strength in numbers

Over the course of 3 and a half years, my family doubled in size. We went from a happy little newlywed couple, to becoming parents of two incredible little boys. Whenever I hear of a couple preparing to have their first baby, one of the things I tell them is get ready for your heart to grow in ways that you never thought possible... get ready to feel such an enormous amount of love that you have never felt before. Our oldest, Liam, is now 20 months old. I feel like I have learned more over the last 20 months, that I have the entire rest of my life. Being a parent presents incredible challenges, but also carries such an overwhelming feeling of joy and happiness.

I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing my son transform from a tiny little baby into a toddler... he is such a quirky, silly, loving boy. He still doesn't talk, but he knows the entire alphabet and can pick any letter out for you. He is for sure working on his own time frame - I'm pretty sure he will talk whenever he feels like it. That is just how his personality is..

Now his little brother Cole is pretty darn opposite. He is the most carefree, go with the flow baby I have ever met. Just sweetly content. He loves to just watch him big brother play, and loves to give the sweetest little kisses - all nice and slobbery. :)

After Cole was born I was absolutely convinced I was done having kids.... 2 was perfect and plenty. Here I am a few months later dreaming about a big family. A very sweet friend of mine has 5 boys and loves it. Sometimes I think having lots of little Johnstons running around would be a blast. Again, children always present new, fun challenges, but I think the joy far outweighs that.

But for now, we are a perfectly happy family of 4. Enjoying the time we get to spend together, and so enjoying watching our little babies grow into little boys. :)

full of joy....

A while back I made a post about my best friend. I won't go into much detail about my past relationship with Brooke, but we have been friends for almost 8 years now. We have been through so much, but within this past year our friendship has grown more than it ever has before. We have been walking through me having two boys and her and Josh trying for almost 2 years to get pregnant before they finally did. It has been our dream to be mommy's together. It is something we have talked about for years, but within the last one we finally got to the point where we knew it was going to happen.

I remember the afternoon she called me and told me she had taken a test and it was positive, she was pregnant! This had been their, and our prayer for months, years really. I was so full of joy and excitement for them. If there is anyone in this world you would look at and think, she is meant to be a mom, it is Brooke. She has such a big heart, and is so ready to love on a little one.

From that day, we started a new journey of our friendship, Brooke entered mommy mode immediately. She put such thought and care into everything from crib and dresser to the outfit Landon would wear home from the hospital. I have never seen anyone enjoy pregnancy as much as she did. But, the fact that I was able to go through this with her, and that she included me in the journey even though we live so far from each other meant the world to me. We had extensive conversations about pacifiers and bottles, diapers and formula. Every little detail we were able to talk about. It's hard to explain, but that we are there, in that season of life together, makes my heart so happy. That our husbands, Andrew and Josh, will now get to talk about blow out diapers and sleepless nights together is just awesome.

For the past few months Brooke has been joking about getting skype up in the delivery room so Andrew and I could 'be there' while she was delivering. We had the perfect plan - Andrew holding one leg, Josh holding the other (getting ready to catch Landon), and me giving Brooke peptalks. Not awkward at all really. We even practiced....


Baby Landon arrived late Tuesday and I laid in bed that night full of so many different emotions. Sheer happiness for them and this incredible journey that they started, but also was so sad that I wasn't able to be there to meet him, kiss his adorable little cheeks, and hug my best friend.

God has really blessed me. I couldn't be more thankful for Brooke and who she has been in my life. It makes me sad that we are not together in the same city as she enters this journey with me, but it doesn't change the fact that she is my person, and as we are now mommy's together, she will remain my person. No matter the distance, no one could ever replace who she is in my life. Andrew and I couldn't be more excited for Josh and Brooke. We love them and baby Landon so much, and thank God for how blessed we are by our best friends.. and we are beyond excited to get our 3 boys all together. Fun to be have by all I'm sure! I have a feeling they will be best buds, no matter how many miles may separate.


