great study!

To my wifey friend's,

Hi girls!

Just wanted to share my new study with you. In my ladies small group at church, we are going through "The Power Of A Praying Wife."

Ta-da!

Let's be honest. Praying for our hubby's might not always be on the top of our priority list. Now, we may silently thank God when he finally finishes his "honey to do list"...6 months later, but do we pray over every aspect of their lives, daily?

Guilty!

Sometimes, it's down right difficult to pray for our husbands. After all, we live with them day in, and day out. They make us smile. They make us frown. They help us. They "forget" to help us. They are such...men...and praise God for it!

This book is sooooo good, girls. Stormie Omartin (love her!) literally teaches us how to pray specifically for our husbands:

* his spiritual walk
* his emotions
* his roles (as a father, leader, decision maker)
* his security in work & finances
* his health/physical protection
* his faith & future

I have been so challenged and encouraged in the past few weeks doing this study. I love my accountability ladies, and feel blessed in learning how to be a better helpmate to Nick in this life we are given.

Have a blessed Friday, friends. Thankful for you.
Love,
K

little brother's graduation

This past weekend marked a very special day in our family. My little brother, Austin Taylor Williamson graduated high school :) Holler!

This was such a surreal experience for me. So many feelings washed over me seeing him march (well, it was more like a swag :) across that stage to recieve his ticket into adulthood.

 I'm so proud!
 I'm so old?
 He's too young to graduate!
 But he is tall enough :)
 He's officially grown up :(

Oh my goodness!

He went from this

to this...waaaaaaaaay too fast!

Where does time go? He grew from an ornery little toddler who had a permanent scowl on his face, to a 6'2" hilarious, soft spoken, unbelievably responsible, and humble man of God.

As I sat in the bleachers of the William & Mary Hall listening to Principal Wagner play "Time of your life" by Green Day on his guitar...my heart was so full of love and appreciation of this beautiful life we live. What a precious gift we are given, and how fast it goes by.

Austin, I am so proud of who you are, and whom you represent. Dream big and believe you can do anything. I'm so excited for you to enter this next chapter in your life...embrace it little brother, the best is yet to come. I love you so very much!

xo

i hate the dentist

I hate the dentist! I hate the whole experience.

*The oversized "bib" around your neck.

*The obnoxious bright light in your eyes (Bonus: The super cool sunglasses make this slightly better)

*The sound of scraping and scratching on your pearly whites.

*Poking your gums to death.

*The gritty spearmint polishing stuff that feels like a mouthful of straight up sand.

*And the dreaded question, "So, Kristin, are we still not flossing everyday?"

Just shoot me, please!

Now, as much as I dread this twice a year nightmare, I go religiously every 6 months...like a good kid. I'm a teeth person, it's the first thing I tend to look at when I meet someone. Come on, you know you do it too.

And every 6 months, I get the same report...

"Kristin, you seem to have weak teeth that are prone to cavity's. Bummer!"

How is this possible? I don't drink sugary soda's, I rarely eat candy, & I brush twice a day!

On top of this "weak teeth" deal, I also have 3 baby teeth that I still haven't lost. Seriously? Yeah, seriously! Not sure how that happened, but apparently from my x-rays, I never got permanent teeth to push them out and replace them. So, those little babies are stuck in there. Weird! Which leads to...

dental implants.

What?

Let's just be in prayer that those babies stay put, cause sister don't have that kind of green.

So brush up, floss up, and go to the blessed dentist, bloggies. You don't want to look like this

Happy Tuesday,

K

things i'm excited/not about this wk

Hi all,

TGIF!!!!

How has your week been? Anything good? Bad? In between?

Here's a few things that have just made me smile
1.) I discovered Tiramisu ice cream at Publix. Oh. My. GOSH! Must pick up some tonight!!

2.) My husband bought me a "happy" last night. For my kitchen. For me to use in my kitchen, and it's totally awesome!

Note: Cannot figure out HOW to flip this around? Tilt your head, and you will get the idea.Super cool, right?

3.) I am loving Facetime on my iPhone. It's nice to see my hubby on our nightly chats :) 1 more week!!

