Too much partying??

Wow!  Life has been crazy around here!  The month of June is over - and such a whirlwind I hardly even know what happened during it. 

We went on vacation the first week of June with the Johnson family.  I knew that would be chaotic.  25 people in one 8 bedroom home in Breckenridge for the week.  And I volunteered (with Kayla) to be in charge of food.  Maybe a little nuts...  And it was so loud grandpa kept taking his hearing aids out.  =)

But we had so much FUN together!  Mountain climbing

and talent shows (for which my son learned to play the recorder through his nose.  I'm such a proud mama.  =)

Who knew Micah and Allie could rap??? 

Mom and dad doing their skit written for them by Kristi.  =)

 And playing a game called "How many kids can you fit in the hot tub with the daddies??"

 And our awesome family t-shirts - perfect for family picture time.  Go Becca! 

Ok.  This one might be my favorite.  =)

 And just sitting and holding my newest niece and playing kickball and trying on hats and "wine tasting" with the girls. 

Becca has already informed me that I look like I'm wearing a lampshade...

It always makes me so happy to have everyone in one place.  I just love to watch my kids playing with their cousins.  Brady and Julia going on their "honeymoon" and adopting two two year olds (Clark and Kylie) while there was hilarious to watch. 

 I walk away from these times together a little frazzled but so much longing for heaven where time does not exist.  I think the fact that time always seems too short is the best evidence that we were created for eternity. 

On the way home from Breckenridge we stopped for a night in Colorado Springs where we got to go to one of my favorite places - The Garden of the gods.  The kids were not nearly as impressed by my favorite place as they were by Ethan's favorite - Whit's End at the Focus on the Family Welcome Center.  And Caleb got a Wod-fam-choc-sod at Whit's end, so he was happy.  =)

We got home Sunday and dove right into VBS at 8:00 on Monday morning.  The kids had fun as always, and Ava and I survived a week with ten mostly three and four year olds!  I just love kids that age!  We were EXHAUSTED by the end of that week. 

Fuji's!!!

But then it hit us that Kristi only had a week and a half left at home before moving to Zambia.  So we crammed every single fun thing we could think of into those 10 days.  We went boating at Sherman and got pedicures and went to Fuji's for Hibachi. 

Who can tell whose toes are not original Johnson toes??  (Kayla???)  =)

We ate frozen yogurt at Red Mango - twice! - and had s'more parties at our house and went to the pool and ate fry bread and got pounded by Kristi playing Ruzzle.  We went to the church send-off and helped organize a party for Kristi's friends. Then the kids and I drove to the airport and said goodbye in the parking garage when her flight was cancelled.

And then I cried all the way across Omaha through traffic but managed to get ahold of myself long enough to order some very unhealthy food at McDonalds.  And I didn't even care that the food tasted like rubber.  
Oh!  And did I mention that Rob and Christina were here?  And they're moving to Thailand in September, and we won't see them again before they leave.  So we partied with them too, of course!  (And apparently stopped taking pictures...)

Clay came to VBS to hang out with me, and we did all the same stuff as we did with Kristi.  And the kids played in the river with Becca and in the indoor play place while it thunder-stormed at Mahoney, and they caught fireflies, and we grilled and ate red beans and rice (it was so smart of Rob to marry a woman from New Orleans!).  And then we said goodbye to them entirely too late at night after laughing so hard we cried at Christina's Chiquita banana box story.  Did I mention how happy I am that my brother married her?  =)  And then I cried again most of the way home while trying not to hit at deer by the river at 11:00 at night.

And now everyone's gone and I am exhausted.  (And I may have told Rebecca that if she ever tries to leave, I will tell my kids to attach themselves to her legs so she's stuck.  Really, if she wanted to leave, she should've run before everyone else did.  Now she's missed her chance.  =)

And I'm remembering.  How much we laughed.  Joy is a very fitting middle name for Kristi because everything is funnier when she's with you.  And I just love Rob's family.  Zeke thinks Caleb is AWESOME.  Caleb gave him a ride in the tractor, so now every time Caleb holds him, Zeke just looks at him and says "tractor" over and over.  I think he thinks that's Caleb's name.  =)

All of us are going to be pretty spread out here soon.  We figure maybe we'll try to get one of us on each continent.  We have Africa and North America covered now and soon Asia will be.  So we just need to send someone to Europe, South America, and Australia.  We decided Antarctica doesn't count.  Not much of a point going to be missionaries to penguins.  Pretty sure I got Europe cuz I'm a history geek who loves museums...  Yay!  =) 

The 30 hour drive to Micah and Allie is looking shorter. 

And I am so thankful. 

Thankful for my family - so devoted to Jesus and the cause of the gospel and to loving and serving those around them.  Whether that means going and being His hands and feet to the people of Africa or changing diapers and mopping floors and hilling corn and building homes and writing books in His name.  

Contrary to what I may have said to my dad while crying and saying goodbye to Kristi and Rob, I am thankful that my mom and dad cultivated a love of Jesus and a love for the lost people of the world in all six of their kids.  I know that Jesus loves all the people of the world, and I am so proud to call those who are going to the dark, needy, marginalized places in the world my brothers and sisters.  I feel like I get to go with them. 

I am SO thankful for modern technology.  I texted my baby sister in the middle of literally nowhere outside of Lusaka, Zambia this afternoon.  I saw pictures of her room and heard about the cow bells that woke her up in the middle of the night last night.  You have no idea how much joy that brought to my big sister heart. 

And now I have to go water and weed my completely neglected garden.   And make supper.  Two things I have almost forgotten how to do it's been so long...