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!

yea for days off

well, ben finally had a day off that he could take and do anything that he wanted to. we thought it was a bit ironic because on his day off from sitting in front of a computer, he sat in front of a computer all day...hehe. he has a couple of other blogs that he is working on. i think i've mentioned before that we are hosting a Bible study taught by walton padelford on friday nights and are going throuh the book of Romans. it has been AMAZING!!!! i have never had the opportunity to be taught like this and i love it so much! ben has sat under walton's teaching before on a regular basis and to be taught by him is simply amazing. anyway, (i'm way off track) ben decided that he would type up the notes from our study and post them on a new blog. it is thebookofromans.blogspot.com. you can read all of his notes. i actually accidently got on another one, bookofromans.blogspot.com and it seemed that it might have some cool things on it, too. the other blog that ben is working on is one called southern orthodoxy. This is a magazine idea that he has had for awhile now and it is just now coming to somewhat of fruition. it's really exciting and if it ever does become a real magazine, it would be really really cool. so, if you know any publishers, let us know. :) also, e-mail us and let ben know what you think about southern orthodoxy. we'd love to hear your take on the Gospel.
on another hand, we are going to take a little trip to chattanooga to simply get away for a weekend. we took sunday off of church and are leaving on friday and will return sunday. we really don't have any plans...we've talke about alot of things, but haven't nailed down anything, we're just excited about getting out of jackson away from the norm and having a little time to ourselves. with that said, we have to go to bedb bath and beyond. (i love that store) to get more towels. we hope all is well with everyone and hope to hear from you soon!!!

A few more

Here's a couple more of Leah's going away party. We'll miss you, Leah.
Oh, yeah, thanks to Cilla and Cindy for the amazing Baby Monk cake. It ROCKED!
 
 
  

Cherish the Ladies

A few weeks ago we went to the Jackson Symphony Caberet and saw a GREAT Irish girls' band called Cherish the Ladies. Here are some fun pictures of all of us that went. If you've never heard of them, you should check it out.
 
 
 
  

Good times and Sad times

Hello, all. It's been awhile since we have written anything and we know that more people would probably look at our blog if we updated more, but we wanted to share some of our pictures with our friends on here. I (Janie) have really realized the value of friendship since Ben and I got married. It has been a real adjustment as far as getting to know the other ladies at our church and feeling a good connection with them, and also realizing that God has plans for everybody that might not always include me. Right now, a lot of my best best friends have moved out of Jackson. I have had to trust the Lord with all that I am to know that everything is going to work out. These first pictures are of Leah Cashion's going away party on Friday night. Leah is moving to Denver, CO to pursue greater things that God has for her that can't be accomplished here. We love Leah so much and will miss her so much. But, we pray God's blessings on her new life in CO and with Joe. The crazy one that looks like little monks are actually little baby monk salt and pepper shakers. You can ask for a story on that later. I love our friends and Ben and I are so thankful for them. I hope everyone enjoys these pictures and thanks for everyone's friendships that aren't in the pictures.
 
 
 
  

The great afternoon

Hello, all. I don't have a lot of time, and I don't have a lot to say. I just wanted everyone to know how much I enjoy the afternoons. I'm training for a 1/2 marathon right now (that is on April 29...i still have plenty of time) and I'm up to about 5 miles right now. It's crazy. So, I didn't run on Friday or Saturday, or Sunday for that matter. So, Monday rolls around. After a long day at school, and a cold that I'm trying to get, I decided not to run today. It is amazing how great you feel when you're not rushed! I hardly ever stop for anything, and this weekend has been a whole weekend of stopping and a lot of hanging out and not HAVING to do anything. Now, if I do this all of the time, my life would be a mess; however it's not all the time, and I don't want to give it up yet. On a normal afternoon, I would rush home, change clothes, run however many billion miles I'm supposed to run, get home just in time to fix dinner, and not really stop until 7:00 at least. Well, today, I just had a meeting at 4, then fixed dinner...it was great. I have time to blog, I have time to do what I really need to do. I'm very excited about that today and that I'm going to go and watch the Bachelor with my girlfriends makes me happy, too. I hope you've had an excellent Monday...an out-of-the-ordinary Monday, and if you haven't, maybe tomorrow will be that way. Have a great day!

 

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!