now we're just waiting, watching to see if she will try to stand on it, and giving Ibuprofen. Hopefully it's nothing. Please pray that our little one will heal soon so she can run around again!

Road trip!

2008-09-29T14:16:00.001-07:00

Well, kinda. We are heading to Indy, Louisville, and Lincoln-- yea! And, we're going to drive through the night to avoid a crazy full day in the car with Everly and with no AC. So, it should be fun. I'm staying up late Tuesday (or Wednesday night, depending on what day we finally decide we're going to leave on) so that I will be prepared to stay up late the next night to drive. And, I guess I will take naps that day when Everly naps. Then, when I get tired Aaron will wake-up and take over. It will be fun!

More than driving, it is going to be fun to see our family and friends! Here are some of the things we're going to do:
-Help my mom with house construction
-Go to South Louisville Christian Church on Sunday
-Go to an apple orchard and pumpkin patch and revel in the fall beauty!
-Go to Riley Days
-See our Dentist
-Talk to ICCC's elders about Aaron's ordination
-Eat at First Wok in Lincoln hopefuly!!!!
-Recruit some interns, maybe
-And see lots of our beloveds!!!

My sister and brother-in-law even arranged to fly out from San Diego the same week so we can see each other, cause they probably won't make it home for Christmas this year. So, this is going to be a great and very full trip! Please pray for our safety and time--we very much appreciate it!

videos!

2008-09-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

here's the video of Everly doing the splits, too.

her other favorite thing to do in her bed is to bounce, or as she says, "boun!" this was when we were on our retreat during labor day weekend, and when Gustav came. Grandma Johnson was with us.

our growing girl

2008-09-07T13:14:00.001-07:00

okay, here are some new pictures of Everly. they go from most recent to a few weeks ago- you can tell by her hair! it's getting longer, and a little harder to keep out of her eyes. but we're trying to let it grow as long as we can before our first hair cut. we just bought some new barrettes and are ready to start doing some little pigtails when we get some bands!

here Everly is doing her newest talent- the splits! i caught her doing them after a nap one day- she's going to be a gymnast or dancer i think! ;)

I thought she looked pretty precious having her snack, she loves snacks! i put apples in a basket where she can reach them (unintentionally) and she now helps herself to them. she loves this new freedom!

I tried to teach her to drink her milk from her cereal bowl. she loves to do it, but it gets a little messy!

cheese- so happy!

a favorite part of our grocery trip is getting a cookie at the bakery. it's great because then Everly is mesmerized with her yummy and mommy can check out with no problem. however, chocolate chip cookies are a little messy!

another favorite of Everly's is to play with the chalk outside. course, mommy does most of the drawing--everly likes to take the chalk out and put it back in. she's an organizer we think.

here's her wasp sting from a couple weeks ago- her little foot was all swollen!

mommy let her play with her phone as a comfort after the sting. she loves the phone, or as she says, "hone."

God, Gustav

2008-08-28T20:21:00.000-07:00

well, if you haven't heard our plans for the storm yet, here they are:
Our staff was already planning a staff retreat for this weekend, so we are heading to a prayer retreat center about 2 1/2 hours northwest of here tomorrow. we were planning on staying until Monday noon, but the owners, who have been awesome, have told us we can stay as long as we need to. and, we are now bringing the 3 kiddos and two nannies, a good friend and our mother Leah. so, we should have a good weekend.

we met to pray tonight and we can already see how God has provided for our needs so much! there is so much excitement here with everyone nervous about another big storm, so it was a crazy day getting ready to leave and talking to neighbors, getting our oil changed, going to the bank, etc. well, it's time to do the last bit of packing--thank you for your prayers already and please remember this area as Gustav continues it's trek.
lots of love-
the Johnsons :)

creative genius

2008-08-14T18:58:00.000-07:00

...right before this she was attacking the vacuum which is pretty funny since she used to be terrified by it. and, she is loving learning new words right now, isn't she cute?!

our excitement

2008-08-12T13:37:00.000-07:00

well, yesterday, Everly and I were outside after it had rained. I thought she was leaning down to play with the water from the down spout when she suddenly jerked--she was playing with a wasp instead! the mean ol' thing stung her in the little pinky toe and she was pretty uncomfortable for a few minutes, crying- but not too bad. I think she's a trooper, really. the funny thing is that i was filming her at the time but let her play with the camera afterward to distract her from the pain and she deleted the footage!

then, today, i went over to our neighbors' home early this morning to be with the girls while Nick left for work and Danielle still had to finish and come home. While i was there i took the dog out and their neighbor, who i've never met, started talking to me. He was looking for Nick because someone stole his van last night! well, nick and danielle have a video surveillance camera and it caught it all on tape! so, that's what i did this morning. it was kinda scary, kinda fun playing detective. the bad thing is, they person who did it wasn't in a car- a bike, then foot, so there is not way to identify him. but they are giving the footage to the police detective who will take this case from me... hehehe! i did drive around the neighborhood a little today looking for it cause the guy probably lived close since he rode up on a bike, and then walked back. the bad thing was that they had left their van unlocked, with the keys in it, and had it packed full of their stuff because they were heading to Houston this morning for 2-3 months! eek. not good. later i went back to see if they needed anything- they're from Bangladesh, well, have lived in the states for a while. the husband was easy to understand and said he grew up in MS. they're really nice and have three girls- 2 who are in TX with their mom. so, hopefully we will get to know them more- I told them i would love to have some yummy Bangladesh food when they are back. but, they still are finishing their home, so maybe we can help them with that too.

okay, that was long. it is always exciting to meet international people- makes my heart happy. :) besides these excitements, we have been enjoying the olympics--Aaron's parents were here this weekend and we watched the opening ceremony and some of the games with them. how fun, and inspiring! which reminds me, i am starting the fall soccer season this week! yea!!!

a God moment

2008-08-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

We had one of those God moments tonight. We decided to go for a walk to see if it was our neighbor's brother's trailer that burnt down today. It's about two blocks away, and when we headed down the street we saw some other people checking it out. We started talking to them, and it turned out that they lived across the street. They confirmed that it was our neighbor's brother's trailer, an electric problem they thought. As we kept talking and told them who we were, the wife, Melanie, asked about our counseling because she had seen it in the paper and was interested in it. She told me later that her 18 year old boy had just died a month ago, and that she also had a 4 day old boy die just days before Katrina happened. Her husband turned out to work at a sign shop- no kidding. So, Aaron and him talked a little about that. They also had a 13 year old, Shane, who didn't say much, and a 19 month old, Justin. Everly warmed up to Justin after a while, mostly cause she really wanted his football that he wasn't about to give up! and he didn't want her pink bouncy ball. Well, Lindley, the husband, said he goes to the Lutheran church in town and they knew the lady that we know who goes there and lives a block from them... and so forth. Anyway, we traded information and will hopefully have play dates and more connections with the counseling and church stuff too! What a neat thing when something happens in your life that you can see the finger prints of God on!

you know you're a mom when...

2008-07-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

... the most exciting part of your day is your toddler peeing in her potty training toilet for the first time!

like my sister-in-law, i am making my own one of these statements!

we got the potty the other day from our friends, washed it up and tried to teach Everly what it was for. She knows what poo-poo is--i started teaching her that so she would begin to be ready for potty training. and, she doesn't like to be dirty! so, today we have taken a couple restroom breaks. both times, after a little waiting, she was able to pee! I know this might be weird/gross for some, but it's amazing to see someone so little grasp something like this, absolutely amazing. and exciting! I know it will take a while for Everly to be fully trained, but i think starting early is going to be good.

