on my mind (kristi)

something that has been on my heart very much lately is this......

when i am out in public and look around i see so many unhappy families. mom and dad are fighting, kids are whining, everybody is arguing. or i see girlfriends out together and hear them complain of their husbands. i hear kids saying they don't want to go home because it's not any fun. this breaks my heart.

i know the first and most important solution is that these people need Jesus. duh! but there are just as many families that do know the Lord that have these same issues. if any of you struggle with these things then here are some simple solutions.

1. make sure that your OWN spiritual life is healthy.
2. sit down and write down everything that happens from wake to sleep
3. look at that list and prioritize it and most likely there will be a few things you can do without
4. if you are married be your spouses greatest encourager
5. if you have children, make special time to spend with them (no phone, no computer, no distractions)
6. if you are married and have children get a babysitter and go on dates with your spouse
-you need quality time together
-it will make your relationship stronger and happier
-your kids will see this and this will make them happier
-the time you spend together as a whole family will be so much more happier
-are you catching on? :)
7. pray together!
8. make memories!
9. i think #6 is so important because i've seen so many families go through life and raise their children and when they move out the husband and wife separate because they have nothing in common anymore. the only thing that held them together was their children. how sad! so keep falling in love everyday and then when your children are grown and gone you and your spouse will still have a strong marriage built on love and not circumstances.

i know the list could go on and on and on and get so much deeper but here is the skimmed version :)
what are your thoughts?! please share!

kristi again

this is jonathan not wanting his picture taken but he's too handsome not to post :)

happy tyler

happy jonathan

tyler being silly, he said he was pretending to be asleep

Being a mom is so awesome! These boys are so much fun! It's hard to believe how fast time flies. I remember when i was pregnant with Jonathan and so ready for him to come out the nurses would say "oh honey you have no idea....". They were right because i had no idea. No idea of what a huge blessing a child is and how incredible it is to be a mom and be parents and have a family!

from kristi :)

When we first moved to fort myers (4 years ago) i was so determined to meet people outside the church. I never wanted to fall into a "comfort zone" and miss out on an opportunity to share Jesus. Of course we have a lot of church friends and they are some of our dearest friends but i wanted to go beyond that. The first year we lived here i met so many people at the park and different play places around town. We definately are blessed with a ton of kid friendly places. Never boring!! My closest friends became 3 of those moms i met outside the church. Well within the next 2 years all 3 of them moved far away because of their husbands jobs. This was really hard for me, really sad. I didn't want to have to start all over again and make new friends. ya know? So when we would go to the park or wherever i didn't really look for people to meet. That's so horrible. I probably missed out on a lot of opportunities. In the meantime i did get a lot closer to some of my church friends which has turned out to be a huge blessing. :) Fast forward to yesterday. We decided to go to pump it up in the morning. Some friends of ours came so we had a super good time. There were 5 minutes left before they shut down the open play time and i couldn't ignore God telling me to talk to the woman standing beside me. Ugh!!! haha
I turned around and started talking to her! Long story short we all went to lunch together and have a plan to hang out again soon. I was excited because i knew this could be the beginning of many opportunities and a great friendship. Last night we decided to go out to eat because we had some valentines money from Stevens mom and dad :) We went to Tokyo Bay where they cook in front of you. At our table was a few other people and then a mom and her son. Long story short again we had great conversation and have planned to hang out this weekend. I'm thankful to meet some new people and feel very blessed that God is using me to share Jesus.

