About Us
I was probably around eight when I first saw Tom, and I thought he was really nice right from the start. The thing that stood out to me the most about Tom at that time was his big smile. His joyful countenance was very appealing to me.
Through the years I rarely saw the Johnsons, but when I did it was a special and important event! I knew Tom and his brother Ed mainly from hearing them play their guitar and banjo, and I looked up to them as celebrities. We had tapes of their playing, which our whole family enjoyed listening to.
It wasn't until 1999, that I really got to know this joyful, guitar-picking celebrity. In June they began to come to my small, well-loved church. That was fun and exciting for our family, as we all really liked them! That July I described Tom and Ed in my journal as "about the nicest young men in all of creation!" Tom and I would normally see each other every week back then, and my respect of him did not waver--in fact, it grew! Near the close of 2000 I began to think of him as more than just a really nice guy. I doubted that he would ever seriously notice me, though--he was just too special! I stood in awe of him.
In the summer of 2001, the Johnsons started going to a church closer to them in Claremont. Even though we didn't get to see each other on Sundays anymore, his family and our family would keep on getting together throughout 2001. There was so much about him that I had never known before. The qualities I saw in him were rare and precious. I really looked forward to the family get-togethers with them, and enjoyed talking to Tom and his family very much. My parents heartily approved of Tom, and wanted him to marry me almost as much as I did! J
In March of 2002 Tom went camping and fishing with part of our family. We had quite a bit of time to talk and get to know each other during our hikes, boating, car rides, and over our fishing poles. Tom's warm love for people, spiritual depth, and personality continued to impress me, and I grew to love him more and more.
In December of 2002, the Johnsons invited us to their cabin in the San Bernardino mountains. The day after Christmas we packed up and drove up there with them. We spent three happy days with them sledding, snowballing, and talking a lot!
In January 2003, Tom asked my parents if he could take them out to eat on the 15th. It was arranged that they would go with Tom, and I would go to a different restaurant with Tom's mom. My brothers guessed why Tom was taking my parents out, but I was afraid to believe that it was anything serious, just in case I would be disappointed later. No matter what people were guessing, I firmly convinced myself that this was not for anything important. Tom's mom and I had a wonderful evening of fellowship together. We stayed quite late at the restaurant, and finally decided that we should probably head back to my house. When we got back we found out that Tom, Dad, and Mom had been home long before. We all talked together briefly in the living room, then Tom said to me, "Now it's my turn to talk to you." Tom and I had enjoyed so many long conversations, so this was nothing unusual to me. Before we started talking, I hurried into the next room to grab a book he had lent me-"Christian Devotedness". He had asked what I thought of it, so I had taken notes when I read it. I thought it would be a perfect time to discuss those notes with him, so I ran to grab them. As I turned the hallway to go into my room and get it, my brother Kyle thrust a note in front of my face. It read, "I won the bet…don't bonk your head." The note startled me! Could it be true? I knew immediately what he was talking about. He had thought that Tom was going to ask to court me that night, but I had not believed it. Kyle knew how exciting that news would be for me-that's why he warned me not to go through the roof for joy! J I grabbed the book and notes, and hurried back to Tom. My mom gave us jackets, and we were ushered outside onto the front porch. Tom and I sat down facing each other, and there was complete silence for a second. I knew that something important was about to happen, and sure enough, Tom broke the silence--"Katie, your parents have given me permission to court you..." He proceeded to tell me how special I was to him, and as he was talking, I thought I saw his eyes glisten like they were moist. I could hardly believe it, but then I saw that he was crying--crying for joy over me! It was such a wonderful evening! I was so thrilled that we could at last begin an official courtship! Even at that time, I already knew what a treasure he was! His love for the Lord was very uplifting, inspiring, and encouraging to me! I already felt like I could share my heart with him, and he would understand. His personality was a perfect compliment to mine--we were so well-suited! I felt such a peace in his presence.
