mud pies, beetles, and fire trucks

well, i'm at 34 weeks and 1 day. this little guy is going to be here before we know it. and ben and i really are just very excited about seeing him. i think that we're ready to just know him, and i'm kinda just ready to have my body back to normal...not with a huge baby in my belly :). anyway, we also have dillon's room painted completed. well, i guess it's not completely done, but all we have left is some doors and trim around the doors to be painted. YEA!!! we're SO ready!

on other notes, there's not a LOT going on. i think that some of you knew about kirby's film and project that ben was supposed to work on. the plans have changed a little bit and we're actually excited about it...so what's going to happen is the atkins and the williamsons are going to go to spain in january. the company has decided to have kirby and julian and several others (from spain) to do the pre-production in spain. basically the company is not willing to move the williams (us) to spain, so we can't go. BUT kirby is still going to use ben in the pre-production. only he will be able to work from home, which dillon and i are very excited about. we are actually pretty excited about all of this and have seen how God has worked and answered prayers even though they have not been answered how we thought they would be. there's a lot of specifics to that i could explain and i will expalin if you want to know, but it's way too much to type. so, you can just call if you want to know ;). everything is going well and we are very excited about what Christ is doing in our life. thanks for praying for dillon, the film, and for us. please keep doing so. we love you all!

sooooooo

so, i'm at home by myself on a wednesday night. we've been going so much, ben said, "you're staying home tonight" and so i did! anyway, there's been several things to go on since last time i posted. first of all, i'm at 33 weeks. we've gotten a lot more done on dillon's room, but i'm going to wait to post pictures until the room is completely done.


the last two weeks have been pretty crazy. they began with ben's mom and step dad, dave, coming into town.(for some reason i think i already posted about his...but i don't think i did). anyway, we had a great time with them. brenda was able to come to my shower from CCCand dave and ben got to hang out a lot. it was SO great to have them here.






the next thing that happened that's fun is that i took two of my kids to a farm! we had SUCH a blast! i think that the girls that we took had a good time, too. i do hope (if i don't do anything else in this job) that i can take these kids to places that they have never been and to get them OUT of the classroom and their beds.
i think i can accomplish that.


the next great thing that happened was that i had FALL BREAK!!!! it was such a great weekend! i had the opportuniy to coordinate a wedding in nashville. it was a great wedding and i hope the bride and groom thought so too. that was this past sunday. i got home around 11:30 that night and went to work on monday, ben and i had our baby class on monday night, tuesday we went to work, and tuesday night we went to union's scholarship banquet with my parents, kirby and cilla, and walton and katy. it was SO much fun! the speakers weren't the best in the world, but we had a great time. that's what matters most, right? so, tonight is wednesday night. ben is at worship practice, i am blogging at home (i needed to rest and stop) and petey has fially calmed down to sit in my lap and i'm about to start folding dillon's clothes and put them away. we were going to do a yard sale this weekend, but we decided to wait until after dillon comes when we have time to go through everything a lot better and do it sometime in april. i'm SO thankful for a husband who realizes that his wife HAS to slow down. that's why i'm home tonight, that's why we're not doing the yard sale, that's why we're taking a little break before dillon gets here. anyway, i just felt like posting a couple of pictures of what the weeks have been like. spend some time with your family this week and weekend. be appreciative of them. hug them. kiss them. have fun with them. (i don't know who this kid is, but i left my camera on the bus, and this picture was on my camera when i got it back. i love it!)

dillon's room

several of you know that ben and i have been working very hard on getting dillon's room ready so that gramby and grandpa stover will be able to see it this weekend when they come for the Christ Community shower. we have had a GREAT time putting together his nursery and we have a few more things to get...like a chest OF drawers (that's for you, hannah) and some baskets, but we know that those will come. ;) here's a play by play of what happened...
ben is halfway there


the room BEFORE cindy came over to help ;)


the springs for the crib



it's DONE (minus the sheet...it's in the wash)
ben's the man!


a REALLY bad shot of the rest of the room (again, minus the chest of drawers, squares on the wall, and rug)


the proud momma and her belly


the BIG belly!

so there's the play by play. after all that, petey needed to be played with and i thought this was pretty funny...

