A couple weeks ago I came across this quote; time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters. At the time it caused me to stop and think a little bit and pass it on. Well today it has taken on a totally different meaning!

These past 14 hours for our fire fighting family, have been difficult and has challenged The Williams' family to stop, slow down, and talk about enjoying the life we have!! Last night our evening started out like any other Tuesday night! School, eat, then off to get things moving for the evening! After dropping off Rebekah to cheer, MiKayla and I went in to Sioux Falls to pick up a friend for youth group, Kristen was heading to softball practice, and Nate and Jake were meeting with a couple about softball for next summer.

As MiKalya and I were in Target, I got a call from Nate that the pager was going crazy, more help was needed as another fire fighter was down and not responding. Whenever the pager goes off it is an immediate reaction, but add to it the fact that it was another firefighter. This meant it would hit even closer to home. Nate went on the call, started preparing to land the helicopter and was stopped because they couldn't revive him.

It still amazes me how a group of strong fire service men and women can go into firefighter mode to save the life of another individual! This is truly a gift from God! How would our communities survive without them! The events of last night really didn't hit home with me until this morning. On our way to school we drove by the fire station, we came upon the flags at ½ mass and black draped over the fire truck's lights and hood. WOW if that isn't enough to get one thinking! I'm sure our arm forces feel the same way when tragedy hits their extended family!

The firefighter was a strong willed individual who liked things his way! As are most individuals, if we are truly honest with ourselves! He had a way of keeping others on their toes, and again if they were honest with themselves, it probably caused them to think a little also! Maybe re-evaluate the situation and adjust things a little! In the BIG picture of life do the differences we pick apart really matter? Are our differences going to stand in the way of showing love to one another? Because if your God is the same as My God I know he has called us to be better examples than picking each other apart!!!

As I try to work through the emotions of a fire fighters wife, I just can't get the thoughts of this gentleman and his family out of my mind. I am seeing him drive his supped up fire golf cart in the last Tea Pot days, a great friend sitting next to him, and the stuffed Dalmatian dog on the back. Running into him at Pizza Ranch, talking with their family for a bit. Those days are behind us now and will not happen anymore! As Jake put it, "Who is going to drive the golf cart in the next parade?"

What does this mean for those that are still here on earth? I can only pray that since the Lord put Nate on the fire department, our family would have the opportunity to draw strength from our heavenly Father to pass on to a family that is hurting. And to an extended family that will be touched forever by this moment! It is my prayer that individuals in our fire fighting family will renew their relationship with our Heavenly Father, and if they have no idea how to do that or what it means they will feel comfortable enough to stop and ask! May the Lord show His grace on the TFD!!

Psalm 23 states:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want,

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside quiet waters,

He restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name sake,

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup over flows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!

For those of you that have checked back weekly/monthly to see if I have posted anything on our blog, I am sorry! Our summer got away from us quickly and I am still trying to figure out where it went! J Now that we are back in some sort of routine I thought I would take a couple minutes and share what has happened this summer!

First since the last time I blogged, we have a new sister-in law that is keeping my brother so busy that we hardly even see him anymore, I know hard to believe that Scotty is preoccupied with a family!! It is only going get busier for the new Friesen family as they are adding a little one in February. Wait not time and replenish the earth!

For the Williams' family we have added a new little niece, who is very lovable and cuddly, or at least she was when we met her! And a new nephew, who is going to need to grow up fast for Jake to play with!! He is extremely tired of playing house and watching Hannah Montana with the girls!!

MiKayla turned 11, where has the time gone? And Nate well he is just 36! The older we get the more our birthday's become just another day!

Our summer stayed busy with softball and t-ball for 3 of the kids and MiKayla learned quickly how to become my assistant coach as she helped me out with Jake's t-ball team. This year was a first for us as we were caught in the scheduling trap I remember Aunt Kathy being in with the boys and their hockey schedules! I remember talking with her wondering how in the world she did it! Well this year we found out, as Nate coached Kristen's team, Nate & Amy coached Jake's team (which ended up being Amy & MiKayla or Kristen if she was off) and Rebekah being left in the dust! No not really we called in back up and Stephanie Hofer came to the rescue and help out! Thanks Steph for being willing to become part of the Williams family!

