Kitties, Teenagers and Legos Lord of the Rings, Oh My!

It has been suggested that we keep a blog as a sort of journal of our new start, of sorts, in Omaha, Nebraska. So here it goes! This one might be more long-winded than the rest, but hopefully I will  update often enough that it won't always be necessary.

Instead of being too in detail about the past month (since February 4th), I will list some of our highlights:

*The most recent high point is that the Johnson Family expanded to include two lovely baby (10 month old) girl Torbies! The top is Esther. She is my new lap cat. The Humane Society has a way to kind of categorize cats based on their personalities. Esther was considered a "Sidekick"- meaning she wants to do everything you do. We have had fun with that! Naomi, on the bottom, was considered a "Private Investigator"- so she would rather explore and observe what's going on than sit on a lap. We learned that in a few ways already. She managed to get on top of our highest shelf and sleep the first night we had her. We still don't know how she got up there. The next day, she managed to squeeze under my craft dresser. She had gotten herself stuck and we could not find her for about an hour. I felt like a horrible parent... Day 3 and they are both more relaxed. Some of their favorite spots include all window sills, the top of their Deluxe Condo and the cubbies (picture below- they are so spoiled!!), Naomi loves hiding under the bed, Esther loves my lap- but as of right now, neither one really wants to be near the other. We are hoping that will eventually resolve itself! We are in love!! <3 Here are some more pictures of our babies!!

This is the closest they have been since we got them! (Naomi on left, Esther on right) You can see their coloring a little bit better in this picture and the next. They are gorgeous!

Proof that they are spoiled!! We knew Naomi liked to climb, so we wanted to give her a safe way to do it. :-)

Cleaning up after daddy gave them treats for being such good girls and existing within a foot of each other!!

This is Naomi on top of the bathroom shelf (above the toilet, about 2 feet from the ceiling...) I guess she's a simple cat- has a really expensive pet condo, but prefers the simple joys of being on top of the bathroom shelf.

 

 

*We attended church last weekend and while it was a little over sensationalist, the message really hit home. The preacher talked about how Joshua won the battle at Jericho by trusting and obeying God. Joshua did what God asked and walls tumbled down. It just gave me a jolt of hope that the key to this job, and tearing down the walls that sadly these boys have built up,  is trusting God to do the work and doing all the we feel nudged to do. We trusted Him to leave all that we knew and were familiar with and we truly believe He's going to do great things. It's exciting!

*Our last day at the Patton Cottage we woke up early to treat the boys to an egg, bacon and toast breakfast. It was awesome! They are such awesome young men. We already really love and care for these boys! Some of them thanked me multiple times-one, who the night before refused to give us eye contact, thanked me three times.

Side note: We are continuously told that they are in the honeymoon period, and sooner than later things won't be this great. However, we didn't come here thinking everything would be roses. We also aren't self-centered enough to only be motivated to do the job when the boys are on their best behavior and are nice to us. These boys are hurting. Most don't even know how to trust or understand the importance of relationships. The few stories I have heard so far are heart-wrenching- for instance- one of the boys was given up by his drug addicted mother at birth, never knowing his father. He was adopted by a couple, that gave him up by the age of 6. He then went on to live with aunts, uncles, grandparents and family friends. His older brother got him smoking cigarettes and weed by the time he was 11. By 12 he was doing armed robberies with his brother. Age 15, he and his brother were caught during one of their armed robberies. He went to a juvenile detention center and his brother went to prison. A year ago, the youth came here. When I chatted with him about a week ago, his biggest issue is that he is still smoking and getting caught every now and again. I encouraged him to think about the progress he has made. He said it's hard because so many people know him as the bad kid. He feels he has a reputation to live up to. I found out a few days later that he got into a fight at school and will probably be leaving us. My heart was sad, but one lesson I hope to convey to these boys is that they have control over their future by the choices they make. That was sobering for me, and made me realize how short of a time we might have with these boys to help them.

*I have probably played at least 2 days worth of Monopoly. We ended up in a cottage over 2 snow days and a weekend where the boys had no privileges. If the staff initiate an activity, the youth can participate. So we played Monopoly and took the boys down to the Rec Center to play some pool. :-) It was awesome. Reminded me that most of these boys were denied a childhood and have lots of good clean, game-playing fun to catch up on!

*In our spare time, we have been playing Legos Lord of the Rings and have been having a blast with it! It's so fun. A total "girlfriend game", but awesome nonetheless!! We highly recommend it. We "beat it" today, but plan to go back and free play all the levels and truly conquer it! Fun times!!

Alright, I'm going to give this to Michael to have the summative update!

Hey guys, Michael here.
I really like Omaha, and God is awesome.  I love my wife Lena! We are having a great time out here.
The cats are precious. They seem to be more interested in loving on Lena rather than me, but that's ok! I'm having a little bit of a struggle learning all the rules and the lay of the land when it comes to this job. There are so many things to remember. Time to wake up, time to go to bed, who can and can't have a snack, where the boys go to school, who likes/hates what kind of food, who takes what medicine, who gets along with who, who doesn't get along with who, etc.
I'm not worried, God is great!
We'll keep this updated, hopefully!
LOVE YOU ALL!!

The Johnsons<3

P.S. The Blog name comes from a Counting Crows song called "Omaha". Michael's idea!!