:)

more of Ev

2008-07-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

bathtime pigtails! our camera was being funny...

afterward Daddy let her roam the house naked and she rode her butterfly! heheh

Ev loves to open the door, close the door, open, close, and so forth!

she's becoming a big girl! we moved her to the table and use our beloved place mat!

her new play kitchen- a $5 purchase from our little thrift store in town. now she just needs some play food and maybe a grocery cart. oh, and maybe a doll high chair cause she is such a girly girl and loves her dolls! we gave her a rag with her kitchen and she came into the living room and washed our hands and legs for us--i think she'll be a great mommy some day!

the kitchen in is the corner of our kitchen so she can cook with me. we actually made banana bread together the other day and she never got bored! I let her pour the measurements and stir a little. she liked that she got to see all that was going on. and when i handed her the bananas to put in she started to eat it, but then put them all in the bowl like mommy told her to. what a good little helper! and good self-control since bananas are her favorite!

life in pictures

2008-07-19T22:06:00.000-07:00

for Aaron's birthday, we went to a Zephyrs game with some of our friends

the gang enjoying some baseball food- Aaron, Brandon, Ryan, Amanda

Becky and Ron Koval- Ron is the Gathering counselor and Becky teaches reading. Brandon is going to be their new son-in-law this December- Everly's in his and Megan's wedding, and so is Aaron.

Yum, chili-cheese hot dog

If only she would have sat like this the whole time! We had to roam a bit and found a playground that was a little too big for her to play on, but she was super excited. We had a lot of fun at the game though, with 1/2 price tickets and a surprise to Aaron :)

We have gotten to swim over at the Koval's house- Everly has learned to hold her breath under water!

Aaron and I went on a spontanious date night, thanks to our neighbor watching Everly. We went to the coolest hotel downtown that shows free movies by their pool. it is such a pretty area- a great place to have a wedding!

stars hanging for the trees

where the cars pull in to the hotel parking

i must post, i must post....

2008-07-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

okay, every day i come to this blog and am just tired of being on the computer checking email and doing other odds and ends. there are just too many things in the day that something has to give! so, i dont know if i'll get any pics up--i posted the rest from our trip to Indy on facebook, and i think that's it for those.

anyway, we are keeping busy here. I (shauna) am helping with our summer Kids Camp that goes for 4 weeks. so far, Aaron has stayed home a couple mornings and kept everly, and one day Everly came with me for a few hours. I'm helping with the kindergarten/1st grade class, which is crazy! a lot of these kids come from rough homes so we do a lot of disciplining, but we have a lot of fun, too! A family from Indian Creek came down to help with camp for 2 weeks- the Denny's. Eric and Marcy have 6 kids and they are a great bunch! it's been fun having them around. and i think they are enjoying their adventurous mission trip of living at the middle school!

aaron's been doing a lot too--as always! he's at the bowling alley right now. he said they had to repair a piece of roof that came off, and i think they're getting ready for some volunteers to do a little work on it too. he's also been helping a lady that lives down the street from us who is trying to rebuild her house. she's a Christian and she has been through a lot! her husband died a couple years before the storm and when she left for Katrina she was in a bad car accident- had to have wrist surgery i believe. sometimes we find it strange when someone moves back and has no family here, or much else to move back to, but i think her biggest reason is because her husband built their house. so, without any other items left to remember him by, i think she is trying to hold on to the house for that reason. Aaron has also been becoming quite the tiler. he has been helping another small Church body help a lady with the tile in her house. and i'm sure he's doing more- he always has so much going on that i can't always keep up with it!

well, that's all for this post. Everly is as cute as ever- her hair is getting long and she is getting smarter. we'll have some new pics up soon, i promise!

it's cold up here!

2008-07-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

i love indiana mornings.
we woke up at 5:45 this morning to the sounds of birds chirping and a cool breeze coming through the windows. The sun was rising slowly and it was just beautiful coming through the trees. i don't have the luxury of this at home and being here makes me miss it. i love green, the grass in my toes and the shade of a tree!
well, it may be summer here, but they just got a cold front in and it's chilly! to us atleast. we have jeans on and my feet are a little cold. poor everly, mom didn't pack her jeans and socks because we haven't used them in months! but, she doesn't seem to mind. she has a new outfit on today, too, from Grandma Johnson- at little skirt and top duo. so cute.
anyway, we've been able to see most of our family so far and are enjoying our schedule falling into place. everly only had one short nap yesterday, but slept hard at night and is finishing her first nap today! love the flexible baby! :) here's some pictures from yesterday.
opening presents with Grandpa

Everly loves baby Keturah!

holding a daisy with Nana

kisses from Aunt Satora

our friend Tammy came to see us

cousin Audrina tries to teach Everly how to say puppy correctly :)

promised pictures

2008-06-23T14:39:00.001-07:00

some recent photos:
for Father's day we made a scavenger hunt with some gifts for Daddy. his card from Everly, for instance, was in the paper!

Aaron got Everly to help him while he was changing his oil

we had to wash the oil out of her hair that night!

we enjoy our night time hugs and books with Everly

she's so sweet when she's sleepy!

Everly and I took a weekend trip to see our friend Claudia who's in Birmingham for the summer. It was soooo nice to go somewhere so green and pretty and to be with a good friend!

Everly and I at one of the B-ham malls.

a couple of just Everly: in her shades...

and taking the shades off!

a great wake-up hello!

the sweetest sound

2008-06-18T06:04:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to update you on our life happenings, and tonight was a very important reason to! I had one of the best moments a parent has with a little one. I was reading to Everly one of her favorite books, "What is Christmas, Anyway?" I know it's not the season, but she loves to look at the pages. It goes through the different traditions of Christmas--making cookies, singing carols, the tree, Santa, etc.--and then gets to Jesus. Now, every time we get to the picture of Jesus being held by his parents, Everly points at him and says "baby." She knows that He is important, and I thought that maybe she thinks because she is/was the baby and life might seem like it revolves around her... atleast in her mind. Nevertheless, she points out baby Jesus on all the pages and I tell her that she's right--that He is important. Well (here's the exciting part!), tonight she didn't just say baby, she repeated after me- "Jesus", in her own little baby talk. :) It made me tear up, to hear my baby say the name of Jesus for the first time. We've been working on getting Everly to learn the names of those we do life with and she doesn't always want to repeat after us, she's a little stubborn! So it was awesome to hear her choose to say the name of Jesus. I had to stop and say a prayer that she would say the name of Jesus for the rest of her life, and then I sang "Jesus loves me" to her. I think it's going to become a favorite song now too. :)

alright, it's late so I'll put some more photos and updates on soon!

fun times with Everly

2008-05-20T20:19:00.001-07:00

A picture Aaron took from bath time tonight. We are excited how she is growing to be so smart- she'll hand you the wash cloth or wash herself with it, put her toothbrush under the sink faucet for some water, try to put the milk cap on the jug, and so forth. I was trying to teach her how to dip a cracker into dip the other day, however, and found out that this is too advanced for a 14 month old--her entire hand ended up in the dip! :)

Cruising to Cozumel!

2008-05-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

We just returned yesterday from our first cruise to Cozumel! It was a lot of fun relaxing and spending time together without Everly. Here are some pictures:

We embarked from New Orleans on Thursday evening and sailed down the Mississippi River by our own Parish. This was one of Aaron's favorite parts of the trip. Here he is in front of the Domino Sugar Plant in St. Bernard.

We ended up getting a room with two port holes! Aaron's parents said it's rare to get a window, so we were excited :)

The second night of the cruise was the dress-up dinner and Captain's Gala. Here we are sipping free drinks in our fancies while we met the ship's sailing crew.

On Saturday we ported in Cozumel--here's Aaron in front of our ship.

We decided to head to the beach for most of the day we were in Cozumel--it was a cheaper excursion with lunch and drinks all included. They had a trampoline, paddle boats, and an inflatable iceberg to climb! It was a lot of fun!

