Team Family Love

BIG news

2009-02-03T22:12:00.002-06:00

Since I am catching everyone up on six months of my life, I figure it's pretty important that I fill you in on something HUGE!

We are in the process of adopting Chris!!!!!

It is something that we have been thinking about ever since Chris came to live with us last November. We decided not to even talk about it until he'd been living with us for at least a year. We wanted to make sure that it was going to be in the best interest for everyone if we went through with it. Well of course I couldn't keep quiet for a whole year, so Aaron and I would talk about it every once in a while and then Chris and I would talk about it every once in a while. Well after all that talk and lots of talking to caseworkers, we decided that adopting Chris was what would work out best for all of us.

To be honest, nothing is really changing. We are just making it "legal." But, it still is a big decision because it means that we are "real" parents now. When Chris gets in trouble at school teachers are going to look at me like I'm a terrible mother. When Chris beats someone up, its now officially our responsibility. I'm not going to get anymore awesome compliments about what a wonderful person I am because I'm a foster parent (I can't help it...I'm a sucker for compliments!)

Thankfully Chris doesn't usually get in trouble at school and I think he's only been in one fight since he came to our house. So, I don't have too much to worry about.

Anyways...just wanted to fill ya'll in!

Momentum

2009-01-28T19:52:00.002-06:00

I led the youth group Bible study at church tonight and we talked about an awesome subject: DISCIPLINE.

We talked about how even though leading a disciplined life can be hard at first and sometimes hurts, it really does get easier after a while and turns us into better people. Our Bible verse come from Hebrews. It talked about how our earthly parents discipline us and how that ultimately shows their love for us. So, how much better is it when our God disciplines us? His discipline is life transforming!

It was fun to talk to the youth about this because I know so many of them are at a crucial time of decision making right now (including our little Chris). My favorite part of the whole lesson was when we talked about how every day the choices you make are taking you away or bring you closer to God. And how this creates a momentum in your life. Once you start making choices in one direction, they get easier and easier to make. That's why its so important to make the RIGHT choices. You want your momentum going in that direction.

The last time I'd led the youth Bible study they had been pretty much silent the entire time. No one would talk or answer any questions. Tonight they all talked the entire time. Thank goodness because when Aaron asked me to lead the Bible study I almost said no. I didn't feel like sitting up there with a bunch of moping teenagers that refused to talk. It really was a blessing to get to talk to the group tonight! Praise GOD!

I'm sitting in Aaron's office at church right now waiting for the adult Bible study to let out. Ryan Richardson, our worship leader is practicing in the other room. I can hear him singing "My Redeemer Lives" in the other room. To sum it up: Its a great night to be at church!

Peace and Love,

Rachael

Being a Cadet

2009-01-27T20:34:00.002-06:00

One of the reasons that I had taken such a long hiatus from the blogging world is that my new job was devouring all of my time and energy. For those of you that don't know, I am a 4th grade Reading and Language Arts teacher at Connally Elementary here in Waco. Its my very first year and although I love it...it's stinking hard sometimes!

My school is on the north side of Waco (in between the tiny town of Elm Mott and the big ol' Walmart in Bellmead). Connally is a really strange mix of all different types of people. The students who feed into Connally are typically low income. We are also EXTREMELY ethnically diverse. It was a huge wake-up call after growing up in Rockwall where everyone looks the same and has at least a couple dollars in the bank.

So much goes on in my classroom every single day that it would be impossible to catch you up on all of it. But here is a list of my top ten loves and hates about teaching:

HATES
1. Getting up at the buttcrack of dawn to be at school by 6:30 am.
2. Grading 4th grade writing compositions. They're not so great at writing yet and I can't seem to do anything to fix it.
3. The smell of 22 children after recess on a hot day.
4. Kids who need to call their moms about every little thing.
5. Kids who get mad and still throw crazy temper tantrums.
6. Keeping up with all the paperwork - AHHHH!
7. Trying to do 40 things at once and still stay sane.
8. Rainy days that keep the kids cooped up all day.
9. Giving the kids free time. They are just too loud!
10. Knowing that one of my students is having a rough time at home and not being able to do much about it.

LOVES
1. Trying to show kids the love of Christ every day. Its hard, but so worth it!
2. All the funny stories that I tell anyone that's even slightly interested.
3. Listening to my students read out loud.
4. When one of my kids finds a book they just love.
5. Monday mornings when the Waco Tribune gets delivered to our class. The kids look like old men and woman with their newspapers open on their desks.
6. Free ice cream day at the cafeteria.
7. All the wonderful teachers who encourage me and give me great advice.
8. When a student sincerely apologizes after doing something wrong.
9. Students that are willing to help each other out.
10. That I think I'm exactly where God wants me to be. It's so good to know that you are doing what you were meant to do.

Go Cadets!
Rachael

It's been a while

2009-01-25T21:24:00.003-06:00

Hi friends,

Sorry for the six month hiatus. I wanna catch ya'll up on everything, but I have a feeling that its gonna take a while. So, I'll just start with what I did tonight. I watched my very favorite tv show ever! Please tell me that you've seen the show 17 Kids and Counting on TLC. Everything about the show blows my mind!

For those of you who are not avid viewers, I'll give you a quick summary: A ultra-conservative man and woman in Arkansas decided to have as many children as God would give them. I think they are up to 18 now and the show is about how their family operates. All of the girls wear long dresses / skirts and don't really wear make-up. They are all home schooled and do all kinds of crazy things to help the family save money (Can you imagine how much it would cost to run a family of 18?). My favorite character is the eldest son Josh. He's 20 years old, has never dated, and has never kissed a girl. He's also just like his dad which might not be such a fabulous thing!

Tonight was a special episode where the oldest son, Josh, gets married. Ummm he asked his future wife, Anna, to marry him on her 19th birthday. I think they'd only met like twice before that. She comes from the same type of background, but her family lives in Florida. Anyways poor Anna gets totally surprised with this engagement and then she says "YES". I mean can you believe it. So anyways, Josh and Anna have all kinds of "Christian" rules that they follow during the engagement. When they are together they always have to have a chaperone, they are saving their first kiss for the wedding, and they are trying to "guard their hearts" from each other until the wedding.

I mean I seriously love this show. It's the only show that I actually plan my schedule around. Tonight I told Aaron that I hope our next church is in Arkansas and that their family goes to our church. I just think it would be awesome to meet them and see if they are for real! Aaron and Chris watch the show with me and both of them are stupefied by the way these people behave and the rules that they set for themselves. We've even threatened Chris that we are going to make him turn into one of these uberChristians.

Seriously...check it out!!!!!!!

Peace,

Rach E. J.

Back Again

2008-07-29T17:24:00.003-05:00

Sorry Everyone -

I've been a lamo blogger, so please excuse the past couple weeks that I've been absent. Ever since I stopped working I just haven't been on the computer. Aaron's always taking it up to church and when the laptop is at home I just always find something else to do. But not anymore..I'm back!

Church camp was pretty awesome. We only took six kids but we all had a blast and our group really had some tight bonding moments. My favorite things about camp were: the speaker, a sweet new worship song I learned called "Mighty to Save", riding the bananna boat with the whole gang, and hanging out in the tree house. I also really liked getting to spend time with Chris in a group setting - It was a great snead peek into how he socializes and I was pretty impressed. At one point during the week I even saw Chris comforting a much younger camper who was a little scared - how cool is that??!!

This past week I haven't really done much of anything... I've just been sleeping in almost everyday, cleaning the house, working out, laying by the pool, and hanging out with Chris and Aaron. Last week my college roomate Lindsey came in town. She lives in California and works for Lionsgate (you know the movie makers). Anyways, we don't get to see eachother much so it was way fun hanging out with her. We layed out, hit up the Ninfa's happy hour, ate snowcones, and went to Baris (yum!).

Well TFL is about to head to the gym and then I'm off to the movies to see Momma Mia with some girlfriends.

TTYL,

Rach EJ

The first pic is me and Kaitlyn at camp pretending to be bored - we really weren't, I promise :)

Then the last picture is of Lindsey... I didn't actually take the picture, instead I just stole it off her facebook!!

Step on my piece of grass...

2008-07-13T23:28:00.002-05:00

(the title only works if you were at Lake Pointe church camp circa 1998)

Tomorrow morning I leave for church camp... Somehow I thought it would be a great idea to raise my hand when our youth pastor called for a woman volunteer. Hmmm..when will I stop being such a pushover?

So I prepared by doing what any high school girl camp counselor should do... I hit up Walmart for all the cool camp stuff and I'm ready to go: purple nail polish, extra-long but still cool shorts for rec time, hair dye, and lots of snacks. I'm all set...talk to ya in a week!

Peace Homies,
R Dawg

2008-07-03T09:51:00.004-05:00

A few of my favorite things these days...
1. The new Olympic Coke cans
2. Reeces Peanut Butter Cups
3. "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson
4. My new diamond and aquamarine necklace that Aaron gave me for our two year anniversary

Ok so my very favorite item on the list is #4, but I really do like the new Coke cans a whole lot ;) I honestly cannot believe that Aaron and I have been married for two years. Some days it feels like we've been together our whole lives and other days it seems like our wedding and honeymoon was just the other day.

Aaron truly is my partner, my love, and the leader of our family. He literally is my best friend and I love spending every second with him. We don't have a lot of friends our age here in Waco, so Aaron and I spend a whole lot of time together - but I wouldn't have it any other way! He is an amazing father, pastor, and husband. He makes me laugh all the time, but he also knows exactly what to say when I need some comforting. Here are just a few things that make me crazy for Aaron.

-He is so good at accents and different voices. If you want to hear an Irishman, a cowboy, Spencer Pratt from the Hills, or Stewie from Family Guy, Aaron is your man. I've noticed that most people's favorite is when he talks like me...sometimes this annoys me but for the most part I enjoy it.
-He eats and drinks the quirkiest things: pimento cheese and chips, poptarts, vanilla diet coke with a splash of regular on top, any flavor doritos, and he loves snickers protien bars (everytime we go grocery shopping...he searches the entire store for his favorite flavor)
-He insists that we watch shows as a family. Currently he's loving Arrested Development on DVD and he'll make me and Chris watch two or three episodes at a time.
-He usually draws while he watches TV and/or movies. He's filled up notebook after notebook with his doodles. I love stealing them and looking at all his pretty pictures and cool designs.
-He wears the dorkiest but most endearing undershirts ever. He buys small undershirts from Walmat and cuts off the sleeves. They don't quite cover his belly, but he likes how they are tight around his neck. He often walks around the house in just his undershirt. Its so funny and weird, but I love him.

I know that I listed mostly silly things that I like about Aaron, but there are so many serious reasons that I love my husband.

PS.. Sorry for the gargantuan picture

End of the Expe

2008-06-27T10:49:00.003-05:00

On Monday afternoon Aaron's car decided that it could go no further. For over ten years the poor Expedition tirelessly drove nearly 200,000 miles. The past two years that sweet ol' hunk a love groaned and lurched everywhere it went, but it never failed to get us to our destination. But on Monday it decided that enough was enough.

We've known that the Expe was on its last legs for a long time now, but we kept hoping that it would make it to September. Now that I think about it, I have no idea why we chose September...it just sounded like a good month for Aaron to find a new car. But, alas July will be new car month for the Johnson family. Now some of you may be thinking, "Wait, didn't Rachael just get a new car back in January?" And the answer is yes...I did. We are leasing my sweet little Acura and its wonderful.

For the last 4 days Aaron and I have been sharing her and it hasn't been working out too well. See our house is way out in the boonies on one end of Waco, our church is out in the boonies on the other end, and my work is in a random church sorta near Hillcrest Hospital. For Aaron to drop me off at work and then head out to church it takes him nearly an hour. And with Chris having baseball practice every night things have been way to hectic. So my crazy husband is about to get a new (used) car. And what does he want......

Yeah baby - A 2003 Cadillac CTS. Now I'm still not a huge fan of these cars. I'd really like for my man to drive a truck, but Aaron is dead set on his CTS. He's been driving all over Waco, scouring the Internet, and checking out car magazines like crazy. He's found a couple within our price range with low miles, so come Monday we might be proud owners of a new caddy!

Rollin wit tha homies...REJ

Vienna Teng

2008-06-25T14:02:00.002-05:00

Yeah... check her out. Its all quite phenomenal!

http://viennateng.com/listen/

I was listening to my daily dose of Yahoo Music and all the sudden a whimsical little fairy voice filled my computer speakers. I immidiately googled her and now I'm obessed. She's coming to Austin in February, so now all I've gotta do is convince Aaron that we have to go hear her.

MELTING

2008-06-20T11:43:00.002-05:00

Ughhhhhh Its So Hot!

The air conditioner in my office broke yesterday afternoon. I currently have two oscillating fans blowing on me, but even they can't compete with the 100 degree temperature. I can't believe my boss is makeing us stay here...maybe he'll let us go home after lunch (I've got my fingers crossed). I'm tempted to claim that I'm having some sort of medical emergency, so that I can go relax in the cool AC of my wonderous little house.

I just found out that we get to go home at 2:00!!!!! Hooray!!!

In other news...I've only got 6 more days of full time work at my job. Then I move to working only 3 days a week for 3 hours a day - YES!!!! Who's excited about lots of time to lay by the pool, workout, and veg on the couch...I am!

We went to dinner last night at Logans Roadhouse with our best Waco friends, Chris and Robin Richardson. They just got back from Denver and it was so fun listening to the stories from their roadtrip.

Well its time for my lunch, so I'm going to go to Barnes and Noble to escape the unbearable heat. We are heading to Rockwall after Chris' baseball practice tonight, so hopefully I'll have tons of great boating pics when I get back on Monday.

Peace,

Rach E. J.

2008-06-18T11:08:00.002-05:00

One quirky thing about me is that throughout high school and college I would date the most random people...and I mean WAY random. Here are a four that might make you smile:

Braids - Yes, this is what we called him on my Senior Trip to Cancun. I saw him from the top deck of the booze cruise (don't worry, I didn't drink a drop). He was waiting to get on the boat and he had these glorious braids with little beads at the end...you know the kind that little girls get in their hair when they go on vacation. He and I hung out non-stop that week and he even came to visit me one weekend in Rockwall. My parents were not impressed and I decided that he was not my type when he convinced me and my best friend Amelia to skip the amazing 4th of July Christian Concert and go to some screamo heavy metal one instead.

RESNET - My senior year of high school some girlfriends and I roadtripped up to Baylor for a Dixie Chicks concert. We stayed with one of my friend's brothers who was a senior Phi Chi. We had a blast at the concert, but the most memorable part of the trip was when us 4 crazy senior girls wore our cutest outfits (I wore red pleather pants and a belly shirt - yikes) and headed over to the Phi Chi house on 9th street. We somehow ended up "modeling" on top of the fireplace. The Phi Chi guys probably laughed at us after we left, but for that one night we thought we were so cool. I ended up meeting a sweetie Phi Chi that came to Rockwall for Valentines Day. We didn't date seriously or anything...but when I got to Baylor I remember being a little embarrassed because he was the Collins Resnet guy and that is not the best title to have at good ol' BU.

Rock Climber - My freshman year at Baylor I was really into rock climbing. After track practice, I'd head over to the rock and hang out there for hours. I ended up meeting lots of people, but one stood out from the rest. He rarely wore shoes, almost never showered, and had the frizziest curly hair I've ever seen, but he was really nice and a great rock climber. He and I didn't have much in common, but hey...I was a freshman.

The Nose Brother - Yep...I dated a Nose Brother and I think thats pretty dang cool. Even though Nose Brothers are just regular guys, they do have a zany mystique that I've always found so captivating. My first date with this Nose Brother was to an actual Nose Brother Party. They were all in their masks and I had no idea who my date actually was...he'd just called me up and asked me to meet him at the party - so I did. I asked him tons of questions throughout the night trying to get my date to reveal himself, but nothing worked. Christmas break rolled around and I still had no idea who "my" Nose Bro was. Finally, right at the end of the break, I realized who my date had been. I came back to Baylor triumphant and became really good friends with this guy. He ended up graduating later that year (He was a senior and I was a freshman). We did end up dating later on when I was a junior in college and even though our relationship didn't last...our friendship did and thats what counts!

PS...Camille, I've always felt like Adam was a Nose Brother. Am I right?

LYLAS,
Rachael

2008-06-17T13:20:00.003-05:00

Hey guess what?