After Tom and his mom left that evening, I was so happy I could hardly think straight! I had not been expecting that at all! I could hardly go to sleep when I went to bed that night, J and got almost nothing done the next day for joy--I was practically walking in circles! I would burst out with many joyful exclamations of delight to my sweet mother, who was practically as happy as I was! To think that Tom Johnson, the most special guy in the whole world, wanted to court me! It was almost too good to be true! And then he called me for the first time. I was terribly embarrassed when he asked me what I had been doing that day. I had gotten little done because I had spent my day rejoicing over the tremendous blessing the Lord had just given me in him. But, as always, Tom seemed to understand my embarrassed stammering about my day, and he loved me anyway. J
Now that he was courting me, we could send emails and Instant Messages to each other, too! My computer had never before had so much use! J In the weeks that followed, I normally saw Tom every Thursday. He would come to my house for lunch, and we'd spend several hours talking. After that we would go together to Trinity Law School in Santa Ana, where Tom taught a class on ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) every Thursday night. Tom had 12 students including me. It was fun to be part of what Tom was doing, and I loved to help in any way I could (making copies, passing out papers, or whatever!). Along with the rest of the students, I acted out mediations and arbitrations and was graded on them. It was a good experience, and I learned a lot. I'm sure I enjoyed it the most of all the students, and was the most fond of the professor. J
And then came Valentine's Day! I didn't think Tom would totally ignore the day, and was hoping that he might visit. That morning I was sitting at my computer typing Tom an email, when my brother Kyle came in and asked me to come see something in his room. I went in there and looked at it, and as I did I thought I heard something. Was that Tom's voice I heard singing? I thought that maybe our CD of Tom singing was playing somewhere, but the music didn't seem to be coming from any CD player. Puzzled, I looked in the direction from which it seemed to be coming-the backyard. Out the window I saw Tom sitting on our big swing! He was playing his guitar and singing Scripture songs! I rushed to grab my shoes and hurried outside. I didn't know, but Tom had a video camera set up across the patio to capture our greeting. J Tom gave me a long stemmed white rose, and told me that it symbolizes the purity of our friendship, and the meaning of my name (my name means pure). He then drove me away to a cliff overlooking the sea all around. There was a single bench on that cliff, and there we sat and enjoyed the picnic lunch Tom had packed-sandwiches and cheesecake in the shape of hearts. We then walked along the rocky part of a beach, talking and enjoying the beautiful day. When we got back in the car afterwards, Tom presented me with another long stemmed rose-it was pink. Back at home, my siblings excitedly showed Tom and me where we were going to eat that evening. They had set up the playroom with decorations and a card table set for two. We had a fun evening!
In May, Tom's class was over, but we still got to see each other quite a bit-usually at least once a week, sometimes more. We got to have a lot of talking time! In August Tom and I taught a class for the V.B.S. at his church. My little brothers Paul and Philip went along with us and were a part of our class. It was a lot of fun working with Tom, and seeing how good he is with children.
Throughout our whole courtship I looked forward so much to being with Tom! His phone calls and messages were such a joy, too--you can be sure that we spent many, many hours on the phone and typing to each other! J I felt so comfortable with him, so cared for, so peaceful! He became like part of the family, and everyone absolutely loved him! Tom always seemed to know what to say to me, and when I needed to hear it, whether it was comfort, admonition, or encouragement. It was such a joy to be with him!
I enjoyed many fun times with Tom's family, too! I wanted to sew my mom a jumper for her birthday, so they invited me over to their house to work on it. Casual days like that are very pleasant! Their family took me on many fun outings--like my first roller coaster ride! J I really enjoyed being with them, and started feeling like part of the family.