Of course, it was just nice to relax on the beach, too!

Some other highlights from the trip include:
meeting other people from Chalmette
playing ping pong
aaron playing 21 with some guys and winning!
taking swing & latin dance lessons- both of us! Aaron really enjoyed it, too!
hanging out with our table buddies, Bryan and Toni
watching the dance shows
playing chess on their giant board!
not having to take care of Everly (as much as we love her!)
and sleeping and eating lots!

Some of the low points were:
never being able to get room service, ?
being the quickest ones to lose in the corn hole tournament, ha!
attempting to play miniture golf on the highest deck and the crazy wind kept blowing our golf balls around!
our new spray sunscreen not working that well, and getting a little burnt, mostly Aaron, poor guy!

We were pretty psyched to see Everly when we got home Monday. Her reaction? She just stared at us for about 10 minutes with a confused look on her face, poor girl. She grew so much when we were gone and has a little bit of a different personality, too.

And, pretty much as soon as we got home they started tearing down the house next to us- the lot we'd like to purchase in the future if we can. It was kinda scary with it being so close to the house! here's a picture Aaron took.

well, i suppose that's all. we really appreciated the chance to make this getaway. now we're just trying to get back into the swing of things! No more napping and already prepared meals! :)

jeremiah and our 3rd anniversary

2008-05-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

I've been reading Jeremiah and today this verse stood out-

"When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, Oh Lord God Almighty." 15:16

Our church family talks a lot about where our joy is found. I want to be like Jeremiah--really grasping what it means to bear the name of the Lord, and to find my joy and my delight in His words above all else. That's my prayer today for you and for me!

Also... thank you to all who wished us a happy anniversary! We had a nice dinner last night to celebrate the day, and took Everly with us since we are "getting away" for our anniversary in a week. We are using some vacation money that we were blessed with to take a long weekend cruise out of New Orleans. It goes to Cozumel for one day, and we're pretty excited to just relax and enjoy being a couple. Our friend Amanda is going to watch Everly while we're gone at the house. hmm.... I feel like I've written this before, but I can't remember! Anyway, thank you again!

sidewalk sadness

2008-04-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

so, yesterday they dug up some of the yard next to us to unconnect the gas to the house that is getting demolished. well, they accidently unconnected us too! of course. we didn't realize until the evening, after aaron had cut the grass and needed to shower, and a guy came out right away. But, we said it could wait until the morning. So now they are tearing up the yard again, but sadly they had to destroy some of the sidewalk! :( it's sad because we had a nice stretch of sidewalk in front of our house that we stroll down to the park. now i understand why there are places where our sidewalks are missing or torn apart. this place has a long way to go before it ever looks nice again, though we've had great improvements. an ex-counsel woman told us the other day that they are waiting before all demolition is finished until they work on the streets because of the dump semis that drive our streets, shake our houses, and tear up the roads. i should take a picture of this street not far from us that is the worst i've ever seen--we never drive down it.

here are a few pictures from Sunday of Evelry in her cute sundress from Monica Surface--she put the beads on herself!!! She's so savvy ;)

but don't be fooled, just before she was eating dirt! :) we all have to try it sometime!

shopping

2008-04-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

So, I don't know if I've ever blogged about this, but yesterday was another grand trip "into town" that got me thinking about it. "Into town"--something that people might say who live way in the country and take few trips to the closest town to buy things, right? I never thought that that would be me, but that has been the case for the last year living in Chalmette. Yes, we do live outside of New Orleans, in more of a small town than the suburbs. There used to be a Super Walmart and K-mart here, even a Sears I do believe. A movie theater, clothing store, and so forth. But now, we have a Walgreens, Winn Dixie, and that's about it! Oh wait, we have like 7 dollar stores in the Parish- ridiculous! So, whenever there is something we need, I try to make a list and make one shopping trip every so often. I mean, the nearest Walmart takes at least 30 minutes to get to, depending on traffic.

So, like I said, yesterday was one of those trips. Aaron found a truck tool box on Craigslist that was in the same area of a Walmart, and we were needing new window shades for Everly because her color-changing ones decided to stop changing colors, weird. Anyway, whenever we get to Walmart I like to walk around and try to think of anything we might need. I'm always feeling a little frustrated with the pressure of not fogetting something and with Everly getting squirly. It was nice having Aaron with me yesterday and we didn't really need too much. We also got to eat dinner out since it takes so long to drive into town--we weren't sure where we were going to go, but we were in the Uptown area which is a place with lots of cool little cafes and shops. And then, there it was--Whole Foods! Ahh, one of my favorite places. You walk in and there are tons of flowers and fruits and vegetables, all brightly colored and all screaming--"Buy me!" Well, we didn't because they're expensive, but we did find some coupons for some granola bars (ones for serious hiking trips so now we must plan to go!) and bought some yummy dinner.

Now, as we were sitting eating our healthy and very reasonably priced dinner, I am thinking about how I miss living in a place where you can walk places, see people out jogging, where there are trees lining the sidewalks, etc. Sometimes I wish I could be an Uptown person--they're kinda artsy, thinkers, health nuts, and pay a pretty penny to live where they do and buy the stuff that they do. I have to admit, I like that culture, but there are things I like about Chalmette, too. I mean, people here aren't as worried about being healthy--our restaurants serve some fatty foods and are proud of it! And, most people here are blue-collared, hard working people, at either oil refineries, sugar plant, in construction, fisherman, etc. And people are quite fine with blue jeans and t-shirts here. But, people are friendly for the most part and take care of each other.

...well, i din't mean to go on and on like that! here are some pictures because I hate leaving a post without any pictures! :)

ahhh.... Everly loves her daddy!

..and she loves corn on the cob! I don't know if she's supposed to have it, but she's really good at it :)

...and she loves peanut butter!

yum- fried strawberries from the fair- so good!

Everly and our neighbor Amanda

yardwork and Prayer

2008-04-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

Aaron took some time today to help do some yard work at the house. Our flower beds that we created in December with his Dad were in serious dismay due to the heavy winter rains flooding them out. It's interesting to learn what grows here and how to make it work! Well, it took us a few hours to revamp it, and I was pretty excited when it was done, but our yard is another issue. We go back and forth about what to do. Most everyone here puts sod down because, we've been told, seed doesn't take well. Today our neighbors told me that the weeds grow so fast that they will over take the yard before your grass seed ever grows! So, we don't know if we want to waste our time with the seed, but we got some for free last year. The front yard isn't as bad as the back--we can walk on it and it's pretty soft, even with the weeds. But, the back is aweful! It is lower ground than our neighbors because we had to dig it, so it floods every time it rains! And it's really nasty weeds that hurt if you walk on them bare foot. Not quite the place you ever want to spend time in. Poor little Everly, she doesn't like grass yet because she doesn't get to play in it very much... and walking bare foot was one of my favorite things as a kid!

Tonight, on the other hand, was a monthly prayer meeting that all the churches in St. Bernard are invited to. It's an attempt at being united, and this is our second time to go. It's quite an intense time of prayer- about seven different ministers lead prayers for different things- revival, the youth, the Church, unity, etc. And there is musical worship as well, though tonight there wasn't as much I think to focus on prayer more. I have to be honest in saying that we feel quite uncomfortable during these meetings--two of the larger churches in town are pentecostal so there is alot of speaking in tongues and other outbursts that we are not used to. But, tonight we felt a little more comfortable realizing we knew quite a few people and families from these churches. We also are challenged though by the different things said through the night and are glad to be coming together with other believers in our Parish, as different as we might be.