CHRIS MADE THE ALL-STAR BASEBALL TEAM!!!

I love the word "All-Star" because it brings up two great memories...

Were Converse All-Stars cool when ya'll were in 6th grade? Cause at Utley Middle School they were the bomb.com. The second picture is the CD cover for the band "Smash Mouth." You remember the song...

Hey Now

You're an all-star

Get your game on

Go play....

Just Another Monday

2008-06-16T13:19:00.003-05:00

Here's a couple things about me that I feel like sharing...

1. I really like to drink my soda pop out of 32 oz Styrofoam cups. I know this is terrible for the environment, but it just tastes so good. I'm a big fan of Diet Coke with a splash of regular Coke on top.

2. I have a new favorite gas station - Valero (they're all over Waco these days)

3. I hate hate hate Coldplay and Radiohead. Ok, I actually like a couple Coldplay songs, but I don't get everyone's fascination with these bands. I'll take some old school OAR, Dave Matthews, or Matchbox 20 any day thank you very much!

4. I hate fractions, decimals, and subtracting - yep, pretty much all math. But I do really like multiplying and geometry. Weird huh?

5. I just started reading two new books and I really like them both so far: "The Last Summer (of you and me)" and "Three Cups of Tea."

6. We found a puppy the other day when we were exploring a creek by our house. He's a gold pitbull mix and he's so sweet. He's probably about a year old and gets along great with all our animals...even our fiesty cat Potter. We've named him River and he needs a home, so let me know if you want him.

7. Chris and I got in an argument last night and I was super rude to him...yeah, how uncool of me. But thankfully I have a wonderful husband that talked me through my anger and after some prayer I was able to apologize to my son. And good ol' Chris...he forgave me and even gave me a hug. Just another reason why I love this verse,

"He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces finds mercy."
Proverbs 28:13

8. We had a Father's Day Extravaganza at our house yesterday. After church we went to Pei Wei because its one of Aaron's favorite restaurants, then we went to Circuit City and bought a video camera, then we went bowling for a couple hours, then we went and saw The HULK. Yep, it was a pretty good 1st Father's Day.

9. We are hopefully heading to Rockwall this coming weekend to hangout with my family. I'm super excited and I can't wait to teach Chris to waterski!!!!

10. TFL went to the pool in West on Saturday...it was pretty cool, but maybe not worth $25 bucks in admission. It did have some cool stuff like a high dive, low dive, slide, and a zip line that set it apart from other pools around Waco. We probably won't be regulars there, but it was fun just for something new to do.

2008-06-13T16:12:00.006-05:00

love love love love love love love love love love love love loved it

I saw the movie on Tuesday night with Robin and Natalie and I have been obsessed with it ever since. See, I never saw an episode while it was actually on tv... All I'd ever seen was a handful of re-runs and I'd only been able to see those because I'd fight for the remote in order to keep Aaron from changing the channel.

In fact the first time I ever really even heard about Sex in the City was when I was living in Italy. My crazy roomate Bethy ripped out SITC magazine pages and hung them up on the walls of our apartment for decoration. So I would stare at Carrie, Miranda, Samantha, and Charlotte and I had no idea who they were. In fact...I was even proud of the fact that I didn't watch that kind of "trash."

But now I am a new woman...a new woman who understands the trials and plight of four friends who are just trying to make it in this world. I've decided that Sex in the City is what real life is like if you don't know Jesus. I mean..real life if your are upper middle class / crazily wealthy, beautiful, and live in New York.

If you are a woman and you have not seen this movie yet....Grab your best friend and head over to the nearest movie theatre ASAP. You will laugh, cry, and decide that being best friends is the greatest thing in the world. (Just watch out for the sex scenes - wowsers!)

100th Post

2008-06-13T14:29:00.002-05:00

Can you believe it - 100 POSTS! Unfortunately I don't have anything monumental to blog about (bummer). I'm just sitting at work waiting for the weekend to start.

We are going to dinner tonight with a couple from church. I am super pumped about La Fiesta, but super un-pumped about having to refrain from ordering a margarita. The couple we are going with is not the "we don't care if the pastor's wife drinks alcohol" type...they are super cool and everything, but just not that type. And whats funny is that I really don't drink anything with alcohol in it all that often (maybe one drink every couple months), but of course I am absolutely craving a margarita just because I can't have one. Ahhh such is life.

Tomorrow team family love is heading out to the pool in West. I've heard great things about this pool, so we'll see if it lives up to the hype! (It better because admission is $9.00 each)

Hmmm..what else? I went to the Spa at Canyon Oaks the other day. It was fabulous...I worked from home all morning and then in the afternoon I had a massage and facial. Now thats the life! In fact...if you ever need a massage make sure you book it with Katie at Canyon Oaks. I think it was the best massage I've ever had!

And speaking of best things ever.... We booked our mini vacation to Barton Creek in Austin! Last year Aaron surprised me with two nights at the Barton Creek resort for our 1 year anniversary. I wasn't super excited before hand - In fact, I think I even complained a little about going to a "resort" in Austin. Ummm...lets just say that I was proven wrong - BIG TIME. It was oh so fabulous and now we are going again. This time we are just staying one night because its a tad on the expensive side, but we are going to milk the one day for all its worth. I plan on checking in early and checking out late. July 10th can't get here fast enough!

Alright...I'm outtie

Covetous

2008-06-10T15:48:00.003-05:00

cov·et·ous
–adjective
1.
inordinately or wrongly desirous of wealth or possessions; greedy.
2.
eagerly desirous.

As you all know, for the past several months I have been "covetous". Yes. Yes...I am talking about the absolutely fabulous William Rast jeans that I have been wanting ever since I went to New York in the fall. Well I am "covetous" no longer. Last night my parents came in town for my birthday and guess what they brought with them........ WILLIAM RAST!!! I am wearing them right now and I feel ever so stylish. Thank you mom and dad - I love em!

Thankfulness

2008-06-10T12:47:00.003-05:00

This morning I read my friend Robin's blog... She and her husband are getting ready to go on a road trip up to Colorado. See, they both feel called to start a church in the Denver area and this is kind of a scouting trip to check out locations and such. Anyways, in her blog she mentioned that she got ready for the trip by doing all the usual things (packing, checking the map, and buying a new outfit or two). But, then it hit her that she hadn't been spiritually preparing herself for the journey.

After reading her blog I commented about how quick I am to forget to spiritually prepare for things as well. Anyways, I left my comment and then signed off so that I could actually start doing my job at the Network. Well all of the sudden...it hit me. God answered a HUGE prayer that Aaron and I had been praying about for months. Our church has been without a music minister for a very very long time. Aaron and I have been praying and believing that God would bring us just the right person - and he did!

On Sunday, Ryan Roberts said that he would be our music minister for the summer. He's a Baylor Football player (quarterback), so he's super busy during the school year but he has plenty of time this summer to lead worship for our little congregation at Hilltop Christian Fellowship. Thank you so much Lord for answering our prayer - we can't wait to see what great things your are going to do next!!

Rough Start

2008-06-10T12:12:00.002-05:00

This morning got off to a rough start...

After walking the dogs and talking to my best friend Amelia, I came inside to get Aaron and Chris up because today is our day to pick up food for the local food pantry. We were a little bit behind schedule, but we made it out the door just in time. All the sudden Aaron's car started lurching and we noticed that the huge trailer we were pulling was bouncing all over the road. My hero of a husband kept the car under control and made it over to the side of the highway. It turns out that Chris had forgotten to fasten the trailer to the hitch (oops). It could have been a really dangerous situation, but thankfully nobody was hurt. Aaron was a little shaken up and pretty upset with Chris. But, we all moved on and got to the pick up site without any further trouble.

Once there, we noticed all of our volunteers just standing around and there was no food in sight. My stomach just dropped and I started shaking with frustration. See...I'm the volunteer coordinator and I had called, begged, and pleaded to get all of the volunteers out there in the first place. And now there was NO FOOD to pick up. This is the 3rd time this has happened in the last three months and all of my volunteers were beginning to get a little fed up. So I got on the phone with the director of the CRISIS Center and asked what was going on. Turns out that he decided that he wanted to have food pick up on a different day and had neglected to let anyone know. Well, I couldn't hold my feelings in any longer...so I let him know just how I was feeling (and how all of the volunteers were feeling by this point). Needless to say, it was not a very pleasant conversation.

Aaron and I invited everyone to come have breakfast with us at a local mexican food place and everything ended up being okay...but I have a feeling that most of these volunteers won't be coming back to help anymore. Bummer!

The Rule of Four

2008-06-06T15:51:00.002-05:00

FOUR THINGS ABOUT ME

Rachael Johnson

A) FOUR PLACES I GO OVER AND OVER:
To my luxuriously fabulous bed because I love sleeping, to Chris’ baseball games, on long walks with my two pups (sometimes the cat, or Chris, or Aaron come along), and to work at the Waco Regional Baptist Network.

B) FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME (during the day)Waco Church People, Chris’ Caseworkers, My roomies from Italia, and if I’m lucky…my sweet husband.

C) FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS:Yummm.. Hummus and Pita Bread, Chipotle Burritos, Frosted Flakes and Chocolate Milk, and Spinach Salad with Olive Oil.

D) FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:The beach (sipping a margarita and getting a tan), getting a massage, playing outside with the family, or hanging out on the lake.

E) FOUR PEOPLE I THINK WILL RESPOND:Amelia, Andrea, Sarah, and EJ

F) FOUR THINGS I DON'T LIKE:Gas prices (youch!), being at work, complainers, and people who aren’t friendly – Texas Style!

G) FOUR MOVIES/TV Series I WATCH OVER AND OVER: Aaron’s football highlight videos (he was so cute as a little kid), The Office, Lord of the Rings, The Holiday

H) FOUR FAVORITE SOUNDS:Praise songs from the heart, Moving Water (oceans, rivers, streams), Wind, The Baylor Bells

I) FOUR FAVORITE SMELLS: Summer Rain, New Shoes/Tennis Balls/New Cars, Chanel Chance Perfume, and Fresh Flowers. (I also like the way Aaron smells when he’s sleeping…its so good!)

A few pictures for your viewing pleasure

2008-06-06T13:29:00.006-05:00

I couldn't seem to get my labels to fit in below the pictures, so here are some basic descriptions:

- Corvette Museum

- Aaron and little cousin Elijah

- Me, Mom, and Elijah at the covered bridge by my grandparents house

- Fishing at my Aunt and Uncle's house

- Birthday Gifts.... Juicy Sweatsuit, New Necklace, and Fabulous Book

- Flowers (this doesn't even begin to do justice...Aaron filled the entire house!)

Oops I Did It Again

2008-06-06T10:13:00.004-05:00

(gotta love old school Britney!)

Sorry for being MIA for over a week...things have been moving fast and furious around these parts. Here's an overview of what's been going on with the Johnson Family:

ROADTRIP USA
We left last Wednesday night for my cousin's wedding up in Indiana. It was our first family roadtrip and I thought it was great! We stopped in Bowling Green, Kentucky the first night because Bowling Green is the home of the National Corvette Museum. I'd never been a huge corvette fan, but I wanted to keep the guys happy so of course we had to stop. Ummm...let me just say that I now LOVE corvettes! I don't think I'll be driving one anytime soon (I'm still happy with my little Acura), but they are SOOO COOL! The best part about the museum was the parking out front. They had a "Corvette Parking Only" area and the cars that were out there were even better than some of the ones inside the building.

We also had to make a pit stop in Bowling Green so that I could go to the doctor....yep I had a horrible case of bug bites / poison ivy. Can you believe it....I literally had both bug bites and poison ivy covering my legs, booty, and stomach!!! How does this always happen to me??? But thankfully the doc gave me some medicine (that I'm still taking) and it made life so much easier.

After Bowling Green, we drove the rest of the way up to Indy and had a great time with family. Wedding stuff took up the most of our short time there (0nly three days), but we made sure to get in some fishing, football playing, and strawberry-rhubarb pie eating.

Here's a funny little story from the trip - Sweet ol' 8th grade Chris saw a cute little girl at the wedding who had also just finished the 8th grade. At one point in the night he come up to me and my dad and asked us if he should go talk to her. We of course told him yes and then said that he should even ask her to dance because she'd probably think he was really cool and brave for asking her. So, he worked up his nerve and headed over to her and proceeded to ask her to dance. Now I don't know exactly what was said, but she turned him down....CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!!!!??? I felt horrible for Chris...8th grade is a rough time for guys and any girl that turns someone down for just a dance is terrible - What a little hussy!!!! In her defense she did seem really shy, but still...I'm on Chris' side!

Anyways..we made it back safe and sound by Tuesday afternoon because I had to be back at work by Wednesday - boo!!!

25th Birthday CELEBRATION!!!
Yep I turned the big 2-5 yesterday. I had to work, but my sweet co-workers took me out to lunch at Panera (yum!) so that made the day a little better. Because Chris had his last regular season baseball game last night, we decided to put off really celebrating until Saturday So after work, we all went to the game where our team unfortunately lost horribly, but Chris hit a triple so at least he had a little something to smile about.

Aaron and I drove separate, so I stopped at Sonic on the way home to pick up food for everyone. Well when I walked in the door...was I in for a surprise. My sweet husband and son had super deep cleaned the house (usually they just sorta pick things up and move them around), there were beautiful vases of flowers everywhere, and presents for me on the table!!! It was so wonderful to walk in the door and be surrounded by so much love...especially when I wasn't expecting anything until Saturday. Aaron and Chris both got me really special cards and some great gifts.

All in all it was a great night...family, flowers, presents, SONIC, and a little Lord Of The Rings (wer are in the middle of watching the trilogy because Chris hadn't ever seen it).

Anyways that about wraps it up...

Cheers!

2008-05-28T13:33:00.004-05:00

"He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces finds mercy." Proverbs 28:13

Aaron's Projects

2008-05-21T10:18:00.003-05:00

Here are a few pictures of things that Aaron has been working on up at church. He and Randy (one of our trusty church members) put in a sand volleyball court and a new playground. I know that some of you may thinking, "Why in the world would they put in a sand volleyball court at church?" Well here's the answer:

1. Its Aaron Johnson we are talking about

2. Sand volleyball is really fun to play

Yep, and that's about it. We think that it will be a good outreach tool for our youth group, but we've noticed that the adults really like playing too. My only complaint is that we didn't build a pool to accompany our court. I hate being sweaty and sandy and not able to jump in some cool refreshing water. Which reminds me...I miss the days of just running around in my bathing suit and/or shorts and sports bra. Now that I'm a pastor's wife, I have to remain fully clothed. For those of you that know me well...my summertime attire used to be wearing as little as possible. Oh how things change!

My Parents New Baby

2008-05-19T14:29:00.000-05:00

Welcome Hilton Bella Harbour

This past weekend was the grand opening of a new resort hotel in Rockwall, Texas. My parents built the hotel and have been slaving over this little project for the past 4 years. So it goes without saying that this weekend was something they had been looking forward to for a long time. Check out the resort at http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2008_2nd/May08_HiltonBella.html

City of Love - part III

2008-05-07T15:21:00.004-05:00

I know you are all thinking "wrap it up already!" So here is the end to the story...

Aaron and I spent the next day seeing the sights of Firenze. Even though he was exhausted, he didn't give in to the jet lag and he let me drag him all over the city. I won't outline every detail of our day, but it was great to show him where I'd been living. The next day we took a train to Rome and had a blast stumbling upon the Trevi Fountain. Aaron loved the coliseum and I loved introducing him to the sights of Rome. After we explored Rome, we caught a flight to the true city of love - Paris!!!!

Paris was more amazing than I can possibly explain... we stayed in a rural area of the city in a quaint little hotel. Our room (don't worry - we had double beds :) had a perfect balcony that we would hang out on every morning when we woke up. It was so much fun exploring the city together - I loved showing him around Florence, but it was oh so much better to discover Paris together. And Aaron was the best traveling partner ever! I would get out the guide book and detail all of the places that we should see and Aaron would figure out how to get us there. Now I'm a pretty good world traveler and I've never had trouble finding my way around a new city, but Paris was a whole different story. I'm pretty sure that God was loving the fact that I had to actually rely on Aaron to help me...and it felt so good to know that Aaron was great at it! He figured out the Parisian subway system in no time and we explored to our hearts content.

