Amber Williams

Christmas just passed and New Years is rapidly approaching! I thought this would be a good opportunity to recap on what a hard, but rewarding this year has really been! There has been loads of hurdles to jump, immigration rules, jobs coming and going, finances, car, you name it and we are still going strong though are ambitious (and maybe even hopeful) for the next your to come and hopefully it brings better times! I don't regret anything and I love my new home and family. Christmas day was full of great food, family, friends and love. We celebrated with Dave's parents and our good friends later in the afternoon. I just feel blessed to have so many people in our lives looking out for us! :) My birthday is tomorrow and this will mark the last year of my 20's!! Scary! But I think I will survive! We talked about going to dinner and going to see "Puss in Boots" since I've really wanted to watch it! (it looks so cute!) so that will be fun! No New Years pla

I have been thinking a lot about my purpose and direction in life. I have made a lot of consideration on whether I'm in the right place in life and where I need to make some changes. I found this "Spiritual Gifts Analysis" which I have taken before sometime back, but decided maybe I would see where my results lie again. Honestly, they haven't changed and for the first time, I think it might be a good point into the right direction! Much to ponder my friends! Read and tell me if you think this could be me as well! Test Results: Strength Evangelism 9 Prophecy 8 Teaching 11 Exhortation 18 Pastor/Shepherd 14 Showing Mercy 22 Serving 17 Giving 13 Administration 16 About Your Spiritual Gifts: Spiritual gifts are tools God gives Christians to do the work of the ministry -- to fulfill the Great Commission to reach, baptize, and teach and to minister to one another. Every Christian receives at least one gift at the moment of salvation.

"Our lives are made in these small hours, these little wonders,these twists & turns of fate. Time falls away, but these small hours,These small hours still remain..." I love this song from Rob Thomas, I think it fully embraces one of my favorite things in life: know knowing and appreciating the little things in life. I really feel that a lot of times, it's the small things that can make the biggest impact in one's life, and sadly enough, it's often the things we take for granted the most. When I was in Boise and things felt rough or those "twists and turns of fate" would throw blows at me, I used to drive up to table rock (or area's by that also over-looked the city) when the sun was setting and stars were coming out to think and put things back into perspective. I remember being just in awe of the sight as the sun slowly dipped into the earth and the night city would come alive with the stars making their twinkly appearance above. As I sat the

We have both been complaining that one of the other changes we need to make in our life has to do with our health and weight, so it has been decided that we will start the South Beach Diet! :) I have gained like 20lbs since moving here and starting working and then with the combination of stress and TERRIBLE diet I've been keeping, I've been getting sick a lot as well! So, I decided that I wanted to make a change and after much debate with Dave over which diet we should choose, he was nice enough to cave in from the Atkins Diet to entertain my thoughts on the South Beach Diet! (I like that there are more options and variety in the choices of foods!) So, over the last 2 weeks we have been cleaning out the bad foods from the cupboards and fridge and got "The South Beach Diet Supercharged" book as well as the South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook and this Monday marks the starting day of our new diet! What I'm excited about is that it really isn't much diffe

I've been really thinking and "reflecting" (If you will) the the events of my life in the last couple years. There has been so much change and healing and growing from it! I have found that the person I am today has vastly grown from the person I was then...But replacing the anger and bitterness I once had has grown a sadness of sorts. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sad of the positive changes I have made in my life, but of the sacrifices that may have come with it perhaps? It's dumb things as well...But they are things I really have missed. I must admit that for the first time in a long time, I miss Idaho. I miss having those close friendships, I miss going to Table Rock. I miss singing and dancing, I miss Kairi and Dax (the dogs I had), the back porch I had in Nampa and sitting there in the gentle summer breeze watching the sun go down. I loved that house, I loved that porch, I loved those dogs, my friends, the overall setting of my life minus the sad and har

"Looking back at the road so far The journey's left it's share of scars. Mostly from leaving the narrow and straight. Looking back it is clear to me, that a man is more than the sum of his deeds, And how you make good of this mess I've made is a profound mystery. Looking back you know you had to bring me through all that I was so afraid of though I questioned the sky now I see why...Had to walk the rocks to see the mountain view looking back I see the lead of love Looking back I can finally see how failures bring humility(I'd rather have wisdom and pain) Brings me to my knees (Than be a comfortable old fool)Helps me see my need for thee..." - "The Lead of Love" from Caedmon's Call. I have really been working on putting the pieces of my life back together and I think that one of the things that have been missing in my life is my spiritual growth. It's something I've been thinking and missing for some time now and think that maybe