As we move into the school year, we now have a calendar that is full of competitive cheer, volleyball, fall softball, and flag football. Yes, flag football is for both of my boys!! Big and Little! J No Nate hasn't needed oxygen or been carried off of the field with broken bones.

Oh, and sometime in there we study! Kristen is an 8^th grader, MiKayla is a 5^th grader, Rebekah is a 3^rd grader, and Jake is a 1^st grader. Nate and I also decided it was time for me to finish my schooling! Found an online early childhood education program that would accept a number of my credits I have already earned which is a huge blessing, but even more so with it being online everything I do is via internet!! I read, do assignments, and discuss issues affecting our children all online. Which is another huge blessing! Many nights all the kids and I are sitting around the house doing homework! It has even prompted a couple healthy wagers between mom and older girls!

When life knocks you down don't stay down bounce back!! Everybody stumbles or gets knocked off their feet from time to time, the winners are just the ones who keep getting back up! That's what Paul meant when he said, "In all these things we are more than conquerors." If you pray and look hard enough, you'll find the seed of good in every adversity. The difference between winners and losers, is their ability to turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones!!!

Encouraging!! There is ALWAYS hope at the end of every adversity tunnel!! We just have to look for it! Even when a situation seems hopeless!!!

Kristen is 13!!!!!

On Easter day we were blessed to be able to celebrate Kristen's 13th birthday! WOW, were has the time gone, we remember her as a free spirited little lady that loved to have a good time and just play. Well much hasn't changed since then, she is still a HUGE blessing to our family and I don't know what we would do without her.

As I take a walk down memory lane, Nate and I are AMAZED daily by her maturity and ability to make decisions that we sure didn't have to make at the age of 13. At least a few times a week we have the opportunity to talk and catch up with what is going on in her life, and each time it seems to take a step deeper into how the Lord is molding her into the young lady He sees her as!

It hit me the week before her birthday that she really only has 5 more years with us in our home. Yeah it maybe longer but reality is she will be graduating from high school then, I know grandmas are grabbing a Kleenex and asking why did I have to remind you that she is growing up, "Baby K" can't grow up. She will ALWAYS be our Baby K!! I would love nothing more than to be in our first house in Richfield MN shutting the screen door quietly because we just got our colicky baby asleep in the swing, pulling her first tooth and wiping the tears because "this tooth was really supposed come out?" Seeing her convince Grandpa Jim to climb on her little bike and go for a ride because she didn't think Grandpa could ride with no training wheels! Seeing how big her little hand looked next to her new baby sister!

I am saying it more for myself than anyone, what am I going to DO in the next 5 years to mold her mind? I can tell you that the next 5 years she is with us we will take just as serious as we did the first 5 years of her life! As parents when our children are young we teach them to walk and talk among other things, we are all excited about getting them to the next step! For those of you out there with little ones at home, PLEASE just take a deep breath and RELAX!! Enjoy your kids when they are young before you know it the first 5 years becomes the last 5 years! And you wonder where in the world did the last few years go?

It is my prayer that the decisions we make over the next few years will benefit all our children. Give them the roots so they are ready to fly!!

Thank you for growing us the last 13 years K! We love you tons!! And will ALWAYS sing the "special" birthday song no matter what birthday it is!! :)

Jake's Birthday Pics

First thing out of his mouth was great now I can go on calls with dad!!

After talking with a friend last week, she reminded me that it had been a while since I blogged and she was wondering what was going on here! Some days we have been to busy to stop and think! I am going to jump right in and fill you in on the past month.

Over the last few years we have been feeling that something wasn't right with MiKayla and school, we made the leap and sent her to SFC for 4th grade. As it turns out it has been the best thing for her, she started year working everyday with a resource teacher which has a huge blessing. Early in the school year the resource teacher suggested we make an appointment with the Scotish Rite Clinic in SF to check for Dyslexia. Got the results back a couple weeks ago and it was confirmed she has dyslexia. The biggest frustration for children with dyslexia is they are so brilliant but have problems getting out what is going on in their minds!