Here's to a new season, a new beautiful baby boy, and best friends who are completely irreplaceable.

the new norm

I am now 5 weeks into my new job. I am loving what I do, and the ministry that I get to work for. Andrew asked me after a few days of work what I liked most about the job and I told him that I love working with other believers. I get the opportunity to be involved with a ministry that's goal is saving lives.. those of the unborn, but also leading people to Jesus. Because of the nature of our center, I have found myself coming to a whole new level of dependency on God. I am realizing every day how little is in my control, but how God has the ability and desire to change even the hardest of hearts. I am excited about how God is already transforming me through this position, and can't wait to see all that he has in store for this ministry in the future.. and humbled that I get be a part of it.

But with a new job obviously comes some big changes for my family. We have now gone from me being a full time stay at home mommy, to working 3 days a week out of the house. 2 of the 5 weeks I have been working Andrew has been gone, and has just recently made the decision to be gone next week as well. I have always seen myself as his partner in ministry and now he is making the adjustment to partnering with me in my ministry as well. Lots of adjustment taking place and we are so thankful our boys are so easy going. They have been doing great with our summer nanny and I think enjoy the change of scenery sometimes. :) Andrew and I will come out of a busy season and be excited that the next one will slow down, but somehow we never see that slow down. We will find our groove with this new change, but until then I'm sure there may be a few more bumps in the road.

I will say, God has shown incredible faithfulness to my family and we are feeling incredibly blessed. In every season He knows exactly what we need and He is always there. He is our provider and we will continue to seek His face and depend on Him alone!

oh june...

June has been for Andrew and I, a pretty emotional month. In this month we have the anniversary of his mom passing away as well as a week after that our wedding anniversary.

My best friend from all throughout childhood and to this day has been updating me on her mom who has been fighting a battle with cancer. One of the most recent caring bridge site posts on her site said that Mary is 'sucker punching cancer in the face, Chuck Norris style'. This is who her mom is, and this is who she has raised her daughter Sara to be as well. I am in awe of their family's strength in this time of incredible uncertainty. Cancer is something I will never understand, and will be one of my first questions once I get to heaven.... Why cancer?

While on the site for Sara's mom, I put in Nancy's name, entered her site, and immediately a wave of emotion came over me. 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, perfect love casts out fear. This was a verse that Nancy held dear and in one of the posts Andrew wrote after that 'We do not fear the future because God has it under control and because of the perfect love that my mom has shown throughout her life'. As I read the final post that was made on her site, the post Andrew and I wrote the morning Nancy passed away I started to cry. I haven't thought in such detail about that morning in a long time. I miss her, I miss her so much. She was an incredible person and she was so special to me. She accepted me as her daughter, she encouraged me and challenged me in my faith, and she loved me. She showed perfect love throughout her 49 years of life. She was, simply put, an inspiration... an inspiration to live a selfless life, to love Jesus wholeheartedly, to put others before yourself, and to live out your faith boldly day in and day out, no matter what comes your way. The day before she died, Andrew and I were able to say our wedding vows to each other with her present. When I think that a week after she passed away we had our wedding day, I rejoice in the fact that she not only was able to be there for all the planning but she also was able to celebrate with us in that little ceremony we had at her bedside.


So while this month is a month of remerberance and celebration we praise God for all that he has done in our lives... for those that have touched our lives and have impacted our hearts and for those who we are yet to cross paths with. We thank God for the amazing (sometimes challanging) 4 years, for the wonderful 2 boys we have been blessed with, and for the amazing ministry we get to do together. Through it all, God is good!

long family weekend... perfect.

The 4 of us have had almost all weekend together. Andrew was off Friday, just worked a bit that morning, we all were at church yesterday morning, and just relaxed and played the rest of the time. It was incredible. One thing I love seeing most is how much Liam absolutely loves spending time with his daddy. He is 100% a daddy's boy and I love it.

Cole is rolling like crazy. It has been one of the most frustrating things at night when he rolls on to his tummy, wakes up and crys until we go in and roll him back over. He can't roll tummy to back, only back to tummy. We are constantly reminding ourselves it is just a season because if there is one thing we learned with Liam it is just that. Everything passes and we try to enjoy all of it. Besides, how can you deny loving that adorable grin and precious boy. :)
We have a pretty darn nuts June coming up, we don't have an open weekend until late July. This weekend was exactly what we needed as we enter yet another busy season. God has truly blessed me and I thank him every day for this incredible life I am living. So blessed by my family and wonderful friends that surround me.

we have a HOME!!!!!!