My favorite memory of our time in Paris would have to be the night we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was absolutely freezing and so we bundled up and headed out to the Tower around 9:00 pm. On the way we grabbed two bottles of wine and a chocolate crepe. We ignored the sign that said "No Food or Drink" and hid everything under my jacket. When we got to the top we cracked open the bottles and drank to Paris, Love, and Adventure. Neither one of us drink now (well, okay I still have a margarita with the girls every once in a while), but the memory still makes me deliciously tipsy just thinking about it. It was the best night of my life and I'll never forget it.

Another funny memory of Paris was the day we got kicked out of the Palace of Versailles. We were just finishing up the tour and the final room we came to was the grand ballroom. I had the sudden urge to dance, so I convinced Aaron to waltz me around the room. We laughed and waltzed and waltzed and laughed. I thought we were pretty talented at it, but obviously the guard didn't have the same opinion of our dancing. When he asked us to step outside, we both cracked up laughing and headed outside to the gardens.

I tell Aaron that I fell in love with him in Paris. It was then and there that I realized that our relationship was something for me to cherish. Aaron was and still is the most amazing man I've ever met. Sure, he has his share of faults, but overall no one can compare with my husband. He traveled half way around the globe, toasted our love on top of the Eiffel Tower, and waltzed with me in the Palace of Versailles.... does it get any better than that?

City of Love - part dos

2008-05-06T11:49:00.002-05:00

I boarded the plane and left for my 5 month Italian adventure.

Living in Italy was like nothing I have ever done before. I had the most wonderful roommates a girl could ask for. We did everything together: discovered the treasures of Firenze, ate enough pasta and gelato to feed an army, partied till dawn nearly every night, loved each other wholeheartedly despite our vast differences, and traveled to some of the most fabulous places in Europe. I always tell people that Italy was one of the best times in my life, but it was also one of the worst. I believe that it was in Italy that I truly found myself and began to understand my utter dependence on the Lord. My wild adventurous life style was everything that I had ever held myself back from. I experienced the best life the world could offer and every once in a while I would feel a twinge of regret and guilt because I knew I was drifting further and further from the Lord. But, I always figured that I could fix my relationship with my heavenly Father when I got back to Baylor - because, you know Baylor is the perfect place for that sort of thing.

Part of my "experiencing" Italy came in the form of dating more than a couple Italian men. I was enamored with the idea of dating someone foreign, sexy, and exciting. Looking back, I can now ashamedly say that I might have imagined the sexy and exciting part. I did have some legitimately wonderful times motorcycling through the Tuscan countryside to old Italian ruins, eating at deliciously expensive restaurants, laying out by the pool at Italian villas, and horseback riding to my hearts content through the countryside. Yes, life was good by the world's standards. But I was slowly giving in to sin and after a few months I didn't even realize how dangerously low I'd sunk. But, my good Christian girl charade never stopped.

I think that Aaron was the only person from home that realized how much I was changing. I would call him in the wee hours of the night and as we would talk I would accidentally give away little hints that my life in Italy was much different than the one I'd lived in the US. The one secret that I was able to withhold from Aaron was the fact that I was dating other guys (I did tell him that I was "hanging out" with Italian guys but nothing serious - I always left out the motorcycle riding ect.) Now I really did think that we were taking a break , but I didn't want Aaron to know just how much of a break we were taking. I selfishly wanted Aaron all to myself, but I wanted to be able to go out and have a good time too.

In October Aaron decided that he wanted to come visit me during fall break. Luckily our fall breaks lined up and I was going to be out of school at the exact same time. I was VERY apprehensive about him coming to Italy. After all, he had never really traveled outside of the US and I was worried that he would be a horrible travel partner (oh how wrong I was). I imagined him complaining about the food, the hostels, the foreign language, ect. I really didn't think he could handle it and I was nervous once again about the commitment level of our relationship. Its not every day that someone flies half way around the world just to spend time with you. But I lied through my teeth and told him that I was excited about him coming.

The day finally came for Aaron to arrive. All of my roommates had left for a fall break extravaganza - they were travelling to The Netherlands, Germany, and Hungary. So it was just me and Aaron and believe me, things got off to a horrible start. I took a taxi to the airport to pick him up and on the way there I got to know my hunky taxi cab driver Fabio (yes, that was seriously his name). He was really nice and offered to wait for me while I went inside and found Aaron. I took him up on his offer and headed into the small little Florence airport. Aaron's plane had just landed and I figured that he'd be walking through the gates any second. I waited and waited, but no Aaron. After about 20 minutes, good ol' Fabio came waltzing in because he'd been waiting for so long. I explained that I couldn't find Aaron, so he offered to go ask some of the airport officials if they knew of a lost little American guy. After a little bit more waiting, the two men in my life showed up at the same time. Fabio got back about 30 seconds before Aaron and I was thanking him for trying to find out what the hold up was. As I was conversing (and probably smiling) at Fabio, good ol Aaron came walking up. He was exhausted because of his long flight, frustrated because he'd been unable to find his luggage, and now his girl was talking to a hunky guy.

When I saw Aaron, I tried to give him a hug but he literally just stood there staring down Fabio. I was seriously confused, but I did what any sensible girl would do: I introduced Aaron to Fabio. Aaron said hello and all the sudden got really nice to Fabio and proceeded to ignore me the entire way back to my apartment. I was getting more confused my the minute because I had no idea what was wrong, but then came the moment of clarity. When we reached my apartment, I asked Fabio how much I owed him. He told me the price and I paid for our cab fair. Aaron just stood there dumbfounded and the moment Fabio drove off Aaron turned to me and said, "So you're not dating him?" Aaron thought that I liked the cab driver. Now in Aaron's defense...I never exactly introduced Fabio as our taxi driver and Fabio drove an unmarked taxi, so Aaron had no way of knowing. We both laughed and headed into my apartment to start our Italian adventure together.

More tomorrow.... Here are some pics of the roomies when they came to Texas for my wedding (We are missing one fabulous roomie though - Amo I love you!!!!)

The City of Love

2008-05-05T16:11:00.002-05:00

Here's a little story that I haven't told you yet....

In the fall of 2004, I studied abroad in Florence, Italy. I made the decision to leave on a whim...literally. It was the last month of my junior year in college and I had finally left a long, sometimes wonderful, but emotionally damaging relationship and had just started quasi-dating Aaron. Because of the emotionally damaging relationship (and other slacker tendencies) my grades were terrible, I was having issues with my roommates, I was tired of cheerleading, and the only thing I could make a firm decision about was the fact that I had to get out of the country.

I went online and started looking at universities overseas...I saw a few that looked interesting, but the one that really caught my eye was the Lorenzo de Medici University in Firenze, Italy. And I actually had a good enough grade point average to get in. So, I immediately filled out the application and signed up for classes. Thankfully I have the most wonderful parents in the whole world...When I told them my plan of studying abroad - they were all for it. Looking back on it, I don't really think they bought my story about the wondrous learning experiences I was going to take part in during my time abroad... I think they just wanted me to get away from loser ex-boyfriend and get myself back on track. Most parents would have signed their child up for counseling or some other form of emotional support, but mine thought it would be better to just send me overseas. And guess what it worked! ( they also did a very similar thing to my sister when she was going through a rough time last year...except she went to Boston - ha ha I got the better deal!).

In addition to my plans to study in Florence, I had also signed up for a two month summer mission trip to a very remote village in China to teach English at a small university. Yep, so I was pretty much saying goodbye to life in the USA and hello to life abroad. I would finish my junior year, leave for China May 22, come back mid-July, and head to Italy mid-August. Oh and I didn't know a single person on either trip. The mission trip ended up being amazing (I'll save that story for later) and when I got back, I was all ready for Italy!

Except for one minute detail...while I was in China a handsome, loving, funny, intelligent, and athletic boy had been emailing me. Yep, you guessed it - A$. His emails were never super long or super passionate, but they always let me know that he was thinking about me and counting down the days until I got back. In fact, when I finally did come home, he was the one who picked me up from the airport. (He drove 6 hours from Amarillo just to pick me up) The one month I was at home that summer was like whirlwind. Aaron and I saw each other every second that we could. Finally it came time for me to leave for Italy....

Aaron and I had been make-out buddies all through college. I know that term might turn some of you off, but hey its the facts. We both really liked kissing and we were crazily attracted to each other (note: when I say "make out" I mean kissing only!). Even though we had such a great "buddy" relationship...I was always a little hesitant to make it anything more. I had several totally legit reasons for this: I had my emotionally damaging off/on again boyfriend, Aaron hung out with a party crowd, I was a little scared of how much he liked me, ect. Then I had my totally non legit reasons: Aaron was shorter than me.... and that's about it. When we finally started actually dating my junior year, I was more than a little scared about the whole situation. I mean I had my ex-boyfriend to think about, Aaron was shorter than me, I didn't really know any of Aaron's friends but I'd heard bad reports about ALL of them, and all sorts of other relationship damaging ideas floating through my head.

But that summer...EVERYTHING was different. We started to get to know each other without so much of the kissing (which we still did every now and then ;) So when it came time for me to leave, we had a lot to talk about. Were we going to do the whole long distance thing, or should we take a break and see how we felt when I came home in 5 months? Now the conversation we had that day is pretty hazy in my mind. I remember that I had driven up to Waco to see Aaron and we were laying on the couch in his apartment...But I am very unsure of what exactly was said. I think I'm so unsure because Aaron and I walked away from that conversation with very different opinions on our relationship status was going to be while I was in Italy. In my mind, we were going to be "apart", but sweet Aaron thought that we were still going to be "together."

Oh how those two little words "apart" and "together" can make all the difference in the world. I was sure that we'd agreed on apart...at least I'd agreed on it in my own mind. I wanted the freedom to explore Italia in all its glory. I wasn't sure what that meant for me exactly, but I knew I wanted it. Freedom has always been something that I've craved...and so of course I wanted it on my grand adventure overseas. Aaron, on the other hand, want us to stay together. He loved me (and had since nearly the beginning of our make-out buddy days). He was willing to wait for me during the 5 months I was gone and he even wanted to come visit me while I was there. Even though I'm sure that we talked and talked about all of these issues, we both walked away with totally separate ideas and.....

that is where the story ends for today folks. Tune in tomorrow for part two.

The Letter I

2008-05-01T17:45:00.002-05:00

i am: listening to my teachers explain excel (didn't we all learn this in high school?)
i think: i need to get more sleep, so i'm not so grouchy.
i know: that my Lord loves me!
i want: a pair of william rast jeans.
i have: a full belly because i ate a mrs. baird's apple pie before class.
i wish: i could be outside playing around with my wonderful husband.
i hate: being bored at work.
i miss: my family in Rockwall.
i fear: not being able to go on vacation whenever I want to (I know its irrational and silly)
i feel: a little tired, but excited because we are getting out of class early tonight.
i hear: computer keys clicking.
i smell: nothing.
i crave: time outside.
i search: other people's blogs for interesting stories and pictures.
i wonder: what my little family will be doing a year from now?
i regret: not having more down time to spend with friends and family.
i love: reading to and snuggling up with aaron and a good book.
i ache: for people in the world who are hungry or suffering.
i care: about injustices in this world.
i always: do my hair so its not crazy frizzy.
i am not: passive, chill, relaxed, and/or calm.
i believe: there is hope for all of us.
i dance: always.
i sing: silly songs with aaron.
i don’t always: wear deodorant (sick me out!)
i fight: with aaron sometimes.
i write: blogs. checks. lots of to do lists.
i win: contests I make up in my head.
i lose: everything all the time.
i never: wear lip liner.
i confuse: directions to places in waco.
i listen: to aaron preach every sunday.
i can usually be found: at work or school - but i wish i could be at home with family.
i am scared: of being outside in the dark.
i need: lots of time with a$.
i am happy about: our vacation to indiana in less than a month!
You?

Road Trip

2008-05-01T13:48:00.002-05:00

Aaron finally agreed to go on a ROAD TRIP with me. We've spent the last few days checking on flights, discussing the pros and cons of driving, and analyzing mapquest...and finally he said YES to driving! I know that some of ya'll are going to think this is crazy, but I absolutely love road trips.

When I was growing up my family would take 2 week long road trips nearly every summer. I think my favorite one would have to be when we drove from Texas, to North Dakota, over to Indiana, into Canada, and then back to Texas. Yep, 2 full weeks in the car with my entire family (thankfully we spent some time at Grandma's house along the way). I got to see so much on that trip: Mount Rushmore, The Badlands, Yellowstone National Park, and Niagara Falls. Plus, I really think that road trips are a great bonding experience. I mean how can a family not get closer when they are all smushed together in a car for 18 hours?

Now Aaron has kind of a negative take on road trips because he keeps equating it to the drive from Waco to Amarillo (which he's done a billion times). I keep trying to tell him that its totally different. Finally last night he just shrugged his shoulders and said that we could do it my way. I think he saw the light when I pointed out that we'd save about $400 because we wouldn't be paying for airfare.

Now we just have to figure out where we want to go - We have to be in Indiana for my cousin's wedding on May 31st, but other than that we are free! Let me know if you have any suggestions!

R.E.J

Totally Tuesday

2008-04-29T11:07:00.003-05:00

I'm about to head out to lunch with my great friend Kim (ponderosaponderings@blogspot.com). I think we are hittin up McAllisters today...I'm excited because she's going to tell me all about her trip to DC. I seriously LOVE vacations - Even when I don't even get to go! She went up there to visit our good friend Jennifer Baker who's a grad intern at the White House!!!

In other news... I GOT THE JOB! Yep, I'm officially going to be a 4th grade teacher at Connally Elementary next year. In fact, I already started filling out all the paper work. I serve an amazing God...this is the exact job I've been praying for. Its great pay, in the community we live in, Chris goes to school in the district, the grade I want, and the subject I want. Ummm can it get any better than that?? I actually found out I got hired the day after my interview last week...but I didn't want to post it on here until I had some pictures to post at the same time. I'm so lame!

Another cool thing happened lately...We got to meet Chris' brother last night. His name is Nick and he's 11 years old. He lives about an hour away in a group home for mentally retarded children. Even though he is MR...he's hilarious! We met up with him and his caseworker at Chic-Fil-A and then after eating headed over to a park to play some ball. Aaron would pitch, Nick would hit, and Chris would field. Everytime Nick hit the ball, he'd yell to Chris "Go Get The Ball FAT BOY!" Chris would just laugh and laugh... It was wonderful seeing the two of them together. They haven't seen each other in almost a year, so it was a huge blessing for God to bring them together again. I think the judge is going to let them start seeing each other once a month, so get ready for more funny Nick stories. Oh and PS...Nick farts ALL the time. Like I heard maybe 30 farts yesterday - sick, but hilarious!

Word to your mother,
Rach

2008-04-29T10:55:00.002-05:00

Navajo Chris

Chris and his brother Nick

Obie and Vader - Bluebonnet Pic

Potter

Crazy Dogs!

New Post

2008-04-22T09:42:00.003-05:00

Well I had a job interview yesterday and I think it went pretty well. It was at Connally Elementary school for a 4th grade reading position. This happens to be the exact position I want, in the district I want, with the salary I want....sooo, hopefully I get the job! I'll let ya'll know how it goes.

In other news - Our awesome son Chris now has a mohawk. Yep, he's taking after Aaron. Well actually, it was Aaron that convinced him to do it. Chris looks awesome - kind of like a renegade commanche warrior or something. I have a picture of it at home but for now just picture something like this...

Hmmm... I guess I don't really have much going on right now.

Peace,

Rachael

A little survey

2008-04-18T10:57:00.001-05:00

1. What is your occupation? What day of the week is it? Time of day? Ministry Assistant/Coordinator, Friday, 10:39 am

2. What color are your socks right now? White No Show Socks

3. What are you listening to right now? Travelin Soldier by the Dixie Chicks

4. What was the last thing that you ate? A yummy cheese and berry danish on the way to work

5. Can you drive a stick shift? Sorta

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My Director – Dr. Paul Stripling

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Heck Ya

8. How old are you today? 24

10. What is your favorite drink? Milk, Water (with lots of lemon), Capri Suns

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? All the time!

12. Favorite food? Fresh spinach leaves with olive oil, cole slaw, and sandwiches

13. What was the last movie you watched? Drillbit Taylor

14. Favorite day of the year? Any day that I can just hangout outside with my husband

15. How do you vent anger? Yell or read a book at Barnes and Noble

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? Hmmm..I like hanging out with my dog BINGO

17. What is your favorite season? Summer and Fall

18. Cherries or Blueberries? Blueberries

19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? Of course!

