The Williams Six

1. To have my hair miraculously get long (or hair extensions) 2. Run a half marathon (though I don't currently run at all) 3. Get laser hair removal (I guess I want to add hair where it belongs and take away hair where it doesn't. LOL) 4. Purchase and learn how to use a nice camera 5. Find a perfect home in my budget 6. Learn Spanish 7. Become a morning person 8. Receive the swag bags that celebrities get at awards shows 9. Decorate my bedroom 10. Have a shopping spree at the Container Store (This sort of sounds materialistic, which is not my intent. I have put unncessary spending on hold for awhile, so maybe I have issues with wanting what I can't have!)

1. Plantation shutters 2. Icemaker (freestanding) 3. Screened-in porch 4. Kids' Playroom 5. Laudry Room 6. Beautiful kitchen 7. Lights with dimmers 8. Cool sounding doorbell 9. Built-in shelving 10. Walk-in closet

Happy Friday (or late Thursday night....since I do not know how to auto-publish my blog)! Today's Family First Friday theme comes from Ephesians 5:33 "...the wife must respect her husband" A few years ago, I read a wonderful book called Love and Respect . It really opened my eyes to what the Lord meant to convey in Ephesians: men need respect more than they need love. What?? As a woman, love comes fairly naturally. Respect, on the other hand, is much harder (in my experience). Disrespecting your husband is the equivalent of him not loving you (wife). Can you imagine never feeling loved? There could be no worse of a feeling. Our culture, in large, disrespects men. Commercials, television shows, and many women often degrade men. Think about sitcom dads. Most are lazy, forgetful, stupid. But that is not who God created men to be. He created them to be warriors, confident, leaders, faithful, brave. Yet, if a man is living with a woman who disrespects him, he will feel none of...

If you know me, I am a shameless mother. I think my kids are the cutest, most hilarious children on the planet. And I am not afraid to say it. Hey, God created moms to be shameless. I do adore these little people. Most of these stories will not be funny to anyone but Brett and me, but I wanted to preserve them in my memory forever. - When drinking a juice box, Chloe always asks us to "spread the wings", which means to lift up the sides of the box where it folds over. I have no clue why she does this! - Recently at dinner, I was trying to convince Caleb to eat something. I said, "Popeye would eat it." To which he replied, "Get him here then." (I should note that Caleb is not easily bribed.) - I always ask each child what/who they want to pray for at night. Caleb usually makes up friends to pray for: Ooh goo ga, Pu ta du, or some other random name. Chloe ALWAYS prays for "Megan (Eagleburger), Emily (Buxman), Uncle Blake, and Auntie Lissa"....

Luke is 3/4 of a year old. Wow, that has flown by. My sweet Luke is still such an easy baby. My friend affectionately refers to him as the fake baby because he rarely cries. Seriously, he only cries when he is hungry, tired, or hurt. God's grace is very evident. I think He knew I could best handle an easy going baby!! Luke is crawling very well and has been for awhile. He pulls to a stand and can stand alone for a few seconds. He gets into EVERYTHING! His favorite thing is to stand up and hit the television and also to turn on Brett's PS3. When we tell him no, he just laughs at us. Luke is definitely a big boy. He goes in for his check-up tomorrow, so I am not sure of his exact stats...but he is well over 20 pounds already. We call him Pookers. We had not come up with a good nickname yet (except for Lukey), so Brett started calling him Pookers. I thought it sounded terrible, but it has stuck! I have no idea how, but we all call him Pookers! I adore my sweet baby. ...

I have missed Family First Friday for the last two weeks, so instead of waiting until Friday, I am updating on Wednesday! Today's theme comes from Proverbs 18:21- "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." As the above verse states, our words have power. They either bring life, or they bring death. We have the power to choose. Wow. That is a huge responsibility, but it is also a tremendous blessing. God has given each of us the ability to bring life to any situation. While this applies to many areas of life, speaking life in our homes is an important factor to raising an awesome family! What do I mean by speaking life? When talking, choose words that build others up, rather than tear them down. With your spouse and children, I truly believe your words can change their lives. Positive, encouraging words create well adjusted, secure children. Negative, degrading words create insecure, unsure children. We all say things we wish...

I grew up in Springfield, Missouri. I love everything about my hometown. The people are nice (wow, the people are SO nice). The landscape is beautiful. The weather is awesome. I had a wonderful childhood, and it always fun to reminisce when I visit my hometown. My reason for going home was to attend the wedding of one my my best childhood friends, Cate Woody. Her wedding was gorgeous and so fun, so I am happy I got to be there to celebrate!! While there, we did so many things! I got to eat Andy's Frozen Custard. Twice. I went shopping with my mom. Side note: I bought a homeschooling book. We have officially decided to homeschool our kids. My commitment is to homeschool Caleb for Kindergarten. We plan to reevaluate each year with each child, but I am fairly certain I'll end up doing it for quite awhile. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I am so excited!! I have been praying about the decision for years, and I have come to the conclusion that homeschooling is th...

While Brett and I went to Tallahassee, all three of our kids stayed with Grammy and Pappy for the weekend. Luke stayed home with his great grandparents (both sets) and his great aunt Sharon, while Grammy and Pappy took Caleb and Chloe to Disney World. I was so sad to miss out on their first Disney experience, but I was so thankful for them taking off work to watch our kids that I did not object! To say they love Disney is a vast understatement!! For about a week leading up to the trip, Chloe asked if she could paint her fingernails pink to show all of the princesses. I was not sure if she'd have the courage to show them or not, but she sweetly showed every princess her pretty nails! She even asked Belle to stand up and twirl for her, which she did. My mother-in-law said the Disney princesses are SO nice. Chloe LOVES the princesses, so she was in heaven! Both kids got their faces painted: My mother-in-law has the pictures on her camera, so those are the only two I have. They stayed ...

Our friends, Nick and April, got married on October 9 in Tallahassee. Brett had the privilege of standing in the wedding as a groomsman. I always love visiting Tallahassee. I have the best memories from college! Plus, that is where Brett and I fell in love, so I always enjoy the flood of giddy emotions that flood me when I drive the streets. This particular visit, I drove down Meridian, a street that I drove many, many times through the years. As I was driving, I thought back to the many prayers I had prayed while driving those streets. I was overwhelmed with thankfulness that, in the six years following college, all of my dreams have come true. I have the life I have always hoped and prayed for....and it's even better than I imagined. Since then, God has given me new dreams, but I love that God has blessed me so much!! I left Luke for the first time, which was hard, but it was very refreshing! He did great. All of my kids did great. I am so thankful for what amazing grandparents t...

I am so behind on my blog right now! Two reasons for that: my laptop is on the fritz, so I have to use my desktop computer (which is slow and out of my eyesight, so I don't think about it much). Also, we just traveled to Tallahassee for a wedding, then I am leaving town again on Wednesday. I am taking my three children to my parents' house....without Brett....yes, apparently, I am crazy. I missed my scheduled Family First Friday last week and will miss it again this week :(. I have some good topics on the horizon. Between running errands and packing, I may be able to write one tomorrow. I am a bit neurotic before I leave town, though, so don't hold your breath. Not that you would. It has been an awesome past couple of weeks. Very busy but so fun. While in Tallahassee, Caleb and Chloe went to Disney World with their grandparents. I will blog more on that later, but I would be willing to bet it was the best day of their lives!! They LOVED it. I am falling in love wi...