one more thing

this is a crazy Christmas picture that i thought was just TOO funny to pass up. my dad wanted us to use it for our Christmas card, but of course, we opted not to. Merry Christmas to everyone!!

p.s. bill and mel (my brother and sister-in-law...ben's brother-in-law and sister-in-law...this is getting confusing!) are having a BOY!!!!! baby boy myatt is due on april 13!!!! there's almost too many babies to contain it! actually, i don't think that will ever be the case :)

is it going to work?

this post i've tried to get up here about 7 times...let's see if it works!!

well, this is my third time to try and post this. we'll see if it works this time...i hope it does!!
anyway, it has been a long time since i've updated and for that i'm sorry. we have been extremely busy and really just haven't had anything really good to write about. however, we do have some good news. we have a new nephew (who was born on my birthday)! his name is luke carter tankersley and he is just the most handsome little boy i've ever seen (besides michael tankersley. they're in competition over that one:P). the proud parents are my sister and brother-in-law, lee and lili tankersley. congrats are in order for them.



(can you tell that i love him and am so proud to be his aunt?!!)
there's not a whole lot else going on. we've been trying to get ready for Christmas for a long time now and we're only about a week away. my family is coming into town tonight (i'm sure you'll see pics) and then ben's family is coming into town next weekend. that's right...we're hosting Christmas and I have to cook a big Christmas meal. i hope it turns out well. i'm sure it will.
i guess that's about it. i hope everyone else has a great Christmas. may God bless you this holiday season and many more to come!!!

i've tried and i've tried.

i have tried multiple times to post, and i haven't been able to. but i ran across this and was proud of life. check it out and we wish everyone a great Christmas and happy 2007!!! love to all!! The Year in Pictures

post-surgery thoughts

i've had many minutes to think about life in the past few days. first of all, i'm so thankful for my family. (this might be a pretty cheesy post;)) my husband has taken the best car of me that anyone ever could. i have definitely been MILKIN' IT!!! and it's been fun. but, it just is such a reminder of Christ and the church. as ben represents Christ in our relationship as husband and wife...he's been so faithful to take care of me, been so concerned about the littlest things i might need, been concerned more about me than himself and such a servant, and just been a good reminder of what a great husband he is. and as for me as the church...well, i've seen myself serve him in the past. it's a give and take willingness. that's what i've decided marriage is all about. dying to yourself at different times. however, the husband and the wife must BOTH die to themselves at different times. if a couple does this, they WILL live happily ever after. just like a fairy tale.
now, i don't say that it's going to always be easy. i guess, as i contemplate that Christ was a real man (100% man and 100% God) i see that He had to die to himself at times as well. when we see Christ as human, it's somehow easier for us to die to ourselves and to understand why we go through pain and suffering. He died the ultimate death, but came as a peasant would come. i'm so thankful and pray that you see the joy in dying to yourself when it comes to relationships. happy thanksgiving.

oh, petey boy, oh, petey boy, why must you tear up our stuff? (to the tune of "Oh, Christmas Tree")

 

So, i came home from work on wednesday, and this is what i found. well, actually i found a chewed up dryer sheet in the middle of the living room floor, and then i walked into our bedroom, and this is what i found. petey was very excited to see me and began running around in circles on the bed. he loves us. (and he had a BLAST today while we were both at work). we love our dog!!!! 

the ultimate FEAST

well, this past weekend, we hosted "The Feast of St. Pookie". for those of you that don't know, pookie is brian denker (who ben used to live with) and a few years ago, ben, leah cashion, jenny johnson, ben hickey, and a few other people, wanted to throw brian a big birthday party. they decided to call it "Pookiefest" complete with iron-on t-shirts. they had a blast! the next year, ben was married, but pookie was still next on his mind. he decided to make it bigger than the year before. that year, it would be called "Pookiepalooza", complete with REAL t-shirts. It also doubled as a fal funfest for the kids. we had a good time, but now the preasure was on. EVERY YEAR, this thing has to get BIGGER!
As ben and janie were brainstorming, ben said "i think we need to have the feast of St. Pookie for Brian this year." janie loved the idea and the planning began. This year, we had a jumpy house for the kids, ben hickey so eloquently told how pookie became a saint, complete with 3 miracles: making a toasted cheese sandwich, pulling out a pop tart from thin air, and drawing a map of the Holy Lands (not in any specific order). We had a blast, and i just wanted pookie to know that we appreciate him and love him very much! get ready for next year...it might be as big as memphis in may!!!!

once again...

i just can't tell enough people about this great website. threadless.com has some of the GREATEST t-shirts!!! oh my word, i can't get over it. one of my favorites is this one
it's HILARIOUS!!! anyway, just remember that christmas and birthdays are coming...there are so many GREAT t-shirts on this website!!!! i LOVE it!

petey's happy halloween

here's petey's halloween costume! it's as good as we could get. love to everyone!
 
