We celebrated Kelsey's b-day on Friday night with Nana, Grandpa & Grandma Dawn. They came into town for dinner and we had a great time. We originally headed to downtown Austin with the idea of going to Spaghetti Warehouse, not knowing that it had closed a few months before. So, we ended up at a great mexican restaurant, Manuel's. It was good food, but it probably one of those restaurants that we will reserve for mom & dad date night. Abby has already said when she turns 18, she wants to go eat there.


Kelsey getting ready to open her gifts

Kelsey received some very special "family" gifts, she will always remember her 18th birthday as a very special one.


Sweet Sisters ~ Kylie, Abby & Kelsey


All 4 girls sharing Kelsey's b-day dessert


Dad & Sweet Jillian having a great time

There is nothing like the love of a grandmother & Kelsey is very blessed to have Nana & Grandma Dawn in her life.


Jillian, Kelsey, Grandma Dawn & Nana in front of Manuel's (We somehow ended up without a picture of Grandpa )

It's so hard to believe that 18 years have gone by. My precious girl has turned into an amazing young lady. I can't wait to see what God has in store for her! I'm forever grateful & thankful for this wonderful gift of God!

Today has been a sad day for the Williams family as it was our last day of our summer visit with Abby. Poor Jillian has been looking for her, she sticks her hands out like she is asking where Abby is and says, "Ab-Pie". Everyday activities such as sitting down for a meal are just not the same. We had dinner tonight and could not make it through the prayer with all of us tearing up. We all miss her terribly, already.


Abby Pie & Sweet Jillian ~ 06/30/11 ~ They love each other SO much!


Abby & Kylie at the Oasis 3 yr anniversary celebration ~ 07/31/11


Abby & Kelsey at Kelsey's 18th b-day celebration ~ 08/05/11

So thankful for Abby! What a blessing to our lives!

When Abby has a birthday (ever since she was a baby) it seems as if we end up celebrating for about a month. We all like to tease about it, but truth is, we really enjoy it. Kelsey has decided to get in on that fun and it seems as if we are going to be "celebrating" for a few days. Just hope she doesn't party so hard that we get a call from a Mexican jail asking for bail money!

My dad came down yesterday and spent the afternoon with us. Kelsey & I went to lunch with him and then we went shopping. We had a great time, even in the heat! Last night, dad took us to a Round Rock Express game, they are the Minor League team for the Texas Rangers. It was a LOT of fun!


Kylie, Abby, Poppy (my dad) & Kelsey

We had the whole ball game experience, complete with a $4.50 bag of Cracker Jacks. The girls had so much fun are already looking forward to the next time!


Abby & Kylie with the Express Mascot, "Spike"

While we continue to celebrate Kelsey's birthday (even today) I also, want to say Happy Birthday to my Pawpaw! Yesterday was his birthday and he turned 78! When I talked to him on the phone, he said that in 22 years (if the Lord tarried) he would be 100! I am very blessed to still have all my grandparents and I love them all very much!


Pawpaw ~ March 2010 ~ Jillian's baby dedication

I can't wait to hear from you my friends. August is a big month for us with lots of celebrations, but don't forget to celebrate the small things as well. Make every day a celebration of God's goodness! Be blessed friends!

Today our sweet Kelsey turned 18! It's so hard to believe that she is 18. It saddens me at how fast time has gone by, but it has been an amazing journey with her thus far.

My beautiful Kelsey ~ December 2010


Kelsey is an amazingly beautiful person, inside and out. I have learned so much from her.

I want to give a little of her story to help maybe bring hope to someone out there who is reading the blog. Her birth father signed over his legal rights to Kelsey after seeing her once when she was about 4 months old. However, our God is awesome and sent her the greatest gift of a "DADDY" that I have ever known, my sweet husband Danny. Danny and Kelsey are very close and for that I am grateful and maybe a little jealous sometimes   Danny has treated Kelsey as his very own and has spent countless hours pouring into Kelsey, having heart to heart talks, laughing and crying together. He has also been sensitive to Kelsey's hurts and pains when it comes to feeling abandoned by her birth father. He is also very caring when it comes to the thought of Kelsey wanting to some day meet her birth father. I am so thankful for Danny, there are not enough words to express how much I love him and how grateful I am for him.

