Christmas with everyone home

It was great having everyone home for Christmas. We took the opportunity to have some more family pictures taken since Cole wasn't born when we took the last ones. I only posted a couple, so let me know if you would like to see any more.

Here are the stockings--all lined up and ready to be opened. The stockings have been a fun part of our family tradition ever since Norm and Liz gave us the first one for Karen many years ago.

Hi guys, I just wanted to let you know that since last friday until today I have received three job offers. I will keep you posted on which one I will accept. Thanks everybody for your prayes.

Love ya.

Winter is Here! :(

I just wanted everyone to know that I am sad that winter is here. It is cold and the only good thing about it is Christmas. I am looking forward to Christmas. I still haven't posted my pictures of my paint job. I guess I can never get the apartment clean enough to be able to show it off to the hold world.

What has Keith been up to at work?

For the last two years, I've been giving the great majority of my time to a major project here at Tyndale called the NLT Study Bible. This is a pretty massive undertaking, conceived in 1999, begun in 2001, and ultimately culminating with publication in September 2008.

This product made it's first "official" appearance on Amazon.com recently, as the sampler (basically Genesis 1-11 from the Bible as well as some explanatory material about the product as a whole) was posted for pre-sale. This thing has caught the attention of a couple of bloggers as well.

To be honest, I'd encourage you not to buy this sampler; you'll probably be able to download much of its content for free, or you could look at it in a bookstore. I'll actually have a sampler or two that you folks can look at if you are going to be at Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving.

I may be biased, of course, but I think this is a really good Bible. If you're thinking about getting a solid Study Bible with notes about the text, interpretation, and theology, this is a great option and it really is worth waiting a few months to get it. It was all written by top scholars, over forty authors in all. And it will include the most up-to-date text of the NLT, with updates to the translation from our scholar team.

[/advertisement]

Pumpkin Fest at Keehner Park

It was a delightful weekend with Mark and Connie visiting Grandmother and staying at our house. Rachel brought her fiance, Jeff, to meet the family. Poor guy! We had good times talking, eating, shopping, worshiping, playing with kids, reading, doing word games, and enjoying each other's company.

On Saturday, Connie, Rachel, Jeff, and I took Kennedy to the Pumpkin Fest at Keehner Park while Scott and Karen had Cole at Portrait Innovations getting his sixth month pictures taken. His pictures are great--he is a real cutie. The top picture is Kennedy in her favorite inflatable, done bouncing and ready to climb up and then go down the slide.She also enjoyed the straw maze and going down the park slide, with Rachel and Jeff giving assistance as needed.

On Sunday, after church, Connie, Rachel, Jeff, and I went the rounds of the Half-Price Bookstores, and Graeters as well. The others watched football. We had ice cream from The Cone at the Pumpkin Fest, so they also had to try Graeters. On Monday, everyone went to the Creation Museum (except for me). See Rachel's blog for pictures.

Apple Picking

Last weekend, Claudia and I went apple picking at our favorite orchard in Hobart, IN. Since it is pretty much exactly halfway between us and Notre Dame, our friends Jon and Karen Peach came out as well (Jon is getting his MBA at ND) with their kids Abby and Caleb. Our friend Emily also came with us (her husband Mike stayed home to read--that's the kind of guy he is).

We don't have as many pictures as Sarah does from her trip, but we did have a good time. And Claudia is going to use some of the apples we collected to bake a pie for our small group this Friday night.

Emily Allen, Claudia, and I in the back; Karen, Abby, Caleb, and Jon Peach in the front

Keith watching Abby and Caleb compete for apples

whatever!

no matter what i do my quarterback sucks. i put romo on the bench and mcnabb on the roster, and romo scores a million and donavin scores a turd. i put romo on the roster and mcnabb on the bench and mcnabb score a million and romo scores a turd and a half. its like they call eachother and the dialogue is as follows: "hey whats up? Luis put me on the roster and you on the bench, so make sure that you play awesome and meanwhile im going to throw interseptions and think about ice cream instead of football". i hope they both get a flat tire on their way home.

