We were on the Dove Awards with Third Day!!!!

Can you believe it we were on the Dove Awards with Third Day while they preformed "Children of God"? You ask how did we get there? Well, I will tell you how it happened. About a month ago Third Day put out a notice on their Facebook page that they were in search of people that had adopted or were adopted. If so, simply take a photo with the person that had been adopted holding a sign that said "ADOPTED". So we got our little family together and Papaw took the photo with Mary Beth holding the sign and we sent it in. Third Day posted on their Facebook page yesterday that you could click on the link and you could see them performing "Children of God" at the Dove Awards. I just had to click on the link just to see if they were using the photos and much to our surprise they were and you could see our photo (almost in plain sight).

If you click on the link (the link is below in orange - the link will say Johnston Family with Third Day at the Dove Awards) you will see Third Day (lead singer Mac Powell and his wife have two adopted children (not sure where their children were adopted from)) performing with Mark Hall the lead singer for Casting Crowns (who has a daughter adopted from China) and Steven Curtis Chapman (who everyone knows has three little girls adopted from China - one, Maria who is living in Heaven with Jesus). This song is an amazing song - it has been one of our favorites from the first time we both heard it and it has such a STRONG message. I can't see how anyone can listen to this song and not feel God's love from it! He is such an AMAZING God and I am so glad to know him, love him, praise him and worship him!!

We hope you will listen and receive the message from listening to this song and watch really close because you will see our photo (below) in the back ground on the big screen.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tpQUQzpeCA&feature=share


Love to all!!

Mary Beth lost her 1st tooth

It is official - our little girl is now a big girl. She has passed through yet another growing up threshold! This was something that I had prepared myself for since Mary Beth talks about her friend Riley losing so many teeth, but poor daddy was not ready for this. It took him by great surprise last night when we came in with a loose tooth. I stopped by to pick Mary Beth up from school yesterday and her teacher Ms. Daphnea asked if my child had a loose tooth that morning when we left home. I told her no we didn't - she said well now you do and it is almost ready to come out. Mary Beth was all excited and couldn't wait to show her loose tooth to us. We talked about if it would hurt and how she would pull it on the way home. It was priceless I have to say! She is so full of questions and she really thinks her questions out before she starts to ask. I mean these questions have depth to them. WOW - God is good all of the time and it is a wonderful thing to see it in our child!! Charles and Mary Beth went to church last night and while I was laying on the heating pad from my very sore back I finished her tooth fairy pillow. When she came home from church she wanted to know where her pillow was and if I had finished it. I told her yes and to go look in her room. When she came back I asked her if she wanted to try to pull it and she said she did. I gave her a tissue and she started working it back and forth and trying to pull it straight up. She played around with it for about 5 minutes and I told her to wiggle it from side to side instead of front and back and to keep pulling up on it and boy when she did out it came. It was so wonderful to see her pull her first tooth. (You can see with the attached video how excited she was to pull her first tooth) She was very excited this morning when she awoke to her money in her tooth pillow. The first thing she did was looked at me and said "Mommy can I go buy some new nail polish with my money"? I told her that we would go and see what we could find for her! I have also attached photos that I took and some that Ms. Daphnea took at school. You will see Riley and her little sister Sophie talking and consoling Mary Beth in one of them. It is so sweet!!! We are very thankful to have a wonderful school and wonderful teachers that make sure we do not miss out on these precious moments in our children's lives!!!

Mary Beth's first reading book

Mary Beth received her first reading book from Ms. Kelly today and she proves to us that she can read.

More Photos

Over due

I know I am way over due for an update!

Here we go then:

Life has been full of excitment and the fact of our now 4 year old is about to turn
5. Yes, we are all excited about turning 5; well she is, not mommy and daddy. It doesn't seem like it has been 4 years now that we have had our sweet baby girl, but it has. Man how time flies when you are having fun with your child!!!

She is now at the Montessori School and she loves it! She is in Pre K or as she says she is in PreSchool. She is learning so much and loves to learn all at the same time. She now has a musical and cultural class that she attends once a week and loves going to it. This kid loves music and can't wait on Monday's to go to class. She loves all of her teachers and her classmates. Her teacher's are telling me great stories of how well she is doing and even helps some of the older kids with their work. Yea, thank you Dear Lord for a smart child that loves to learn.

She had her first experience with one of us having surgery about 3 weeks ago when the doctor decided it was time for my gallbladder to be removed. I have to give it to little Dr. Provine and big Dr. Provine they have taken great care of mommy.

