Fill in the Blank Friday!!

1.  When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is,   figure out if I can possibly sleep any longer. If yes, I do; if not, I head for the shower   .

2.   I can hardly wait for   Australia!!!   .

3.  The quickest way to my heart is     ice cream       because     I'm slightly obsessed with it  .

4. A little known fact about me is that    I am related to Dakota Fanning. She's my third cousin (or something like that?!) on my dad's side. No, we're not blood related, but we do look freakishly alike. This used to be a much bigger deal to me than it is now .

5. The best part about my job is    I get to hang out with students and get paid for it! Also, this week I decided that I really love my job because I get to wear t-shirts and jeans to work everyday and it's totally acceptable .

6. Something I just couldn't live without is     Target...not even kidding  .

7.  Something useful that I wish I knew how to do is   dance. My best friend Caroline always claims she's going to teach me how to dance, but we haven't been successful yet; however, it is on our list of things to do before we die, so hopefully it will happen. I know this is going to be a skill I'll really need once my friends start getting married  .

a land down under

a month from today, i'll be on a flight, about to head into this pretty city: 

[sydney opera house]

just for a few days, then i'll be headed just outside of this city for the rest of the summer: 

[melbourne]

and for your enjoyment: 

[men at work :: down under]

the past few weeks, according to my iPhone

love, love, love this verse.

love, love, love how the Lord is teaching me about WAITING these days!

FUTURE ROOMIE! :)

A few of us went to a Greenjackets game a couple of weekends ago//so fun!

journal//discipleship book//latest by a favorite author//recommended by a friend

Chaco love at church!

Caroline & I went to Carowinds last weekend with my parents//it was family day at the park for my aunt's company!

Funny story: we're in line and a group of college athletes are in front of us. One asks my dad if she can take a picture with him because he looks like Garth Brooks! That's definitely never happened before :) 

more waiting :)

if there's one thing my group of friends here in augusta is known for, it would be for the pranks we do. (is that bad?!) these are just TWO of the five or so that have taken place in the past week and a half. yeah, a war's going on for sure!

Augusta State is merging with the local medical school, Georgia Health Sciences University, and we'll all be one BIG school (no one's real thrilled about this). ASU students get e-mails from GHSU's president quite frequently now. This latest one was about the name of the new school. So glad to know I won't be attending "the James Brown Downtown College of Good Knowledge" in the fall (seriously?!). 

Hope you're having a fabulous week! Summer's almost here! 

something big.

Thursday night, I was lying in bed, praying before I fell asleep (is it bad that I always fall asleep during the middle of my prayers?!), and I asked God to do "something big" tomorrow. I went on to say, "I'd like You to do something big in regards to _____ (a certain situation going on right now)". I figured that if I was bold like that, then God would really do "something big" the next day in this situation.

So, all day Friday, I'm waiting, checking my phone, expecting God to do something big in this one area of my life. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty disappointed when it was around 3 or 4 in the afternoon and nothing BIG had happened. I checked my e-mail, and to my surprise, God had done something big. 

But, this something was way different than I had expected. Last week, I was about $800 away from what I needed for Australia. I was trusting God that all would work out, and that I would be covered financially. I wasn't really worried about it, but I wasn't super confident either. Well, the e-mail I got gave me my new total, and I'm only about $200 away from what I need now. How BIG is that? Pretty big, I'd say.

Not only am I super thankful that God would do something BIG like this and just affirm and reaffirm that He wants me in Australia this summer, I'm thankful for the other lesson I learned from this experience. This other situation in my life that I was praying about all that day is something that God's going to work in on HIS timetable, not mine. I know that, but I was just reminded again that even if it seems like He's not doing something, He is. It's just what I need right now, not what I want. I'm still praying about my other situation, but I'm so glad that God still did something big in my life on Friday.

The Best of Friends

Sometimes, I think about just how blessed I am to have the friends I have. And sometimes, I write too much. A picture is worth a thousand words, and the ones below are some of my favorites. 

gulf shores, may 2010

annual tacky sweater christmas party, dec 2010

graduation, may 2010

hilton head island, june 2010

senior retreat, aug 2009 

sept 2011

annual tacky sweater christmas party, dec 2011

found this gem the other day--probably one of my favorite pictures ever

hilton head, sept 2009

homecoming, oct 2007 

chelsea's sweet sixteen, may 2008 

summer after freshman year, we were babies!  

hannah's surprise party, oct 2008

[p.s. she's been a great roomie the past year; i'm going to miss her come fall] 

hilton head, june 2010

sept 2009

Dear best friends, thanks for being so great. I miss you lots. So grateful for you all. Love, love, love. 

waiting.

I'm currently in a place of waiting. I'm waiting for an answer, for a response to something that could change my life a little bit. I'm searching for those pieces to my puzzle that I haven't found yet. I'm waiting. And, even though it's only been a few days, I'm sick of waiting. I know the Lord is teaching me something BIG through all this, but I'm so over all this waiting. Yet, the Lord has given me a few reminders today about waiting and how it's part of the season He has me in right now.

