Growing Up Baby

Noah this morning was playing around with his toys and I thought it was cute that he had grabbed the fire hat and the fire truck from his toy crate. I got out the camera, and caught him just in time to watch him put on the hat. He is so proud of himself.
I've also noticed how much the kids have grown since we moved here, especially the little ones. Noah was just 7 months old, and now he's nearly 1 1/2 and using a bowl and spoon and walking around. Jacob was almost three and barely talking, now he's using complete sentences and carrying on conversations - when we first got here, he wouldn't talk to anyone at church, now he participates in Sunday School discussions. The changes in the older kids are more subtle, but there. If you haven't seen us since last August, I'm sure you'll notice the differences the next time we get together. For now, I'll just keep trying to share moments with you through pictures.

Spring Break is Over - Half way through 1st year!

Wow! We are half way through the 1st year of Seminary. Six months from now, we'll be a Sem-2 family. Some days, I feel like we just got here.

We just arrived home from a trip to Michigan. We visited with family in Ludington on Saturday, went to church at Trinity Reed City on Saturday night and worked at the Fantastical Talent Show at Redolencia in Ludington on Sunday. The kids did a great job and now Corinne has a lot of film footage to edit and a DVD to make.

Caitlin played her guitar (sort of, she's just starting to learn it) and sang Happy Birthday to her mom. Summer was the MC and hostess of the event, and she made the most of her moments on stage. Tyler and Ethan performed a short skit that they made up together. Daddy took Jacob and Noah to the park, but he'll get to help with the DVD, so he'll see the performances many times.

Corinne is taking some classes at IPFW, including journalism and just got her first article published.
Here is a link to it.
The Communicator is the college newspaper. She has another story scheduled to run in a future edition of the Fort Wayne Family Magazine.

Half way through the break - Mom speaks

I try to keep the blog updated with photos and kids activities, but I wanted to take this opportunity to let everyone know how I am doing.
Don has been off school for one week now, and apparently that is enough boredom for him - he's been getting the garage and yard cleaned up and yesterday he organized the pantry. I LOVE IT!
One more week and he'll be back in class - (sigh)
He is looking forward to classes starting back up though, because he is learning so much. I hear him say over and over how brilliant the professors are.
The kids are spending this week rehearsing for the FANTASTICAL talent show at REDOLENCIA coffee shop in Ludington, MI.
We'll be there next Sunday, March 14th 1pm - please come and see us!
I'm in charge of videotaping the event and we will have DVD's available for sale a week after the live show.
I'm taking several classes at IPFW (Indian Univ. Purdue Univ. Fort Wayne). I just finished my last class of the week and now I'm on spring break too.
It's starting to feel like home here now, and everybody seems to be finding their place, even me...
>I've been asked to write an article with tips on how to manage a large homeschooling family for Fort Wayne Family magazine;
>I am being considered for a writing position at The Communicator (IPFW paper);
>I am making large posters with the words to "I am Jesus Little Lamb" for our church's deaconess to use in teaching the song to the Sunday School children;
>I was asked this morning to help with the summer's VBS program, so I've added that to our calendar
> Oh, and I almost forgot, I was nominated and elected to the position of Vice President for next years SWA (Seminary Wives Association) board.
I've always been happier staying busy, and we do have to keep a pretty strict schedule to get everything done, and sometimes I feel like I'm driving (literally, driving) around in circles dropping off and picking up to get everyone to and from all their activities.
Even though this upcoming week should be completely free, we've filled it with rehearsals so that we can participate in next weeks talent show. It seems that no one around here is able to just sit still for any length of time, and I suppose the blame begins with me.
We miss our family and friends back home, but we have been very blessed during our time here, and I am very grateful for all that God (through His faithful children) has done for us.
Corinne

ON BREAK, but still thinking about school...

Here are a couple of photos of Tyler's Ship he built from a kit he got for his birthday. And, a fun one of Noah playing Peek A Boo!
Don is on break and we all appreciate having him home. We do have a lot of catching up to do over the next two weeks. If the weather warms up, we might even try cleaning out the garage - LOL
We are planning a trip to Michigan the weekend of the 14th.
Don has two weeks until classes start up again, but he is already looking for the best prices on books, so he can get them shipped in time if he has to order them online. Next quarter, he'll be taking Confessions, Gospels II, Baptism, Homiletics and New Testament, plus he'll continue with Field Work and Greek Readings.
We've been bargain hunting as much as possible, and Don has more than half of his books already. Here are some that he still needs to get:
Augsburg Confession: Commentary (Lief, $18.40)
Sources & Contents of the Book of Concord (Kolb, $23)
Book of Concord (Kolb,$29)
On Being a Theologian (Forde, $17)
The Renewal of Liturgical Preaching (Bass, $14.50)
Preaching for the Church (Caemmerer, $16.80)
Ancient Christian Commentary (Just, $28.80)
Anchor Bible Mark 1-8 ($36.12)
The Lukan Passion & The Praisworthy Death (Scaer, $60)
Lectures of Christian Sacrament ($11.20)
Bible & The Liturgy: Liturgica (Danielou, $24)
Augustine & The Catechumenate ($30.36)
This is just the short list of required books; there is a much longer list of recommended books that he doesn't think he'll ever have time to read. However, if anyone knows how to give us more time in the day - we'll gladly take it! If you don't have a miraculous way to give us more hours in the day to get things done (like reading all these books), but would like to help out this quarter... please contact the Seminary Bookstore and purchase a gift card in the name of Donald Johnson.
I (Corinne) am still working on the technical issues of posting video - especially after last night when I tried to capture video of Caitlin singing and was only able to get about 30 seconds in the middle of her song. GRRR! But, I think I may have a solution, just one more thing for my to-do list. Our last YouTube post was over a year ago, so it's time to get busy on this video issue.