We celebrated on Sept. 4th (a little early since the real date is Sept. 10th) her Gotcha Day at Mamaw and Papaw's house in Grenada and had a great time. Several family members and friends came out to help us celebrate. Little Miss Mary Beth received a lot of presents and was just tickled that she had her friends and cousins to go swimming with and to play with. There were several that were not able to attend, but we totally understood and pray that they will be able to make it on the next Gotcha Day party.

I have attached a few pictures of her Gotcha Day party and some random photos that have been taken. Enjoy!!!!!

Chinese New Year was very exciting this year as you can tell from the video. The girls had a wonderful time and so did the parents. This was our first year going to the celebration in Oxford and needless to say we will go again. Everything was so layed back and relaxing. The girls got to meet other Chinese children; some older and some younger. It was great to meet families that just came back from China with their children. The Tupelo celebration was the weekend before and the girls enjoyed the blow up bounce, food and getting to be with their friends.

Other pictures from both the Tupelo and Oxford Celebrations are below.

I recreated a photo of Charlie Ann, MaryBeth and Hannah Ruth this year since the girls have grown so much. I first took the picture of all three of them back when we had our first NMPACC Day in the Park in 2007. All three of the girls had only been home for a few months and all three are from Jiangxi Province. They have grown a lot since then and are such pretty little girls.

More Chinese New Year pictures

Mary Beth and Santa

Here is our pretty little 4 year old with Santa. We shopped for her little dress that she has on and she picked it out all by herself. I told her that she was already a pro at shopping at the age of 4. Look out Aunt Libby and Barbie - we have a new shopper in the family!!

Merry Christmas to everyone!!

Moon

Here is Mary Beth getting to see the moon through the telescope. You can see what it looks like taking the picture and looking at it with the naked eye and then see what it looks like putting the camera up to the telescope and taking the picture. You are actually getting to see what she was seeing while looking.

Update

I know I am falling behind on posting photos and updates and for that I AM SO SORRY!!! However, we have had Mary Beth's third Gotcha Day Party and even though we had it on a holiday weekend, we still had a great time and really appreciate all of the family and friends that came out to help us celebrate. Thank you to all for your gifts before, during and after the party. She has enjoyed each and every one of them and continues to do so. We are gearing up for her 4th birthday party at this time. It is so hard to believe that we have had our little angel for 3 years and she is about to turn 4. She is such a big girl. She is spelling words on her own now and she has already started on math. She proved to us the other day that she can add and subtract. She is so smart! God has truly blessed us beyond all measures with our little girl. It is very hard to see her growing up like she is, but she blossums every single day.

Last night she gave me the greatest compliment of all. We were laying in the bed after reading our bedtime story and she looked over at me and said to me "Mommy you are the best mommy ever"! WOW - I have smiled each and every time I have thought of her saying it. Yes, I know that I am suppose to!!!

Tonight I got out the telescope and let her look at the beautiful full moon. She had such a good time doing it. Times like this are priceless and I thank God for letting me have them with such a precious little girl!

All the new pictures are above. We hope you will enjoy!

Best friends

We had a playdate with Aunt Jan and Charlie Ann on Saturday. We took the girls to HealthWorks and they had a wonderful time. Then we all went shopping.

In the dress that Mamaw and Papaw picked out for her!

Vacation 2009

We just returned from having one of the BEST vacations ever. We met up with our friends the Spradling's and the Detweiler's, rented a cabin and went to the Chinese Children's Reunion at Cirque De Chine in Sevierville, TN. Let me tell you; if you have not had the pleasure of seeing the Acrobats at Cirque De Chine you are missing a wonderful show. They had a day set aside just for adopted children from China. It was filled with games, activities, Chinese Food and the show. Mary Beth said that the drums hurt her ears and that the dragon scared her, but she loved the show none the less. After that fun filled day we spent one day doing absolutely nothing however we did go swimming that day. Then we let the guys set out for their day of adventure and all of the girls spent the day shopping. Each night we were able to return to our beautiful cabin and cook our own food and sit back and relax. We enjoyed everything so much until we have already started making plans for next year. On the trip home yesterday Mary Beth kept asking the same two questions: When are we going back to Charlie Ann's house and when are we going on vacation again? Charles even said this morning that he didn't feel like driving, but if I said let's pack our bags and go to the mountains he would do it.

We thank God for a wonderful and much needed vacation, time well spent getting to know our friends better and making lasting memories for our daughters.

These are the photos. Now if you are wanting to make copies of these photos they do have some spots on them, because of my scanner. However, please let me know if you would like copies and I will be glad to make them for you.