So, that ends the night. Poor Aaron is trying to sleep but has terrible allergies! I think we need to get him some new medicene to try--any suggestions??? :)

digging

2008-04-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

so, i'm kinda excited, kinda nervous. they're doing the first phase of demolition at the last house next to us, the corner lot that we would love to purchase if offered at a low price. that would make us the corner lot and give us a bigger yard! yea! so, today they are digging up the sewage lines, or something like that. it's so close to our house that it makes me a little nervous. and the guys told me that when they do demolish the house we need to have our home treated for termites because there's a lot over there and they will come over to ours! eek!
well, that's my day so far. we have our weekly staff lunch meeting in a few, everly's napping until then, and hopefully to the grocery after that. aaron was going to work on his ordination exam this morning, but there is a huge park build this week and he was asked to run to Slidell across the lake for some supplies that the Home Depot doesn't have here. Abbey Flaherty is a big part of the build--it's a park that was built a few years before Katrina and has an amptitheater and lots of picnic places for birthday parties and stuff. a few months ago a kid caught some of it on fire, so they're trying to fix it up like it was pre-Katrina. Volunteers are here from Vermont working on it with us, and also lots of the community is volunteering all week to work on it, from 8 AM to 5 PM through Sunday! our Church community is going to work Sunday evening, so that will be exciting.
Okay, that pretty much covers it. thanks for keeping in touch with us!

2008-04-04T22:15:00.000-07:00

We just said goodbye to a group from Indian Creek today- a family spring break trip. It was our first time to have a family group with lots of little ones, and it went very well! shauna and everly got to hangout with the moms and tots during the day, but the elementary kids (and up) went to the work sites and helped. yesterday they had a fun day and went to a wilderness preserve to see alligators, and then the french quarter for dinner and some sight seeing. Here is a picture of Everly with Gunnar- one of the youth minister's kids.

Everly is getting pretty fun. she loves to "dance" (shaking her head and body) to music! today in the car she started dancing and clapping when we had the radio on. it's pretty stinkin cute! and, we're trying to teach her new words. today, I was trying to teach her HAT. at first she was just saying "tah" so i slowed down the pronunciation to "HHHHHH-AATTTT" and she got it a few times!

here is a picture from Easter. We went to our neighbors' son's home for lunch--they're a very gracious family who are kinda making us family too! later we had a Easter egg hunt at the woodwards for the kids before our weekly gathering to fellowship and worship.

okay, trying to keep this blog rolling! shauna :)

Everly's 1st birthday!

2008-03-17T08:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our little party! We were excited to have family and friends from out of town in, and also our neighbors and friends from here over. Everly was excited about mushing her hands in the cake, and eating it too! Though, we waited to do that last, so she was a little tired and not too wild and messy. Her friend Justus tried to help feed her cake with a fork, and she was not excited about me taking the cake away, so she got to work on it for a while! She was curious about the pretty presents, but after opening the first one she just wanted to play with it! I think she got a little overwhelmed with them all, but there were some cute reactions--kissing her cow picture frame, wanting to hold her unicorn, smiling as she played with her blocks. It was a lot of fun!

her little double-stacked cake

our cupcake gamg--our theme was circles and animals to match her invitations

a little too long at the cake!

she just sat with her hands in the cake for a long time!

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justus thought she needed help- too cute!

our friends graham and mary came to visit from IN

our friend and minister's wife, Andrea

birthday blocks from great grandpa!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T05:59:00.000-08:00

For Everly's first Valentine's day card to Daddy, we decided to do some finger painting!

Mommy got a little out of hand and painted a heart on me!

I thought it was pretty funny.

Look at what we made!

Our family tradition is to always have a special holiday breakfast- I got a piece of bread with applebutter cut in a heart!

Yumm-o!

first day in the office....

2008-01-22T13:41:00.000-08:00

Today Aaron stayed home with Everly in the morning and I (Shauna) got to go to the office. We're going to try to do this Tuesdays and Thursdays when we don't have volunteers. I'm going to be taking care of the Gathering's newsletter and other things we need produced, like our right now I'm making brochures for our counseling center, so I have plenty to keep me busy! Aaron has plenty too! He kept Everly up until 10:30 which wasn't so good cause she didn't end up taking a morning nap... and oh, she was very jittery for me! So, she is now waking up from a 2 1/2 hour nap and we got to run to the grocery. What a busy day! Tonight the girls are starting a Bible study and our neighbor is joining us as well as a couple girls Abbey has met. Praying for some good discussion and transformation as we renew our minds! Thanks for praying, too!

newest hair

2008-01-19T16:03:00.000-08:00

This is for my mom, and Megan, and anyone else who might care! This is my choppiest haircut yet! Probably the worst one too because the short layers make my hair a fro without some serious work to make it calm down. hehe... Aaron helped me straighten it after my first wash and it took us less than 1/2 an hour!

here it is in a pony tail semi-straight. when it was curly it was much shorter and funnier! but if you know my hair, i don't have a lot! :)

Everly's first Christmas

2008-01-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

We had quite the road trip holiday this year! We left for Indy on December 23 and got in around 1 a.m.! But before we left we opened our stocking gifts to each other at home.

One of Everly's favorite thing to do is play with the steering wheel in the car! It was hard to put her back in her seat after being on the road so long!

On Christmas morning we opened gifts at three places--first at my (Shauna) mom's house.
Here is Everly with her cousin Audrina, patiently awaiting gift opening!

Then we went to Aaron's parents where our last gift was a scavenger hunt to the garage where a white truck with a red bow was waiting! This was a gift from a man from our church-a company truck ready to find a new home. He and Aaron had discussed this option for the future as Old Blue is getting a little rougher, so it was a wonderful surprise!

I don't have too many pictures of the rest of Christmas day because we got a small camcorder for Christmas--so hopefully I will get some film on the blog soon! In the evening we went to my grandparents and spent the night there. My grandpa calls Everly his girl because she was born on his birthday, so they were very delighted to see her and us.

On Friday we drove to Louisville to see some friends who hadn't yet met Everly. Here is Everly and Sophia Stewart who are only weeks apart! Evelry just loves being with little ones!

Of course, we had to watch the Colts while we were up there, though the game wasn't too good. Here we are with my brother, Paul, all decked out, well... kinda.

This is Christmas dos with my family- here is my sister Stasia, her husband Ben, and my mom with the girls.

Although it didn't snow on Christmas, we found a pile left over at my grandparents and showed it to Everly. Little did we know we would be driving through a blizzard that night on our way to Bellflower, IL!

That was New Year's Eve and we stayed with our friends Jen and Joel Searby and their son Evan at Jen's parents house. It was so much fun to be with really good friends! The next day we also got to see a couple more friends who live in IL on our way to Branson, MO.

We met Aaron's family in Branson for three whole days. It was the off season, so it wasn't the typical Branson vacation! We went bowling and Everly didn't know what to think of the loud noise!

But she did like the truck ride there! She knew exactly what to do with the steering wheel! :)

We also went to eat at Lamberts where they throw rolls- something Aaron had wanted to do since college. The kids got balloons there and Everly just loved playing with hers. Here she is with Grandma Johnson :)

And we went for a hike--315 steps down and up this hill! Here is Benaiah with hiking stick in hand :) and Grandpa Johnson.
It was great to get outside and to break out our winter coats!

Most of the rest of the time we played Chinese Checkers and Sorry- some of Benaiah's favorites. The kiddos had fun playing together too--Everly especially liked Justin since they are close to the same size.

On our way home we drove through the backhills of Arkansas! and stopped in Jackson, MS to stay the night with our good friends the Viramontes. Isn't this a precious picture of Adam holding Everly? :)

Welp, we're off for a staff retreat today--we're going to be watching the video taped sessions from Catalyst-a leadership conference. Please pray we have good bonding and discussions. Jay Snapp, from Indian Creek, is here too. He is Aaron's intern for the semester, so please be praying for that relationship. Lastly, Aaron and I are going to work out a schedule where he comes home for a few hours three days a week so I can go into the office. While Evelry naps, he can still get work done here, so hopefully it will be good all around! Thanks for checking in with us!!!! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years, too-isn't the Lord good!

last week...