When we moved into our townhouse in January we thought we would be here for at least a year. We had just finished fixing up and selling two houses and just really wanted the break from owning a home.... that was until the boys and I were on a walk one day and came across a house just a few blocks from our place. I was curious about it so decided to check it out. We went over the next day to see it and really just loved it. It's a simple, small, lovely home. Andrew and I said it would so great if we could get that house for $15,000 less than it was currently listed at. Since that seemed impossible we forgot about it until 2 days later we found out that the owner just dropped the price exactly $15,000. It was nuts! So we made an offer and got the house.

As I was talking with my mom last night she asked if we were planning on staying in this house a little longer than our last two, which we were only in each of them for a little over a year. I was almost giddy when I told her I am finally excited about having a place I can call home. We have had two houses, but since we bought them with the intentions of selling I never really looked at them as home. In my mind there is something very special about investing your heart into making a place a home. I am invested and excited about it! I see this as the place that my boys will grow up and remember as their first home as well. This is the school district they will be in, this is where they will meet neighborhood friends that they will be able to play with. It all just makes me so happy.

Since the house is vacant as soon as our loan is processed we will close. Most likely within the next two weeks. Andrew and I have joked about just rolling the cribs down the street since it is so close to our place right now. We also laid in bed last night and just talked and dreamed up what this house will be to us and the things we would love to do to make it our home. In Andrew Johnston style he has already written up plans for the kitchen, is going to break out one wall before we even move in, and has been basically stalking craigslist to find some floors for our kitchen.

I am constantly in awe of the new ways that God works in and through us. If we wouldn't have moved into this townhouse we probably never would have come across this house since we were not looking at all! Someone dropping the price on their house by such a large amount all at once is almost unheard of, but they did. Finding a renter for our townhouse so we could get out of our lease was so easy. Every little piece thus far as just fallen into place. We couldn't be more excited to make this move soon.... and to hopefully not make another move for a long time. :)

my life in a few photos...

One thing that I never would have realized until I had kids is how quickly they change, grow, and develop. Cole is already so big... and he is only 4 months. Sometimes I think.... well in a year he will be doing what Liam is doing. That means this little guy will be walking/talking and throwing crazy temper tantrums in just one year. Now that is alot of change, and ALOT to look forward to. :)



Liam.... Now Liam blows my mind on a daily basis. He is becoming such a little explorer. He loves playing in the dirt, sorting and organizing pretty much anything (momma's genes at their best) and read book after book with mommy and daddy. He also does a great job of finding the remote even when we put great effort into hiding it. It is like his own grand victory when he finds it, his face lights up, he brings it to us, and asks to watch Mickey Mouse. He has a slight obsession with Mickey.









We had a great Easter that we spent with Andrew's family. It was so fun having lots of Andrew's family meet Cole for the first time and Liam absolutely loved doing an Easter egg hunt and hanging out with his grandpa. He even tuckered himself out so much that he feel asleep on a pile of books while playing. It was too funny. He has never done anything like that before. Man, I am loving this incredible life that I am living

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feeling blessed

I have had several moments today with my boys where I just sat in awe of how blessed I truly am. Liam was still pretty tired when he woke up from his nap so we sat on the couch, him in my arms snuggled up while he drank his milk. My big boy who seldom cuddles just melted into my arms. Precious moment. Cole is almost to the laughing stage - he almost looses his breath as his smiles turn to little hiccup like laughs. Absolutely adorable. I also got out of bed this morning to feed Cole and Andrew already had him downstairs with a bottle ready to go. I was able to go back to sleep for an hour. I am SO blessed. A husband who, no matter how difficult I make things sometimes, is so good to me. Two healthy, vibrant, intelligent, full of life boys that I get to spend each and every day with. I am on blessed Mamma and although each day holds its own challenges and difficulties I wouldn't trade this life for anything.