Expecting LOA between 2 ~ 3 today..... Woo Hoo!

LOA Update!

Ok let me start by saying today was not what I had expected it to be. And yet it all started last Friday, when our LOA had been sent to us via Fedex. We didn't know that had been, but it was. We had come to the conclusion that we should have our package stopped in OKC and we would drive there to sign it and return it asap to K. I sent an email explaining this to K and gave her the address on which we wanted it remain. When we received the the email back explaining that K had already sent it our way.... Yipee I thought we will have a day earlier. Can you believe it! So last night we began to prepare for LOA arriving and we would immediately head to Enid and send it back. We then heard that the package was not coming until tomorrow and it was currently in OKC. A few phone calls, we had requested that they hold it in OKC and we were coming that way. We hopped in the car and was about to head to the city, when we called to assure that it was being held. They told us OH NO we cant hold it for you, it is in the city but we cant release it to you until tomorrow. I refused to take that as the final answer but I was not the one on the phone with Fedex. So the final update on LOA is that is guaranteed to be here tomorrow by 7 pm, shipping via Fedex. Frustration filled me, but I only had a pity party for a short while. Tears streamed down my face, but I quickly realized that I am NOT in control. He is, not me. Why we are waiting is beyond my abilities, but I don't mind because He has proven over and over that He knows best, and who am I to doubt that. I do ask that you continue to pray for us and we continue this journey, with Faith in our Christ Jesus. We love you all!

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1

For everything that was written in the past, was written to teach us, so that through endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Romans 15:4

"Be still and now that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on earth."

Psalms 46:10

Oh my goodness... This mom is doing the happy dance! (and you all now that I cant dance). We are on day 94 of the wait for LOA, and today we received the very important email saying "Your LOA is on its way"...... Thanks Karla! During our bible study, and after I had shared my heart with what God had shown me this week about Peace, and being still and wait on him, my sweet husband came in and shown me the email. Now you know that I gasped and took all the air out of the room. Everyone reaction was priceless, and I was quick to share that we had LOA...... :) Praise you father, because your timing is best. I know my focus was on other things regarding the adoption journey. When I confessed that to Him this week and my dear friends, He delivered that very thing I had given to Him. Where my focus was on, to my surprise He still told us tonight that it could be very possible. I am in Awe, but not of Him because He is a God that loves me, answers my prayers, listens to my dreams, and praises. I am so excited to see the timeline before us, and have peace about it. Thank you my father for always being there even when I could be pushing you away!!!! I love you Lord, and Emily we are one step closer to holding you my precious daughter!!!! :)

Received a Blessing!!!

Hello all,

We have been waiting for LOA(letter of approval) for some time now, and still no news :( but much to our surprise we had an update on our baby Emily! As far as LOA, we have our paperwork done and we are just waiting for our agency to call us saying that they have it.

Now for the update..... We asked our agency to see if we could get an update around Sept. 1st and we were so excited to see this today. We got measurements of her and weight as well. She weighs 18 and 1/2 pounds and her foot size is 2 1/2 ~ 3 inches. She has a lot of hair, but still cut in a short do ~ :) Her mommy thinks she looks so sad, and just wants me to come and get her. Her crib looks lonely and she needs a buddy!!! Enjoy the pictures of our sweet Emily and keep checking in with us, we expect LOA soon!

Emily ~ about 13 1/2 months

I think she wants me to hold her, what do you think?

PS.... Remember the Johnsons in your prayers!

Happy Birthday Kaylee!

Today is our sweet Kaylee's 14th birthday!!!! My goodness I cant believe how old my girls are getting. Kaylee, we are so proud of you and all your accomplishments! You have grown up so fast, and are such a beautiful girl, inside and out. We love your sweet spirit, your love for children, your love for Christ, your serving heart, your giggle, the time you invest into your friends, and the way you love your family (immediate and church). Kaylee we love you so much and are so thankful that God gave you to us to love. You are a truly a blessing, and a gift from God! Im so looking forward to what God is going to do through your life, and cant wait to see where God takes you. Happy birthday Kaylee, WE LOVE YOU!

