the rest of summer.....

This is my life- only finding time to blog at almost 12 at night!! Oh well, I guess! Anyways, been thinking alot about the church and what we are about.  This has alot to do with the outreach that we have been planning and praying about and for at our church.  About 2 months ago or so, our pastor shared with us something that the Lord had burdened his heart with.  For too long all of our churches have been reactive- never proactive- in our communities!  We need to actively pursue a relationship with the people in our community- we need to let them literally see the love and caring of Jesus through His church/people!  So we have joined our pastor and, I believe, the heart of God in this new outreach.  For the first month we simply ( but most importantly) PRAYED for our surrounding neighborhood.  Then we MET them- we went door to door with goodie bags and information about our service times and TALKED to our neighbors!  Our goal wasn't to ask them to come to our church- our goal was to show them that someone cares- WE CARE!  We did three nights going door to door, with varied reactions from people, most went well though.  Thad and I went out the last day ( Saturday) and it was awesome!! I had gone door to door before in the Philippines ( very intimidating mostly bc of the language barrier, but the people were hungry for the Lord!!) But it was really a great feeling to not just be the church sitting up on the hill, but to really be a place where people know they are welcome, and that no matter where you come from, or where you are in life- we genuinely care about you.  I was telling a friend the other day, that for about the past year the Lord has been speaking two very specific things to me. For the first while, it seemed like every time I would go to prayer, I just felt the Holy Spirit impressing on me to be reverent before the Lord.  I guess I would describe it like, how we tell our children that when they pray, to talk to God like he is your buddy ( which I know we can talk intimately with the Lord, and that that is a great way to describe prayer to our children) but, I felt like I should just stand in awe of the Lord- be totally aware and consumed with the fact that HE is holy, and righteous, and just and He in no way needs me, but I desperately am in need of Him!! Then the last part of that year, I felt like the Holy Spirit just always led me to pray specifically that the Lord would go before me and come behind me and be all around me, protect me, and guard me.  That He would provide for me and take care of me, that He LOVED me! I think, this is what people desperately need to hear- that God is holy and righteous, and demands that we strive after that in our own lives, but that He loves us with a greater love than we could ever fathom!!  I know I need to hear that! Anyways, I am so excited about what the Lord is doing in our church and in our little town!! 

I know my title said the rest of summer, so I'll get to it! :)  Jude had a birthday this summer and we had a pool party with all his friends

He is such a big kid now- ugh, I hate it! I want my kids to stay babies ;)  He had a great time and we are so thankful for all wonderful friends and family we have that came out to show Jude love on his birthday!  Jude got some serious cash for his big day, and he decided that he wanted to spend it on one big thing instead of alot of little toys.....it was daddy's idea ( isnt it always??)

The hamster is blurry, bc they are fast little guys, but he ended up getting two hamsters, a cage and all the accessories that go with hamsters.  He let Elsie name one ( she picked "Watermelon") and he named the other ( "Tommy", slightly less exciting, but more normal ha!)  Now, I know this ALWAYS happens, but who do you think cleans out the cage, and feeds and gives water to these little guys?? Thaaaat's right....ME!! Haha, why do moms always end up with these jobs?  

Jude also took swimming lessons this summer, and loved them!

The last few things we did this summer were church related- we had teen and junior camp, and our annual conference.  I made it out with the kids for two nights of teen camp, and they thought the play was so awesome!!

We made it to one night of junior camp, mainly bc I was 9 months pregnant and I was just plain tired, or we would have made out more than one night.  

I also sang on the worship team this year for conference again ( the week before my due date!! aaahh!!) But it was awesome and the speaker was awesome too!  Conference ended on a Thursday and I had Thatcher that next Tuesday!!  So since then we have been adjusting to having three kiddos! Thad took two weeks off work ( Thank You Jesus!!!!) and then my friend Nesa came and stayed with us for a week and helped me out with the kids and baby ( and we had VBS at church this same week!)

