God is Good to the Johnsons

I was ready for a walk this morning. We've been under the weather the past couple days and this morning we were all feeling pretty good again, and I was truly antsy and ready to exercise. One problem... my jeans were in the wash, and I'm low on exercise pants that fit me of late (crazy thing about losing weight... your clothes don't fit anymore... because they're too big for you. Weird, right? I've never really had that problem before), and all I had were my outlandish neon-wild skinny-fit flower pants, combined with my Mickey Mouse hoodie, a striped scarf, some wooly socks, frizz-tastic curly hair and no make-up... wow, I looked eccentric. Combine that with the fact that Charlie was still in his Dino PJ's, and we haven't bought him mittens yet so I put some extra long white-socks over his hands, and donned a crocheted elf hat on his head to keep his noggin warm... we looked quite the pair. To be totally honest, I doubted whether I should go walking f...

Today, for no particular reason, I'm grateful for every time my Jeep starts without a hiccup. Grateful for YouTube that taught my neighbor Delana and I how to jump-start a car last week, early in the morning (even though my dad and husband have taught me dozens of times, and I forgot...). Grateful for brights and hazard lights and emergency brakes. Grateful for windshield wipers. Grateful for rearview mirrors and heat seaters and radios. Grateful when my automobiles work. And grateful for mechanics when they don't.

I'm grateful for the kind soul who dropped this off today who somehow knew that all three of us were ill. Thank you.

Grateful for a day For rest and revelation And restitution. Grateful for a day Where worship is important We commune with God. I'm grateful for Sunday.

I've found a new favorite board game, guys. TICKET TO RIDE. I know it's not new, and not novel to many of you out there. But my brother and sister-in-law introduced me to the game a few months ago and now I'm hooked. It involves strategy, competition, chance... all the elements to games that intrigue me. And yes, we always, ALWAYS end up singing at least one line from the Beatle's version of this title. So that's it. That's what I'm grateful for today. And... Shout out to all the family members that humored me this week in playing a few rounds with me! I'm grateful for you!

I was sorely disappointed in the Fantastic Beasts movie I saw this morning. **SPOILERS(KIND OF)COMING**More than one part of the film made me cringe and the HP fan in me was offended and upset. In summary: I felt the story lacked organization, lacked a general regard for morality, and did not defend the sanctity of life. Kevin and I both left the theater feeling, for lack of a better word, yucky. What is our world coming to?  I thought all the way home. The one redeeming quality of the film? Newt Scamander & his beasts, like the kelpie. And Jacob, yeah, Jacob was good.  Everybody else... well, they sorta broke my heart. Later on, we were treated to a play at a local theater and its musical production of The Scarlet Pimpernel. The story details a hero and his comrades that go to incredible lengths to save intended victims of the French Revolution's Guillotine. As the story progressed, I felt quite the opposite effect of the morning's film. While the historic circumstance ...

We woke up slow, ate breakfast in our pajamas, and lazily got ready for the day--taking dozens of minutes in between to wrestle with our little one, snack on chocolate, gaze out the window. Late morning, we wandered over with a sack full of bread to feed the ducks, who--without the regular college crowd milling about to share crumbs with them--were without a feast. We fed them, and fed them, and fed them, while our young son giggled and snatched a piece of bread to nibble on himself. The sky turned from hazy gray to rainstorm clouds, we made it home from our walk just in time and ate a small lunch while the munchkin napped and buckets of raindrops pelted the pavement outside our kitchen view. In a few minutes we'll take a drive to be with family, where we'll give thanks, and eat turkey, pies, rolls, salad greens, and cranberry sauce. We'll share talents, play games, and return to the table to eat more food till our bellies fill to bursting. And then we'll take a...