Christmas '09: Phase I

What a wonderful first Christmas together Doug and I had this year! First of all, we are so blessed to both be educators and get 2 full weeks of vacation!!! Our holiday got kicked off with a visit from Doug's brother, Scot, and his fiance, Ashley. They drove in from Atlanta, and we were all able to participate in the Buried Treasures Christmas party. (As many of you know, Doug's mom and stepdad run a ministry that serves women in the Hinds County prison system called Buried Treasures. FBC Jackson has a Christmas party each year where all of the inmate's children come to get Christmas presents and hear the Gospel.)

That night, Doug's brother, Clay, and his family were able to join us, and the whole family was treated to pizza at our favorite pizza place, Sal and Mookies!

It was a quick trip for Scot and Ashley, but before they left on Sunday, we had a lovely brunch at the Fairview Inn. Here's a picture of the boys and their Mama!

So Scot left Sunday afternoon and Chuck and his family rolled into town from Florida Sunday night! Here are all the kids in their Christmas pj's.

Anna Reid didn't quite make it into the pj picture, but I couldn't leave her and all of her cuteness out!

So here's a pic of the other boys and their Mama. :)

And that concludes Phase I of the Williams' 1st Christmas!

Phase II

Phase II began on Christmas day. We went to my cousin Marcus' house to celebrate with my mom's side of the family. It's always good to spend time with Granny and Pappaw. :)

Doug and I spent the day after Christmas with my dad's side of the family at Mimi's house. I must have been in a food coma because I didn't take ANY pictures!

Alicia's family didn't travel this Christmas since James Andrew just arrived, so we headed up to Oxford this weekend to see the kiddos!

Lucy was VERY excited to see that Grammy gave her a new Bob the Tomato!

James Andrew just chilled the whole time. :)

As Doug says, "This is a picture of us with somebody else's kids." LOL

Could Lucy PLEASE just get a little bit more excited about things? Haha.

I know we are WAY behind the times, but my brother-in-law, James, introduced us to Guitar Hero. We are totally hooked now.

Don't we look intense???!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!!!!!

Happy Birthday, James Andrew!

Last Saturday my nephew, James Andrew, was born, so today is his 1 week birthday!!! I've wanted to post photos of him all week, but this is honestly the first second I've had all week to sit down at the computer for more than 2 minutes.

This little (well, not-so-little!) guy is the most handsome thing I've ever seen! I really didn't think I'd fall in love with a little boy so fast but he has already stolen my heart. He and Alicia won't be traveling for Christmas, but we are planning on going back to Oxford after Christmas to see them again.

OK. Enough talk. Here are some pictures...

Let me tell you, Alicia gives birth better than anybody on the face of the planet. James Andrew and Lucy were born at approximately the same time and in the same way. Here's a quick summary: Alicia wakes up around 6am with back pain, so she heads to the hospital around 6:30. Baby is here by 9am!!! No time for an epidural, people. She had a 9 lb 1 oz baby NATURALLY! She is my hero.

Just a few hours after giving birth, she completed this painting for the hospital door.

Then she looked this good for a picture.

Lucy likes James Andrew but wasn't nearly as interested in him as she was in coloring with Uncle Doug.

James Andrew, your Uncle Doug and Aunt Elaine love you so much. We look forward to watching you grow into a mighty man of God.

Thankful

Last night marked the end of the Hinds Soccer team's 2009 season. It's been an uphill battle for the team all season long but as I sat with the team at Cracker Barrel after the game last night, I saw growth. Growth in 18 and 19 year old boys is sometimes hard to determine, but it was definitely there last night. Three months ago I saw 22 young, immature boys; and last night I saw 22 maturing men. There's no doubt in my mind that Doug has a lot to do with the growth they've experienced over the past 3 months. He has challenged them to grow as soccer players like they've never been challenged before. But, more importantly, he has challenged them to become men of character - Men of God.

As the team was huddled up after their loss last night, many of the boys' parents came up to me and expressed how thankful they were that their son had the opportunity to play on Doug's team. They weren't talking about how happy they were that their sons played on a good soccer team but, rather, how Doug had impacted the lives of their sons in such a positive way. One dad said, "My son came to me the other day and said, 'Dad, there are only 2 men in this world that I've met that aren't corrupt. You and Coach.'"

