Canopy Tour

We FINALLY made it back home from Costa Rica today after a few mishaps in our travel plans. We missed our flight coming home on Wednesday afternoon and then got delayed by 3 hours on Thursday and finally made it back to Tyler last night around 8 to pick up the boys. We have a ton of pictures to sort through so you will be getting multiple Costa Rica posts. We had an absolutely wonderful trip- full of relaxation and a total escape from reality! Just what we needed!!! These pictures are from our trip to tour the Jungle via ziplines. Ashley and I weren't totally sure that we wanted to do this (especially since there were 7 kids at home waiting for us to come back), but the guys were sold. When we first started discussing it they told us we would be about 30-40 feet high and then once they talked to the hotel guy it increased to 60 feet. Well wouldn't you know when we get to the tour they tell us we will be 125 feet above the ground!!! I was probably the one that least enjoyed it because my harness was rubbing me in the wrong areas and it wasn't comfortable at all!!! But everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves thoroughly!

Don't be jealous of our sexy outfits!

Ready to go!

Travis repelling straight down off of a tree.

Not so sure about this whole repelling thing!

Are you sure about this?

Ashley on her way down.

Tim

This was one of the scariest parts. There are about 15 people standing on these wood planks around a tree and then you use a tarzan swing to get across to another tree with wood planks around it.

The landing was only 100 plus feet in the air. No big deal!

Travis swinging across.

Not so sure about this swing.

I'm really not sure about this swing!

Here I go!

Screaming the whole way!

Ashley was a little frightened as well!

Tim acting like it's not a big deal.

Here I am on the zipline. There were 10 ziplines total.

Travis finishing strong!

Wanna Get Away?

We do!!! I won't be blogging for awhile because we are heading to Costa Rica on Wednesday. We are driving the boys to my parents house tomorrow and dropping them off and then continuing on to Dallas. We have been wanting to go to Costa Rica for awhile and thought about going for our 5th anniversary in 2007, but that is when we found out I was pregnant with Cooper and our trip money went to paying hospital bills instead! Our friends, the Mings, had mentioned a couple of months ago that they were wanting to go to Costa Rica and we started talking about it and decided it was a perfect time to go. We are really looking forward to relaxing and hanging out with great friends. Travis is almost giddy about going fishing there. Apparently it is a really good time for a certain type of fish down there. I'm pretty sure I won't be seeing much of him during the day! That is fine with me because I will be soaking up the sun on the beach! Here is where we will be spending our time. I'm not sure we will ever come back!

Spike!

I took Tyler to get his haircut yesterday because it had become so wild. He has so much hair and it is very wavy. It had gotten so long that it was just unmanageable and always looked like a big mess. So yesterday I had the hairdresser cut it short and he spiked up the front. Tyler thought it was really cool and I told him he had spikes in the front of his hair. I think he looks so handsome and so grown up!

Camping Out

Last weekend Travis took the boys to hang out in Port Lavaca and visit family there. He let me have a much needed weekend to myself after working so hard packing and moving. It was much appreciated!!! Anyway, the boys got home Sunday afternoon as soon as they walk in Tyler starts asking to set up his tent. We don't have a tent so I'm wondering what in the world he is talking about. Grandma Johnson sent a Thomas the Train tent home with the boys and Tyler thinks it is the best thing ever! That night as we were getting the boys ready for bed he asked to put his bed inside the tent. When we told him no he go so upset. The boys have a great time playing in the tent and they have several toys that they drag in the tent to play with. Thanks for the tent, Grandma!

Update on Cooper

Cooper will be 20 months soon! He is getting so big and learning so much. He is talking up a storm and is beginning to show more and more of his personality. Elmo is his favorite, but Bob and Larry come in at a close second. He is such a little love bug- he just loves to give hugs and kisses and snuggle up with you. If you sit down by him, he crawls over and wants to sit in your lap. He is still an extremely picky eater, but he is just his mother's child! He will grow out of it. He loves playing with Tyler and follows him around most of the day. He is great about sharing if you ask him to share with Tyler or other kids. He has a sweet little heart. He will be two before we know it!

Cooper gets so excited about bath time.

Such a cutie pie!