The last couple weeks have been absolute madness for me! My week right now consists of getting up in the morning at 5:15 a.m. to get ready for work, leave the house at 6:40 a.m. so that I can get on with my hour and a half trip to the corporate office to start work at 8:30, which goes till 5:30 p.m. in which I pack up my gear and head home for another hour to hour and a half trip back home (which usually has me back home for between 7-7:30 p.m.). All in all, it makes for a REALLY long day! Talk about getting what you asked for right!? I do like my new job though! The company treats me well, my manager is awesome, and I feel once I really get comfortable in my own skin with doing the work, I will really come to enjoy the job a lot! :) It's a lot of work to start with, but once I get caught up and settled, it's going to be fun! By the time I hit the weekends though, I'm soo thoroughly exhausted that I just don't feel like doing anything! I know that will change when I

Well, it was a wonderful morning of people coming together for love and celebration of love, which is always a wonderful thing! I watched my first Royal Wedding this morning with Will and Kate and was amazed by the dress, the glorious appearance of the Abbey, the choir, etc. Everything is just as you would have though it to be: Regal and majestic. That being said, I wished I would have seen a little more passion between Will and Kate. When they approached the balcony to make their first appearance as husband and wife and have their first kiss as husband and wife, I felt like it was a quick embarrassed peck vs. a couple excited to kiss as husband and wife for their first time. But I suppose I can't talk as I don't know how it would feel to share a kiss in front of millions of people...But it would have been fun! :) I really enjoyed it all though! It was nice to see those childhood princess dreams actualized you know? It was sweet. My royal pain? Having the start date for wor

Very exciting times! I GOT THE JOB and couldn't be more excited to get started!!(Is it sick and wrong to say that about work!?) I had manage to get through all my interviews with the company and apparently I made enough of an impression to be offered the job last Thursday! Whoo hoo!! I am a mixture of excited, anxious, nervous, scared, ready, hopeful...The list truly does go on depending on the day! But I think this is a good step to making my daily life something closer to a "norm". Perhaps a challenge and a nice set routine giving me some purpose is just what I need! Life will definitely be much easier with the additional income to work with. This weekend was also my first weekend with the step-daughters and I think it went well! I enjoyed having them and I think they had fun hanging out with me. It was a really important step to building our relationship. We played games, went shopping, watched movies, did some more shopping (I put these girls up with the best of sho

Boy has this week been a fantastic week! Let's start with the visa process! So, because I'm completely anal retentive with being over prepared when it comes to what I consider important things, I had put together this pristine package of paperwork covering the span of anything they could be asking for from tax forms, to random letters showing my name on it, to pictures and proof of our relationship since November 2009 and of course the application they require as well as passports, birth certificates, bank statements and pay slips, etc. But to show just how anally organized I am I made a COVER PAGE that listed out the paperwork in the order it was stacked in! LOL! What was funny about it is that she didn't even look at 75% of what I packed! So here is how our day went: We got up at 6:30 a.m. to get make coffee, get ready etc. so that we could be out the door by 8:30 am (our appointment was scheduled for 11:00 with a request that we be there by 10:30) we head on our way t

I FINALLY received my passport back! (Yay!) It came via a jolting knock to my front door at 8a.m. (and scared the crap out of me frankly! LOL!) So, looking like hell, I drag myself out of bed and answer the door to a mail man that startled and kind of chuckled at me and had me sign for the package! LOL! I felt bad for him, no one should have seen me this morning at 8! (I think all the stressing out is taking it's toll on my physical appearance! Dark circles around the eyes, broken out skin, etc.) BUT at least I got my passport! (Whoot whoot!) I can now go to my marriage visa appointment on Monday! (Keep your fingers crossed for me because I will then be able to start job hunting...which brings me to my next topic....) I haven't heard from the company I have been conversing with for the last 8 months. I'm starting to think I've lost that job opportunity which I'm feeling indifferent about at this time. I don't blame them for moving forward as it's not perso

We all get scared from time to time. It's not unusual, it's not a feeling only subjected to specific individuals, it can influence anyone. The trick is to admit your scared, figure out why, and face it straight on. I think this is something that I've been facing daily since my divorce (and definitely before but it's been more prominently noticeable since my divorce), back then it was "how will I do this on my own?", "will anyone ever love me or am I even capable of loving someone back?" and maybe the funniest of the bunch: "Am I going to become one of those 'spinsters' with 20 cats?!!?" (I don't even really like cats that much! LOL! I much prefer a dog!) But I think this experience here has been the scariest of all experiences. These are new fears like fitting in, adjusting to the culture, acceptance, being able to work and make a good living, driving, etc. It plays on my mind everyday. I know I can do this, I know that 6 mo

