My girl is not afraid of anything!

Abigail LOVES frogs, lizards, rolly pollys, worms, bugs, etc. If it crawls, jumps, hops, slithers, she loves it. I actually love that she is not afraid of creepy crawly's! She has a bug box and fills it with something almost daily!

Easter 2010

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Does anyone still read this thing????

My girl loves her Carebears!

To sum it up....

We LOVE living in Charleston! We have had so much fun exploring all the great things to do here! We have only been here 3 weeks and we have had already 6 visitors! But we love it! We have a nice queen bed and a hide-a-bed couch, so everyone is welcome to stay anytime! We have been to the beach at Isle of Palms, visited the magnificent Angel Oak tree on John's Island, to the battery, downtown to the market, and to numerous parks! There is one great park down the street that has anywhere between 10 and 15 kids playing any given sunny afternoon! We have frequented there quite a bit!! Abigail has met a few friends and is already signed up for dance camp and teddy bear camp (whatever that is). I am just trying to keep the girl busy! Here are some pics from our first month living in sunny Charleston!

Fun slippin and slidin!

I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK

I know friends, I am a blog neglecter. I promise to update soon as soon as our camera battery is charged and I can pull off some pictures! We LOVE Mt. Pleasant so far and have already been to the beach and MANY parks! We love our new church and are meeting new friends. Promise an update will be forthcoming!!

We're Moving!!!

We announced this several weeks ago but since I am blog-neglecter, I haven't posted to all my blog friends!!! The Chapman family is moving to Charleston, SC next month. We are excited to go but have bittersweet feelings about leaving. Jonathan has accepted a position as High School Pastor at East Cooper Baptist Church on Mt. Pleasant. We have felt the Lord's leading and His affirmation COMPLETELY though this process so we know this is where He wants us. The church we are leaving is both mine and Jonathan's home church, where we grew up, so it was a hard decision to make, but we are excited at what awaits us.

We hope to begin looking for a place to live down there this week. I wish $100K would fall out of the sky to help us pay for a house down there, since housing is SIGNIFICANTLY higher in Charleston.

I know our girls will love it, being minutes from the beach and learning all the history and fun things to do in Charleston. Please pray along with us as we make this transition!!

From the rising of the Sun...

What can be more pleasing to God than to hear His children praising Him??? It sure warms my heart!! Abigail learned this song in her preschool class. She has a new teacher this semester who knows a good bit of sign language and is teaching the children through songs! Abigail is beginning to learn more about God, His goodness and love. She asks us questions frequently about Jesus. Her latest question was whether or not Jesus had a Pinnochio video in heaven. Then she told me later that day that she'd rather go to Myrtle Beach than Heaven...Oh the girl has a lot to learn!!

Turn up your volume!

Oh the fun we have at the dinner table...

I put this video on facebook and everyone loved it, so this is for my non-facebook readers!!

Annabelle

Today marks the first birthday of Annabelle Butcher, the daughter of a great friend of mine. Annabelle was born exactly one year today with a severe heart defect, HLHS. Annabelle lived a glorious 8 weeks with us here on earth and is celebrating her first birthday with Jesus today!! In memory of such a sweet angel, her mother, Rebecca asked her family and friends, that if they had been touched by Annabelle, to release balloons to heaven in honor of her on this special day.

While I was preparing lunch for the girls, Abigail took her time preparing a birthday card for Annabelle. After we ate, we went outside, said a prayer, and released them to such a special little girl. Happy Birthday Annabelle!!!

This SLP Mama is SO proud!

Tagged

Kristen tagged me for this on her blog so here goes...

Here are the rules:
1. Choose the 4th folder where I store my pictures on the computer.
2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag 4 people to do the same.
5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)OK I know this requires A LOT of explanation, but I followed the rules! This picture was taken Thanksgiving of 2003, when Jonathan and I were living in Fort Worth, TX while he was in seminary. We, along with my brother, his wife, and another couple friend of ours, set out to find the grave of Lee Harvey Oswald (JFK's assassin). He is actually buried in Fort Worth and very few people know about it. THIS IS HIS REAL GRAVE, NO KIDDING! I assume his family wanted him buried in an inconspicuous place b/c of the conspiracy surrounding the whole JFK assassination, and the media frenzy it generated. The funny part about it is he is buried to a comedian named Nick Beef, who bought the plot next to Oswald so people would be able to find it! You can't miss a grave marked NICK BEEF!!! I tried to post the link that explains the mysterious "Nick Beef" grave marker, but if you type in "Nick Beef" into google, it will direct you to the website.

Fun game! Thanks Kristen!

I tag Jen, Mary, Megan and Lea.

My favorite Christmas gift

Dear God...

Jonathan and I try our best to help our girls understand the importance of blessing our food before we partake of it. Above all, we want to teach them to be THANKFUL for the things God has blessed us with. Tonight, we were pretty proud of Abigail when she prayed this prayer (although she did throw in a few extra things...)

May we all be so THANKFUL for the most precious gift that was ever given, the birth of our Savior.

