Getting there....

Well, the girls enjoyed trick-or-treating....













Our pumpkin 'scary kitty' carving













Visit with Sinter Klaas in Holland













Would you like to hear a Sinter Klaas song? Here's a nice link. Only piano, but lyrics are shown in both languages.
http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=777











Enjoying the snow- want some momma?










LOVE daddy's headphones!





























Boats?


















The girls got their PJ's a little early this year.







Hello All!





Six weeks post ankle surgery, and I finally have the boot off. The incisions have healed nicely. Now I am re-learning to walk properly and building back strength in my calf. It's such a slow process, and though my scheduling manager wants nothing less that 100% for my return, I will probably still be going back to work soon on some sort of restricted work schedule. I probably won't get to go right back to my usual department, but I am ready to get out of the house and earn my full wage! I'm glad to driving my car again too. Just getting to do this task myself truly simplifies our lives.

My last post was just before Halloween. Bad blogger, bad blogger! Oh, well. The girls had fun, despite the icy temperatures. I sat on our stoop handing out candy. At that point, I still had the gigantic cast on my foot. Mina helped after they had made their rounds of the neighborhood. She did an excellent job of saying 'Take one" and "Happy Halloween". Honestly, I think she may have had more fun doing that than running around gathering her haul. I'm sure everyone enjoyed getting a good laugh at me trying to 'butt climb' my way upstairs and search for methods of getting myself hauled back off the ground and onto the scooter.


We feel fortunate that so many friends and family have taken the time to help with rides, meals, housework, and playing with the girls while I couldn't drive or spend much time doing things around the house. We thank everyone, over and over again.


We had a quiet Thanksgiving with my parents. Now we prepare for Christmas. Mina and JoJo can't help but remind us every day of the things we should tell "Santa" that they want. For the first full week after we put up our tree, the girls would ask if tommorow is Christmas, and they get presents. We say no, but reassure them that it WILL come. We talk about why we celebrate Christmas, and they are old enough to begin to appreciate the birth of the baby Jesus. We want the girls to understand that we don't just give presents; that there is more of a meaning to it. I found a couple Golden books about the Christmas story, and we talk about the gifts brought by the Magi for the baby, and why Jesus' gift to the world is so important. Of course, the fun of letting them believe in Santa for a few Christmas seasons gives us some joy as well. It's been fun to share some of the Dutch traditions too. We spent some time on December 5 talking about Sinter Klaas, that he was once a real person, that the children in the Netherlands put out their wooden shoes instead of stockings, and they both actually tried hail and Tai-Tai for the first time.


I don't know if we will bring up Sinter Klaas every year, but we have started some traditions which we hope to continue, no matter how old they get. One is not putting up the tree until after Thanksgiving. No joke, our neighbor had one up the day after Halloween! We also get one new Delft ornament from the Dutch store to add to the tree. Each year, the girls will get one brand new pair of PJ's to have 'clean' for Christmas morning. This year, I took each of the girls (away from the other) to pick up something to give to their sister. The value was nominal, but the concept was to pick a present for someone beside themselves, and not just GET gifts (and to get them not to keep the present they picked out for themselves instead, I think they did pretty good, actually).


So, we look with our renewed, child-like joy, forward to watching our girls open their gifts in a couple weeks. We are glad we will be gathering with so many of our family soon, and we ache for those who won't be able to come home this year. Holding hope for reunions with the family we miss so much, sooner rather than later!

Love-
the Johnsons
@(( :^} )

Mina so rarely lets me do her hair like this...

Mina's writing her name really well now!

Painting at the table together. My budding artists!

Mitch and I visited Sleeping Bear Dunes during our anniversary trip up in and around Traverse City.










Hello all-





I'm home recovering from surgery on the ankle now. It's pretty painful, but I'm taking things one at a time. The pain meds I was given are not working well, and despite ice, rest, elevation, ibuprofen, vicodin and even loosening the post-op cast, the incision still feels like it is on fire. I spoke to the doctor office a couple times, but they seem unwilling to help with other pain control meds. Despite this, I'm doing otherwise ok. Continue to pray for us that finances while I am on disability leave will hold steady. We trust that the Lord will provide, though I'll feel better about it when I am making 100% wages again. Trying to maneuver on crutches has been a challenge. I forgot how much work it is. Going up and down stairs has been the most difficult thing to attempt (and dangerous). I ended up just rump-climbing my way up :) I did manage to get a scooter dropped off (a kneeling walker). Of course, the girls immediately believe this 'motorcycle' as Mina called it, is theirs to play with.


