Enjoy this moment for this moment is your life!

It's been a while....

2009-04-23T20:14:00.000-07:00

A lot has gone on since November. Life has been busy but great.

I want to reflect on the tornadoes from Good Friday. That Friday started out as a great beautiful Friday morning. It was my friend Kelsey's Birthday. We went and got a pedicure and then I headed home. I got home around 11:30am. We had family coming in town that day. It was cloudy but nothing alarming. We turned the weather on and watched and hung out. I watched the weather rather closely because I despise storms. I cleaned out our hall closet and put pillows in it, not thinking we would actually need to take cover. I was terribly wrong. About 10-15min. after I cleaned out the closet, my dad and my mom's cousin Jeff we watching the clouds from our sun room. We heard on the tv that the storm was headed to the Avenue and I-24. My dad said, We have a few min til it reaches us. About a min. later he looked out the window and said, "look, look, there it is." I paused, I was thinking what? what? what is he talking about????

Yes My dad said tornado! I started yelling at my sisters to get downstairs. I jumped in the closet with my two sisters, my mom, my dad, my mom's cousin jeff and his wife and their 2 kids. yes you counted right, 9 people in our hall closet. it was pretty amazing. as soon as we all got in the closet. I said very panicked "can someone please pray????" Jeff said yes. so he prayed. i heard the most horrible sound i have ever heard. i could hear a rumble on the ground. so many things were going through my head. oh my goodness what if this storm actually hits. it wont it. yes it will. Lord I love you. it wont actually hit. I was trying to trust the Lord will keep us safe but it was a bit challenging as i heard a tornado coming straight for my house.

He did keep us safe. Not a single shingle came off of our home. We were blessed. I am learning to have more faith in my Powerful God! I had no idea the extent of the damage until later that afternoon. I walked about some neighborhoods near tyler's house. it was devastating.my heart was broken. i drove by these homes everyday and now they were a pile of rubble. some still are. there are homes that are split in half still standing. it is a constant reminder. selfishly i do not want to look at it anymore. i am tired of being sad every time i drive by. i am so thankful to my Lord for protecting everyone that i love. God is good. Please continue to be in prayer for Murfreesboro. I got to go out and help with tornado relief with my college ministry last Saturday. I saw more devastation than i ever wanted to but i am so thankful that i got to help several families clean up their homes. i hope that the love of the Jesus Christ was shown through our words and our actions.

I didnt want to forget that horrible day. I have never been so thankful and blessed. as storm season continues i will learn to trust my Jesus more.

Have a great weekend everyone!

-Ashly

2008-11-22T11:54:00.000-08:00

I had a wonderful Birthday!! The day started out by me working for a couple of hours. then my mom took me to lunch! :) my mom and I are so busy we do not get to spend as much time together as we would like. we got to spend about 3 or 4 hours together shopping with some of the gift cards i got for my bday! then i went to tyler's house! his mom got me a gift card to forever 21. i am ready to spend it.lol and tyler bought me a back messager! i love it because my back hurts alot so he always has to rub my back for me....now i can do it myself! haha then i went to my house and spend some time just hanging out! my parents bought me some chacos! i have been wanting them for a while..it was such a blessing! my lil sis drew a picture of me and her and it was so cute!!! :) the little things are the best! :) after i opened my presents tyler all of the sudden was like i forgot something for your present, i need to go. i was wondering where he was going because i thought i already had my gift. lol well he was gone for about 30 min. and he came back and asked me to come outside. he bought me chocolate(my favorite) and he bought me the most beautiful flowers ever! they were gorgeous!!! he also went home and shaved and put some nicer clothes on.(because he was meeting my aunt and uncle for the first time and he knows i like it when he shaves! lol) he is so amazing. the Lord has blessed me beyond what i deserve. i am so thankful for tyler and his love for me. :) i am very excited about what the future holds for us.

It was a great day! it was relaxing and i did not do any homework! it was awesome! ha

today on the other hand i am doing tons of homework! it stinks but i am trying to finish as much as i can before my family,tyler and i leave for atlanta on wednesday! he is also meeting this side of my family for the first time....i am so excited because they will love him..i just know it! :)

i hope everyone is having a great weekend! :) i hope the titans win tomorrow!!!

