Johnson Family

This is Heidi writing on Kristen's name because I forgot all of my info that will allow me to write under my name eventhough Missy wrote it on a piece of paper and told me not to lose it.

To all who missed my last posting, I am raising money to benefit the research and search for a cure for m.s. I'm doing it for Tony of course so pleeeeeeeeease send us all your extras (ha ha). Seriously though if you are interested in helping you can send a check to my house @
1497 East G Ave Kalamazoo, MI 49004.

The walk is on Saturday May 13th. It's tax deductable and greatly appreciated. Make the checks out to The National M.S. Society. Upon request I can send you a reciept. Thanks for your support. We really appreciate it.

I talked to Holli today and she wanted me to let everyone know how things were going on our boat excursion West. Spring has come in all its glory. The 1st wildflowers are visible alone the river banks, bugs of all sizes and colors dart to and fro over the placid, sunbaked river surface, and river dolphins jump playfully over our wake. When my great great grandfather, Captain Joseph LaBarge, piloted his steam powered paddleboats along the Missouri River, they would have to replenish their fuel by stopping at wood piles along the way. This could be dangerous because Indians knew that these were good locations for an ambush. In the years since the mid 1800's the tribes have become much more sophisticated in their tactics, making riverboats anchored at major port cities into gambling establishments. So far our intrepid group has managed to escape with our lives. We are in Montana now and while docking for supplies I took a side trip South to a town called LaBarge, Wyoming. During WWII my uncle Jack was on a troop train going West and the train made a very short stop at LaBarge. He jumped out of the train and ran into the nearest bar and asked the bartender "Are there any LaBarges here?" The bartender replied "See that large oak tree out front? Last week we hung a LaBarge on that tree." At which point my uncle spun around and trotted back to the train. My brother Jim, not deterred by our uncles experience, visited there a couple years ago. He went to the local library to read about the towns history. Seems that at one time oil was discovered there and the name of the town was changed to Oil City. When the oil ran out the town fathers, in their great wisdom, changed the name back to LaBarge. When I got back to the boat I thought about how the route we are taking is very much the same at that traveled at the start of the 1800's by Lewis and Clark. Lewis would ride the boat while the crew would pull or pole the boat upstream. Clark however would walk the entire way. On the Jimmy B. the captain is called behind his back, the Lord High Commander. He has been known to enforce discipline by making certain passengers get out of the boat. We call that "Doing a Clark." If they have to jump in the water to push us off a sandbar we call that "Doing a Clark bar." We find humor where ever we can after several long months on the river.

LONDON (AFP) - In a tale reminiscent of the last Wallace and Gromit movie, furious villagers in northeast England have hired armed guards to protect their beloved communal vegetable gardens from a suspected monster rabbit.

Can you believe the size of this bunny?
Happy Easter Family!

How is your training going? I remember Kristen saying a few weeks ago that you were doing like 6 miles on a saturday---how far are you up to now?

I will be thinking of you that day---and would love to see you but I simply have to be in my sisters wedding getting dolled up so post some pic's ok :)

Best of luck to you all---espeically my twin sister!!! ;) (you know who you are!!!)

Hey Everyone! Here's a quick update of my life overseas, plus some pictures :) Things are still going really well! I can't believe I've been here for almost 2 months...time is sure flying by! Classes are going well...they are challenging, but I think I'm doing ok. A few weekends ago, I went up to the Bay of Islands, which is 4 hours north of Auckland. It was beautiful (except for the crappy weather...we got the tail end of the hurricane that was in Australia...so lots of rain). Next week is my last week of classes before break. We get 2 weeks of for mid-semester break (I think American schools should adapt this :) ) The first week, I will still be in Auckland, doing random trips around here. The second week, I am flying down to the South Island and me and 4 friends are road tripping! We're going bungy jumping, jet boat riding, street luging, glaicer hiking, and kayaking through the most beautiful part of NZ (at least that's what I'm told). It should be an awesome time!

The pictures above are from a few days ago when I went to the sky tower. It's the tallest building in the southern hempisphere. It's in the center of Auckland. The first picture is of it lit up at night...it changes colors every month or so. The second is a picture of Auckland from the top at night. The last picture is of me laying on the floor of the sky tower (obviously, it's glass). There are a bunch more pictures at:
http://community.webshots.com/user/Little03Heet2

Oh, and just for your information, here are some differences between USA and New Zealand:
1. They call bathrooms/restrooms "toilets"
2. On the toilet, there are 2 buttons...a big one and a little one. Little one is used for number 1 and big one is used for...well you know :)
3. People walk around bare foot all of the time. You can go no shoes anywhere...even in the grocery store (which is kind of gross)
4. "Sweet As" is a very cool saying
5. People can tell that I'm American, and when they find this out, they immediately talk to me about politics
6. There is no grape jelly
7. The cereal selection sucks haha
8. portions of food here are much smaller
9. Fish and Chips is pronounced "Fush and Chups"
10. NO TIPPING!!! You don't have to tip for anything...it's amazing
11. "Dang it" is an American thing to say
12. All of the cheese here is white
13. No one knows where Michigan is, let alone understand why I whip out my hand and point to where Kalamazoo is
14. They don't believe me when i say there really is a Kalamazoo
15. When it gets below 70, people are wearing winter coats...no joke

That's it for now! Miss everyone!!
Lisa

There's a young boy, Marco Galicia-15 months, in my church who was diagnosed with Leukemia nearly a year ago. Since we started to pray for him, the doctors have not found a cell of Leukemia in his body. They have continued the whole course of Chemo to make sure that the Leukemia is destroyed completely. Last week was his last in-patient treatment. He hasn't responded well and ended up in the ICU last night, he's on a respirator which is helping him breath, and we got a call at work today that he was "coding" which means that his heart had stopped and they were trying to get it working again. Please keep Marco and the Galicia family in prayer. I will post more when information becomes available.