Well, on this particular Saturday night, Ben and I are finally at home together after having a long day of errands and work (for Ben). However, it is so peaceful coming into our home and knowing that it is ours and that we are at HOME. My friend, Glenna Marshall has just moved to Sikeston, MO, "the home of the throwed rolls!" Well, not only is this the home of the throwed rolls, but now it is the Marshall's home as well, and it's finally feeling like home to them, after 6 long months of being there. I feel like that tonight, for one of the few times in mine and Ben's marriage (almost exactly 5 months ;)). We walked into our house from a long day of doing things that can't get done during the week, and it was SO peaceful to walk into our house. Ben is sitting here playing his guitar, Petey is playing with his rope, and I'm just enjoying all of it. There really is "no place like home." I know that's a little cheesy, but I think that Whiz is my middle name sometimes...ok, a lot of the time!
Tomorrow we have church in the morning and we're going to have lunch with my dad, Sam, and the Tankersleys (my sister and her family). I'm very excited about church tomorrow. Ben and I lead worship together at our church, and Ben and a friend of ours, Craig Davis, are about to start a website for the church. He is SOOO excited about this because he gets to do what he loves for ministry purposes, not just ar VIP. It's great leading worship as two people that represent Christ and His Church. This is what I've always longed for, and Christ has truly blessed me to be able to be a part of this ministry with my husband. Well, I'm pretty much just rambling, but I wanted you all to know about this great feeling I am having tonight. I hope your Saturday night is just as good as mine. May the Lord bless you tomorrow.
P.S. please be praying for both Ben's grandfather and my grandmother. They have both been in the hospital recently and are sortof on the mend. Both of these amazing people have been such an influence in our lives as Godly mentors. Please lift them up and pray and plead for God's healing. Thanks in advance for your prayers! 

in the house

 

Some of you have asked to see pictures of the house. these are the most recent that we have, but we'll have a scrapbook waiting when everything is done! it's really exciting to see where it has come over the last few months! we love all of you and hope to hear from you soon! 

PETEY!!!!

Michael and Zoe dressed up like Mary and a king for Papa to recite the Christmas story from Luke 2 and they acted it out. It was awesome! We can't wait till we have the whole Nativity Scene able to be acted out!!

I'm a happy mom!!

Petey loves his daddy!

This Old House

As many of you know, Ben bought a house a year ago that needed a LOT of work. We had not started dating yet, but we did about four months later and, needless to say, the house got put on hold. Well, Pop, Ben's dad, came to town last week, and we all know that when Pop comes to town, things get done. We LOVE it when he comes ;). He painted a lot of the downstairs' trim and Ben and him put the first coat on the living room. THEN, Ross and Ben hung crown molding in the living room, entry way, and dining room on Saturday. I must say that I was very impressed as neither of them had ever done this on their own before AND they did all three rooms in 5 hours. Pretty rad! So, our rooms are now painted except for the breakfast nook and the entry way, however, they all need another coat except for the bedrooms and bathroom. Ben has also turned the upstairs into his study. He and Ben Hickey broke it in the other night with a couple of pipes, and the first-ever game of darts in the Williams's house. They had a GREAT time. With all of the house stuff going on, we haven't had much time for much more, although we have been incredibly busy. It's amazing how much we forget work over the holidays. I have to find all the pictures of the house before and after, but I will tomorrow (since State-employed workers are off tomorrow) and I will post them as soon as that happens. We love our house and would love for any of you to come and visit anytime. We have a spare bedroom, so whenever you would like to come, you're welcome!
We are also very excited about a great opportunity that we have starting in February. Walton Padelford, one of our elders, is going to start a Bible study on Romans, verse by verse, simply teaching the Word of God. We are so excited about this and about having everyone in our home for soup and study at the Williams'.
Also, many of you have asked about Petey. He is doing excellent and his personality is really starting to shine through. He's becoming a lot more energetic (although not as crazy as gunther) and a lot more fun. His vet says he's growing as he should (he's doubling in weight every time we go to the vet!) and everything is going great. Here's a picture of him...(look up). We hope all is going well with everyone. Come see us anytime...you're always welcome. Love you guys!

Nother Picture

We're wee.

This was in Bricktown in Oklahoma City with Aunt Nette, Uncle Jim, Jennifer, and the two of us. We had a great Christmas and a great night walking around downtown OKC.

Three Kings and a Baby

It came and went. Janie and I had a wonderful first-christmas together with our families. We had an early Christmas with the Myatts and an on-time Christmas with the Williams/Stovers. We played games, sang carols, exchanged gifts, danced and sang kareoke! What more could we ask for.