I made a decision when Kelsey was a baby, that it was not my job to bash her birth father or try to tell her how to feel about him, after all, he will always be her father. I've told Kelsey over the years, that he was not ready for the responsibility of a child and no longer wanted to be with me. His terminating his rights to her had absolutely NOTHING to do with her. If he only knew Kelsey, the way that we know her, he would love her, without a doubt. While she has a "daddy" and is not looking for that type of relationship with her birth father, it's only natural to want to know where you come from.

Kelsey is a treasure, a priceless treasure. She is a gift of God into not only mine and Danny's lives, but to everyone around her. She is full of grace and has the most forgiving heart and spirit of anyone that I know. She has a true servant's heart and never ceases to amaze me with her acts of kindness. She loves her sisters so much and is just the most amazing example for them.I am forever blessed to have her in my life and someday when I grow up, I want to be just like her.

So, I just want to encourage you today, if you are "fatherless", don't give up hope! God has not forgotten you and He has an amazing, mighty plan for your life. If you don't believe it, just look at my Kelsey!

I wanted to share one more pic of my sweet Kelsey. Our sweet Jillian turned 18 months a couple of weeks ago. So, here we have our 18 year old and our 18 month old.


Kelsey (18 yrs) & Jillian (18 months) ~ 08/03/2011

Thanking God for my beautiful family and the marvelous way He "adopted" us all into HIS family.

We have been having a great, busy summer! I did good with keeping up with the pictures until we went to Pastor's Conference then I sort of fell off the radar! This week I'll try to catch up!

We went to Phoenix, Arizona for The Fellowship Pastor's Conference the week of July 4th. We had a GREAT time! There are a great group of people that are part of The Fellowship and we count it a honor to be a part of this great group of ministers. We had a great time of refreshing with such great speakers as the President of the Fellowship, Gene Evans, Tommy Barnett & Mark Rutland. I also enjoyed so very much going to the women's luncheon where June Evans spoke a powerful word.. We are already looking forward to next year's conference in Chicago with Mark Batterson & John Bevere. We love our Fellowship "family".


Danny & I ~ Fellowship Conference, Phoenix, AZ 2011

Some of the great men of the Fellowship, South Central Region

Pastor Rex Walker, Pastor Danny Williams, Pastor Jason Smith, Evangelist Kenny Large,
Pastor Cory Smithee & Our wonderful leader, Pastor Garry Smith

We drove to the conference and I had some really beautiful scenery pictures. However, when we were in Phoenix, my phone "wigged out" and had to be reset to the factory settings. When that happened, I lost ALL of pictures. However, I had already uploaded one to FB, which just happened to be my favorite out of all the pictures. I took it as we were crossing from New Mexico into Arizona.


What a mighty God we serve!

I look forward to catching up with everyone. Hope you all are having as wonderful a summer as we are! Just wish we could get a break from this killer heat and get some much needed rain! Here is the forecast for this week, hot, hot & hotter!



I can't wait to hear from you my friends! Have a blessed week!

For all of you who do not live in the Round Rock / Austin area, if you ever come through here, make sure that you try a Round Rock Donut! They are the BEST donuts I've ever eaten in my life! This morning Kelsey & I got up early to run a couple of errands and stopped to get donuts on our way home. The line for the drive through was around the block and the line inside the building, was..well, outside the building. We parked at a nearby business and walked over. The staff is VERY nice, but I told Kelsey that I felt as if I were in the "Soup Nazi"  line.



The donuts were nice and hot when we picked them up.



As we were leaving, Kelsey said to me, "I feel like we've been to a monument". I promise, you won't be disappointed. You can thank me later!

It's really hard to believe that half the year is gone! Where does the time go?

I couldn't resist the picture for today. As I've mentioned before, Sister RARELY sits still. However, she does LOVE the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show and I caught her sitting still watching her show.



I LOVE this sweet girl! ~ 17 months old

Happy Mother's Day to me. Thanks to Kelsey, we went and got pedicures.



It was a lot of fun! Thanks Kelsey!

Today is for our sweet Abby Pie



It was a VERY special day! And in the famous words of Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that".