Big Girls Do Cry.

i have been trying to think of things to tell all of you for a couple of weeks now, and although many things are happening here, I couldn't think of anything mind blowing or something deep and profound that is going to make you want to go out and save the world, just real feelings that i've experienced lately...so let me start by saying that it has been a busy, busy month here, with spring break groups coming in, school still going strong, late night sleepovers, and being the proud owner of a new puppy, needless to say... this girl is exhausted. but a happy exhausted. the spring break groups were great again this year. it always ends up being one of my very favorite times of the year here in the DR. Tennessee Tech came in and did amazing work their week, but then came the week that I had been waiting for, for far too long; Freed-Hardeman came and when I say Freed-Hardeman, I mean my people. my Sigma Rho, people. I can't explain how awesome that group was or how much they fed my soul. and even though it fell on our Spring Break here at Manna Christian School, so technically we didn't get a "break", I wouldn't change one single thing about it. you know when you are around people who just get you and bring out the weirdest parts about you, but it's totes normal, that's Sigma Rho and my girls. and they bring out some weird parts, let me say. frankly, i'm not sure how i have friends. anyways, i was emotionally overwhelmed that entire week by having some of my very best friends in this world meet people I have been waiting for them to meet and really get to know. and just finally getting to watch the most beautiful parts of their hearts shine through to these kids, now that's God. you can probably guess how much of a basket case I was that week. there would be times where I could not stop laughing, and then there would be times when I couldn't stop crying, both being because my heart was too full. it was too happy. So thank you, Sigma Rho, you are beautiful. Thank you to some of my very best friends, you are beyond beautiful. you made this girl and my soul so full. 

now. i know that I am always writing about things that are just peachy here. people think life here is so easy and great, and while it is great (most of the time), it is not easy. have i told you we have a high school? with real children? and five teachers at the moment? junk is REAL. life can be the biggest punk here, and Satan can make you want to spank him and tell him he needs a good mama and a lot of Jesus. But instead of spanking, we have breakdowns. And today I had a minor one. minor. some days i am here and all like (cue the hippy with dreads voice)"heck yeah, i live out here in the middle of nowhere, trying to be radical for God, living with weird skin issues i am catching from small dominican and haitian children n.b.d.... and life is totally awesome." and then i have days like today, where i sit in front of my computer (for hours) and cry (and Fergie is a liar, because this big girl crys, a lot.) because i miss home. i miss you. i miss laughing with my favorite people in this world. i miss kissing my mama and daddy. i miss celebrating important birthdays. i miss phone calls that last for hours. i miss sigma rho and seeing them win makin' music (#18 baby!!) so i sit and i sulk and i send too many facebook messages because my feelings are beyond mushy at this point. and i guarantee all my best friends in the states are like "oh crap, keely has taken another turn down to sappyville and gotten too emotional for this monday and me. (and to those of you who receive those messages, i am sorry, but not really that sorry.)  and lots of thoughts run through my head like (cue the 3 year old whiny girl). "what the heck am i doing here?" "i want to get in my car and drive and see the people i love most (except 3 year olds don't drive, so that's confusing)" "I WANT WENDY'S! AND FRENCH FRIES! NOW!" (that's bigggg gurl, keely, you know just biggggggg). and i walk down Bobita road and laugh while in the middle of crying, thinking of things that happened in college or Greenfield, and so desperately wish i could go back, wish i could live it all over again. 

But then I realize. Keely. Stop being a little brat, go to your cloth/zip-up closet, find the biggest big girl panties you have and throw them on... 'cause ain't nobody got time for your whining. So I get home, pick up my new puppy, find my big girl panties, and carry on. And I know God has to think He created one mess of a human being. My emotions are everywhere. And to think someone so big, so big that my mind can't even start to comprehend how big, created me. and He loves me?? Dude is crazy. He loves me when I am on fire for Him and he loves me when I am being dramatic, a little crazy, and emotional all at once. And He even loves me when I call Him, "dude". What an incredible thought. What an incredible God, we serve. What an incredible blessing it is to live here in the DR. What an incredible blessing it was to be born in the United States, where we are free to come and go whenever we please, say whatever we want, and worship an awesome God without being punished. The States are cool, y'all. But God is wayyyyy cooler. so thankful for my life here in the DR and thankful for all the memories and laughter that filled my mind and heart today, even if it was during my sulking.

so days like today, when i almost lose my mind and my manners, make me realize everything is going to be just fine. Kee, just go put on your big girl panties and thank God for all he has blessed you with.  so thankful for my life here in the DR and thankful for all the memories and laughter that filled my mind and heart today and days to come, even if it was and will be during my sulking and my future sulkings.and i can wait to be home, but i'm glad i don't have to wait much longer. i'll be surrounding myself with my favorites and wrapping my arms around y'all in May. 