Last Wednesday I went to conferences and while waiting for the resource teacher, I spent some time talking with Darin and Julia Glanzer. There oldest was diagnosed with dyslexia this year also. Watch out Glanzers it is in the genes! Could be possible more Glanzers out there with dyslexia they just don't know it! I am going to use the disclaimer that if something doesn't make sense on this blog it is because I have the Glanzer dyslexia gene and wasn't diagnosed at a younger age! :0) Anyway our next step is to figure out the way she learns best and move in that direction, we already have a few ideas, just need to expand on those.

Our conference with Ms. TeSlaa, MiKayla's main teacher went very well! She is loved by all the kids, has a very compassionate heart, and is excelling in Math. Having Ms. TeSlaa this year has been a huge blessing also because she has had a child with dyslexia in her class every year for the past 3 years.

In March Jake turned 6 years old! I can't believe it! Where have the past 6 years gone! I will post some pics another time, no Cathi it won't be in a month!! :0) We asked what he wanted to do for his party, of course we needed to go to the fire station. Asked him which friends from school he wanted to invite, his response was "Ya know mom only one can control himself enough to go to the station and hang out! The rest won't listen and wouldn't behave." Not sure if there are any 6 year old boys that can handle themselves at the fire station! Anyway we brought one friend home after school, hung out and then went to the fire station to just hang out and playing on the trucks.

Life for Rebekah has been pretty quiet just going with the flow. I'm sure one of these days she will have had enough and let us know, but for now we will just enjoy it! (For those who haven't been around when Bekah blows, be thankful!! When she hits that wall she hits hard!!!)

In my last post I commented on enjoying life before our 6 week volleyball marathon. Well today it ended!! The girls had a challenging 6 weeks and are going through things at school that was definitely affecting the way they were playing on the court. Oh to be in middle school again! Maybe having 6 in our class wasn't so bad after all!! This season we are chalking it up experience! Started out promising ended with just showing up on the court! That is for another blog.

That's all for now, as I need to explain to my 6 year old son why he doesn't have hair growing in his arm pits yet! Don't recall having this conversation with the girls at 6 years old!!! What else am I in store for? Those of you with boy experience, hope you are praying!! Because I know we will need it.

This week we had parent teacher conferences with Bekah and Jake's teachers! I still can't believe there are around 80 days left in the school year! Where has the time gone? Before I know it our babies will be in 8, 5, 3, and 1st grade! WOW, makes me feel old! Very grateful I am young enough to keep up with them.

In both conferences their teachers continually said how much of a servant and compassionate both kids are. Bekah is always looking for ways to help out her friends and teacher, Jake is hanging out around the bench during recess waiting for his friends to fulfill their "time" for making a decision that only a kindergarten boy would make! On a side note, last week it was beautiful outside and the kids went out with daycare while I finished up some work in my office, while they were getting ready Jake handed me his gloves and said he didn't want to wear them. Didn't think to much of it until they started dripping on me. By the time I realized I could ring them out and have a puddle of water at my feet, the kids were out side and I didn't have the time to ask Jake what happened. Off to Jake's classroom I went and asked about the gloves. Mrs. Wiseman told me 3 of the kindergarten boys were out playing in the grassy area and doing great, she looked away for 2 seconds and sees all of them rolling around in the grass, Jake then gets up and is "shiny" from head to toe. Yes, he was soaking wet! Learned the hard way that snow gear is NOT totally water proof, and asked me to go out and find him water proof gear. Guess they are starting swimming lessons a little early this year!

Anyway with the teachers bringing up the words servant and compassionate, it lead me to do some thinking about the ways we are teaching our children those character traits. Since we are less than perfect with those we love the most, we need to give them the home to learn how to be themselves. And when the time comes they will have the roots we have worked so hard to nourish to fulfill God's plan for their lives.

Future Firefighters!!

Every time I hear someone say, "boys are so easy to raise, girls would drive me crazy." I want to just laugh. They have never lived with a boy who has 3 older sisters!! As great as it is to have a boy in the house, it also has come along with MANY challenges that we haven't had to face with the girls. Kindergarten brought on many challenges but visits to the Principal's office has topped them all.

