Johnston life

Things are always consistent but never boring at our house!

We traded blog dates with the Rivers because things were exceptionally busy at our house during our time slot. Now that the wedding is over, we can breathe again for a couple of weeks before a trip to KC. What kept us busy you ask? I will tell you.

After spray tanning for the first time last Thursday, (with bridesmaids for the wedding) I had some color for the first time… well, ever! It was cold! It was such a foreign and awesome experience! Dave just kept staring at me and saying “It’s so weird to see you tan!” We’ve known each other for half our lives, so I can see why it’s strange to him!

Friday morning Pam came to watch the girls because I went to get pedicures and pre-wedding stuff done in Wichita. Friday night we had rehearsal and dinner. Adelynn had so much fun dancing and playing with the two flower girls (age 5 and 3). I had my last sleepover with Amee (bride), and we turned in early and got up early – which is the opposite of every sleepover we have ever had!

We were at the church at 7:30am with Starbucks in hand. We spent the morning relaxing and getting ready for the day.

(Throwback to 5 years ago Friday!!! – when the roles were reversed.)

I was lucky to get to walk with a friend of mine from my 8th grade class. (Tristan Fouard) The whole wedding was a little reunion, and when you have 21 classmates, it’s fun to see everyone again.

After the reception wound down, we sent Ava with my parents to go home to Pam who had Adelynn (she was sick) and we went to dinner with close friends and some family for more wedding celebration in Wichita. We got home in time for bed. We got up for church the next morning then went to scarf down lunch and for me to head to our Women’s Ministry “P” Party at Regena Garber’s house.

After the party I got home at 7, cleared my calendar for Monday, and went to bed. I had about 6 awake hours at home over the weekend.

Women’s Ministry is something I love to be a part of. We get together about 2-3 evenings a month at Metro to plan events for the women in our church – our quarterly events include all 3 campuses. We are always there until closing time, and when the weather allows, we finish our conversation outside after 10. Dave knows not to expect me home early on those nights I have done this for a year and have loved every minute!

For this party, I was in charge of music and making cups for our parfait bar – I took light responsibility since I had such a wild wedding weekend!

Regena’s poppies are beautiful! She’s sharing her seeds, so watch for some of these beauties at our house next Spring!

This weekend was much calmer for us. We had a couple of BBQs, a swimming night, family time, time with friends and actually got out to go to a movie!

Bruce has started sleeping with Adelynn during nap and until we send him to the basement for the night. It’s taken 3 years, but he finally loves her

Speaking of cats… we have a new one. Not intentionally, but because she found us. And surprisingly, Dave is the reason we are keeping her.

This is Betty. She lives outside (and in the garage at night) for now until her ear mites are gone (they are contagious.) And then she will move inside. We aren’t sure of her story, but she is very young and playful. She was skin and bones when she came to us and didn’t know how to use a litter box. Thankfully she has made a great home here.


Ava is 3 months old already! She is constantly complimented on how happy and content she is. She’s a good baby and an awesome sleeper! At night she consistently sleeps 11-12 hours straight without stirring and during the day takes about 4 naps. Most are an hour and one is 3 hours. She laughed out loud at Dave on Saturday – twice! Then again at my Dad that night. It’s not a belly laugh yet, but it’s such a sweet giggle.

Adelynn danced in the rain.

Ava asleep in the ring sling.

The library had a Summer Celebration on Friday. Adelynn did many things and got lots of fun prizes, this is her helping with a volcano.

She was kind of small to do the sack race, but wanted to anyway. So he carried her and helped her “jump” the whole way. He was so sweet. Then we went inside and signed up for the Summer reading program. It’s not really a full summer long when the program is only 10 books… we signed up Friday and we are done now and headed to the library tomorrow to claim our prizes!

Sister still loves her baths!

Adelynn doesn’t want her to be bored!

It’s rough when you are too big to nap and too little to skip nap.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Summer!

Rivers Ripple

We are another 3 months out! Where did the Spring go? Summer is upon us, warm weather has finally decided to stay, and we are looking toward some exciting times this summer.

Most days are busy, even if we are just around the house.

Sarah has continued to be at home full time, although she did start back to ViaChristi Rehab in April. She plans to pick up some extra PRN hours while there is easy childcare available(thanks Grandma)!  Rainbows continues to use her to score Sensory Profiles and will contact her as needed.  The two and three year old Sunday school class has kept her on her toes-we'll take the summer off.  She has tried several new recipes, including several related to her recent dairy-soy free commitment. She has almost read two books, and has managed to squeeze in a visit/walk/coffee date with a friend

1x/ month (barely!).  

Dan has continued with his work at KWCH. He is still enjoying it. Over lunch, he runs regularly and has ran 2 5Ks this spring.  Olivia has been inspired to run as a result.  "I run, like daddy!"   While he's been on hiatus from church band, Dan has been leading a Transformers music band for a gig in August and working on his Brisco comic(if you'd like to see the comic and don't do Facebook let us know!).