 
  

dog stuff

as many of you know, petey is our dog and we love him. he is crazy, but we love him. we wanted (or maybe just janie wanted) to get him a halloween costume. ben just laughed and was like, um ok. so, i asked our friend brian denker if he had found any good halloween costumes for dogs. this is what he sent me. go here. it's hilarious. i'll post a picture of petey with what we got him when i have one. until then, here's one...

who knows?

hello to everyone. i don't really know what to write today, but i felt like writing. i was reminded of some funny things this weekend. my best friend from college came into town (the fields) and we went to the big UU (that's union univeristy for those of you that don't know) and walked around to see what and who had changed. we came across some funny things that reminded us of our days at union and realized that we missed college but were VERY glad to be where we are now. we spent the day eating shake's frozen custard and then having pizza for dinner. good times and much much like college!
i also was reminded of some of my time being single. one thing in particular was a comment made by (at the time) a 5th grader whom i went to church with. i had just decided to move to colorado and work at orchards baptist. i told "mark" i was moving to ft. collins and he said "why you wanna move up noth (long o sound) fo?" (you MUST say it with the MOST southern accent possible) i laughed and instead of saying "well, colorado is actually west..." i said "because i want to right now!" anyway, it brightened my day and i hope it does yours as well. have a good monday, but not a "case of the mondays"

relief

thank you so much for everyone who has been concerned with ben and i since i last posted. (this is janie:)) many of you were so encouraging and i thank you so much!
a little word about what all is going on...
i'm doing fine. i have been in and out of the doctor for the past two weeks. they have determined that i might have endometriosis, and that i do have a cyst on my ovary. saying all of that means that there will be more tests done in the near future. we are waiting another month to do any of the tests, but my doctor is amazing (kudos to don wilson at the jackson clinic) and he wants to see me feel better QUICKLY!! he is willing to go over and beyond the expectations that i had. anyway, i could go into much more detail, but i'm not going to. feel free to call if you want to.
i know that God is powerful and His will is better for me than mine can ever be. i also know that God wants what is best for me. He has my best interest at heart and He knows my wants and needs and knows when the best timing is for everything to happen. thank you all for praying for me and for allowing me to spill my heart out. i guess sometimes it's easier when you're not looking someone in the face to be more vulnerable. that's good times. anyway, love to all of you and we can sing like U2 in "mysterious ways"

Johnny take a walk with your sister the moon
Let her pale light in to fill up your room
You've been living underground
Eating from a can
You've been running away
From what you don't understand...
Love

She's slippy
You're sliding down
She'll be there when you hit the ground

It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
She moves in mysterious ways
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
She moves in mysterious ways

Johnny take a dive with your sister in the rain
Let her talk about the things you can't explain
To touch is to heal
To hurt is to steal
If you want to kiss the sky
Better learn how to kneel

(on your knees boy)

She's the wave
She turns the tide
She sees the man inside the child

It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
She moves in mysterious ways
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
She moves in mysterious ways
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
Lift my days, light up my nights

One day you will look...back
And you'll see...where
You were held...how
By this love...while
You could stand...there
You could move on this moment
Follow this feeling

It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
She moves in mysterious ways
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
She moves in mysterious ways
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright

We move through miracle days
Spirit moves in mysterious ways
She moves with it
She moves with it
Lift my days, light up my nights

frustration

Usually our blog is very upbeat and not very sappy, but i'm having a sappy kinda day. i don't understand Christ a lot. there's a mystery there that is so intriguing to me, but sometimes it is very frustrating to not know everything. part of that mystery is God's timing. i know deep down that God knows what's best for me and for our family, but i also have a human will that i wish i could just turn off and on when i want it that way. all at that same time, it seems that what you want, everyone else has, and that you are the only one that doesn't have it. it's not true, it's just extrememly frustrating. i get frustrated with myself for not trusting and having enough faith to put the whole situation in God's hands; i get frustrated with other people who get what i want, and i want to be excited for them, but it is very hard. i also get frustrated with my jealousy and bitterness. i know these are wrong, but it's so hard not to be. i have such a hard time trying to figure out what i need to do and where i go for the comfort that is needed. i'm sorry that this is so depressing, it's just everything that's on my mind right now. SO, i do need to get back to work. if you think about it, just pray that i would have contentment and in that contentment, trust that God DOES know what He's doing, because i know He does. also pray that God would give me the desires of my heart and line up His desires with mine, becuase ultimately, His are all that matter. thanks.