We have been working with him and his attitude towards his sisters, his temper has a long fuse except when his sisters are around. Wednesday night we experienced it in it's finest form. MiKayla was offering him a hanger to hang up his coat, he proceeded to get upset and go over to her and kick her as hard as he could. This was followed by a "Go to your bedroom and stay there until dad comes home." I quickly glance at the clock, it was 5:05, Nate usually doesn't get home until 5:45. Guess this time out wasn't going to be the one minute per year deal!!!


I was working in the basement taking care of some things in the laundry room, when all I heard was bellowing from his bedroom. He was saying, " I wish I was a baby or a toddler! Life was so much easier when I was younger. Why do I have to grow up!" It has been a while since I laughed that hard! After I got myself together, I went in to talk to him about what he was saying. He was dead serious about not wanting to grow up and wanting to say a baby or at least a toddler, because when he was that age he didn't get into trouble and things were just easier! We had a great talk about life not being easier, he just doesn't remember getting into trouble! And as he grows older he has is going to have more choices to make, some will get him into trouble and some won't. Wow growing up going to be hard for this boy!

What a week! No school Monday, Inauguration on Tuesday, home with a sick child on Wednesday, reality of work on Thursday, and ready for Friday!!

The kids had a great day on Monday hanging out with friends and being lazy around the house. Ok Kristen did e-mail me to see what needed to be done around the house, so that was nice! I can't believe we are to that point in our lives of having the girls stay home while we work and actually do odd jobs around the house! Life is good!


Tuesday was a day that made history! Kristen and MiKayla had the opportunity to watch a few of the days events during school. The girls asked alot of questions and worked on sorting things out in their heads of I'm excited to be able to see history in the making, yet how do we handle things spiritually, what does he believe, what if he asks us to do something we don't believe in? Learning how to respect and trust someone who doesn't have ALL the same beliefs as they do is a learning experience all on its own. The conversation ended with Jake saying I wish the guy with the gray hair had won! Oh, the innocence of a child. The biggest thing that can be learned is even though we may not see eye to eye, God has a plan for His people and we need to trust Him. He put Obama in the White House and we need to respect him and pray for him and his family.

On Wednesday, I spent the day at home with Kristen, she had strep throat and I have a sinus infection, so needless to say we spent the entire day lounging on the couches! Guess I should be thankful since it is my first one this winter!

Thursday was a great day for the kids and Nate, and an extremely difficult day for me at work! Had to make some tough decisions that no one would like to make, but I am grateful the Lord gives direction when I stop and take the time to call upon him!! The older I get the more I realize that I am doing that WAY more than I use to! Which is why I am so thankful Friday is only a few hours away! Better yet, Saturday is that much closer too! We are enjoying a few Saturdays hanging out at home, because our yearly tour de'Iowa is right around the corner. Kristen is playing in AAU (Amateur Athlete Union) Volleyball with some girls from SFC and we are gone every Saturday for about 6 Saturdays straight with all but one tournament in Iowa! EARLY mornings are a must also!

As some of you know we have been looking for a different church to worship at! These are the days we wish we would be back in Huron with about 3 choices of where to attend instead of 25 choices! Just kidding! The point being we know where we would be going and life would be that much easier, I know we would have challenges there like are everywhere else, it is just where family is and all the kids feel at home there!

We can definitely tell a difference from being with a church home and the feeling like we are floating around saying which one do we visit today? We were at Linwood Wesleyan a couple weeks ago, which happens to be the same church Jake's kindergarten teacher goes to and Bekah and Jake's music teacher goes there also, anyway as we were sitting in the service, Jake's teacher's husband who is a pastor there was preaching and mentioned that he was going to be leaving this church because they were being called to a different church! Needless to say my heart was in my shoes and I glanced at Nate like "Oh No what are we going to do for kindergarten", as if Jake's teacher was leaving before January! Our ears were a opened very wide to listen to see if he was going to say what they were going to do. As it turns out they are involved in a church plant on the west side of SF and it would be starting after the new year.