Blowing bubbles

Being silly- wearing mama's sunglasses

Update on Tyler

Tyler will be 3 in one month!!! I can't believe it, but he has definitely developed the independent attitude of a 3 year old already. He wants to do EVERYTHING by himself- getting out of the car, pulling up his pants, or making his sandwhich. He always says, "I want to do it by myself!" I try to let him do as much as he can, but it can be frustrating at times! He still loves being outside as much as possible. He loves going to church and playing with his friends. He is really into playing with bubbles and playdough right now. He loves Elmo, Curious George, and VeggieTales. He and Cooper are becoming great friends, but he can also be the mean, bossy older brother. He is getting so tall. Both Travis and I were commenting about how big he seemed to be getting- but he is skinny as a rail. He is just a happy boy and loves life... and we love him!

I bought this little chair for $10 at an antique store. Tyler loves it and decided to drag it outside one afternoon. He took his lunch with him to finish eating.

Blowing bubbles in the backyard.

I'm a big kid now!

A little over a month ago we started working with Tyler on using the potty. We have been talking about it with him forever and we finally took the plunge. I was really nervous about it, but surprisingly it went really well! And it feels so great to have only one child in diapers. The first day or two was pretty bad. He would pretty much pee anywhere and everywhere in his underwear. He would get really upset about being wet. I would take him every 30 minutes but he would never use the potty. He had peed on the potty before bath time a couple of times so we knew he could do it. Finally one day he was sitting on the potty and he heard the garbage truck drive up and he really wanted to see it. I told him he had to pee pee on the potty before he could go watch the truck and he went right away! That was the beginning of him understanding and figuring out he could do it. Getting him to poop on the potty was a totally different story! He kept just pooping in his underwear and then telling me he had poop. I didn't know how we were going to get him to go on the toilet, but one day he told Travis he had to poop and he went and since then it hasn't been a big deal. He really has done great and within a couple of weeks he wasn't having accidents anymore! I don't even put him in pull ups for church or when we go out. I'm so proud of him! Way to go, Tyler!!!

Learning to use the potty!

Showing off his new undies!

Finally!

We finally have internet service after 3 weeks of waiting for AT&T to get their act together and complete our transfer of service to our new house! Between Travis and I, we have probably spent over 10 hours on the phone with them trying to get them to help us get our service up. It has been extremely frustrating and that is why we haven't posted lately. I have a lot to update and will do that soon.

Quick Update

We are busy, busy, busy and that is why I haven't posted anything in such a long time. We are busy packing up the house, potty training, and planning a vacation! The house is a disaster area and boxes are everywhere. We are moving into the rent house this weekend and then we close on our house on the 24th. All of the option periods are over and the appraisal came back with no problems, so it looks like we have a deal! Hooray!!!

Shock and Awe

We are still in shock around the Johnson house! We received not only one offer on our house this weekend, but two!!! And we are in awe of God's amazing blessing and grace on our lives. Here is how it all happened. Last week we put our house back on the market after taking it off right before Christmas. We listed with a different agent and dropped the price some more. We had a lot of showings this week- probably seven or eight in seven days. Saturday morning we received a call that a realtor wanted to do a second showing. We got the house all ready along with the Hoovers (Kyle and Christine were in town for Kyle to perform a wedding) and left for the morning. We came back after lunch and we got a call from Haley, our realtor, that these people were going to have an offer ready for us that afternoon. We were cautiously excited- not knowing what the offer was at that point. That evening we got a call with their offer amount and it was a good offer. We were so excited and were going to negotiate some with these people. Haley said she had gotten some really good feedback from showings last week and wanted to let those realtors know we had received an offer just in case someone was seriously interested. About an hour after we got the first offer Haley called and said we should have another offer by that night or the next morning. WHAT??? Seriously? You should have seen us when we found this out. We were going CRAZY!!! So we received the second offer which was only $5,000 less than our asking price. WOW! So then we went back and asked the first people to make their best and final offer. They did and they came a little bit above our asking price. We were blown away. We then told the second people to make their final offer and it was within just a couple thousand of the first offer. So then we had to choose who would get the house. This was a little nerve wracking because we did NOT want to choose the wrong people and then have them back down. We choose the second offer which was actually the lower offer because they had a quicker option period and closing date. The wife is actually the showing realtor's daughter so we feel like they won't opt out because that wouldn't look good for the mom. The other family was coming from overseas and had a longer option period. It was just a little more risky and our realtor felt better about the other family. Needless to say we are thrilled!!! And who would have ever thought that our rollercoaster of a ride would end this way. We ended up getting $100 over our asking price and sold it for the same amount we sold it for a couple years ago. God is AWESOME!!!

