What does one do when one receives a solar-powered toy in the midst of a cloud-covered sun-drought?

Manufacture the sun.

The sunglasses were 100% their idea.

And everyone was excited about the activity, including the dog.

Sunglasses Molly from The Johaniks on Vimeo.

We are so happy to be back home to our kids! We thoroughly enjoyed the time away, but by the end of the week, we were ready to come home.

Here are some scenes from the mountains.

One of my favorite parts of skiing is the colorful view amid the crisp, mountain air.

There were times we felt like we were on top of the world. What a view!

Whistler Mountain is so gargantuan, that some runs were over four miles long, which took us cautious skiers a long time to descend.

We skied down part of the Olympic run, and what do you know, we tied for the gold.

The drive from Whistler back to Vancouver was along the “Sea to Sky Highway”. Can you see how it got its name?

If the skies had been clear, this would have been a breathtaking view: Pacific Ocean on one side, steep Canadian Rockies on the other.

While in Vancouver, Jim and I walked around a German Christmas market,

then we said goodbye to beautiful British Columbia.

Vancouver (and Whistler) love their waffles–they serve Belgian waffles for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. In honor of this, we enjoyed a waffle breakfast with the kids after returning home.

We thanked God every day for the opportunity He gave us to get away together. He brought us together 20 years ago, and continues to sustain us!

20th Anniversary Vacation – Whistler-Blackcomb 2015 from The Johaniks on Vimeo.

As long as I am reminiscing on the blog here, I thought I’d highlight some other scenes from 20 years ago.

We are so thankful for our families!

Grandma and Grandpa. I sure do miss my Grandma Barker.

Speaking of Grandma, there are not many wedding gifts in our kitchen that have lasted twenty years. One, however, has not only lasted but is used almost weekly.

The chopper. Grandma told me that it was the most useful appliance in her own (busy) kitchen, and she was confident it would be for me as well. She was right.

Today marks a very significant milestone: twenty years ago, our branch of the Johanik family was established.  Before God and family and friends, Jim and I committed to a lifetime of marriage.

Granted, we were young and immature back then, however, despite our own unfaithfulness, God has shown Himself to be the faithful One–every year, every day, every hour.  God Himself is the One who undergirds this marriage; He is the foundation, the structure, the shelter.

It is because of His love for Jim and me that we love each other.

Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth. (Hosea 6:3)

Being among these mountains once again, I cannot help but lift my gaze to the One who spoke them into existence in the beginning.

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.

Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your justice like the great deep.

You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!

People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house;

you give them drink from your river of delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light we see light. (Psalm 36:5-9)

Jim and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary in Whistler, Canada, while my Mom and Dad tend to the kids at home. Thus far, we have been able to reflect much on what God has done in our 20 years of marriage. We’ve also been encouraged by seeing evidence of how He made the way for us to be here in Whistler.

We took off from Chicago bright and early Saturday morning. How does Jim spend a 4.5 hour flight? He pulls up the flight plan and follows it.

We had a layover in Seattle, then took a turbo-prop plane up to Vancouver.

It was raining heavily in Seattle, as well as in Vancouver. We then had a 2 hour drive up to Whistler. The rain very gradually turned to snow, and it has been snowing nearly nonstop since we arrived.

On a clear day, the drive on the “Sea to Sky Highway” would be spectacular: Pacific Ocean on the left, Canadian Rockies on the right. God’s creation is magnificent.

We arrived safely, then woke up the next morning and picked up our skis. As we were waiting in line, a black lab came and greeted us. I think it knew we were dog people because it hung out with us for a while. If only Ruthie was here!

We exited and saw something we were not expecting: a mob of people standing in line waiting to go up the mountain. This scene was a first for us. We ended up waiting an hour before getting on the gondola.

Fearing this would be the case all week, we asked around about the crowds. We learned that yesterday was the best day of skiing in three years, so every Vancouver resident and their uncle made the drive to experience the fresh powder snow. We are hoping everyone is back to work today.

The view from mid-mountain:

We walked around the village last night and enjoyed the lights.

Then we picked up some meat and grilled it at our hotel. Just like being at home!

For fun, here are a couple shots of us on our honeymoon in Vail 20 years ago.

That was then, this is now.