When Doug and I married, he became the Priest of our family. I often mistakenly connect the word "Priest" with someone who will verbally leads their flock in the ways of the Lord. But if a person teaches the Word and then lives a life outside of the Word, has he truly led his people to God? Leading by example is just as important as the spoken word.

So I write today to express my thankfulness to God for putting Doug as head over me. He lives every day trying to point those he influences toward Christ and the fullness that life as a disciple of Jesus brings. When I come home from school frustrated because I had to discipline students more than I taught music that day, he is quick to remind me that we are sowing seeds.

God constantly reminds Doug and me that we have the opportunity to influence over 650 students every single week. We stress about it. We talk about it just about every night. What are we doing that we should be doing differently? Should I have done that? We often feel like failures - like we should have said something more when given those one-on-one opportunities to shape and mold our students. Every now and then we feel like giving up. And that's where we realize our dependence on the Lord. He has to be our Strength to carry us through the daily frustrations and our Wisdom to help us deal with matters effectively.

My good friend, Anne Land, said something to me at the beginning of the school year that I now claim - "I want to be all used up for Jesus when I die." We pray that He's using us up!

The Last Trip of the Summer

The final week of summer vacation is upon us. I knew it was coming, but the mental preparation wasn't enough. Doug and I returned home from our last trip of the summer on Saturday and reality hit me like a ton of bricks. No more sleeping late - the alarm clock will soon be sounding at 5:45am. No more eating lunch whenever I want - my lunch time at school is promptly at 11am. No more "doing whatever we want". We have to turn back into responsible adults!!!

There's something to be said for having a scheduled day, but we sure have enjoyed the lazy mornings of summer, the many trips we've been able to take, the time to work on projects around the house (I'll soon have pics of our semi-renovated kitchen!). Summer is an absolute God-send to teachers, but August forever looms ahead of us to remind us that it doesn't last forever. :)

Last week we went to Atlanta to spend time with Doug's family. We had a great visit with his dad and step-mom, and I also got to meet his half-sister Salina and her husband Paul. I did a poor job of remembering to take pictures, but I did make sure to get one of us with Doug's brother Scot and his fiance, Ashley. They got engaged the night we arrived in Atlanta, so it was especially fun to see Ashley's excitement of being a newly engaged woman.

I was able to spend a few hours with my best friend, Cara, and her 2 little ones. (Again - I was a forgetful photographer.) And then I attended my first professional soccer game! AC Milan played Club America. It was fun, but I have to admit that I like Hinds Soccer better. There's just something about knowing the coach that gets me a little more emotionally involved. :)

From Atlanta, we traveled to Florida to see Doug's brother Chuck and his family. We had a BLAST playing in the pool with our nieces and nephew - Taylor, Ashlyn and Jackson. They are definitely some of the coolest kids on the planet! We can't wait to go visit again soon!

The soon-to-be Mrs. Ashley Whittington, Scot, Doug and Elaine at the Georgia Dome

It was hard to capture a good picture of 2-year old Jackson. He was on the go ALL OF THE TIME!!!

Taylor and Ashlyn having fun with Uncle Doug in the swimming pool.

We've decided that having a pool in the backyard is AWESOME!!!

Good-bye 20's! Hello 30's!!!

I think I've finally pinpointed the reason why I never blog. There's so much PRESSURE!!! I read blog after blog where people write with such introspect and creativity. I feel like our blog needs to live up to the entertaining quality of all the imaginative friends I have, but I've finally resigned myself to the fact that that's just not going to happen.

Today I turned thirty. (Well, technically it was yesterday since it's now after midnight.) With the beginning of a new decade, I thought I should give our blog a fresh start! Doug and I are celebrating my birthday all month long by taking several trips while my family made my 30th birthday weekend memorable by hosting parties with family and friends. And I've received no less than 6 renditions of "Happy Birthday" either in person or on the phone. (My favorite rendition, I have to admit, was sung by Alicia and Lucy. Alicia sang the words "Happy birthday..." and Lucy finished with a lovely "to you". :)

I'm quite the sentimental gal, so I take days like my birthday and New Year's Day to reflect on the blessings I've experienced in the previous year....