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Phillipians 4:19

Please pray with us that everything will go smoothly from here. We are supposed to close on February 24th. Please pray that the option period will pass quickly and without a glitch. Pray that the inspection would be free of any major items and that their financing would not be an issue. They are pre-approved for enough money, but these days you just never know!

We are planning on renting a house around here for 6 months and then moving to Harlingen in August. Travis has already committed to some work here and we need him to honor those commitments. Thank you to tall of those who have prayed for us and our house to sell. We definitely believe this is a miracle of God. There is no other way to explain getting two offers and having a bidding war during this economy and housing market!

Tyler's Big Boy Room!

After Christmas we decided it was time to move Tyler to his big boy bed! We have had his bed and bedding for awhile and after we got back from traveling we went mattress shopping. The day we brought the mattress home, Tyler was SO excited we were setting up his bed. He just kept saying, "I want to go night night!" He has really done great in the transition to a big bed and I'm so glad. I was a little worried, especially about nap time. The first week we had to discipline him for getting out of his bed at nap time, but since then he really hasn't tried to get out. If he does, he knows he is going to get in trouble. His room is a work in progress, but I like how it has turned out. I went with a fishing theme and wanted to create a cabin type atmosphere. I bought bedding that he can grow up with even if we take all of the fishing stuff down. He is so proud of his new bed!

Tyler ready for bed!

A view from the doorway.

A closeup of the bed. Eventually the boys are going to share a room and I already have bedding that matches for Cooper. We are planning on buying the same bed for Cooper when we move him to a big bed.

The kids table where they color, read books, and work puzzles. I put decorative fish net up and hung old fishing lures all around it. I'm using it as a bulletin board and hanging the kids art from the hooks in the lures. This is one of my favorite parts of the room.

The bookshelf is now by the door.

We moved the train table from the gameroom into his room at the foot of his bed. This is the wall that is still a work in progress. It is just such a big empty wall. Any suggestions are welcome!

B-I-B-L-E

The Lord has done great things for us...

... And we are filled with JOY! (Psalm 126:3) About a month ago we had our last service in our old church building. We recently moved into an amazing building where our whole church meets together. Anyway, during that last service our pastor talked about why we should take the time to remember what God has done in the past. He said that it allows us to show our gratitude towards God and helps us trust him for the future because of his faithfulness in the past. He went on to tell the history of our church and the amazing things God has done for us and through us. Anyway, I thought it was an amazing sermon and I thought it would be nice to remember what God has done for our family this year. I'm going to be honest...it has been a tough year for us, but through this year God has shown his faithfulness to us and his provision in incredible ways. He has strengthened us as a family and shown us His great love for us.

In January we started our Dave Ramsey cash budget and I'm so glad we did! We would have never made it through this year if we hadn't really gotten our finances in order. It isn't always easy to stick to the budget, but we have been blessed by being faithful. In March we decided that we were going to use some savings and bonuses Travis received to add on to the family room to try to help the house sell. God had another plan and we decided to give the money to our church building fund that we had committed to a couple of years ago. Read the full story here. Back to that in a moment. In June we realized that Travis was going to be out of work soon and we began praying about what God would want him to do. Travis felt like God was calling him to farm, but I wasn't totally sold. We made a trip to Harlingen to visit and God spoke to my heart and gave me a verse (Deuteronomy 6:18) as an answer to our prayers. "Do what is right and good in the Lord's sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers!" So we decided as a family that we would move to Harlingen and he would join his father and uncles on the farm. If you haven't heard the full story you can read it here.

