April 05, 2024

Living in Bristol, England (Williams Life Update)

April 05, 2024/ Crystal Williams

Friends, in case you didn’t know, I’m thrilled to share with you we have moved to the UK! Bristol, England, to be exact. On Monday, March 25th, we boarded a flight with our two boys and kissed Texas goodbye. While, yes, the move is temporary… we packed all we could into our three checked bags and started our travel across the pond. The boys did great, but I’ll share more about traveling with toddlers later. For now, let’s connect some dots. Since this Facebook post and this Instagram reel, questions have poured in. So, I’ve decided to end the post with a Q+A of sorts. But first, I’ll share how we even got to this decision:

July 28, 2023

Our Stillbirth Story

July 28, 2023/ Crystal Williams

On June 14, 2023, I delivered our third child, stillborn.

These past six weeks have held some of the deepest pain I have ever experienced. And while writing, for me, has always been therapeutic, I began to sense God’s leading to share our story. I just hope a mom out there - somewhere, anywhere - feels less alone about miscarriage, pregnancy loss, and/or stillbirth upon reading this.

August 12, 2022

Ten Months, Too Long: A Letter About Motherhood and Life Lately

August 12, 2022/ Crystal Williams

Dear reader,

It’s been ten months since I’ve shared anything on this blog. Ten months, too long. No blogs about Josiah and his cleft journey, no further pregnancy blogs, no baby Abner blogs (though he most certainly is now out of the womb, praise God, and growing like crazy), no ministry-related blogs, travel blogs, or recipe blogs. Nada.

I was on a flight to London in late June and I found myself looking around wondering…

October 29, 2021

Gender Reveal + 20 Weeks Pregnant Bumpdate

October 29, 2021/ Crystal Williams

On Wednesday, October 27th, Calvin and I headed to the medical imagining facility my OB/GYN sends all her patients to for their in-depth anatomy scan. Not only would we be finding out the gender of baby #2 during this visit, but also making sure baby was growing well and no cleft lip/cleft palate was detected.

October 10, 2021

Surprise! Baby Williams #2 is on the way!

October 10, 2021/ Crystal Williams

Hardest secret to keep from y’all but n0w it’s out so let’s TALK about it! I figured a timeline may help break it all down and help keep me on track. (I’m prone to ramble, ha!) But whatever you do, please read until the end. I have something important to share down there.*

June 08, 2021

Have You Drifted? (Good Reads To Help You Stay The Course)

June 08, 2021/ Crystal Williams

Have you ever thought about the fact that while in the water in order to drift all you have to do is. . .
nothing. Absolutely nothing. Do nothing and you drift.

It may be slow. Probably subtle. A little wave here, another wave there. But nonetheless, if you do nothing, you’ll drift. The same thing happens to us spiritually. When we do nothing, we can drift away. And that is undoubtedly the resounding heart beat of Christine Caine’s new book, “How Did I Get Here?”.

May 31, 2021

Cleft Palate Repair (hour by hour breakdown + tips for recovery)

May 31, 2021/ Crystal Williams

Be advised, Josiah’s palate repair was the hardest thing we’d done on this journey so far. This read may seem heavy, really heavy. But by the end you, parents to cleft warriors or faithful reader, will find hope. As we have. Because as dark as the night may be, the light always overcomes it. Now, let the hour by hour breakdown of this surgery day begin.

April 19, 2021

A Time For Everything (Williams Life Update)

April 19, 2021/ Crystal Williams

I’m just going to get right to it, over the past holiday season our family experienced a big transition. And I’m excited to finally talk about it with you all in this way! Often times we only talk about God “opening doors” in the sense of a new door to walk through. But have you ever considered God may open a door in a way of communicating, “that was it” “you’re done here” “let’s move on to the next thing” “time to go” “walk away” “you’re work here is done”?

September 23, 2020

Why I Haven't Been Blogging (+ Advice For The Valleys of Life)

September 23, 2020/ Crystal Williams

I sat here not knowing how to come to you all after months of not blogging, writing, creating or speaking while endless thoughts swirl my mind and even greater emotions penetrate my heart. And the truth is, there’s just no other way to say this…

April 10, 2020

What To Do With Over Ripe Bananas

April 10, 2020/ Crystal Williams

Some of us might have grabbed one too many bananas when we stocked up on groceries last. Which I understand, we are trying to avoid needing to go back out to the store during this Coronavirus outbreak and stay home orders.

Your produce may just be on it’s last leg and if that’s the case and you’re looking for ways to salvage those over ripe bananas, you’re in luck! I have three EASY recipes for ripe or in our case, over-ripe, bananas. And the best part is that the other ingredients needed in each of the recipes below you probably already have in your refrigerator and/or pantry.