Merry Christmas friends~

Ok, you've proven yourself....

I just now checked my blog and noticed TEN comments, never in the history of this thing have I gotten TEN comments, so friends, I will continue the updating....

Ok, so Rachel had her first birthday December 6th. We had mostly a family party but we all sure packed out my house! Rachel had a great time opening all the gifts, as did Abigail. We had a hard time prying them out of Abigail's hands and kept having to tell her they were Rachel's gifts and not hers! She told us that she would "share" Rachel's gifts with her!

Diving into her own cake! Funny story...I only ordered a big cake and just thought I would cut her a little peice and let her dive in...when we picked up the cake, they threw the small cake in for free!
Off to the tub!


Opening her gifts...


I can't believe my baby is ONE!

Leave me a comment...

I know I have not updated this blog for a long time. The main reason being I just don't think many people read it. I usually upload our new pictures and videos to facebook because I know most everyone sees them there. So, if you happen to check and read this...leave me a message so I can see actually how many people read it before I quit blogging altogether...

Love to all! :)

Johanna

Long Overdue Halloween Pictures

Our family had a great time trick-or-treating Halloween night! It was so stinkin cold so we weren't out long but still got LOADS of candy!

Selfless

For 5 years, I worked as a Speech Pathologist in an elementary school. I KNOW and have seen firsthand how kids bicker, fuss and fight over place in line, who will carry the teacher's lunchbox, who gets to the class first...the list goes on and on. Nowadays, I have found myself teaching first grade choir at my church on Wednesday nights. I love staying at home, but I enjoy teaching it because it places me back with that sweet age that I love so much. After choir, I always line up the girls and take them to their GA (Girls in Action-for those who aren't Baptist) class where they learn about missions and evangelism. I have one little girl in my class who is very needy and was just adopted a few months ago, yes at age SIX. Let's call her Lucy. I have found myself drawn to her. To help her, comfort her.

As we lined up tonight to depart to GA's, Lucy kept saying "Can I please be line leader?, Can I please be line leader?" By this time there was already a line of at least 5 girls and I didn't think it was fair to allow her first place after all the others had been waiting patiently to leave. So I said, frustrated with the situation, "just stand here, we're all going to the same place. It doesn't matter where you are in line." Of course, Lucy's tears break loose. Halfway there, I gathered myself and explained to her that we really were all going to the same place and that we'd all get there at the same time, and that if she reminded me, she could be line leader next week. Still tears.

And right then, out of the mouth of the sweet girl in front of her "you can get in front of me". SELFLESSNESS. Even a six year old child comprehends this. I struggle with it. I bet most of us do. We are born loving ourselves. Its innate in us from the beginning of our existence. Its NOT about us people. Our soul existence is to glorify our Lord Jesus. That's why we're here, and I am so comforted by that. This whole experience tonight reminded me of a song we used to sing a lot at our old church in TX..

Its all about you, Jesus
And all this is for You,
For your glory and your fame,
Its not about me,
As if you should do things my way,
You alone are God and I surrender to your way.

Suze Orman (financial guru) always says.."People first, then money, then things".
I like to think of it as "Jesus first, then people, then things..."

Reason for my absence...

Sorry for the lack of activity on this thing. I want to post all about our trip to the SC State Fair, Abigail's singing debut, Rachel walking, and our trip to Charleston this weekend, but this blasted computer won't let me post any pictures or video and well, blogging is pretty boring with out them! So for now...thanks for your patience...until I talk Jonathan into reformatting the whole thing!

Update on Baby Gracie

The Lord called Baby Gracie home this morning...please pray for her family as they face these coming days without her. Below is an update I pulled directly from their blogsite.

THE LORD JESUS CALLED OUR AMAZING GRACIE HOMETHIS MORNING AT 8:08 Am. After a 7 month fight to remain with mom and dad, brother and family, Our Lord said,"Gracie you come home to me now"

Gracie battled mightly througout the night. At 3:30 A.M the family gathered and began a wonderful time of each one holding Gracie ad sharing her sweet kisses and loving her with all that we have.

Grandpa Brown decided to go last as he got to spend three precious hours holding Gracie on Monday before the surgery. Everyone had a glorious time. GrandPa Bill Lockyer had her snuggled sweetly in his arms shortly after 8:00.

Gracie had been unresponsive for the two hours previous and the Doctors and nurses had told us that she may have already passed and was being kept alive by the medicines and machines.

However the wonderful Savior knew different and Gracie opened her eyes wide, turned her head, gave two deep breaths and left with the Lord to heaven. Heaven was in the room.

Thank you all so much! We love you. Arrangements will be posted soon.

Grandpa Brown for Todd and Amanda

From Todd and Amanda:

The last few hours have been a whirlwind!! But, please do not be shocked and saddened--we are rejoicing. Gracie has been given the victory! We were fighting to keep her here and she fought with us each minute of each day without looking back....back when the Lord Jesus called her name, she obeyed and everlasting peace and comfort began for her--to never end!!