God is Good to the Johnsons

The people, the people, the good, good people saw it. Saw the sky, it filled with smoke at first ...naught but a trickle from this side... but beyond the cusp of the mountain top a blazing, burning, heaping beast of flame devouring all the woods and green, and threatening to eat all you see on the hillside, the beloved mountain scene. The people, the people, the good, good people left their homes in exodus, because The sirens blared across their city. The orange and the red, you see, they licked their way closer. And the people, the people, the good, good people, For weeks, removed, relocated, displaced. The people, the people, the good, good people are now, at last, after fire's retreat home again. But nay... the people, the people, the good good people and their neighbors fill up and wall up the sandbags, because the water from an ocean's storm beats west across the stateside sky flaunting floodgates of water over fires' trail, to turn ash an...

WANTED! INDIVIDUAL WITH EXPERIENCE AS  A PROFESSIONAL ADULT WHOM CAN WRITE A WELL-BALANCED MANUAL WITH SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS FOR OTHER ADULTS-IN-TRAINING Requesting, specifically, a person whom has had training regarding all matters one might consider "grown-up," including but not limited to:  renting apartments purchasing groceries understanding any an all insurance policies of every variety attending and graduating college dating how to plan a wedding and handle all the fru-fru items expected therein marriage-ing home buying car buying car-repairing sprinkler-installing carpet cleaning adult-onset-allergies giving birth caring for child after birth making sure your toddler does not swallow foreign objects finding a suitable career how to manage paying for all of the above etc, etc, etc MANUSCRIPT APPLICATIONS WELCOME AT ANY TIME REWARD: A LIFETIME SUPPLY OF THANKS

Nearly every day I read to my little boy out of these illustrated scripture story books, based off of my religion's texts. We've been reading in "Doctrine & Covenants Stories" lately. This book relates the restoration of Christ's church on the earth in modern days. Many of these stories explain the life and service of God's prophet Joseph Smith Jr. If you don't know much about him, I recommend you watch this movie . It's TOTALLY worth the hour. So Charlie and I have been reading these stories every day, stories I've read and heard for years, and my love and admiration for Brother Joseph has swelled. He was a sincere boy with a question--which church should I join? He was a faith filled teen that stood by the answer Heavenly Father gave him in person, that Christ's church no longer existed on the earth, and that Joseph was to be the chosen messenger to preach the word and establish Christ's church once more. He grew to be a good man an...

You know the phrase, "that's old... that's older than dirt!" My grandparents used that phrase last week when I mentioned a house we'd looked at buying was built in 1942. Grandma was teasing Grandpa because that's the year he was born... Well, I think I found a new saying that might replace "Older than dirt" in a couple decades.  You see, today is Google's 20th birthday. This internet website and encompassing search engine is a name known to billions. For the past several years, the term "just google it" has become a casual part of our colloquial language. Using Google to look up facts (or fallacies), checking our Gmail, saving files to our Google Drive, it's become part of everyday life for educators, business executives, students, reporters, parents... for everyone that touches a computer.  So today, It hit me in the oddest way that I'm twenty-six years old... and I'm pre-coining the phrase that people will u...

Coming here,      It’s like coming home. Except the name they call me is Mrs. J, Instead of photos on the walls there are drawings. But there are hundreds of books, just like Home There’s loving children, just like Home, And there’s belonging & friendship & laughter, Just like home. So lucky am I, That as a substitute teacher, I can come back to the school family I’ve loved From when life = full time work And feel just as loved As I ever did.

I first made the acquaintance of Chicken & Waffles while at IHOP with my grandparents at 18 years old. I remember our waitress had a Tinkerbell tatoo. Eating out was such a rarity in that season of my life that the menu overwhelmed me. IHOP was featuring "southern dishes," and Chicken & Waffles was the main to-do. Quite frankly, it confused me. Who mingles breakfast foods with dinner foods? Certainly I didn't... I was far younger and less adventurous in culinary tastes than I am now, so I shied from the opportunity. Welp, now I'm braver, and one Provo restaurant has me totally enchanted with this classic plate from the south. Station 22 on center street features a thin, crispy waffle topped with a perfectly fried and battered chicken breast. Garnished with a slice of bacon and candied mint leaves, and served with  a thick cinnamon syrup on the side--this take on chicken & waffles is power-packed with complimentary flavors while satisfying a foodie's ...

Fresh start, Monday. I can't tell you how many times we try, try, try again to wake up before the sun so we can read God's word before the day begins. But time and again, the alarm sounds and snoozing and losing goes from enticement to entrapment and the more important goes from wanted to wayside til the evening, when my brain is too foggy to understand. Today, though. Today was Monday and he and I, we woke up before the sun and we read God's word and we were filled before breakfast. I'm grateful for fresh starts, new beginnings. I'm grateful to learn from the master teacher, the master healer, the master of tempests and earth and skies, who gives me the chance to try again on Mondays and every day.