In my 30th year of life, the Lord joined me and Doug Williams in marriage. God greatly exceeded my expectations with Doug because I never could have picked a man who so wonderfully represents Christ to me day in and day out on my own. I truly feel like the luckiest woman on earth.

In my 30th year of life, I completed my first year as music teacher at Van Winkle Elementary School. There were good days. There were bad days. But from beginning to end, I knew that I had the opportunity to represent Christ to 550 kids each week. I learned a lot about my own strengths and weaknesses, and I'm looking forward to the year ahead so I can build upon what I have already established.

In my 30th year of life, Doug and I celebrated much! We welcomed our niece, Anna Reid Whittington, to the world. We welcomed a cousin, Samuel Murphy, to the world. My precious niece, Lucy Elaine Cheatham, turned 1 year old. Doug led the Hinds' Men's Soccer Team to yet another State and Regional Championship. One of my best friends, Kristin Bloomer, married the wonderful Gary Nafziger. Doug was named Coach of the Year among Community College Men's Soccer coaches. The list goes on and on...

I say all of this in order to say that despite the difficulties we experience each year, those things are never the things that stand out when we think back through the year. Even when we experience tragedy, it's the good that came from the bad that we hold fast to. God is good. He has transformed my life and He continues to mold me. I hope that when I'm turning 40 and leaving yet another decade behind, I can see an even greater transformed life, molded by the gracious hand of my Savior.

Here are some pics from the last few months...

Doug's team won 2nd place at the Millsaps Tournament this Spring

A girl's best friends :)

Lucy came to visit me while I was at a teacher's conference at Ole Miss this past week

Doug and I at the Pops concert in Boston on July 4th - 10 AM

10 PM - We were just a little worn out. Worn out but FESTIVE!!!

30th Birthday Cake #1

Cake #2

It was a great day.

Last one...for now

Doug and I have known this weekend was coming months before we even got engaged, but the advance notice hasn't seemed to alleviate the separation anxiety I'm experiencing right now. In just over 24 hours I will be leading a team of 12 college students on a week-long mission trip to the Dominican Republic. On Wednesday, Doug heads to Timbuktu, Mali, Africa for a 10-day mission trip. Doug and I are so blessed to have careers in education that allow us these opportunities to serve Him among unreached people groups of the world....but I'm not looking forward to being without him by my side for 2 weeks. :(

We are expectant to see what God has in store for us as we are convinced that He has called us to serve in these lost and needy areas of the world. I will be working at an orphanage in the DR and Doug will be running a soccer camp among the Songhai people of Mali. We ask for your prayers as we step out of our local mission fields and onto the foreign mission field for a couple of weeks. Pray for us as we are separated - only by 3500 miles, but who's counting? The blessing that comes with separation, however, is that we will be required to lean more heavily on Jesus, our True Companion. Pray for our health, safety and, most of all, our effectiveness. We desperately want to share the love of Christ with those who don't know Him. We also ask that you pray for my sister and brother-in-law, James, as he is serving overseas as well this next week. If you'd like more information, you can visit their blog: www.jandacheatham.blogspot.com

This is where Doug will be.

This is where Elaine will be.

This is my awesome team of college students.

Brian, Thomas, me, Jack, Emily, Meghan, Kenzie, Michael, Morgan, Lauren W., Lauren H. and Leah. Not pictured: Ashton

Another post!

Well, since I'm actually taking the time to update our blog, I thought I'd just keep going and let you know what we've been up to for the past month. I thought it wouldn't be too difficult to find the time to blog, but I was wrong. I'm pretty sure that we're the busiest people I know - at least the busiest people who don't have children anyway.

As a first year teacher at Van Winkle Elementary, my work days are busy and exhausting. I love my kids, but working with them is physically and emotionally draining! I could take a nap every day after work...and some days I do! Lately Doug and I have been super-busy with all of our extra-curricular activities. We both lead Bible studies and we're both leading mission trips over Spring Break (see my next post for more info on that).

Also, Doug plays on an indoor soccer team. It was SO EXCITING for me to be able to see him play soccer for the first time. Although I've seen him coach many games, I've never seen him actually play in a real game. He ROCKS!!! Since I'm new in the "soccer crowd", most of the spectators that sit near me don't know that I'm Doug's wife, so I get a kick out of hearing them talk about how good he is - both as a player and a coach. I know I shouldn't be prideful...but I am. :) Below is a picture of my man in action!