Teach us to number our days, Lord, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

The other day, while Ruthie was waiting for her turn to do schoolwork, she decided to teach Molly how to play her new Sequence Dogs game.

She dealt the five cards to Molly and helped Molly place her chips on the right spaces. And like every good dog whisperer, Ruthie had a constant supply of kibbles in order to encourage Molly to do whatever she wanted her to do.

This game scenario is really a win-win: Ruthie has complete control over the outcome of the game, and Molly receives kibbles and affection along the way.

While Derek still has a long way to go learning and putting into practice the intricacies of the sport of wrestling, he did taste his first victory last night. It was my first experience watching a wrestling meet, and after learning the point system and some basic strategies, I was into it.

Derek lost his first match against a guy from Fenton HS.

Looks like he’s going in for the tackle here.

The second match ended up much better for Derek. You may want to turn your computer down to watch the following video. My date for the evening was a tad exuberant.

Derek First Pin from The Johaniks on Vimeo.

Proud of this guy for working as hard as he does.

Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:20)

One of our most favorite family traditions is traveling to Michigan for Thanksgiving weekend. This year, Molly begged to join the fun.

Instead, she had her own quiet retreat here at home.

A Thanksgiving list:

1. Thankful for goofballs (even at age 15)

who are also calculated risk-takers

2. Thankful for a mom who organized a great 5K Turkey Trot on Thursday morning

The runners…

Stretching…

3. Thankful for a smart husband who mapped out our course

4. Thankful for fashion-conscience girls who run in pretty footwear

5. Thankful for best-buddy cousins

The boys who wanted to stick by Derek…

Running the race…

6. Thankful for time to play games

and watch games

7. Thankful for a delicious feast

8. Thankful for acorns to collect for the squirrels

9. Thankful for the one day of nice weather, and brothers who love to play together

10. Thankful a grandfather who walks with Jesus

We arrived home and put up the Christmas tree. Always thankful for our home.

A friend of Jim’s recommended a new workout app called the Seven Minute Workout.

Jim shared it with the kids, and they are totally on board. I came downstairs yesterday morning and found them in the middle of their workout:

They’re all set for the big meal tomorrow!

Derek is continuing to follow in his father’s athletic footsteps by going out for the wrestling team at school.  He has never wrestled in his life, and due to WA’s small wrestling team, he found himself up against varsity wrestlers at his first meet last night.

He didn’t do as well as he’d hoped and came home whooped and sad.  This kid loves to win.  The team prayed at the end of the meet… coaching these guys involves so much more than teaching skills of the sport.

When Ruthie and I had an afternoon, just the two of us, I decided to surprise her with a trip to the puppy store.  She was beside herself with joy.

First she picked out a bulldog. In the cage, it was the barkiest dog in the store, but it also locked onto Ruth and watched her every move through the glass.  When she had it in her arms, all it wanted to do was snuggle.

When we arrived, I had told Ruth that she could pick out two dogs.  Otherwise, she would have asked to pull out every dog in the store.  So her second pick was this cutie.

It was not as much of a cuddler, but fun to play with nonetheless.

We talked quite a bit with the young female employee during our visit.  Upon leaving, Ruthie asked me, “Can the people who work here get out whatever dog they want whenever they want and pet it?”  I replied yes.  She declared with assurance that this is where she wants to work when she’s older.

After last weekend, we can officially say that football season is over for this year. We held Peter’s and Jeremy’s team parties at Wheaton Academy. The school was extremely generous to allow both teams and their families to eat and play at their facility!

We never counted how many people were there, but we definitely packed the house.

Jim is posed with some of the boys from Peter’s team. They were called the “rock club” because no matter how tired they were after every practice, they would run to and from a large rock before heading home.

Jeremy posed with his team one last time.

Jake and Derek manned the grill–more than 250 pieces of meat.

And at the end of the evening, Jake reached in to the cooler to grab a Coke with a very appropriate nickname.

A good ending to a good season.

While Ruthie learns math,

Peter is in home improvement class,

and Jeremy…P.E.

Homeschool.  We grow the mind while teaching life skills (like climbing trees).

Meatopia = utopia relating to meat

Jim had the crazy idea of having the Wheaton Academy offensive line over for all-you-can-eat smoked meat after their season ended.  He coined it “meatopia” in order to get everyone’s salivary glands going.  He began smoking Friday night, and the grill didn’t turn off until 24 hours later.

