Johnson Family Dish

Can’t Help But Love Him!

Randon, knowing my math angst, sent me this e-mail today.

“I just had a thought on the way in to work. God has always commanded his people to write, I don’t remember him commanding them to do math! Ha, ha just kidding. I sure love you I hope you have a great day!”

That made my day. I thought I would share it with all of you. You might not agree but, you have to give this man credit for an original, funny though.

Starting Again

All is going well here on the home front. All of the children are doing really well. Scott and his teacher are doing great together so far. The girls all like their teachers too and are making friends quickly. What a relief and answer to our prayers!

My first week at school has been good too. My first day was great! My second day was tough but, I will touch on that in a minute. I am a bit overwhelmed by all of the things that I need to learn, in addition to the cirriculum. College has changed so much, even the textbooks have changed dramaticlly. I will be required to do a power point presentation for each class, I must learn the MLA format for structuring papers along with a number of other specific formats for work. I have one hybrid class (we meet once a week in person and once a week on line, love this structure!) and one class that is a Tvi class (which means that the instructor is actually very far away teaching us in real time, and 3 other classes. I find this set up a challenge because some of my classmates simply turn their microphone off and talk all they want, it is infinitely distracting and frustrating!!) And one of my classes is more traditional.

I tested into a math class (math 092) that is overwhelmingly, to the point of a panic attack, more advanced than my actual, factual skill level. (How the heck it happened I will never know!?!) This caused my 2nd day to be a blur of stress and panic! The cliff’s notes version of the story is: I went to class, the instructor began to solve problems on the overhead, without an adequate explanation as to what anything meant or any, clear to me, order of what she was doing and why?!! I wait for it to sink in or come back to me or something, it doesn’t. Class ends, I talk to instructor about this. She refers me to tudoring where they tell me that I probably need the class below this one, although I can do the current class they say, it is going to take A LOT of time. I calm down, call my sister, the math wiz, and she says she can help me. I get there, she does help me (restores my confidence and reminds me how the very basics are done) but I realize that there is no way that I can do this class and the 3 others that I am taking at the same time, and my family responsibilities without something suffering terribly! Lisa then tries to make sure that I am sure about this and I tell her that I will take it next semester with only one, maybe two, other classes and a ton of help from her and others.

So now my calm is restored and I feel I can excell in the classes I am taking and my family life. I feel completely exhilarated. Randon even calling me a nerd because I am working and reading ahead where possible. He is happy to not be the only nerd in the house now.

Transition

So this wierd transition has gotten my mind going (maybe all of this time to think now). I have been thinking about the other times in my life when I have gone through difficult and exciting (yes, both at the same time) transitions. I can only think of a few that were this drastic and felt so pivitol, or looking back I realize how pivitol they were in my life.

Life is short, I am seeing the truth of that more and more as my children are growing up, these transitions have been somewhat rare in my life. Sure there are tons of little changes all of the time. Lots of little things to adjust to constantly, I enjoy those very much (it keeps things from feeling stale to me). And it is not that these big transitions are not good too, they always have proven to be a blessing in my life, they just change so much so fast that I find myself looking back at the time before that happened. They become markers in my life. Marking time that I always look back at with wonder and awe and longing.

So, in my life the markers I have so far are as such; leaving home, marrying the perfect man for me, giving birth to my first child making me a mother, and this.

I have lots of sub-markers, if you will, in those markers. All of the sub-markers are really important too and pivitol but more natural transitions, things that I was acclimated too already. Such as having each of my babies (oh how I cherish that time!) and moving into our current home. All sub-transitions to my life.

The only way to further explain this is just that this feels so big… I know I will look back at this time with longing for what it marked for me.

Is This Really Our Life?

Today was… what’s the word?… Surreal.

All of the kids went to school today. They were happy to go, getting so bored at home that they were picking fights with one another, so I was happy for them to go too.

I kept busy for the first part of the morning getting things settled with my schooling and then cleaning etc. When I was done with all of that (I got done fast with no interuptions) it was sort of eerie to be here all alone….. and quiet! It reminded me of when I was ill last year and home all day in this quiet, clean house, empty, negative. So I was happy when Randon called me and asked me to meet him for lunch.

The kids all are home now and all had a really good day. They all like their teachers and are happy to be with their friends again. We have had fun talking and hearing about eachothers day.

I had a good day too, don’t get me wrong, it is just really strange. Sort of an “is this really my life now?” kinda feeling being alone all day. So, it is good that I will start classes next week and have something to occupy my time.

My Girls

Our big girls went to school today.

Funny how through the years your prayers for your children change. I remember praying a lot for God to give me patience with them when they were younger. Now my prayers for them tend to be more about their safety and how I want them to make nice friends and to be good. And they seem to be more intense and much more frequent. Most parents want the best for their children. Among other things for them being surrounded with good people and positive experiences so each new experience of theirs causes me to pray, worry and hope a lot.

We miss them today.