Our Gifts from "Santa" this Year:

1) Jobs!

2) Coffee

3) Florida weather (with air conditioning in the summer)

4) No hurricanes in Sarasota this year

5) Food...water...electricity...a roof...a car

6) 26 years of happy marriage, with the occasional knock-down, drag-out--followed by kiss and make up!

7) Two stunningly handsome boys, all grown up now, who (mostly) pay their own bills

8) Two dogs--and one good vaccuum cleaner

9) Good friends

10) Old friends

11) Good, old friends

12) Old fart friends (you know who you are)

13) New friends

14) A home and a kitchen so I can make dinner for all these friends

15) Bicycles

16) Geraniums

17) Music

18) Healthy, loving, crazy parents (not really crazy--but we do sometimes wonder)

19) Family that love us even though we are the ones who make them crazy

20) Our church family whose love covers multitudes of sins

We are grateful to God (our real Santa) who surprises us every day by even bothering with us, much less blessing our socks off. We are daily amazed and thankful.


Now for the fine print--if you're interested:

Barry continues to enjoy his work as Director of Music at Covenant Life Presbyterian Church in Sarasota. He has FINALLY committed to recording his music this year. His goal is to have something good enough to shop around to other artists. (He has no designs on being a rock star! But he can write--and I fully plan to be a kept and pampered woman, so this arrangement works well for me.) Barry is still noisy and unpredictable and full of his strange sense of humor. To me, the most interesting part of his job has been to watch him direct a traditional choir, comprised largely of those in the 65+ age bracket. At first, they didn't quite know what to do with him ("Is this guy for real?), but he's grown on them. Now they seem to accept him in the way that you accept some kind of weird but endearing nephew who you sometimes strangely enjoy. They are an amazing group of people to work with and to know--so full of great stories, wisdom, and laughter. Barry also directs two contemporary worship teams. Well, he sort of directs. It's kind of like herding cats because we are usually too busy having fun to actually practice. He does an admirable job, though, and we manage to actually bring it together with God and glue guns every Sunday. His big challenge is the "admin" part of his job. He bought an Apple iPhone in the hopes that it will suffice as a secretary. Probably not. But it's a cool phone.

I've been in business for myself for about 6 months now. I still do a lot of work for Florida Virtual School, but I've added a few new clients, which gives me variety and a chance to actually eyeball the people I work with versus work alone almost 100% of the time (not a great mental health plan--I don't recommend it!) My current goal in life is to live debt-free and be Frances Mayes, Peter Mayle, and a much more laid back version of Martha Stewart--all rolled into one! (For those of you who know her, I'm aiming to be Sherry Turnbull one day) Step one: Become debt free! Thus, the reason I am still creating brochures, marketing materials, and websites verses Pulitzer-prize winning essays. All in good time...

Isaac is still in management at the hoity-toity steak restaurant here in Sarasota. He is doing really well, though he did mention recently that he basically has no life. In other words, he has no time to get into trouble. This is a good thing. But he kind of does need a life. He may even need a good wife. I'm starting to believe this whole arranged marriage thing is a good idea, but my kids are just not buying it. (What's up with that?)

Michael is living on a Marine base in Jacksonville, North Carolina (Camp LeJeune). From his phone calls, I would say that he is enduring it more than loving it! I think he actually had more fun in boot camp. He has smacked his head into the "needs of the Corp" more than once in terms of working jobs that are different, and not as interesting, as the one he trained for. On the other hand, I don't suppose our tax dollars were meant to guarantee that the troops are having fun. He could use a good girl too, but he's not listening to me much on that either. (What is the deal?!) Actually, I don't think he would mind finding a girl himself, but it seems that every father within a 100 mile radius of any Marine base has amply warned his daughter about the Marines. Probably not a bad idea, actually. Michael may have to settle for some kind of long-distance romance.

We spent a good deal of the year doing the things that don't necessarily make for good fiction--walking dogs, cleaning, working...just living life. I've gotten into gardening, even though I kind of suck at it. I just like to be outside and pretend I'm growing things. I have a friend who has promised to mentor me in this area. She is an artist and is my inspiration for working towards making my living as a creative writer. She comes over once in a while, looks at my plants, and then tells me what to do ("You have snails. Here--go buy this and put it around the plants.")

We took a "stay-cation" in Sarasota in May. Thanks to the generosity of some great friends, we got to stay at their place on the beach and pretend like we were rich and famous. It was delicious. Those of you who have grown kids will what I mean when I say it's worth the wait to get to this part. You get to go back to being a kid again with no schedule. You don't even have to cook a good-for-you meal. Cheese and crackers will do perfectly well for dinner, thank you very much. Or maybe even a bowl of cereal! Or heck, how about ice cream? Why not? We no longer have to be a good example to anyone. It's wonderful.

We wish for all of you a blessed Christmas, and for the coming year--joy, peace, and the love of family and friends. If you are in Florida, come see us!

Much love,

Barry and Kay

He is Risen!

Here's hoping everyone had a joyful Easter. Here's a very quick update on the Johnson's.

Michael left in the evening on Easter Sunday for Camp LeJeune, NC, where he will spend 3 weeks in Military Combat Training. After those 3 weeks, he will go to 29 Palms, California where his training as a Tactical Network Specialist will begin. That's honestly about all the details we know at this point. The training at 29 Palms will last around 9 weeks as far as we know. As we learn more, we'll update this blog.

Isaac's new restaurant is up and running. He has been working insane hours (15 hours a day), so he's pretty exhausted. Add to that the fact that he is moving to a new apartment in the midst of all of this, and you can imagine how crazy he is feeling. But he loves the new job, and the restaurant seems to be off to a good start. If you are in the downtown Sarasota area, go check it out: The Hyde Park Steakhouse. The steaks are EXCELLENT.

Barry and I survived Easter with both the guys being here, as well as Barry's brother and family visiting from VA, and all the family getting together to see Michael. We're pretty exhausted, but it is always a happy time to sit around a table and see our son's faces--no matter how brief.

God has been so good to us. I keep thinking of the idea of the Lord being "my portion." If He is our portion, we shall never lack.

Happy Easter to all.

Barry and Kay Johnson

Finally! We've entered the 21st century. This is the spot to visit to learn the latest news about the Barry, Kay, Isaac, and Michael odyssey. I recently saw a hilarious 12-minute version of Romeo and Juliet by the Reduced Shakespeare Company (click here if you want a good laugh). So, in the spirit of abridged updates, here are the facts, just the facts, about us four:

• Barry: Full-time music director at Covenant Life Presbyterian Church in Sarasota. Learning the joys of making music and managing people. (Ah, muse on that for a while.)
  
• Kay: Working for Florida Virtual School as a Communications Liaison (translate, "chief writing flunky").
• Isaac: Freezing his patootie off in Cleveland, OH. In training as Assistant Sous Chef with Hyde Park Grill. Sarasota location is set to open March 18th. (Yum!)
• Michael: Rushing quickly to the finish line of Marine Boot Camp on Parris Island. Three weeks to go. As of March 14th, we will have our official first Jarhead in the family.
  

Those are the basics. This is the place to check for the latest Johnson family madness. If you want to know more details about Michaels' boot camp journey, check out his blog.