The Johnson Family Newsletter - March 2007

Spring’s Coming

Dad has pulled out all of last year’s seeds from the freezer and is getting ready to get his tomato seedlings planted. It may be twenty degrees in the morning but a gardener always looks forward to spring. We will not be planting any of Burpee’s Red Lightning tomato. We were seduced by a pretty face: the picture of the red skinned tomato streaked with orange certainly looked enticing but the taste matched the tomatoes you buy in the supermarket.

This Old House

The new carpeting that was supposed to be installed in January was finally put in a couple of weeks ago. We love having our doors rehung and not stepping on carpet underlayment in the upstairs hall. When the installers pulled up the carpeting in the upstairs hall, they found some rotting floor. When Dad inspected what repairs might be needed, he could see we needed to call in a contractor. Another three weeks, and the contractor was finally able to come, the hallway was finished, and we are back to normal. Mom’s nomination was for next project will be remodeling the bathroom(s).

Welcome Family

It’s been fun to have Uncle Dick and his wife Julie serving their third mission as temple workers right here at the Washington D.C. temple. We were very pleased that they could come to dinner one Sunday evening. Mom fixed pork tenderloin and Dad’s favorite roasted vegetables and apple pie. Wendy and Steve and family and Holly and Dave and family came over later for cake and ice cream. Of course this is the kind of evening that we love – family, grown-up kids, grandchildren.

Happy Events

It’s also nice to see the Whites when we attend the temple. We were there the next Friday when Tyler Folkman took out his endowments before leaving for his mission to New Caldonia. Tyler is one of Mom’s former seminary students who has thrilled his mother and pleased us all by deciding to serve. It’s a wonderful thing to see a young person gain a testimony and embrace the gospel.

Sunrise, sunset . . . .

Our Holly is now 38 years old (but looking ten years younger). Mom got to go to the Olive Garden with Holly and her friends for lunch to celebrate but we still need to have more cake and ice cream. Sara (our Little Bear) will turn the big 30 this month.

Family Doings

Wendy’s article for the Ensign is still scheduled for August publication. When Elder Gary Coleman was here for our stake conference, he said that he reviews all the Ensign articles before they are published and had read Wendy’s. The magazine asked for a picture of their family to publish – when Amie and Christopher were young and a current family group. Kellie Nuss graciously served as photographer and we are forwarding some of the results with this letter.

Lisa and Brian and kids are home from their Disney cruise and vacation. Brett will be running in the Boston marathon next month. Sara just finished organizing the annual lobbying day with environmental groups with the Minnesota state legislature.

Mom and Dad will be traveling to Utah on April 12^th for Nicole’s sophomore piano recital. She will play a 45 minute program in one of the concert halls in the Harris Fine Arts Center that evening. We’re hoping many of our Utah relatives will be able to come. Mom is going to get busy and get invitations out in the next couple of weeks.

Dad's Thoughts

Joseph Millett was a little-known member of the Church who lived in the early days of the church and came across the plains with other faithful pioneers to find a new home with the Saints. In those first years, food was often scarce. Winters were particularly difficult, and often the days stretched further than the food that they were able to store.

Joseph Millett wrote in this journal: “One of my children came in and said that Brother Newton Hall’s folks was out of bread, had none that day.

“I divided our flour in a sack to send up to Brother Hall. Just then Brother Hall came.

“Said I, ‘Brother Hall, are you out of flour?’

“‘Brother Millet, we have none.’

“‘Well, Bother Hall, there is some in that sack. I have divided and was going to send it to you. Your children told mine that you was out.’

“Brother Hall began to cry. He said he had tried others but could not get any. He went to the cedars and prayed to the Lord, and the Lord told him to go to Joseph Millett.

“‘Well Brother Hall, you needn’t bring this back. If the Lord sent you for it you don’t owe me for it.’

That night Joseph Millett recorded this remarkable sentence in his journal:

“You can’t tell me how good it made me feel to know that the Lord knew there was such a person as Joseph Millet.

God knows each of us. He loves each of us.