Sorry, fell asleep for a moment. The meds are catching up to me and I can instantly fall asleep. Please don't point out the type errors I'm sure to miss...


Where was I?


So far, the girls are pretty mindful of momma's big ouchie foot. And it's big too- about 7-10 pounds of plaster, gauze, and ace wrapping. The good news is that I may not have to go to a second cast at my 2 week follow-up. I might get to go straight to the walking, and more importantly removable, boot.


Halloween is rapidly approaching. The girls are excited to wear the costumes we've got picked out and go trick-or-treating. JoJo will be a pegasus, and thankfully her costume is like a snowsuit, so she'll be pretty warm. Mina has a couple of choices (I'm leaning toward her cheerleader outfit) and will probably change her mind about which to wear several times that night. Mina's become quite the little fashionista. JoJo is learning quickly from her older example. We're also almost done with diapers with Johanna! She had been resistant to her pull ups and panties, despite doing an excellent job with her princess potty. One turning point involved her older sister getting m&m's because she's a 'big girl'. Johanna couldn't have any because she wore diapers like a 'baby'. I explained that babies take extra naps, go to bed early, an can't have little candies because they might choke. This description was immediately followed by "I'm a big girl and I want to wear my panties!" So, she proceeded to put on not just one, but 2 pairs at once. Maybe she figured there would be extra m&m's involved.


Life for Mitch at Gentex has been stable, even improving a bit. In this economy, we'll take it! I'll be off work for about 6 weeks, but I might be put into a 'sit down job' at Spectrum if HR has one available outside of pharmacy. The words 'sit down' and 'pharmacy tech' don't seem to make their way into the same sentence much. Cool side note, the day of my surgery (10-27) was also coincidentally National Certified Pharmacy Technician Day. Last week was also Pharmacy Recognition Week.


Well, time to sign out for a while. Family and friends are welcome to come over and chase my children for a while during this recoup time too.......


All my love,


Missy and the Johnson clan

It's not about us

I had planned to write with updates on my weary physical state and the U of M trip. My heart isn't in it tonight. Maybe on another day, but today our family grieves. A close family to our family delivered, and said goodbye to their precious baby boy tonight. It's torn at our hearts, as this couple was there for us from day one when I had issues with my pregnancy with Mina. I wished that there was more for me to do. I just wanted to hug them when they knew early on that there was a problem with this pregnancy. We are grieving with them, praying for them and know that God is with them, holding them when I can't run out to provide another shoulder to lean on just yet. As they travel the difficult path they are on, please pray that they take each day as it comes, and let them know they are loved and cared for. I feel like it was my own nephew that passed. As a mother, I have some small idea of the grief they are experiencing, though their's are magnitudes greater than what I can fully understand. We will turn our grief into love, hug our children a little closer, appreciate them more than before. We love you, and please hold our friends close to your heart.
Missy, Mitch, Mina and Johanna

God's Promise

Hello, Hello, Hello!

I haven't updated for a while, so I thought I'd update 'life so far'. It's a big task to have quiet moments to think straight enough to type cohesive thoughts. I have to steal away to my computer in my precious few moments after bedtime. Mina has figured out how to open the laptop and move about programs a little. While the proud mom in me is excited by her sedulous behaviors and just plain smarty pants-ness, the Hollander in me screams (inside, not at her) 'that's really expensive, grubby paws off!" Plus, both of the girls love to try to crawl into my lap while at the computer, so here I am talking to you late at night...

I wish I had an update on UofM, but the procedures have yet to be scheduled. Even though I've had insurance approval since the end of the week from my visit with the doctor, 3 plus weeks later of phone tag has yet to get anywhere. They are without a doubt the most antiquated and disorganized system I have yet to deal with. But I digress... I do have to get this done fairly soon, as my regular doctor called last week to tell me my Iron is low and my white count is up, so we need to be sure I don't have something from my gut causing these problems.