come on girls

so my heart is kinda burdened by something and i wanted to share. it may sounds a bit "off" coming from me, but i believe that marriage is so so sacred. i take my union with w so seriously and respect everything that we vowed to each other and beyond. what is bothering me is that i see almost constantly women and men who are not married (and usually married to other people) talking about such inappropriate things. whether it's a dirty joke or talking about body parts, etc, it makes me so upset. i would never ever talk to another guy about my trip to the gyno or shopping for bras or whatever would make him look at or think of me in an inappropriate way. and it's cuz i am williams and i am not going to offer myself to anyone else...physically or even with thoughts that could be taken the wrong way. women love my husband and he is in a world that is mostly dominated my women. not only is he a massage therapist, he's also a pilates instructor so the majority of his clients are women. he is so great with them and they probably get so sick of hearing him talk about me but it just doesn't seem to stop them from crossing the line. don't tell my husband you like his underwear, even if you're trying to be funny. don't tell my husband you want to take stripping lessons and "maybe your wife would do it with me". it's just so disrespectful to me and also to him to even put that temptation for thoughts to wander out there. i do believe that most of these comments were said "innocently" if thats possible, but that's what makes it even more sad...that's what our world has come to. we just got cable (i haven't had it in about 8 months) so i'm watching these shows and just disgusted by what's "normal". am i the ONLY one who feels this way?? women, if a man is with a women, RESPECT her and yourself by really thinking before you share details or ask questions. and men, PLEASE respect you wives by not entertaining this type of behavior, don't worry about hurting her feelings, remember the commitment you have to your wife!! for the record, w has been wonderful about this and there are no issues about how things are dealt with but it's something that we will probably unfortunately always have around us. just something i've been thinking about and wanted to get it out. xoxo

kinda deep...

i feel like i always post the serious stuff. but whatever. yesterday i had a yucky stomach virus/sore throat/headache and was in bed all day so i had lots of time to think. i was thinking about how far ive come in so many areas and one of them being my health. this is kinda a deep topic but i want to go there in case someone else may be dealing with things like this. the thought all started when i was thinking about all the changes that happen to your body during pregnancy. everyone always told me but i assumed they were exaggerating or trying to scare me. but no, things change and it's kinda overwhelming but my goodness, it's so beautiful and miraculous at the same time! my mentality even a year ago would not be able to handle these changes but i have come sar far that i can really embrace what's happening and what will happen. you have to be so much more selfLESS and really think about your baby's needs. Here's the scoop..For a couple of different reasons, I had a TON of pressure on me to be thin...but not just healthy thin, the more skeletal i got, the more i was praised. yeah, it was fun to be able to wear anything i wanted and get complimented on how "good" i looked but inside i felt sooo miserable and weak and STARVING. i weighed about 95 pounds and it was very difficult to find clothes that fit. i rarely exceeded 300 calories a day (my food was measured) and i would go to bed extremely early and just lay there so still b/c i was trying not to use up any energy b/c i knew it was limited. sometimes my lips would be so numb and i would get shaky but i could NOT eat anymore than i was allowed. again, i did like the way i felt trying on clothes etc. but inside, i felt so helpless. i didn't exersize very much b/c i was afraid i would burn too many calories and i knew my body would begin to shut down. well, about june, enough was enough. slowly but surely i began to eat a little bit more. i'd maybe put soy cheese on my veggies, or eat a whole cup of chickpeas insead of half or maybe even eat a bell pepper for lunch when before i'd eat nothing. little by little i felt stronger and i felt like i was looking better also. i was still in one negative situation and i was looked down on b/c i was beginning to fill out but i was feeling SO much better and stronger, i had to look past it. fast forward to when i discovered i was pregnant and was constantly hungry and sick. i'd have to eat crackers throughout the day b/c it's all i could keep down and crackers were a BIG nono before. then i started craving fish and chicken!! i don't think it was a moment when i got better but being with william, health is such a part of our lives and being healthy ourselves is so encouraged. i lost my fear of food and what it could do to me. i believe just like always that we are responsible for our bodies and that what you feed it determines how it will in turn react, but eating an apple is no longer a nightmare. it is soooo freeing and so liberating to no longer be held captive by food. it was like a backwards food obsession...instead of being obsessed with eating, i was obsessed with NOT. Now, i listen to my body...and my baby. i can't go all day without eating anymore...i can't even imagine! ha! i'm probably never going to be the size i used to me...i hope i'm not...and that's okay! because i have a healthy heart and i'm strong and i have energy! i am so thankful for where i've gotten on this "journey" and so thankful to w who never judges me, but encourages me and loves me no matter what! i HOPE no one else is dealing with this, but if you are, know there is hope and there's sooo much more than being skinny. be healthy!!
xoxo

peculiar

Last night was SO great! Williams brother, Cliff came into town and it was sooo good to see him and be with him! He has such a great heart and I love being around the whole family. We ate at Julep and then brought him to our new house. He got a kick out of the echo...thats what happens with you have no furniture :) Anyway, I was telling him about a unique quality I have so I thought I'd share with you my list of weird and extra parts.