20. Who is the most likely to respond?

21. Who is least likely to respond? ????

22. Living arrangements? With Aaron, Chris, Grant (my bro moved in for a while), Obie, Vader, and Potter. We live in a cute little house out in the country surrounded by bluebonnets and cows

23. When was the last time you cried? I don’t know – By I cry about every 3 weeks or so

24. What is on the floor of your closet? Shoes and boxes

25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to? I don’t know which of
my friends check my blog, but it would have to be Amelia, Andrea, or my sister (but I don’t think she checks it unless I make her)

26. What did you do last night? I had class until 9:00, then went over to Chris and Robin’s house
to hangout, then back home and waited for Grant and Chris to get home from the Brian Regan Comedy Show in Dallas.

27. Favorite smells? Summer rain, Chlorine..weird I know, but it holds so many memories, Aaron’s cologne

28. What inspires you? God’s love for me and every person on the earth, my parents and their wonderful encouragement and support, my husband’s wisdom and humor, my friend Kim and her guidance.

29. What are you most afraid of? Not much, but I am afraid of the dark sometimes

30.. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Cheese

31. Favorite dog breed? I like them all, but I’m partial to Border Collie Mixes (shout out to Obie and Vader)

32. Favorite day of the week? Saturday and Sunday

33. How many states have you lived in? Just Texas

34. How many states have you been to? Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, and Hawaii.

35. How many countries have you been to? Poland, Trinidad, Mexico, Canada, China, Russia, Italy, Greece, England, Sudan, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal…. Umm obviously I love to travel!

Reading Rainbow

2008-04-18T10:07:00.002-05:00

My sister-in-law Haylie is turning 23 tomorrow ~~~Happy Birthday Haylie~~~ When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she surprised me with the most wonderful answer ever. She wants BOOKS!

Some of you may be surprised that I am a passionate reader. In fact I was up until 2:00 a.m. last night reading "The Other Bolelyn Girl" (not a favorite at all). I also collected over 1,000 books to send to my friends in Sudan because I felt called to start a library at the English Language School in Khartoum <---I'll give ya'll all the details of that adventure later.

Anyways....my cute little sister in law is going to try to develop a love for reading. Here are the books I'm sending her: Blessed Child, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Cheaper By The Dozen, and The Wedding. I discovered a used bookstore yesterday and it was as good as walking into a room filled with gold. So many book...I mean they were literally everywhere! Anyways, I got four books for the grand total of $18.00...Not bad huh?!

Here's a list of some of my top books...if you haven't read them yet, let me know and I'll let ya borrow!

Gone With The Wind
Scarlett
Cheaper By The Dozen
The Mark of the Lion (series)
Father Elijah
Redeeming Love
The Davinci Code
Angels and Demons
The Chronicles of Narnia (series)
Christy
Alanna: The First Adventure
Enders Game
Captain Ahabs Wife
Harry Potter (series)

Happy Friday!
REJ

!! Celebration !!

2008-04-17T15:24:00.008-05:00

Men, Women, Boys, and Girls...

Today is a day to CeLebRate!!! The WRBN website is officially up and running. I have been "working" on this website for 6 months or so and I'm so excited that its nearing completion. I know absolutely nothing about technology and so I hired the amazing Internet Imagineering to create the site and it is turning out great. The really cool thing is that I now know how to manage the site: you know, like edit text, add pictures and links...all the fun stuff.

Hip Hip Hooray for http://www.wacoregionalbaptistnetwork.org/

Check it out and see what ya think!

Web MD

2008-04-16T05:50:00.004-05:00

Its almost 6:00 a.m. and I'm sitting at my computer drinking a huge glass of water... "Why?" you may ask. All because Web MD told me too. Supposedly drinking a large amount of water is going to cure my little illness that started last night. But, drinking water or anything for that matter is the last thing I want to do. Ughh...I just want to be back in bed!

On a side note...At about 4:55 am I woke up with my pesky little health problem and wondered if I needed to go to the doctor. I was sitting in bed weighing the pros and cons of a doctors visit when all of the sudden it hit me - America's health care system sucks. Now don't worry...I 'm not going to get political about this, but isn't it a shame that a 24 year old girl with a decent insurance plan has second thoughts about scheduling a doctor appointment because she knows the costs associated with the visit are going to be astronomical. Instead of calling a health care professional like a "sick" person should do..... I turned to a source I could actually afford: the Internet. Perfect?!?!

PS.. Isn't that picture kind of creepy - Who wants a doc with a sick mustache?

2008-04-15T15:43:00.000-05:00

Hey gang, Hey gang, Hey gang…
(if you’re from the Rock, then you’ll know the rest of the cheer)

I don’t have much to report on – Oh but here’s a little funny thing that happened to me today. I went to the music ministers lunch fellowship this afternoon … just to say hi to everyone and kind of represent the WRBN and Hilltop Christian Fellowship. They were all talking about a huge event that Columbus Avenue Baptist Church is hosting this Sunday evening: The 2008 Community Hymn Sing. There are going to be about 30 churches participating, a 300 person choir, and a 50 person orchestra…So yeah, this is going to be a pretty big deal.

So, I am the only non-music minister in the group and everyone is going around the table talking about which hymn they are going to conduct. Well it comes to me and I just smile and assume that they’ll just move on to the next person. Nope, the leader of the group enthusiastically encourages ME to direct a HUGE CHIOR and a HUGE ORCHESTRA in front of 1,000 PEOPLE! I can just imagine the chaos now…me waving my little arms around, trying to tap out the beat with my foot, and 300 voices singing out trying desperately to follow along. Nope, no thank you…but it was a hilariously sweet suggestion!

??? ??? ???

2008-04-14T10:33:00.002-05:00

Still no official word on a teaching position. I had a GREAT interview last week in the Connally School District and I was told that I'll be getting a phone call sometime this week for a second interview...so I'm just wishing and hoping and thinking and praying. I'll let ya'll know when I hear something!

Aye Carrumba my mom is in CUBA!

2008-04-10T14:51:00.004-05:00

Yep, you read correctly. My pretty little momma headed over to Cuba this morning at 6:00 a.m. She's going on a 7 day mission trip with her church, Lake Pointe. They are leading 3 leadership conferences for a few different Baptist churches in Cuba. My mom is leading two seminars: the first one is about the importance of small community groups within the church and the second seminar is about the role of women's ministries.... Cool huh?

I'm so proud of her and can't wait to hear all about her travels and the amazing things that God is doing in Cuba. She was a little nervous about leaving...It was kind of bad timing work and family wise, but she really felt like God was telling her to go - so she did! My mom's been to Cuba once before, about 7 years ago, so thankfully she's at least a little familiar with the culture and the people.

I know that she's going to have a great time, but if you think about it...please pray for my mom, her group, and the Cuban churches while they are over there.

Love ya'll,

Rach

PS. In reference to my last post - Did I mention that I had wedding cake flavored snow cones at my wedding?! They were fantastic!

For the love of snowcones

2008-04-09T11:59:00.004-05:00

Here's a little haiku for your reading enjoyment

Snow Cones

snow cones are my love

blue hawaiian / wedding cake

frosty sticky fun

Every year I count down the days until snow cone season officially begins. For me, the beginning of snow cone season represents the beginning of summer. I love saving up my change and heading over to Mr. Snow for blue hawaiian / wedding cake mix with lots of cream. There was an entire summer that I literally ate relatively nothing but Subway and snow cones.

Some of my best memories are associated with snow cones... like the time I Aaron and I were riding on the motorcycle and we decided to go get snow cones and then head back to the apartment to watch a movie. Of course, I convinced him that I could hold both the snow cones all the way back and that I could just "hang on" to the motorcycle using my leg strength?! After about 5 minutes of that nonsense I threw his snow cone onto the pavement, wrapped my free arm around his waist, and we traveled all the way back home laughing about how I selfishly saved only my snow cone.

Yesterday I was on my way to class (ughh) and I decided to make a pit stop at Mr. Snow for the first snow cone of the season. Thankfully I had just enough change (I only pay for snow cones using change...even if its pennies). I showed up at class with blue teeth, sticky hands, and a giant grin on my face: SNOW CONE SEASON HAS BEGUN!

Long time no see

2008-04-07T10:22:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone...sorry it has been SO long since my last post!

This past weekend was a busy one! On Friday night we went out to dinner with a new family that just recently started coming to our church. Robin, our youth minister's wife also came. It was so much fun - We went to Shoguns for sushi (yum!). We ate, talked, and laughed for nearly three hours!

Then on Saturday, Chris had his first baseball game of the season and he was the starting pitcher! Even though he didn't play all that well - it was still so much fun to get to see him in action.

On Saturday night, I drove home to Rockwall and went out to dinner with my mom...We went down to the Harbour and it was rockin' down there! On Sunday, my sister and I went to LakePointe (ahhh memories!) and then threw a shower for my childhood best friend. I finished out the weekend with a relaxing dinner down at the Harbour (again) with the whole family and then the hour and a half drive back to Waco. Oh, and a stop for kolaches along the way!

When I got home last night Aaron had a present waiting for me - What a great husband!!!! I would have to say that this was just about a perfect weekend. Here's a few pictures for your enjoyment...

Just 4 Fun

2008-03-17T13:24:00.002-05:00

Things on my to-do list today:
1. Go to the bank (check)
2. Watch Chris at baseball practice
3. Go on a motorcycle ride with Aaron
4. Cook and amazing dinner
5. Start my lesson plans for next week

What would I do if I became loaded:
1. Open a savings account and horde away lots of money
2. Buy Aaron a new car
3. Quit work and take monthly vacations
4. Have a couple great vacation homes

Three of my bad habits:
1. Waking up WAY late and then leaving WAY late for work
2. Procrastinating at work (like right now)
3. Eating yummy Reeces Peanut Butter cups even though I know they're not included in my "healthy living" diet

Five jobs I've had:
1. WRBN Ministry Assistant
2. Legacy Family Ministries Ministry Assistant
3.RISD Substitute Teacher
4. Life Guard for 7 years
5.Model Home Cleaner - I cleaned model homes (so boring!)

Five things people don't know about me:
1. I LOVE brushing my teeth
2. I hate going out to eat after church... I always feel like its a complete waste of time unless we go somewhere really quick like Subway.
3. I like taking walks with Aaron
4. My co-worker Edna says "fiddle-dee-dee" and I think its awesome
5. I really want a pair of William Rast jeans, but they cost almost $200 - is that too much to spend on jeans? ( I think so, but I'm still craving them!)

Thanks Jen.. I stole this from your post

Yum!

2008-03-13T20:45:00.002-05:00

I hate admitting it, but I am a horrible cook. I used to think I was decent (actually I am decent at pasta - too bad Aaron doesn't really like pasta). Anyways, I don't really enjoy cooking and after working from 8:00-5:00 and then wasting away in class until 9:00, I don't really have time to hang out in the kitchen serving up gourmet dishes. And on top of all that - Aaron is a WAY worse cook than I am, so Chris and I do our best to keep him out of the kitchen.

Thankfully, a wonderful woman at church told me about her daughter's blog. Traca must be an amazing cook because I love all her recipes. I haven't actually tried any yet, but just reading them makes my mouth start watering (probably because I'm sitting in classs and the last thing I ate was a Slim Fast bar). I hope to try a couple of them out sometime this weekend... I'll let you know how it goes.

Take a look and feel free to try a couple of her recipes http://cookreadandbemerry.blogspot.com/

Love ya,
Rachael

2008-03-06T11:26:00.001-06:00

Ahhh I’m sitting here listening to my coworker go on and on and on about how hard her job is… She kills me! Her job is very tedious and honestly very boring, but hard? My goodness woman – Be QUIET! I prayed this morning about encouraging people around me, but this much complaining seems a little out of my league.

Have you ever noticed how a lie starts to eat you up inside? I told a lie a few days ago and I have been feeling horrible ever since. I’ve confessed it to God and to my husband, but I just can’t seem to bring myself to confess it to the person I lied to.

Ughhh its just disgusting that I haven’t confessed it yet, but I really don’t want to deal with it. The ironic part is that Aaron and I had to have a LOOoong talk with Chris last night about honesty. He has been lying to us about some school stuff lately and it all came out in the open yesterday. It was a great talk and I was so proud of Aaron (he’s such a great dad!), but the whole time I knew that my own heart wasn’t pure.

Sometimes being a Christian can be so frustrating, but thankfully I serve such a good God!

PS – Sorry for the lack of pictures on the blog; I’ve been really bad about taking pictures lately

So Fresh and So Clean Clean

2008-03-06T09:35:00.002-06:00

Yay!!!

I finally have a pretty background.... Thanks for all your help EJ.

Now its back to work (boooo)

Peace,
Rachael

Mr. Principal

2008-03-04T09:46:00.002-06:00

Mr. Principal called last night around 5:00...I was sitting in my teacher prep class minding my own business when all of the sudden my phone started to ring. I answered it thinking that it might be someone from work or maybe a family member. Nope..it was Mr. Principal asking if I could come in for a second interview. Ahhh, I can't believe it - I got a second interview!!!!!

I've been a smiling stress head ever since. You might be wondering what a "smiling stress head" is. You know, its when you're super pumped but you think you might puke at any moment because your nerves are shot. Yep - thats been me. Thank goodness we took a mini vaycay home this past Sunday. It was my sister's birthday, but I made sure I took a pit stop in my mom's closet. I just had this feeling that I might need some uber cute clothes to wear. Yep, my premonition paid off. So, today I'm sitting in my little office looking absolutely amazing. I've got on my mom's silky BCBG white lace shirt, black pants, and some killer black heels - I'm gonna kick some "A" in this interview today!!!!!

NOOOoooo

2008-02-26T10:46:00.004-06:00

It finally happened... Aaron and I caught the sickness.

We'd been doing great, healthy has horses (are horses even really that healthy?) Anyway, all of the sudden Chris came down sick and so like a great mom I rushed out to Walmart and got him TONS of medicine. He cleared up pretty quickly, so we thought we were safe. Then on Friday night my bro came over and he was all sneezy and stuffed up. Well, like a typical brother he kept drinking my drink and stealing my food all night (so inadvertently I ended up eating after him).

Well, on Saturday morning I woke up with a sore throat and had a hard time swallowing. I knew right then and there that things were going to get nasty. By Sunday, my glands were swollen, my sinuses were filled, and I was having a hard time hearing. It was crazy - I seriously felt like my head weighed 30lbs. Yesterday I slept till 11:00 then went to work for a couple hours and then went back home to rest some more. Aaron, my amazing husband, cleaned the entire house and had my robe and slippers waiting for me.

Thankfully I'm feeling much better this morning - Still not 100% but hopefully I'll be back in action tomorrow!

Teacher Prep

2008-02-21T10:39:00.003-06:00

I haven't really talked much about it on the blog...but my life has been crazy lately. I'm enrolled in the Region 12 Teacher Preparation and Certification Program. I'm there Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 5:00 - 9:00 pm and then on Saturdays from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm. Needless to say, I'm stressed out and sleepy all the time because I'm still working a FULL TIME JOB!

But, I am really excited about the program. I have amazing teachers who are so full of knowledge and they really do make learning fun! Hopefully I'll be like them someday : ) I've always known that I wanted to be a teacher - actually someday I'd like to be a religion professor at a university, but I can wait on that for a while. Right now I'm getting my certification for elementary education... I used to think that I wanted to teach middle or high school, but who knows, I'll just have to see where the Lord takes me!

Part of the Region 12 program is that I have to do a 2 week internship at a school (similar to student teaching). I just talked with my sponsor teacher and I'm going to be with a woman named Melissa Holt from Connally Elementary. <-- EJ do you know anyone at Connally Elementary? The only bad part of the deal is that I have to use my 2 week WRBN vacation time to do this... Sucks huh? Oh well, it will all be worth it in the end.

Books Books and more Books

2008-02-20T09:58:00.003-06:00

Here are a few of the books that I got for Valentine’s Day… My dad sent me the first three! Usually he sends my sister and I matching outfits from Old Navy, but I guess he decided to branch out this year. About the Old Navy outfits: I have nothing against Old Navy, but both my sis and I are perplexed why my dad always buys us skirts outfits from there – neither one of us are big Old Navy shoppers. One of my dear friends and I deduced that it’s because Old Navy is within his comfort zone. He knows that everything in there is generally in style, so he can’t really go wrong. Plus they have them in everywhere, so we can always take back the things we aren’t really fond of. I keep my outfit every year because its fun to wear something that reminds me of how much my dad loves me.