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we are SO excited about this little man coming into our world and we're so glad that you all get to be a part of it...whatever that might be. come see us soon!!! love to all!!!

9 weeks and 5 days to go!!!!

can you believe it?!?!? we only have 9 1/2 weeks to go!!!! our great friends kirby and cilla gave us a brand new crib today for little dillon, so this weekend, ben and i are going to get his room ready. the last thing that we'll do is paint, which might or might not get done. but if it doesn't, it's going to be ok :). ben's mom and step dad (brenda and dave) are coming into jackson next weekend. we're so excited that they're coming! dave is doing 200% better (if you don't remember, you can read some old posts...) and we just can't wait to see them.
keep praying for the film that kirby is working on. it still hasn't started, but we feel that God is just telling us to wait right now. please be in prayer for us as we seek first the kingdom of God an das we learn what God's will is for us.
that's really all that's going on. petey is good. janie is good. ben is good. God is good to us and He gives good gifts. we pray the peace of Christ on you!

just because

as i got to work this morning and started looking at a few of the blogs that i puruse, i noticed that almost everyone i look at had updated their blog! it makes my day when i have new stuff to read from some of the greatest people on earth! (that's some cheez wiz right there). anyway, i don't have a lot to say. i guess i'll just update quickly about the past few weeks.
dillon is now 29 weeks into his development, which means we have 11 or less weeks before he'll be here! i feel the need to get his room ready, like now, so hopefully this weekend, we will get his crib and be able to paint and all that stuff. mimi got him his bedding last weekend which we are SO thankful for! so, now we know what we need to do to get paint colors! YEA! anyone who wants to help, give me a call!!!
also, the Lord has been gracious with giving ben work a little last week and this week at VIP. please pray for us as we decide what to do with the movie and how we decide to live for the next year or so. we really need some guidance.
everything else is going well. my new job is getting better everyday. i'm looking into taking my kids on a field trip because they deserve it and it would be fun :). i hope we can go to the pumpkin patch or to tennessee safari park. we'll see what happens. i have some of the greatest kids and they teach me patience everyday. i know God's preparing me to be a mom.
i also would like to just say that i'm very thankful for the elders of our church. they are such a blessing to me and ben and our little family. we love the community that God has brought us into and i would encourage all of you to pray for your elders daily. they are our shepherds. may we be faithful to pray for wisdom for them.
well, this is basically a post where i could just ramble, so i'm going to stop. we're excited about seeing the tankersleys in a few days. we miss them like crazy. expect crazy pictures from the week that they are here! much love to everyone!! this is our nephew, luke tankersley. this picture just makes me smile everytime i see it!

26 weeks and counting

well, this picture is about 2 weeks old. i've made it into the third trimester and i can't believe it! this last 13 weeks is going to FLY by!! we're starting to have baby showers and it's really exciting. thanks everyone for having them for us!! this is a picture of what my belly looks like if you're food sitting on our table :)
also, ben and i have had some pretty great blessings recently. the movie is still not up and going, but we're confident that it will be soon. please continuing praying for that. in the meantime, we're taking advantage of our sunday afternoons ;). this is ben and petey last week...
we hope to see you all soon!! thanks for praying for us!

nash-vegas!

