Boy or girl???

Brooke and i will find out Thursday Feb 11th if we're having a little Rick or a little Brooke! any guesses??? vote on our quiz to the right. :)

Not a matter of "if", but "when"

it seems these last few months have been filled with tragedies. maybe that's just my adulthood finally manifesting itself. maybe since i've actually turned 30, i've realized how quickly the years are flying by. regardless, it's becoming more and more apparent to me how tragedy-filled this life really is.

i've had college friends suddenly lose their only child as a victim of a careless driver. i've had a friend lose his leg from a motorcycle accident. i've had a friend lose his wife to an endless coma from a car accident. i've had friends lose babies. i've had friends commit adultery and divorce their spouse. i've personally seen families shattered by marital unfaithfulness. i've had a friend get a brain tumor.

faithful gospel preachers have developed aggressive cancer. friends have suddenly lost parents. family members have dealt with unexpected medical issues that have challenged their resolve.

then there is all that is happening in the world around me that does not directly involve me. the devastation in Haiti has hit me more and more each day. it's so unnerving to think that chaos like that can exist.

brooke and i saw a commercial for Pur water filters yesterday, and something about that commercial struck a chord in us. there are hundreds of thousands of people who don't have clean drinking water. we shower in water they would glad have drunk. how blessed we truly are in this country!

speaking of our nation, it seems that we continue traveling down a road of political correctness, immorality, and humanism. will our great country ever be great again?

i guess alot of this blog has sprung from my frank realization that we are bringing a child into this world. odds are, i'll be dead by 2060 (or sooner), but my children will be right in the middle of this mess of a world. with all the crime, seemingly unnecessary tragedy, disappointments, and losses. and i realize that tough times and heartaches will at some time affect us all.

my life is amazingly awesome. i have a great, stable job that i enjoy. i can support our family. i have my own truck. i have my own house. i have the most amazing wife known to man. i have enjoyed great health. i came from a great, loving family. no true tragedies have struck me. i've never suddenly lost a parent or child. i've never had my job disappear. i've never been a victim of crime (except that time someone busted my window out in the church parking lot....shouldn't have left it there all weekend). but nothing really BAD has ever come my way.

but the more i see of this messed up world, the more i realize that my time is coming. one day, i'm going to get a call about someone dying way too soon. one day, i'm going to have my life turned upside down by a tragedy that i probably didn't deserve, but got dealt anyways. one day, i'll look back at my life and see how good i had it before all this came (whatever "all this" might be).

so, to sum up my rambling.... :) i think we all fear something hitting us out of left field. we probably all think that nothing like that will ever happen to us. we all think that until it does. but we can take heart that God is in control. things probably seem rosier to me than they really are b/c of my relationship with God. believe me: i am NOT tooting my own horn, but i'm always astounded at how people can survive the stresses of this world without a deep, underlying faith in God. if i didn't believe that God was working everything out for good (Romans 8:28), then i'd really be stressed. :)

let's thank God for the blessings we have, and let's not forsake Him if some of those blessings get taken away.

Xmas 2009

we had an awesome holiday season! for Xmas, we visited with Brooke's parents. it was so good to see all of the family. here is a video of our nephew Gage singing White Xmas.



we spent New Year's Day with my family in Montgomery. my sister Casey and her family couldn't make it, but Kristi and her family were there.

things are still going well with the pregnancy. we are just over 13 weeks (i think), so the 1st trimester is almost over. it's sinking in more and more that we're about to be parents. being around our nieces and nephews over the holidays has made us SO much more aware of the demands of parenthood. we're thankful for the examples of our families and our Christian friends as we plan to raise our children up right.

here's hoping Bama can pull through Thursday! it would be so awesome for our seniors to go out on top after coming in at such a low point of the program. RTR.

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!

Carpet Burn Reunion! (Part 2)

here's another one of our originals:

Carpet Burn Reunion!

our college band (Carpet Burn) got to play together again this past weekend. we hadn't performed in 10 years before that! not everyone could make it, but we had enough pieces (plus a "rent-a-bass") to pull it off.

thanks to Tim Ward for setting up the sound for all the bands. thanks to Joel Dilbeck for the invite to play.

here's a video of a song we wrote back in school called "Rain Falls".

what's next?

now that the Halloween party is over, we can begin demolishing the house again. :) i've gotten the old carpet up from the dining room, removed the carpet pad, pulled up all the staples and debris, and put the moisture barrier down. so it's all ready for hardwoods.

pretty soon, we'll also paint the master bedroom. we've got the paint, but just have to get it on the wall.

so we're making strides. Brooke is in Decatur for the month on another rotation, so i should get some stuff done.

thanks for checking in! i promise to keep more updates coming soon!

Halloween 2009

we had our 6th annual Halloween party last night. we had 35 people to show up! it could have been even bigger, but alot more people couldn't come this year.

here are some of the best pics:


Blackeyed P's


Green with Envy


Flintstones


Southerns


Kanye West and Taylor Swift

Kowabunga!!!

i saw this picture on BOL tonight:



i didn't get to see the 1st quarter of the Bama game today, but i want to know how this turned out.