Last week we visited "The Ransom" for their preview service in the Carmik Theater, yes I did say the theater! The girls thought it was cool to be going to church in a theater, Bekah wanted to have some nachos to eat while we worshiped and Jake asked if they could plug in the video games so he could play.

What a morning!! It was such a blessing to be able to be part of that experience! The pastors are on cloud 9 and have been for 2 weeks since the preview service. They weren't exactly sure what to expect for a preview service, but the theater was packed with 140 people and very few of them were there because of hearing about the service from Linwood! One of the pastors was following up with those that visited and was able to lead a gal to Christ and share the vision of The Ransom Church with others! It will be a blessing to see what the Lord has planned for The Ransom Church and the west side of SF!

Until next time have a great night!

I started reading a book this past week, a quote on the back of the book says, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans"! Oh how true! We could chalk today as a day of experiences good ones and ones that will change us forever! Throughout the day the Lord reminded me of a couple different things. One is that it isn't about what I want but what He wants! The other is that we need to be obedient even when we would rather take the easy route! By His grace I am at peace with what He has called the Williams' family to do!

Nate and Jake were in their prime today. They spent the entire morning at the fire station working on a new truck the department just got. We went back late this afternoon and Jake gave his sisters the run down of what the truck could and couldn't do. While we were there, Nate had a call lucky for the kids that meant more time messing around with the truck, in and out, up and down. At one point Jake was driving the truck while giving out orders to about 5 other kids that were there also. Then off he goes and comes back a few minutes later with a long rope that the kids were using as a fire hose. Until one of the guys asked him if he knew how to make a knot, little did that firefighter know he would be there a while, because with Jake you ask a simple question you get a LONG answer! Don't think there is going to be any question what this boy is going to do when he grows up! In some way shape or form he will be working with fire! Literally. Oh and by the way, he already has the selective hearing thing goin on! And no I didn't just realize that! After we put him to bed tonight, Nate sat down and started clicking (ok he started doing that before we put the kids to bed but we don't want to mess up his routine! ) Jake's favorite movie Ladder 49 was on, and from his room he yelled hey are you guys watching Ladder 49?

A great experience I had today was with Kristen! Let me give you a little back ground, before Christmas my parents were in town and we were out for dinner, talking about the kid's school pictures, and Kristen asked me for one of my school pictures for her locker at school. I almost fell off my chair! What 7th grader would want their mom's picture up in their school locker? My dad looked at me and said "You should feel honored that she wants your picture up in her locker, I have never heard a junior higher ask their parent for their picture. Let alone a picture for their locker!!!" Today she was planning to go to a movie with her girlfriends, the saga went back and forth all day, are we going or are we not going, if we are going what time are we going and how are we going to get there. I finally said if isn't going to work today, we can go tomorrow, but I am going to go with you because I want to see the movie to. At the time I was just kidding around with her, around 5:00 she got a phone call from her friends saying they were at the theater and were waiting for her. Great timing! This was while we were waiting for Nate to get back from the call. My life to a "t" needing to be somewhere in 10 minutes that normally takes anywhere from 15-20 depending on traffic. But while she was on the phone with one of her girl friends she told them, "Hey my mom wants to see the movie so she will is coming along!" Once again I almost lost it! I really can't believe how blessed I am to have my pre-teen want me around her and her friends! I'll take it while I can get it!

As you know our washer quit working last Friday, on Wednesday the laundry was over flowing and we needed clean clothes! I was going to go alone for some mom time, but the kids have never experience the laundromat, so I asked Kristen if she would go along and help. What a reality check! The size of the washers totally shocked her! She couldn't get over how many of them there were, and she thought it was great that we could do all the loads at one time! After the newness wore off, she was helping out put the clothes into washers, went to put into the soap and totally over did it! She had soap everywhere. It was so bad when the washer was going through the last spin cycle there was still soap in the washer. Good thing our washer gets fixed on Tuesday!

Until next time have a great Sunday!

Good thing we have good insurance!

Great start to 2009!

The pictures are from our quick trip to Iowa to see the Brett's one more time before they head to Sydney Australia for a year of work! It is one of Nate's cousins. 1st pic is Joel and Ethan, 2nd pic is the present Ethan will have a hard time getting away from dad! :) 3rd pic is the girls fighting for a ball, 4th is Jake playing football (something he got almost everyone there to play with him), 5th Bekah loving her favorite food group! Dessert, 6th Kari and Ethan.