I've been dying to be a cheerleader since I was little, so it's been fun to cheer Doug and the Hinds Soccer team on to victory these past 2 seasons. I was really looking forward to being Doug's personal cheerleader at his indoor game the other day, but he forbid me to make a poster. I rebelled a little bit and made a palm-sized sign. He knows he loves my cheeziness. :)

Several weeks ago all of my college girlfriends from MC came to Jackson for our annual Girls Weekend. Since we are all turning 30 this year we decided to have a birthday celebration and have professional pictures taken. It was so special to spend time with friends that God so clearly brought together during our Freshman year of college - 11 1/2 years ago! I love you, Allison, Brooke, Cara, Charise, Cyndi, Katie, Lauren and Sarah!

Newlyweddedness

Being a newlywed is AWESOME!!! I love being with my husband. He makes me think more about the important things of life; he makes me laugh; he likes being with me too which is a plus!; and he's my human news reel and Bible concordance - Who needs CNN or Biblegateway.com when Doug's around?

As I've expressed my desire to others about how I want to protect my time with my husband as much as possible, I've noticed that the world tries to tell me that this desire will fade and that it's okay when it does. My conclusion is this: me, Doug and God are called to have an intimacy that resembles that of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Does the Father ever not desire to be with the Son or the Son with the Spirit? Never. So as followers of Christ, should it ever be normal for that desire to fade between me and Doug or, more importantly, between me and God? Never. Jesus has called me to a life of abnormality, and I pray the He convicts me if I ever start stepping back in the direction of normalcy.

A Day in the Life

Welcome to our first blog posting!  We hope that this blog helps our family and friends more easily keep up with our comings and goings.  Before Doug and I got married, we knew that part of the call on our life was to simply live our life out in front of people, as honestly as possible, ready to share the power of God's love and grace at any given time.  We hope that this blog will be a tool to do just that!

I figured that, instead of recapping our first 6 weeks of marriage, I would get us off to an easy start by just recapping the last 24 hours. :)  It's been quite a busy 24 hours!  Last night I was privileged to celebrate the engagement of my friend, Charity.  Charity and I were in the same Bible study group for 2 years.  The girls in this Bible study are so precious to me.  None of us attend the same church, but through God's divine hand, we all ended up contacting each other and starting a Bible study.  It was so random, but now it's so easy to see why the Lord put us all together: we just needed each other.

We had a beautiful dinner last night at Char and then a fun time lavishing Charity with lingerie.  Lingerie showers are always hysterical to me.  We laughed so hard that my cheeks hurt!  I love making funny memories.

So what was my wonderful husband up to while I was off with the girls?  You'll never guess.  A soccer game!  This weekend was the MS High School State Championship, which means that this was essentially Doug's last weekend to recruit.  This, of course, was our first recruiting season as a married couple, so I was slightly nervous about the amount of time this may cause Elaine to be sitting at home alone pining for her man.  But God was SOOOO good to us.  I don't think there was a single night that Doug had to go to a soccer game when I didn't have some sort of obligation as well.  I was actually able to go to a couple of games with him, too, which allowed me to see him in recruiting mode up close and personal.  Doug is AWESOME at his job!  He sees talent that I wouldn't see in a million years, and the proof lies in his winning record at Hinds.  I'm so proud of him.

Today was another full day of soccer for Doug.  The weather was BEAUTIFUL here in Mississippi so Doug got to ride his motorcycle to the games.  I was able to join him for the last soccer game, along with 2 of my students from Van Winkle.  Erico and Tytianna have been a couple of my challenges at school this year, but God has really shown his favor on my relationships with them.  I was able to get Tytianna into a local Upward basketball program and hopefully we can get Erico signed up for a spring soccer team this week.  Erico and I went to Tytianna's first basketball game today, and then we joined Doug at the soccer field.  We had a blast!  And to top the whole day off, they each got to sit on Doug's motorcycle!  I'm so thankful the Lord provided me and Doug the opportunity to hang out with, talk to and encourage these two today.  I love them and pray for them and their families so much.

So that's it for our first posting!  Stay tuned for more of the Doug and Elaine Life!