what a weird world

i found this on brian denker's blog (aka: pookie's blog:)) and was amazed at how everything would turn out. it's a pretty cool video so if you have about 5 extra minutes today, you should look at it. it's pretty rad. it's entitled "if there were only 100 people on earth".

st. louis

as many of you know, we went to st. louis for our anniversary. we saw a lot of things, from sumo wrestlers (long story) to the budweiser brewery and the botanical gardens. that's what most of these pictures are from. i guess i'll tell you about the sumo wrestlers, since this is a blog and all :)
at the botanical gardens, we lucked out and found out that they were having a japanese festival throughout labor day weekend. so you paid $20 and got to see all the exhibits and arts and crafts and everything. well, one of the exhibits happened to be sumo wrestling. we actually watched it for about 15 minutes, then thought that we had had enough and that we were a little grossed out. this picture is the big guy. we have several more that i might post later, but, trust me, it's a lot to take in all at one time. hehe. anyway, hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we do!

work and other stuff

well, i'm at a weird spot right now. i started a new job about a month ago. i'm pretty caught up on all paper work. so, what is there left to do when 6 out of 9 girls are gone (5 of which are the other full-time employees) and i'm still learning?!?! it's such a weird feeling and also kinda liberating. anyway, i'm looking forward to tomorrow because i have many home visits and i love meeting my new little kids. i hope a couple of them are babies. we'll see.
on another note, ben and i had a wonderful time in st. louis! we recommend going to anyone who needs to get away for the weekend. there are so many little nooks and cool little spots. we didn't even go downtown and we had a great time. not to mention, we got to see sumo wrestlers perform! bet you weren't expecting that! anyway, we had a blast. i haven't downloaded any of my pictures yet, but once i do, you will definately see them. not much else is going on with us. we hope everyone is doing well and would love to see you soon! come visit us!
p.s. if you want to see a great video, go to my ethan and kristen's blog, and watch the ok go video. they will be on tour with death cab for cutie later this fall. that would be a fun show.

one year anniversary

for those of you who don't know, ben and i will be celebrating our one year anniversary on sunday! we are going to celebrate it in st. louis. and we don't know what we're going to do there, but we do know that we're going to relax and have a good time. we're getting one hour massages on saturday, and then we might take a bike ride on saturday or sunday. no ball games this trip, but i know that it is a much needed vacation for us and we CAN'T WAIT!!!!! so, be looking for some pictures next time you come around to us. we hope everyone has a great labor day and a restful one. it's one of 5 holidays that my company partakes in. crazy. love to all!

threadless

hey, everyone. so, there's this website called threadless.com that we absolutely LOVE. they have the FUNNIEST and funnest (i know that's not a word, glenna). anyway, you should go because all of their t's (except the select tee's) are $10!!! YEA!!! here's an example and bring something cool to jackson, or tulsa, or denver, or sikeston, or brooklyn, or oklahoma, or texas, or wherever you might be. love to all!

ok ok ok ok ok

so, several people have been really sad that we're not continuing this blog at this time. SO, i decided i would post! :) ummmmm, so i started a new job on monday. i LOVE it. i'm working for TEIS and it's an early intervention service that goes into homes and works with parents and their kids to try to get them on target developmentally. so, if anyone is having a baby soon, i'll let you know how your baby is doing. good times.
VIP is going really well for ben right now, too. they are starting VIP memphis this september and, needless to say, ben is going to be very busy. but they just hired someone else, so that is also very good! :)
our house is coming along as well. we hope to have the kitchen completely done, everything painted, the half bathroom finished, and some other random things by december. it feels really good to be getting some things finished on our house. we love our house so much. it means a lot to us and we can't wait to continue using it to have bible studies in and continue raising our little family in it. ummmm, i guess that's about all that's going on. here's a picture of us if you've forgotten what we look like...hehehe...i'm sure you haven't.. we love you guys!

nothing to say

hi, everyone. i think that glenna is the only one that ever looks at this, so because of time, i believe that we are saying good bye to blogger for a little while. there just isn't a whole lot going on with us right now except the same old stuff. whenever something exciting happens, we'll let you know. but until then, we would love to hear from you via e-mail or phone, or just come and see us! we love you all and look forward to hearing from you soon!