Here he is cutting up some brisket.

We served seven different kinds of meat.  According to Jim, it really wasn’t that much work.

The boys did a good job eating all they could.

They sat outside on the deck, in the kitchen, and filled the dining room table.

Peter made three pans of brownies and served brownie sundaes.  Some boys couldn’t wait for Peter to dish up, so they invaded the kitchen on their own.

Jim shared a few words about taking leadership on the team and what it looks like to be a servant leader.

Although I didn’t get any pictures of her, Ruthie seemed to be in her element among the big boys, who ranged from freshmen to seniors.  She treated them like her own brothers, wrestling, joking, and running after them.  It was a fun night, and hopefully a good opportunity for the boys to bond… not to mention eat their fill of meat!

What do you do when your son needs to dress in a shirt and tie and Dad (the only family member who knows how to tie a tie) is in Kansas City?

Print a how-to guide with diagrams from the internet!

And he’s good to go, looking dapper as ever.

The morning before Jeremy’s game last Saturday, we were sitting on the couch watching College Game Day when Jeremy turned to me and said, “I just feel like beating somebody up.”  I’m pretty sure he was visualizing the big game ahead and had the urge to hit.

There are numerous advantages to having so many males in the house.  I saw the eldest son laying on the couch and knew he’s always good for a hearty pounce, so I suggested to Jeremy that he jump on Jake.  Here is what ensued.

Our family loves being outside, we love fires in the fire pit, we love sweets, and most of all we love being together.  Every once in a while, we combine these loves into one activity:  roasting marshmallows and making them into s’mores.

In the past, I’ve spent all my time sitting on the stairs getting the graham crackers and chocolate prepared for the marshmallow roasters.  I was lucky to get a s’more to myself with this method.  Last night, I decided to plan ahead and prepare all the cracker-chocolate sets ahead of time.

After taking care of the dog and helping blow out Ruthie’s on-fire marshmallows and finding new sticks, I managed to eat two before the locusts devoured everything.  Ruthie found her spot front and center.

Historically, Molly has always been outside, cleaning up s’more remnants on the ground and cleaning off the ends of roasting sticks between marshmallows.  This time, however, she had one thing on her mind: eat the s’mores off the table.  She was completely driven, as though she hadn’t eaten for days.  So, sadly, she was BANNED.

Someone complained the whole time about his feet being freezing.  What would you say to this?

Naturally, because everything in this household is a competition, a contest arose among the boys to see who could roast the perfect marshmallow.  This one was unofficially declared the winner.

Jeremy cleaned off his stick in the fire when he had his fill of marshmallows.

A fun night with a great family!

Roasting Marshmallows from The Johaniks on Vimeo.

Jeremy and Ruthie were playing in the basement while I was in the kitchen making lunch.  Then I heard the familiar distant cry, which gradually became louder as Ruthie walked into the kitchen.  This is a somewhat frequent occurrence, so I calmly consoled her and asked her why she was crying.

She could hardly pull herself together to answer, but when she finally did, her response was not what I expected.  She sobbed, “Jeremy and I were playing football, and we lost.”  What?  No tattling on Jeremy?  Are you sure he didn’t push you or say something you didn’t like?  They were the only ones in the basement, and they were on the same team.  Which means that they were defeated by an imaginary competitor.

I tried not to chuckle.  Jeremy entered the kitchen and described the play that cost them the game.  Ruthie went the wrong direction for the pass, Jeremy got sacked, and they lost.  Even when you’re imagining your opponent, losing is never fun.

Thankfully, mac and cheese was on the menu, so the sting of losing was quickly removed.

Despite his atypical distance runner build, Jake remained committed to the Metea cross country team for four years.

And boy, have these years flown by!   Looking back…

I think one reason they call the sport cross country is because by the end of four years of high school running, one has run enough miles to span from east coast to west coast.

We have thoroughly enjoyed watching Jake develop as a competitor in this sport.  He has learned a thing or two about physical suffering, as he dealt with knee problems and foot pain throughout his time in cross country.  He had to learn when to rest and when to fight through pain.

So proud of him for finishing well!