To the ends of the earth!

Friday, Ryan calls at 11:51 a.m. "Hey babe! Wanna go to Padre?"
Me, "Today?"
Ryan, "Yes!"
Me, "COME GET ME!!"

We were packed and on the road by 1 p.m. ... YAY!! We LOVE spontenaety and I don't think we've been spontaneous in a while so this was GREAT!! Here are some pics :O)

On our way ... a beautiful drive :O)

Soooo, the reason we were able to get away is because Ryan's grandparents own this GREAT Texan Guest Ranch (http://www.texanguestranch.com/) where people come for extended stays, so they built a wing for family ... Thank you, Lord!! So, we stayed there, got to visit with his grandparents, and headed to Padre on Saturday.

Pic below, we are ALMOST to the beach and it was the coolest because we were driving to the end of the island and so there were HUGE sand dunes on both sides of the road... the wind was blowing the sand across the roads and it looked a lot like snow blowing acrosss. As we got closer and closer to the end of the island it honestly felt like the Pirates of the Carribbean where they sailed to the end of the earth... FUN! I knew we were going to the 'end' and that REALLY excited me!



Because it was so windy the wind formed these great sand formations with the shells, you can't really tell from the pics but it was soooo cool. We were just thinking, "God is SUCH an artist!! Even with sand on a beach, it forms a cool structure that makes me think of Him..."

Happy on the beach :O)

Soooo, after the beach we head to dinner at Blackbeard's and I'm telling Ryan this RIVETING story about how I pretty much got taken out by a 4 year old in the bathroom. Literally, I open the stall to leave and she physically bumrushes me trying to get to the toilet. Anyhow, in the midst of this story Ryan's eye begins to wander and I'm thinking, "What is he looking at?" So, he starts talking about what he's looking at and I'm thinking he's talking about this HUGE shipwrecked boat in front of the restaurant, but then realize he is not. He is talking about this car. (pic below)



Apparently a $300,000 car!! Can you even believe it?! So, I take Ryan's pic in front of it, you can see ANOTHER guy behind the car taking a picture and I walk away laughing about a male's unbelievable innate ability to smell a cool car. He was like, "What do you mean?" And I start telling him I thought he was talking about that huge shipwrecked boat and he says, only proving my point, "What boat???" LOL!! OOOHhhh, love it!

Anyhow, on the way home there was this gift shop that had the curbside appeal like NONE I have ever seen. If ever you've driven to South Padre you know what I am talking about. The thing behind me was a seashell. They had an entire scene of fish, corral, etc all along the side of the road that matched the size of this shell.

Apparently I love spontaneous and random ... according to the first week of MORPH that is exactly right on for me :O)

Hope you are all well :O)

The Sweetness of Reality

A precious WONDERFUL friend of mine in her quirky honesty that I love SO much was dumbfounded about Paul and who he is and the way he writes...

Over Christmas I had asked several friends if they wanted to read through Philippians together and talk about it when Holiday Life is over. So we all got together last night and she so honestly, and kindly announced, "Being a new Christian, can I just be honest and say I don't get this guy?!" OOOOHHHH I love her and her honesty and her QUESTIONS!!! They are so great!

Essentially she was really struggling with/wrestling with Paul ... the way he writes, the fact that he wrote so often and sounded so self centered and I just said, "You are not the only person who struggles with Paul!" (shout out to you AOt) We talked about a few things and then she came back to his being crazy in writing soooo many letteres and wild in the things he said, etc, etc... I realized then how crucial it is to know Paul's backstory.

In sharing with her his backstory, Christ's love for me and the reality of my relationship with him pierced my heart afresh. Oohhhh, I needed it.

I said to her, "Are you familiar with that expression 'He who has been forgiven much loves much?'" and she wasn't so I continued, "I know this will sound weird, but just go with me ... Let's say when I was in highschool I murdered Ryan's mom and years later, even in knowing that, Ryan chose to love me and yoke himself to me. ... That's what happened with Paul and Jesus! Paul HATED people who followed Christ. HATED them, killed them, he was almost like a Hitler to Christ followers" ... and I proceeded to tell her Paul's ruthless history and how on his way to CONTINUE to kill people Jesus Himself confronted him on the road, struck him blind, and asked him why he was persecuting Him. I said, "Paul WAS crazy, Paul WAS zealous and it's because Jesus knew exactly who he was, what he had done, who he had been, and he said, 'I love you! I will forgive you.' Paul NEVER got over that!"

Even as I was sharing I was again becoming in awe at the incredible mystery and UNMERITED grace of salvation.

Talking to Ryan about it last night and even weeping about it this morning I am just undone about this. To remember/realize that that is exactly what Jesus said to us and continues to say to me ... "I know, Anna. I love you and I forgive you, and more than that I have YOKED myself to you. I will lead you, I will cover you, I will be your fighter, your leader. I love you with an EVERlasting love that is not contingent upon what you do or don't do. You are mine." WHAT?! WHY?! Is that wild?! Does that impact anyone else?!

Geez, I fully admit that of late it hadn't hit my heart as deeply as it used to, probably because I don't normally just sit and think about reality. Truly, this is REALITY. I am SO thankful for last night and the renewal of the sweetness of reality.