Friday night I was finishing up one more load of laundry before heading to bed, I realized that the washer didn't look like it was moving. FRUSTRATING!!! After about a half hour of messing with it, I decided to wash Bekah's coat by hand, makes me grateful I didn't have to do everything by hand! The kids asked if I was going to do everything by hand! Yeah, get right on that one! So, Monday I told the kids I was going out to find a wash board so they could help out with the laundry, since they thought it would be sooooo easy! Every summer when the kids spend time with Grandma Di she takes them to the Kelly Farm, the kids get to experience life as Laura Ingalls did from Little House on the Prairie. Last summer they came home telling us all about it and how easy it was for them to do the laundry by hand! Big mistake! That is something mom and dad aren't going to forget! Boy did their attitudes change!

I was lost Sunday night, wandering around the house wanting to do laundry, why am I always wanting to do something when I know I can't!! A service tech came out and said the motor to move the tub wasn't working at all. Thank God it is under warranty! The part has been ordered and hopefully will be here later this week. If it doesn't come in it will be off to the Laundromat for mom.

We started off the 2009 half of school year very promising! Everyone was up and ready to go before we needed to leave for school. Well today was a different story! The clan woke up at the normal time and was moving EXTREMELY slow! Got them moving by offering them our weekly trip to the Day Light Donuts in Tea. Yeah, I know not the best breakfast but just the motivation the kids needed to get moving.

The dinner table proved to be an interesting place for us as usual, this is the place the kids usually open up and tell us about their day or remind us they need something before the next day of school! Kristen informed us that she is the alternate for Sioux Falls Christian in the 7th grade Geography Bee. Way to go K! Bekah got frustrated because we had a family event of everyone eating a green bean together, I know doesn't sound like a big deal but for Bekah whose favorite quote is "I can't eat that or I will throw up", (she has had textile issues for years, we have little by little encouraged her to eat something she normally wouldn't eat while we are at home) started hyperventilating and getting all worked up, after some unsolicited encouragement from her brother, we finally convinced him to stop looking and talking to her which was VERY hard for him to do!! She gave it a shot, didn't go down but at least she tried! This is very fustrating for Bekah because she does everything with MiKayla the queen of "oh I'll eat anything" ate that one and then had seconds and maybe even thirds if I remember correctly!

Knowing what season you're in!

Through out this past year, Nate and I have learned and talked a lot about what season we are in life as a family. At times we just countinued to remind ourselves "it's only a season"!
Then a few days ago while reading my devotions I came across this reminder. It is so good I wanted to pass it on!
"Be ready in season and out of season." 2 Tim 4:2
We live our lives in seasons, and seasons have beginnings and endings. So, diversity is the key to longevity. if you don't understand that you can lose your sense of purpose, because when one season is over you've nothing left to carry with you into the next. That's why successful farmers keep rotation their crops. They plant corn in one field, then when it goes out of season they plow that field and let it rest. At the same time they're busy elsewhere harvesting alfalfa to make hay, after which that field goes through the same process. In spring they change the order of things so the field where corn once grew now produces alfalfa, and so forth.
"When Paul told Timothy, "Be ready in season and out of season," he was encouraging him to correct people, and a time to comfort them. Timing is so important. The Psalmist compared the blessed man to "a tree...which yields...fruit in season. Ps 1:3 To succeed, you must realize what season you are in.
And you must also understand that God is more concerned with the depth of your roots than the height of your branches; more interested in quality than quantity. With God "the quality goes in, before the name goes on." That's why He takes your struggles and uses them to cultivate the kind of soil (and soul) necessary to produce good fruit. And on more thing: From time to time He will permit storms to blow away those people and things that hinder what He's working to produce in you.
Hanging out with family this past weekend reminded me that while I am in one "season" others are in their own, and I need to be an encourager no matter what season any of us are going through!!! So as we start 2009 remember that the Williams' may not see you as much as we would like to or talk often, but you are all in our thoughts and prayers daily!