to august resolutions!!!!

i was looking at our blog and realized that i used to update our blog a lot more than i do now. i mean, dillon's birthday pictures (which, his birthday, is in DECEMBER!) are still on the home page! they're not archived! that means that i probably have updated, oh, 5 times since then. and while some of you may say "well, janie, that is almost once a month", to that, i say LAME-O!!!!

so, i am making an august resolution that i will update the blog more frequently, even if it's just so i have a record of how wonderful my growing family is, and even if nobody reads it anymore.

july has been extremely extremely busy! we started the month with my family coming in from chicago. it's always so much fun to see how these cousins don't skip a beat when they're apart for awhile, then back together! and it only keeps getting better!! we were able to spend a lot of time with the myatts. mimi always has so much planned for us when the myatts come in, that it's a stay-cation for us!! while they were here, ben's sister, lindsey, came in from oklahoma. while she was here, we headed to tennessee safari park. let me just say, i had no idea what we were getting ourselves into! the park itself is great, i just wasn't sure that sally (the swagger wagon) was going to make it through! those ostriches were out for blood!!! we started the tour by the man at the gate telling us how to hold our feeding bowls. then, after our first turn, a deer came right up to the van! and he wasn't blinded by my headlights. he was so calm and friendly. anyway, we saw deer, llamas, wildebeests, monkeys, giraffes (that we also fed by hand), camels, gazelles, ostriches, water buffalo, bison, and peacocks, to name a few. dillon and isaac loved it and i'm pretty sure that all the adults had a great time too!

since then, i have been trying to not feel horrible (i am 11 1/2 weeks along, and i can barely believe that my first trimester is almost over!), find fun things for the boys to do while it is BLAZING hot here. i think we've had 2 solid weeks of highs in the 90s, with heat indices of over 100*. not fun. so, we've made several trips to the train museum, played in the water a lot, dressed up like cows to get free chick-fil-a, and really have had a great summer.

at church, we're about to start a parenting class that ben is kinda going to be helping teach. i say kinda because: a. we really know nothing about parenting; and b. we have been on the administrative side more than anything of the class. anyway, we're going through shepherding a child's heart and i am so very excited about this study. so many times with parenting, i just get so frustrated, i don't know what to do. i know that every parent feels like this and has many days like this. i guess i have just had more frustrating days lately than encouraging ones. i know i'm complaining/ranting/complaining about my kids. i don't mean to do that, and i really hope i'm not. i think i am very excited to know what to do better on and what to do instead of doing what i'm doing now (that's a lot of doing...). anyway, i am excited to be encouraged by other moms at our church and to form an even bigger camaraderie with our friends. we are also praying about where God will have us soon. our house is still on the market (go here to see a video of it) and we really just don't know what is going to come in our life. we covet your prayers. our desire is to be in full time ministry. ben is so blessed by the Holy Spirit for leading worship, and possibly even pastoring. you can go to southernorthodoxy to see his resume and to hear music he's written and worship services he has lead.

thanks for listening to me banter tonight! here's some photos of the williams lately. i know you love it!