Quick Updates

Well, friends. Another month has flown by. Here we are practically knocking on November's door. Things are going well for our little family of four. We are busy bees no doubt.

Mike is working hard as always. We are praying through some VERY EXCITING changes right now. I will update in more detail when the Lord gives me the "go-ahead". Until then, please join us at the feet of our Savior over His unimaginable blessings!

Gracie & Autumn just returned to school this week after Fall Break. I'll post about our fun week together (with pictures) when I can breath for a few seconds at the same time I'm in front of the computer!

It never fails for my semester's to become increasingly intense as they draw to a close. I'm over half way through this Fall semester now. Only about 5 weeks to go!! Things are going well. I've managed some pretty good grades in some pretty tough classes. I'm glad, but I'll be happy when I cross that finish line for school! I want to thank all of you for your prayers and words of encouragement. The Lord uses them to keep me moving forward...

I'm praying the Lord's blessings on each and every one of you this weekend. Hug your kids, kiss your spouse. Take hold of the time you have and give it wholeheartedly back to the One who transcends time...

Blessings!

So, Two Things

First, I thought you would like to know that I apparently am not the best at finding well-fitted clothes for Autumn...as you can see, she had a slight problem with her pants. She was minding her own business, taking her medicine (she's had some allergy issues) and down they came! Just a day in the life, people...

Second, Friday is our family night. We usually do something fun for dinner and watch a movie or play games or whatever. So last night we chose Jersey Mike's, chips, drinks, cookies for dessert. We had a "cookie picnic" in the living room floor while we watched The Island of Nim. It took the girls about 2.5 seconds to devour these things, which by the way had enough chocolate chunks in them to make their own candy bar! Here's the proof:

I would have taken a picture of the actual cookies, but do you think the girls wanted to wait around for mom to take a picture...

And one more thing. This is what happens when you wait six months for a "stone bruise" to go away. It wasn't a stone bruise and it definitely didn't go away. So now I have to wear this thing for at least two weeks and then see what happens. The fascia in the bottom of my foot is inflammed which developed a bone spur...ouch! So anyway, all the hard work walking two miles every morning...not helping. So after all this time building this habit I have to quit for now. Dern.

Gracelynn Michelle Williams - Baptised September 14, 2008

There are some things that just leave me without proper words.

Praise be to Our Great God!

Fireproof

Go see this movie!

It's FRIDAY!!!

This week:

Sunday - We visited the early service at Grace CC with Mike's family before heading off to Nashville for the Third Day/Jars of Clay concert. It was AWESOME!! Thanks to Mike's mom...she gave us tickets for Mike's birthday. When we got there we scored ticket upgrades (have no idea how) and ended up with great seats near the stage! My sweet, beautiful sister-in-law kept the girls so I could go with him. They had so much fun playing with her and baby Camden. Thank you so much Jayme! You're the Best! It was a late night, but very worth it!

Monday - Gracie's last day as a "Parent Pick-up" 1st grader. Yep, she's officially a bus rider! Although this was hard for me (refer to earlier post)...Gracie LOVES riding the bus and frankly it makes my life a lot easier (and the gas bill a lot smaller). Have you seen the parent pick-up line??

*Just so you know how much Gracie LOVES riding the bus...when she came inside on Tuesday afternoon...she hugged me and told me that "we made all her dreams come true!" I don't know where she gets the dramatic tendencies...

Tuesday - Gracie's first day as a "bus rider". She is so excited she wakes up at 5:45 AM. The bus picks her up at 8 AM! So after she finally gets her uncontrollable giggling under control she asks me if we can do quiet time together. YES! So we did...and it was beautiful! The early morning and I are not BFF's. But I wouldn't have traded those moments for anything. My mom watches Autumn for me on Tuesdays. And let me tell you, Gramma is a tough act to follow! I am so thankful for my Momma...I could not do this thing without her!

Wed - Off to school.

Thursday - Is my day off! Autumn and I were home all day playing, cleaning, and just relaxing (well as much as a 3 year old will relax...or let me relax...)! Mike was dealing with the stomach-bug. Not fun, poor guy. At least I got to be there to baby him. To give him a little sleep time, Autumn & I took a walk around the neighborhood. It was beautiful fall weather. I made homemade beef stew and we watched Anne of Green Gables.