Happy Birthday Ashley

I want to wish my sweet Ashley a Happy Birthday!!!!! Her birthday was Saturday October 3rd, and we had so much planned this weekend that I didn't have some spare moments to blog about it.

So here it goes........ Ashley we are so proud of you and the young lady you are growing up to be. We love how you love the Lord, and love your family. We love how you take school seriously, and take pride in your accomplishments. We love that you put others first, sometimes even when you don't want to. But most of all WE LOVE YOU! Happy Birthday, Hope you had a great one!

OU vs OSU

Ok no doubt in my mind...... OU wins! But, I had a opportunity to travel with the Ringwood FCA to FCA gameday at OSU. We were able to see a football game, have a FCA rally and hang with other students within our school who share the same beliefs! It was a lot of fun, even though we were at a OSU football game. Lots of orange all around us, with a few crimson and cream shirts mixed within ~ Brave souls! The final score was 56 ~ 6, of course OSU favor. Makes for not much excitement but lots of touchdowns! The other team was Grambling State, known for being "The Best Band in the Land". They really put on a show! Anyways..... I may be an die hard OU fan, but I must say WTG OSU!

Ashley and SC at the football game!

"Bullet" the horse, rides after a touchdown!

"Grambling Band"

"Grambling Band" ~ A tribute to Micheal Jackson.

Inspired!

I'm so excited to share my fundraiser idea. Many months ago I had seen a very cool necklace that inspired me to start a fundraiser. With the help of CJ and LW I was able to start "More Precious Than Gold" last week. Thank you so much to the both of you, for your help and encouragement and support. After many hours of looking at beads and putting them together, I have been inspired by 8 necklaces. I have started with ~

Emily ~ an Asian design with an American flare

Ladybug ~ red, black with a white accent

Ocean Mist ~ ocean colors with a silver accent

Nature Inspired ~ green and brown

Safari ~ many pottery colors

Licorice Groove ~ black and white with a flare

Pretty in Pastel ~ pastel green, blue and pink

Iced Mocha ~ 3 shades of brown

I am very excited to share them with you. 100% of the profit goes to help us bring our "More Precious Than Gold ~ Emily" home. We hope you enjoy the necklaces and I thank you for helping bring Emily home.

Good Evening all!

I must share with you whats on my heart. I am overjoyed, overwhelmed, and over filled with Gods love. I have been preparing my heart for a Bible Study that God laid upon my heart many months ago. As we embark upon a journey through they fruits of the spirit tomorrow, I must share that I am really excited and scared at the same time. I so want to please God in all I do, and I know I can do this and will do this, but Satan is attacking me in all areas of my life. I must focus on Him and all He is going to do for me during this Bible Study. Tomorrow evening I, along with many other ladies, will begin a Bible Study entitled "Living Among Ourselves" (a study on the fruits of the spirits). This study is done by Beth Moore and I so LOVE her work and how God has used her to do big and mighty things. My prayer is that I will be open to Gods words and teachings. I think in my mind that I know the fruits of the spirit that I MUST work on, but I want to open to God and honest to myself with the ones that I felt were ok or better than ok. Lord, please speak to me about all the fruits of the spirit and let me focus on your will not mine. Thanks for listening to me, and letting me record my thoughts! May you all be blessed and remember to put God first in all you do and have. Love you all!

Our Sweet Emily~

What a blessing to be woke up at 1:30 in the morning...... No really it is when I hear "April are you awake?" I was thinking what and why? He said it again and I responded..... He then said "Get up we got pictures!" Well you can imagine that I was up and out of that bed in nothing flat!!!!! We have been waiting for these pictures for a long time, but the wait is over and so worth it! Emily's birthday was August 29th and we sent her a cake to help her celebrate and hopefully get some pictures. Well that prayer/wish came true. What a blessing to have organizations, like Ladybugs~n~love, serve adoptive families. They are truly a God sent gift to so many families that are waiting to hold their precious children. Thank you so much Ladybugs~n~love! Now for what you all have been waiting for ~ especially me and my family ~ God is so good to us, even though we don't deserve His love, mercy, or gifts. He still gives them to us, because He loves us so much. Thank you God for all the blessings you have given to us, individually and as a family. We are truly blessed. Now here is my sweet little girl ~ Emily!

