His mercy's are new every morning

Thank God for His grace and mercy that is new every morning.
How do I write to give you an idea what our life is like without sounding like whiner? I want to let you know what has been happening but with a disclaimer that this is just the way it is and we do not want nor need the drama. It is just what life is like with kids and all. Right?

Let's see where do we begin...hmmm how about the week before Christmas. Dewey had a procedure at the hospital..they put him under and gave him amnesia drugs, sent a microscopic camera down his throat, took colored photos of his esophagus and sent him home with me...not really knowing he was still on drugs Dewey asked to go Christmas shopping and boy did HE shop. I found out the next morning he only remembers showing up at the hospital and about five hours later sitting at home watching a movie. He is okay..more on that later.
The following morning Macy had surgery on her four wisdom teeth, she is doing good also. Later that day Eric faxed us a ticket that was sent to his home in St Cloud. (we bought a car from him a month earlier and never transfered the title) Maddison apparently passed a school bus. Did you know that is the second highest traffic ticket you can get?
Then.....a couple days later we get a call, our nephew Kain is going into emergency surgery. He crashed on his snowboard. Deep breath....

We managed to finish our shopping and stopped to enjoy the true meaning of Christmas , we served dinner on Christmas Eve in the Hillside and attend a wonderful service that evening. We topped it off by watching Hell Boy (There is no way my family will watch a movie called Hell Boy on the night Jesus was born!- we did- don't let the name scare you like it scared me)

Dewey was invited to Fight Night a few days later with the guys. JoAnn invited me to come. His life sure has changed.

We told the story how Dewey knew his life has changed forever when his three 'rays of sunshine' stopped by his house (unannounced of course) skipped in, plopped down on the sofa, ate his pizza and turned the TV from UFC to Legally Blond - oblivious that he had his night all planned out.

The troll hole was dark, the beer was chilled , UFC was on and the pizza was cooling exactly for seven minutes before the first bite.(Dewey is OCD that way) It has been an adventurous year. Thats when I knew he was the guy for me.

Love
Jennifer

Baby come home

I went to Washington DC for work. December 9-14 This was my 5th trip in 7 months. I may have not mentioned this yet but I went to Dallas, Boston, Seattle , back to Boston and now DC. Not easy with a family well ..easier with having Dewey who is a wonderful husband and friend and partner. Dewey held down the fort- running kids, doing homework, making supper,changing the laundry, shoveling snow and staying up until the girls came home - "thats what a guy does for his girls" (Dewey's famous line)and he even had time to go ice fishing.

Dewey and I met up at the Raddison hotel on December 14th when my plane was canceled from Mpls to Duluth due to 70 mile an hour winds, snow and ice. I grabbed a shuttle form Minneapolis airport and had a ride of my life with a great guy named Dave who drove through the storm along with seven others trying to make it back home. Dewey was coming from Whiteface after fishing with his dad and buddies.

We went home in the storm...huddle together, talked about our week. It is such a wonderful blessing to come home to a warm home, a fantastic husband and awesome kids. I need nothing else.
Oh, I just received an email from our pastor inviting me to a mission trip to Nice, France this spring. ......Baby oh Baby, come home!

Love
Jennifer

My lovely daughter Maddison

Thanksgiving with the inlaws.

These are the lovely children in the Hauck family. Maddison (on lap) Carley, Kain, Pdog, Macy (on lap) Alec and Zoey....The Hauck's have - without hesitation - accepted my children as their own (grandchildren) The day of the wedding Jack said to me "Jennifer, as far as we are concerned we have 7 grandchildren now" it was one of the most beautiful things.

This is Dewey, being silly as he carves the turkey. He is a goof and keeps me laughing and smiling everyday. Even when I do not feel like it , I smile :)

As I reflect on Thanksgiving and the business of the day I am reminded of all the provisions God has provided to Dewey, myself and our family. We are healthy, blessed with beautiful children, we have the privilege to have our parents around. We have grace and mercy everyday. And we had a 23 pounder to cook and be on the table hot at promptly 4:15pm!

I called my mother....please give me some cooking tips. This is my second turkey I have made and Dewey's first. To tell the story I must go back a few weeks. Dewey and I decided to invite his family over for Thanksgiving and my family for Christmas. Yet another compromise in our marriage - what family for what holiday, whose traditions do we keep? whose house for dinner? whose stuffing recipe do we use?...