On November 5 my great-grandpa from Texas was planning to come for a visit. I invited Tom to come over to our house to meet him. Grampy was planning on coming at 2:00, and Tom said he'd try to make it here before then. The morning of Grampy's visit, I woke up to a beautiful day (of course J). Mom came into my room before I got up and asked me when Tom was planning on coming (She knew more than I did! J). I told her that I didn't think he was coming for lunch. I guessed that he would arrive around 1:00. However, I added, "But you never know with Tom!" J He had surprised me before! Around 9:00 that morning I was still in my curlers, and in an "around-the-house" jumper. J Tom called, and I started to chat happily with him. And then he told me--he was just a couple minutes away from my house! As soon as we said goodbye, I dashed around trying to get myself looking presentable. I was going to keep the same jumper on, because I knew Tom wouldn't care. However, I decided to change a little later, because my mom asked me, "Are you going to wear that?" Mom said something about me going somewhere with Tom, but I told her that I thought we'd stay home all day, except for possibly going to his office to pick up his mail. Tom arrived a while later. We sat on the couch and chatted for a few minutes, then Tom suggested that we go somewhere in the morning before Grampy came. I thought that would be great, so I hurried to get ready. Tom drove us off to our special cliff overlooking the ocean. Just like Valentine's Day, Tom had packed sandwiches that were cut into heart shapes. By this time, I was definitely suspecting that this was not just a normal day with Tom--this was a very special day! After eating our picnic lunch, Tom asked me if he could play me a song. He got out a small guitar, then got on one knee in front of me and sang me a precious song that he had written just for me. After he finished, he asked me, "Will you marry me?" With great joy I answered, "yes!" J He presented me with a beautiful ring, and then we sat there awhile, taking joy in the tremendous gift God had given us in each other. Tom told me that he had met with my dad early that morning before he came to our house, and he cheerfully consented to our engagement. After spending a joyful time on the cliff, we went to the second place that we had gone to on Valentine's Day--the rocky beach. We then hiked back to the car, and drove home to my house. My great-grandpa and my grandpa and grandma were already there, and Tom shared that he had asked me to marry him that day. I was so excited to have that ring on my finger! I was to marry my sweetheart!
On June 5, 2004, I married my Tom, and gave myself joyfully to him. Since then our marriage has only gotten better, and happier, and sweeter. He is the best husband in the world, and I feel so blessed!
Through the years I rarely saw the Johnsons, but when I did it was a special and important event! I knew Tom and his brother Ed mainly from hearing them play their guitar and banjo, and I looked up to them as celebrities. We had tapes of their playing, which our whole family enjoyed listening to.
It wasn't until 1999, that I really got to know this joyful, guitar-picking celebrity. In June they began to come to my small, well-loved church. That was fun and exciting for our family, as we all really liked them! That July I described Tom and Ed in my journal as "about the nicest young men in all of creation!" Tom and I would normally see each other every week back then, and my respect of him did not waver--in fact, it grew! Near the close of 2000 I began to think of him as more than just a really nice guy. I doubted that he would ever seriously notice me, though--he was just too special! I stood in awe of him.
In the summer of 2001, the Johnsons started going to a church closer to them in Claremont. Even though we didn't get to see each other on Sundays anymore, his family and our family would keep on getting together throughout 2001. There was so much about him that I had never known before. The qualities I saw in him were rare and precious. I really looked forward to the family get-togethers with them, and enjoyed talking to Tom and his family very much. My parents heartily approved of Tom, and wanted him to marry me almost as much as I did! J
In March of 2002 Tom went camping and fishing with part of our family. We had quite a bit of time to talk and get to know each other during our hikes, boating, car rides, and over our fishing poles. Tom's warm love for people, spiritual depth, and personality continued to impress me, and I grew to love him more and more.
In December of 2002, the Johnsons invited us to their cabin in the San Bernardino mountains. The day after Christmas we packed up and drove up there with them. We spent three happy days with them sledding, snowballing, and talking a lot!