Olivia is 2.5! She is beginning to be even more independent and enjoys doing things herself. Daily she's testing boundaries, learning new things, and playing hard. Livee is taking 'nastics at the Y with Sarah. She's also expressed interest in soccer. Recently, she got a trike. Her favorites continue to be dress up, puzzles, LEGOS/blocks, and painting.  She still enjoys baking.

Kinley, now 23 weeks (5 months), is beginning to blossom into glimmers of her personality. She is easy-going and sweet and likes to be held and cuddled. She's had quite the past 3 months, medically speaking. Since the beginning of April, we've been to the doctor every week. Visits to our regular doctor, dermatologist, cardiologist, and gastroenterologist have lead to cleared cradle cap, the discovery of a hole in her heart(ASD) and a heart murmur, various reflux med trials, and a mysterious rash that comes and goes. We also suspect a dairy and soy sensativity.  Although she often stirs at night due to her reflux, Kinley is now sleeping in her crib in the girls' room.  Kinley's favorites are her crinkly toys, soft toys, and laying on the floor to play.

Not to be left out, Brisco had a UTI and we discovered he has a heart murmur in April.  His allergies have flared up a bit in the past few weeks, but it could be because he has Olivia convinced that she should share every bit of food with him.

We enjoyed our trip to NYC to see Aunt Mary and Uncle Kurtis in March. Various spring visits and activities helped the never-ending winter seem tolerable. Although honestly speaking, it's been a bit more stressful with the medical appointments, challenging toddler behavior, and finding a balance.  Just in case we don't have enough to manage, as we head into summer, we are preparing to put our house on the market! Anyone want to watch girls while we clean, touch up some paint, and simplify? 

Catch our happenings(likely abbreviated for a bit) at theriverscurrent.blogspot.com

The Next Year

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes, cards, gifts, time, etc regarding my graduation! I'll include a few pictures below for those of you who, understandably, couldn't be there. I've been fortunate enough since before graduation to know what I'm doing, but I haven't given everyone the whole story yet.

My friend Andrew and me walking through the "Columns," the final part of the graduation ceremony. We're looking/waving at a mutual friend who's part of the "Skulls of Seven" a "secret" society who was ushering us for graduation

In early May, I was approached by the Dean of Faculty and asked if I was interested in taking a one year position with the school. This position is almost full-time (30-32 hours), and is known as a Westminster Fellowship. For all of next year my focus will be implementing, introducing, and maintaining an electronic portfolio program for the school. The intent of the program is to give students a place where they can collect important works (papers, speeches, presentations, artwork, etc) and use this to either represent themselves to potential hirers or to track and generate resumes. On the administration's end, however, they want to use the program to track their own student development goals and collect data (essentially their side of the interface is one giant database they can use for assessment). So it'll be my job to make sure that students want to use the program and that faculty/staff know how to use it. 

There's already been some dilemmas with this, for example the pilot class gave poor ratings to the vendor the school has contracted with, so I'm doing hourly work this summer to help select between different programs/vendors and to develop class modules to introduce all the freshman to the software and how to use it. I don't know that I have any  investment in this particular project, but it's a job, I'm interested in pedagogy more generally and this affects that interest, and it's a challenge—which is the part that really motivates me.

And while we're on challenges, I'll also be living in Columbia MO next year. House hunting is...not going well. There's lots of complications regarding the fact that my two roomates have either not started looking for a job yet (he's trompsing through the major national parks for a geology class) or is self-employed. I'm the only one with a job, but I can't actually get a lease without a paystub, which I won't have for two weeks. Meanwhile, the only friend still in the area will officially be homeless on May 31, so house hunting will get a lot more difficult before I can demonstrate that I actually have a job.

In that year that I'm in Columbia, the current plan is to apply for graduate schools again, with an eye on masters programs that include funding. In particular I'm looking at the University of Missouri, St. Louis—not because I want to live there but because they have a good program and I could take dual-credit courses with at least St. Louis University if not Webster University as well. Living in Columbia during that time will give me the time to establish in-state residency should I get accepted. For the rest of this summer anyways, I'll be working at the Cosmosphere again, so you'll see me around!

Kate, Ben, and me. Notice Ben's hat.

The parents and me outside of EcoHouse

After graduation, Andrew, Marina (my housemates), spent 4 days in Santa Fe, NM. You can't tell here but we're rushing to catch the train to go to Albuquerque for the day.

Hi all!

As many of you are aware, my lease runs out in Denver on June 30th.  At this point, I will not be renewing the lease.

Originally, I had planned to make my next move to Washington DC in search of theatre positions as well as jobs.  I spent Tuesday - Thursday of this past week searching for apartments and it became clear to Dad, Mom and I that the financial commitment for an apartment lease did not make sense under the circumstances.

At this point, I am planning a return home in the interim while I am looking for a job.  Ultimately, the plan will be for me to head East once the concerns over finances is rectified.  

In the mean time, I would anticipate me being home July 1st and staying until probably September 1 or possibly later.  It will depend on what opportunities come my way.

So, if you have any odd jobs that need done in July, you can let me know at your convenience and I will begin scheduling them.

While I'm obviously disappointed that I won't be able to make a move right now, I am pleased that I will be able to spend some time with all of you this summer.

Let the job hunt begin.

Love,

Charles