Paul and Sharon Johnson

[email protected] (Paul and Sharon home)

Paul and Sharon – April 15

Paul – June 9

Sharon – January 9

Spring/Summer 2007

Summer Greetings to one and all from Valley City, Ohio!

We have experienced some wonderful blessings since the last letter.

When Spring break came for Paul, we decided to travel again. We spent Easter weekend with Van and Loretta and boys. From there we went to western Wisconsin to visit Ellen, Paul's sister-in-law. While in that area, we did some touring around and went back to the church that Paul's dad pastored in Elk Mound. He was able to visit with the pastor and found out that one of the ladies of the church just up the road was still living, so we went to pay her a visit. From that area we went over to our old stomping grounds around Anoka and Coon Rapids, Minnesota. We stayed with one of our friends (the cake-makers for our girls' weddings) who had just lost her husband a little over a month before and also saw some other friends. What a blessing to catch up on one another! We concluded our trip by dropping down near Rochester, Minnesota to see a couple who were just like brother

and sister to us during our Minnesota days and renew old acquaintances with them. Then it was back home and back to work.

The next blessing occurred when I got to take another week off and help Lynda after she gave birth to Michaela Sharon on April 27th. Of course, that is always enjoyable!

The last of many blessings occurred the last weekend of June when our whole family was together here at our house - 17 in all! We enjoyed a good time together, ate lots of good food and enjoyed watching the cousins playing together, among other things. By Thursday evening they were all here and by Sunday afternoon, they had all left to get back where they had to be. An added bonus to this get together was the arrival about midday on Saturday of Paul's older brother, Jim and his wife, who were traveling through from Missouri to Michigan to visit their oldest daughter and family. Paul's sister, Ruth, couldn't be left out; so she and her family arrived later, giving us a total of 27. They hadn't seen our family, and we theirs, for several years. Thankfully, the Lord blessed us with good weather; not too hot and no rain; although we really need the moisture.

I think this catches you up on this part of the family for this time. We enjoy finding out about each of you; so look forward to this next Family Letter. As always, thanks again, Autumn and Kyle for your efforts in doing this.

Love, Sharon

Fall/Winter 2006

Happy Thanksgiving! November already! Hardly seems possible does it?

June presented a happy occasion for us. Besides some family birthdays, we were more than happy to welcome Timothy back home from his year in Iraq. We went out to Pennsylvania the weekend he was scheduled to arrive to welcome him back.

As you know from the last family newsletter, Van and Loretta spent several weeks of July in China, so we had the privilege of having their boys with us. That was different for us, to have kids around again; but we were glad to be able to help them out in that way. We enjoyed having them and hope they enjoyed being with us.

Beginning in July and lasting through September, Sharon had the privilege of serving on our county grand jury, which met every other Tuesday for those three months. It really was rather enjoyable and quite a revelation of what all is going on in our county. And we thought we were safe!

In August, Sharon was able to take off a few days for vacation and we did some day trips around Ohio. These were very enjoyable and we got to see some sights that we hadn't seen before. Of course, toward the end of the month, Paul was back behind the wheel of the school bus again for another year.

We did get to go to Stacey's wedding and enjoyed seeing some family members there. It's always good to get together and catch up on what each other is doing.

We trust each of you will have a blessed holiday season. We are planning on spending Thanksgiving weekend with Wesley and Leona, as well as celebrate a couple birthdays in their family. As plans stand now we will be home for Christmas when Loretta and family and Lynda and family are planning on spending some time with us. We always enjoy the times that we have together.

Thanks again, Autumn and Kyle, for your work in getting this put together for us. We look forward to receiving news from you all.

Love, Paul and Sharon

Spring/Summer 2006

Greetings from Valley City (or Liverpool Township, depending on who you talk to), Ohio on a nice spring day. Our winter was rather mild this year and it seemed like Spring came early. Oh well, enjoy it while we can.

We spent Christmas day traveling to Joliet, Illinois, where we met up with the Carpenters and the Skinners joined us the next day as they were traveling back from Iowa. So that many of us were together for a little while. Then for New Year's weekend, we traveled to Iowa to visit the Darrahs. That way we got to see all of our grandchildren. They just grow up too fast!

In January, we took a Saturday and went up to Michigan so that Phil and I (Sharon) could celebrate our birthdays. On Sunday, March 12th, we traveled up there again as Danielle was being dedicated. Phil's parents were also able to be there. Then at the end of April it was up to Michigan again so that I could join Lynda and her daughters for their Mother-Daughter celebration at their church. We can do things like this when they live close enough.

Memorial Day weekend we took a trip to the western side of Wisconsin for Paul's 45th high school class reunion. Paul had never been back, so it was fun to see if they recognized each other after so many years. We also spent some time with Ellen, Paul's widowed sister-in-law, while we were in the area. It was a good trip and we were glad that we could go.

Paul has done some pulpit supply a few Sundays this Spring and has some lined up for July. At work, I am now doing double duty since mid-December, being Administrative Assistant not only for the Latin America Department, but also for the Africa-Europe Department. This latter part is only temporary as they are searching for replacements.

I think that brings everyone up to date from our household. We look forward to hearing from all of you and hope you all have a good summer. Thanks, Autumn and Kyle, for doing this again for us.

Love, Paul and Sharon

Fall/Winter 2005

Greetings one and all!

Our warm fall weather has left us now and we are experiencing more normal fall temperatures, along with some wind and rain, of course. Snow has been and is predicted; but so far, we've escaped any accumulation of the white stuff.

Since our last newsletter, we have experienced some changes. First of all, we all (but Phil) got together again at a resort over in Illinois (central for most of us) for a weekend. Timothy was due to ship out to Iraq in a few weeks, so we wanted to get together once more. While there we celebrated the four June birthdays in our family. We all agreed that we should do it again next year; so we'll see if that works out.