She is a true "Mueller", she seems to love cake!

Happy Birthday Emily!

Mommy, Daddy, Ashley and Kaylee love you very much!

Stay Tuned!

I promise that I am still working on a video with my girls talent on it. I am having trouble uploading it onto the computer.... Please bare with me, and I WILL get it!!!!! Stay tuned!

Fair Week

We are enjoying the fair week so far. We have an event each night through Saturday night. Monday was bingo, and last night was the pageant? Both girls were in it and I will post more about it later. I am working on the video of Ashley's talent. I will tell you that Kaylee is Miss Cinderella 2009 and Ashley received Personality Plus and 1st runner up. I am so proud of both of my girls, they make me smile and my heart swells with love for both of them. They both did so well last night and well did all the girls. Congrats to all the winners. I must give a very special THANK YOU to Brian for all the hard work you put into "Popular". We are all very appreciative...... :) Also I must thank AF, Tina, LP and KR for all the support and help they gave me and my girls as well, I would have never made it with out them. Tonight was fellowship where we ate fried chicken and had live entertainment. I sang with two other ladies tonight. It is so much fun hanging with everyone as one body of Christ. Looking forward to the rest of the week! Keep checking for pics and a video of my two beautiful daughters......

PS..... No pictures of Emily yet, still patiently (at least trying to) waiting!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Emily, Happy Birthday to you. Our sweet Emily turns 1 today. Oh how I want to hold her and kiss her and love on her. We sent her a cake, and we are waiting patiently on those pictures. We thank our Lord for allowing us to be Emily parents. I pray she has a wonderful birthday today, and that somebody loves on her..... alot!

Wait on Gods Plan!

Hello all, as I sit here in my living room checking my email at least once an hour, usually more than that, I sit and think about the journey we have been so far. It starts with the desire to adopt, and then wait on Gods plan, then thinking He changed my heart, wait on Gods plan, desire returns, wait on Gods plan, talking with husband once more, wait on Gods plan, take first step in adoption process, wait on Gods plan, here the news this little girl file has been sent back to CCAA, wait on Gods plan, pray and are given a glimpse of His plan and proceed with adoption, wait on Gods plan, fill out paperwork, wait on Gods plan, receive two referrals and making that most difficult decision, wait on Gods plan, receiving our little girls information and picture, wait on Gods plan, wait on PA, and still waiting on Gods plan. I know this seems like a lot of waiting, and yet it really has not taken us very long to get we were are today. As we wait for LOA, I think how much will we wait, and when I think of waiting, the thought comes to me "It is worth it" His plans are perfect, and as I look back there is no doubt that His plans are worth waiting on!

Now you ponder why is she checking her email every hour..... We are expecting pictures of our precious little Emily any day now! Also would you please keep D & T in your prayers during this difficult trial they are facing right now! Many blessings to you all!

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

One More Step Closer

Much to my surprise, we are at our one month stepping stone toward our LOA (letter of acceptance). I am taken back to the moment when we first started our journey, and how excited I was and how blessed we were that God had chosen us to adopt. Today I am still excited and even more blessed then when we started. Our Gods plans amaze me every day, and how He knows each and every step we will take, exactly who will run into each day, the things we will say (sometimes not to His glory), the actions we make public, and yet He still loves us, and wants to spend time with us despite the things we have done.

As far as the one month anniversary (ha ha I feel like a teenager celebrating the 1st month of a relationship) we do now that it takes 60 ~ 90 days to receive our LOA, and although 1 month does not seem like a lot, it is to adoptive parents, because we know we are one month closer to holding our precious girl. How I long to hold her, kiss her, and just look into those eyes and say "Mommy's here". We pray that our LOA will be closer to the 60 days, and we will see Emily before the end of the year. I do know that the enemy is attacking, and all of our adoptive families needs prayers. So please continue to lift us all up in your prayers, because we all want to hold our children that God has chosen for us! With that we do know that we will see and hold them soon! May God Bless You Today!