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My, my, where has time gone?
It's already SEPTEMBER!
"Time flies when you're having fun!"
What's been going on lately?
Well school is in FULL swing, and I'm loving it so much. I love living with my best, Whitney, and right beside Chris. We are loving "big kid" school life so much. Despite all the fun we're having, studying does take place on occasion :)
Jacob Waldo, my dear friend, has officially moved to Texas. Bittersweet is the perfect word for him having moved there. I am excited about all the things God is going to do for him and through him, yet I miss him all at the same time.
Whit, her mom, and I went to pick out bridesmaid/Maid of Honor/Flowergirl dresses a few Saturdays ago...It was a blast. Whit was helping me in the dressing room, and it was sure a site to see. Haha! Many, many memories and laughs! :) Oh, and we found the perfect dresses too. Whit's color is marine blue (dress she's wearing).
Let's see..We had our first official MSU home football game. It was entirely too much fun! We tailgaited, got soaking wet, and ran our cowbells with the best of them. It was a great day. Needless to say, there were a lot of "Live and learn moments from that day." Shall I recap...
1. Don't opt for the cheaper tent.
2. Bring a spatula if you're going to grill.
3. Bring a poncho incase there might be rain.
4. Bring your student i.d.
5. Get a wagon for your tailgate stuff.
6. Your cellphone will not work in the stadium.
FUN day, seriously! :) Just makin' memories!
Here are just a FEW pictures from the past few weeks! :)
Life is good. Blessed beyond words. :)
Happy 18 years of friendship Chrissy! Here's to 18 more!
Until next time.
Love God. Love people.
Well, it's official. I'm a Mississippi State University student.
Three years ago I would have never, in a million years, have guessed that I would be a student here. God had other plans, and I'm sure glad He did. I really do love it here. My teachers are all really nice and very passionate about what they are doing. Annnd, I get to live with and beside 2 of my best friends. Whit and Chris.
Life back in Mississippi is just plum gooooood :)
Jacob, another best friend of mine, is moving off to Texas for an intern with Shane and Shane. WOW, I know, right?! Texas for 2 years. It's such a bittersweet time for all of us. Chris, he, and I have been inseparable for the past 4 years, and now that's coming to an end. But, at the same time he's received this amazing opportunity to serve and following God's call on his life. I'm proud of him, and I know he'll do great. And as for the rest of us in Mississippi...many road trips will be made.
2 weekends ago, Paul and I took a group of boys on a picture scavenger hunt for a birthday party, and we had sooo much fun! We were running (literally) all over Pontotoc. A few of the things to do were... 1. Pump .25 cents of gas and get a receipt, 2. Get a police officer's signature (we used Paul's) 3. Take a picture on the court house steps, 4. Take a picture of graffiti, 5. Give a flower to a food place employee.... The list had about 25 things or so, and it was such a fun birthday idea. We had just as much fun as the kids :)
My little man, Payton, is growing like a weed. He'll be SEVEN months old in 6 days! Oh, he's sooo cute! And when I say cute, I mean CUUUUTEEE!! :) I've taken a TON of pictures of him. Beezie laughed and said "I bet you have over 1000" ...and I do, seriously! I just can't get enough of him! He's adorable, and such a reminder of God's love for us. I love him completely, and God loves him even more than me... I can't even begin to fathom.
Check out my little smush!
He spent the night with me, and we had so much fun.
Tell me this isn't the most PRECIOUS picture in the WORLD.
Sunday afternoon nap, swinging with Beezie :)
Speaking of little munchkins growing up...Britta, Mimi, and Kati. My little hearts. I can't even describe how much I love these 3 girls.
They will always be my babies.
B's in high school....AHHH, time slow down!
Papaw's peas have finally came in. So we've been just a pickin' and a shellin' for the past week.
He's so cute.
Soooo...here's part of my room in my cute little apartment.
The end. Remember Erika Heatherly in your prayers. She's in surgery now.
Until next time.
Love God. Love people.
It is with bittersweet feelings I say, I'm back at home.
I got home last Saturday night about midnight! I must say it's never been better to see my sweet family and Paul! I cried, of course! And then Chris, Jake and Kelsey surprised me by baggage claim. I seriously skipped about 6 escalator steps and jumped on Chris. He's back from Africa too, and boy does it feel good to have him home.
So, I've been trying to come up with the perfect description of my summer. And it's hard. People have asked, "How was Tahoe?" And I respond, "Oh, it was great. I loved the kids so much." And that's completely true, but there's so much more in my heart that I don't even know how to express really.
How can I really even describe my summer?
For 66 days I got to share the love of Christ through songs with kids from all walks of life. Every single day we sang about how amazing our God is, and how life is not about us...It's about Christ. I have such a vivid mental picture of watching those precious 3 yr olds sing "It's not about me, it's all about you Lord." ONLY 3 years old and I got to be (possibly) the first to teach them that life is ultimately about Christ. What a precious gift Christ gave to me this summer.
How can I really even describe my summer?
Everyday this summer I walked out to a playground full of kids who captured my heart in such a short moment in time. My sweet little Kacey ran up to me every single day and said "Miss Ashley, you are my most favorite teacher and I love you!" And everyday I got to watch the 4 year old "Cool Caterpillars" act like every super hero under the sun. From Batman to Spiderman...their imaginations running wild. My precious Talon and Oliver swinging beside each other everyday to see who could swing the highest. Or little 3 yr old Libby asking me to push her in the swings.
How can I really even describe my summer?
