It's a Girl!!!!!

I wanted to post these pictures of the life cycle of a butterfly! I am so excited because we have had this butterfly milkweed plant in front of our house for a couple of years now...Sierra received this little plant from school one year and every spring we seem to get caterpillars and some beautiful Monarch butterflies from that plant. Now it has grown into a very tall plant that has practically taken over the area it was originally planted in, right in front of the garage. This year, we actually saw three caterpillars...one very tiny one, one medium-sized one, and one super large one on the plant the same day. Then, a few days later, Chandler discovered a chrysalis that had already hatched hanging on one of the green bushes near our front door. Next to that one, we then were excited to find a green chrysalis still awaiting its final stages of growth! Scott decided to clip the tree branch that it was hanging from and he put it into a large glass mason jar so that we could observe it while inside our house. I have to say that this is the first time I have ever actually watched the entire process unfold in front of my very eyes. We found the chrysalis on Saturday. I wasn't sure exactly how long it may take for us to see if we really would hatch a butterfly successfully? Over the next 72 hours, we were excited and anticipated the arrival of our new Monarch butterfly! What caught my eye at first was the green chrysalis which had distinct gold dots placed ever so carefully along the outside of the chrysalis in a pattern. It truly looked like someone had hand-painted liquid gold onto this little thing!

You can see in the first photo what the chrysalis looked like on Sunday. The beginnings of the butterfly colors were starting to show through the green chrysalis. The second photo was taken two days later, on Tuesday. As you can clearly see, the chrysalis was no longer green and was now clear. You can see the entire butterfly through the membrane. It was as if it was just ready to pop out of there! Sure enough, within about 10 minutes of me taking those photos, the butterfly did emerge from his cocoon! It was truly amazing! I was so intrigued at the whole process that I stared at the butterfly while in the jar for about 30 minutes straight! I was so impressed with the intricate designs, the white dots, clear black lines, and beautiful shades of orange throughout its body and wings! How could anyone deny the existence of a God who is the creator of all things? This kind of detail on such a small insect in nature is not simply some fluke! Only God could be so concerned about creating such beautiful creatures with such intricate designs!

After Scott came home from work to see the butterfly, we took it out of the jar and got some great photos of it opening and closing its wings while sitting on the bush outside the front door. It didn't take long for the butterfly to figure out how to fly and eventually as the night went on, she did fly away. Upon doing some more research, I discovered that it must have been a female butterfly we had! I saw photos online of a male and female Monarch butterfly. Apparently, the males have two distinct black marks along the outside of their wings in the middle. Also, the males have much thinner black lines and markings on their wings. The females have very dark and thick black lines, as you can see in the picture above of our little butterfly. She also did not have the two distinctive black dots on the lower wings. I am just really surprised, excited, and amazed that God provided a homemade science lesson for the kids on what happened to be their very last day of school! He even waited until the late afternoon when the kids were home from school for the butterfly to emerge and we all got to watch! What a cool experience it was! Summer school at the Williams house is now officially in session...LOL!!

Tag...You're It!

Well, it seems that I've been tagged by my LIFE group friend, Patricia. I'm supposed to fill out these questions below and then tag some more people to do the same. So, here goes...


Four jobs I’ve had:
1. Worked at Stein Mart dept. store for a few years back in high school and early college days.
2. Worked at TCBY...This Can't Be Yogurt...aka The Country's Best Yogurt!
3. Taught 2nd grade for 3.5 years in Orange County [Florida].
4. Claim Reporting/notice taker for Travelers Insurance (you may have recently been seeing some of their newest commercials lately featuring the red umbrella logo and some interesting scenes on risk taking...anyone recall the commercial of the Italian man who flew over the water with wings and crash-landed? That's us.)

Four places I have lived:
1. Orlando, Florida
2. Orlando, Florida
3. Orlando, Florida
4. Orlando, Florida...OK...this stinks! I need to get a new life...how boring...LOL!!!....Seriously, I have never lived anywhere else but here. I need an excuse to move, please!!!! ;o)

Four movies I watch over and over:
1. Bedazzled
2. While You Were Sleeping
3. How to Lose a Guy in 10 days
4. Father of the Bride, Part II

Four favorite foods:
1. Empanadas
2. Cookie Crisp cereal
3. Logan's Roadhouse steaks
4. chocolate cake

Four favorite TV shows:
1. According to Jim
2. Numb3rs
3. CSI
4. Run's House (MTV)

Four places I’d rather be right now:
1. Hawaii
2. New Zealand
3. Black Mountain, North Carolina
4. Alaska

Four things I wonder about:
1. What in the world are we all going to be doing all the time up in Heaven? Won't we get bored...and if not, how come? Why does it have to be such an abstract concept that we can barely even imagine or grasp down here?

