New Baby Girl Pictures!

Just in case you missed it, we had a new addition to our family arrive today:

Welcome, new baby girl!  She was born at 1:55PM, October 23, 2009, weighed 8 lbs 4 oz, and was 20 inches long.  We don't have a name yet, but that's another story for another time.

Family time!

Suck that thumb!

I'll write more on the birthing later.  Thank you for all the prayers and support!!

"Be anxious for nothing..."

Okay! You know what time it is?  It's time to dust the old blog off and write a post or two!  Since I seem to only be able to blog when a new child of ours is about to enter into this new world, now seemed as good a time as any to dust off those old writing skills.

The newest edition of our family is due to show up on Monday, October 19th.  At least, that's the date that all that fancy doctor equipment gave us.  If orneriousness is genetic and genetics have anything to do with it (and I'm fairly certain they do) then I am quite certain that she will not be born on that particular day.  A day or two before or maybe a day or two after, but not that day. And, if she hasn't shown up before Friday the 23rd, she will be forcefully ejected induced into this world.

It seems that the common sentiment expressed to us these days by folks is one of surprise that the baby hasn't come yet.  I think in some ways we're a bit surprised ourselves. I'm not sure why though.  Anica has a history of having early contractions, preterm labor and the like, and with every child we get convinced that she's going to go into labor way early. And, so far, with every single one of the pregnancies, we've been "surprised" when Anica has gone the distance and the babies have come pretty close to their due dates.

So this time I'm trying something new for me. I call it "be anxious for nothing"ness.  I've had to make a concentrated effort to just slow down and attempt to live a little bit in the "here and now" and not so much in the "Am I ever going to get to sleep through the night again?!?"  There's a lot going on in our lives, and we miss so much when we're constantly looking towards future events instead of enjoying what's happening to us right now.  Anica may never be this pregnant again, which means I have opportunities right now to show her love in ways that I may never be able to do again!  But I'd miss it if I start spending too much time worrying about tomorrow.  (Man! That almost sounded Biblical or something!)

Here's a picture of Anica and I comparing bellies:

Stay tuned for a birth story and baby pics and all that fun stuff!

Forever and a day...

It has been forever and a day since I posted anything to this blog. I've considered just doing away with it and starting over with another one, but I kind of like it. Maybe one day I'll be able to move on to some other subject besides the blog itself.

Until then, here's a picture of our family that was taken during spring break this year.

What a week!

It occurred to me today that we've been home from the hospital with Eliana for a week and I have yet to post anything new. I think I'm still trying to figure out this blog thing. I've sat down at the computer a couple of times to post something and then thought, "Do I really want the whole world to know that?" (Of course, the "whole world" that would actually read what I post would consist of maybe two people... Hi mom!)

Anyway, we've been adjusting this week. Having another child in the house adds just enough chaos to the mix to throw everyone out of their normal routines. Anica is keeping all sorts of odd hours with Eliana. She is a very pleasant child. She sleeps a lot, eats a lot, poops a lot and spits up a lot. If there was ever a newborn Olympics, Eliana would take the gold in spit-up volume. If she's just eaten, watch out!

Eliana getting her first sponge bath

Elisabeth has probably had the hardest adjustment to make. She's no longer the baby, and she hasn't gotten nearly the amount of "mommy time" that she was used to. She and Jeremiah have had a week of being taken care of by dad. Jeremiah has loved it; I'm not so sure about Elisabeth. Saturday I had the chance to take Jeremiah and Elisabeth to Sci-Quest, a children's science museum here in Huntsville. They had a special day where they filled their parking lot up with trucks. Fire trucks, Sheriff trucks, an ambulance, a mail truck, a dump truck, a moving van, and several others. Jeremiah loved it. He got to sit in the driver's seat of a dump truck. To a four year old, that's huge. I mean, literally huge. I think the truck tires were about as tall as he is!

Hey dad, how's this for a smile?

Since they made us actually pay the full Sci-Quest admission in order to see the trucks, we decided to go ahead and look around a bit inside. It's a pretty interesting place. The majority of the museum was designed for an age group that none of my children have managed to reach yet. However, there was plenty of things that they could do even if they didn't grasp the science behind it. One of the activities had big metal rings that were sitting in pans of soapy water. Picking the rings up created really large bubbles. I think seeing the bubbles pop and soapy water fly everywhere was Elisabeth's favorite part of the day.

Bubbles!

Tomorrow I have to go back to work. Not that work is a bad thing, mind you. But when you have a family like this that you could be hanging out with, who wants to go to work?!?

Elisabeth Grace... snack time!

Big brother holding Eliana


100% pure sweetness...

Eliana Hope Williams

Eliana Hope Williams

Baby pictures...

I haven't had time to write up the full birth-story yet, but here are a few pictures of our little girl:

Sweet dreams...