2007-12-16T21:43:00.000-08:00

okay, i've been meaning to get on here and update but we've been so busy! Aaron sent an email about Chris earlier this week, so I hope you got the update on him if you were praying. surgery went well and Chris ended up having insurance which is wonderful! they are flying him and his parents to Indy tomorrow. he'll be having surgery on his wrist, i believe, once he's there. God has blessed this situation greatly, but we still need to pray for his complete healing and also for his parents. PLEASE pray that they will have PEACE, that any strongholds in their minds will by loosed in Jesus name!

The Christmas event Saturday went well. I know Satan was working again to destroy this because some of the families planning to come weren't able to last minute. while we were a little disappointed, we enjoyed getting to know the families there and blessing them in Jesus name. One of the famillies who were expecting a baby girl, ended up going to the hospital instead and delivering while we were there! they called their friend who came to get their gifts after the baby arrived. It was so much fun to be there rejoicing with their friend. I got to purchase a stroller/car seat set at the local thrift store that was all pink and pretty much brand new, and the indian creek ladies loaded it up with some diapers and clothes. how fun! the family has two other kids but lost all their baby stuff from Katrina, so this was a huge blessing--all they had was a bassinet.

well, there are more stories i could share from the week, but it's way past bedtime. we will be getting our last newsletter of the year out this week. Here's a picture to end with, Everly enjoying spaghetti for the first time! enjoy :)

Prayers needed for Chris! (last 2 paragraphs)

2007-12-10T07:27:00.000-08:00

okay, i've been meaning to blog on here for a while, but just haven't found the time. last week we had two groups here- one matt's parents and some other men from CCV, and the other three of our friends from ICCC: Shawn- our old youth minister and Abbey's old boss, Bart- aaron's old boss and buddy, and Monty--all who are good friends. This was kinda a reunion trip for the three of them, as well as a chance to see the ministry here and serve. It was good but went pretty fast.

Then, on Saturday a group of about 50 men arrived on a charter bus from the Creek. Actually, Ryan Sarver came earlier in the week--he works for the Creek doing creative things like video taping the sermon here in New Orleans and then sending it over the net so they could play it sunday morning! It was pretty neat, we got to watch it last night for our Gathering service. Aaron, Abbey and Matt all got to do a part in it. It looked at the discouragment that Joseph experienced when he first found out that Mary was pregnant--obviously not his child. But then an angel of the Lord told him that God was behind this and to marry Mary. hehe... Obviously, New Orleans has faced their amount of discouragment over these last couple years with Katrina. But we know that there is hope in the Lord! well, that was the jist of if. God is working--have hope in Him!

So, the guys arrived Saturday and got to work right away! They are working on three different places: the house of our future community center director and his family, Dennis's house (a man we know from the community who is on disability but works hard to help others that he hasn't had time to finish his own home), and the bowling alley. We are blessed to have professionals down who are overseeing the projects, even some roofers replacing the roof on the bowling alley. God is always blessing us, as we witnessed yesterday...

One of the young guys helping with the roof at the bowling alley, Chris Hendricks, stepped on an old patch and fell through the roof. It was about a 20 foot drop to concrete, however he was miraculously saved from the worst! The EMTs said that if Chris would have been a smaller guy that he would have died, and you might expect to find some internal, head or spine injury from such a fall. However, he has broken these things only!: both of his wrists, his pelvic bone and some small vertibrae bones off of that that I guess are not as serious. It truely was a miracle, but of course Chris is going to have a long recovery from this.

I just talked to Gary and they are still unsure of the time of surgery today for the pelvic bone to be set. His parents were able to catch a flight last night and arrived around 2 a.m. to be with him. We are making sure they are taken care of, especially since they may have to be here for a while. Also, Chris did not have health insurance so I know they'll be taking up love offerings, but Gary did find out that it is a Charity hospital where he is at so the costs may not be great? I don't know how those things work, but i know the Church will take care of their family!

So, please pray for Chris and his family. I will update the blog with more details as we find them out. Thank you and praise God with us for saving Chris's life!

Thanksgiving weekend

2007-11-25T19:48:00.001-08:00

This weekend was quite different from our first 2 Thanksgivings together. We usually are driving and seeing lots of family, which is great but it was nice to stay home and have some good rest as a family. We had our meal with our church family--we brought the pies, one regular pumpkin, one gourmet pumpkin that Leah always makes, and one new apple-cranberry walnut that I (Shauna) read about in a book I read recently (pie making has been something I have gotten into a little).

Everly enjoyed her first Thanksgiving. She had a chair at the big people table! Next year I'm sure she'll be sitting with the kiddos and running around and playing with them... wow--running, that's a whole new level to think about! Here she is playing with the boys' trucks in her dress.

On Saturday we decided we would go see Santa. They had been advertising it on the TV that at 7pm it would snow there, so we made our plan to get to the mall early and leave right after the snow fell so Everly could get her sleep still. Before we got to Santa we searched many stores for a red bow for Everly because someone had already called her a boy. We had no luck, and decided she was cute enough without. Everly didn't cry when she saw Santa which was surprising since she hadn't taken her earlier nap in the drive as we had hoped. And we even got a good smiling picture!

We had some time to kill before the big snow fall, so we walked around (the Disney store is always fun), took some pictures and had some eggnog icecream.

Everly did watch the snow falling, though we're hoping for a better experience up North this Christmas!

The rest of the weekend we spent decorating the house for Christmas, watching Home Alone (actually we fell asleep not far into it!), drinking hot cocoa, and enjoying dressing Everly up in her Christmas attire.

It's exciting to be sharing the holidays with her, though I know she won't understand it for a couple years. Still, it's a lot of fun for us! :) Hope your weekend was as wonderful as ours!

time for some pictures!

2007-11-17T20:03:00.001-08:00

Here are some photos from last week...

Aaron and Lucas with a minister from OH cut down our neighbors dead tree.

Here are Everly's first two teeth that are getting bigger every day!

And I thought this was cute- Everly playing with Daddy. :)

Yea! Winter clothes from Nana.

Everly after she eats a baby cookie!

A big oops! I accidently left the laundry room sink on while I went about doing other chores. Water leaked through to the living room but luckily our neighbor had a wet vac and blower (I don't know what else to call it?) we could borrow.

The living room finally back together after the blower was on for 48 hours! Ev thinks she can help me with my crossword.

The best week ever!

2007-11-15T05:55:00.000-08:00

Aaron said last night that he is having the best week since we've been down here. That's pretty exciting. Why? He said there's been many volunteers say he's doing a great job. There were times when we worked with CrossRoads that would get a lot of negative feedback, some that would challenge us and help us grow, but others that would just tear us down. So it's good to see that we've grown, or just to have volunteers who are positive and encouraging! Another reason it's been a good week is that Aaron has been going in early and getting a lot done, which forces me to also get up early and get things done. So, I agree. It has been a good schedule this week, although I do like to stay in bed for a little longer while he takes care of Everly! And, another reason is probably our team. Yesterday we had an open house at the gutted bowling alley. It was primarily to let people know about the counseling program which will start in January at another location. I got to make a brochure about the Gathering, and it was good to contribute directly to the ministry. While there weren't a lot of people that came by, there were some important contacts made. One was an architect who said he would sign off on our floor plans (made by contractors in Indy) for free, which Aaron says is a very expensive thing usually. So, that's a blessing! And we have had Todd down who is going to be the director of the community center. He has been working on their house--please pray with us that their home in Phoenix will sell soon so that he and his family can move down here! I believe that the group of men coming from Indian Creek in December are going to do a bunch of work on their house here, so that will be good. And we've had Ron down for the last week. He's our counseling genius, :), and is also working on his house. Right now he stays at the middle school and will move December 27th with his wife following after school gets out (she'll be retiring from teaching).
Well, this is a lot of text that is kinda unorganized, but pretty exciting stuff. Oh yes, one more reason Aaron said this has been the best week--God providing for us through faithful supporters just at the right time. That gets Aaron choked up. We're both really appreciative when people sacrifice to take care of us, to know that the believe in what we're doing, and to see that God is caring for us, too! I feel like God will take care of us if he wants us in this ministry, and we've never been without. Thank you, all.

birthday at Navarre Beach!