April 09, 2020

5 Daily Habits To Practice During The COVID-19 Home Order

April 09, 2020/ Crystal Williams

What a crazy time, right?

Life has changed for many of us, for some in more drastic ways than others, but we are all still doing our best to get adjusted. Whether we like it or not, this is our current reality. I, like I’m sure many, sometimes have to combat negativity and the temptation to just sit on the couch with the news or Netflix running 24/7 and wait for everything to end and then go out and do all the things like normal. But instead of giving in to laziness, I have challenged myself to at the very least implement some healthy daily habits to help me make the most of every day. Yes, Carpe Diem during a global pandemic!

March 09, 2020

In The Word Every Day (He Reads Truth Bible Review + 50% OFF CODE)

March 09, 2020/ Crystal Williams

When life suddenly changes, what do you rest assured in?
When you find yourself in the darkest of night, what lights your path?
When you’re pressed and crushed on every side, what do you cling to?
These words which will never pass away, HIS WORDS, are what I must place all my hope and trust in.

November 08, 2019

Cleft Lip Repair (hour by hour breakdown + packing list)

November 08, 2019/ Crystal Williams

I wanted to share Josiah’s lip surgery a little more in detail for those interested. My hopes with this blog post is to enlighten any of our friends and family or future cleft parents curious about how surgeries go for cleft cuties. I’ve included pictures and video, as well as a packing list and tips for any parent of a cleft baby.

September 03, 2019

Josiah's Birth Story

September 03, 2019/ Crystal Williams

His birth story was nothing like I had imagined or planned. [Disclaimer: I plan to share it ALL. The good, the bad, the unforgettable. You’ve been warned.] And I think I’ve put off writing it out because perhaps it has been haunting me in a way. I mean, when you drive past the hospital you labored and delivered at and you start to get emotional 4 days postpartum, something may be up. And I don’t mean the happy emotional. . .

June 15, 2019

38 Weeks Pregnant Bumpdate

June 15, 2019/ Crystal Williams

Helloooooo 9 month of pregnancy (and swollen feet)!! We’re in the home stretch.

Odds are that you may be reading this while we’re in labor! We’re scheduled for an appointment with our doctor at 38 weeks, 6 days to see how I’m progressing. For the last two weeks I’ve been dilated 1 CM and we’ve agreed with our doctor to induce if I have not progressed any. So chances are….. we’re inducing TONIGHT! (6/20/19)

May 19, 2019

32 Weeks Pregnant Bumpdate (and a cleft lip/palate q & a)

May 19, 2019/ Crystal Williams

I am officially in my 8th month of pregnancy and I can’t believe it!! Sometimes just the fact that I’m pregnant and that we’re going to be parents baffles me. But Praise God for His goodness and answered prayers! As promised, a cleft lip and cleft palate Q & A can be found at the end of this post. I am answering your questions regarding baby’s diagnosis.

May 04, 2019

The Baby News I Wasn't Expecting While Expecting

May 04, 2019/ Crystal Williams

At 19 weeks pregnant, Calvin and I headed to my doctor’s office for the anatomy scan. This is where we are able to see the baby through an ultrasound and where we’d normally find out the gender of our baby. However, just minutes after our ultrasound, our doctor had other news for us… she told us the ultrasound tech suspected a cleft lip on the right side of baby’s face.

April 19, 2019

The Reality of Good Friday (and how to celebrate it)

April 19, 2019/ Crystal Williams

Get the matching outfits, prep the roast, plan for family coming in, clean the house for Easter lunch, get the baskets ready, hide the eggs…

We fall into the Hallmark holiday musts that we hardly observe the true meaning of a sacred holiday. And how on earth is GOOD Friday even actually good? How do we observe or yet, celebrate a day when the Son of man was beaten, hung on a cross, crucified and left to die?

April 15, 2019

28 Weeks Pregnant Bumpdate

April 15, 2019/ Crystal Williams

Here we are again! Four more weeks have passed and it’s time for the next bumpdate. I’m officially at the 28 week mark, also known as, THE THIRD TRIMESTER! Wowza, time just flies. In this post I’m also sharing YOUR tips and advice for mamas entering their third trimester! I can’t believe we are just 2 months from meeting baby Williams.

April 09, 2019

Quick and Easy Chicken Taco Soup

April 09, 2019/ Crystal Williams

Friends, I’m going to go ahead and start this off by asking y’all give your girl some grace here because this is my FIRST EVER recipe blog post! It is seriously ridiculously easy. You can go crockpot style and allow everything to slowly cook throughout the day, or if out of nowhere a cold front comes through or the rain begins to pour and you are instantly in the mood for something warm and savory, just throw all of it in a big pot and within minutes the soup will be ready to devour! Trust me, you can make it.

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Dear reader,

crystal lee williams