The 4th book is from my dear friend Amy..I love that girl! I actually read this book back in high school. Unfortunately I don’t remember much of it…probably because I read it in French and had to translate the entire book to English. Thank goodness for freetranslation.com!

Ash Wednesday

2008-02-06T14:34:00.001-06:00

If you are anything like me, you probably have wondered why some people walk around with black smears on the foreheads once a year. I wondered this for years - In high school I finally figured out that it had something to do with Catholicism (I only figured this out because I dated a guy who was Catholic and I ashamedly remember trying to wipe the "smear" off of his forehead in the hallway at school.) Thankfully I made a wonderful friend my freshman year at Baylor that was from a Catholic background and she explained everything to me. Since then I have been enamored with the several Catholic traditions and especially the Holy Season of Lent.

I love the idea of spiritually preparing for the death and resurrection of our Lord. I think its a shame that Protestant churches have not adopted this mentality because I have found it to be a wonderful way to inwardly realign my focus. All to often, I get caught up in things of this world and need a time to refocus. Of course, I don't need an official Lenten time for this but I am a huge fan of community. I'm one of those type of people that draw strength and encouragement from my church family. Plus, I want to share the joys of Lent with everyone!

As far as I know, I've never been a part of a church that practices Lent. Aaron and I both participate in Lent, but as baptists it is kind of taboo to bring Catholic practices into the church (what a shame, huh?).

Anticipation

2008-01-31T16:28:00.001-06:00

I noticed that Brooke blogged about LOST and I got really excited! I have been counting down the days since last season. Here are my Top 5 Reasons that I love LOST…

1. Aaron and I discovered LOST one night at Blockbuster. We couldn’t find any movies to rent, so we walked over to the TV section and decided to try out LOST. We got the first 2 disks of season one. We proceeded to have a LOST marathon…we got so addicted after the first episode that we continued to watch it non-stop for 5 hours!!!

2. I am obsessed with Charlie – I think he’s precious, he loves Claire, and I love that he was a hobbit on Lord of the Rings.

3. I feel like I’m part of the gang… I mean I really feel like I “know” the characters. I’m pretty sure that we’d all be best friends.

4. I have a dream of being stranded on a beach and having to use my survival skills – I would love it (as long as I had a hair rubberband and some chapstick)

5. Aaron and I can’t wait to share the goodness with Chris… He’s never seen LOST (can you believe it?!) We are so pumped about tonight. I’ve got class, but I’m hoping we can get out early. If not, then we are going to have to get someone to tape it for us.

I LOVE LOST!

BlogARAMA!

2008-01-28T18:14:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting in my teaching class and guess what we're learning about... BLOGS! Yep, they are the new thing in schools these days and supposedly they are great for teaching. Pretty cool huh? So, for all you teachers out there - check with your school district and then head on over to www.edublogs.org and create your very own teaching blog for your students.

Sweet,
Rachael

Legacy

2008-01-25T09:29:00.000-06:00

This is the weekend I’ve been waiting for… ReUnion Weekend! Once a year Legacy Family Ministries (www.legacyfamily.org) puts together an amazing marriage retreat in Salado, Texas and they pull out all the stops: wonderful rooms, great catered food, inspirational speaker, lots of fun newly married couples, ect. Oh and did I mention that its subsidized by Baylor, so the cost for students is only $25.00 for two amazing evenings – We can only stay Friday night because we have to get ready for church…bummer! Last year was our first year to go (I worked for Legacy at the time) and right after we left we put it on our calendar for this year – Its seriously great!

I think one of the reasons I liked it so much last year is because Aaron and I were going through a little rough spot in our marriage. We’d been married about 7 months and the newness of it all had worn off. We were stuck in a rut filled with lots of quick fights, conflicts, and just an overall sense of frustration with being married. I literally hated it… not the being married part, but I hated the fact that we weren’t having fun anymore.

We got to the retreat not really knowing what to expect and we came away with a changed marriage. It was so much fun going on a stress free mini vacation where we all we had to do was sit back and go along for the ride. The speaker’s theme for the weekend was about solving conflict in new marriages. I felt like we could really relate to a lot of what he was saying (Now, I will be honest… Aaron wasn’t a huge fan of the speaker, but the message really helped me). I think Aaron’s favorite part was that we had a ton of free time to just hangout with each other and with the other couples there. Legacy purposely gives you a lot of free time because they want you to reconnect with your spouse and just “be” with eachother.

This year the speaker is Dr. Oliver (no, not Dub) and he’s speaking on keeping God at the center of the relationship. I’m excited to see what he has to say because sometimes its hard for us to keep God at the center… know what I mean.

My awesome brother Grant is going to come stay with Chris tonight – Grant’s a freshman at Baylor and I think he’s excited to get out of Penland for the night!!! (He’s in a 3 person room and its insanely small) They don’t have any big plans..probably just some video games tonight and then some sleeping in tomorrow morning. Its kind of weird that Grant is coming over to hangout with Chris while we’re gone. I remember when I used to drive home from college to stay with Grant when my parents went out of town – Oh how the times have changed!

Finally

2008-01-15T11:06:00.000-06:00

For months Aaron and I have been talking about buying a new car, but neither one of us really wanted a car payment (who does right). We both kept trying to ignore the fact that our cars were on their last legs. But, on Sunday my car bit the dust. I accidentally backed into the tree outside of our house and completely bent the good ol' Coug's wheel base. My strongman husband ended up being able to "fix it" by bending it back the other way, but we both knew that it was time to find a new car.

We called his friend Christian who works at the Acura dealership in Dallas and told him what we wanted. My big things were 4 doors, a clicker to unlock the doors, cruise control, leather seats, and if possible a couple of glorious seat heaters. Aaron wanted all of those things and more (he likes things like low profile tires and super charged engines - don't ask me..I don't even pretend to know about that stuff). But anyways, Christian found us what we were looking for.. The 2008 Acura TSX.

Its an amazing car - I think I'm in love with it already! It even has blue tooth for my phone and xm radio..Amazing Inventions! The fun thing is that it all comes standard and so we didn't have to pay "extra" for any of it! We decided to lease the car for 3 years instead of buy it because we aren't really settled in life yet. We have no idea what we are going to do in a year or two...We dream about moving somewhere and who knows if we're going to need 4 wheel drive, snow tires, or maybe we won't even need a car at all. So, I think leasing was really the best option for us and it keeps our payments really low...another huge plus for us!

So, If you need an Acura give me a call and I'll hook you up with our good friend Chach (yep, that's what he goes by)

Peace,

Rachael

A good read..or two

2008-01-04T13:06:00.000-06:00

Over the Holidays I read a couple good books that I'm crazy about and I want you to know about them.

The first one is called "The Myth of the Christian Nation." It was amazing and it truly changed my whole view of American Politics. It opened my eyes to so many scriptures that I hadn't really put much thought into.

Here's the synopsis from Amazon.com, "Arguing from Scripture and history, Dr. Boyd makes a compelling case that whenever the church gets too close to any political or national ideology, it is disastrous for the church and harmful to society. Dr. Boyd contends that the American Evangelical Church has allowed itself to be co-opted by the political right (and some by the political left) and exposes how this is harming the churchs unique calling to build the kingdom of God. In the course of his argument, Dr. Boyd challenges some of the most deeply held convictions of evangelical Christians in America for example, that America is, or ever was, a Christian nation or that Christians ought to be trying to take America back for God."

I love how Dr. Boyd is not Anti-America... instead he's just Pro-Christian. Love, Love, Love it. If you want a copy, just let me know. I think my mom bought out Barnes and Noble and she's been giving them away to everyone she meets!!!

The second book was a gift from one of my besties (love you Kat!) and it was great too. Its called "The Irrisisteble Revolution; Living as an ordinary radical" by Shane Clairborne. Here's what Rob Bell has to say about him and his book, "Be warned, my friends: Shane is a poet, a friend, a brother—but underneath it all, he’s a prophet with a fire in his belly and a story to back it up. If you listen—or in this case, read—you will not be the same.– Rob Bell, author, Velvet Elvis

Some of you may have heard of him and everything that's going on with The Simple Way in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. If you don't know about it yet, then I'd encourage you to check out this website http://www.thesimpleway.org/ Seriously..you HAVE to check it out!

M'asselema,
Rachael

Talladega Nights

2008-01-03T07:30:00.000-06:00

I’m just sitting here watching a little Talladega Nights with my family - Shake and Bake!

Sorry its been a long time since my last post. Lets see…We’ve been to Amarillo, Santa Fe, back to Rockwall, and finally back to Waco. We had a blast with Aaron’s family in Amarillo! I think everyone’s favorite was snow skiing though. Chris loved snowboarding and it was so fun watching him. Aaron is the best skier that I’ve ever seen and he did an awesome job teaching Chris. The snow was amazing, but I do wish that it had been a little warmer. The first day we were there it was only 8 degrees at the bottom of the mountain and at the top is was down to 3 degrees (yikes!) In fact, the weather was so bad that the 4 hour drive from Amarillo to Santa Fe turned into 8 hours. We passed 2 or 3 jack knifed semi’s, watched cars to 360’s on the road, and even slid around a little bit ourselves.

While we were in Santa Fe we went to the Camel Rock Casino. It was my first experience gambling and it was pretty amazing. I put $3 into a poker slot machine and ended up winning $127 - Not bad huh?! Too bad that everyone else lost their money.
Mmmm random thought…My parents let us borrow their fabulous Lincoln Navigator for trip. It was SO nice and my favorite thing about it were the seat heaters. My next car MUST have seat heaters! I’m really into the Nissan Altima ß do they come with seat heaters?

Hehehehe…We are watching the part where Ricky Bobby is running around in his underwear trying to put out the nonexistent fire. “Help me baby Jesus, help me Tom Cruise, help me Oprah Winfrey!” This is such a funny movie!

Things at work have been going crazy. Ever since my boss took a job at Truett, I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I literally didn’t have 5 minutes to myself today. I miss the good ol’ days of Dr. Hardage! He kept our office so chill and relaxed and I loved it. Speaking of work - I’ve got free tickets to the Baylor President’s Prayer Breakfast on Friday morning. If you’re interested let me know (just be aware that it starts at 6:30 am - boo!) The only reason I’m going is because I’ll get to leave work at 3:00 that day since I’m going into “the office” 2 ½ hours early.

Last but not least, I start my alternative certification classes on Monday. Yep, I’m going to become a teacher! I’ve kept this kind of quiet because I didn’t want to say anything before things were final. I’ve been praying about this for a few years and I just finally felt a peace about going back to school. I’m going to be in class Tuesday and Thursdays from 5:00 - 9:00 pm and then on Saturdays from 9:00 - 4:00. Ughhh and that schedule is going to last from January to May. But, it will all be worth it in the end…I know that I’m supposed to be a teacher and so I’m really excited to get started! I’m going to start out teaching elementary school and then I might move up to middle school and/or high school. I really want to teach Reading and Language Arts, but I’d also love to teach 2nd or 4th grade.
Alright I better get back to the movie…

“That Just Happened,”
Rachael

Fiasco

2007-12-22T21:29:00.000-06:00

The keys have been lost for 5 hours now... 5 LONG hours. At first it wasn't too bad, searching my parents house for the Navigator keys but now its to the point of exasperation. Aaron, Chris, Dalton and I were supposed to take my parents car back to Waco because we're going to drive to Amarillo tomorrow night (the heater in Aaron's car isn't working and its 30* in Amarillo). We were all ready to go at 4:00 when my dad realized that he couldn't find keys. We searched the house for OVER 2 hours and nothing turned up. My dad finally gave in and called a locksmith and guess how much its going to cost to get a replacement key made....$180. Yep, crazy huh? Especially considering that we don't even need the locksmith to unlock the car because the Navigator has one of those touch pads on the outside, all we need is a key to start the motor. The locksmith came over an hour ago and he's still outside working. We're loving getting to spend extra time with my family, but we need to get to Waco. I'm pretty sure that this is all part of some elaborate plan to get us to spend the night in Rockwall - My parents would just love that!

Oh and today we celebrated Christmas with my family. I got a lot of wonderful gifts, but my sweet husband gave me the best one.... A giraffe print purse that I've been eyeing forever!

REJ

2007-12-13T18:59:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas.... Love, The Johnsons

White Rock and White Christmas

2007-12-13T18:45:00.001-06:00

Last weekend was a bast, but I think it left me feeling more tired than refreshed. Saturday was the WHITTLE FAMILY CHRISTMAS. Every year about 65 - 70 of my relatives got together at my parents house and we eat, play games, and exchange gifts. This year we did a white elephant gift exchange and I got the game "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" Its pretty fun...but honestly its a little too easy (not for me..I got most of the questions wrong, but all the other adults were doing great)

Then on Sunday morning I walked the White Rock 1/2 Marathon with two of my favorite people in Waco - Kim Scott and Jennifer Baker. We also used to be involved with the BU Spirit Squads and even though we don't do that together anymore, we've all stayed great friends. We woke up bright and eary on Sunday, donned our running gear, and headed out to Dallas. Unfortunately nobody told us that it was going to be 38* and drizzling - Ughhhh my hands went numb the second I stepped outside. I got so cold that I put on someone's discarded beenie just to keep my ears warm. Yeah, I know its sorta gross...I found the beenie laying beside the gutter on the streets of Dallas but I was seriously THAT COLD. We did have an awesome time just hanging out and talking for about 3 1/2 hours. And even though we walked 13.1 miles...I really felt like I could have kept going. I've already talked to my mom and I think she and I maywalk/jog one in the Spring. I did have to stop for a sandwhich half way through (that's how you know you're a little piggy - you stop for a sandwhich halfway through a marathon!) I mean, I was hungry..what can I say. There was a 7 Eleven and so I stopped and it sure was worth that extra 2 minutes it cost me.

Kim Scott's birthday was yesterday, so I want to give a little shout out to her. She is an amazing woman and I don't know if I would have made it through college without her guidance. I love her and I am so thankful for her friendship!

In other news...Aaron and I are hosting a Christmas Party at our house tomorrow night. And how many people are coming? Well, I'm glad you asked.... 70! Yeah, don't ask me what we're going to do - in fact, we don't even really have a plan. Our house will only hold about 20 and thats pushing it. It was supposed to be a Come and Go Church Christmas Party, but all of the sudden the entire church decided to carpool together and that means that they will ALL arrive here at exactly the same time (YIKES). We are just going to hope for cold weather, build a bonfire out back, and try to shoo people outside to sit around the bonfire.

I'll let you know how it goes....

Pace,
Rachael

13.1 Miles

2007-12-10T14:53:00.000-06:00

I don't really have time for a post, but I wanted to let all of you know that the White Rock 1/2 Marathon went really well.... I even had time for a sandwich at Mile 7 : )

Christmas Questions

2007-12-07T09:23:00.000-06:00

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Definitely wrapping paper - I think wrapping gifts makes Christmas more fun

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial, but I LOVE real ones too!

3. When do you put up the tree? This is our first year to have a tree and we put it up Thanksgiving weekend

4. When do you take the tree down? Hmmmm don't know yet

5. Do you like eggnog? Love Love Love it!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Go Kart

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yup

8. Hardest person to buy for? My brother in law Chris

9. Easiest person to buy for? Aaron (or myself - lol)

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? An ugly belt with sparkles all over it... I think I got it in 4th grade, but I remember loathing the very idea of wearing it

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Love Actually or the Holiday - I know these aren't classics, but they're SOO good

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I actually just bought the first of the presents Wednesday night. Next year I'm going to start shopping in October so I can hit up all of the good sales

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Nope

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Egg Nog, Buckeyes (homemade chocolate, caramel, and peanut butter candies) and Summer Sausage

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Either

17. Favorite Christmas song? Carol of the Bells, Oh Holy Night, Angels We Have Heard on High, Silent Night, We Three Kings, Little Drummer Boy... I love them ALL

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We ALWAYS travel... in fact I've only had Christmas at home ONE time in my entire life - weird huh?

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Hmmm... Rudolph, Dancer, Prancer, Comet, Vixen, Cupid, Dasher, Donner (How many are there)

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Open one present on Christmas Eve (always pj's) and then the rest on Christmas morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Greed and Business

23. What I love most about Christmas? Getting to spend time with family and I love all of the holiday parties!!!!

Life's Funny Like That

2007-12-01T21:00:00.000-06:00

Well we had an awkward / funny moment today....

