Two Years!

Two years I said 'I Do' to the love if my life, my dear hubby Neal. The time has just flown by and it seems like only yesterday I was walking down the aisle. This last year has been wonderful and so extremely hard at the same time.

Since our anniversary fell in the middle of the week we had a week long anniversary celebration. The week started off with Neal bringing me home a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Then on the 10th I came home to more flowers, a gorgeous bouquet of roses then we went downtown and had dinner at Westport Cafe and Bar. Neal had taken Saturday off which is such a nice treat, since we hardly have Saturdays off together, and we headed to Weston, MO. Weston is a quaint little town with a ton of little shops that we went in and did some shopping. We also went to a winery and did a tasting. It was wonderful to have a week long celebration that I think that we might have to do it every year!

Healing

I don't even know where to start. These last two months have been an enormous test on my faith and my heart. Through our loss of Gabrielle I could not have made it through with out turning to and relying completely on God. I don't know how people who do not have faith in God go through extremely difficult trials and make it out on the other end okay, because I know I sure could not have. Some days are definitely better then others but through God's grace I definitely have more good days than not and am thankful for that. Neal and I have learned to lean on God like never before, as a result we, as a couple, have grown much closer as well. I know that through all these trials God has a purpose, I do not know what they are and may never know, but I know he has plans for us.

'For I know the plans I have for you,declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.'
                         Jeremiah 29: 11-14

Gabrielle Ann

Our precious daughter Gabrielle Ann Johnson was born into God's hands on Friday July 20th 2012 at 440am. She weighed 4 pounds 12.8 ounces and was 18 inches long.

You are so loved by your Mommy and Daddy. We wish that we were able to have more time with you. Even though you were in our lives for such a short time you have left an amazing impression on our lives and taught us so much.

We love you so very much
Your Mommy and Daddy.


We will be having a Memorial service for Gabrielle Ann on Saturday August 4th at 2pm at
Providence Community Church
10113 Lenexa Dr.
Lenexa, Ks 66215

Bump Update version 1.34

This week as the baby grows ever bigger we are starting to get thing ready for its arrival. So we have done are first load of baby laundry. Everything is so tiny and precious. I can not believe that soon a little human will be able to fit in them. Neal was helping me fold the clothes, I gave him all the socks to match and fold. It was such a great moment to see these tiny socks in my husbands hands and soon those hands will be holding our baby. With teary eyes and my heart full of love I cherished this moment with all my heart.

Baby's sock in Daddy's Hand

Week 34

Bump Update version 1.31-32-33

Wow, how time does fly by so quickly. It seems like we have so much time left, yet I know that it will go by so quickly. Over the last week or so I have had my first bout of heart burn. Its only been one or two nights in which I have woken up and had to take some tums. I do have to say that I feel pretty lucky that I have not had it too bad so far and hope that it stays that way.
For the last few weeks we have slowly been getting things ready by doing one thing at a time. It is taking along time to go through things and organize but in the end it will be completely worth it not to have a bunch of piles to go through after the baby comes.

Week 31

Week 32

Week 33

Our Colorado Trip

I do have to say that whenever we go to Colorado we always have a ton planned!
First stop... Neal's brother Nathaniel and his now wife Katelyn get married. The wedding festivities started Friday night with the bachelor and bachelorette parties. Then on Saturday the rehearsal, rehearsal lunch and finally a BBQ that evening. Sunday was their big day. The venue was located in Evergreen in a great red barn. The wedding was just beautiful.



Later that week we headed down to Colorado Springs to visit our friends Mike, Mallory and their kids. Where we (meaning the boys) played on the slip n slide and just hung out. Also while we were there the Waldo Canyon Fire burning and during the evening we actually watched the fire come over the ridge. It was so surreal. Then on our way out of town we were able to stop by some other friends and say hi.



Friday night we went to an improve comedy show with my parents, my brother and his wife Lindsey and my aunt and uncle Susan and Brian and their kids Tori and Xander. The show was great and super funny!



Then on Saturday my mom threw me a wonderful baby shower. It was so nice so be able to see everyone who came. It was amazing to see how blessed we are by all of those who came.


Finally our trip came to an end and we had to head back home. And as always I wish that we had another few days.

Again thanks to everyone and Congrats to Nathaniel and Katelyn!

Bump Update 1.30

As the baby grows bigger its acrobatics are becoming much stronger. For me, with more powerful movements it means a bigger baby thus a bigger belly. And with a bigger belly sleeping is getting so much harder making it more difficult for me to find comfortable sleeping positions. I seem to be waking up about 3:30-4am and can't fall asleep until about 5 or so and I feel like I am just barely getting good sleep in time for me to get up in the morning. Being tired is just one of the things that I am dealing with. Another thing I am finding is that things I was able to do easily just a few weeks ago, like doing my weekly cleaning/ laundry now kick my butt and then I am completely useless for a day or two. So I think this is my body's way of telling me that I need to slow down and not feel like I have to get everything done in one day like I use to.

As the arrival of our little one quickly approaches (we only have about 10 weeks left) we are frantically (for me frantically in slow motion) trying to get everything ready. We have started to get our nursery ready. As of right now it is our office, so we are cleaning out/ rearranging our spare room so we can move things from the nursery to the spare room. By doing this we have been able to donate a ton of stuff to Goodwill and toss a ton of other things. I do have to say that I think that Neal loves this since I tend to want to keep things and now I am just wanting to get rid of things! I also feel really good about this since I know that most of the boxes that I have stuff in have been in those boxes for a long time and I have not missed them; thus, getting rid of things that I have not missed has been wonderful.

Week 30