2007-11-07T06:48:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we got to see our good friends, Jen and Joel Searby, and their 10 week old baby Evan for my 25th birthday. The Searbys live in Gainesville and we were blessed with a condo halfway between us and them at Navarre Beach. It was so much fun hanging out, playing with the kiddos, and just being on the beach! Here are some pictures.

This is definitely one of my favorites--Ev is so cute in her bikini!

We are now 1/2 way to 50 and 1/4 way to 100!

On the board walk with Jen and Evan.

Hanging out in the beach tent.

Evan is only a few inches shorter than Everly! Aren't they cute?!

There are more photos on the Searbys blog if you're interested: www.thesearbys.blogspot.com.

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a treat for you!

Here we are as pirates and our award winning pirate ship at the town's trick-or-trunk. This is our core group, minus Mike, from left to right: Adrianne, Abbey, Amanda, Matt, Lucas, Everly, Shauna, Aaron, and Andrea.

Handing out candy--Lucas (in the ship) did a great job talking to the kids like a pirate as they walked by.

We also helped with the pumpkin decorating--what a cute little Dorothy with red curls!

Everly was a fairy princess and got so many oohs and ahhs. A grandma next to us held her most of the time. :)

Here's the family afterward, a little tired from the day.

Halloween morning--we started this tradition when we got married, making a special breakfast for each holiday. Today it was jack-o-lanturn pancakes with pumpkin, orange coloring, and chocolate chip faces. :)

Here's Evelry in her bee costume from our friend Jayme that she'll wear tonight, maybe minus the crown Aaron says.

Hope you have a fun day!

-------------
Trick-or-treating Fun!

Ready to go!

Rrick-or-treating Chalmette style! Everyone is outside and set up for the kids with lots of fun stuff.

Someone had a popcorn and cotton candy machine. Ev liked tasting the cotton candy!

We ran into the Woodwards and their Buzz Lightyears!

And here's our stash.

rebuilding

2007-10-23T07:24:00.000-07:00

aaron and i are reading Nehemiah right now. it's interesting to read about Jerusalem being rebuilt as New Orleans, specifically Chalmette for us, is being rebuilt. after the wall around the city was rebuilt, the homes still needed rebuilding. hmm... well, our town and parish doesn't have a wall, but we do have a sheriff force unlike any other i've seen and only a few ways into our parish. there has only been one murder in st. bernard parish since hurricane katrina. it's the safest parish in the metro area. but, there is still destruction everywhere! homes still sitting empty, some still not gutted, waiting to be demolished most likely.

anyway, the israelites gathered to worship God after the wall was complete. it is a different group of people than those who grumbled after being freed from captivity. they read the Torah and wept at its words. they recognized how Yahwah had performed a miracle--protecting them and equipping them to rebuild the walls of jerusalem in only 52 days while other nations plotted against them! their lives were being changed.

after we had helped families with their home, gutting or rebuilding it, they too recognized God's hand blessing them. the city in general has recognized that it is the Church that has helped the most after Katrina. but will they turn to worship God? i realize that we have a great responsibility and privelage to teach them God's word now. God doesn't only want to rebuild their homes, but their lives. God has rebuilt all our lives through the power of Christ! i think about how my life is different. in my sin, in the darkest of times, i turn to Christ and their is life, hope. i want for the people of Chalmette, for New Orleans, for all the world, to know Christ.

shrimp, Scrabble, sippee

2007-10-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

Last night we enjoyed our first shrimp broil with our church community and a church from Minnesota. They are here working with Journey Christian Church and want to help support a church plant here. It was a lot of fun. A local man and his wife from Journey came to broil the shrimp, and while that was happening I got to play Scrabble with his wife and a couple other really smart ladies. I knew they were going to be good so I said I would just watch but they would have none of that. So, I played and got a very lucky move--I used all my Scrabble letters to make the word BEETLES, hit three double word scores forming two words, and scored 104 points! I told them I had never done that before, but they joked about it the rest of the evening. It looks like I'll have to play them again in the future. I'm sure I'll lose! :)

Well, we prayed for no rain that night and God blessed us with that! But it got dark quick and Aaron and others scattered for lights. There were over 70 of us all together in the Woodward's (our lead pastor) yard! It was a good time fellowshipping with people--some of them had come down last November and worked with us at CrossRoads, so that was neat. It was also amazing that the food lasted--each of us in our group prepared a side dish and dessert, but I was sure we were going to run out. I think Matt mentioned that in his closing prayer, that it was almost like God multiplied the food like when Jesus fed the 5,000!

Another neat thing was that our friend, and the Woodward's neighbor, Walter came over. It's always good to catch up with him. We mostly talked politics. He's a Sheriff's deputy and we have a huge election race going on right now. I have seen about three debates on TV- for our Parish president and for governor. It's crazy how big of a deal this is here! Well, preliminary voting is Saturday. It's going to be a big deal--I'm not sure how to pray for it. Well, now that I said that I'm sure I'll update you with how it turns out (Adam- I'm sure you'd like to know).

So, that was our fun evening. Everly stayed up late- til almost 9:30. She's asleep now and Aaron is on the road. He and the rest of the staff and our intern are going up to Cincy and Louisville to talk to a few churches who are supporting us. So, pray that that goes well. I'm sure it will cause these are great people of God. As a final note, a high for me today was seeing Everly figure out how to drink from her sippee cup! We tried to teach her a couple weeks ago before we went to Indy and today I got it back out. I was so excited and could tell that she was, too. She even held it a little and got some in by herself. ...she's growing up too quick! :(

here's a cute picture from today to end on...

our little stander

2007-10-11T11:59:00.001-07:00

Every time I turn around Everly is standing, holding on to something new! It's crazy, but she loves it and wants to explore everything. here's a couple pics!

under the kitchen table

the newspaper basket--i have to put her bumbo seat on top of it so she won't eat the paper!

7 months today! Indy and work update

2007-10-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

well, it's been a while and i have been meaning to update this with some pretty exciting stuff. Ev started crawling a few weeks ago, and then standing a week later! She can pull herself up in her crib and on other things. i often find her standing up holding on to things and am amazed! everyone says she's really strong for her age and that she'll probably walk early. she sure is going to keep us busy!

crawling

standing for the first time- on her music box!

and today she is officially teething, i think. how can you ever be sure? but she was pretty fussy and i bought some baby oragel which seemed to do the trick. but it could be that we had a crazy busy, and fun, time in indiana and am still trying to get her take longer naps again. aaron and i got our naps in after an early morning flight and late night to see his grandparents and a friend 2 hours north of Indy. our schedule while we were there was packed! during the week aaron had training from 8-4 and everly and i got up early to take Leah to work and to get to seeing people before we picked her up at 3:45. it was good to have that time structure though.

all smiles with great grandparents cooks!

now we're trying to get back into the swing of things here. Aaron worked the day we got back, Sunday and today with a team from Georgia Tech. They had about 180 students here working with us and CrossRoads. today I got to make a quick stop at the bowling alley to see the progress. they tore down old brick walls inside, gutted the rest of the duct work and other scrap metal, and were cleaning up all the debris. tomorrow some guys from Indian Creek are flying in to look at that buiding as well as the Flechsig's house--Todd will be the community center director and a group from Indian Creek will help him with his house in December. It's exciting to see continued physical progress!

the bowling alley- the igloo looking entrance on the end will be the day care area where one used to be before Katrina.

one last thing- everly had her eye appointment today and all is well. poor little baby had to even have her eyes dialated but the dr. said she was a really good baby. and since i developed a cataract when i was born, he's going to see her again in a year, but said he doesn't expect anything like that to happen.

so... that is our life right now. we really did enjoy being in indy. we sure do love and appreciate our friends and family and wish we could do life with so many of you daily! but this is home to us now and we anticipate similar deep relationships here too. :)

what a morning!