You know those seasons where everything gets just a little dramatic (and it seems to come usually around this time of year). Not sure if it's because we are all soo stir crazy that we just let it all out (the good and the bad) when we are finally able to join the world from months of snow, gloom and gray. It's like our final send off to the darker days and with it, the last (and perhaps most fowl) of our moods as well. I sure feel like I've got it coming from many corners and my mood has been a little less than desirable. I admit it. I'm trying hard to improve and be positive (as you have seen in last posts) but sometimes it's really hard to do when it just keeps pouring on you. The storm will pass, it's just surviving it's down pour first that is important and coming out feeling like you said and did everything you needed to. This is where I'm at today. My storm comes in flashes of rejected passport pictures, rescheduling visa processes that I so d

Is that it get's you THINKING too much! (Which can be a good or a bad thing!)In my case, I've let it stew out negativity, fear and self-pity for a little too long now. Surprisingly, right now (at this very moment) I am pretty upbeat. I have decided to put my proverbial "big girl panties" on and face the new world with the idea that I am good just the way I am and you can love me or hate me for it! I shouldn't be ashamed of who I am and there is a balance of being respectful to other people, cultures, etc. without losing myself. Lately, I've spent far too much time moping around, creating needless (and frankly worthless) insecurities and feeling sorry for myself and consistently re-analyzing my decisions. I've been holding on to the past so tightly that it's been keeping me from being able to move on with my future and open myself to the endless opportunities I could be experiencing. It's time to thank the past for making me who I am today and boldl

So I've been here now for a month and a half and bless hubbies heart he has dealt with my bi-polar tendencies like a pro! I have had days where I'm fantastic and days where I'm depressed and not wanting to get out of bed. I've laughed with him, cried and snipped at him and not a single time does that amazing man ever complain or bash me or walk away. How did I get soo lucky!! (LOVE THAT MAN!) But seriously, it's been a roller coaster of emotions for me. I thought that it would be so easy to fit in and make friends and continue life with some ease but instead I've been a huge container of mixed emotions and depending on what emotional ingredient I put in that day out comes the special flavor of Amber (again, hence the name "one-woman Circus"! LOL!)...and some days aren't as tasty as others! But surprisingly, there have been a lot things about me that I was so sure of that I just don't know of anymore! I never called myself shy, and here I find

Our Wedding Promises: (name), I promise to trust you and honor you I will laugh with you and cry with you I will love you faithfully Through the best and worst Through the difficult and the easy What may come I promise that I will always be there As I give you my hand to hold. So I give you my whole heart forever. Wedding Poetry: By Steven Curtis Chapman: “I Will Be Here” If in the morning when you wake, If the sun does not appear, I will be here. If in the dark we lose sight of love, Hold my hand and have no fear, I will be here. I will be here, When you feel like being quiet, When you need to speak your mind I will listen. Through the winning, losing, and trying we'll be together, And I will be here. If in the morning when you wake, If the future is unclear, I will be here. As sure as seasons were made for change, Our lifetimes were made for years, I will be here. I will be here, And you can cry on my shoulder, When the mirror tells us we'r

Phew! What a wonderful past week! My heart is glowing and there's a permanent grin on my face today! I can't remember what I've posted in the past (I didn't look) so I will start with last Friday! Logically, I've been itching to make some friends and Friday night the one girl friend that I have right now invited me to go out with her and two others for a night in the town! Though they said it wasn't the best of all nights out there, I had a great time! One, because I was out with people and not alone! Two, because it was interesting to view the people and get a sense of things and so forth. It was just refreshing to get out and feel a part of something! Our wedding ceremony went great! Before the ceremony, we invited everyone over to the apartment for mimosa's (I didn't have any, I was too busy running around trying to get ready!) then we went off the the registrar office to have the ceremony, which I thought for a small short ceremony that it went

In less than a week I will officially be married! I'm soo excited and anxious! So the agenda is to go to the ceremony, which starts at 11:30 then right after we are going to take everyone to a nice formal lunch with fantastic food, drinks and dessert! (There is 11 of us total) I'm going to wear my wedding dress to the ceremony and then I have a more casual dress that I'm going to wear afterward for the formal lunch! We have music and flowers and cute little decorated room where the ceremony will take place! My fiancee has been so supportive in helping with all the planning and preparing and it's just been a really fantastic experience so I hope the ceremony will go just as good! (Fingers crossed!) And yes, hopefully people will take PLENTY of pictures for us! So, this week has been spent doing the last minute errands needed to be ready for the wedding and I REALLY hope it goes smooth! :) Keep me in your thoughts and prayers! Live, Laugh, Love!