Dewey left for hunting and I was wondering if he made the call to the Hauck's so I started with Dewey's sister-in-law. I asked if she heard that we would like to host Thanksgiving dinner. Rita insisted that Carol would never dream of anybody else hosting dinner. Rita has tried in the past. After the conversation..actually more like lecture. (I was listening) I was certain I would be a guest for dinner. I am cool with that, I like to bake but making a dinner is not my gift. I once told the kids I made hot dish...they came running like it was Christmas morning. They were clearly disappointed but tried to remember their manners. They asked , sheepishly "This is hot dish?" making sure not to hurt my feelings. Well, yes it is....as I look at my brown rice mixed with a can of cream of mushroom soup and a few broccoli bites on top. I am learning how to jazz up rice still today.

So back to the dinner. Dewey and his brother Heath (Rita's husband) came home from hunting and Dewey told his parents we would like to host dinner. By this time I had ten days to reflect on something that once sounded terrific!! O, how fun to have the in laws over, and make the dinner with all the fixings. I had not spoke with Dewey so I could not express my second thoughts I was having...My mom and grandma made cooking look easy, I make ordering pizza look easy, I have at least three pizza joints on speed dial. Can I do it....they are always watching the new daughter-in-law. I don't need to impress them but I want to at least have a nice dinner..what to do???

Dewey called after returning from the shack....he knew the minute his mom hit the floor in relief, that we were hosting this year.
So we planned the meal. thats easy...Turkey, mash potatoes, squash ( a Johnson must have) rolls, cranberry's, stuffing, and pies. I get a call from Rita...trying to read her tone and between the lines...she says, Well... I heard that Dewey talked to Carol and wants to host Thanksgiving...almost like the conversation may have not happened ten days earlier hmmm..?
She was kind and asked to help out. I was not going to turn down help! I gave her a couple options, pies...pies...or... Rita offered to bake two pumpkin pies, bring the cranberry's and the corn - Carol Always has corn.... She asked what kind of rolls will I have..I said I didn't know but I will take care of them. We went with Pillsbury-pop and fresh... not my grandmas rolls but hey! I was the host! The dinner went off with out a hitch.... Dewey and I survived the stress of a holiday with 14 guests and the loving memory of us hosting dinner together, something we always wanted ...a family to love and love us back...a family to come to dinner..little ones running around , laughter and memories ...it was great.

The best part, to see my wonderful husband at the head of the table saying grace for our meal and knowing that he has the family he has always prayed for.

Love
Jennifer

Rock and Roll and get up for work

What do newly weds do on a Sunday night? We head for the Excel Energy Center to see AC/DC in concert. This is no Joss Stone concert by all means ( we saw her on our honey moon) . We got the perfect seats. Section 201 row 3 seats 1 and 2- That is at the very top and left of the stage. Good view - and easy on me with my claustrophobic issues. Dewey loved it, I enjoyed watching him, and we danced and yelled and did some major people watching.
Dewey is a rocker - I was glad he brought me- his guy friends all wanted to go - he said "No way, Puddin' is coming" sweet.
We talked about our different music genres growing up. We quickly noticed Dewey was a metal man and I listened to music with a 'message'. What I enjoyed most was hanging with my husband - sharing something that he enjoys so much. He plays a mean air guitar and I always say "If I put a real guitar in his hands he would be a natural" - I hope someday he will take guitar lessons he always wanted to take. We used this time catching up - we had a two hour car ride (on the way home I napped) we chatted about work, kids, thanksgiving dinner and what concert we will Google next...I vote for Bruce Springsteen. The good news...there were no messages from the kids...a smooth night back home. Yippee!!


Love
Jennifer!

Bitter Sweet * Very Bitter

Dewey ask that I drop Speed Buggy off to get the tires rotated and the oil changed. This is a 1994 Toyota that Dewey inherited form me when we got married, I inherited Jeepers Jenny a 1997 black Mustang convertible -an engagement present- Sweet! Maddison and Macy essentially inherited a Ford F 150 from Dewey.

