Christmas 2023

 Become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted, compassionate,
understanding, loving-hearted, forgiving one another readily and freely,
as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

Christmas 2023

Blake & Tiffanie

Blake is the Assistant Provost at the University of Arkansas and leads a division with about 35 full-time employees. He began a graduate certificate program in Higher Education Leadership at the Citadel last year, and he is completing that program this fall. Tiffanie writes and edits occasionally for a former employer and teaches Emery math and English at home. She and the kids volunteer at a cat shelter, cleaning and feeding and snuggling kitties twice a week. She also helps with the nursery and preschool Sunday School at church. 

Emery

Emery turned 11 in February this year and she completed the 5th grade. She is now in the 6th grade. She works on math and English at home with mom three days a week, and she goes to classes in science, history, PE, and art twice a week. She reads about 7 library books a week! In the summer, she went to a weekend kid's retreat in Tulsa, tennis lessons, swim lessons, church day camp, and her first sleep-away summer camp. In July, she got her braces off!

She has discovered a love for musical theater with a kid's community theater company. This spring, she was in Matilda, Jr., this fall she's in James and the Giant Peach, Jr., A Christmas Story, and in the coming spring, she will be in Anne of Green Gables and Finding Nemo, Jr. She has joined the youth group worship team and occasionally helps mom in preschool Sunday School. She enjoys knitting, crocheting, and reading. Oh, and she loves kitties!

Everett

Everett turned 6 this fall and he completed his final year of preschool this spring. He is now in kindergarten. In the spring and fall, he played on a youth soccer team and excelled at playing defense. He started playing basketball this fall and games begin this month. This summer he took swim lessons and tennis lessons and went to VBS. 

Everett loves sports and games of all kinds. He played chess with grandpa and won a game! He loved making picks during March Madness so much that we, as a family, have continued to make picks for all sorts of sports tournaments: NBA playoffs, World Cup soccer, MLB playoffs, NFL regular season games, and an NBA in-season tournament. We love our white board and colored markers. 

Delaney

Delaney turned 4 this summer and she started preschool this fall for the first time. She is enjoying her new friends, art projects, playing outside, and learning new things. She takes a gymnastics class at school, and she shows us her new moves! This summer she went to VBS. Delaney can read and write letters. She can spell many words and often spells what she is saying.

Kitties

Our beautiful sweetheart, Ginny, turned 2 this spring. She comforts the kids and loves to cuddle. She misses Emery when she's not home. Bree turned 2 this month. She is gentle and sweet. She loves chasing one particular type of toy and will retrieve it and wait patiently until someone notices she wants to play. Treeo turned 1 this spring. He was very sick this time last year, and since recovering, he thrives. He's strong and full of energy. Sometimes his energy is too much for the other two kitties. He's a pestery little brother! He chases, catches, and retrieves his favorite toys - then promptly loses them under the couch. We love our sweet furry babies. We also fostered a few kitties over the year: Winter, a sweet one-eyed, giant gray and white boy; Beatrice, a tiny, lovey tuxedo girl; Lily, a beautiful gray and orange girl; and Rosie, the cuddliest tuxedo girl ever. 

 

Travel & Visits

In July, we traveled to eastern Arkansas and Memphis, TN. We visited Blake's cousin, Rebecca, and her family. We also visited a few fun places like a children's museum and an arcade.

In May, October, and upcoming in December, Blake's folks visited us. They attended Emery's theater productions and Everett's soccer games. They took the kids to lots of fun places and played fun games.

 

In November, Tiffanie's folks visited us. They attended Emery's theater production, and spent time with Tiffanie's brother and sister-in-law, Bryan and Sherry. 

Bryan and Sherry moved to Fort Smith at the end of last year and have spent lots of time with us and the kids, attending theater productions and soccer games as well.

We are grateful for a healthy year. We are looking ahead to 2024 with hope and joy. 

Merry Christmas from the Johnsons!