In January 2003, Tom asked my parents if he could take them out to eat on the 15th. It was arranged that they would go with Tom, and I would go to a different restaurant with Tom's mom. My brothers guessed why Tom was taking my parents out, but I was afraid to believe that it was anything serious, just in case I would be disappointed later. No matter what people were guessing, I firmly convinced myself that this was not for anything important. Tom's mom and I had a wonderful evening of fellowship together. We stayed quite late at the restaurant, and finally decided that we should probably head back to my house. When we got back we found out that Tom, Dad, and Mom had been home long before. We all talked together briefly in the living room, then Tom said to me, "Now it's my turn to talk to you." Tom and I had enjoyed so many long conversations, so this was nothing unusual to me. Before we started talking, I hurried into the next room to grab a book he had lent me-"Christian Devotedness". He had asked what I thought of it, so I had taken notes when I read it. I thought it would be a perfect time to discuss those notes with him, so I ran to grab them. As I turned the hallway to go into my room and get it, my brother Kyle thrust a note in front of my face. It read, "I won the bet…don't bonk your head." The note startled me! Could it be true? I knew immediately what he was talking about. He had thought that Tom was going to ask to court me that night, but I had not believed it. Kyle knew how exciting that news would be for me-that's why he warned me not to go through the roof for joy! J I grabbed the book and notes, and hurried back to Tom. My mom gave us jackets, and we were ushered outside onto the front porch. Tom and I sat down facing each other, and there was complete silence for a second. I knew that something important was about to happen, and sure enough, Tom broke the silence--"Katie, your parents have given me permission to court you..." He proceeded to tell me how special I was to him, and as he was talking, I thought I saw his eyes glisten like they were moist. I could hardly believe it, but then I saw that he was crying--crying for joy over me! It was such a wonderful evening! I was so thrilled that we could at last begin an official courtship! Even at that time, I already knew what a treasure he was! His love for the Lord was very uplifting, inspiring, and encouraging to me! I already felt like I could share my heart with him, and he would understand. His personality was a perfect compliment to mine--we were so well-suited! I felt such a peace in his presence.
After Tom and his mom left that evening, I was so happy I could hardly think straight! I had not been expecting that at all! I could hardly go to sleep when I went to bed that night, J and got almost nothing done the next day for joy--I was practically walking in circles! I would burst out with many joyful exclamations of delight to my sweet mother, who was practically as happy as I was! To think that Tom Johnson, the most special guy in the whole world, wanted to court me! It was almost too good to be true! And then he called me for the first time. I was terribly embarrassed when he asked me what I had been doing that day. I had gotten little done because I had spent my day rejoicing over the tremendous blessing the Lord had just given me in him. But, as always, Tom seemed to understand my embarrassed stammering about my day, and he loved me anyway. J
Now that he was courting me, we could send emails and Instant Messages to each other, too! My computer had never before had so much use! J In the weeks that followed, I normally saw Tom every Thursday. He would come to my house for lunch, and we'd spend several hours talking. After that we would go together to Trinity Law School in Santa Ana, where Tom taught a class on ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) every Thursday night. Tom had 12 students including me. It was fun to be part of what Tom was doing, and I loved to help in any way I could (making copies, passing out papers, or whatever!). Along with the rest of the students, I acted out mediations and arbitrations and was graded on them. It was a good experience, and I learned a lot. I'm sure I enjoyed it the most of all the students, and was the most fond of the professor. J
And then came Valentine's Day! I didn't think Tom would totally ignore the day, and was hoping that he might visit. That morning I was sitting at my computer typing Tom an email, when my brother Kyle came in and asked me to come see something in his room. I went in there and looked at it, and as I did I thought I heard something. Was that Tom's voice I heard singing? I thought that maybe our CD of Tom singing was playing somewhere, but the music didn't seem to be coming from any CD player. Puzzled, I looked in the direction from which it seemed to be coming-the backyard. Out the window I saw Tom sitting on our big swing! He was playing his guitar and singing Scripture songs! I rushed to grab my shoes and hurried outside. I didn't know, but Tom had a video camera set up across the patio to capture our greeting. J Tom gave me a long stemmed white rose, and told me that it symbolizes the purity of our friendship, and the meaning of my name (my name means pure). He then drove me away to a cliff overlooking the sea all around. There was a single bench on that cliff, and there we sat and enjoyed the picnic lunch Tom had packed-sandwiches and cheesecake in the shape of hearts. We then walked along the rocky part of a beach, talking and enjoying the beautiful day. When we got back in the car afterwards, Tom presented me with another long stemmed rose-it was pink. Back at home, my siblings excitedly showed Tom and me where we were going to eat that evening. They had set up the playroom with decorations and a card table set for two. We had a fun evening!