After we made the decision to move we felt like God would sell our house quickly and the farm would have a great crop to allow us to easily join the farm. Boy, were we wrong!!! In July a horrible hurricane blew through the Rio Grande Valley and completely wiped out the farms cotton crop. It was devastating to the farm and we just couldn't understand what God was up to. Zac let Travis know in August that he would have to let him go at the end of September and so we decided that we would move in October because we would have no income here. Needless to say, the farm really wasn't in a great position to bring us on because of the devastating year they experienced. In September, Hurricane Ike blew through the Houston area and was more of an annoyance than anything to us. Little did we know, God was going to use this storm to provide for our family. Travis got several jobs to repair homes that suffered damage from the storm. Out of that work and through word of mouth, he has gotten numerous referrals for additions, remodels, and repair. In October, we got great news in that a family was going to lease our house for 18 months with the potential to buy at the end of that time. We were thrilled and decided we would be moving in mid-January. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks later we were once again devastated! They decided to cancel the contract and move elsewhere. We really were heartbroken and couldn't understand why God would do this to us! During this time I remember our pastor saying during several services that in the end God is going to be proven faithful. He is always faithful to us, even when it doesn't seem like it at the time. Well, I definitely wasn't feeling it at the time!!! Through the next couple of months we had a couple of second showings and of course we (or probably more like I) would get my hopes up and nothing would happen. But even looking back now, I can see God's faithfulness to us through this year. He was faithful to provide for our family when we didn't know where our next months income would come from. He was faithful to us and allowed us to meet in our new church building that we sacrificed and gave money towards- if we had moved in October as we originally thought we would have not been able to attend church in our new building. And I believe that he will be faithful to us and sell our house in the future- in his time. God has provided so much work for Travis that we think we will be able to stay here until the end of the summer. And we are believing God for a great year on the farm that will allow better circumstances for us to join his father and uncles. We are already praying for the crops that they haven't even planted yet! I believe that this entire year has also been preparing us for the lifestyle that we will lead as farmers. We will have to completely depend on Him to take care of us. We won't have a definite paycheck every year, but that doesn't matter because I know that he is going to take care of my family.

This year has been an emotional one, but God has taught us so much. God has taught us how to give up control, how to completely depend on Him, and just how much He really does care for us. We are so blessed!

Trip to the Zoo!

Today I ventured out early this morning with the boys and headed to the Houston Zoo! We got a family membership to the zoo for Christmas- thanks Hoovers! It was a beautiful day for the zoo and was not crowded at all. Tyler has been begging to go back to the zoo since September when we went in Tyler while we were evacuating from Hurricane Ike. Tyler loved every minute of it, while Cooper was more hesitant. He liked seeing everything from the stroller or from my arms, but the minute an animal got to close or made a loud noise he came running back to me. In the children's zoo they have some large signs with buttons you can push to hear the animals sound. The sounds are pretty loud and it really sounds like the animal is right there next to you. When Tyler pushed the cow and a loud Moooooooooo came out, Cooper freaked out and would not stop crying. It was pretty funny. We had a picnic lunch while we were there and then headed home soon after. We got home and we ALL crashed! If we all need naps then you know we have had a fun day!

Tyler checking out the llama. Eat the food, Tina! (I just had to include that movie reference!)

Tyler poking his head out of the prarie dog holes. Cooper wanted to go in after he saw Tyler do it, but when I tried to get him to crawl in he chickened out.

Watching the zookeepers feed one of the animals.

Tyler is not quite tall enough to be a giraffe! Maybe one day.

When we were at the Orangutan exhibit the male came over to the window and just sat there and stared at us. Tyler got right up in his face and talked to him and I got the best picture with him!

Christmas Part 2

Travis' parents came in town on New Year's Eve to celebrate Christmas with all of their kiddos. On New Years Eve they babysat our kids so we could have a date. We rang in the New Year with some Pappadeaux and a movie. It was great and we enjoyed our time together. On Thursday, Ross and Kim, Kelsey and Charlie, and some surprise visitors came to the house to celebrate Christmas. Everyone except Richard and Cheryl knew that Kristi and her family were coming to complete the celebration. Kristi and Josh live in Jacksonville, Florida and we are rarely all together anymore. It was a great surprise and we had a lot of fun together. On Friday we all headed to Katy to Ross and Kim's and that night all of the girls headed to a baby shower for Kelsey. We spent the night Friday and then headed home one tired family! Here are some pictures from our time together:

Grandma and Papa with all the grandkids. We can't wait to add Callie in April! (This is the best picture I could find of all of them.)

Cooper ready to open presents.

Cade, Bailey, and Tyler ripping open their presents!

Cooper looks very serious about opoening his gift!