Ten Amazing Years

"As love is the most noble and divine passion of the soul, so is it that to which we may justly attribute all the real satisfactions of life, and without it, man is unfinished, and unhappy."

APHRA BEHN, The Fair Jilt

    Tomorrow will mark ten years since Caleb and I officially became a couple. It's hard to believe that time has went by so quickly; it seems like just yesterday we were 15 and falling more in love with each other by the day. We have grown so close that he is truly my other half, my soul mate..."until death do us part!" As I think back on all the moments of the years we've shared together, I can only smile in knowing that God is truly weaving a tapestry of our lives...and I am looking forward to seeing the finished product when I run into the arms of Jesus! 

   

To My Dearest Caleb,

      I love you, always and forever. You totally get me in all the ways no one else could. Thanks for being my strength...my rock, but most importantly, for being my spiritual leader. Here's to another ten amazing years!

With Much Love,

Mrs. Johnston

Girl Time

     Wow! I almost don't know what to do with myself this evening. Baby girl was sick so I stayed home with her while Daddy and Noah went out for some much needed guy time. After giving her a bath, some Tylenol and snuggling with her for a while, she was ready for bed. Now, I have this weird moment where I actually have time for myself. Of course, the first thing I think to do is update my blog, lol...not to mention if my beautiful Hales wakes up, this is the easiest thing to put on hold. :-)
      Tomorrow, as long as Bop is feeling better, we are heading out to the Farmer's Market first thing in the morning and then out to the very anticipated Touch a Truck. Noah is absolutely thrilled that we will be going back again this year, as one of his favorites at the moment is anything with wheels!! His precious little squeals and fist pumps he does while talking about it makes me want to giggle; he is so animated and it cracks me up.
     Hubby and I are currently in the process of searching for a good bible study to do that focuses on Marriage/Parenting. If any of my blog readers have some suggestions, we are definitely open to them. Since having the kids, making time to sit down and worship together has fallen to the wayside, but we really want to get back into it. Studying the word of God together makes us stronger than we could ever be...placing Christ at the center of our relationship makes all of life's "issues" seem like minor things. With God, all things are possible!! Anyways, hope each of you has been doing well these days. Although I don't blog as often, I do try to keep up with all of your posts. God bless each of you!

Perfect

     This is the perfect cartoon for my feelings this week. Getting on the scale and learning I've already gained 13 pounds this pregnancy is overwhelming. I keep telling myself this baby is going to weigh more than Noah Bug did, lol. We shall see!!

Here, There, Everywhere

     Sitting downstairs, typing away on the new desktop computer hubby bought for me today. :-)  I absolutely LOVE it and it has pretty much been at least 6 years since I've owned one...all I really need in college was my laptop because RC had plenty of desktops. And all Noah could talk about was getting to play PBS.com games, lol..."George and Choos!"
     It's hard to believe that as of today I am 26 weeks pregnant. Some days I feel like time is going by so slowly and I'm getting more excited to hold Lucas in my arms. And then other days, it seems like only yesterday I was finding out God had decided to bless us with our third miracle. But, I'm so thankful to have almost reached trimester three...that makes it seem not so far away.
     Sorry this has been so short. I hardly have time to sit down these days with all the fun activities we have going on. I am doing everything in my power to make this summer a memorable one for Bug and Bop. So that means we stay pretty busy with our day to day agenda. This week we will be learning about nocturnal creatures (hosted by Roanoke County and Wildlife Center of Va) and going to see a movie just for preschoolers. :-)  Oh, and the week we will learn the letter D and the number 4!!!

25 Weeks

Humbling Moments

My Facebook Post Tonight:

     It's amazing the way the Lord works. I was waiting at the deli at Kroger when an elderly lady started talking to me. She said her husband passed away on Monday of this week and her eyes filled with tears. I started crying right along with her, telling her my family would pray for her. At that moment, I hugged her. I know it was the Lord working through me because I am incredibly shy and she was a complete stranger....what a humbling moment. She said she hadn't been in a grocery store for over 2 years because her husband handled everything; but even through the tears pouring down her face, she kept pumping her fists and shouting she "loved her Jesus!!" :-) WOW!

Four Years Later...

     It's hard to believe four years have already passed since marrying the man of my dreams. I will never forget how nervous I was waking up that morning...and the tears pouring down my cheeks because I was overcome with so many emotions. But the second I saw my best friend waiting for me at the front of the church, I felt like I could breathe again. From that magical moment of walking down the aisle, eyes only for Caleb, I have spent the rest of our marriage living out more of God's blessings. Here are a few highlights:

Honeymooned in Key West, FL
(July 2008)

Graduated from Roanoke College together.
(May 2, 2009)

Found out we were pregnant with Noah.
(May 9, 2009)

Noah Whately Johnston
(Born January 21, 2010)

Found out we were pregnant with our 2nd.
(July 29, 2010)

Haleigh Marie Johnston
(Born March 30, 2011)

God blessed us with a 3rd.
(Positive Pregnancy Test February 18, 2012)

Charles Lucas Johnston
(Due October 28, 2012)

BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE

Pregnancy Weight Gain Equals BLEH

    I came out of my doctor's appointment not quite knowing how to feel (We saw a different doctor at our office who IS VBAC friendly, so that was nice). Apparently, by their scale, I gained 8 lbs in the last 4 weeks...YIKES!!! Which puts my overall weight gain at 11 lbs. All the research I've done says that 11 pounds at the beginning of the third trimester is FANTASTIC, but I guess I didn't really expect to put on that much weight so quickly.
     Anyways, enough on that little rant. Just needed to get it off my chest. We are still debating about midwife versus OB/GYN and we are now leaning more towards staying with our practice (except maybe switching to the doctor we saw today) and hiring a doula for the birth. That way, we will still be in a hospital setting in case there are any complications...which really puts my mind at ease. Don't get me wrong; there is nothing I would love more than to have our baby here in the comfort of our own home, but I know that I would spend the entire time worrying that something would go wrong. :-)
     Going to start researching fun events to do with the kids this weekend...preferably ones that contain vast amounts of AC!! But, hope each of you has a great weekend...stay cool!!

Our News

     I am finally able to sit down and share the news about our newest decision. We are hiring a MIDWIFE and possibly going to have a home birth. We are currently trying to figure out which route is best for our family. We would absolutely LOVE to have our baby Lucas here at home, but we are also smart enough to know that with this being a VBA2C (vaginal birth after 2 cesareans) we could run into some "issues". So, we are also researching more VBAC friendly doctors in our area and praying that God allows us to bring this child into the world without having to have another c-section. Please pray with us as we are putting this FULLY into God's hands...we will go where He leads. :-)