Each time God answers your prayer, it is an indication that he knows you and that he loves you. Great things come as a result of mighty prayer – we come to know God. We come to know of his love for us.

Johnson Family News - February 2007

What nice holidays we had Sara home for a week and Nicole home from college. The only thing that would have made Christmas perfect would have been for Brett and Lisa’s family to be here.

The holidays officially ended on January 6 when Nicole returned to BYU and Mom and Dad were left again to rattle around the house and readjust to the empty nest.

Elder Gary J. Coleman Adds His Name to the Guest Book

We could not mourn for long because stake conference was the next week and lots of serious housecleaning and grocery shopping were in order for Mom on the home front and the spiritual and physical preparations for conference on Dad’s part (we aren’t sure who has the heaviest job).

Elder Coleman was a delightful guest – warm, personable, comfortable to be with, and appreciative of everything. He arrived late Friday afternoon. We went with him to the mission home on Friday evening where he spoke to the senior missionaries and then on Saturday morning, Dad drove him to the Laurel meetinghouse where he spoke with the young elders and sister missionaries. Wendy and Steve and Holly and Dave and their families came over Saturday night after our stake conference meetings to meet him. He expressed particular concern for Amie, Christopher, and Molly in our conversations and shared the experiences and insight he had from working with the Primary in researching ways church members could include and help children with disabilities. Before leaving on Sunday, he asked if he could offer a prayer and blessing on our home and family – sweet experience!

Ryan Is Seventeen!

Ryan has his driver’s license and has driving privileges that are tied to the number of chapters he reads in the Book of Mormon – a day to drive for one chapter read. With the E-Bay gift certificate he received from his grandparents, he purchased a motion-sensitive shirt that lights up. Ryan has fine-tuned how much motion it takes to get the light effects he wants but Holly says his initial efforts required him to flap his arms like a chicken!

Celebration at the Cheesecake Factory

Mom decided the way she would best like to celebrate her birthday would be with her daughters and granddaughters at the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. The person at the table who received the most adoration and attention, of course, was not the birthday honoree but Sadie. Not a problem – Wendy, Ashley, Holly, Sadie, and Mom had a great time enjoying our bounteous entrees and sharing cheesecake for dessert.



Sunday Night and More Celebrations

Of course we had not yet had the family celebration for all the family together to honor the January birthdays so the family gathered again Sunday evening for the pineapple birthday cake and ice cream sundaes. Michael entertained us with a trumpet solo of Ode to Joy. Having the basement playroom has given much more space for the kids to have a place to play and for the family to spread out. Sadie discovered Nicole’s Ariel doll with her basket and collection of clothes and accessories and was happily absorbed with her play.

New Carpet Installed – Almost

Mom had been hoping that the carpet she ordered in December might be installed before Elder Coleman came so that the house would be at its best but delivery and installation schedules didn’t work out. When the installers finally did arrive, Mom was admiring the new carpet work downstairs when she heard one of the men working in the upstairs hall by bathroom say, “This looks like water damage.” A leak in the plumbing that had long ago been repaired had left some serious hidden damage under the flooring. The long and short of the story is that we have subfloor to replace and probably a bathroom that will need to be remodeled. In the meantime, we are walking on the carpet pad in the hall until Bob Knight, our trusted carpenter, works on the problem this week (we hope).

Uncle Dick and Julie Serve a Temple Mission Here

Uncle Dick and his wife Julie have just settled in their apartment in Kensington and have begun their service as temple missionaries. We are excited to have them so close and look forward to their coming for dinner next Sunday. Presently, they finish their shift at the temple at seven each evening which is the time we generally arrive when we are attending but we hope to see them often during their stay here.

Family Members Far from Home

Sara is busy right now at work with her responsibilities to coordinate the annual day at the Minnesota state legislature when all environmental groups meet with the lawmakers. Brett has just returned from New Zealand where he ran a marathon. Lisa and Brian and family are off on a Disney cruise this coming week. We wish we could see the results of Sara’s hard work in Minnesota. We wish we could cheer Brett as he runs. We wish we were on the cruise with the Gladwells.