I spent every Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon with my speaking part kiddos. 15 kids who I got to spend extra time with learning about the complete story of Joseph. I got to teach them that God can turn bad situations into amazing situations. 15 speaking parts, and would you know there was NEVER a single practice where all 15 were there...In the words of Debbie, my supervisor, "That's Tahoe for you." :) But they did awesome, and I know God was proud!
How can I really even describe my summer?
I served with 12 other girls this summer. Amazing girls. Seriously, God could not have put a better team together. 13 total summer missionaries from all kinds of backgrounds with one purpose...to serve Christ. We were challenged individually, and as a team. We learned to pour and invest into each other this summer. Whether it was bonding over stories from the day or a walk to the beach, we did it. Every night we went to bed exhausted and every morning we woke up tired. We served.
How can I really even describe my summer?
The truth is, I'm still trying to figure it all out. God did a work in my heart this summer. I am blessed to have been apart of something huge. God is working in Tahoe. I can't wait to read email updates about those precious kids accepting Christ in the future.
Of course, when I run out of words...I let pictures do the rest :)
Summer Missionaries with Debbie
Could not have made it without them.
Speaking parts. :)
Kacey and Riley. Loooove!
TEAM! she's awesome!
My little policemen :)
"Look it Libby, Look it"
Jake and Sydney. Precious.
My life just wasn't complete until I met Cole! :)
"Why do you always talk like a cowgirl Miss Ashley?"
my sweeeet Talon. :)
my precious Oli :)
Extreme bike riders. 16 miles.
Until next time.
Love God. Love people.
Goodness, I'm officially the biggest procrastinator when it comes to blogging. I want to blog, and have many things to say...BUUUT it seems I can never find time here in California.
Soooo...here's what I've been up to the past few weeks!
1)We celebrated the 4th of July @ the beach. A fun night with the girls.
2)During BIG A Club we have: Went mini-golfing, hiking, had pottery day, Pinata Day, Water game day, and Messy games. BUUUSSSY!! But it's been well worth it. I know that numbers aren't important, but they show that God is at work here in Tahoe. We've had up to 139 kids, and that's HUGE for a normal BIG A day. It's been exciting. Here are pictures. :)
I absolutely love these kids!
This is Rory. He has the energy of about 10 kids, haha!
A-man on the slippin slide!
Tavo, my little spider monkey.
Cole and I after water day! Exhausted, but still smiling! :)
MESSY GAMES!! I will never think of chocolate pudding the same again!
We studied about families this week in preschool. Here's our little family pictures.
3)And last, but not least, weekends are always busy too. From church to the lake we go non-stop.
Andrea and I broke the missionary curse by both wakeboarding on Lake Tahoe. :) Whoo! Usually only 1 missionary gets up, but we both did.
This is the boat man, Jonathan. He has an awesome story!
Sooo, we are going strong! God is working, and blessing. We're soaking up these last 2 weeks with the kids! Musical practice is going strong. I have practice with all the speaking part kids every Tuesday night. They are working hard. Ready for the musical! (July 29th)
Love and miss y'all so much. See you sooooon! :)
Until next time.
Love God. Love people.
Forgive me. It's been too long since my last post.
I have been busy non-stop here in Tahoe. Which, I'm not complaining, the time is flying by. We are having a good time.
Since my last post I've been on a 5 mile hike, which was beautiful. Exhausting, but so pretty. Annnd, Carnival day was a success!! We had 177 kids, whoooo! Organized chaos is what I like to call it. The summer missionaries also got to spend our weekend in San Francisco. It was a fun trip, and so many memories were made.
This week I got to help take the 1st-6th graders on a hike to Squaw Valley Waterfalls. The view was amazing but the water was FREEZING. I supervised while their little teeth chattered. The next day we went to Wild Island, a water park in Reno, NV. It was my favorite day of the summer so far. Just being away with the kids having fun was awesome. They were so funny and loved getting to ride the slides with their teachers. Today was also nerd day here at Big A. All of the summer missionaries dressed up for the occasion. However, most of our kids forgot. It was a fun day though. We had HUGE numbers at Big A this week. So praise the Lord for that.
This weekend is 4th of July. And I for one, am thankful for the men and women who fight for our freedom. This is very dear to my heart because one of my best friends Ashley Cox's husband, Chris, is leaving for Iraq for a second term in a few days. He's giving up, willing, a whole year so that you and I might have the freedoms that we do. Pray for him and my sweet Ashley. They are precious people in my life.
Here in Tahoe we're celebrating the 4th by sleeping in and having pancakes for brunch. We then plan to grill hamburgers and hot dogs for lupper (lunch/supper). And after that we'll head down to the beach for the fireworks with all the thousands, upon thousands of other people, seriously. I'm not too excited about the crowd situation, but how many times will I get to celebrate on the beach in Tahoe with my missionary friends, right?!
My girls :)
Our Golden Gate Bridge picture. Sooooo windy.
Alcatraz. So neat.
This is Cole. Funniest kid I have ever met in my life. I spent the day at the water park with him, and I'm seriously sore from laughing. Many stories to tell about him.
Seriously do NOT know what I'd do without her. Love you Andres!
These two keep me smiling ALL day. Talon and Oliver.
Little Seth told his dad.."Daddy, I have songs in my belly button. Push it." Then he proceeded to sing the songs from our summer musical. Precious isn't the word.
Check out this video, seriously! It's Seth singing a song in our musical, One Good Lookin' Hebrew! PRESH! :)
Happy 4th of July! That's about it for now. Thank you for your prayers. I miss y'all. See you less than a month from now.
Until next time.
Love God. Love people.