well, today is oficially mine and ben's anniversary. although we celebrated this past weekend, i did make ben breakfast in bed this morning ;). we went to nashville for a couple of days and stayed downtown at the union station inn. it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! it's totally worth it to stay there just to see the room and the inside. we started off the weekend with a trip to qdoba (janie's favorite)! we love their big burritoes. on saturday, we went to franklin and walked around downtown. we enjoyed lunch at the mellow mushroom (pizza) then drove around looking for a pipe shop, but couldn't find it, so we went to uptown's instead (in green hills). (these are my feet after the day in franklin)
then, we went to maggiano's little italy for dinner that night. i think that all we did was eat this past weekend. on saturday night, after going to border's, we were driving back to the hotel and our car started overheating. we made it back to the hotel, but sunday we knew we would have to take it to the closest firestone (right down the road). dave was nice enough to take it right in and look at it. in the meantime, we walked to panera (about a mile) and had breakfast with some sunday morning paper reading. then, we decided to walk back. after two hours of sittin in firestone, our car was ready for the trip home! dave was kind enough to give us 10% off and a couple of hoses for free since it was our anniversary ;). thanks, dave! we then finished off the weekend with eating at blackstone brewery (the st. charles porter is ben's fave) and headed home. we did listen to a lot of this american life which we highly recommend to everyone! happy anniversary to us!!!

here are some pictures of union station. it's beautiful!! (have i said that yet?)

and i said "hey, yeah, yeah, yeah, hey, yeah, yeah..."

I said hey, what's going on?
there are actually a LOT of things going on with ben and me right now. first of all, we thank you all for your prayers for dillon and for ben's step dad, dave. dave and brenda are doing much better and actually just bought a new house in edmond! we can't wait to get out there and see it and see the whole family out that way. dillon is still developing really well. he's growing and growing. ben actually felt him move for the first time last weekend! it was such a great thing! i had been feeling him move for a while (and it just feels like a little alien moving in you), but it was really great when ben felt him move :).
also, ben's new movie that he is working on with kirby is just about to get off the ground. praise the LORD!!! we are really looking forward to this getting going completely. kirby has signed the document we were looking for, and so now it's just a matter of everyone else following through. you can still pray for that to completely get going.
janie, in the past week, has started a new job at what was formerly the Cerebral Palsy Center in jackson. the name has changed to the West TN Center for Child Development in the past few months and it's probably going to change again ;). our friend, ben hickey, was the teacher in the school age classroom, but he has found his wife in ethiopia and they were married at the beginning of july! you can look at brian's blog to see their picture, or you can look at patrick's blog to see a wedding picture. we're very excited for them. since pepo's visa is having a hard time getting to them, they are having to stay in ethiopia which opened up his position at the center. so, i have started working there, and, honestly, it's pretty overwhelming. i've never taught children that are as medically fragile as my kids are; however, i am already falling in love with all of them. you definately can pray for e though, for patience and a dilligence to continue on with what i need to do.
on happier news, we are busily working on our house. ben put insulation in above the office/guest room today, and we just got finished painting up there last weekend. now, we just need to do the floors and move the bed, then we will be ready to paint and work on dillon's room! it seems as though we're never going to get there, but i know that we will ;). i'll post some pictures as soon as we download them.
next weekend is our 2nd anniversary! my parents are celebrating their 35th this week and it seems like we've been married for longer that 2 years, but it's pretty cool that we feel like we've been married for longer than 2 years, but not 35 ;). we're going to go to nashville and stay at union station for two nights, then have monday to get ready to go back to work on tuesday. we're really looking forward to a needed weekend of rest. i will post some pictures when we get back from nashville, too. here's a picture from our last anniversary trip to st. louis.

i guess that's about all that's going on. it's a LOT! anyway, we'd love to see and hear from you, so come see us or call us. we love you all!!

pregnancy week 23

so this is me at week 23. (well at least tomorrow) ben and i have had a very busy 4 weeks and this was the first night that we didn't have any plans at all. yea! it was so nice to not have to rush to fix dinner and we enjoyed a leisurely chicken ceasar salad and baked potato (made by yours truly :)) anyway, we love you all and hope everyone is doing well. i'll post pictures of my nieces and nephew soon. we had a great time with them and bill and mel this past weekend. we miss you already!

