G.L.I.T.T.E.R forever

So you may be wondering why or how I came up with the blog title glitter.  Well here is a definition that my very good friend Amanda came up with, and I hope that it will give you a better understanding of where it came from.

Glitter (noun)- a type of friendship established on Sunday, September 28, 2008 prior to AK-SAR-BEN 4-H Livestock Sale.  It resulted from Jennie Jae Johnson and Amanda Lynn Schutz, two Nebraska teens, sweeping the AK-SAR-BEN livestock show with their Division One crossbred market steers, Buck and Carnie.  This type of friendship is impossible to describe, since only Jennie and Amanda understand its’ true meaning.  It stretches as far as the miles between them and lasts forever and ever.  There is no definition that can be understood by anyone else but the two girls, It brought them together and will allow them to never be torn. 

Jennie and Amanda showing Buck and Carnie
AK-SAR-BEN September 2008

God Will Never Give You More Than You Can Handle

Faith is the only thing that will hold you together when the world around you seems to be falling apart.  This quote seemed to be a good reminder for many as the summer began.  I was studying Wednesday May 11 for a Macroeconomics and biology final I had the next day when I got a phone call from my mother.  She had said that a good family friend had been in a really bad car accident caused by he rain.  She was only about two miles from home when she hydroplaned, ended up in the other lane, and was fatally hit by  an oncoming car.  She left behind one brother, two sisters, nieces and nephews, her parents, husband, and four wonderful children.  After hearing this awful news my finals that I had the next day seemed to be a piece of cake.  The bad news doesn’t stop there.  A few days after I had been home I got a phone call from my good friend Alyson Moore who was a freshman on the livestock judging team at Butler Community College.  She informed me that her boyfriend had been helping a friend work on a boat and was on his was home and fell asleep behind the wheel.  He was ejected from the car and taken to the hospital and put on life support.  He passed away last night, May 18.  Losing someone is not easy and sometimes we are found asking ourselves why this happened.  Nobody has a real answer but God! He has a plan and perfect timing for everything, even though we were not ready to say goodbye.  God ONLY takes the best; and those who have passed don’t want to see us mourn because they are in heaven dancing with angels where everything is as perfect as it can be.  It is amazing to see all the support that family and friends get, it doesn’t change the situation, but it makes it easier.  I guess in times like this we can just look back and be thankful for all the years we have been blessed with such wonderful people and all the memories that we treasure with them.  Life is too short to do anything but live it to the fullest, and thank God for each day he has given us.   

This is the first day of the rest of your Life

Dad, Me, Mom, Grandma Sally (dad's mom), Willard, Papa Norman (dad's dad)
This Picture was taken at Will's livestock judging banquet this past May,

This is a picture of me showing at AK-SAR-BEN, and I was just
chosen with the Champion Feeder Calf Heifer.

I suppose that my first blog should be a little bit about who I am.  For starters my name is Jennie Johnson and I have grown up in Nebraska on a farm all my life.  I have a twin brother Will, mom said that when they come two at a time that would be enough.  My dad and mom are Johnnie and Melinda Johnson.  Dad has raised cattle ever since I can remember and then some.  We started out with a purebred Gelbvieh herd but eventually went to the commercial cows.  We used to live on a 162 acre farm and ran about 100 head of commercial cows, but recently we moved to my grandparents place and sold about 65 of them and are down to about 40 now.  When Will and I were real young dad also raised ewes.  He ran about 200 at one time and then would leave mom during the winter for cattle shows and she would end up lambing out the ewes and chasing her kids around.  Mom decided that was enough of that and we eventually only had about 30 ewes and now we are out of the business.  Will and I have been showing ever since we were eight, and I thought it was the greatest thing in the world.  Sure at times the work would get a little monotonous, but I loved the thrill of being in the show ring and competing to be the best.  Three species we showed for many years: cattle, sheep, and hogs.  As we got into high school we realized that there wasn’t enough hours in a day do work all three species and play sports, go to camps, etc.  So eventually we showed just cattle which was our true passion.  Softball, basketball, and volleyball were the sports we played, softball was my most favorite.  My first two years of high school I played volleyball instead of softball and then decided that my junior year I should give softball a try.  I am sure glad I did, I got the privilege of starting my junior year as the first baseman, I had much success and a blast those next two years.  High came and went in the blink of an eye, and going into our senior year Will decided to transfer schools and head to Oakland-Craig for his last year.  It was a little different not going to school with him, but I believe that was God’s plan to get us prepared for the first year of college since we would be 4 hours apart.  I started thinking about college and my major and knew it was approaching fast and that I needed to decided where I wanted to attend.  I knew that I didn’t want to be any further than three hours from home because I was kind of a homebody.  UNL was the place I thought was for me so I headed south and decided that Agricultural Communications was the route I would be taking.  Well, I soon realized that living in the big city was not something that I enjoyed and neither was the large campus.  Sophomore year I headed even farther south, where Will went to school, Butler Community College in El Dorado Kansas.  Yes, I was five and a half hours from home and yes that is farther than three but I figured if I had Will I would be okay.  Butler was the best place I could have gone and I absolutely loved it!  I was on a books and tuition scholarship for working in the admissions office giving tours, entering applications etc.  I met some of my best friends from all over the US, and I wouldn’t give back this past year for anything.  Leaving was the hardest part and there were many tears.  Being that Butler was only a two year school I had to start looking at colleges yet again this time a little more seriously.  If you would have told me my senior year of high school that my junior year of college I would be taking classes at Oklahoma State in the fall I would have thought you were crazy!  But here I am, this little girl who at first didn’t want to go to more than three hours from home and will now be eight.  I guess this really goes to show you that you should never say never, and life is full of many surprises.  After transferring two times I do have my associates of science in Agriculture, and am still working toward my BA in Agricultural Communications.  My real dream someday would be to raise purebred cattle and live on a ranch and show at all the major open shows.  But lets be for real, I don’t believe that just getting my MRS degree is going to cut it so I have plan B.  Plan B is to someday start a photography/marketing business with Morgan Meisenheimer, who will be my roommate at OSU this fall.  I thought time flew when I was in high school it goes even faster when in college, I felt like just yesterday I was starting my high school career, and here I am now with only two years left of college, and the Real world to face next SCARY! All I can do is live everyday to the fullest because you never know when it could be your last, and cherish every memory and moment that you encounter.