  Shew, Im tired again just thinking about this summer!  Life has started to slowly get back to normal and back in our routine.  The weather is cooling down and all the kids are in school ( we are homeschooling Jude- more on that next time maybe) and life is wonderful, and I am blessed!!  Well, Im falling asleep, goodnight friends :)

Im baaaaack!! ;)

Phew, its been a whirlwind around these parts as of late!! We have a new little guy around here who has taken up alot of our time and attention! Introducing Thatcher Elijah Dean Williams...

Such and awesome awesome day!! 

I was induced this time ( i was with Elsie also)

 and one of my closest friends ( who happens to be an awesome L&D nurse- love you Tricia!! ) delivered this sweet little blessing! He was 7lbs. 8 oz. and 21 inches long- exactly the same as big brother Jude! We are totally loving this little guy- he's such a chill baby ( thankfully!)  He just turned 8 weeks today, and is packing on the pounds- the only time in his life that double chins and fat rolls are adorable ;)  Anyways, so life around here has pretty much been on baby's schedule, but like I said, he is a pretty easy baby, so it hasn't been too bad.  Jude and Elsie are in love, and help out here and there with taking care of Thatcher. This is them on the morning I was going in for my induction ( they stayed with papaw)

These.kids.are.CRAZY!! HA!!  I love this picture- really shows their silly personalities :) We have had so much fun getting to know little Thatcher and growing our family!  

We've also been busy all summer learning to swim!!

 Jude has it pretty down pat, Elsie is almost there- the above picture is with their life jackets on- they are both now life-jacket free and jumping in and swimming under water ( Jude can do the deep end, but Elsie is still stuck in the shallows)  The pool got the cover put on last week b/c its starting to cool down here, but hopefully next year they will dive right in and not be afraid- the beginning of summer, they wouldn't even go under water, so we did swimming lessons with Jude, but he wouldn't at lessons either. One day they were swimming at papaws and Jude just decided he wasn't scared anymore and started swimming like a fish and Elsie soon followed suit!  

We also went on a short little vacation in May to West Virginia.  The hubby and I were invited to the Pastor and Wives retreat this year and then the 2 days following was our Women's retreat.  We had the kids stay with mamaw and papaw wednesday night for the Pastor and Wives retreat and then they rode with them on thursday for the Women's retreat and we stayed until saturday morning. Thad and I enjoyed our one night with no kids ( bc we knew it would be a LONG time before that ever happened again! haha) But I missed my babies and was so glad to see them thursday :) Thad pretty much entertained the kids for the rest of our stay bc I was in sessions for most of the rest of our time- I had such a great time and got to hang out with awesome women! Thad took the kids on lots of hikes and played on the playsets that were around the resort

We had a great time!!

Thad and Jude also took an overnight backpacking trip with our good friend Matt- they had fun doing manly stuff like hiking and building fires and making camp and you know, all that manly stuff....

Thad and Matt usually do a backpacking trip here a couple times a year ( Zeleski State Park) and Thad was so excited to bring Jude this time around! Although this trip was a little different bc they usually stay for more than one night and for some reason they always end up going when its like literally freezing out- or way way below freezing, or blizzard conditions, you  know, bc they're manly and stuff ;) Shew, this post is getting long and probably boring, unless you're me ;), but one more thing we did this summer was celebrate the 4th of July with family and fireworks :)

These pictures were taken on Thad's phone, so they are blurry, but the kids had so much fun that night, and Mamaw and aunt Jen had a surprise guest wanting to sit on their laps ;) 

These are Stag beetles and one somehow found its way onto Mendy's blanket then on Jennifer's lap the night of the fireworks- Jude later added them to his bug collection! I think him and Thad were the only ones excited about these scary guys!!  

Well, I stop boring you and end this one- I've got lots more to come ( Jude has had some cool stuff going on) so stayed tuned :)