So today has left me full of mixed emotions. The workout at the gym and the sunny warm walk home was definitely a mood-booster! I was grateful for the break from the freezing cold, cloudy, dreary, rainy weather. But as the day moves on, from my apartment window I can see the neighbors walking by with there family, friends and loved ones and it makes me sad. It made me homesick for my family and miss my friends. That's where I realized that maybe I was more lonely than I thought. I knew that this move was going to mean a lot of change and adjustment and until I'm able to work, my fiancee has to work, so it means he's gone the better part of the week sleeping in his truck. We've talked about him going back into real estate again after I start working. Ultimately, I want to see him doing something he loves and enjoying the rest of his working life. So, we will see what the future will bring! But I miss him a lot when he's gone and hope to have him home every night so

Life has been good! Slow during the week then a mad dash over the weekend (trying to get things done that includes Dave's help...and a car! LOL!) But during the week, I'm spending my time cleaning, cooking, wandering around the town, watching T.V. reading, and playing on the computer. Sounds exciting huh? :) It's not bad. Some days I'm a little bored, but I'm trying to make the best of this because I know I will be going back to work soon! (Which I am looking forward to as I know it will be a big help in making friends and getting to know the area better. But until then, my way of getting around is walking and exploring. I think I'm starting to get over some of the shock. I know I draw some attention, but I don't notice it as much as I used to. I feel bad though for the people who are with me though because they tend to get the bulk of the questions. Yesterday my soon-to-be in-law's stopped in and invited me to go out around the town with them, which

So this is my new home, this is my new way of life. Up to today, I've been pretty positive of things, but this morning has me feeling a little out of sorts and I'm not sure why. I think ultimately maybe it's because it just hit me that I'm here. This isn't a dream and this is a reality I'm am going to have to brave up to it. I think I'm also a little more lonely and scared than I was admitting to myself. Don't get me wrong, I'm not 2nd guessing any choices I've made! I'm glad I made this choice, but I think the "Culture Shock" is finally setting in. I feel grateful that of all places I could move to, at least I have some sort of bearings here. I may not understand everyone and everything, but I understand most people. What I'm finding is that there are adjustments I need to make (as choices aren't as abundant as they are in the U.S. In fact, I've come to the conclusion that American's are down-right SPOILED! You ne

Whew! It's been a whirl-wind these last few days! Where to start? So my flight to England had me up bright and early at 4:45 a.m. Saturday morning. I went to the airport with my parents, drank coffee and said my goodbyes and made it through the gate a little early because be had noticed that my flight was showing a delay. I get to the gate and talked with the desk attendant and she assures me that the flight will only be 7 minutes late and EVERYONE will make their connections! So what ends up happening? The plane ends up being 40 minutes late, my connecting flight is clear on the OTHER side of the airport and I miss my flight after running from one end to the other! From that point, I ended up playing the run-around game back and forth between terminal 1 and 3 (in San Francisco by the way!). The lady with my flight wanted to book me on a flight that would go out the next day which meant I would have to cover my own hotel and get meal vouchers from them. I said no and her inform

"Are you scared?" This is a question I get frequently from people and I sat with myself tonight and decided to try to be really honest with my feelings. So in simple reply: Yes, I am scared! You see, it's scary moving so far away from my family, especially because I'm so close to them. It's scary having to learn a new way of life, living, and rules and regulations and new structure of life...etc. I have fears such as "will they like me?", "Will I make friends?", "Will I be successful at work?", Etc. etc. etc. Even dumb things like driving (on the wrong side of the road no less!) stresses me out! Sometimes I wondered if I was crazy and the questions of "what the heck am I doing!?!? Is this crazy?!" Then I sit and look at pictures and notes and texts I've received which then just makes me want to get there and fit in and continue to love life with the one I love...So am I scared, yes. I may be scared, but I've ne

I'm soooo excited! (and I didn't get a chance to blog about this yesterday!) I FINALLY received my visa in the mail yesterday via the UPS. I'm supposed to have a letter from the embassy stating that I was accepted, but since it's all going through the company we used, I guess one of the agents actually has the e-mail in her in-box and I can't get it until she comes back on vacation! (Ugh!!) I guess the e-mail actually came last week while they were off from work for the holidays, so I was approved last week! (Which would have been nice to know last weekend!...OH well!! At least I know now!!) I booked my flight to England for this coming weekend! I will leave early Saturday morning and be in England around midnight (Pacific time) which is like around 8 in the morning England time! I'm absolutely excited to see David! I haven't seen him in person since September 4th! So it will be amazing to be able to actually see and touch him and not talk through a co

"This year I'm going to establish a New Years Resolution I KNOW I can stick to: I vow to gain ten pounds, spend in excess more than I could ever bring in, smoke a thousand cigarettes a day, and spend more time than healthy on facebook" (Not sure who wrote this, but it cracked me up!) How true is this statement when you think of it?? That's what seems to happen though, we make all these high-expectation promises of what we will accomplish then do the exact opposite. It's almost like a set up for failure! For that reason alone I decided this year I'm not going to make a resolution. The reason for it, I put so much pressure on myself and end up failing, so instead, I choose to keep myself open to learning and gaining new experiences and just a continuation of growth. Life has enough pressure on me as is without me putting a ton more on myself! That's not to say that it isn't a good thing to set high goals to achieve, but why only set that goal once a y