We've been able to get out more for family walks. One of our most recent outings to Hemlock Crossings yielded a beautiful object lesson. We had to turn around about halfway down the trail we started as we were beginning to get pelted by rain. As we came out of the woods near the trail head, a gorgeous rainbow appeared above. The girls were awestruck, and I have to say, I still get the same feeling as an adult that I did when I was a child when seeing these rare moments. I explained the rainbow was a promise from God, and asked Mina who made the rainbow. She replied, "Jesus" and proceded to wave and say hi to Jesus, and JoJo chimed in too. It was a great opportunity to talk about this lesson, but a reminder to momma too. God never gives us more than we can handle, or handle alone- and he keeps his promises. He puts us in the right places at the right time, and my hope is renewed. Hope you are all well-

Love, the Johnsons

Getting my feet wet

A rare moment sitting together

The new 'uber wagon' for JoJo's Bday (but really for everybody)

Just enough hair for tiny pig tails-just.

Here's to my first foray into the blog world. I'm feeling so old lately with recent back surgery, and the screaming from my thighs after a full day of housework, chasing kids and pulling weeds. At the precipice of middle age, I'm finally entering into 'blog land' despite a healthy tech-full upbringing. I still cling at times to my visceral pen and paper, snail mail (it still seems more personal to me) and checking my email only once (gasp!) per day, if I'm lucky enough to get a chance with the girls busy destroying the next item they lay eyes upon. Writing here often will present a challenge because of that, and my self- taught combo of hunt-and-peck augmented by Mavis Beacon approach to typing.

Well, life so far:

Mitch is trying to take his weight down and genuinely making effort to work out on the elliptical trainer nightly. I know life can be tough for him, having to be sole parent on my work nights. We are desperately trying to grab more 'date nights' to ease the pain of our passing ships schedule.

Mina loves to take out her violin and 'practice'. She allows momma to help and instruct for about 10 sec to 5 min then it's all on her terms from there in. As long as she has the desire, I try to guide her just enough to keep her from getting frustrated. When she is 4, we can finally get her into Suzuki lessons. She's pretty excited about getting to play more, I just pray we can make lessons a reality with our time limitations.

Johanna is really coming into her own. She's finally getting some pretty, thick blond curly hair. She's also turned into a sweet little jabber jabber girl. She's really going through a learning and verbalizing explosion. It makes momma's heart skip a beat when she sees such amazing changes in her girls. They surprise me every day with what they learn, when they show me their knowledge, and their growing compassion for each other. The other day we were in the car and had a short section of dirt road to travel. I called out : "Bumpy road! bumpy bumpy" exaggerating the vibrations in my voice. Usually Mina squeals at this, but she was quiet. I looked back after a bit to see Mina and Johanna holding hands across the gap between their car seats. Choking up a bit, I said " Mina, are you holding JoJo's hand so she wouldn't be scared by the bumpy road?" She nodded quickly and smiled. I smiled too.

So what about me? I'm still struggling with my weight issues. Physical incapacities of the past 5 years, but especially the past two, have really taken my weight for a roller coaster ride. Some issues are healing and will just take time. The fusion surgery can take up to a year to fully heal, and I may never be the same as far as my back is concerned. I still have an unresolved GI issue and will be going to UofM next week to get another opinion on what may still be ailing me. I'm pretty sure it's a 'new' problem more related to having pancreatitis and the subsequent gall bladder removal. Finding a doctor who doesn't immediately blow me off or make assuptions based on info prior to this point because I have had other issues in the past...not an easy task. My local internist is on my side, but it's still frustrating. I'm well recovered from the pneumonia of February, but will have to wait until at least June to do pulmonary function tests to determine if I have any lingering respiratory issues related to that and my asthma. I pray I don't get another respiratory bug any time soon. I'm really nervous about ending up that sick again. I am also making concerted efforts to take off weight. Walking with the girls in their awesome wagon on my days off and cleaning house like a mad woman. My work days are very physical, sometimes walking as much as 5 miles a shift and working full time. Sometimes I am so tired, I can barely keep my eyes open most of the day. I keep pushing forward. Our goals are to pay down debt, spend as much time with the girls as possible, and consider school (PA or pharmacy) once the girls are in regular school.

OK-- so that's enough for now. A good, meaty start to our blog. And of course, some pictures of the girls, as they grow so fast!

MJ (Missy)