hair cut.

Before

During

After

Sadly, it was time to cut Silas' hair. Silas has very wiry, course hair. There aren't really even any curls...just 'fro! It was time for it to go. Thankfully he loves it short, and he looks so handsome!

Hearts Against Hunger

Melanie blogs at Only a Breath and has recently started a Virtual Food Drive!

I love serving others, and I especially love that God created us each to serve different people in our own unique ways!

Melanie recently read a statistic that said that over 17 million children in the US Alone were in "food insecure households". Before going to work in the school, I would have questioned that, but working at the school, and "seeing" the homes that these children come from, and the number of free and reduced lunches that our building alone serves, I can totally believe this stat!

I've added her button to my side bar "Hearts Against Hunger". I would encourage you to click on it, and it will take you to her blog where you an watch her vlog in which she explains how this virtual food drive will work (in her sweet southern accent)!

You can donate to Feeding America to help American kids, or you can donate to Compassion International to help kids in other countries...or get crazy and donate to both!!!

No amount is too small! Every dollar helps.

For other ideas on ways to help others check out my new "29 before 29" tab at the top of my blog and research some of the organizations I'm hoping to help in my 29th year of life!

Memory Lane

Disney World.

Magical.

Hunter. My first born....magical as well.

Just the three of us.

Simple.

Fun.

Easy.

Chubby toddler hands.

Smiles and laughs.

My heart, walking around in the flesh.

Memories.

The start of something wonderful.

My family.

Wow.

Risking that I may sound crazy...I've got to share two things. God is pulling...tugging hard at my heart. I'm not sure what He's wanting, where I'm supposed to be heading, but He's working!

I’m going to make two confessions here:

1. I’ve never been good at reading my Bible. I’ve never consistently spent time in the Word. Not just reading, but also studying what it means, how to apply it, the history surrounding, and who wrote it.

2. I’m addicted to blogs…but I do have several requirements that blogs must meet in order for me to read them. One of those is that I must feel refreshed, convicted, and encouraged after reading them.

God has really been reaffirming my readings and lessons through others...which is such an awesome thing for me for some reason!

Last week I read Lamentations Chapter 3 during my quiet time and then sat down to do my normal morning routine of reading blogs. Guess what someone else had written on? Yup! I sent out this email to a few women in my life:

My heart has been heavy for each of you this morning. I am so thankful for our
time together. I was reading this morning and came across this:

Lamentations Chapter 3.

I have pasted it below for you to read, but it is rather long. I've been stewing
on it all morning, and then I came to work and opened one of my favorite blogs
and you'll never believe (well, maybe you will!), what she wrote on today:

Lamentations Chapter 3!!!!!

She made it much easier to process, so I've pasted her words here.

"When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayers. Don’t ask questions. Wait for hope to appear. Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face. The “worst” is never the worst. Why? Because the Master won’t ever walk out and fail to return. If he works severely, he also works tenderly. He takes no pleasure in making life hard."

It’s like a 5-step program. Sign me up!
1. Go off by yourself-find solitude
2. Enter the silence-stop talking
3. Bow in prayer-only say what matters
4. Wait for hope-oh, so hard
5. Don’t run away-even when that’s the easy choice

Not sure why I felt the need to share this with you girls, but I did....so here it is, I hope it's an encouragement for you today. If you need some time to go off by yourself to be with The Lord, I'd love to keep your little ones!!! :0)
Ashley

Today I was reading my morning blogs (see, God is bringing something good out of my addiction!) and I read this:

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.” – Mark 10:45. May the same be true of my life."

It really hit me and I copied and pasted it on a new post here on my blog to stew over and write a post about later. (I do this often). Then, just now, I opened my Small Group lesson book (I'm leading the lesson this week) to prepare and what was the verse that the lesson is over?

"Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever want to be first must be salve of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Mark 10:42-45

Amazing. So...this post didn't sit in my drafts folder, or get scheduled for another day...because God wants to use this TODAY.

Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

May this be the same with my life.

Pink Me Up: Graysen's new favorite book

Graysen got the book "Pink Me Up" as a treat on a shopping trip with her Grammie. It is her new favorite book! We've read it approximately a million times in the last two weeks and she is coming very close to being able to recite it word for word herself!


On the occasions when I can't stop what I'm doing and read it to her "right now", she reads it to herself. I love this, because I think shows that she is developing a love for reading, literature, and knowledge!



Although the title doesn't make big promises, this is a wonderful story about a little girl who is faced with a big disappointment. Instead of letting it ruin her day, she finds a way to overcome the disappointment with the help of her hero...her Daddy! I love the father/daughter relationship that it demonstrates and encourages.