Every month or so Chris is supposed to meet with his CASA worker. Now CASA workers are Court Appointed Special Advocates and their purpose is to check on foster children and then represent them in court as an outside, but very informed source. (Ex..If a foster parent abuses their foster child, the foster child can tell their CASA worker and then the CASA worker will be a witness for the child once it gets to court) Anyways, I got a call yesterday at work from Chris' CASA worker. He introduced himself and told me that his name was Eric and that he was coming to Waco on Saturday and wanted to know if we had time for him to come by and check in on Chris. I told him that it was fine and then started to give him directions to our house. He sort of stopped me in the middle of my directions and told me that he used to live in Waco and that he was sure that he could find our place just fine. So to make a long story short...We agreed to meet Saturday at 4:00 pm.

Okay fast forward to last night...we all went bowling in the SUB and as we were leaving we decided to head over to Common Grounds because one of my friends bands was playing (yea-Chris Pearson!) and I wanted Chris to get a little taste of Baylor life. While we were waiting in line we saw tons of flyers for the band Quiet Lovely that said they were playing a show the next day. Now, two of Aaron's really good friends (Jonathan - a really good friend & Eric - a friend through Jonathan) are in that band and Aaron got kind of ticked because his friends hadn't let him know that they were coming into town to play a show. So Aaron told Chris all about his friends that were in the band and how cool they were, all of their fun college adventures, and how Jonathan was in our wedding ect....

While we were sitting around drinking our frozen Milky Way's last night, Chris told us all about his CASA worker and how cool he was. He told us about how Eric would sometimes buy him video games, UT stuff, or other little presents. We talked for a while and became apparent that Chris really liked his CASA worker and it was kind of fun hearing about the bond they'd formed over the past couple years.

Okay now fast forward to 4:00 this afternoon... I'm looking at the clock thinking "the CASA worker should be here any second." All of the sudden we here a knock on the door and when Aaron goes to open it, I hear him say "Heeeyyy, what's up dude..." So I'm kind of upset with my husband for handling our first meeting with the CASA guy so unprofessionally (I mean we're supposed to act like parents - know what I mean?) So anyways, Aaron's going on and on about how great it is for this guy to stop by and how he's missed seeing him. And I'm still thinking that my husband is acting REALLY weird and all of the sudden Eric walked in and I realized that Eric isn't just some CASA guy, he's also Eric the guy that plays the drums for Quiet Lovely / Eric the guy who's bed I sleep in when we go to Austin and stay at his house. CRRRAAAZZZY!

Lets just say that it was hilariously funny and really awkward for about the next 5 minutes as we all tried to be friendly and business like at the same time. Finally we just gave up and just hung out like usual. So after that whole story...here's what it boils down to

1. Quiet Lovely had a show at CG's, so Eric thought that he might as well see Chris since he was in town.

2. Eric didn't realize that we are foster parents.... especially foster parents to one of "his" kids.

3. We didn't know that Eric worked for CASA

4. Aaron thought that Eric was just stopping by since he was in Waco for the Quiet Lovely concert...he had no idea that Eric was Chris' CASA worker

4. Chris didn't know that his CASA worker was in a punk rock band

5. I laughed for a good 5 minutes about the fact that I'd slept (several times) in Chris' CASA worker's bed. (It just seems weird)

I don' t know if I did a good job explaining everything - but how random right????

delay

2007-11-28T12:02:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry. I've been very slow about blogging lately and I know that you are all just dying to hear about life in Waco...so let me help you catch up.

Thanksgiving was awesome! After getting off to a slow start (Aaron had to finish some stuff up at the church on Wednesday night) we drove from Waco to Rockwall, but we got stuck in TONS of 1-35 traffic the whole way there. Chris slept through most of the drive...Vader threw up twice...and Aaron doesn't have heat in his car. So, yeah the drive was not my favorite but thankfully it only takes an hour and a half to get there. We had dinner with my family on Wednesday night and then my brother Grant took Chris around Rockwall to meet some of his old high school buddies. Aaron and I just spent the evening talking with my little sis and parents. On Thursday my mom and I power walked (Sara Whittle can POWERwalk!), then I made a pecan pie, then some cousins came over Thanksgiving Dinner. It was pretty chill this year because only one family of cousins came over (there were only 17 people) usually when we all get together the number gets up to near 80 or so. That afternoon we went to see "Dan In Real Life" which is now my new favorite movie. Its HILARIOUS good clean humor - Go See It! I honestly can't really remember what we did on Friday...hmmm..nope don't know. But, on Friday night we made a big bonfire out on our land and about 25 people came, hung out, and made smores. One of my very best friends and her husband came which made it a great night. Then on Saturday we went and ate lunch down at the Harbour and then headed back to Waco. So yeah, it was a great Thanksgiving Break!

This week has already been crazy and I have a feeling that with the holidays approaching I'm only going to get busier and busier! I had to go to Temple on Monday to take a HUGE test. It was similar to the PSAT and the math section made me want to cry. But, I did my best so hopefully I'll pass. Then yesterday I found out that my boss is leaving the WRBN and taking a job at Truett to be the Director of Development (pretty much he'll be in charge of raising scholarship money for people like my husband). I'm so excited for him, but I'm really nervous for the Waco Regional Baptist Network and for myself. My boss was SO laid back and just really great to work for. I'm really going to have to start praying that my new boss is sort of the same! Oh and with him leaving...guess who that leaves to run the office....ummm me. Yep, I've only worked here for 6 months and already I'm going to be in charge. CRAZY!

Well, Aaron is waiting to take me to lunch - I LOVE him!

RJ

A couple more

2007-11-22T17:16:00.001-06:00

hehehehehe

2007-11-22T17:14:00.000-06:00

true love

2007-11-21T10:00:00.000-06:00

White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha (mmmmm yum)

I 'm not a big Starbucks fan. In fact, I don't even really like coffee that much except during Christmas. See, that's when Starbucks brings out all of their very best holiday drinks: Gingerbread Latte, Eggnog Latter, Peppermint Mocha, and now...White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha!

If you haven't had one yet - you're going to love the indulgence

almost the BIG day

2007-11-20T11:25:00.000-06:00

Here comes Turkey Day, Here comes Turkey Day...with lots of gravy on the side. Family and friends, and all the relatives wanting to stop by... (this is the song I made up about Thanksgiving. Its sort of to the tune of "Here Comes Santa Claus")

Thanksgiving is one of my very favorite holidays. In fact I probably like it even more than Christmas. I think its because Christmas around the Whittle house is always jam packed with activity after activity. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is a great time to chill, eat, and watch some football. Oh, and I love the Macy's Day Parade...when I get up for it. This year Thanksgiving has taken on a whole new meaning. I mean I'm in to the piligrims and indians and so forth, but I'm really starting to see a whole new meaning behind Thanksgiving. How cool is it that we can set aside an entire day to be with family and friends and just be thankful for everything God has blessed us with. Aaron and I love the moments where we are overcome with thankfulness for the Lord. I really hope that true thanksgiving will be our focus on Thursday. It's going to be pretty hard to keep that focus because the turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes are going to put up a hard fight...but I think we can do it.

Hooray for turkey, Hooray for stuffing, Hooray for family, and Hooray for true Thanksgiving!

Team Mom

2007-11-16T09:34:00.000-06:00

Last night was Chris' first basketball practice. The coach called yesterday morning and asked if we would let Chris stay after school and practice with the team. Of course our answer was yes - Aaron and I always talk about how exciting it is going to be to watch our kids play sports and now we finally get to do that! I can't wait to buy some spirit apparel and maybe even one of those little buttons with Chris' picture in it!

After work I drove over to the Junior High to pick Chris up and there was a little confusion about where the 8th grade boys were practicing. As I was making my 3rd trip around the school looking for some sign of basketball practice, I noticed another mom trying to get into the building. I let her in and asked her if she knew where the 8th grade boys practiced bball. She said that she had two sons on the team (she has twins!) and that they usually practiced in the Junior High gym, but that maybe they had walked over to the Primary School. We decided to walk through the blistering wind to go see if the boys were over there. As we walked, we started talking and let me tell ya'll ....this mom is so cool and nice. If I had to guess, I would say that she is in her late 20's / early 30's, but who knows. Her name is Courtney and she lives right up the street from us. We decided to switch phone numbers and maybe do some carpooling since we live SO close.

Now this might not sound so exciting to any of you...but it has been really difficult to become friends with people that live near us. Everyone that I'm friends with lives on the other side of Waco and it takes me nearly 30 minutes just to get to their house (yes, Kim and EJ I'm talking about ya'll) I do have a good friend that lives near the Baylor campus, but she's almost never in town and she's leaving for a 4 month internship in DC soon. I really want to become friends with some women that have awesome husbands that Aaron can become friends with. We honestly have 0 couple friends that live in Waco. Actually I take that back - We sort of have two different sets couple friends that live in Waco / Hillsbourgh, but in both sets the wives are nurses and work nights so we never get to see them.

Anyways...this little post has shown me that I need to make more of an effort to maintain the friendships that I do have in Waco and I need to get out there and start meeting people on our side of town.

C Bluff represent - woot woot!
Rachael

24-13=11

2007-11-14T14:52:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone,

I'm sure that you are all at least a little interested in how things are going now that Aaron and I are parents to a 13 year old boy. Well....To be completely honest, things are going GREAT! Chris seems to really fit in the Johnson household. He and Aaron have a lot in common - Everything from their love of football all the way down to they both like mayo on their sandwiches. He's really outgoing and talkative, was really involved in his old youth group, and likes animals (which is great since we are pretty much starting a small farm in our backyard)

Today was his first day of school at Connally Junior High and I think he was a bit nervous, but I would be too. Middle school can be tough! When we went to enroll him yesterday there was this poor little nerdy kid that came into the office and literally dropped the 5 books and spirals that he was trying to carry. And guess what he was coming to the office for: Yep, he'd lost his glasses and wanted to know if the janitors had turned them in. Anyways, hopefully Chris will have it a little more together than that kid : )

Aaron and I are slowly adjusting to parental communication - yeah, friends..get ready for it. Its kind of weird because I now understand how difficult it is for parents to communicate and why so many fights break out. I mean, we've only been doing this for 2 days and already we've had trouble adjusting our schedules to meet eachothers needs and to meet Chris' needs.

Ooops... I'm late for a work meeting - More tomorrow!

Countdown

2007-11-11T22:54:00.001-06:00

This time tomorrow night Aaron and I will be parents to a thirteen year old boy... YIKES! The countdown has officially begun.

Homecoming and 1st Sunday

2007-11-08T22:48:00.000-06:00

Waiting

2007-11-08T15:02:00.000-06:00

Hello little bloggy friends....

Well, I've got some news that I just know you've all been waiting for. The time has come for Aaron and I to finally have a foster child placed in our home. We found out yesterday afternoon that there is a 13 year old boy named Chris that needs a family. We had really always said that we wanted an elementary age child, but Chris actually meets that request because he's in the 4th grade. So......after a lot of prayer and discussion, we are going to go ahead with everything and just keep looking to God for guidance.

This is HUGE. I mean really HUGE. The caseworkers think they are going to bring Chris up to Waco tomorrow afternoon and so starting tomorrow I will become a mother. wow. This is something that we've prayed about, talked about, taken classes on, but when it finally comes time for it to happen everything can be a little intimidating. Deep down we are really excited, but there is just so much that is unkown about him. We don't even really know what he looks like - The reports we received said two totally different things. In one report he was 5'2 and in the other one he was 5'9. (yeah a 5'9 4th grader...?). The reports try to give us a clue into his personality, but there really isn't a way to know him until we meet him. So, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE say a prayer for us this evening!

Oh wait... I seriously just now got a call from our case manager and they are going to bring Chris up on Monday. So, we have a few more days to prepare (whew!).

RJ

Broccoli and Cheese Casserole

2007-11-06T10:18:00.000-06:00

I just thought everyone would like to know that I FINALLY brought something "home made" to potluck dinner....And it was fabulous. In fact, I might even venture to claim that it was the most popular dish there! For over a year now, I have been wussing out and buying pre-made items to bring to different functions but now everything is going to be different.

Hip Hip Hooray to broc and cheese! (and to my mother in law for the recipe)

Tradition

2007-11-02T15:32:00.000-05:00

If you've ever seen the play "Fiddler on the Roof, " you'll probably remember a song titled "Tradition." Its the opening song and its sung by the main character Tevye. Its a great song and when I wrote the title to today's blog the song popped up in my head and I'm pretty sure that I'll be singing it for the rest of the night.

Anways.. I've been thinking a lot about traditions because Aaron and I are a little family of two, but someday we hope to have a posse of little rascals. Now growing up my family always made fun of me because I was SO into traditions. I remember crying when my mom told my sister Katie that she could where pants to church instead of a skirt. Those tears were not flowing because I felt God was dishonored by pantaloons... oh no, it was just that we had always worn skirts to church and what was the world going to come to if we stopped wearing them. And for your information., as embarrassing as this is.. I was in middle school.

Okay, back to the whole point of today's post - This weekend is Baylor's Homecoming. Aaron's family is coming in town to celebrate and I'm so excited to see them. We are going to have a great time going out to dinner, playing games, and showing them around our new church. The only problem is... nobody really cares much about the traditional Homecoming activities that are going on this weekend. Nobody but me that is. I love the Friday night bonfire and pep rally... I wait all year for SING and the happy little costumed dancers...And how could someone sleep through Waco's biggest parade? I'm a little worried that if we don't attend these events this year, then we might never attend them...because after all, traditions have to be started sometime, right?

Now, for those of you that go/went to Baylor you probably think I'm crazy for wanting to attend these activities...but you have to remember that I used to be a Baylor Cheerleader and I pretty much live for this kind of stuff.

HHHHeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy SIC'Em Bears!
REJ

Lometa Fall Festival

2007-11-02T07:48:00.001-05:00

Skyler and I were in charge of the tattoo booth

Me and Cheyenne both look scary in this picture.. At least her crazy look comes from the makeup. Mine is au natural.

Who knew that the toughest kid in LO would dress up like a blue bunny???

Cheyenne and her sweet nephew

Me and my girl Willow. I taught her in Sunday School this last year... She is CRAAAZY, but in a good way!

I love you Christopher!!!

Jess, me, and Skyler or as we are better known....Football Fan, Prarie Girl, Butterfly Princess

Little Skyler in his too small costume - I wanted to take this little nugget back to Waco with me. He's absolutely adorable and I'm going to miss him so much!

Me and the Goth Princesses...otherwise known as Shawnee, Crystal, and Shelley

No Words

2007-11-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ! The ladies at church decided to make Aaron's Fall Festival costume. Should I be worried that they made him something so fruity? I think this was their revenge for us leaving Lometa

Care Net

2007-10-30T13:10:00.000-05:00

Tonight I'm volunteering at Care Net Pregnancy Center. I've been volunteering there for about a year and I absolutely love it!

"The mission of Care Net is to facilitate the delivery of valuable, life-affirming, evangelistic ministry to people facing unplanned pregnancies and related sexual issues. We carry out this mission by supporting the largest network of pregnancy centers in North America and by operating the Option Line call center and website that assists women in need 24/7."

My job at CareNet is client intake... I don't know if that's the official title for what I do, but that's pretty much what I do. On Tuesday evenings from 5:00 to 7:30 I usually talk with two or three clients. While their free pregnancy test is being run, I talk with them about their background and sexual history. Then I go check their pregnancy test and we go from there.

If the are pregnant we start discussing options... like whether they are going to keep the baby, place it to be adopted, or whether they are considering an abortion. We are definitely against abortions, but its important for a woman to know all of her options so that she can make the best decision. Abortion clinics don't tell the woman anything... all they say is that its a medical procedure that is painless, easy, and will solve all of their problems. We talk with our clients about abortions and we go step by step through the procedure. We hope that they will choose life for their child, but if not then at least they know what they're getting into.

We also talk a lot about future plans... Having a child is a life altering event and most women who come to Care Net aren't really ready for it and definitely weren't planning on it. We get them set up with Medicaid, WIC, and give them information about different resources here in Waco.

If the woman isn't pregnant then we talk about abstinence, self worth, and relationships. If the woman is interested, we give free STD tests and talk with them about different diseases that come with promiscuous sexual activity.

CareNet also offers all kinds of classes and counseling sessions... everything from money management to breastfeeding. We do a healing after abortions class, as well as one on miscarriages. The women are invited to attend Bible Studies and there are even classes for soon to be dads.