Keith and Holly Ray

Steve and I went to Faith Bible Fellowship in Lebanon today where he was leading the congregational singing. We were surprised to see Keith and Holly Ray, Mitchell, Wesley, and Summer. Keith was there to speak briefly about Student Venture during the missionary moment. Keith thought it was ironic that we were there because he had already planned to mention Claudia as part of his description of the mission of Student Venture and how it played out in her life at Lakota as she was discipled by Holly, then discipled others herself, who in turn discipled others. The legacy that you were a part of continues on. It was also good to see Neil Fairweather and his family.

Welcome Tia Glenda

I also wanted to say "Welcome" to Tia Glenda. I'm so glad you are going to contribute to our family blog. Now Contribute! Also, were are the rest of you. Don't let the family blog die.

I Deleted Myself

I just wanted to say welcome back to me. I accidentally deleted myself and my dad off the family blog. But I'm back. Everthing is going well, I am excited because I might actually finish painting this weekend. I also decided that my life goal at the moment is to finish my thesis. I can't believe it's almost December and I am still not done with it. I'm so sick of it, I just want to finish.

Future Hall of Famers cont...

I just wanted to say that speaking of Hall of Famers...I do believe I belong in the Fantasy Football Hall of Fame for my miraculous win and points championship this week!!

Future Hall of Famers

Here's our two Hall of Famers (according to Scott). Today is Cole's first day to be able to wear his Bengals outfit, and Kennedy is happy to be wearing her Daddy's number on an Ohio State Jersey.

Fun with Grandpa

Kennedy and Cole both spent the night with Grandpa and Grandma last night. Who do you think had the most fun?

You All Know Who's Best

I just want to say that when it comes down to it, you all know who's the best fantasy football team out there. The Chicago Demolishers, Go hot pink and yellow! I know that it's hard for all of you to face the inevitable fact that you will loose to me, but I'll make sure it's quick and painless. See you Sunday on the field.

By the way, I'm almost done painting. It has taken way too long and I think the novelty has now worn off. I actually had to have Keith help me. We'll be posting pictures soon.

Car Totaled

I'm not sure if we told everyone yet, but Allstate did decide to total our car from the flood damage. We're still waiting on the check to arrive, but it has been a relatively painless process since we weren't really using the car anymore anyway. They actually are going to be giving us more money than I thought, and we were spared the hassle of cleaning the car up, listing it in the paper, showing it to people, etc.

To My Big Brother Keith "Likes Boys" Williams

Im gonna humiliate you like God is gonna humiliate Kathy Griffin! and im gonna give all the props to my boy Jesus. bring it geek!

Fantasy League

Just wanted to post a little trash talk to Keith, since I bruised his Bruisers this week in the league and all.

Thanks!

Just wanted to say thanks for all the good birthday wishes. I will post the pictures of the new paint job in the apartment as soon as I'm done.

Case and Cole

Karen's old friend, Melissa Hogan, was in town for her brother Nathan's wedding. She has three boys, Ty (4), Brock (almost 2), and Case, almost 6 months. We took them all to Chick Fil A for food and fun in the playground area. We couldn't get the older kids to sit still long enough to get good pictures of them together, but Cole and Case enjoyed laughing, smiling, drooling, and touching.

Happy Birthday, Claudia

Have a great day tomorrow--enjoy every minute. We're anxious to hear more details about your new job and the search for the perfect paint.

Love, Steve and Cheri

Toyotas can't swim

On Thursday of last week, Chicago was hit with two lines of pretty serious storms, including some tornadoes, heavy wind, and serious rain. Many Chicagoans are still without power (110,000 as of this morning).

We never lost power, but we may have lost a car.

We haven't been driving our Toyota Echo for the last couple of weeks because Claudia and I work so close to each other and have been riding together. So, our Toyota was sitting at home in the parking lot of our building during the rain. Claudia and I got home around 6:15, right at the end of the second line of storms, and found our car sitting at the deepest point of the flooded parking lot.