I decided to drop Speed Buggy off at the Walmart in Cloquet while I visit my mom and dad. I can't say that I LOVE Walmart but I find myself gravitating towards the store....I can find almost everything I am looking for and at a good price -right? so they say. It allows me to multi task.. I dropped the car off around 4:30, I updated my address and phone number and went on my way.
Three hours later - after a nice visit with my folks- I went to pick up my car, but they pulled my car from the work order 2 1/2 hours earlier. Tony, the young man that was working when I breezed in,explained to me he tried paging me four times. They needed a waiver signed before they started the work because the dipstick did not have oil on it. Before I knew it there were four 'Tire and Lube' employees gathered 'round telling me it was my fault I did not hear the page. I stuck to my guns (and used my patience and kind words) while insisting they should have called my cell phone- I was not in the building - they argued back - all four of them taking turns- insisting that I should have put it in the memo asking them to call my cell. Again I said, "You asked for my cell number, I gave it to you, you should have called!" "Did you think I was in groceries for 2 1/2 hours ignoring the page?" The manager responded "yes, that happens" and after my persuasion gave me a $25.00 gift card and asked that I come back in the morning.

I wasn't about to drive 36 miles round trip for an oil change so I stopped by MY local Walmart just three miles from home. Hey! I now had a gift card. This time I signed a waiver when dropping off the car and proceeded to go buy ingredients for my holiday baking. They give you this handy dandy card that you can swipe at any check out or price check centers through out the store, it tells you when your car is done. I kept checking it, my car was still in the shop after an hour I headed back to tire and lube, to see whats up...plenty of time to rotate tires and changed my oil. They pulled Speed Buggy from the work order again!
They did not page me! Did Cloquet call Superior??? I didn't ask - I was tired and wanted to go home and really...I don't like Walmart. Doug told me he could smell gas so they would not work on the car. I did not say a word! I pleasantly said Thank you and drove off.

Speed Buggy's tank can hold 6 gallons at a time, two days prior I put in 7 gallons. I spotted a Valvoline Center just outside the parking lot of Walmart. I walked in and told Justin, who greeted me at the door "I am a new customer and I am fed up with Walmart!" They were wonderful. They did not mind the gas fumes, or the fact that there was no oil on the dip stick and that the washer fluid dripped through the tank like a siv.

There will be those occasional trips to Walmart like when the kids need gym shorts in the morning or they will flunk phy-ed and they tell me at 10pm but Target and Superone is our families stores of choice.

Plus it's job security for Dewey...their biggest customer at the paper mill is Target Stores.
Please shop Target!!

Our Family

TThis blog will be about our life . We are recently married. Dewey was single - very single before he met us. I, a mother of three...single but not VERY single. Dewey sat around in his underwear eating pizza watching ESPN , there was gas in the truck, beer in the fridge and his fishing and hunting bag was packed and he was ready to go on a moments notice.


I on the other hand made sure we always had the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies in the house, that there was toothpaste and tp in the bathroom and that I could run Walmart at a moments notice when my Macy tells me she will flunk Phy Ed if she doesn't bring gym shorts tomorrow (this is at 10:00 pm) so by 2:00 am when the dishes are done and the kids are fed and the house is cleaned and the laundry is started and the back packs are packed and the cookies are baked and the spelling words are practiced and the book reports are written I run to Walmart- at a moments notice- to buy gym shorts for Macy and hope they are the right color, style and size.

We, by divine intervention, met, fell in love and began a wonderful , humorous, crazy life together. We would not change it for anything. Thanks Dewey for being faithful in waiting.

A family to call our own - great blessings!

We have been married for 14 months now, still newly weds. We sold Dewey's house in Cloquet a 4 bedroom 1 1/2 bath 2 car garage, yard , 1800+ square feet.

We moved Dewey into my house that was just under 1100 square, 2+ bedrooms (you know what that means) no garage, no yard to speak of (but we have a fire pit) bought two cars, totaled one of them, moved out of the little house, bought a house from our friends, began renting the little house, I began a new job, Maddison began a new job, we have been fishing in Canada, I have traveled to five cities in seven months, we have survived three cats missing and passing away, a trip to the ER, Dewey's swing schedule and so much more......Please stay tuned for a look into our crazy, loving, wonderful, wouldn't change it for the world life at the Johnson , Hauck, Segel home.