me at 23 weeks ;)

ben's blog

ben just updated his blog and he did a very very good job of updating everyone on what's been going on over the last four weeks. he's a lot more transparent than i am. ;) he's such a good man. i'm so thankful to have him as a husband to teach me, love me, and to protect me, and soon to be the father of my first child. anyway, i didn't mean to get mushy, but it's the truth! here's a link to it...it's call peenerbutter ;)

i'll post some pictures later. (that's for you, hannah)

the sulateskee wedding

this weekend, ben and i had the privelege of being in a wedding of two of our very good friends, joe and leah. we are so excited for you guys and hope that God shows His mysteries to you through your marriage! if you want to see more, you can go here 
 
 
  i also got the chance to catch up with my good friend, glenna marshall on friday morning before the wedding festivities began. it's our signature picture at starbucks. i love you glenna!



on another note, we want to ask you to pray for our neighbors, the dudleys. some of you knew how close ben and danny were, well, danny passed away this morning. we know that God is sovereign, but we want to pray that God would reveal Himself to this family during this hard time. we covet your prayers. we love you all and hope to see you all soon!

some fun things

today was cow appreciation day! chick-fil-a gave away a free meal to anyone who would dress up in a cow costume. lisa and i decided this was the best option for dinner tonight (we had an inservice we had to go to). therefore, we became cows!  
also, this is week 18! in case you don't know, we'll be welcoming dillon thomas williams into the world sometime in december (the 12th perhaps :) ) we'd love to hear from you and see you soon! love to all!!  

DILLON THOMAS WILLIAMS

Ben and i went to get our ultrasound today! we're having a boy!!!! he already weighs 9 ounces! he looks like his daddy with his arm up above his head! YEA!!!! we can't wait to share this precious bundle of joy with all of you! we hope you have a great day and you get to come see us soon!!! much love!

we're home!

so, ben and i are home and we're sitting out in this great 79 degree weather on my parent's screened in porch. ben's smoking a pipe and the dogs are playing. life is back to normal. first of all, thank you SO SO SO much for praying for our family this past week. it meant so much to us and we left there with peace. dave is still getting better, and we still covet your prayers. we are talking to ben's aunt right now, and dave is back on oxygen full time right now. there's a possibility they might have to put dave back on the ventilator if it donesn't get better. the facts that dave isn't coughing a lot and that his stomach doesn't seem to be getting better is not the best sign. please continue to pray for dave's health, for a renewed mind, and a new life when he comes through all of this. we'll continue to keep you updated on what's going on with him.

as far as we're concerned, there's not a whole lot more going on. we find out if we're having a boy or a girl one week from tomorrow!!!! we're so excited and ask you would pray for a good report next week. don't worry, you WILL all know that night!!! much love to all!

some good news!

first of all, thanks so much to everyone who has been praying for dave and for us. the Lord has definately been answering prayers! yesterday we had a meeting with the doctor to get some answers. basically, he said that he was treating dave's symptoms day-by-day. they still don't know what happened to him. some of you thought (because we thought) that it was an attempted overdose, but his doctor believes that it wasn't. that was a relief for all of us. right before this meeting, dave was not very responsive and they had sitting straight up and down in bed (basically laying down, but vertical). he DID NOT look comfortable! but, when we all came back last night, he talked to all of us, he had been sleeping, and he recognized most of us! praise the LORD!!! last night, they only had to suction out his lungs once, and this morning he was still sleeping...which i don't think he's been doing a lot of ;). thanks again for praying. ben and i are planning on coming home saturday or sunday. we have to go back to work on monday, plus, there's a little puppy who needs us :). we'll keep you updated as we get more news. peace of Christ.

update on dave

today, which i believe is wednesday, has been pretty hard. everyone left the hospital last night thinking that we were coming back tomorrow to the dad and husband that we all knew 3 weeks ago. it didn't happen. dave's breathing was a lot worse today. the nurses even told brenda that he might have to be put back on the ventilator. however, praise the Lord, he hasn't been! he has been receiving breathing treatments because his oxygen levels are so low. they also are having to do something called a trumpet to get the "crud" (as dottie myatt would say) out of his lungs. he's not able to cough on his own right now which really worries the doctors since he has so much fluid on his lungs.
PLEASE keep praying for a miracle. we want to see dave back at home, enjoying life. we just hope he does that and we know that we have the victory in Christ alone! so, we beg you to continue to pray for him. i'll keep you updated each day we know something else. thanks.

for all those who know and don't know...