We are loved by THE King. We have been forgiven much, I pray we LOVE Him much. Oh, Jesus, I pray I love you MUCH MUCH.

Sadie Update

Thanks for checking in on Sadie :O)

We have realized QUITE a few things in the past few weeks including that she really IS a Johnson. She has so many of the same traits Ryan and I have, specifically being emotional, needing touch, loving people and being very expressive about all of the above. She is PRECIOUS!

Regarding her 'during the day' ... oh man, what was the last thing I posted? Did I post that she CHEWED OUT OF THE HARD PLASTIC CRATE?! I believe I did, just wanted to give you that reminder.

SO, we tried the Metal Crate on Monday, but this time we put it in front of her coveted Guest Bedroom window so she could still see outside. We came home to the bottom frame being bent in, but still a Sadie inside. When we let her out she was shaking so badly I genuinely thought she was going to have a heart attack. I am beginning to wonder if she was locked in a closet or something as a puppy (seriously).

Did the metal crate again the next day and she was A-OKAY ... just really eager to get outside (if you know what I mean ....) It seems we've resolved the, "You WILL stay in a crate during the day."

SO, we're plotting along, plotting along and then she showed us how emotional (and expressive) she really is. Ryan had to work an INSANE amount of hours this week at home in his office with the door closed. So, we go to bed on Thursday night and I wake up Friday morning and go into his office to check the weather for the day ... "What's that smell?" I turn on the light and she had POOPED ALL OVER RYAN'S FLOOR!!! Like SEVEN different spots! This was NOT because she actually had to go. LOL!! OOOOHHHHHH gosh! So, I went into the bedroom and said, "See, honey, Sadie really loves you." He was like, "What do you mean?" "She missed you a LOT this week and showed her disapproval by pooping all over your office floor. Isn't that sweet?"

OOoohhhh Sadie, what a thin, thin line you are treading.

(butwedoloveyou-atleastIstilldo,daddyalittle)

Hip Hip Hooray for Christmas Vacation!

Was it great or was it GREAT?! It was pretty dang great!

Ryan was so so so so so sweet and bought me a new camera and one of those digital picture frames... I had NO idea I would even want one of those, but apparently I did because I opened it and just started CRYING I liked it so much!! Now I can see everyone I love sooooo much just scrolling at my desk all day long. YAY!!!

Christmas night we hung out at Ryan's sister's and the next night we went out with his family to Fogo de Chao. Let me just say, it really IS worth all of the raving associated!!! I went in VERY ready to just eat the heck up on the most choice meat and I DID... Proud to say I ate everyone under the table. *pleased smile, puffed out chest and belly* Pic below is of us after dinner. Some would say it's a bad pic of me, I think that's true and it's probably because I gained an IMMENSE amount of weight with just one meal and was unrecognizable even to myself for the next couple of days. BUT, it's a great pic of the fam so there it is :O)




The next day I rode with my in laws (very weird to say!) to Tyler and then began one of the very best trips of my entire life. Because I was there for 9 days I was able to spend very quality time with people I love so deeply. OH it was so good! So, that's the big picture, below are just some of the pics with 'snippets' I will say, one thing that was so sweet was getting to spend so much time with my family. Absence DID make my heart grow fonder ... and it was already pretty fond.

And on to the snippets ...

1. Time with my nephews. My love for them, what can I even say. Below you will find a VERY happy Gooby (that's me)





Swinging with sweet Noah. He wasn't feeling very well so he sat on my lap so we snuggled on the swingset :O)



Here I am practicing my mommy skills (not pregnant, just looking ahead). This little Solomon is so sweet! I don't know what it is about little legs in a diaper that are SOOOOOO cute!



2. Making my grandmother's authentic Italian Spaghetti and Meatballs. They are supposed to cook for 2 days, but we did the Cliff's Notes verion of 6 hours :O)

and... YUM!!! Chowing down on just a few of the 125 handmade meatballs.

3. Getting to see my mom really enjoy her family.

4. Watching Noah feel like a big boy in showing Gooby how he can push the wagon up the trailer. It is so wild how even now the boy in him looks proud to impress me. Beautiful.

We love each other A LOT!

5. SUCH great time with Ryan's friends and my friends and it is so fun because they are now becoming mutual friends!!! We got to have a DELISH meal at Shogun's with my best friend Stefani and a sweet friend of Ryan's (and now MINE), Christy :O)

5. Christmas Baking! Even though we missed pre-Christmas Baking we kept the tradition with Veronica at the reins! She is a BAKE-ER! My mom got her a new recipe book for Christmas so she got to choose whatever cookies she wanted to make :O)







HOWEVER, apparently Lisa and Veronica's cookies weren't artsy enough so my mom grabbed the sprinkles and 'helped' them. Look how pleased Veronica is! LOL!!! That is my mom's best friend, Ms Deborah :O) I LOVE HER!!!

My mom GLOWING with the girls she loves and a littlelittle embarrassed that she grabbed the sprinkles...

6. GREAT time with my sisters! God opened up so much time with the people I love and I am SO thankful!!!

This vacation was SOOOOOOOOO much more than I had ever hoped for! EVER! Ryan came in on Tuesday and he got to see so many people he loves as well :O) OH GOSH it was so good!

I pray your Christmas and New Year's was with people you love too :O)