"THANK YOU JESUS"

Putting Olivia to bed is such a long process she lays there and giggles plays with her dolly's puts the blankets over her head and grabs my face and says I LOVE YOU. I enjoy every minuet But some nights it can be up to 90 minuets!!! YEA hour and 1/2. I'm not complaining its so precious, I love it and we are working on getting her to go to sleep on her own. However, something BIG happened after I got done praying with her last night she put her hands together and closed her eyes and said in her sweet LITTLE voice " Jesus.. Thank you ...Amen" OH I melted!!!!

She seems to be doing so good... she still has times when she gets overwhelmed but we are spending lots of time at home. She loves to play with her dolls and she loves her new kitchen that my friend Emma gave her. Olivia fixed her Poppy lunch the other day. It snowed today again.... (GRRRR) but she went out and played in it for awhile with the brothers.

Fun with Grandama JoAnne

tickle tickle tickle

This little piggy went to the market

LOTS OF LOVE TO GO AROUND

Kissing Grampa Marshal

"And I thought the sink was good"

Galatians 4:4

But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!" Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.

As Olivia feels safer and as time goes by we began to see her little personality come out. She also feels comfortable in the house going from one room to the next, playing. We are having so much fun with her. She jabbers a ton in Amharic and will repeat anything we say. we are amazed how much English she has learned in this short time.

I have been thinking alot lately about adoption and the fact that we loved Olivia so much before she ever even knew us. Even though she didn't even know we existed our love for her was great. Even the first week when she screamed kicked and even bit we still loved her, wanted to be near her, hold her, and protect her. Our Heavenly Fathers love is much the same!!!!!!! The hole idea of being Chosen by the king of kings to be his daughter BLOWS MY MIND. The sacrifice that he had to pay for us, and that he desires a relationship with me Just as I do Olivia is Amazing!!! A month ago Olivia didn't know that she would have a new family, a new name, and be a heir to the Johnson family, and have FULL access to our home hearts resources and love. And so it is with us in Christ, HE adopts us,chooses us, gives us a new family new name, and FULL access to the creator of the universe and ,his love, protection and we get to spend eternity with him.
I was watching Olivia in the bathtub tonight, laughing splashing, having a GREAT time, just last week she was terrified of it ( don't think she ever had a bath before) But after a few baths in the sink she realized the bathtub was just a great big sink, and she loved it!!!!
I think that's how I am sometimes with the Lord. When he asks me to do something that I haven't done before I get scared but the longer I know him the safer I feel the more I trust him I realizes that my Saviors love for me is greater than I can understand. Even when I am scared, SO, if you like me and feel safe in the sink (of life) Lets jump in the LAKE of the Lords Love and Bath together.

Love is in the air

sink bath is fun!!!!!

pucker up

LOTS OF LOVE TO GO AROUND

Happy valentines day!!!!!

life with 3 brothers

Peek a boo!!

Lots of new clothes

I love my big brothers

oops!!!! you never know what your gonna fall into around here

Snow

WOW What is this stuff????

A snow day with Grammy

We are Home

I'm so sorry its taken me so long to write, a Big Thank you to my dear friend Paulette. WOW what a January, The last 3 weeks have been lots of tears and laughter mixed with a multitude of emotion I wish I could put into words our Joy and love we all have for this little miracle that God has blessed us with. On our 1st night we arrived to Addis Abbaba at about 9:00 and when we got to the House of Hope the orphanage or transitional house, after about 36 hours of travel we thought we would sleep that night and get to see Olivia in the morning. But much to our surprise as we were carrying our bags to our room they brought her to us!!! ( No pics. or video) the first night there were tears but Daddy held her and off to sleep she went that night laying in bed with her feeling the weight of her on my body and smelling her breath was a dream come true. Day 2; She was very confused and zombie like but a couple times this day we got some smiles and a little laugh. Over all our time there was wonderful we fell in love with the people and enjoyed every moment we were there we did have to leave a couple days early due to the fact that she was not responding well to us, it made it hard, because we were staying at the orphanage and she saw her Nanny's and Friends everyday and was very confused at who we were and why she couldn't have her Nanny's who she loved. The highlight of our trip was all the kids in the orphanage. The day we went to her original orphanage and got the honor of meeting her mother was an unforgettable time mixed with sadness and joy. Seeing her heritage and the little village where she was from was hard seeing what her life would have been like. We were sad to leave but we couldn't wait to get home and truly began bonding with her.Once we got home love was in the air Olivia instantly loved her brothers, there is such a strong bond between her and Cody it is very special. We have been home now 13 days and each one is better and better, we have had lots and lots of firsts, bath, eating ice or ice cream, Starbucks (hee hee ) car seat, she gets car sick so we need prayer there, lots of meeting family and Friends, haircut, overall we are doing GREAT!!!! We have felt Gods presence over the last 3 weeks like never before we are so grateful for all your support and prayers as we walk this journey.

Check out some new pictures posted below.

Going home!!!


Friends and family welcoming her home

Here we go to meet your brothers

Mommy and Olivia

Olivias favorite guard at HOH

Olivias 2 mothers

a sweet little face we will not soon forget

A little bit of Ethiopia...

Mommy and Me...eeeeeeee

This is the life...just Daddy and Me.

A picture is worth a thousand words...Olivia's birth mother and her new dad.

You say it is cold where I am going??? and I have three brothers???

The life of a two year old.

A few pix to tie you over until Shaunda updates...

Welcome Home