Watching Over Us

Wow!!! Two rainbow sitings in FOUR days time!! Tonight Garrett discovered another rainbow after a thunderstorm and rain! This time there was a DOUBLE rainbow....you can just faintly see the second one! I think God is telling us it's going to be OK, somehow, some way!

Rainbows, "God's" Promise

Friday night after we had torrential rains and high winds the day before.... oh and by the way a very rough week in general. Garrett saw the rainbow. He was so excited. He kept yelling "A Rainbow, A Rainbow!!" So we all ran outside to see the beautiful colors over our house! I told the boys the story about Noah's Ark and God's Promise to us. They enjoyed it and even talked about it. I also took it as a personal message for Him saying things will be OK.

The boys, me and furbabies

Life has definitely been different with Jeff gone but we push through every day. Garrett has been having some major issues but we are hoping to work through those. They are both doing very well academically so far. Garrett's is more behavioral.


Here is a picture of my boys. Justin is now 9 and Garrett will be 8 in a little less than 2 weeks. You can see how much Justin doesn't want to be there, but Garrett is very much the loving one. He even said after the picture "he doesn't like me Mom."

Here is me, Halo, and Mr. Manners. They really are a lot of company with Jeffrey gone. The kids too. In fact I hated when school was starting because I didn't want a silent house.

Here is Justin and Mr. Manners. I love this photo. They love each other.

This was right before school started. Justin and are are on the back deck.

This is from Justin's birthday party in August. Mine are the two on the left. I had a cake and ice cream party at the house and then took all the boys to see "Star Wars, The Clone Wars." It was a great day.

The Apple Seedling

Look how this little tree has grown! We've gone through about three or four pots now and I guess when it gets cold I'll bring it in so it doesn't die! It still amazes me that Garrett took a seed from an apple and it grew!

Now:

Before:

and I tried to get this as best I could, see the teeny, tiny spider's web on it....

A Last Day to Share With Daddy

The last weekend before Jeff deployed we too them to the beach. It was a 'perfect' day. The temperature was just right, about 85F and the humidy was not high!!

Here is Jeffrey and his boys (Garrett and Justin):

Here is a picture of the sand dunes. I love the dunes!

Here is Jeff and I hang'in out! Justin did so well taking the photo!





And here are the boys playing in the surf and sand. It those moments caught unnoticed by them:

Here is Garbear....The quality of this photo is amazing! I cannot believe how big he is!

And Justin playing in the surf! He loves it! Couldn't get enough. But unfortunately the surf was really rough this day and he could only go in so far.

Iraq

As most of you know, Jeff is deploying to Iraq again on 30 Jul 08. We are not happy about it but unfortunately when you're in the Army you have to 'Roll with the Punches' so to speak! This time (at this point) he's only going for six months this time. He's been home for only one year and now it's off to the War Zone again. So we ask for as many Prayers as we can that the Lord keeps him safe till he is home with us again.

Here is Jeff enjoying one his last drinks (alcohol that is) before heading over to the box:
Our faithful 'Blue Star' till he is home safely again:
And the prep for Iraq, all his gear...ruck sack, gas mask, helmet, etc.

Garrett's Green Thumb and Then Some......

Well I have a wonderful friend and lady in Australia.....And she's been waiting for an update on Gar's Apple Seedling....and here it is still growing like an champ and two pots later (growing bigger of course)!!!


And let me continue on with Garbear's Green Thumb. He was giving a tree seedling on "Earth Day" at his school and so we planted it in the ground. Then transferred it to a pot and thought it died! It's thriving and has green leaves!!!

So here I'm braggin on Garbear's stuff, but Justin just isn't into any of this...And yes here is Garrett's Pumpkins growing (slowly and so so this year) from the seeds he planted! Hopefully we'll get a few out of the deal!
And now for my Garden (which Jeff made the box for (and p.s. Garrett took a Lima Bean and planted it and it's growing!!) and did a wonderful job on). And some flowers too.





And my Wave Petunias:

And the Shed. I help some, but Jeff did 95% of the work on this baby. He did such a wonderful job. I will show you the Before and the After:

Before:

And the BEAUTIFUL AFTER:

War Gear

OK, so here is Garrett in Dad's M40 Protective Mask. Now let me tell you what, this mask brought back a FLOOD of memories for me. I was an engineering tech that worked with this mask and the M42. And wow, I looked at it reminded me of the days of testing, packaging, getting into a chamber with that baby on, etc., etc.!!


But Garbear things he's cool in Dad's mask to protective from any gas/agent attacks in Iraq!


And then there he is again is some of the ACU Camo stuff....



Here is Justin, who for some reason didn't want to play dressup????

Johnson Land!

Hello from Johnson Land! Reading some of my other friend's blogs and message from one has made me think how I've been neglectful! So lets play catchup!



Here are me and the boys in Georgia...a visit before Jeff's deployment and enjoying friends....who'd I'd love to post but won't because I don't know how'd they feel about it.

It was a great time and it made things seem like the 'good old days'!

Misc Photos of our backyard

Here is the whole view!

My Lantanas:

Roses:

Garbear's Pumpkin Plants!!

Our Star Jasmine Vine - beautiful and smells wonderful!

The Strawberry Patch

We went picking strawberries today!!! How fun it was! Justin didn't want to go but he had fun after all! We picked almost 14 lbs of strawberries (OMG)!!! But I froze three huge bags!!! So Fresh Strawberries for Oatmeal and Margaritas and daiquiri's!!

Here is Justin in the Strawberry field!!

And here is Garrett....who by the way met a friend from the Asperger's Group!!! And he then came over to our house!!! It was wonderful!!! And they played together so well!!! It made my heart happy!!!

And lets not forget Mommy and Daddy (Gena and Jeffrey)! Here we are on a beautiful day! It was beautiful! It was 75F and a beautiful blue sky and a breeze!!! It was a Happy Day for the Johnson Family!!! Yeah!!!!!

P.S. Just and update on Garbear. He has not been playing with his bully friend. Unfortunately, we spoke to the parents after our unfortunate incident with him wanting to harm himself for over three weeks and going to the principal to see if anything else was going on in school. Then telling her about the beating incident and she wanting to know if it involved any of her students. Us telling her who and her taking action (KUDOS TO HER)!! Then making that child and others apologize, etc. Then calling the Mom...who by the way HATES us now. We even called her to let her and her husband know Garrett and I spent 8 hours in the hospital ER and possible Admittance into a psych ward because he has post traumatic stress and depression because of this incident, oh and by the way 9 months of abuse from her son (we didn't mention but talked to them about repeatedly). But they still won't speak to us. But Gar is going into immediate counselling and by the way that is almost two weeks later....because that is the soonest they could get us in with a "Fast Response" Team! Most it is 7 months or longer or not at all! But, again not playing with this friend his mental state seems to be 100 times better!!! Wish us luck!

My Puppies!!

Well I can never go without posting pics of my Labs!! Beautiufl Labs! I will not have two again, but I believe I will always have one with maybe a smaller breed!! But I love these boys just like my human boys!!

Mr. Manners the Yellow Boy!

Halo, my Choco Moose!!

My Husband

What a beautiful Man!! He works so hard at work then works so hard at home (to make me happy)!!! This is my little Garden he made just for me. I was willing to put it in the ground but he built this lovely Garden box that now has Squash, Silver Queen Sweet Corn, Jalapeno Peppers, Cayenne Peppers, Sweet Peppers, Tomatoes and Cherry Tomatoes!!!

The beginning:

The Final Product!!