2007-09-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

phew, i'm so glad we're home.
everly had her 6 month check up today. her pediatrician is in uptown- the area just west of downtown new orleans. anyway, the appointment went well... except that the doctor wants us to go to the eye doctor cause ev's eyes were doing something funny... we sure hope and pray it's nothing! well, i have to park in a parking garage and didn't have any cash. luckily there is an atm right outside the building.
after the dr's we went to Walmart--this is our monthly ritual since we're so close to a Walmart by the time we've driven downtown. we just needed a few things, and we just signed up for WIC and needed milk. Everly was getting a little sleepy/cranky at this point, so i was having a time trying to make sure i got the right stuff and keeping her happy. when we got to the cashier i found out that i did get something wrong. so, me and ev take the cart to go get the right thing. then, when we get back to the cashier, she informs me that I have to get cereal when i was told by the WIC lady that she thought i didn't get cereal. so, we had to go back again, and i'm trying once again to find what's on the list. finally, we get back in line and are done.
at this point, i was so ready to get home. i'm talking to aaron on the phone about the dr. appointment and accidently get on the highway the wrong way, which means we're going across the Mississippi bridge to the West Bank only to have to turn around and pay a toll to go to the East Bank. okay, no big deal. I've done this before! only, this time, I accidently got into the wrong toll lane! I kept reading the signs and thought i was in the right one, but when i got up to the window i realized that i was in the toll tag lane.
i look behind me and cars are already there, including a cop car right behind me. i come to a stop wondering what to do now. the cop starts making noises at me, not the sirens but some other cop car noise. everyone else has backed up and got in other lanes, so i think he might also and put the car in reverse. no, a honk and more noises at me. so i get out of the car and start walking back. He yells at me. "Go talk to the attendant" in an angry voice. I'm not so happy with my first new orleans cop encounter. i walk up the the lady in the toll booth with a dollar bill and she just yells at me. "You can't stop, you have to keep going! You can't stop!" I don't have a chance to say anything. She leaves the booth--where she's going i have no clue. She just tells me that i have to go inside (to pay?). I had no clue what she was talking about so I just got back in my car and drove away.
i was overwhelmed and tears came as i drove away. some people can be so rough. is it because they are having a bad day? are angry in general? don't like their jobs? in such a hurry that they don't care about other people? writing these words makes me think of how selfish i can be. i want Christ to make a difference in me. i want to be the caring person who looks at others with love and not so caught up in my own life. those people bless lives, create love and life. God, i want to honor You.

good things happening...

2007-09-18T18:53:00.000-07:00

today everly and I (Shauna) joined the rest of the church plant crew at the middle school for a lunch meeting. we are planning a Christmas outreach with Indian Creek Christian Church from Indy and we were trying to really think how to do something in which we can get to know people better and not just give handouts. then, after a nap and another meal, everly and I walked down to our neighbors, the Wilsons, to chat. Rachel is stay at home mom with an almost 2 year-old girl and a 6 and 8 year old in school. Cliff has a lawn care business. they were the first ones back in their home on this block--they must have "hit the lottery," a.k.a., had flood insurance. anyway, they're Christians, in their 30's, and are very hospitable--i went to their labor day cookout when Aaron was gone. today I was excited to find out that Rachel is going to open a Christian book store in town. she said they had two before the storm and there's nothing right now. I told her I would love to help her get things set up and even asked if I could sell gift baskets in the store. she loved the idea and is going to sell some embroidered things herself. so, i'm pretty excited. this was actually an idea i had a couple weeks ago and didn't think further about it until today, so i think God is putting this opportunity together. i love days like these!

Passion, K-ville, and crawling!

2007-09-17T19:22:00.000-07:00

Aaron spoke at the Gathering last night. We're going to go through our ethos- core values. Our lead pastor, Matt Woodward, taught our staff and interns these when we worked for CrossRoads and all lived together. It's interesting to be going over them again and to be thinking about what they mean for us now living in Chalmette and trying to minister to this community. There's six: passion, servant-leadership, communication, creativity, confrontation, and humility. Aaron spoke on living a passionate life for Christ. He looked at Luke 9 when Jesus sent the 12 out and told them to take nothing--relying on God; and verse 26--being unashamed of Christ; and willing to suffer--what all the 12 did for Christ and where the word passion originates. it was a good discussion with our group. i know the Holy Spirit has been helping me to grow through our community, and also through the times of growing in our marriage, or should i saw struggles. aaron and i are definitely learning and growing. we both recognize it.

on lighter matters, we watched the premier of K-ville tonight. did you happen to catch this new drama series about cops and crime in New Olreans? well, it was strange to watch and think that we have driven and walked some of those streets. at the end, we decided that a show that highlights the dim realities here is kinda depressing. i'm not sure if it's going to be a weekly watch. it will be interesting to see what the Times Picayune has to say about the show tomorrow. it will be interesting to hear from some of you if you happen to see the show (says aaron from the couch).

oh, and the highlight of our evening, Everly made it up our little step from the living room into the kitchen! last night after the Gathering we placed her on the floor and all watched her move. though we had not officially decided she was crawling--she was getting up on her knees and could make one or two movements forward before she'd fall, everyone decided last night she was officially crawling. and tonight when she made it up the step, we agreed! it was such a wonderful thrilling moment, though now our life is only going to get more crazy as she gets more mobile, right? here are some pictures--hope our little everly mae blesses you as she gives us great joy!

crawling tonight

eating a banana--yum!

she likes to squish her face and make funny breathing noises--it's dang cute!

look at those blue eyes!

2007-09-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

i had to put this picture up on the blog because i think it's so precious. i got it yesterday when we were outside watching it rain.

a trip to the canyons...

2007-09-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

this is my first post on here, hope you enjoy...

just returned yesterday from a trip out west with 6 guys from indianapolis, including my dad and brother and three other from indian creek. we went to zion national park and the grand canyon- both places had incredible views and great hikes. we enjoyed camping in both spots, but it also reminded me of acts 2:42. we've been discussing this verse as a theme for our group in new orleans- we eat together, hangout, pray and teach. the week was full of those things but i was challenged to think about how the trip and our new orleans community differ from groups who try to do the same thing. the difference is Christ- He's our motivation, He has to be our reason for the work in new orleans, and He blessed us each with the tremendous opportunity to go on this trip.

so- the specifics... at zion canyon we hiked to the emerald pools, angels' landing, and hidden canyon. the big hike there was an overnight trip to the Narrows. this 16 mile trail was basically a river walk- it stretched from a cow pasture through waist-deep water at times. it was tough, technical, but unique to anything i had ever done. from there we sped off to the grand canyon and zipped down and back up the bright angel trail on thursday- including a dip in the 45 degree colorodo river at the bottom. this pic is of us on our way out to a shower and steak dinner.

i'm home now, ready to jump back in the saddle.