Birthday girl!

2008-11-21T05:31:00.000-08:00

Today is my birthday! wow. I am 20 years old. life is just flying by! Today I have to work for a little while and then my mom is taking me to lunch! :) I am having a Birthday dinner with my family, tyler, and my aunt and uncle tonight. I am really excited! I think I am going to do some shopping today as well.I am refusing to do any homework today even though there is so much I need to do..haa

Well I hope everyone has a great day! :)

I love the Holidays!

2008-11-12T12:45:00.000-08:00

I am so excited that its almost thanksgiving, christmas, and before you know it the new year will be here!!! this year has gone by so fast for me! I have done a lot this year. I have made so many great friends that i believe will last a lifetime! :)

School is almost out for this semester! i only have 3 weeks of classes and then exams! crazy! i am so excited that this semester is almost over! It has been a really quick semester i must say. i still have so much school work to do before this semester is over but i have made a schedule for the rest of this semester of what homework i need to do each day! i think its going to help. i am quite the organizer...sometimes that is! ha

well next friday, Nov.21st is my birthday! i am excited! i will be 20. :) no longer a teenager! my family and of course tyler are going to celebrate friday night! then saturday night a bunch of girls and i are going to nashville to eat dinner and maybe go play lazer tag! eeekkk! i am so thrilled about next saturday! but this saturday is the Amazing Race! I am helping to work it and its going to be amazing! i will hopefully get some pics of the teams doing some tasks and i will post them for your enjoyment! :)

well i hope everyone has a good rainy wednesday! :)
oh and i will post some pics soon!

Great Times...

2008-10-27T16:48:00.001-07:00

A lot is going on in my world right now. ( i should be studying right now for a test tomorrow but i decided to blog first ha) School is really picking up lately! I havent had too much school work so far but we only have 6 weeks of school left!!! It's crazy! This semester is flying by! I am so glad! lol

Tyler and I had the privilege of going camping with his family a couple weekends ago! It was quite an experience. I had not been camping since I was little! Overall I really enjoyed it. we did some hiking and cooking. It was great to get away for 24 hours with Tyler. We don't get to spend a whole of time together because of our schedules! It was also great to spend time with his parents. I enjoy getting to know them more and more!tyler's parents!

Also since I last blogged our college ministry went on a fall retreat! We went to Alabama! It was great fun! I got to know some people that I did not know. It was awesome! It was fun but too short! here are just a few pictures!
kelsey and i on the way to the retreat!sweet kaeden!
kaeden sat by me about half of the way home on the retreat! He loved that sword! and i just thought this was a precious picture! i didnt take many pics on this retreat! sorry!

And last but not least. My parents got to go on a date this past week and i got to watch my sisters! As they get older they get more and more fun! we decided to jump on the trampoline and bake cookies! it was a blast! enjoy!
my sisters! :)
maddie-girl the gymnast!
hannah doing a frontflip!
i still have my cheerleading skills! he he
tuck
backhandspring
cookies!!! yummy!

Blessed....

2008-10-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

Life is good. The semester is going. I do not love school but I tolerate it! ha This year has been a great year so far. I have met and become friends with a lot of great people. I have been praying that I would meet good christian girls and the Lord has answered my prayers. :) God is good!

Over the past few months I have really become great friends with lauren. Most of you know that she has been undergoing chemotherapy. I have had the privilege of staying with her at her townhouse and recently at Vanderbilt Children's hospital! It has been a blessing for me to go and stay with her and take care of her! I truly enjoy it. I am going to stay with her again this friday along with my friend kelsey! :) Lauren is an absolutely amazing person! I look at life a little differently now. I just know from her experience that you never know what the Lord has in store for your life. Life can change so fast! She is a trooper and I love her. I have a few pics from my most recent visit! :)

Please continue to pray for lauren. she has finished 8 rounds of chemo and goes back tomorrow for round 9! only 5 more treatments after this one! Praise the Lord!

I hope everyone is having a great week! :)

Quick update!

2008-08-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

hello everyone...