(this is brenda and dave in hawaii last year.) ben and i have been in oklahoma for the past few days and we're going to continue to be here until saturday or sunday. ben's step dad, dave, was admitted to the hospital about 15 days ago. they admitted him because he woke up mumbling and couldn't even walk to the door from his bed. he was then put on a ventilator a week and a day ago. they tried to take him off the ventilator for several days, but he wasn't able to breathe on his own. on friday night, ben got a phone call (his mom) and brenda said that they were going to try one more time on monday morning to take him off the vent and if he made it, praise the Lord, and if he didn't, they were legally not supposed to put him back on it. ben and i came out here saturday to be with his mom and the rest of the family. on monday morning, they had tried to take dave off the vent, and he couldn't breathe on his own. they had to put him back on the vent immediately and they decided to check his oxygen levels in his blood to see how hight they were. they began to ween him off the vent and he is COMPLETELY off it now! PRAISE JESUS! they have since taken the tube out of his lungs and he has even whispered to some of his other kids. we are going to go up to the hospital later on tonight. we're still going to stay until saturday or sunday just to be with brenda and the rest of the family (dave has 8 kids and half of them have kids;))! we look forward to being back in jackson, but ask that you continue to pray for dave's mental state. we want him to have a fresh mind when he does come home. he will probably be moved to a regular room tomorrow and we're not sure how long he'll be in the hospital. he probably has a long road ahead of him, but we're very excited for his progress and we're very thankful that we could be here with the stover family. peace of Christ to everyone!

little baby williams!!!!

i went to the doctor today for my monthly checkup! the pregnancy is going WONDERFULLY!!!! i heard the heartbeat again today and they did it so quickly, i couldn't get my phone out to record it...sad! but the baby's heartbeat was at 150 today...very good :) and my blood pressure was REALLY good...:) we ALSO have a date scheduled to find out what the sex of the baby will be!!!!!
it is July 9 and we CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!! thanks for all your prayers for the baby and for me. i know that the Lord is listening to them and answering them :). we love you guys!!!!

tweeking

i'm trying to work with our layout. i did something last night that i'm not sure i can fix...so bear with me and we're going to have the coolest layout ever pretty soon :) (no offense to you other bloggers...)
much love!

