New Tradition

I was not sure how this Christmas was going to be.  This is the first Christmas since Tom passed away.  We all knew there would be good moments and sad moments and even though we know Tom is with Jesus, we miss him.  I have spent some time with Delores of the last few weeks.  We have laughed,.  We have cried.  We have remembered.  I continue to ask you to call her to see how she is and to continue to lift her and the girls in prayer.

On Christmas eve Kelda, Delores, Gabriel, Victoria, Alina and I went to the cemetery to celebrate Tom.  The Georgia National Cemetery place a wreath on each marker for the holidays.  As you can see from the picture it is an amazing site.  I am sure we will do this in the future.

One of the gifts the Gabriel and Victoria got was from Tom (sort of).  Tom had been collecting coins for the girls for several years.  These were all of the state quarters and  president quarters.  Delores and Kelda decided that this year we would give these to the girls.  We will keep them in a a safe place but these coins belong to them.  In the years to come they will continue to appreciate Tom's love for his grandchildren and be able to hold these coins.

Gabby 16th Birthday Update

Park your cars and get off the sidewalks.  Gabriel got her drivers license.  She went this past Wednesday to take her test and passed on the first try.  She was very nervous and had to wait for her turn for about 40 min but it was well worth it.

This summer we got a car for Gabriel to drive.  (The picture above is from this summer when we were practicing but the smile was still the same).  I am already loving the fact that I do not have to be the taxi every time because Gabriel likes to drive and has done well when driving.  Yes it is a little scary sending your "baby" out on her own but I know that God is with her and will protect her.

As a new driver, she can only drive family for six months.  We are still trying to see if that includes Alina.  We have received mixed  answers so far on this question.  Gabriel has already driven Victoria alone and driven to Jamie's (boyfriend) house.  Now she has to find a way to make a little extra money now that she is mobile.  Anybody need a babysitter?

Gabriel's 16th Birthday

What a special day.  Monday was Gabriel's 16th birthday but since she had dance on Monday night, we decide to celebrate on Sunday night.  We took seven of Gabriel's friends to Dante's Down the Hatch for dinner.  She wanted to have a masquerade party so all the friends dressed up to celebrate.

Lacy, Victoria, Casey, Gabby, Jamie, Laura, Bekah and Alina

Gabriel and Jamie

Gabriel's boyfriend Jamie got her a special gift.  Look at the expression on her face when she opened it up.

Look at all the beautiful girls.

Singing Happy Birthday.  What did you wish for?

Bekah and Laura

Victoria

Gabby - Your mom and I are so proud of you and the women of God you have become.  He answered our prayers and blessed us with you.  I watch with great anticipation for what He will do in your life.  We love you more than you know.  Happy birthday!

Thanksgiving

I have much to be thankful for.  Jesus loves me.  Beautiful wife (who loves Jesus).  Fantastic kids (who love Jesus too).  Great family.  It has been a tough year though with Tom being sick, his death and funeral.  I know this holiday season is going to be different. It will be great and hard all at the same time.  We will lean on each other and rely on God's strength to get us through this time.

We have been busy too.  When we said we were going to have Alina come stay with us for the school year, we all began thinking about all the "things" we needed to do with her this year.  I think we have done all of them so far.  Since my last post (in addition to school, dance, church, etc.) we have gone to a University of Georgia football game.  We also went to Calloway gardens Fantasy in lights as well as spent some time going through the gardens (butterfly's, flowers).  Yesterday we went to ride the Pink Pig in Atlanta.

We also went to see Santa.  Let me stop here and explain the issue with this.  I hate how early the stores and everyone does Christmas so early.  Don't get me wrong.  I love Christmas and what it means (birth of our savior) but I hate the fact that people start "celebrating" in August.  One of my standard lines is that I do not want to see Santa in the mall until Thanksgiving.  If I do then Santa will not come to our house on Christmas.  Kelda and the girls have given me an extremely hard time about this "silly view".  I was told every year to get over it.  With Alina staying with this year and us at the mall for the Pink Pig, we asked the girls if they wanted to sit on Santa's lap and get a picture.  I went along with it and I saw Santa before Christmas.  We were able to do it with no line and, with our busy schedule it might be the only time we could do it.  Now I am getting a hard time from Kelda about "giving in" for Alina but not my kids.  Doesn't matter that we always got pictures for Gabriel and Victoria with Santa when we wanted to do it (just after Thanksgiving)  Guess I can't do right no matter what I do.

Thursday we have a busy day.  We start off with breakfast at our house.  This is a tradition for us.  This year Delores, Tammy, Zina and Scott, David, Dick & Judy me & Kelda, Gabriel, Victoria and Alina will be there.  We are adding Jamie (Gabriel's boyfriend) and his family.  Sometime around lunch we will start getting out Christmas decorations.  The afternoon we will eat at Sandra & Harry's (Delores' sister).  Finally we will eat dinner @ Dick & Judy's with much of my side of the family.  I will try to post pictures of these events.

I have pictures of all the events mentioned above on my Facebook page.  Go check them out.

Chicago

On Thursday Kelda and I took a short trip to Chicago.  This trip was not your quick, weekend tourist trip but it was special.  Our newest daughter's (German exchange student - Alina) parents (and sister) were vacationing in the US.  We invited ourselves to come spend a couple of days with them in Chicago.  Keep in mind that a part of the agreement Alina has is that she can not see her parents personally until 3 weeks before she goes home.  This would be just Kelda and I.