In May, Tom's class was over, but we still got to see each other quite a bit-usually at least once a week, sometimes more. We got to have a lot of talking time! In August Tom and I taught a class for the V.B.S. at his church. My little brothers Paul and Philip went along with us and were a part of our class. It was a lot of fun working with Tom, and seeing how good he is with children.
Throughout our whole courtship I looked forward so much to being with Tom! His phone calls and messages were such a joy, too--you can be sure that we spent many, many hours on the phone and typing to each other! J I felt so comfortable with him, so cared for, so peaceful! He became like part of the family, and everyone absolutely loved him! Tom always seemed to know what to say to me, and when I needed to hear it, whether it was comfort, admonition, or encouragement. It was such a joy to be with him!
I enjoyed many fun times with Tom's family, too! I wanted to sew my mom a jumper for her birthday, so they invited me over to their house to work on it. Casual days like that are very pleasant! Their family took me on many fun outings--like my first roller coaster ride! J I really enjoyed being with them, and started feeling like part of the family.
On November 5 my great-grandpa from Texas was planning to come for a visit. I invited Tom to come over to our house to meet him. Grampy was planning on coming at 2:00, and Tom said he'd try to make it here before then. The morning of Grampy's visit, I woke up to a beautiful day (of course J). Mom came into my room before I got up and asked me when Tom was planning on coming (She knew more than I did! J). I told her that I didn't think he was coming for lunch. I guessed that he would arrive around 1:00. However, I added, "But you never know with Tom!" J He had surprised me before! Around 9:00 that morning I was still in my curlers, and in an "around-the-house" jumper. J Tom called, and I started to chat happily with him. And then he told me--he was just a couple minutes away from my house! As soon as we said goodbye, I dashed around trying to get myself looking presentable. I was going to keep the same jumper on, because I knew Tom wouldn't care. However, I decided to change a little later, because my mom asked me, "Are you going to wear that?" Mom said something about me going somewhere with Tom, but I told her that I thought we'd stay home all day, except for possibly going to his office to pick up his mail. Tom arrived a while later. We sat on the couch and chatted for a few minutes, then Tom suggested that we go somewhere in the morning before Grampy came. I thought that would be great, so I hurried to get ready. Tom drove us off to our special cliff overlooking the ocean. Just like Valentine's Day, Tom had packed sandwiches that were cut into heart shapes. By this time, I was definitely suspecting that this was not just a normal day with Tom--this was a very special day! After eating our picnic lunch, Tom asked me if he could play me a song. He got out a small guitar, then got on one knee in front of me and sang me a precious song that he had written just for me. After he finished, he asked me, "Will you marry me?" With great joy I answered, "yes!" J He presented me with a beautiful ring, and then we sat there awhile, taking joy in the tremendous gift God had given us in each other. Tom told me that he had met with my dad early that morning before he came to our house, and he cheerfully consented to our engagement. After spending a joyful time on the cliff, we went to the second place that we had gone to on Valentine's Day--the rocky beach. We then hiked back to the car, and drove home to my house. My great-grandpa and my grandpa and grandma were already there, and Tom shared that he had asked me to marry him that day. I was so excited to have that ring on my finger! I was to marry my sweetheart!
On June 5, 2004, I married my Tom, and gave myself joyfully to him. Since then our marriage has only gotten better, and happier, and sweeter. He is the best husband in the world, and I feel so blessed!