Our awesome nephew michael

this is going to be a short post about our nephew, michael. the other day, my sister, lili, was at home with her kids. michael, who is now 3 1/2 (i can't believe it!) was playing a "song" on the piano for her. when he's playing the piano, he always says "isn't that g-a-orge-ous?" he has a very southern accent already. God bless him! anyway, so, he was playing a song and lili said "who taught you that?" michael said "uncle ben rickys!" then, after thinking for a minute, he realized that ricky (william marshall) is not the same as williams, our last name. so, then, he said "i mean uncle ben williams!" i thought you might enjoy that ricky! michael might be a genius before the day is over and he might already be smarter than i am...well, maybe not :) hope everything is going well with everyone. when i get home, i'll post a picture of sweet michael. love to all! 
  

School's OUT!!!!!!

well, it is finally the end of May and summer-time is here. for some, that means absolutely nothing. for others, that means moving on to a new school, going to college, starting a new job, the list could go on and on. however, for ben and janie, it means a few things. first of all, school is out for janie!!! YEA!!!!! no more getting up at 5:00 and leaving by 6:30 to get to school on time. instead, i am going to be working at christensen photographics, 9-5, monday through friday. it is my very first 9-5 job. well, sortof. when i lived in colorado, i worked at a church, and i was always there at 9 but i would usually leave before 5:00 because of hanging out with kids and going to meetings and stuff. SO, i will be the senior picture sales rep and i'm looking forward to it. i started this week after school hours, and for the first week, it will be pretty slow, but then, it's going to pick up quite a bit. i'm excited about getting to make others feel good about themselves and giving them some of the most important things for right now in their lives.
for ben, summer-time doesn't mean a whole lot more than the regular year. he will have 2 weeks off towards the end of june and beginning of july, so hopefully he'll get to work on his website, blogs, and the house a little bit. but, other than that, he'll still be truckin along at vip and leading worship at church. we've been so blessed recently by vip. ben has really enjoyed it and he has been home by 7:00 every night for the past month or month and a half, and he hasn't had to work hardly any saturdays!! praise the Lord for that. and thanks to all of you who prayed for us through his job and mine as well.
another thing that comes with summer is that many people go on vacation. this year, we're not going on a long vacation, but we are getting to go to see the braves play the red sox with both my parents and ben's dad and his girlfriend, meri! we're so excited about getting to see pop and meri and it's always fun to see a ball game! so, that will be our mini vacation this summer...but who knows. we might get to go somewhere over labor day! anyway, sorry i haven't posted in awhile. i have been really really busy (that's probably why people don't look at this too often) but i will try to do better this summer. i hope everyone is looking as forward to the summer as i am.

The Marathon is OVER!!!

well, i've been so busy this week i haven't been able to post anything. BUT i did want to tell you that i finished the marathon! YEA!!! i also BEAT my goal of 2:19! I finished in 2:16 actually and i really had a good time. Ben was there the entire time cheering me on (in training and at the finish line) and i feel that i have accomplished a life-long goal that i had. some of these pictures ben took and others are from the marathon people that you can buy them from. anyway, i had a good time and i am glad that it's over. ben and i have talked about doing a 5K in september together and i really hope that that happens. i think that it will! we'll keep you posted though!
this is the picture right before i took off...
 
and at the start line... 
in the middle of the race (not the best ever:))... 
and finally at the finish line with my amazing husband!...  

maybe...

i'm not sure if that picture worked or not. i'm at school, so i'll check it when i get home. if it didn't post, i'll post it again. sorry about the confusion. we still love you, dad!

My Amazing Father

I wanted to put a picture of the man who knows that he has the abundant life and who loves every bit of it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!!!! we love you and we are so so so thankful for you. (sorry that that the picture is not that great...it's a phone pic :)) i hope all are doing well and hope to talk to you soon!

another great saturday

hello, all! it's about 5 p.m. right now and i just wanted to write and say what a great saturday it has been. this is the first day that ben and i haven't had anything going on during the day in a while! ben's mowing our yard and the neighbor's yard right now, and we are having a party tonight after dinner with some friends. it's just the best! we don't have a ton going on right now. i guess the biggest news is that the half marathon is coming up in only one week from today! we will be going to nashville on next friday, then we will come home on saturday. but, i feel very ready for it. it's very exciting. just to be able to say that i've run a half. wow!
my dad's birthday is this weekend as well, and, as many of you know, they live here in jackson, too. well, it's really just hit me the transition of life recently. you are in certain seasons of life for a reason for a certain amount of time. while i am enjoying being a newly-wed, my dad is enjoying the 2nd generation of his labor! well, my dad asked (as he always does) for peace on Earth and good will toward men. well, we all know that we can't get that. then, he said that he and my mom were really into crossword puzzles ad they need a crossword puzzle dictionary. then, it hit me, my dad is a grandpa. that's crazy! and he does grandpa things all the time that i don't even understand right now!:) however, i do have to say, that my dad is one of the most amazing men i've ever met before (after my husband of course). i am so thankful for how he has brought me up and how he has taught me the Word of God through childhood and how much i've learned from him as an adult. i say all this to say, "Here's to Sam Myatt. May he live long and continue being the amazing man that he always has been!"
Hopefully i'll post some pictures that we get to take tomorrow of my dad so those of you that don't know him can meet him :). i hope everyone has a great sunday!