Mommy and baby resting...

Elisabeth Grace tries to figure out what this new baby thing is all about.

This is what you get when you tell Jeremiah and Elisabeth to smile... You might not be able to tell it, but they really are happy to have a little sister!

Come back tomorrow and I'll have something new posted... We might have even figured out what her name is by then!

She's here!!!

Praise the Lord, we have a new baby girl!

Baby Girl Williams, 14 minutes old
Born October 04, 2007, 10:48 AM
7 lbs, 5 oz
20 in
And a full head of hair!

Both mom and baby are doing great! I'll post more pictures and more details (including her name, hopefully) when I get a chance later tonight.

A Quick Update

Ok. So it's been a year and some odd months since I last posted anything. I guess not writing any entries sort of defeats the purpose of having a blog.

A lot has changed over the last year. Jeremiah and Elisabeth have grown up a lot. Jeremiah is 4 and a half now, and Elisabeth just turned two.Here's a picture of them with some artwork they helped create for our playroom:

I guess one of the biggest changes is that we are expecting child number three any day (hour) now. (And that's part of why I decided to dust off the old blog... Sometime in the next few days I'm need somewhere to put baby pictures!)

Anica and I recently got a chance to take a "mini-honeymoon" without the kids. We went down to the Ross bridge Resort Hotel in Birmingham, AL. I highly recommend it, especially during the summer. They have an awesome family-friendly pool!



Stay tuned! Baby pictures are coming! We just have to actually have the baby first.

The First Day of the Rest of My Life

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I guess in reality every day matches that description, but some days seem to do it a little more profoundly than others. Today is one of those days. Today I went and sat down in a classroom at UAH. That in itself is not unusual. I've given up hope of ever figuring out how many thousands of times I've gotten out of my car, checked to make sure that I had all the books that I needed and then headed into a classroom just hoping that I would be able to stay awake for the next hour or so. It's something that I've grown quite accustomed to over the last 11 years.

But today was different. Today I got out of my car a little lighter than usual. I hadn't spent a lot of time studying for the Western Civ final exam I had to take, but that didn't seem to matter as much as it once had. I found a seat in the classroom that I had never sat in before and I looked over my notes while waiting for the professor to show up. I answered the multiple choice questions quickly and efficiently, only pausing slightly at the few I didn't know. I read over the essay questions, realizing (with a sigh of relief) that I would be able to write about something I actually knew. It didn't take long to fill up six pages comparing and contrasting the rise of Christianity and Islam. And then it was over.

My last exam - my last class - as a college undergrad was over.

I walked out of the classroom and towards the elevator of Roberts Hall savoring every step - every smell - every peaceful moment. A journey that had started 11 years before had finally come to an end. No more sitting in a classroom wishing I was at home with my wife and children... No more putting children to bed and staying up until 1:00 or 2:00 AM trying to finish my homework... I'm done. It's one of those moments of realization that you just want to grab onto of not let go of for a while.

And so now I'm going to do just that. I'm going to go home and hug and kiss my wife and my son and my daughter and just rest. In this particular marathon of life I may not have finished in the top five, but, by the grace of God and the encouragement of my family, I have finally crossed the finish line.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me..." Philippians 4:13

Another Day, Another Blog...

Delusion: (de·lu·sion) n. [L. delusio, from de from + ludus a game] a false belief that is firmly maintained in spite of incontrovertible and obvious proof or evidence to the contrary.

Delusional: A state of being that I was obviously in when I started this blog. For some reason I thought that I would actually have time to consistently sit down and allow my brain to dump into my computer. *sigh*

Anyways, here's a picture of my son Jeremiah. He just turned three in April.

And here's a picture of my wife, Anica, holding our munchkins.

That's all I have time to write. I'll try to do something a little more entertaining next time.

My baby girl

This is Elisabeth, my 10 month old baby girl. This picture was too cute not to post. =)

Something to ponder...

"Since there is no refining without the fire, I can do no less than be thankful, even grateful, for the fire itself - even while having remorse that the fire was necessary in the first place."

Cafe 24/7

Cafe: [ka-FAY] 1. A small, unpretentious establishment, usually offering coffee, snacks and a relaxing atmosphere.

24/7: Continuous. Refers to an event happening 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Cafe 24/7: The name of my blog. A place where I can come and sit down at the end of the day and just relax, allowing the thoughts and emotions of the day to slowly and gently settle into place like silt in a swirling river of consciousness. A thought here, an image there... All part of the experiences that reveal to me who I am today and form who I will be tomorrow. It's these experiences that I want to explore - the reality of living my life 24/7 in pursuit of a God who is pursuing me. That's the essence of Cafe 24/7 - no hidden agendas. Just reality.

Come, sit down, prop up your feet and rest awhile. I'm told the coffee here is pretty good.