Now the sad part is upon us: the discarding of Christmas. As we take down our nativity sets and Christmas trees we return to normalcy. In our church we celebrate the church calendar which means Christmas is still upon us. Traditionally, December 25th marks the beginning of Christmastide, a 12 day season in the calendar (hence the 12 days of Christmas my true love gave to me; more on that later). The birth of Christ should be central during the entire season. Sadly, Janie and I have had difficulty with this because tradition demands distraction. I am thankful that we still have an entire season afterward to focus on the birth of Christ. We would like everyone who might check up on our blogspot to know how important this season is to us. A group of men, long ago, traveled through hell and high water (probably) to worship a king who they seemingly had no business worshiping: the God of Israel. The three wise men were probably more than three (the number three is due to the three gifts brought to Jesus). They had no business worshiping Yahweh because they were not Jewish. Janie and I are not Jewish either yet we are able to worship Christ. This fills us with tramendous joy: the God who spared a people by delivering them from bondage into a land flowing with milk and honey is also naming us with those he has spared. The birth or Jesus is significant not because he was a good man here only to teach us how to be better people, but because humanity is in bondage. The wise men knew this, otherwise they would have no need to worship a god not thier own. Prior to the birth of Jesus, hope from bondage was only in his coming. After the birth of Jesus hope that he came is the only hope from bondage. Without this hope, Christmas will only be the gathering of family and exchanging of gifts, originally intended to reflect the nativity and the coming of the wise men. Although these are worthing things to spend money on they pale in comparison to the celebration for which Christmas provides opportunity.

You may already know this but I wanted to share with you all how important this season is and has been to Janie and I. You may not share the hope that there is a God and that He became incarnate and took on flesh in order that He might offer himself as a ransom to become guilty of our wickedness and satisfy His own wrath. It saddens us that we cannot share the same joy in these things with all of you but if there is ever curiousity regarding why we do certain things at Christmas, please ask. We may or may not know, but we'll have a good time talking about it.

We love you all and hope you have a great and safe New Year. We certainly encourage the consumption of a moderate (if not slightly more-than-moderate) amount of libation to bring it in. This is a hard life but let us forget that for a night.

God bless you all.

Ben

and here are my 2nd and 3rd graders. they went on a scavenger hunt to find hidden messages. once again, good times!

this is my 2nd grade class. my mom came and did a lesson and they loved it! good times!!!

it's almost here!

well, i'm sitting here with my christmas lights on and my dog in my lap, and i'm so happy! christmas is almost here...we only have 4 1/2 days of school left! YEA!!! then, a nice little break where bill, mel, zoe, and tessa are coming friday (you can see a pic of zoe and tessa below) and then ben and i are off to oklahoma to see the stover and williams girls (jen's pic is below too). we cannot wait for christmas to get here. i'm listening to ben folds right now...a song he wrote about his son. it's great, and it really has made me think about how there's such a short time that parents have to teach their kids everything they need to know and pray that all goes well and that they end up in the Lord's will doing what He wants them to do, not what they want to do. (you can read the lyrics at benfolds.com. he looks a little wierd but is a great writer!) anyway, i guess i often forget about how Christ was a little boy with a snotty nose, that had to be potty trained, and then had friends that he would hang out with. and all that time, God was preparing Him for the three years of ministry that He would do on earth. i can't help but think that He was doing ministry before then, too. anyway, these are just some thoughts i've had this Christmas. I pray that your christmas and holiday time is filled with all kinds of family and friends and wonderful times of drinking and eating. may God bless you and keep you, may His face shine upon you all the days of your life. peace of Christ.

sorry so late

hello to everyone. we hope that you and yours had a very wonderful holiday weekend. ours was very relaxing. we didn't go anywhere, but had lunch with my family then dinner with some friends from church. it was great! we ate a lot of turkey and everything, too, along with a homemade pumpkin cheescake that is the best thing i've ever put in my mouth before! anyway, we finally figured out an easy way to post pics, however, we have to do them one at a time. i don't like that at all, so if anyone wants to offer any advice, we'd greatly take it. there's not a lot going on with us. we're still striving for christmas break (for janie) and working through a few more productions before christmas. i just wanted to say hi. i hope everyone has a blessed day and that we hear from you soon!

Another good one of Petey. Isn't he adorable!!!!

Meet Petey, our new dog. We adopted him today from the Humane Society and we love him. He's part feist part jack russell. Happy Birthday to Ben and Janie!!!!

How lovely

Our nephew Michael

Fun times with Mimi and Papa in Chicago