-i have an extra vertebrae (not that uncommon)
-3 kidneys..1 big one and 2 baby ones
-born with extra brain...had it removed...still a genius ;)
-16 screws and 1 titanium plate in my head
-2 uteruses...just found this out...

My first ultrasound showed what the nurse thought was a heart shaped uterus which everything you read about that is SCARY but after I switched Dr's and was examined more thoroughly, they discovered that I infact have an entirely seperate duplicate uterus. Isn't that cool? So, technically I could have 2 babies, 3 months apart...haha, highly unlikely though. How crazy/awful/miserable/weird would that be? My mom says I must have been a twin b/c I got all the extras. :)

evil sister

seriously kimberly!!! i am NOT pregnant nor will i ever be again. i've done this twice and i would know if i were. we've gotten rid of everything baby and i am completely content with jonathan and tyler! thank you.

kristi

so i am NOT a blogger. i figure if anyone wants to keep up with my life they can do so on facebook and twitter. right?!
well my lovely sister has a really embarassing threat hanging over my head if i don't blog so here i go....

last week at this time we were heading home from colorado.
the boys did great on the plane.


we had a great time. steven, his dad, and i went skiing twice. i hadn't been skiing in YEARS so i was a little nervous this time. thankfully i did just fine. my mind is a little different now so i thought about all the "what if's" a lot but still had a lot of fun. we did a few blues but mostly greens. steven did blue/blacks! he's brave and good!






we all went tubing one day and it was a blast! tyler and jonathan are fearless. there was a moving sidewalk that took us up the hill. you stand on it with your tube and there was music. you had to be careful to stand still or else you'd fall off and roll down the hill. yikes! then once you get to the top there were 5 hills to choose from, slower to fastest! the middle one had 3 bumps which made it crazy fun. we let jonathan go by himself but tyler rode in a double tube with steven or myself. a few times we connected all of us together and that was really cool. will definately do it again next time we visit!










we also had yummy meals together. my favorite was mt. fuji, the japanese place where they cook in front of you! yummy!!!!! we also had pizza and wings, mexican, and a few meals at home like turkey and steak. we ate really good!! :) the two days we went skiing stevens mom (mimi) took the kids to chuck e cheese.

jonathan and tyler had so much fun with their cousins trey and maddie.

trey will be 4 on sunday.



maddie will be 1 in april.



well i must go now.

Kristi

Updates from Mississippi

-we moved into our new home this weekend! after staying in hotels and with my parents, we appreciate more that ever having a place of our own. although, we sure do miss playing bananagrams with them every night :)

-i officially became a boren on monday. yay! got my new liscense and ss card! my mom went with me to brave the crowds and we laughed so much, she is such a hoot. i really wish she would blog, it'd be so nutty.

-we're getting our hottub fixed tomorrow. i can't wait.

-i made our first real meal at home together since being married. it was yummy.

-we did a ridiculously hard pilates class monday and i got the worst headache from straining my neck. but i have a massage in 30 minutes. so convenient.

-i want to go to the beach soon. i really think my brain has frozen and i can't think or be creative til it thaws out.

-i have no idea what to do for w for valentines day.

-we missed some days on the love dare during the move and we can't wait to pick it back up.

-w's brother is coming in town today and i'm super excited. too bad we have no furniture. we'll have to sit on the floor to eat. :)

-business is going great. the Lord fascinates me with how He always provides.

-i devoured a red velvet cupcake today. it was delicious.

-i think my sister is pregnant but she's in denial. you should too.

-i miss my nephews sooo stinkin much.

-jonathan said i just have to lift up my shirt and the baby will come out. easy, huh?

-my last checkup was on the 3rd and everything was great. we go back march 3rd and might be able to see what it is!! can't wait! i think it's a boy, everyone else thinks it's a girl. jonathan thinks its half and half. please no.

-i really wish my sister would blog.

-the end.