yeah

so, it's been almost a month since i've posted last. i think that the only people that read this are glenna and amanda. it's hard to stay motivated when there's not a lot going on.
i have the day off today and ben is working. i'm training for a half marathon and i ran 9 miles last weekend, so this weekend, it's up to 11, then take the week before off, and then it's time. HOLY COW! i hope i can do it. it would be really embarrassing if i couldn't. anyway, so, today is also jenny's birthday, so we're going to los today for lunch. i can't wait because it's been WAY TOO LONG since i've been there. ben and i don't go there very often because he goes there for lunch a lot, but i don't get to go there for lunch. so, woe is me, right?
i do have some sad news...aretha frankensteins burned to the ground! our friend joe garner was in chattanooga and ben had asked him to get me a t-shirt because they were totally rad. so, he asked a local if he was going the right way and he was like "dude, it burned down last night!" SO, but they are planning on rebuilding it, which is good for when we go to atlanta or to chattanooga again. oh man. anyway, as i said there's just not a lot going on here. i do hope that everyone sees the joy of Easter and truly celebrate Christ's ressurrection. this has been an amazing Easter for me because i've never celebrated as i have this year. we had an amazing "Jesus Feast" last night at church where we celebrated the body of Jesus, then tonight we have a Good Friday service that leads up to Christ's death, and tomorrow a Holy Prayer Service, then a HUGE amazing Easter celebration service with a big brunch to follow. i'm really excited about all of it. also, don't forget to check out ben's blog on romans and if you want to see some cool articles on stuff, his southernorthodoxy website. happy Easter to all of you. may the peace of Christ be with you.

here we go again

i'm about to be really mad if this doesn't work. i included the pictures that didn't go through on the previous post. we'll see

 
 
 
  

ok....

here they are in some sort of order. these are actually the first four pictures. the blog ahead of this one (sent later) will be the final two. so sorry about that! picasa will only let me blog four at a time...that's a little annoying because if you know me at all you know i love pictures. anyway, let me know if these are better. love to all!
 
 
 
  

a little help?

will someone please let me know if the pictures are showing up on our blog? everytime i go to it, it's just x's. thanks so much!

sorry about the pics.

hey, all. i just wanted to add the pictures again from the previous post because i don't think that they are showing up. they're not showing up on my or ben's computer. so, here they are, in the same order! i hope you enjoy!
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chattanooga

so, ben and i went to chattanooga a few weekends ago. we have just had enough time to post some pictures, though of what a great time we had. we started off the weekend by eating breakfast at this amazing coffee house called aretha frankenstein's. this was my favorite part of the weekend. they had amazing coffee, breakfast, and it was right up mine and ben's alley. here's some of the aquarium which is pretty cool actually. they have a river part and an ocean part, then we also went to the imax 3-d ocean. it was a blast as well.
These first three pictures are of the aquarium. we saw the world's largest turtle shell (ok, mybe it was a replica, because they're keeping it in pretty good shape) and ben and i really like turtles (as you can tell from the next pic;)). we did have a blast at the aquarium. there's so much to do in chattanooga as well. it's a great place for a mini-vacation if anyone is looking for a place to go sometime soon.
 
 
 
 
we ate at a place called sticky fingers which has AMAZING bar-b-que and ribs. i ate a WHOLE HALF a slab of ribs. usually i only eat about 1/4 or 1/3. it was so so so good!
 
Then, this is chattanooga 1/2 mile pedestrian bridge. it's really cool and it overlooks the tennessee river (which we all know isn't THAT great, but hey, it's water!) we ate ice cream (after sticky fingers) at a great homemade ice cream parlor called clemmy's and then walked around for a long time downtown. it was so much fun and it has a great atmosphere about it.
 
we ended the weekend with rock city where you can supposedly see 7 states. i don't really know if i buy all of that. but, nonetheless, it was beautiful little hike that we went on to get to the top. this pic is of what they call lover's leap. there's a story that goes with it about 2 indians that were desperately in love with each other, but were forbidden to be together, so one leaped off the cliff and the other came tumbleing right behind! anyway, that's my favorite picture from the weekend. we hope all is well and look forward to hearing from you soon!