Brickie (my dominican girls named her) and I had a good photo sesh today.

hi. 

baby girl is all like "heeeeeeeeey." or maybe that's me.

 Brickie, camera is over here baby.

dang lil mama.

He always answers.

Have you ever traveled, and you get the feeling you just want to be back home, living your normal life, surrounded by a lot of people you love? Well the last two weeks I was in Guatemala, I experienced that feeling a lot. I'm so happy to be back home in the DR living my now, normal life. I have missed being here. I have missed this place and these people who have such a strong hold on my heart. I have missed sleepovers with the girls and all the laughter that fills my house on those nights. I have missed hearing los niños on my back porch, banging on my back door for cookies and popsicles. I have missed long walks down Bobita road talking about life with Jill and Audge. I have missed sitting at Millie's (thats Milagros, my dominican mom) drinking coffee and seeing how much trust and faith she puts in God. But here I am, back in the place where I truly believe God wants me to be, with the people He has placed in my life right now to love and challenge me, and my heart is so full of so many things like happiness, laughter, and too much love. And I continue to fail at thanking Him for giving me so many people and blessings that I am unworthy to have. But I'm writing this to give thanks that God in His grace never gives up on me, and allows me to live here surrounded by love and work for an organization that is centered around Him and His Son. God has really made some incredible things happen with Manna. Two years ago, Manna wanted to do more, wanted to impact this place more; So, Manna was able to start a school with one grade and taught classes in our dormitories that we use for groups. Now, we have two grades and are in the middle of trying to finish building our very own school house. We are just waiting on more sponsors and funds to be sent our way. So we wait, and we pray. We pray for more funding, but also we pray for more people who have a heart for this place, or just for missions, to come and teach. And we know God will answer, whether He answers with one new missionary or twenty, He will answer; because God is forever faithful and forever He is with us. And as I am trying to figure out how to raise funds to stay here, and how I feel like I need to worry, I don't. Because I know God will provide people to sponsor me, to help me stay here. Because He answers. So we continue to pray, and we wait to hear and see what our Father is going to say and do. So if you find yourself reading these ramblings of mine, please pray for Manna that God will send more funds and people that we need to help teach and serve Him and the people here in the DR. Please pray for me that God will send funds and sponsors my way so I can continue to live here and spread His love here in this place, and most importantly give thanks for all of the special things that God has done and is doing here. God is here, he is working in this place, and for some reason, we were lucky enough for Him to have chosen each of us to spread His love here in the DR.

lovelovelove,
Keely

Millie and I 

The girls watching Vampire Diaries

The niños with their cookies and popsicles:)

Our new school building!

"And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." (1 John 5:14-15)

Why me?

I am terrible with blogging. Clearly. It's been two years. But two people have convinced me to start blogging again. So Mr. Thom and Nicole this is for y'all. Maybe you'll be the only two to read it, but I hope you enjoy it.

Lately I have been really overwhelmed with questioning why God has allowed me to do the things I get to do and see the things I get to see, I just don't get it. Why me? Why Keely Williams from the tiny town of Greenfield TN? I don't think I'll ever understand it.

But there is another question that I am asked a lot, that I CAN ANSWER... which is...

WHY IN THE WORLD, do you live in a foreign country away from your friends and family, teaching foreign kids, and not making a dime... well here is my answer, people.


I can give you about 1000 different reasons why I love to do what I do, and on the other hand I could give you many very important reasons why I could move home tomorrow, if I felt like God was calling me to do that. But all answers lead to one GREAT THING.

Let's start with why I could move back home... Well right now (I wrote this last night on a 10 hour bus ride in the middle of the night) my favorite 4 people in the world are asleep at 113 Lynn Point Rd, Greenfield TN. They are the biggest reason I would leave everything that I love here, now maybe not to Gfield (sorry Daddy), but we would at least be in the same state again, (TENNESSEE IS THE BOMB). Not to mention some of my favorite people in the world live in that Tiny Town, and I am missing some of the most important events in their lives because I choose to do what I do.

Then if you head a little east about 20 minutes, you will find more people I would love to see whenever I wanted in McKenzie, Tennessee and a little more NE head up to Paris, Tennessee. Now if we would've left my house and headed South, I would've stopped in Milan, Jackson, and of course Henderson! Then onto Nashville! See most of my favorite people are centered around these parts, but also I could get in my car and make trips to Chattanooga, TN., Decatur, AL., or Searcy, AR., and I would love every second of being with those people.