I started school today! It was my first day of my sophomore year in college! It's crazy! I can't believe I am 19 almost 20 years old!(in November :]) I had two classes today-english(boo) lol and human development 1. I am so excited about my human dev. class! I already met a great Christian girl that I am excited to get to know better! Tomorrow I have three classes! I have one class with tyler! It's crazy how that worked out but I am excited that we can study together! :)

This week and weekend is going to be busy! Class all week of course along with work. Thursday morning I hope I get to drop by sweet Laura Rose's 3rd birthday party before class!:) Then Thursday night is our first MT football game of the season! Friday night my family and I are going out to celebrate my mom's bday even though her bday is actually Saturday! ha Saturday is Abby and Justin's wedding!!!! YAY! And sometime in there I have to factor in some homework...ha

Even though sometimes I complain about being busy...I love it! I really hope that this semester that the Lord will use me to witness to people in my classes or on campus. Today during my first class the professor asked us to interview the person next to us so that we could introduce them to the class. We were supposed to ask general questions but one question was what is our favorite type of music. I said country and christian. The guy i was interviewing said i like all music except metal and christian! I am excited to see if the Lord is going to use me in this young mans life! Be praying about that please! Thanks! I hope everyone has a Blessed week! :)

Family night

2008-08-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

Today my mom and I painted my room! I love it! I have been waiting all summer to paint it!! now I am just waiting to get it decorated like I want it...it may take a few weeks but my goal is to have my room completely done by the time schools starts!

Tonight I spent time with my family! We watched a great movie all together! It was called FlyWheel. It is the by the producers of Facing the Giants! It was a GREAT movie! You don't see movies like that these days! It was so encouraging! I cried....but that doesn't say much since I cry at any movie..haha the most encouraging verse from the movie is Psalm 37:4-7

"4 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you
the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him
and he will do this:

6 He will make your righteousness
shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like
the noonday sun.

7 Be still before the Lord and wait
patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed
in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked
schemes."

Dream Job

2008-07-31T21:05:00.000-07:00

I am a horrible blogger but I feel like at times that I don't have anything exciting to say haha...but here goes....

This week has been great so far! It has been busy which I like. Today I had a hair appointment. I was so excited! I have always been blonde but the past year or so I have been going back and forth between blonde and brown..well today I highlighted it blonde but its not crazy blonde, just enough to lightened it up a bit. I am happy with it. Tomorrow my mom and i will be painting my room. I am also very excited about this. We moved to this house last august. You know when people sell homes they paint the rooms tan, well my room is a weird tan that i don't like so i am very excited for it come together! i will post pics of the final product!

Well schools starts August 25th. Its seems so close yet kinda far away. I am kinda ready but not really. I am excited to start classes for my major which is Child development! I originally thought that i wanted to work at an adoption agency, which i might still do but i did some research on my major and found that this major certifies me as a child life specialist! That means that i could work at Vanderbilt! I love the medical atmosphere! below is a quick description of the job!! I love it! My minor will probably be psychology!

A child life specialist work with patients, their family and others involved in the child’s care in order to help them manage stress and understand medical and various procedures.Child life specialists recognize individuality in patients, and use a range of developmentally appropriate activities, including play, preparation for a medical procedure, education, self-expression, and family support to help cope with hospitalization, illness, or death and dying.Because children may feel overwhelmed, child life professionals help children gain a sense of familiarity and control of their environment through much play and exploration inside the healthcare facility.

I think this would be an awesome job! I hope this is what the Lord has for me but if it is not, i know the Lord has something better for me! :)

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Family Vacation

2008-07-22T08:34:00.001-07:00

I am back from Ohio and getting settled into my normal routine again! I had a blast with my family and Tyler this past week. We have family in Ashtabula, Ohio. It is right on Lake Erie. It was beautiful and the weather was awesome!! It was a nice break from the horrible Tennessee heat.

It was awesome for one week to just relax and not have an agenda. I don't get to spend as much time with my family as i would like to, life is just busy. SO it was great to get a whole week to spend with my amazing family! My family in Ohio consists of Roman( my Godfather), Kristie( my godmother), their beautiful son Dalton, and their one month old son Brady! I love them so much! I always hate leaving because they mean so much to me and I don't get to see them very often! but anyways...here are some pictures from this past week! me seeing baby brady for the first time! :) i was just a little excited! lol
Dalton! tyler, my sis hannah, me, my lil sis maddie and baby brady!
tyler and brady! how precious??!
me and maddie being silly we are ready for lake shore park! Lake Erie me, ty, my mom, my dad, kristie, and roman at Ferrante's Winery me and my honey!

home sweet home!

