Thank you Sams Club - Joshua Houser for a fun event - Kudos to Sams for supporting local first responders !

Trying on the coat the police dog handlers wear for their demostrations.

So awesome watching the dogs and how obedient they are. Great job to all the officers including the 4 legged ones.

Sitting in the Emergency Response Vehicle -

Who can resist sitting in a fire truck?

The demostration where a dog would sniff us and see if we had any drugs - fortunately we all passed.

However this officer had some and we watched the dog find it.

Officer G meeting McGruff

Chik fil la Cow danced with the kids too.

None of us would want to be on the wrong side of this police dog. He was awesome !!! 

 We are so very grateful for our first responders in our community - Police, fire fighters, EMTS, Medics and all the four legged officers. We enjoyed meeting you all . We support you 100 per cent. Thank you to Josh and GM Rich - Hagerstown, Sams Club for providing this opportunity . We loved it !

So much more than soccer stars....

 Levi and Zeke before a game

This was a small part of the cheering squad going on for Isaiah

Game times were fun times for all of us

This is Levi's sister, Grace and she was the biggest fan of her brothers.

Isaiah's team 

Levi and Zeke's team with Luke as an asst. coach

Even Jubal got into the games... sort of

I have to be honest when Paul first talked with me about the boys playing soccer this spring I was not overly enthused. We have done the sports scene before and it is just not the most positive or encouraging environment for my choice of spending my time. This was a great season though for the boys....they are actually very good at soccer and I have seen the evolution of a positive self esteem in all 3 of my boys and I loved watching that. The chatter after the games was wonderful to hear....the laughter and the encouraging time they had playing " futbol" which is the sport of choice from their home country of Ghana was really special to me. Maybe they have struggled some before in their lives, maybe they were teased and bullied because they were so poor , maybe they were never the top kids but always felt like the bottom but not this season of soccer....All 3 were stars on their team. People recognized their skill and ability and they loved playing . I am so proud of their efforts on their team and how well they handled the attention...because not only is having the ability important to me but so is the character that is being built on a team. Watching them not be ball hogs but actually wanting others to score the goal - passing the ball at times and caring about their fellow players was awesome to watch....So yes, I am glad they can shine on the field and they did. I am so proud of them for much more. I even may have shed a tear watching them play soccer this spring at times .   

Catching Up... on our life

March we celebrated Ben turning 25 at the Fogo de Chao Brazalian Steakhouse In D.C..

Then our son, Caleb left for basic training with the Army in Fort Jackson, SC. He is due to graduate June 22 -- Very proud of him. We went down to visit him before he left in early April. He is the one between Paul and I.Our son, Jonas is standing beside me.

Easter ( my favorite holiday ) was beautiful and colorful as we celebrated . 

Annual Easter photo shoot... with those that make it home.

My older brother, Johnny came over with his son for the day which added to our day.

Celebrated Isaac turning 20!!!

Celebrated getting our daughter, Jayla's birth certificate in Ghana...a very difficult thing to get but Praise God we got it.

Had the grands for the wknd while Mary Kate and Keith celebrated their anniversary ....complete with a "fire camp"

Celebrated Grace and Keith's bday !

I saved the best for last - We welcomed Mary Kate and Keith's newest baby - Silas on May 13. He is now a month old. 

Last Monday we had a little family celebration for Silas - Celebrating Life

Crazy Four Legged Members of the family...

 This is my grand dog - Izzy , Angie and Ben's very loved boxer.

Not to soon after Izzy joined the family along came "grand" Piper loved by all of us but owned by Keith and Mary Kate's family.

Of course here is our very own Bear who joined the family just before Christmas.

These are our cats - Winter who was feral and her kitten Putt Putt.We let the Johnson grands have Putt Putt but since we only live 9 houses away he is here all the time...actually momma and her kitten are very close. 

The kids planned a birthday party for Putt Putt complete with treats and lots of love.

Milo loves his Piper and Piper loves Milo. 

Then there is Sadie on the L and we had to say good bye to our beloved Emma this spring when we had to put her asleep as she suffered from cancer. We hate saying good bye to our four legged family. I am sure hoping there are dogs in heaven.

Our Roanoke family ( Jenn and Jeremiah ) also added to the bunch with their Irish Setter puppy named Red. So as you can see we've added a lot of 4 legged members to our family and lots of loyal , funny, crazy, loving members too.