2. Why won't we have the same relationships with our loved ones that we once had on Earth, once we are in Heaven? Or will we? (will I still know my mom as my "mom" up there?, etc.)

3. Why does there seem to be such a disparity between the fortunes of some people on Earth and the misfortunes of others?

4. Why won't God make Himself more visible and present in our lives down here? I know faith is a big part of the believer's relationship with our Creator, but why can't He sometimes come down here and sit with us and talk to us one-on-one...ya' know, sort of like a personalized counseling session (with no fee, of course!) It sure would help a lot sometimes! :o)


So now I’m going to tag:

1) Diana Heard (come on...you HAVE to do this sis'!)

2) Tammy Boyer (to see if you really read my Zoo Crew blog at all anymore?)

3) Pam Johnson (do you even have the time these days to fill out one of these things, ya' know, since you're a mom of three now? LOL)

Just a little shameless plug...

I am posting a new movie trailer for my friend, Jessica Simpson. It's a YouTube video clip for her upcoming movie, "Blonde Ambition", and she sent this out to her friends on myspace and asked that we forward it on. Feel free to forward to your friends, as well, if you'd like. I am also posting a link on the sidebar to the right of my page (scroll down a little) entitled, "Some of my favorite links". I guess you can call this a shameless plug for my friend...LOL! You may also want to scroll down to the bottom of this page first and press pause on the music playlist that is already playing.

I'm absolutely appalled!

Well, this will surely make an interesting little blog entry for today. I was just driving home from my weekly Panera breakfast and had enjoyed a nice morning cup of coffee, a cinnamon roll, and some time reading the newspaper and working my daily Soduko puzzle. I was relaxed and calm and looking forward to the rest of the day. Not five minutes after getting onto University Blvd. to head back home, I approached the traffic light at the intersection of Alafaya Trail. As soon as my car pulled up into the left-hand turning lane while awaiting a green arrow, I witnessed two men all of a sudden getting out of their vehicles and rolling onto the road in an all-out physical fight. It took me a few seconds to realize exactly what was going on, but the initiator of the whole fight was someone who was driving a white Honda a few cars in front of mine in the turn lane. He was totally attacking this poor Caucasian man who was a taxi driver sitting in the straight lane adjacent to our turning lane. The attacker was throwing full body punches to the taxi driver and they were rolling all around the ground. Suddenly, a bunch of witnesses got out from their cars and ran to assist the taxi cab driver. They managed to get the attacker off the man, but within a few more seconds, he was throwing more punches to the taxi driver. I couldn't believe my eyes! All this happened during the five-minute period while awaiting the green arrow signal to turn. At one moment, I thought I was going to have to pull out of my lane and go around so as not to miss the light. After all, I did not appreciate having to stand by and witness such a brutal attack for no apparent good reason. I have no idea what prompted the Honda driver to attack the taxi cab driver so relentlessly. Perhaps, it was some form of road rage? But, I am absolutely appalled that we all had to witness this from our own vehicles and that during those few moments, there was nothing I could do to stop any of it. Thank goodness the other witnesses were men who were able to jump out and fend off the attacker. Where are the police when you need them? What really upset me even more was that when the light finally turned green, the Honda proceeded through the intersection while the taxi also turned left, even though he was technically in a straight-ahead lane. As I followed not far behind, the taxi eventually got over into the left lane way up ahead of the Honda. But, mercilessly, the Honda sped up to follow the taxi once again. They both made a U-turn on Alafaya, as if to head back towards the intersection where it all started. It was clear to me that the Honda driver was simply being aggressive and antagonistic. I have no idea what would make someone pursue such blatant violence so relentlessly. I mean, if for some reason, the Honda driver was angry that the taxi driver may have cut him off earlier, or whatever, why not just ignore it and keep driving? But, to keep pummeling the taxi driver and then to chase him down once again in his vehicle after the incident was over, seemed absolutely unbelievable to me. It was truly insane and I felt like I was watching some scene out of a movie or something. I sure hope that the taxi cab driver was able to radio in for some help from the police or his taxi cab company or something. I am afraid of what may have happened after I drove on. My reason for blogging this is that I have honestly never witnessed something quite so ridiculous before. I mean, to get of your vehicle while waiting at a turn light and to pursue a physical altercation for an unending period of time is absolutely unnecessary! What has this world come to? It's ridiculous that we all have to live in such a violent and temperamental world these days. And I know, of course, things much worse than this go on all around the world every day. It makes me extremely fearful for my own children, my family, as well as for myself. After all, I never asked to live in a world set up this way. I know as a Christian, there is always hope in a brighter future to come one day, but in the mean time, I resent that I have to live in this filthy world filled with such hatred and blatant disregard for other humans. I am sure it disgusts God much more than it does me! Well, I just thought I would get this "off my chest" and write about what I just witnessed. It makes me sad to see the world around me disintegrating faster and faster as each day passes. :o(