Now let's talk about why in the world I live where I do. First, I have a question, why was I so LUCKY to be born to Chris and Beverly Williams, and not to be born to a young woman, who has nothing and wants nothing to do with me? (Because I am in love with kids who have this kind of luck.) Why was I so lucky? Why have I gotten to be sooooo selfish and comfortable my whole entire life? I truly believe that God does not call us to be comfortable, but in the struggles of our lives and just life in general to be comforted by HIM.
And I know some of you think I should move home, get a real job, and make money. And while I agree, in America that's a huge priority, thats how you know you have made the American dream life. But I don't live in America, and I do have a real job, maybe not one that pays too well (or at all), but a job that challenges me EVERY DAY to live for a greater purpose other that myself, and I know if I lived in America, American Keely would only be living for herself.

Now let's talk about why I REALLY do what I do. See, if you have/had met the people I work with every day, it would be clear to the reasons of why. The missionaries of Manna that I'm surrounded by every day are some of the most important people in my life. I cannot sing their praises enough. God truly has created some incredible people. They teach and are teaching me things every day, but most importantly they have showed me and are still showing me (with much struggle on my part) what it is like and how to have a relationship with God and to be truly in love with HIM. I still have forever to go, because I struggle every day and fail HIM everyday, but in my eyes Norm, Chad, Jill, Jordan, Audge, and Jeff got it down. They all are so incredible. And again I'm too lucky to be blessed by their presence and love for God. And if you have met them, you know exactly what I'm talkin' about.

Now. I don't have any kids of my own, so I don't fully understand about this special kind of love that my mama has always been talking about, but the more I'm here, the more I think I catch small glimpses of what it is. Every time my girls or a Bobitian tell me they love me, I think I feel a twinge of THAT LOVE. Instead of starting off with a baby, we all have been kind of thrown into kind of knowing what it is like to raise teenagers. A couple of nights a week, I laugh until my stomach hurts, eat so much junk food I feel like I want to puke, feel like I want to scream my head off and spank some children, all at the same time, (did I mention laugh?), but over all fall more in love with the children and teenagers here. There are times I want to run far away from my teenage girls, in the times of them leaving THEIR HAIR in my shower so it doesn't want to drain, and I HAVE TO PULL IT OUT (if you know me, you know hair makes me want to vomit, especially other peoples), or when they eat all of my food, or break my favorite coffee mug (that was 1 week old). But then there are the times that they are stealing my heart without me knowing. Making me laugh until I want to cry, falling asleep so many late nights watching movies I've seen 1000 times, or when you've taught them the best American songs you know, and you catch them singing it in their Spanish accents. THOSE ARE THE TIMES I think I feel a hint of what my mama feels for her 3.

Or every time Givens snots all over me, (now you might be having the urge to vomit), but I on the other hand fall a little bit more in love. When I walk down Bobita road, and Niña refers to me as "Gordita" (which means "a little fat")- NOW I don't love that, but I know she loves me so I'm okay with it... I guess. Not to mention we have 23 incredible students that I am privileged to teach, ohhhh who test me in so many ways, but I wouldn't trade one for anything.

And last (but definitely not least), it's awesome to have a Dominican family that you are genuinely able to call your family away from home. My Dominican mama, Milagros, takes care of Audrey and me. I seriously don't think Audge and I would survive without her. I promise she thinks of us as her own. I also know, that our moms appreciate it because of how much she loves us, and they both feel relieved because they have met her and love her as much, if not more, than we do. She is unbelievable, and if I had a chance to for all of you to meet one person, it would be her. I don't know what I would do without that little family. Again, I'm lucky.

Both of my reasons for living here and could leave if I felt called to do that, lead to the same thing- I just love people- and God has lavished so much love on me EVERY DAY, that I feel called to share my love, but especially and more importantly HIS LOVE. I wish you could come and meet all these people that God is in love with, I'm just lucky to be a tiny piece in HIS huge puzzle.

"My love for the people around me wasnt something I could muster up myself; it was God given, from the overflow of love He had lavished on me."- "Kisses From Katie"

I promise to start blogging more often.

lovelovelove,
Kee

Wrapped Up In Love.

In 29 days, I will be on my way to the Dominican Republic for the 5th time. This year most of my best friends in life are going to be right beside me for a week in one of the most beautiful places in the world, and I couldn't be more excited. But this year is extra special because my Mom is getting to go with us, and she will get to see why my heart is wrapped up in love with the Dominican. In the Dominican my LOVE for God doesn't waver, my struggles and stresses seem minute, my blessings and riches become more apparent, and my love for others and everything in my life just seems to pour freely from me without effort.  It is just a week full of love for God, love for others, and love for myself. This year I want to look for God in places I haven't looked before. Of course, it is easy to see him in the beauty of the Dominican, the kid's faces, the missionaries down there, and just the people in the DR, but I want to challenge myself to look for him in the wood shacks, the dirty water, in the dying people, and in myself. It is most of the time hard to find God in myself, but I know without a doubt he is there, it is just about me finding him because he knows where I am.

