This journal has been with me since my friend Noelia gave it to me as a gift at the birth of my son Samuel.  Sam is now five, so as you see, I am not a fast journalist.

Journaling for me takes many forms.  Blogging is fun and rewarding, of course, and it does serve as a record of our days.  But I also need a place for real scribbles and lists, drawings and memories.

My journals end up pretty messy, but quite beloved to me.  They are the perfect place to paste in small doodles made by my children, to jot down a menu or a “to do” list.

Sometimes, one of the kids will draw me a picture right on the pages.  I like that.  I just either journal or jot right around it.

You know how you often think, “I should write that down?”, or “Oh, that’s so cute.  I hope I don’t forget that?”  A journal like this is the perfect place to put that record of a sweet time.  It is low commitment and very forgiving.  You aren’t expecting perfection, just wanting a memory.

Last night, on Dec. 31, I began a brand new journal.  It felt so fitting.  A New Year, a new journal,

A new family prayer for 2010: 

“Dear Father, be in this year.  In habit its spaces with Yourself.  Draw us – this family – into You.  Fill us.  Unfold us.  Use us.  Reveal Yourself to us.  Teach us joy and peace and love.  Shepherd us, our Father.  May we all, each one, walk with You and be known by You.

With grateful hearts,

The Johnson Family

If only people knew….

how hard we have to work….

to keep it “only” this messy. 

Sometimes, it is difficult to get a good family picture.

Especially if you are a large family,

Depending on a timer…

and a jokester (*cough* son #1) for all of your photographic needs.

With patience, something tolerable finally happens. 

(p.s.  I really, really DO long to be blogging.  These days are just so full for us, as I imagine they are for you.  See you all, soon!  Thinking of you, and praying that God’s peace would be upon you and yours.)

These are my glitter days.

My glitter glory days.

Glitter boys, and glitter girls.  Nothing brings joy to the toddler/preschool/kinder/first grade set like glitter.

Glitter season comes early,

And stays late.

May your life be filled with glitter, too.

I wanted to give you an update and post some pictures from the last week.

The update I can do, but alas, nothing appears to work with this dang computer.  (I know.   We never used slang words growing up.  “We use intelligent words.”  Okay, but we definitely don’t out and out curse, and computers are frustrating.  So, this dang computer doesn’t do a thing I need it to do, and the older and busier my son gets the less the computer seems to work.  Sounds about right for a modern parent.    )

But enough frustration.  This post is about Thankfulness, and I’ve got plenty of that.

Emily’s biopsy came back okay.  She has the type of moles that will have to be monitored closely, but for now they are normal.  She will have to wear sunscreen and protective clothing – but we are extremely grateful that all is well.  Thank you, God!

Working a few nights a week is working out well – better than we would have thought.  The work came at just the right time, and fits perfectly into our schedule.  The Lord is kind, and good.

I know that times are tough for many people, and when I say that I always think about a story from my Grandfather’s life.  Grandpa died 20 years ago.  His own father died when Grandpa was a boy of 9 years old.

His mother had two younger children, and without any social safety nets, she could not take care of her 9 year old son.  She had very little income from taking in washing from other people, and fed her family as best she could by raising a few chickens and planting a garden.  Grandpa hired out, yes, at the age of 9, to work as a field hand for a farmer that lived several miles away.  He was no longer able to live with his mother and younger siblings.  He didn’t attend school past the third grade, and sent the money he earned back home to his family.  He became a man at a very young age.  Can you imagine having to send your child away because you couldn’t care for him, and because you needed him to earn money to care for you?  This was America less than 100 years ago.

I’m sure those years were hard, devastating even.  They all made it, though, and my grandfather grew up to be a farmer and a trusted businessman in his community.  He never learned to read or write.  I remember how he signed his checks with an “X,” and that was good enough for his local bank and the people who did business with him.  The people who knew Elcie Storey knew that he was a hard-working man, who could be counted on in good times and bad.

In a satisfying twist, Grandpa ended up inheriting land from the farmer who hired him at such a tender age, and my Grandfather and Grandmother one day took care of the old farmer during his last years on earth.

When I look at my own little boys, my heart breaks for the difficult days that little boy/man/Grandpa faced.  And yet, I know that God was with him through every long day and sorrowful night, working and molding and making him into the man he was supposed to be.  Through him, God would bring to life and sustain a tiny twin who should not have survived yet did, who grew up to be my mother.  And my mother would grow up and in turn marry a man who had began life as a breech baby born at home in the 1920s.  From these two tremulous starts came me, and my family.  Every family, every individual, has their own story that they could tell.  God has been with them – through good times and through bad.

Life is hard.  God is good.  He turns our mourning into dancing, our barren days into fruitful years.  He is with us, working for us, calling us to know Him.

I am thankful.