Friday - Is usually our Family Night, but tonight we are gonna mix things up a bit. Mike just headed out the door for a meeting with the FBC Middle School Pastor - what a great blessing he is to our church. After some music talk and a free latte he'll head over to his friend JP's house for a surprise birthday party! Pizza, music, funny friends...it's the small things that make life worth it! The girls and I are going to join some friends for dinner to love on our Pastor's wife, Susan. It's her birthday and probably one of our last opportunities to be with them before they head to NYC. (Check out they're amazing story about that here and here). Mike plans to join us there after a while. Then home. Bed for the girls and coffee, couch and a good movie for us. Fridays are good.

I'll let you know how Saturday turns out! We love you guys so much! Have a good weekend! Here's a few pictures you might enjoy...they were having a long jump contest in the front yard!

Note Gracie's look of awe as she watches Superman, I mean her Daddy fly through the air.

They Call It Fall...

Just wanted to pop in and say hey to all three of you who read this!! :)

Things are going good. We have had a relatively easy transition back into the "fall" schedule.

Gracie likes her new school...yea, Panther Pride...

Autumn loves her MDO class! She thinks eating lunch at her table is about the coolest thing that's happened in her 3 years of life....

Mike is working hard. Our big move to the Grace sanctuary went great. Glory! We're excited to watch God do His Thing....

I'm up to my eyeballs learning A&P....driving the school taxi and every other wonderful thing the Lord has blessed me with!

Yep, life is good.

Study time y'all. I'm out!

Autumn Joye

Autumn,

Mommy wanted to say Happy Birthday!

I just wanted you (and the world) to know how special you are! Three years ago, in the middle of a very HOT August, you came into this world declaring loudly your arrival. Daddy & I have not stopped smiling since. You are absolute sunshine in our lives. Your "yellow" hair and big green eyes dance wildly with you every morning on your way into our room. You are either extremely happy or extremely sassy! And either mood makes us laugh.

A few of your favorite things right now are:

~MILK...any shape, form or fashion
~ponies...the "my little" kind
~racing with Daddy when he leaves for work
~small kisses complete with a big grin
~sneaking into our bed at night
~walking Gracie into her class every morning
~running
~Big girl Dora panties
~Sunday School

A few of your dislikes:

~having your bed sent to China
~steel cut oats
~sitting still for supper
~when Gracie doesn't come home from school right away
~when Daddy tries to tickle Mommy

A few of your hilarious sayings:

~"See, Dad. I'm not died. I'm still talking so I'm not died."
~"I wanna know your day." (this is what you say to Gracie when she gets in the car at school each afternoon)
~"I am NOT for you."
~"I need to tell you sompin...One day...."
~"It's nothing to worry about."
~"Happy Birthday, Autumn." (to yourself in the mirror)
~all of your f's sound like th's...sorta like when you say if...it sounds like ith...so cute

You are so sweet. You are sometimes so sassy. You are beautiful. You are smart. You love to read and do "homework" with your sister. You like playing "teachers" and "mommy" with Gracie. You love to pray a lot. And randomly. And long. And I hope that never changes! You are so much fun and I'm so thankful you are mine, dollbaby!

To my big girl, three year old baby...I love you with all my heart! You make me very proud to be your Mommy.

Happy Birthday, Tootie!

Adventures in a School Bus

This is my first born baby getting on the school bus. What? Yes.

This was not my idea. Gracie begged and begged and I caved. So for now the plan is to take her and pick her up everyday except Thursdays when her sweet little self will be swept away from me on the big yellow bus...


Pray for me. Oh yea, and Mike because he gets to comfort the slobbering mess of a mother I become after the #9857 hauls her away...that's right folks. No one said 1st grade would be easy.

The Great 2008 Vacation!

There's just so much to say...

Summer is GONE.

What?

GONE!

I barely wrote entries and I'm just going to tell you it is because I've been too busy enjoying my family and summer freedom to sit in front of the computer.

Also, we have been without Internet service here at the house since the end of May. Why, you ask. Well, because I'm sick of a company who shall remain unnamed (but whose initials are AT&T) charging unreasonable prices for so-so service. I didn't need the Internet since I wasn't in school and with the convenience of the laptop I can always take it with me when I run errands and check email, etc while I sit in my car in the APSU parking lot.

Thank you WI-FI.

The girls get ice cream or some manner of summertime goodness. And I don't have to spend my life savings on DSL.

OK. I feel better.

So if you made it this far, I'll reward you with something worth reading about!

Vacation Pictures

Here are some fun pictures from our vacation! We had so much fun...
I'll post more later. Really. I will.