All in all...CareNet is an awesome place. It meets a HUGE need in Waco and in several other communities all over the US. I got involved in it because my mom has been a CareNet counselor in Rockwall for several years. She would always tell me amazing stories about the women she met with and eventually I decided to see if we had a center here in Waco.... and we did. I did some training and now it has become a wonderful part of my life.

I thank God for CareNet and for all of the staff and volunteers who keep the ministry going!

Working for the weekend

2007-10-26T13:21:00.000-05:00

Today is a fabulous Friday...No, there's nothing special about it, but I think that ALL Fridays are absolutely fabulous. How could they not be?

Aaron and I don't really have any plans for the weekend...actually all of our plans are a little on the boring side, but I'm actually really excited about them. Wanna hear? Okay, so tonight we are going to go on a motorcycle ride, then I'm going to work out, then I'm going to the store to buy some heavy duty cleaning supplies and something for dinner. Then I'm going to go home and cook dinner and then clean with my heavy duty supplies. Sounds like a blast, eh?

Tomorrow, we will probably do some more cleaning and maybe even paint our gigantic 5 ft tall dog house that Aaron built a while back. Aaron, me, Obie, Potter, and Vader can all fit comfortably inside it. Yeah..its that big. I'm still not really sure why he built it SOO big, but he's very proud of it, so I figure its best not to say anything too negative. Some of ya'll may be wondering who Vader is...well he's our brand new puppy! He was originally a gift for my younger brother Kyle, but that didn't work out so now he's ours. He's half Australian shepherd and half border collie and he looks just like Obie. In fact, Obie seems to think that he's her puppy! I'll put a pic up soon..I promise!
And yes, we do have some of the nerdiest named pets... Obi Wan Kan obi, Harry Potter, and Darth Vader. HA - I love it!

On Saturday night we are making the trek down to the LO - Its their community Harvest Festival and a few of our youth group girls were nominated to walk in the pageant. I'm not really sure what all goes on at the Harvest Festival, but we wouldn't miss it for the world. It was horrible when we told our youth group that Aaron had taken the position at Hilltop. All of the girls started bawling and a few of the guys even teared up. So, we plan to be in Lometa a lot this next week because Aaron starts at Hilltop November 1st. We plan on still going down to Lometa every once in a while for some of the kids major activities...but it just won't be the same and that's going to be hard.

Anyways... I better get back to work.

Blessed Assurance,
Rachael

I Got You Babe

2007-10-23T11:35:00.000-05:00

That't the song I'm listening to right now - I love Yahoo Music! If you haven't checked out yahoo music, then you are missing out. Its free and its awesome..I can listen to hundreds of different genres of music at work. Like yesterday I listened to Irish folkdancing, Latin hip hop, and new country - not bad, eh?.

Things in my life are going great -
Aaron accepted the job at Hilltop and is now a PASTOR (yay, I'm so proud!)

I'm headed to Rockwall in a few minutes for a doctor appointment and some good ol family time

And

Its finally FALL outside!

I don't really have much to talk about - just wanted to let everyone know that I'm having a great day and hope you are too!

Peace, Love, and Joy!
Rachael

The Big 26

2007-10-20T17:04:00.000-05:00

Today my wonderful husband turned 26 years old! Its so crazy to think that I met him when he was just a cute little 19 year old.

We met because I was going on a hangout date with his friend Brock (you know, one of those weird freshman things where you aren't really sure if its a friends thing or a date) Well anyways, we were going up to Common Grounds to hear a band - I think Graham Colton or something like that. Well Brock decided to invite Aaron to come too. So, that infamous night I came walking out of Memorial (yes, I was a dork and lived in Memorial) in my pajamas. And the rest is history... Aaron thought I was hottie in my pjs and I thought he was the most hiliarous person I'd ever met. An now we are in LOVE!

Today has been just a chill day - We slept in until 8:30. Went and picked out the cutest puppy for my bro Kyle. (more on the puppy later). Took Obie to PetsMart to get some dog food. Watched a lot of college football - Yes, Baylor still sucks! I took a nap... and now I'm blogging. Tonight we're going to go to dinner at Roadhouse and I'm going to give him his gifts. I got him a lot of good stuff this year. But, you'll have to wait until later to find out what it is.....

In the A.M.

2007-10-17T07:13:00.001-05:00

Sweet Kisses

EJ's baby shower - Baker, EJ, and me

My Manly Man

The Potmeister

Shelley and Shawnee's Sweet 16

Some of the youth group gals

Bestie friend Kat and sweet Hannah

Yay... Only 4 days old

My favorite restaurant and favorite dress

I just got back from an early morning walk with Obie... I love waking up early and seizing the day! Now its time for some raisin bran and a shower....

Scrub a dub,
Rachael

Delight

2007-10-16T12:39:00.000-05:00

Hip Hip.... HOORAY! We finally got our new work computers in! I L-O-V-E my new Dell laptop. It still has a few kinks, but its so much better than my old computer.

Oh and by the way - Aaron is preaching "in view of a call" this Sunday at Hilltop Christian Fellowship. The Question and Answer session went really well. In fact, I loved it. Everyone was so loving and welcoming and they asked great questions! I really hope that this is where God will use us. I already know that God is doing and will continue to do great things at Hilltop. ***If Aaron becomes the pastor out there, then he will be one of "our pastors." I'll get to send him all kinds of WRBN emails and maybe I'll even stick him on a few of our committees!

The Bair Foundation called this morning to talk about a foster placement. Three children ( 2, 3, and 4 years old) need a home. They've been in foster care for a while now and their current foster mother doesn't "want" them anymore. I hated having to say no, but I don't really think that Aaron and I can handle three children right now. Especially ones that aren't school age...We keep praying that the Lord will bring us the right child - please pray with us on that!

Oh and by the way... My little brother Kyle is 17 tomorrow! WOW

Pace,
REJ

Q & A

2007-10-14T14:31:00.000-05:00

Now I know why people warned me about the trials of being a pastor's wife....

Tonight Aaron and I are headed back to Hilltop Christian Fellowship for a question and answer time. Now that might seem painless.... but it could get scary. They are going to have Aaron and I sit and answer different questions from people in the congregation. Now some of the questions will be easy - like "where are you from?" others are going to be more difficult such as "please describe your thoughts on salvation." Or they might bust out something like... "How do you feel about homosexuality, abortion, politics (or any other random touchy subject).

AND THEN they get to decide whether they like Aaron and me based on how we answered the questions.

YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh the joys of being a pastor's wife : )

Life Lately

2007-10-12T10:23:00.000-05:00

Hello Bloggy Friends...

I just thought I should give ya'll a little update on whats been going on in Team Family Love. Hmm..where to start.

I guess we'll start with today. I took a mini vacation from work (half day yesterday and all day today) because we were going to go camping in Arkansas. Its fall break at Truett and Aaron and I LOVE camping, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. But, things didn't really work out, so now we are just spending a relaxing weekend in Waco.

Aaron has been asked to preach at a church in Crawford, TX this Sunday and we are really excited to see what comes from this opportunity. He preached there a couple Sundays ago and the church seemed really interested in us. They've been without a pastor for a while now and they think that Aaron might be a great fit!!!! This would mean lots of things for us - We would stay in Waco after Aaron graduates from Truett, Aaron would be preaching (we both really believe that God has called Aaron to pastor), He would get lots of experience in a relatively "low stress" environment, and he would make 3 times as much $$$$.

But, there are a couple negatives - We would have to leave our kids in Lometa. We love them so much and have formed some great relationships over the past 2 years. Its hard to walk away from kids that you've seen a huge transformation in. But, we know that its God that is doing the transforming (not us) and God is still and will always be in Lometa. Also, I was really looking forward to going somewhere "different and cool" when Aaron graduated. I'd been picturing Colorado, Oregon, or maybe somewhere on the East Coast. Umm Crawford is pretty much Waco and although I like Waco its definitely not "different and cool."

Some of ya'll maybe wondering whats going on with the whole foster care situation... Well the past two weeks have been really stressful for me. See the Bair Foundation found a sweet little 6 year old girl that need a home, but she was having some medical issues. The state kept saying that they were going to release her to us, but they never did. So for two weeks, I kept thinking "today is going to be the day they release her to us." But, sadly it never happened. I found out this morning that they actually placed the little girl back with her family, so hopefully that's a good thing. This morning when I talked to the Bair Foundation, they asked if we could take a 17 year old girl and her baby................................................
Ummm, when they asked I was speechless because I didn't want to say "no" but I knew that it wouldn't really be a good placement. So, eventually I said "no" and I just have to trust that God is going to provide a better home for the girl and her baby.

Okay, last thing - Tomorrow, Aaron and I are going to GREEK FEST! How cool, right? I've never been to a Greek Festival, but I already know that its going to be great. Its happening at the Greek Orthodox Church in Waco and there's going to be lots of food and dancing!!!

Alright...its time for brunch (otherwise known as scrambled eggs and biscuits and jelly)
RJ

About Us

2007-10-10T14:40:00.000-05:00

1. Who is your man? Aaron Matthew Johnson
2. How long have you been together? We've been married 1 year and 3 months
3. How long dated? A little over 2 years
4. How old is your man? 25 (about to be 26 in a couple days!)
5. Who eats more? Aaron, but I can hold my own
6. Who said "I love you" first? Ummm...me but only cause I knew he was IN LOVE with me
7. Who is taller? Me - I used to think it was a little strange, but now I think its totally normal
8. Who sings better? We're are both pretty decent singers, but the most fun thing is when we sing duets and both try to sing worse than eachother...its hilarious!
9. Who is smarter? A$ - The guy knows Greek (yep..he's a greek geek!)
10. Whose temper is worse? Unfortunately mine
11. Who does the laundry? We both do - But Aaron is way more picky about it than I am
12. Who takes out the garbage? Usually Aaron, but I help out if it doesn't smell too bad
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do because its Aaron's job to protect me if anyone breaks in!
14. Who pays the bills? We both do
15. Who is better with the computer? Ummm both of us are sort of terrible at computers
16. Who mows the lawn? Aaron... I on the other hand unsuccessfully try gardening
17. Who cooks dinner? Usually me, but Aaron is a great helper
.18. Who drives when you are together? Usually Aaron, but he hates driving the Cougar because its SOOO girly!
19. Who pays when you go out? Aaron
20. Who is most stubborn? Hmmm probably me
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? AJ
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine, because they are so much closer. We love going to Amarillo though!
23. Who kissed who first? Hmmm I think it was definitely him.... Our first kiss was my freshman year - SOOO long ago!
24. Who asked who out? Well, I told him that I would be his girlfriend if he wanted me to.
(and he did!)
25. Who proposed? Aaron and it was amazing!
26. Who is more sensitive? Both of us can be pretty sensitive, but in general I think I'm a little more "girly" about it
27. Who has more friends? We both have lots of friends
28. Who has more siblings? Me... 1 sister and 2 brothers!
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Aaron... but sometimes I try to stage a takeover and thats when things start going downhill

Baskets of Hope

2007-10-02T22:20:00.000-05:00

Ohhhh, I'm smiling already - just thinking about the story I'm about to type has caused me to break out in a huge grin.....

Tonight was the first Waco "charity event" that Aaron and I have been invited to as a married couple (we are have finally made it to the elite circle in Waco - lol) Actually, we were the guests of my boss and his wife - we got to sit at their table for the Christian Women's Job Corp yearly fundraiser called "Baskets of Hope." The CWJC is an organization that provides Christian job and life skill training for about twenty five women a year - it is an amazing ministry and REALLY helps a lot of women in McClennan county. To raise money people in the community donate baskets filled with all sorts of goodies, then everyone who comes to the dinner has the opportunity to participate in a silent auction and bid on the baskets. This year there were over 100 baskets donated and almost 500 people in attendance.

Now, I've never been part of a silent auction but tonight I learned how addictive they are. Ummm...as we were walking around checking out all of the baskets, I noticed the most wonderful one of all. It was a golf bag with a putter, golf balls, golf picture frame, tees, and all other sorts of little golf items. I grabbed Aaron to show him the basket and he thought it was really cool. Well, the tag on the item said that it was worth $400 and the highest bid they'd had so far was only $120. So I knew there was no way that I could pass up a steal like that... and so I put my name down for $121 (I didn't know that they had encouraged everyone to bid in $5 increments). Anyways...I went and ate dinner with our group, but the whole time I was a little worried that somebody was going to outbid me. So about halfway through dessert, I got up to check on my basket. AND...Two guys were out standing beside the basket and both of them had outbid me. Well, I wasn't going to stand for that - I put my name down again and upped my bid. To make a long story short - I had a sweet old lady that took a liking to me and everytime someone would mark the basket up, she would come get me so I could up my bid. I eventually pleaded with all of the other bidders to stop bidding on my basket (Yes, I actually pleaded!). And in the end...I WON THE GOLF BAG!

But, the funniest part of the story is what Aaron said as we were walking to the car. See, I was so excited that I won the bag...you know, talking on and on about what a "great deal" I'd gotten since I paid less than half what the ticket said the bag was worth. Finally Aaron just looked at me and reminded me that because of my pleading and discouraging everyone from upping my bid - I had just taken away at least $200 from the charity that we were supposed to be raising money for.. HA HA HA.. here I was looking at it like discount shopping. So pretty much..I'm a cheapskate for charity!

Oh well...Aaron loves his golf bag birthday present and I definitely plan on going back next year, so I can do some more discount shopping!

Pictures

2007-09-26T15:37:00.001-05:00

City Girl

2007-09-26T14:53:00.000-05:00

Hi hi hi everyone...I've been so slow to update my blog. I think about doing it everyday, but for one reason or another I forget and so the updates lately have been few and far between.

This past weekend I spent a CRAZY weekend in NYC with 6 of my amazing college roomates. We all studied abroad together in Florence, Italy and immediately became soulmates. I'm freaking serious. I only see these girls once a year because we live all over the US, but when we get together its like magic. Let me give you a rundown of the roomies....

Jess (Turkey Weenie): Somehow a lot of our get togethers always seem to be on this gals birthday - She is so amazing, beautiful, funny, and crazy. But has a serious side and is an amazing friend. I feel like she's the one that pulls the whole group together and I love her for it! Oh and she's got a great boyfriend too!

Amy (Amo the Lamo): You never know what crazy thing is going to happen next when Amy's around. She is probably the most spontaneously funny person I have ever met. She loves to laugh and have a great time, but she has a beautiful heart. She works for a nonprofit that builds playgrounds in underprivileged neighborhoods. And she's stinkin HOT and let me borrow a fabulous dress this past weekend!

Kristin (Krissy B): I don't even know where to begin. I met this girl on the plane to Italy and she's not even an "official" roomate, but the second that we met her we knew that we had to adopt her into our little group. She is an amazing friend is always watching out for everyone. She has great style and somehow turned a pair of old pjs into a sexy little dress - Don't ask me how but she did it. And with her gorgeous red hair , how can you not like Krissy??!

Melanie (Smelly Mel): No, she doesn't really smell - I don't know why we settled on that nickname, but we did. Melanie is a tough gal from Jersy with a heart of gold. She loves hard metal, but somehow puts up with all of our girly dance music. If you catch her in the right moment she'll even bust out a dance move or two. Mel just recently bought a house in New Jersy and loves to garden. Oh and she's a great artist too...We all LOVE Melanie and for some reason she loves us too.

Sarah: Umm Sarah never really got a nickname that stuck, but she doesn't really need one. Just saying her name makes us all break out into HUGE grins! Sarah is the craziest mix of ideas, philosophies, passions, ect. You never know what Sarah's knew idea is or where she's moving to next. Literally no idea. Earlier last year I called Sarah and was informed by her mother that she had moved to Switzerland to join a Christian Commune called L'Abri. <--See what I mean? Sarah is absolutely amazing and I wish that she'd move to Texas because I know we'd have a blast. Oh and she's got a smokin hot body! (HOLLA!)

Beth (Bethy): Beth wasn't able to make it to New York this year because she didn't have the money - Want to know why... Umm she was saving for a TRIP AROUND THE WORLD! Yeah you read that right. Anyways, Beth is fantastic and I'm so bummed that she wasn't there because I really need to catch up with her and see what's going on in that girls life.

Sorry that was so long, but these girls are fabulous and those descriptions didn't even begin to do them justice! We had the best time together and I'll hopefully get some pictures put up tomorrow night and tell you more about the trip and everything else that has been going on in my life lately!