The picture on the left is of a neighbor's car that was not quite as bad off as ours. I moved our car before taking a picture of it, but the water was probably about 6 inches deeper where our car sat than it is where this car was. When I got in our car to move it, there was at least 2 inches of water inside the car. The picture at the top of the post is of another of our neighbors moving her car. Our car was in between her car and the gold one you see in the background.

We've called our insurance company and it looks like they are probably going to "total" the car. They said that if the estimated repairs exceed 33% of the value of the car, it is considered a total loss. Unless they somehow decide that it doesn't need anything more than new carpet, I'm guessing that the car will be totaled.

This is a picture I took of the inside of the car after I moved it. The water has drained, but you can see the wet carpet to get an idea for how much water was in there.

prison cell-phone

so i tried a little fast from my phone to see if maybe life would be a little more relaxing, and it turns out its not. actually its not even possible. i dont know how our ancestors did it. those crazy kids. so im gonna have to get some more minutos today or sometime tomorrow. hollar!

Kent

you comin up this week?

hellphone

so i ran out of prepaid minutes on my cell and im not really in a financial position to get more minutes right now, and plus im kind of enjoying the freedom from it. we'll see... i may just stay away from it or only get enough cheese on it to send texts messsages that way i can decide if i want to respond or not. hollar!! keith... how do i invite a friend that wants to get in on the action bro?

I went for a second interview yesterday with four guys in the company. I think it went well but still I haven't heard anything for sure yet.

Painting

Hello,

Just wanted to say "Hi". I am picking out paint colors today to paint the apartment. I am so excited that I get to do this. I've been waiting to do it for a long time. Well, work is going well. I was having a hard time adjusting the first week but now that I just finished my second week I feel much better about it. Talk to you all later.

I went to my interview on Monday and it went very well, just few minutes ago I got a call inviting me to a second interview which is going to be on Friday afternoon. Thanks for all your prayers, I really appreciate it. I will keep you posted.

Picture of my babies

Here's a picture from 2 weeks ago of Kennedy, Cole and their friends!

Family (and Friends) Fantasy Football League

As you may (or may not) have gathered from Luis's post, I started a (free) fantasy football league for family and friends. Right now, only Kent, Luis, and I are in the league, and we need ten teams to have a league.

Fantasy football is really easy; basically you draft a team before the season starts (this can be done automatically for you if you don't want to or can't participate in the draft). Your team will have players from any NFL team--in this league you will have one QB, 2-3 RBs, 2-3 WRs, one TE, one K, and one defensive team plus eight bench players. Each week, you set your starting lineup and get points based on how well they do in their real-life games. Your fantasy team will be matched up against another fantasy team in the league each week, and whoever gets the most points from their players will win.

If you are interested, shoot me an email (boonchie78 @ yahoo . com) and I'll send you an invite to join the league. Also, if you know anyone else that might want to join, let me know.

Update: Claudia joined too. Come on, you know you want to play. I can expand the league to add more teams if we get more than ten!

yo keith, i just signed on for the fantasy league. you sent the invitation to the email that i only check like once every few months. from now on send any emails to illetetsg@yahoo.com not the gmail account. so anyways i signed on but i have no idea what im doing, and am way to a.d.d. to sit and figure it out so if you could call me whenever you get a minute to school me on what the freak im doing then tha would be sweet like bear meat. hollar!

HI, took me long enough to figure this out!!! Steve, that is a hot pic of you with your cool trophy!! Anyway, so I am really bz working, being a mom, church, working out, i am going to be coaching Katya in soccer, so add that on...i am working at citi in the global trades services dept, praying i get to keep this job for a long time...Katya lost her first tooth!!! Isaiah wont stop sucking on this thumb....he is spoiled, not by me of course!! his sister spoils him badly.

i am single, well kinda, you know how my relationship with jeter is, its tough you know!!

i dont have any pics to put up right now, sorry, but i will soon, next time i have a little bit of time...

keith and claudia, you two are getting old, i cant believe its been so long since you two got married, OMG!! CONGRATS!!!!!