Dear God, Let me see you in ways that I have never seen you before. Let me see you in myself and let me see you in others. Please keep my friends and I safe and prepare us mentally and physically for this trip we are about to embark on. Let my mom find comfort and a new love for you and ease her stresses about this trip, Lord. Thank you for all of the blessings you have given me, especially getting to experience something as life-changing as the Dominican.

If you read my blog please send up prayers for this trip and everybody who is preparing and a part of it!

Thankful for the "NOW"

Why is it so hard for me to be thankful for what is happening to me in the present time? I usually always learn how thankful or how much I loved something after it has already passed. I know it is better to be thankful anytime than not be thankful at all, but I just wish I was more aware of the blessings happening in my life than waiting until they have passed. Mostly this applies to my time in the Dominican or my summer spent in Haiti. But it also applies to my time just in every day life. A time that I think about almost every day was when I was in Haiti. I could name numerous people or things I would give anything to go back and see or do. But one specifically was that I fell in love with my little orphan named Christine. She was the one that I would purposely seek out to hang out with every day when I was over at COTP. I would try and teach her how to walk, but Christine would get tired or maybe she is just lazy. So we both figured out that we loved to take daily naps, so I would just pick her little chunky butt up and lay her on top of me and we would sleep under a hut out in Lagosette, Haiti. Now that I look back on those days, I realize I always took those times for granted. I would love to go back and take one more nap with her, feed her, or just watch her walk now. Even nights in the dorm with my best friends, time at home with my beautiful family or high school friends, or just being in the car with E, it is easy to look over and not be thankful until it has already passed. Today I'm going to start focusing on the present and being thankful for what I have and am doing in the "now". 

Thank you, God! Thank you for all the blessings you have sustained me with! Let me be aware of the blessings that are happening in the now and not forget the most precious times in my life! Please keep my friends and family in your arms of love, and let us always remember you and why we are here. 

Christine:)

True friendship is FELT not SAID.

Lately it has hit me that life is fixing to take a whole new spin. I am a senior in college, and the time that people tell you are the "best years of your life" is almost up. My life has been impacted so much by my time at Freed-Hardeman but mostly by my friends here. And while I'm lucky to have so many great and close friends here, four have been by my side all four years. I had no idea that I would become a part of a group of 5 girls who refer to themselves as the "roommates". Lauren Hickman, Bonnie Davis, Beth Wade, Emma Danley, and myself make up the roommates. Lauren, Bonnie, Beth, and I are seniors, which is scary for many different reasons, but it is also because our time together is almost up. I think all four of us are scared because what are we suppose to do next? Who are we going to be friends with? Where do we go? Home? Move away? Are we still going to be close?

Well last night answered the last question for me. Last night D-time, who is Lauren, picked me and Emma up with Bonnie and Beth in the car. We of course turned the music up and started dancing, and D told us we were going to ghost ride like we did our freshman year. Those of you who don't know what that is, it is when you put the car in drive but everybody opens their doors and gets out while the car idles down the road with nobody inside, all of us dancing outside and running to keep up with the moving car. (mom if you read this don't freak out) Of course, we all were laughing so hard we almost couldn't keep up with the car, and one time I had to stop in the middle of the road, cross my legs, and pray that I didn't pee all over myself. Just to watch everybody jump back in the car made my night and thinking about it now I'm laughing because I can see D stutter stepping/bouncing to get back in the car. But ghost riding with them isn't what makes me know we are going to be "roommates" for life. It is how we can rarely ever hang out anymore, but when we do it is like we have never been apart. It is like the five of us are puzzle pieces and every time we are together, we fit perfectly, each one of us feeding off the others laughter. I will forever be changed by these four best friends of mine. I know come May we are all going separate ways, but I also know that whether we get back together right after graduation or if it's when we are 35, we are going to all pick up where we left off.

Dear Lord, Thank you! Thank you for all of the people you have brought in my life and made an impact on me during my college years. Thank you for my roommates and my four beautiful best friends especially right now. Please lead us in whatever you want us to do and take care of Bonnie, Beth, Lauren, and E as life for all of us is about to change. Let us always remember we have each other and all of the memories we have made together make up who we are, but most importantly let us remember we have You.