REJ

Kickin It Old Skool

2007-09-19T09:31:00.000-05:00

Last night Aaron and I thought it would be fun to invite a friend over, order pizza, and watch a movie. Since I needed to clean up around the apartment, I sent Aaron to Blockbuster. The picture above is the movie that he returned with...."Kickin It Old Skool."

Now in his defense, he had great intentions... see the girl we invited over is an amazing hip hop dancer and Aaron thought that she'd really get into the movie since its all about dancing. Well lets just say there wasn't much to "get into to." It was probably one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I was a product of the 80's and everything, but I didn't get very many of the jokes and there was only about 5 minutes breakdancing in the whole movie. But, what amazed me the most was how we all just sat there and hoped that it was going to get better.... Oh well, what else is there to do in Waco on a Tuesday night?

LYLAS,
Rach

Whirlwind

2007-09-17T16:59:00.000-05:00

Sorry I've been so slow about updating... Things have been pretty normal, but busy. I went to Rockwall yesterday after church and spent the evening with my family. We went down to The Harbour and ate at Glorias (amazing!). Then my parents showed me all of the new shops that are opening up down there. My parents have done a great job getting that place up and running. For those of you that don't know, my parents are real estate developers in Rockwall and their newest project is a wonderful shopping center on Lake Ray Hubbard. There are tons of great restaurants, shops, fountains, a movie theater, Hilton hotel, a lighthouse, and boat docks. So yeah - I'm really proud of them!

After dinner we came back home and just sat outside on the porch and talked for over an hour. I miss the days of just sitting with my parents and just talking. Then my sister and I drove into Dallas and I spent the night at her place. I absolutely love spending time with my family - I wish that I lived just a little bit closer to them, so that I could see them every couple days instead of every couple weeks.

Today I went to a Baptist General Convention meeting and Paul Powell was the speaker (shout out to Truett Seminary) He spoke on the history of Texas Baptists - it was pretty cool. After that I went over to Katharines apartment and spent an hour with her and little Hannah. Yep, my godchild is still as beautiful as ever.

Aaron is telling me to hurry up because he wants me to go with him to the driving range - I like golfing alright, but I only last for about 15 minutes then I'm ready to move on to a more active sport (or at least one that I'm better at!).

RJ

Photos

2007-09-10T15:11:00.001-05:00

Aaron and I at Paliminos with the whole family on Saturday night.

Family Christmas Card shot...you can't tell, but I have on my infamous 1 piece!!!!!

Two of the most important men in my life

I'm so glad that I got married - I think this picture represents daily life for me -n - Aaron

Awesome Innertubing!

Here are a few pictures from my life lately. Most of them are from boating with the family on Labor Day. I'll put up a few more tomorrow....

So Fresh and So Clean

2007-09-04T16:38:00.000-05:00

After realizing that I was giving myself a headache trying to read my blog, I decided to go with something a little more neutral and easy to read. So here it is...the dots. I hope you like the new look - if I receive complaints I can always change it back.

Today has been a great day. I had a 7:00 am meeting with a website designer and even though I was not happy to have a meeting that early..it all worked out in the end because I got to eat breakfast at Panera Bread. Their cinnamon crunch bagels are delicious! Isn't it funny that I think today has been great all because of a cinnamon crunch bagel?? Well, at least it doesn't take much to keep me happy.

Oh, the one negative in my life these days is that I have poison ivy. For those of you that know me well - you're probably laughing. You would think that I worked as a lumberjack in the woods or something because I get poison ivy ALL the time. I was covered in it when Aaron and I went to Spain for our honeymoon. Ughhhh stupid Potter (the cat) gave it to me. He goes off exploring behind our house and he usually brings us back a "nice" surprise: dead lizards, mice, or in this case poison ivy.

Such is life..
Rachael

Hooray for the 30th!

2007-08-30T13:46:00.000-05:00

Let me tell you all the reasons that I love today....

Numero Uno: I get paid today!!!! Yay, I love having money! Now, don't start to think that I've become overly concerned with getting rich or anything, but I am really excited that its payday here at the WRBN. See this month I spent some big bucks on a semester tanning membership (yes, I know - you don't have to remind me that its bad for me...everyone needs a vice right??) and I had to buy $300 worth of tires for the good ol' Cougar. So, yeah the last 15 days have been kind of tight, but not anymore!

Numero Dos: I got to go by FBC Woodway and hangout with EJ for a little while. She's a very busy woman (she has to get out 1,000 peices of mail by the end of today), but she took some time to chat with me. Oh and I became an official notarty while I was there, so the visit really paid off in the end.

Numero Tres: In a few minutes I get to order new computers for the whole office. Whoohoo for Dell and their magnificently fast desktops and laptops. Oh and I get my very own laptop to tote around all over town --- Yay the computer guy just walked in the door while I was typing that so, I will have to finish this post in a minute ---- Okay, I'm back. So, if your office ever needs new computers or a computer tech guy let me know. David Neibel is awesome! He just saved us $4,000 on new equipment and he uses military talk (ex. He was spelling out my email address to Dell over the phone and this is how he did it: Romeo, Alpha, Cat, Horse, Alpha, Elephant, Love) and thats just my first name! Anyways, it kind of made me giggle

Numero Quatro: I'm hanging out with Baker and Kim Scott tonight. We are ordering pizza and watching Medea's Family Reunion. I love girls nights

Numero Cinco: Its almost Friday...which means A$ and I are headed to Dallas/Rockwall to spend time with family and friends. So far we have bowling and boating planned. Oh and lots of laying out by the pool!

More Tomorrow....

Obie Trice

2007-08-28T21:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday our poor little puppy, Obie, was hit by a car. Here's what happened: I woke up and let her outside about 7:30 am like I do every morning. Aaron usually brings her back inside when he gets up around 8:30. So, I went to work and figured that yesterday would be like any normal day. Well at 9:00, Aaron opened the back door to let Obie in, but she wasn't there. Since she can jump the fence, Aaron wasn't too worried when he saw that she wasn't in the backyard. He walked outside and started calling for her. Usually she just laying down under our carport - but not yesterday.
After looking all around the house, Aaron jumped in his car and drove up and down our street for like 30 minutes. When he came back he saw Obie laying down in the corner of our carport. Aaron jumped out of the car and started calling Obie because he was going to spank her for running away. He called her for a few seconds, but she was unresponsive. That's when he knew something was wrong. He walked closer and saw that her belly and back legs were covered in blood.
So, Aaron rushed to the vet - on the way there Obie started to go into shock. When they finally got to the vet...the veterinarian discovered that Obie had huge chunks of flesh ripped out of her legs in several spots (we think this is from her being scraped over rocks on the road). In several of the spots you can see all the way down to the bone. She also had a lot of blood in her lungs, so they had to hook her up to a ventilator to help her breathe.
Anyway, they didn't think she was going to make it....BUT she did (thank goodness). They can't really do anything for her besides give her antibiotics. We took her home last night because the vet said there was no purpose leaving her up at his office. They don't have any staff there at night, so if she got worse or died she would at least be in a comfortable "safe" place.
So we brought Obie home yesterday afternoon and let her camp out in our room. We made a pallet on the floor for her, but after we left the room she somehow jumped up on the bed. ***We were really surprised because she literally can't even walk or breath, but she somehow jumped 3 feet up*** Anyways, our bed in now covered in blood and smells awful, but at least Obie's comfortable, right......?
Aaron took Obie back to the vet this morning, so they could start stitching up her wounds and give her some more medicine for her lungs. Good thing we only spent $23 on this dog when we bought her - because we're going to have to shell out the $$$ once we get this vet bill (YIKES!)

Oh and I included a picture of Potter, so that he doesn't feel to left out.

Fairy Godmother

2007-08-27T14:19:00.000-05:00

I am officially a GODMOTHER! Hannah Kay Elkins was born this morning at 8:30. Her mother Katharine is one of my very closest friends and I'm so excited for her. She is going to be an amazing mother and I wish that I lived closer, because I want to babysit! I got a text message this morning that had the most beautiful picture of little Hannah. Aaron and I plan on going to Dallas this weekend to see my family, so hopefully we will be able to see her in person (and give her LOTS of gifts). I'm so excited to see what God has in store for the Elkins family - Its going to be amazing!

Oh and PS... Riding the bus isn't as easy as I thought. I actually haven't tried it yet - there's always too many things I have to do in the mornings before work. I guess Aaron was right : )

Public Transportation

2007-08-22T16:16:00.000-05:00

For those of you that don't know - Waco has a very dependable transit system. Now, I have lived in Waco for almost 7 years and I have never been on the bus...I've never even ridden (is ridden a word?) one of those sweet trolleys that cruise around Baylor's campus.

But TOMORROW that is all going to change.

I'm going to become a bus rider. There are several reasons for this: I am tired of the maintenance that my car needs. The Cougar is getting old and today was the last straw. I had to get an oil change and replace two of the tires. Now Aaron says that this is regular maintenance, but I don't care - I'm done with it. Second of all, why not ride the bus. It goes everywhere that I need to go and I'll still have the car at home for emergencies and such. Actually..Aaron and I have THREE vehicles; my car, his car, and the motorcycle. I think that is a bit excessive especially when there is a fourth mode of transportation - The Waco Bus System. Also, I'm helping out the environment. Well, actually maybe not. Have you ever seen the black smoke that comes pouring out the back of those buses? But, I've heard that public transportation is good for the ol' ecosystem, so I'm going to do it. And finally...it only costs $30 per month for an unlimited ticket. So, bus riding fits my budget perfectly.

Now some of you (Aaron) may think I'm bluffing. But, I'm not. I have already visited the Waco Bus Station, I have my bus schedule, and I'm ready. Tomorrow morning I will be a the Walmart on I35 waiting for my ride.

Indian Joe

2007-08-20T14:30:00.000-05:00

Well as some of you know - MY BLOG IS FAMOUS! Okay, I'm really not that excited about it, but Team Family Love made front page news in Saturday's Tribune Herald. I can't go into many details on here, but I will tell you that Aaron and I were quite surprised when we walked into a gas station on Saturday morning and saw my name and my blog in the paper once again (Whew - being a celebrity is exhausting) If you want a copy of the Waco paper from either Saturday let me know (I might have bought out the whole store)

Today started off pretty normal..just another morning at the CRISIS Center. About ten minutes after I walked in, Indian Joe let loose. Now some of you many know Joe - He's kind of a Waco celebrity. He is a homeless man that takes a lot of pride in his Native American heritage. Sometimes he can be like a sweet ol' grandpa, but other times he can be a little intimidating.. especially since he carries around a 5 inch knife. He is a huge help around the Center - He speaks Spanish fluently, so he translates for us from time to time and also does a lot of the manual labor. In return, we give him as much food and clothing as he wants.

The only problem with Joe is that he is continually talking about the plight of the Indian and how the "white man" is an oppressor. Now, I believe that Joe has a point. Occasionally he gets carried away and will start bashing all races (except of course, his beloved Native Americans). He also bashes Texas, New Yorkers, and a variety of other people...Oh and Bush too. Usually we all just sort of nod and agree with him and eventually he will get quiet. But NOT today! I guess something must have happened earlier this morning, but when he came into the Center he was in an angry mood and looking for a fight. He started yelling about how he hated the blacks, the mexicans, and the white man. How we were all lazy and stealing the Indian's inheritance. He used a few choice words that I won't write on here and made everyone more than a little uncomfortable. Joe also threatened to kill a few of the black men that were in the waiting room and then threatened the man that runs the Center. I was just sitting at the Welcome Desk not knowing what to do. It was more shocking than scary, but it could have been bad.

Thankfully, the director was able to get him settled down and eventually got him out of the Center. I know that Holy Spirit was there keeping everyone calm, because most people (especially the African Americans) would not usually have allowed someone to say such ugly things. Its amazing how God takes care of us on a daily basis. The Crisis Center can be a scary place sometimes, but its also a place where God is at work.

All in all - There is never a normal day at the Operation CRISIS

Passions = Top 10

2007-08-14T14:29:00.000-05:00

I went to Barnes and Noble for lunch today - Yes, I had a date with Harry Potter... And on my way there I started to think about my passions. I mean what are they? I know what I say they are, but does my life really reflect passions? So, I decided to make a Top 10 list of things I want to accomplish by the end of this year. Here they are for your enjoyment - feel free to keep me accountable.

1. Read the Bible from start to finish.

2. Call a family member everyday

3. Write a "just because" note at least once a week

4. Cook something new and exciting one night a week - Yikes!

5. Start taking piano lessons

6. Sing a solo at church

7. Go camping with Aaron

8. Pay off my credit card bill

9. Get up 6:30 to walk for hour

10. Play tennis once a week

Typical

2007-08-13T16:16:00.000-05:00

Hello Blogging Friends...

Today has been a pretty typical Monday. I started off the morning by hitting the snooze button several times. Jumped out of bed at 7:50 and raced to the CRISIS Center. Hung up two garbage bags full of clothes. Went back home and got dressed in my "work attire." Came to work and read the Waco Tribune Herald looking for mention of any of our churches. Went and got my fingerprints taken (see previous blog). Mailed out some postcards about an upcoming pastors conference. And now I'm talking to you. I kind of like days like today - no worries, no anxiety, no excitement...just kinda cruising along.

After work Aaron and I are heading to the pool - Working full time has turned me kind of pasty. I used to be a sun slave...seriously. Life guarding for 7+ years makes you crave sunlight and chlorine. I used to spend my summers rocking a one piece and reeking of sweat and chlorine. And I loved every minute of it - weird I know.

An interesting thing I learned this weekend...
I used to be a little bit embarrassed by how Aaron and I met. I mean, I still kind of cringe when I think about how "shady" we used to be, but as of this weekend I don't feel quite as bad.

See Aaron and I met my freshman year while I had another boyfriend. I don't want to go into the whole story here, but lets just say that its not exactly the story I want to tell the sweet old lady in church when she asks how we met.

This weekend I talked to TWO ministers who both met their wives in shady ways. One of them met his wife at a frat party. See, another girl was hitting on him and he wanted to get away, so he went up to his "future wife" and started hitting on her instead. The other minister I talked to met his wife over tequila shots at 2:00 in the morning. They were friends that had crushes on each other and so they would hang out all night and talk over tequila.

Now don't get me wrong...I'm not justifying the way Aaron and I met. Its just nice to know that we are not alone in our shady stories. Good thing God changes people!

Rachael "the shadester" Johnson

FREEEEZE Tag??!!!

2007-08-09T13:51:00.000-05:00

So..there is this game going on all over the blogging world. Its sort of like tag and you are supposed to get tagged by someone before you can play..but you know me, I like to be included, so this time I just "tagged" myself.

Hey - I like games, what can I say....

Here are the Rules:
1. Post the rules.
2.List 8 random facts or habits about yourself
3.If you are tagged, you must post the rules and 8 random facts or habits about yourself
4.After you post, tag someone, and let them know they must read your blog for the rules

Random things about me:

1. I love to sleep. Now some of you may think that you like to sleep, but none of you enjoy it as much as I do. I literally JUMP into bed every night with a huge grin on my face and the earlier I get in there the better.

2. I love it when Aaron calls me Little Frizzer, Rach.E. J., RJ, and Beauty Queen. I never had much of a nickname growing up, so I think its great when people make them up for me now.

3. I'm a huge taste tester...Not for free samples or anything. Instead I taste test things that grow out in the wild (berries, mushrooms, leaves, grass) I'm probably going to die from this silly little habit someday, but I mean can a teenie tiny bite really kill you.

4. I'm an akward hug giver. I'm one of those people that likes to give and receive hugs but only if I know you. Its really hard for me to tell whether I should handshake or hug...especially with women because handshakes are sort of akward with women.

5. I am obsessed with my family - I like to hangout with them more than I like hanging out with anybody in the whole world (my family includes Aarons family too)

6. Reading is a passion of mine. My favorite book is Gone With the Wind and I've probably read it about seven times. I'm currently reading the final Harry Potter. I don't feel like spending $30 on the book, so I usually just head over to Barnes and Noble a couple times a week and read it there.

7. I tried to grow a garden - most of the flowers died, but a lone squash plant survived

8. I clap at random times...usually when I get really excited which is all the time. Sometimes I even hop up and down while I'm clapping...yeah I'm really cool

Okay so there are the random facts about me - Tag you are all it!

RJ