Christmas Letter 2009

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Johnson’s! We were not able to get a letter out last year and have a lot to catch you up on. In fact, we were not able to get a letter out in 2007. To summarize 2007 in 6 words: London, Paris, Normandy, Alps, PGA Championship. 2008 was a great year, but we’ll just hit the highlights:

• We had just finished our 2007 Christmas letter when we got great news in December: Amy was pregnant! We can’t believe that was over two years ago!
• Two days later, before we could send our letter, a huge ice storm hit Tulsa and we lost power for 10 long, cold days. Troy spent the month of January cleaning up limb debris from our yard.

• Amy went on a Caribbean cruise with her mother and sister and left Troy at home.
• Amy also enjoyed every minute of her pregnancy….well almost every minute. Other than being constantly tired and dealing with nightly leg cramps it was a truly wonderful experience. What a blessing!
• We had to rush to the hospital one night due to complications. Both Amy and the baby were fine, but after 3 weeks of bed rest in the hospital Amy had more complications and had to undergo an emergency caesarean. Luke Edward Johnson was born July 10^th, 2008—6 weeks early. Ready or not (more “not” than “ready”) we were parents. Luke spent the first 10 days of his life in the NICU and we were thrilled to finally bring him home on July 19.

• Home life after that revolved around Luke: feedings, diapers, spit-up, long nights, playtime and getting adjusted to being parents.

If you thought that our 2008 was full of change, 2009 would definitely top it—and we are not talking about “Obama change”.

• In March Troy was let go from his employer. It was a complete surprise. At this point we had lived in Tulsa for over 4 years—the longest we have ever lived in one place.
• In less than a month, our prayers were answered when Troy got an interview and then a job offer with Range Resources in Oklahoma City. That meant another move but it also meant work.
• Other than bi-weekly commutes, we lived apart for three months. Luckily Luke saved all of his “first” moments (first crawl, first words, etc.) for when Troy was home in Tulsa.
• We moved in to our new house in Edmond—a suburb of Oklahoma City at the beginning of July.

• We managed to get the house put together enough to have Luke’s first birthday celebration. We all enjoyed that until Luke’s body could not handle the sugar from the cake and he stayed awake all night long (yes, it was all night).

• To celebrate surviving the first half of the year and because we were both ready for some time away, we took a vacation to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in August. Amy was able to fulfill a lifelong dream of swimming with the dolphins and we both enjoyed the relaxation. It was a wonderful trip and the grandparents enjoyed watching Luke.

• We also took several trips to Topeka, Kansas City, and Table Rock Lake, MO to visit family and friends.

We know it sounds like we have been through some tough times over the past year but we could not be happier. Luke lights up our life. He has been walking since just before Halloween and is quite a jabber mouth. Luke’s current favorite words are: Maggie, this (as a question), hi and bye although he is saying about 40 words now. He is a real big fan of Maggie and Daisy (our dog and cat), trains (which we can hear from our new house), and bath time (which he requests multiple times daily). Amy finds staying home with Luke very rewarding and would not trade it for anything. Troy also enjoys working as a Geologist at Range. We are all enjoying our new home but miss our friends and coworkers back in Tulsa.

May your holidays be merry and bright and may you receive many blessings in 2010!