"present riseness" and proposal memories

2007-09-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

does Christ's resurrection affect our daily life? do we only think of the resurrection as a past and future event? this is what the chapter is about that i'm reading right now in Abba's Child. Manning refers to when Christ says he is with us always and asks if we live in this reality. it is making me think. i can never read a full chapter cause i have to stop and chew on it! (it's a great book if you haven't read it and are looking for something fresh to read.)

besides that, 3 years ago today aaron proposed. that's a wonderful memory in my mind. i honestly have the best husband ever. he is so faithful, thoughtful, and loving. if you've never heard our proposal story, i think i'll take a walk down memory lane...

we both were in chicago for labor day weekend- me for my friends birthday and aaron and his family were showing a friend from Ukraine the sights. we decided to meet at the Sear's Tower on Sunday night. i had no clue anything was going to happen because aaron had led me to believe it wasn't coming soon, which was good because i was very surprised. driving through downtown chicago for the first time with one of my best friends, Jayme, was sweet enough! then, when we arrived there i didn't see aaron and thought he might be inside getting tickets. as I looked around his brother called for my attention and started speaking jibberish, well, french actually, but i didn't know what was going on! he handed me a yellow rose and his wife translated, "he wants to be your friend." then gary speaks spanish, leah hands me a white rose, "he wants to have a pure relationship." and Olga (Ukrainian friend) speaks in russian, "he wants to serve God with you" and hands me a purple gerber daisy--no rose means service :) then Gary tells me that Aaron is waiting in the park across the street--he had wanted to be at the top of the tower, but it was a long time getting up there and thought i would have too much time to think! but this was perfect, like a movie only real! there's a beautiful little park there, just grass and trees and maybe some flowers. i remember there was this asian family having a picnic on a blanket- aww. and there was aaron, in a t-shirt i had given him, a vintage one of the smokey mountains found at goodwill. i still had no clue to this point-- i thought he was just being sweet and it happened all pretty fast. but as soon as i got to him we hugged and he quickly said these words to me, "shauna, i love you, i want to love you 1-2-3 (which means God first, you second, myself third- something we picked up from our friends jake and melissa's wedding the summer before), and then he got down on his knee and pulled the ring out-- this was the best part-- and he asked me to marry him! that was when i realized what was going on! i was so giddy, laughing and smiling the whole night. of course, i said yes, we hugged, the asian familyl clapped for us, and the ring was perfect-- more than i had expected and a sign of how much aaron loved me. he worked hard all summer doing extra work to save for it. it was all paid off--he's so good like that.
anyway, we tried to call people but no one answered, so we went up the tower. i flashed my ring about to the workers with the biggest smile and excited "i'm engaged!" they didn't even know me, but i had to tell someone! my friend Jayme of course figured what was happening the moment it started and teased me for not knowing. but i liked it that way--it was aaron's dream to surprise me and he did a great job at it. he had spent a great deal of time thinking it out, too. the three languages were the ones i had studyed as i traveled abroad and in school. missions, culture, language--some of our passions. flowers- i love to get flowers! and having our family and friends there. it was a perfect, and unique, proposal. out of all of it, though, my favorite part was when he got down on his knee and said, "will you marry me?"

new neighbors!

2007-09-04T10:39:00.000-07:00

our neighbors, across the street diagonally, are moving in today! i'm sitting at the computer watching furniture being delivered. earlier today one of the guys working on the house helped jump my car and told me that i needed a new car battery--with aaron gone it was a blessing to have some help, and he used to be a mechanic for 20 years! they are very nice... but i haven't met the homeowners yet, just their son and other guys from the firehouse who have been helping out. once everly is up from her nap we'll go see if they're there. i thought about taking cookies over that i baked last week, but they're healthy oatmeal dark chocolate chip so i don't know if they'll like them. oh, i see the wife, carrying drinks in. yeah! neighbors :)

Everly update

2007-09-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

I thought it might be time to do a general update on Evelry cause people are usually interested in her! She'll be 6 months old in a week! It seems like it's gone by fast, but she still seems like a little baby to me. I was just looking at some old pictures of her trying to hold her head up. Of course, now she can roll all over, scoot backward, and is trying very hard to crawl forward! The toy she likes the best is her exersaucer, I think because she can stand in it and it has lots of fun toys that make noises, move, and she can stick in her mouth. That's where everything goes these days, especially paper. She's eaten a little paper here and there and Aaron (shh!) let's her. I let her play with her spoon after I feed her cereal and lick my dinner plate sometimes... Okay, that sounds weird, but she did it one evening on her own and it was hilarious! Aaron says he doesn't know if he can handle the future messiness with baby food, so I read to him an article in my parenting magazine about how that's how babies explore.
Well, here are a couple recent pictures of her. Aaron has our camera at the Grand Canyon with him or I would take some new ones today. Enjoy!

Here's one of Ev at the beach in Clearwater, FL. She and I went with some of our interns after the summer was over.

Isn't she cute in her jellies! They're still a little too big and never stay on, but I couldn't resist!

This was when she first discovered her stuffed animals. I laid her down on the blanket, left, and when I returned she was playing with them.

Here she is in her exersaucer.

This was taken down town by my friend Jayme.

K+2

2007-08-30T07:40:00.000-07:00

Do you know what this means--K+2? I didn't know if it was being used nationally or just locally, but it is the way they were representing the 2nd anniversary of Katrina, which was yesterday. I'm sure everyone saw stories of K+2 in the news. There were many ceremonies here. Aaron went to our town's memorial breakfast. Two of our Senators were there and many other notables. The President was in town- in the 9th Ward not far from us!

Well, I didn't watch too many news stories on this because I thought I would get stuck in front of the TV once I started, but we do see the effects of Katrina everyday out our front door. Just the other day we got to watch the house across the street being torn down while we ate our breakfast.

And our neighbors are still rebuilding--one moves in next week! It is an older couple whom we haven't met yet, but their son has been heading up the remodeling of their house. And our neighbor two slabs to the North is painting his walls. His wife and kids live across the lake so it will be interesting when they finally move in to their house and are a family again. Interesting, I guess, because we will have more neighbors, and kids, too.

Well, there is still a ton of rebuilding to do, but also lots of other things. Many law suits- nursing home owners being sued because they didn't evacuate residents who drowned; there's a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers; and others i'm sure that i don't know about. I also read a story about mental health and am excited that we will have a counsling program open soon--the first community center program of ours starting. They are also trying to close some of the FEMA trailer parks, but people still don't have homes to move into.

One of the news specials was about the signs of hope in New Orleans. Of course, they talk about the people's spirit, the help from outside organizations, and so forth, but we do hope that it is God Almighty who is providing hope for people. And the Church has definitely made an impact here. One interview with a man who attented a Catholic memorial service said that after the Priest prayed the cathedral was shook by thunder. He said he felt like that was God letting them know He was listening. Aaron and I are always glad to see God make the news!

Welcome to our new blog!

2007-08-29T19:07:00.002-07:00

Okay, here we go again... After much frustration with our blog (i.e. we can never get the title thingy to work) we have decided to try a new blog site, one that is quite popular with our friends. So, hopefully I, Shauna, can keep this updated throughout the week with little life tidbits and pictures. As for our newsletter, I think we will continue to send those as a pdf via email.

The most exciting happenings as of late- with the church plant is a building we are looking at in hopes to buy/lease and remodel for the community center and church. It was the Parish's bowling alley and has some great potential for many different types of ministries to be happening out of. Right now Aaron is slicing apples to dehydrate for a trip he's taking- hiking and camping at the Grand Canyon with his pops and brother and other guys from Indian Creek Christian Church. He leaves Friday and will be gone until next Saturday! I have high hopes to have a great week with Everly and to get some projects done around here to surprise him. And, the other exciting thing in our life is looking at our friends website- Jen and Joel Searby, who just had their baby boy Evan last Friday. He's so cute. A future friend and hopefully vacation buddy for Everly.

Welp, I better go cut apples, there's a lot to do!