Stupid Kamikaze Birds – Flash’s Story

When I was a kid, we had a mare named Sonny Gill’s Flash, we called her Flash.  That was real original, except in the story behind the story the name fit!

Dad brought her home in a small two horse (home made) trailer.  The trailer didn’t have a top and, of course, all of the wind and lights was just too much for her to handle.  We hadn’t gotten very far when we hear a terrible ruckus from the trailer.  So Dad stopped and when he got to the back of the trailer, he found she had kicked the back door out!  What a start to life with the Johnsons!

Tales from the Dental Chair

In honor of my kids finishing the 6^th grade today, I am going to tell a story on them (or on me, as the case may be!).

When we go to the dentist, I usually take the girls and get my teeth cleaned at the same time.  We have been using the same lady since the girls’ first visits, when they were around 6 or 7.  In fact she was our neighbor for a period of time, so the girls were very comfortable with her.

This starts out just like any other visit, the girls take turns getting their teeth cleaned as Pam talks to us about what they are doing and what her kids are doing.  Just normal chit-chat stuff.

MD Anderson - The Hair Is Gone

All this past week, Felicia’s hair has been coming out.  It started out as a strand here and there, but quickly got to the point that everytime she turned around she was picking up hair.  At one point on Saturday, we were sitting on her parents back porch, I looked over and she was pulling it out in chunks!  So, Sunday she asked me to clip her hair.

I have joked with her all along about shaving designs, but when it came down to it….we just shaved it off.  Losing her hair has never bothered Felicia, but this is the lady that used to try and color her own hair.  I remember one time she was trying to put some blonde in, but it came out yellow.  I’m talking about comic book super hero yellow!  So to try to tone that down, she added some brown…it came out green!  No big deal to her though…she went to work two days like that before she could get in and get the color corrected.  She said that it taught her that being a hairdresser is not her career path!  (I could have told her that, she cut my hair ONCE!  After the 3^rd or 4^th oops, I said “I have a hat, we are done”).

Anyway, we shaved her head….my biggest fear was hurting her head with the guard!  I felt like I was shaving a porcelain angel!  She just seemed so delicate to me, but being the trooper that she is she gave me good directions as to what she wanted done and was ready to move on.  The girls both felt her head afterward and that was that!

She is still the same beautiful woman I married; she just has less hair than me!  God has truly blessed me with a strong woman as my wife and I am thankful!

I did offer to shave my head, to show support, she again said “no, I have seen your head!”  Alicia offered to shave hers too, but she was hoping for a “no thanks” answer.  Faith said “Mommy I love you, but I’m just not into the whole bald head thing!”    My kids are funny.

I have given my porcelain angel to God.  He has her in his hands and all is going according to HIS plan!  Our job is to trust God!

Psalm 9:1-2

I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart;

I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

I will be glad and rejoice in you;

I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.

MD Anderson – Update

It has been over a week since I posted, sometimes in the business of life….time slips away from you!

The week of April 25^th was trying for Felicia.  She was so sick starting on the 22^nd.  Starting with the nausea and then the other end kicked in, so by Monday she was very dehydrated.  Her temperature spiked and Monday afternoon she called me and said the doctor told her to come into the ER.  We arrived and they immediately put her into a room and started pumping fluids in.  They went through the first two bags in the snap of a finger (ok maybe not that fast, but fast enough that she got cold in a hurry!).    It turned into a long night with tests being run and more fluid being pumped in.  The doctors said she had nutrepenac (sp) fever.  Which I think means she got so dehydrated that her body kicked her into a fever.  They gave her antibiotics and fluids all night. 

We finally got out of there about 3pm on the 27^th.  She was weak, but ready to get home.  It’s funny how fast it turned around after that.  By the 29^th she said it was the first day she felt normal!  The rest of the next week she felt pretty good, still made a couple of trips down to MD for blood work, but all in all….she felt really good!

Yesterday day she said the wind blowing her hair hurt her scalp, so we wondered if this was a pre-cursor to her hair falling out?  Guess we will know as soon!

I have been told by a couple of people that she will start to feel better just in time to get another treatment.  Looks like that is hold true, she is feeling pretty good the last few days and she goes for another treatment on the 16^th.

We still covet your prayers for her!  We trust God to do His thing, we just have to follow the path laid out before us….

2 Samuel 7:28

Sovereign Lord, you are God!  Your covenant is trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.