Ephesians and the Sermon on the Mount

ok, it's been about 6-7 months (if not longer than that) since ben went to our pastor and asked him about a situation he was in. Dennis said "Read the Sermon on the Mount everyday for 30 days and you'll have your answer." well, this is never the answer that you want from anyone, but you go into knowing that the Lord is going to show you things that a person couldn't tell you because it's in scripture and you can't argue with scripture. SO, when ben started reading this, we had MULTIPLE people come up to us at the most random places asking for money, i had some things at work to happen where i needed to love and turn the other cheek instead of judging, and i ran into some families that i could've judged immediately, but God said wait. also, in the process of what turned into several months of studying the Sermon on the Mount, a guy started coming to our house asking for work for money. well, ben is SO GRACIOUS and much more compassionate than i am, and he ALWAYS found something for our friend (i'll call him greg) to do around the outside of the house. whether it was pulling some branches to the curb or cleaning out our gutters, all greg wanted was $5 to get him some dinner. well, greg recently moved to paris, tn, and i never thought i would say this, but i miss him coming to the door, knocking really loud, petey going C-R-A-Z-Y and having to hold him down while ben went out and found something for greg to do. please pray for greg that he's ok in paris. thanks!
now, how all this relates to Ephesians, you might ask, came about in a strange way. my book study (yes, janie williams is in a book study...i know it's amazing!) is reading a book by watchman nee called Sit, Walk, Stand and it's just really slapped me around. it talks about how you have to sit first in your salvation and Christian life instead of just going and doing immediately. well, i'm a fixer, and i like for everyone (even if i don't know you) to be happy. well, this is impossible to do, and i'm realizing that more and more everyday. so, the 3-5 chapters of Ephesians talk about walking along side other believers (i think it actually starts in chapter 2.). lately, i have been overly focused on myself because of the baby. and although it is an answer to prayer that we're pregnant, that doesn't mean that i have a "one-up" on everyone else. so, i encourage you today to turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile, and go the distance for your brothers and sisters in Christ. and if you're not a believer, i urge you to look for this in Christians. i pray that we show you that we don't judge, that we will walk beside you no matter what has happened in the past or where you've messed up. Jesus never leaves our side. we shouldn't leave each other's sides as a body of Christ. and it's my new venture to NOT judge, to walk the extra mile, to not worry about what's fair or not fair, but to simply trust that God IS sovereign and He does everything for a reason and sometimes just for a season in your life. i also urge you to read Ephesians and the Sermon on the Mount for a month everyday. it's amazing what will happen. Peace of Christ to everyone.

a little teaser...

i really want to post some things that have been on my mind lately. however, i'm at work and i have some paperwork to do right now, so you will have to wait until tonight. (i don't even know if anyone reads this daily) so, for now, i urge you to read a little bit of Ephesians because that's where this post is going. more to come later. lates peeps.

do the hustle

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so, this is what happens when melissa gruver comes home. the whole world stops and you try to learn a new dance :). i give jenny an a+ for effort!!!

we ARE still alive!

ben and i went to florida with the williams fam and had a GREAT time. i think it was the MOST relaxing vacation i've ever had! SERIOUSLY!!! we laid around on the beach, in the house, did nothing but had a great time. (I will worn you...there's pictures of my stomach...but since i'm pregnant, that's ok ;))oh yeah, we saw 2 sharks, too! yeah, meri was fishing one day with a lot of other people and a regular shark swam about 7-10 feet away from the shore! then, the next day, an even BIGGER hammerhead shark swam all along the shore about the same distance away. it was CRAZY! just so you know what a hammerhead looks like...

ok, also we ate at this great neighborhood bar that has wonderful oysters (according to pop and meri) and has really really good hotdogs and good beer on tap (according to everyone else but me). it was great! that's what our vacation consisted of. wonderful and relaxing!
also, here's a picture of what i looked like last week and i do believe i have grown since then! we were able to have another ultrasound at the doctor last week. our little baby is just moving all around and his/her (we don't know what the baby's sex is yet) heartbeat is very very strong! YEA!!! thanks to everyone for all of your prayers. we feel them and God is being so good to us right now. Praise Him from Whom all blessings flow!!!! Peace of Christ to you!

video

i know i haven't posted in a while, but this is just a little teaser for you. we are nearing the end of the Easter season at Christ Community Church (we follow the church calendar). so, this past sunday was ascension sunday. we've been talking a lot about the mystery of the ascension and how it just makes the puzzle go together. it's like the piece that fell on the floor at the very beginning of doing a puzzle and you don't find it until it's the last piece to put in. (at this point, i urge you to read the last 10 verses in the gospel of Luke...it's pretty great stuff) so, i was looking at blogs this morning and found this video that i think demonstrates the love of Christ for us and includes the ascension. so many times, we stop with the crucifixion, but as walton padelford says, that's not the whole gospel. the gospel is the death, burial, resurrection, AND ascension of CHRIST. the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings. anyway, i hope you enjoy it. i will post some updated things about us but i just don't have time right now. we hope you're all doing well!!!