Over the summer, Paul kept himself busy filling in pulpits around the area here. There were only about three Sundays out of the whole summer that he wasn't traveling somewhere. Once school started again, he curbed all that traveling.

Then in early September, Sharon was needed up in Wisconsin for a few days to stay with Van and Loretta's boys while she and Van traveled out to DC for her surgery. That was enjoyable for Grandma and we got to celebrate Joshua's birthday while there. At the end of the month, she once again traveled up to Michigan to be with Hannah on the occasion of her sister's birth and to be of help to her mother. After that she settled down and stayed home as this year's vacation was all used up. This makes us six grandchildren now!

We continue to stay active besides our jobs with services in area care centers and at church. Sharon has had to brush up on her organ playing of late as our regular organist fell and broke her ankle; so has been out of commission for several weeks.

We are looking forward to Phil, Lynda and girls being with us for Thanksgiving. Hope you all are doing well. Thanks, Autumn, for your willingness to get this together again.

Love, Paul and Sharon

Spring/Summer 2005

Happy Spring from Northern Ohio where we received a foot of heavy, wet snow on April 24! Many trees were split or lost branches due to the weight of the snow; and of course, power lines were down in several areas. We also received some very wet, heavy snow on April 2nd which was accompanied by a very high, strong wind. This storm brought down a big pine tree at the corner of our house by the driveway. Fortunately, the tree fell down in the driveway and not on the house. We have very good neighbors who cut up and hauled the tree away while we were at church on Sunday; thereby, allowing us to use our driveway again.

Our year started out with just about all of our family (minus two sons-in-law) converging on our place for an "impromptu family reunion". The reason being that we had received word on Christmas day that Timothy was being activated for 18 months of duty - six months of training and one year of duty in Iraq. We had a houseful, but it was a wonderful time to be together. I'm sure he will appreciate your prayers for him as he ships out sometime this summer.

We took our usual Spring break vacation the last week of March. We headed up to Phil and Lynda's for an overnite stop and then proceeded on up through Michigan and over the Upper Peninsula to Dunbar, Wisconsin, where we spent Easter weekend with Van and Loretta and boys. From there we left on Monday and cut across Wisconsin diagonally to the Eau Claire area where we spent another overnite with Paul's widowed sister-in-law, Ellen. When we left her place the next morning, we headed down to Corydon, Iowa, to spend a couple nights with Wesley and Leona and little Lucas (except he's not so little anymore for his age!) From there we headed down to the Kansas City, Missouri area to spend an overnite with Paul's brother and sister-in-law, Jim and Peggy. We then headed East on I-70 to wind our way back home, running into the storm that I mentioned above. We were later getting home then we had anticipated due to the weather; so we were glad when our home was finally in sight.

Fall/Winter 2004

Happy Fall!

I don't know about your area, but we have had some beautiful colors of trees and shrubs this Fall. It has been awesome to view God's creation and realize that He created things like this for us to enjoy. As usual, time has flown since our last Family Newsletter and we wonder where the summer went. Paul kept busy all summer with services at three different care centers and added another one in September, church activities and keeping up the outside of our property here at home. We made a quick July 4th weekend trip to Wisconsin to pick up our three grandsons and bring them back to spend a week with us, after which another quick weekend trip was made to return them. Grandpa managed to keep them entertained during the days that Grandma worked. At the end of July, we made a trip to North Carolina to make a visit to Erwyn and to take in the Sword of the Lord Conference. That is always a refreshing blessing! We stayed home until Labor Day weekend when we traveled out to spend some time with Timothy and see where he is living now. We are thankful to the Lord for giving us safety in all our travels. In the midst of all this, I (Sharon) was making visits to several doctor's offices to determine the need for some repair surgery which took place on September 22nd. Consequently, I have not been working these last few weeks, but have been recuperating and am gradually regaining my strength. I am thankful to Loretta, Lynda and Timothy who were able to come and help during this time.

We are looking forward to the birth of grandchild #5 about the middle of November, or maybe later, out in Iowa.

We hope you all had a good summer and look forward to reading about it in this edition of the newsletter.

Until next time,

Paul and Sharon

Spring/Summer 2004

Greetings from wet, soggy Northeast Ohio! We've had plenty of April showers and cool Spring weather this year. Now it is May and the showers are still coming. It's hard to get the lawn mowed between showers; but so far, Paul has been able to do it.

Since our last letter we've been on the road quite a bit. We traveled up to Northern Wisconsin to spend Christmas with the Carpenters and the Skinners. It was actually quite mild while we were there and we had no trouble traveling up or back down. One of the fun things we did while there was go tubing down a big hill over on the college campus. We even took pictures to prove we did it!

Since the first of the year, we have spent our weekends traveling either for Northern Ohio AWANA events or for Paul to fill a pulpit somewhere. Most of those Sundays, we went together and enjoyed meeting other people and fellowshipping with them in their churches. There again we had good weather for traveling.

Over Spring break, we decided to use a gift certificate for a Bed & Breakfast before it expired and go South sightseeing. We traveled down into Kentucky and found where Bob and Deb live and had a good evening with them. From there we went down into Tennessee where we stopped to see the Sword of the Lord offices and the Bill Rice Ranch. As we swung back up North, we stopped at an Appalachian Museum which was very interesting. We could have spent a lot more time there then we did. We finished off that week heading up to Michigan to enjoy some time with Phil, Lynda and Hannah.

We praise the Lord for His goodness to and watchcare over us these past months, giving us good health and the strength to do what we have done. We trust you are grateful for His blessings, also.

We're looking forward to hearing from all of you again thanks to Autumn's willingness to put this newsletter together for us.

Love, Paul and Sharon