During the weeks preceding the trip, we made arrangements and had Alina help us try to translate and prepare.  The last "organizing" phone call had Alina speaking to her dad in English and me in German.

Leonie talking with Alina on my phone while in Chicago.  Look at that smile!

When we got to the hotel we met them.  You could feel the love and joy we all felt towards each other.  We talked in our room for about 30 minutes before we went to dinner together.  Dinner was amazing.  We laughed and told stories and enjoyed learning about each other.  We became friends.  (We ate great Chicago pizza too).

The rest of the weekend we toured Chicago together.  The Brand's also had a family on the vacation with them that we were able to get to know.

We all had to leave on Saturday afternoon.  The trip was great but way too short.  It was sad for all of us when we said goodbye.  We took two family pictures.  One is normal and one was with silly faces.  I think the silly faces picture was done to keep us from crying.

We now have great friends/family in Germany.  We already started to talk about how we could come see them when Alina is back home in Germany.

I posted a few more pictures on my Facebook page.  Go see them to see a little more of the fun

Keep in Touch

For all of you that have been following us on Tom's Caringbridge page, I welcome you here.  Thanks for visiting to see what is going on with the Williams/Ellis/Cole families.  Check back often to see what is going on.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support.

Memories

This has been an interesting week.  While they Williams family continues to be busy with school, dance and work we had to pause on Tuesday.  This was one of the "tough" weeks we knew would come.  Tuesday October 11 was Tom's birthday.  Delores, Zina, Scott, Kelda and I had dinner on Tuesday while Gabriel, Victoria and Alina were at dance.  It was a simple meal (Mexican) but it gave us a chance to get together and laugh.  It also gave us a chance to remember Tom.

We are all doing OK even though there are difficult days.  We ask that you continue pray for us and reach out to us (especially Delores).   Give her a call.  Invite her to dinner but as the holidays approach.  She will need you.

PS - We went to the beach in September.  We had a blast with a dance friend and Gabby's boyfriend along with Delores.  There were eight of us and let's just say Delores got a chance to act like the rest of the kids.

Long time

It has been a long time since I posted.  The Williams family has been through a lot over the last six months..

Kelda's dad Tom passed away in August from Pancreatic cancer.  While he put up a great fight God called him home.  While we all miss him, we are jealous that he is in heaven with Jesus.  Please pray for Delores, Kelda, Tammy and Zina.  I would also ask that you call them regularly to see how they are doing.  They will continue to need your support.

Some good news to report is that we are hosting an exchange student this year.  Alina is from Germany and has fit right in to our family (that is kind of scary!).  She is a senior at East Paulding High school with Gabriel (Gabriel is a 10th grader).

Gabriel has her learners license and will get her drivers license in December.  She already has a car (Jeep Grand Cherokee) and is ready.  She is a good driver and will do well.

Victoria is in the 8th grade.  She can not wait to get to high school.  She is taking all advanced classes and is doing well.

All three of my girls are dancing.  Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Lyrical, Jazz....... the list goes on.  This take up three nights a week and some Saturday mornings.  We will only get busier with dance as the year progresses.

I will try to be better about posting to the blog and put pictures of our experiences.  You can also follow us on Facebook.

PS - We went to the beach over Fall break and we took tons of pictures.  I will post some later of all of the sunsets and an electrical storm.  Check back to see!

 

Dance Competition

We spend the weekend in Chattanooga at the Nexstar dance competition.  We won several Platinums and High Golds.  The pictures speak for themselves.

Look at Victoria Jump!!!

WOW!!!

Gabriel in the middle.

Gabriel in the middle again.

Victoria in the middle.

Gabriel can jump too.

Victoria on the right

I got lucky with both in the picture.

I would be tied up like a pretzel.

Attitude!

Gabriel's solo.

Nice form.

Look at that!

Done.

The both were worn out but did a great job.

We won Platinums and High golds.  We

also received several first place in group 

as well as a few first place overall.

Other dances received second, third, fourth 

overall.  Gabriel got High Gold and first place

on her solo.

Military Ball Picture

We got these pictures this week and I had to share.  Gabriel and Jacob look great in this photo.  Enjoy!

Military Ball

Tonight was the big night.  The Military Ball for all of Paulding county.  Gabriel was so excited and went all out with her dress.  Jacob did pretty good (check out the picture of when he first saw Gabriel) until Kelda dropped them off.  He was a little nervous right before they got out of the car.

Also, we did not know they had to walk through the saber's.  If we would have known we could have taken pictures of that too.

Enjoy and leave comments.

Classic Gabby Picture

Beautiful

Sassy!

OK.  It is not a mug shot. That

is the color of Victoria's wall.

Jacob's face when he first saw Gabriel 

in her dress.

Goofy kids.  Don't you hate mom and

dad standing around and dad taking pictures?

You would not guess that it was 48 degrees.

Don't laugh.

The "boys" helping Jacob get dressed.

She is always fixing his tie.

Great picture of them both.

Kelda cleaning the writing off his hand.

Jacob and the girls (Kelda, 

Victoria and Casey)

Gabby and the boys.

Kelda and all the girls with Mrs. Elaine and

Mollie.

Mom & Dad with Gabriel

Tuffy with the crazy boys

Wow.  What a look?!?!?

Beautiful!!

Maybe my favorite.