A tough subject

This is something that has been on my heart lately. Something I've been turning over and over in my heart and my head. Something I've been spending time with God about. Something very important to me. I understand that this is going to be a controversial post, but please remember that this is my place to express, and to process.

Abortion. I am against it. I understand that there are some really tough situations out there that result in pregnancy. I understand that women are raped and I will never assume that I know how they feel or will understand what kind of emotions they have to process after a horrific event like that occurs in their lives. But I am still against abortion. I can only imagine how scary it must be to face the future as a single mother. I can not feel what it feels like to be a pregnant teenager, facing condemnation from others. But I am still against abortion.

I am a believer that God knits every person together in their mothers womb. (Psalm 139:13-16) I do not believe that God makes mistakes. I believe that He has great plans for each of us...no matter what our start in life may be.

I also know that the Church has, for the large majority, taken an anti-abortion stance, which I think is correct...but the people of the Church...are they willing to back that up?

Are they ready to put that belief into practice?

If we, as a Church are asking that others begin to value life, are we ready to value it?

Are we ready to take in those unwanted children and raise them as our own?

Are we ready to lovingly accept them from their birth mothers arms and love them, value them, and teach them about the love and adoption of Christ?

We need to step up.

We need to "put our money where our mouth is".

We need to start to obey the commandments of God....

Yes, I am asking the question.

If you are pro-life, are you willing to adopt?

If not, you may need to rethink your stance.

Here are some more writings on the subject:

Is the Church ready for the abortion law to change?
The Story Part I: Good to Be Crazy
The Story Part II:

Their first wedding

This past Saturday the kids and I attended a wedding.

They had never been to a wedding, only watched their Daddy and mine on video.
They were very well behaved, and the boys didn't even giggle when it was time for the bride and groom to kiss!!

It was a short wedding, so it was the perfect one to start with!

We came home, relaxed for a bit, and changed clothes, and when Daddy got off work we headed out to the reception!

This was a perfect set up, a tent with live music for the kids to dance, a buffet style dinner, and lots of fun outdoor activities!

Britt and Nick were in the wedding (it was Nick's brother who got married),
so we got the extra bonus of spending some time with them!

"Goofy boy, take a good picture!"

I'm so grateful that God has given Lincoln and I so many couple friends in our lives.
These two are ones that we have grown and changed with.
We've experienced life together, both the ups and downs.
I say it over and over, but seriously, what a blessing!

My Dad Rocks!

We think Lincoln rocks around here!
Father's Day 2011

The idea for the shirts came from HERE.
I didn't have time to purchase them right now, but I would highly recommend their products!!

The kids also each came up with three reasons why they love their Dad...
template emailed to me from Kristen

Hmmm...

from my friend Amy.

What's left on YOUR list? What's left on mine?

Another big home improvement project

Coming soon!
(here's a sneak peak)

Graysen's Princess Room

I told you about some makeovers happening at our house...

Here is the biggest one so far!

Graysen's Pink and Purple Princess Room!

the view from the doorway

A picture of Graysen when she was a baby that my friend Kelley took. It's always been a favorite of mine! (Unfortunately in this picture the fan light is shining in the picture!)

These buckets hold all of her "non hanging" clothes.

The flowers are from Papa Charlie's house (from years ago!)...he's not real sure why, as a bachelor he bought them for his home, but hey, they're going to good use now! Graysen loves having her own little garden in her room.

Also, a sweet pink butterfly hook to hang her dance bag.

a bed fit for a princess! My mom found the bedding, pillows, and canopy at a yard sale for 7.00! Can you believe it?!

I am still working on a better bedside table option, but I like this table, and it's a good height, so for now, it will work! Eventually I'd like a smaller, white table.

Pink walls, pink curtains...

There will soon be "puffs" hanging from the ceiling next to those butterfly pictures on the wall.

I love the small details like these butterfly curtain tie backs.

Her play corner. This shelf holds all of her toys.

Her name.

I painted these letters for her when she was born, and they match perfectly in here.

Her bow corner.

I had to take all of the holiday bows off and put them in a container because there wasn't space. I think I have an illness...although it doesn't look so bad when the holiday bows are missing and they are neatly organized like this!

Her butterfly wall.

Don't mind her messy closet...I'm working on a curtain to hang there. (I do not like closet doors)

Back to the butterfly wall...I got the inspiration from here.

I just used scrapbook paper and cut them with the Circut.

Thanks for looking around her room. There are still a few details I want to add and change, but for the most part, it's done!

The best thing?

It only cost us 80.00! We did buy pretty expensive paint (so it was easily cleanable and we only had to put one coat on). The 7.00 bedding from a yard sale! We were able to reuse furniture from around our house and my parents house. Amazing!!!