4.) Tried a new recipe last night, on myself. "Spicy Tangerine Beef" was a mad success. Well, I didn't get any complaints :)

5.) A customer told me today that I had "the greatest hair ever!" Lol, she was really old, and really adorable.

6.) I bought new bath towels this wk, and only spent $11 b\c I had amazing in store savings coupons. Word!

And the not so good things

1.) I waited 6 hours to get the "$5 Friday" coupon from Bounty today. They were out in less than 2 min. Plus those ladies get crazy!

2.) I had a headache that was so bad, my hair follicle's actually hurt. I am amazed as to how this even happens?

3.) It's been really hot this wk, like unGodly hot...that the panel inside my driver's side door fell off. The glue that holds it on literally melted. Now it just looks ghetto.

Happy wknd!

Love,

K

forgiveness

Life is hard.

People are hurtful.

We are human.

Matthew 18:21-22 (ESV) Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” (22) Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

Matthew 6:14-15 (ESV) For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, (15) but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

It's hard to forgive. When you have been wounded so deeply by a spouse, a friend, a family member...you feel as though you could never forget what they have done. You could never move past the offence. It's so painful. Too difficult. You might even think you owe it to yourself to hold on to the hurt. To nurse it. That way you are in control, right? "They don't deserve it anyway. They have made zero attempt to apologize. Forgive them?  Don't you know what they did to me?"

How shallow and sad our little human minds are sometimes.We can twist things to mold perfectly to our current needs. But at the end of the day, when you still have not forgiven your offender, do you truly feel better? Can you breathe with ease and peace?

Forgiveness is not a choice. It's a requirement.

We forgive because we are forgiven

When we choose unforgiveness, we are planting seeds of bitterness in our soul. The more we nuture and grow those seeds, they begin to sprout out in our lives. In our speech. In our character. This aint pretty, people. And the fact is, your bitterness belongs only to you. Your offender does not care that your bitter. It only effects you (plus it makes you ugly).

But when we choose forgiveness, we release the offender, and the offense. As my girl, Oprah says, "You let go of the hope that the past can be changed." You are free from the cold chains around your ankles. You can live you life in peace, and turn your wounds into wisdom.

"A man cannot forgive up to four hundred and ninety times without forgiveness becoming a part of the habit structure of his being. Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude." 
 -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Choose today to forgive, friends. Life is too short to stay angry.

Happy hump day
Love,
K

few things

Hey y'all,

Happy Thursday!

I have very much liked loved this super short week. I seriously think we should have 3 days weekends EVERY WEEK! I believe it will make people happier, and hello, this world needs more happy people :)

Tuesday evening I took a cooking class at Publix. I know, amazing! We made some bang-o-rang desserts, and I met some super fun people. Now I will say, some of the classes are slightly pricey, but I highly reccommend it to anyone in the Tampa Bay area. Makes for a fun girls night/date night. Try it.

We are offically entering summer, and I love it...well not the sticky humidity, but I am very ready for a vacation. We are thinking St. Augustine this year. My sweet Nick has been working his booty off, and I think a week of some sand, sun, snorkeling, a little fishing/boating, and some of the BEST shrimp ever would make this Dittman duo quite happy and refreshed.

My little brother is graduating high school in two weeks. He will officially be a college student, and the rents will only have one little one left! WHAT? I officially feel like an old fart. I am so happy for him, and feel so blessed that we will be able to make it to his graduation :) Such an amazing accomplishment!! Proud of you T!!

Bella (our family dog) is finally feeling a little better, thank you Jesus! Still not sure what exactly has made her so sick, but she's rebuilding her strength a little. Now if she would only stop eating EVERYTHING in sight (ie: bugs, mulch, grass, flowers, glasses, crayons, paper, dinner thawing on the counter...) maybe she won't have this problem anymore. We still love you Bells.

Tonight I am making Tilapia w/lemon butter, and roasted asparagus for dinner (delish), doing like 3 loads of laundry...still confused as to how this happens with only ME home, and watching the season finale of "Khloe & Lamar."

Have a beautiful night, friends.