2008-07-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

We are back from the lake! Tyler and I had a lot of fun! It was great to get away for a weekend! We spent the whole weekend on the lake jet skiing, and tubing! I got thrown off the tub but it was a blast! I attempted to ski but lets just say it didn't work out! lol We got to watch a lot of fireworks and relax! :) here are just a few pictures from this weekend!

Yesterday I got to spend the night with my dear friend Lauren! We had a lot of fun talking and just hanging out! She is an amazing person! Please continue to pray for her as she goes this Thursday for round 4 of chemo! I Love You girl! The past 2 weeks I have made it to her house to watch Celebrity Family Fued! We have decided to make it a tradition every Tuesday night! So tonight Tyler and I are gonna go watch it with her and her lovely mom! :)

Well Tyler and I leave again this Saturday to spend an entire week in Ohio visiting my family! I can't wait! I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed week!

North Carolina!

2008-07-03T12:14:00.000-07:00

I am not a good updater! but I am trying! ha well...VBS went great! It was a long week and it took me a while to get back to a normal schedule! This week has been great so far! This past Saturday Tyler and I had the privilege of going to see WALL-E with the Taylors! It was a very cute movie!

Tonight Tyler and I are leaving to go to the lake with our friends Amy and Kyle! Amy has family in North Carolina and we are going to stay with them! They live right on the lake! Its their back yard! How awesome would that be?? Its going to be so much fun! I have only tried to ski once so it should be interesting to see how I do this weekend!!! lol It is going to be a late night. We aren't leaving until Tyler gets out of class about 7:15pm and its a 6 hour drive! Amy and I bought energy drinks so we should be good to go! I hope everyone has a great weekend! I pray for a safe weekend for everyone!! :)

Update!

2008-06-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

Ok so....since i last blogged quite a bit has gone on! I have been too busy to blog! so here goes...

Friday night Tyler and I went to the Melting Pot to celebrate our 4 year anniversary! It was so much fun! The food was amazing! Ok so I just have to tell a story! So Tyler and I are waiting for our check and our waitress comes up for us and says "Roberta Danielle has covered your check". Tyler and I could not figure out who had paid for our dinner. After about minute, we realize that it is Tyler's dad. His name is Robert Daniel! We were so thankful for the great surprise! We were not expecting that at all! After dinner we went to the walking bridge and it was shut down because of some benefit concert or something. I was sad because I have never been and I wanted to be able to walk along the bridge but oh well....lol here are a few of my favorite pictures from the night!

tyler and i at dinner!

I was scared to try the squash, hints the face, but it was actually good!

This past week has been a little crazy because we were gearing up for VBS! I have never done VBS with Belle Aire! It has been great so far! Last night we had the kick off! It went good! I was at the church from 8:15am-9:00pm! It was a long day but Kelly and Danielle and a few others were there a lot longer than me, so i cant complain! Today was day one of VBS! It was pretty successful as far as I know! Please continue to pray for the children at VBS! We have a lot of new faces! I really hope all of these children are able to grow in their knowledge of the Lord as we go through this week. I hope and pray that the teachers, including myself, are a great example of Christ! Leading by example is so important! That is my prayer this week! I don't have any pictures of VBS yet but when I do I will post some! :)

I am off to cooking class/bible study!

first blog!

2008-06-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

Well I decided to try blogging! Bare with me as I get use to this!

Today has been a great day! I met with my mentor, Christie Taylor, this morning at Kids Castle! I got to play with the kids! They are such a joy to be around! After Kids Castle, we went to the green way to let the kids ride their bikes! Laura Rose didn't make it far on her tricycle! lol but Jacob loved every minute! :) Then we were off to Macdonald's! I just can't get over how precious and sweet kids are! Laura Rose and Jacob made my day! They gave me so many hugs and kisses! I was sad to go but I had some errands to run!

I have been trying to exercise more and I have done pretty good. Today I went to the gym and I ran 1.3 miles and I did some machines! It has been a week since I ran so I was proud of myself! That pretty much sums up my day! :)

God Bless!