Catching up!

here's the updates on our crazy life! since we last posted (April 8th), we've had a lot going on! let's see:

- birthing classes
- Brooke finished her pharmacy school project and presentation, and subsequently graduated!
- Baylee and Ella spent the night with us
- Brooke went and visited her best friend from high school in Arkansas
- Dinner with my old college roommate and his wife
- Visited with my mom and grandparents for Mother's day
- Haleigh, Baylee and Ella's recital
- multiple showers for Caroline
- i hit 2 homers in one night in church softball
- upstairs guest bathroom remodel (in progress)
- Brooke accepted a part-time as needed fill-in job with Publix as a pharmacist (after she passes her boards in mid-June)
- my peach tree i planted last year has about 50 baby peaches on it!
- Spring Gospel meeting with Cecil May

phew! i'm tired just typing all that! here are some various pics from the above craziness!




28 weeks


30 weeks


32 weeks


Schaeffer Shower

Belly Pics

1st ones we took at 12 weeks


maybe a little bigger at 15 weeks


definitely showing now at 18 weeks


now at 20 weeks



just taken last night at 22+ weeks.

isn't she so cute?!?!? :)

It's a.........

yes, we're having a girl! everything is checking out wonderful so far! thank you for your prayers!

Pregnancy update

i guess it's time to start chronicling the details of our first pregnancy. so far, brooke's had a pretty easy go of it. very little morning sickness. her appetite has definitely changed....she can barely finish a few bites of any meal. instead of her 3 main meals, she's now spreading out multiple little meals during the day. last night, she made a quick little turkey/cheese/triscuit snack for the drive into church.

her cravings are still SALTY! hardly any sweets right now. weirdest food combination craved thus far? hmm....she woke up from a nap a week or two back craving pickles, cottage cheese, and olives. that's not too crazy for her, but it was just funny that she woke up from the nap and instantly had to have that combination. :)

we got our first baby present from Brooke's brother and sis-in-law, Chad and Korie. she made a little houndstooth onesie (sp?) with a red "A" embroidered on the front. and, they gave us a little toboggan and booties with the Bama "A" on there. that kid's first words just might be "Roll" and "Tide". :)

thanks for the continued prayers on our behalf. we'll have another appt with the doctor on December 22nd.

***also, please keep the Gray family in your prayers. Brian and Kristy and their almost 3 year old daughter Helen were in a terrible car accident last week. their little girl Helen did not survive. Kristy is facing numerous surgeries to fix a broken back...the doctors are unsure if she'll be able to walk again. Brian fortunately had minimal injuries. please pray for their loss and their long road ahead.***

here is a link detailing how you can help. try this one if the other one didn't work.

WE'RE PREGNANT!!!

Brooke and i are happy to tell the world that we're expecting our first baby in July 2010!!!



here is a quick 3 second video of our first ultrasound. if you look closely, you might see the heartbeat. it's a tiny little flicker near the bottom. :)



we told our families over Thanksgiving holidays this year. we surprised my parents with this picture frame that has all their grandkids and a picture of our ultrasound:



then we told Brooke's parents the next day:



needless to say, we are SUPER EXCITED!!! God has truly blessed us with this pregnancy. please keep us in your prayers!!!

little baby Williams will obviously take over this blog now. :) so check back often for updates!

We have a closing date!

we're set to close on our current house on October 20th! woohoo! this is the same family that made the offer we accepted back in late September. they did get approved on Monday of this week. so, the wheels are turning. we are so thankful that God has blessed us in this move.

as it stands, we're going to try to close on our new house the same day. hopefully the attorney can get everything done at once to save everyone some time. we will have some time to get everything packed up and moved, but it will be a whirlwind 2 weeks!

please continue to keep us in your prayers as we tie up all the loose ends with this. things look great so far, but it's hard to predict if everything will go as planned.

ps...if you're in the B'ham area, let me know if you're available on a Sunday afternoon or a Monday to help get some big stuff moved up into Hoover. :)

Good news on the house

we had an offer on the house over the weekend, and we have accepted it! the only remaining hurdle is for the prospective buyer to obtain financing. but, things look to be going great! continue to keep us in your prayers as we tie up the loose ends on our current house and transition to our soon-to-be new house. we'll let you know of any other updates when we get them.

also, jennifer and jarred crow came to visit this weekend. brooke and jennifer are BFF from way way back. it was great to see them. here's a pic of the girls before they had to go back home to Arkansas.

Well, it's now official

after a lot of prayer and contemplation, i've decided to join a large group optometry practice in the Birmingham area.

it's really a long story, so bear with me as i retell it.

the week before we left for Maywood, this doctor contacted me saying he wanted to interview me about joining his practice. at first, i was taken aback. i hadn't been looking to change my job situation. i certainly hadn't been spreading the word that i was looking for something different. he told me he had gotten my name from a optical rep that visits the Cullman office i've been working at 2 days a week for the past 2 years. so, after talking with brooke, we decided it wouldn't hurt to meet him and see what he had to say. plus, it would be good experience for me to go through the interview process.

so, i met Dr. Schaeffer the saturday before we went to camp. i went in to the meeting knowing that whatever he said, i wasn't going to say "yes" that day. the meeting went really well. Dr. Schaeffer is a unique character. he's a very type-A personality. he's very reputable in the academic field and the community. ever heard of the Schaeffer Eye Center Crawfish Boil? that's his baby. anyhoo, everything he said made great sense to me. he's offered me a large pay increase over what i'm making now, full benefits, local work (less miles on my car, not to mention the cost of gas), and the ability to practice optometry to an extent that i can't do in my current situation. well, he offered the position to me that saturday, but i told him i needed to pray about it and talk things over with brooke. he understood that i'd be at camp the next week, so i told him i'd get back in touch with him when i got home.

i tried my best NOT to think about it while at camp. and i didn't, for the most part. i'd still pray alot about it, but i wouldn't fret over it. but, as i prayed about it, i came to the conclusion that this had to be a blessing from God. there were a number of reasons:

1. i wasn't looking for anything. this just fell in my lap.
2. though i'm a "doctor", i haven't been able to make even close to "doctor money" in my current situation.
3. i wouldn't have to spend one night a week away from home like i do now (no offense, big red and patti....like i told you before, that's one of the biggest "cons" in my decision: that i won't get to hang out with ya'll every week anymore).

so as the week toiled on, i was leaning more and more towards accepting the job. that first monday back to work, i got a call from the doctor i currently work for in Cullman on thursdays and fridays. she was calling to tell me that she was only going to need me for maybe one day a week starting in September. when i heard her say that, it's like a window from Heaven opened and said, "how much more proof do you need?!? take the job, dummy!" so, i called him up and we met again to discuss particulars. i called up my district manager with Sam's the next day to give him my 60 day notice. then, i called the doctor in Cullman to let her know. i signed the contract today, so i'm official. :)

so where does this take us from here? the next few weeks will still be the same.

if you need to get your eyes checked at Sam's or Cullman, you'd better act fast! my last day in Cullman is September 8th. my last day at Sam's is October 4th. after i'm finished at Cullman, i'll start part-time with Dr. Schaeffer.

thanks for reading my story. keep us in your prayers as i transition. i'll blog soon about more specifics of my new job. here's a teaser that hopefully some of you might get: do you think Julio Jones and Andre Smith might need contacts? i might get to find out one day soon.