Hello family, I would like you to pray for me since I will have an interview on Monday for a nice position. This week I got an offer for a part time job in a marketing company which is very interesting job which I will be doing while I can get a full time job.

The Honors Course- Caddy Guest Day

Here's some pictures of mine and dad's day at The Honors Course. It was a day to forget for dad on the scorecard, and he still owes me on all sides from our $2 nassau. I'll probably let him slide though.

P.S.- One of these pictures was planned and sort of posed. Can you guess which one?

Happy 37th Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad.

Steve Williams wins flight in Club Championship!

This photo was taken at the honors course in Ooltewah, TN after playing with Kent on Aug 6. On August 4&5 I played and won my flight in the Club Champioship at Four Bridges Country Club and this is the crystal trophy I was awarded. This high honor qualifies me to represent our club on the Butler-Warren Cup team on Sept 22 & 23 this fall. This win comes on the heels of an Arnie's Cup championship with Bob Morgan at the Oasis Country Club in June; we had to beat 71 other teams to win the overall championship. Then in July Bob & I played in our Member Guest tournament in July and won our flight. It has been an unusual streak, but made my summer fun. Thanks for listening to me brag!

Kent will likely post some of our photos from our day of play at the Honors Course. Look for that soon.

Steve

I got a job too!

I got a new job also - I will be starting as Controller at Champion Window on August 16th! I'm very excited. I will try to post more about the kids later - you wouldn't believe how big Cole is getting! There's pictures of Kennedy all over the place, I have to make sure he's included.

Kennedy's first golf lesson.

I just wanted to share this photo with everyone from this past week when I was in Cincinnati. I gave Kennedy her birthday present a few weeks late, then gave her her first golf lesson. Needless to say, it's all she wants to do now.

Keith and Claudia in Saugatuck

Hello Family,

Just thought that we share some pictures with you of our anniversary trip to Saugatuck. We've had a wonderful time here taking walks in the town, going to the beach, shopping and buying a nice picture of Van Gogh's Cafe at Night, doing a wine tasting and picking blueberries. The picture of Cheryl's Home and Garden and Massages by Steve was the way we thought Cheri and Steve should do retirement.

We go home tomorrow and I start my job on Tuesday. This has been the best anniversary trip we've ever had.

Love

Claudia

Happy 7th Anniversary

Keith and Claudia,

Have a great day as you begin another year together. We are so proud of both of you as individuals and as a couple. Your life together honors God as well as those who know and love you.

Love,

Mom

Headed to Saugatuck, MI

Claudia and I are going to Saugatuck, Michigan this weekend to celebrate our 7th anniversary. The lighter blue you see at the top of the picture is Lake Michigan, and our hotel is on the cove facing the downtown area you can see in the middle of the picture. We went to Saugatuck four years ago for our anniversary, and it's a nice little getaway that is only a three-hour drive from home.

We'll probably post some pictures later, but here's one of the beach we'll be spending some time at (the same one you can see in the picture above):

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Mom! We love you and hope you have a great day.

First Try

This is a great idea. This is my first attempt, so hopefully everything works. Kennedy loves her Cinderella doll and sleeps with it and her Jazmine doll every night. Congratulations on the new job, Claudia. We're proud of you

Cheri

im diggin this idea...

I Got A New Job

Hello Family,

Just to let you all know I got a new job this past week. I will be doing logistics for Hancock International in Carol Stream. You can check out their website at www.hancock-international.com. I am excited because it pays well and will give me the business experience I need to have a career in business if the FBI thing doesn't work out. I am still working on the FBI thing by working out but I haven't done very well this week. My friend Vernall is helping me work out, he makes me work hard. I start my new job on August 7th. I'll let you know how it goes.

Claudia

Welcome to the Family Blog

Hi! This is a place for the family of Keith and Claudia Williams to post goings-on, pictures, thoughts, and anything else that might be of interest for the rest of the family to see.

Claudia and I thought this would be a great way to keep in touch, and it really is quite easy to use.

I hope everyone will contribute something and eventually that this will be a place all of us come regularly to post and read about our family.

Keith