Romans 8

Wait

by Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried; 

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied. 

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . . 

And the Master so gently said, "Wait." 

"Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply. 

"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!

Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word. 

"My future and all to which I relate 

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait? 

I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign, 

Or even a 'no' to which I can resign. 

"You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe, 

We need but to ask, and we shall receive. 

And Lord I've been asking, and this is my cry:

I'm weary of asking! I need a reply." 

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate, 

As my Master replied again, "Wait." 

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut, 

And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting for what?" 

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . . 

and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign. 

I could shake the heavens and darken the sun. 

I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be. 

You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me. 

You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint. 

You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;

You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.

You'd not know the joy of resting in Me

When darkness and silence are all you can see.

"You'd never experience the fullness of love

When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,

But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of my comfort late into the night,

The faith that I give when you walk without sight.

The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.

Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,

But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you.

"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.

And though oft My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait."

:)

Need a good laugh? Read the pins below. Watch the videos. I promise you will laugh your socks off.

Hope you got a few laughs out of these :) 

You've Got Mail

One of the things I enjoy the most is getting mail. Seriously, if I'm home in the morning, I constantly catch myself looking out the window to see if the mailman is driving by. I'm always anxious as I walk out down the drive to my mailbox to see what's in it! But, one of the things I enjoy more than getting mail is sending mail. I have a box FULL of cards that I use pretty frequently, and I'm constantly looking for cute stationary.

I ordered these from Erin Condren back in the fall, with my name obviously. 

I really like them, but Erin Condren is sooo expensive. 

I've been reading Leah's blog for a while now, and I really enjoy her stories about her fun life! She has an Etsy site, called Leah's HandMade and you've got to check it out! She creates super cute things, and she does custom orders! When I saw some monogrammed stationary that she made, I just knew I had to e-mail her and get her to do some for me! 

Isn't this SOOO cute?!?! 

These cards will flip, which are a little different from my Erin Condren ones, but I really like them!

Be on the lookout for one of these cute cards from me once I get them! And go check out Leah's stuff!!!

THREE YEARS.

When I looked at my calendar and saw that Jack's THIRD birthday was coming up, I could not believe it! Has it really been THREE years since Jack was born?!?!

Unfortunately, I was in Texas the day Jack was born, so this is a few days later. 

I was SCARED to death to hold a baby this small. 

Jack was like the "test run" for me. I learned how to really do everything on him. How to change a diaper, how to burp a baby, how to be okay when letting a baby cry themselves back to sleep, etc. 

His baby dedication

Still a little unsure about this whole "holding an infant" thing :)

Jack has been LOUD from day one. When he was a baby, he would "talk"all the time. He wouldn't cry, he would just make these noises for hours on end. Now, he still talks a lot, but I can pretty much understand everything he says, minus a few things. 

lots of babysitting went down in the FLC :)

I was telling one of my friends one day about how I couldn't believe Jack was going to be three soon. She said, "That's so cool that you've been there from day one. What a special relationship you get to have with him because you've been there from the beginning." I have to agree that it is a pretty special relationship! 

at the Senior Recognition Service at church

If we ever talk about Australia, Jack gets that I'm going to be gone for a while. He'll look at me and say, "Ash Ash, don't leave us!" Seriously. It breaks my heart yet makes me feel so good at the same time :)

Gym Fest at WBC in 2010

Sweet Jack, you have made these past three years so much more fun! I'm so grateful I get to be your Ash Ash! I cannot wait to see how you grow up and what God has in store for you!

Happy THIRD birthday, sweet boy! You are loved more than you will ever know! 

SPRING BREAK!!!!!

I love any time off of school, (who doesn't?), so I'd been looking forward to a this week for a while. For Augustans, Spring Break is a little different than anyone else's. The Masters golf tournament takes place during the first full week of April, so that is when we take our spring break. Our whole town becomes the host of one of the greatest events in the sports world, and if you're a local, you get to sit back and watch everyone gush over this little town.

I'm not much of a golf fan, I've never been to the Masters (I wouldn't mind going one day though), and I don't really like the extra traffic that comes with this week. I typically try and head out of town if I can, which I did for the latter half of the week. However, I did enjoy some time with friends and such before leaving town.

My mom works for FCA, and they, along with my church, host a golf breakfast every year on the Tuesday of Masters' week. They have a golfer come and speak, and almost 1,000 people get to hear the Gospel presented. This year, our speaker was golfer Aaron Baddeley, from Australia (thought that was pretty cool :) ), and Mom let me meet him :) He was a GREAT speaker, and he BOLDLY proclaimed the message of Christ. My favorite line was this: "God with rather watch His son die than not be able to spend eternity with us..."

I read this the first weekend of spring break. So good, like all of Karen Kingsbury's books. 

Celebrated my Dad's birthday the first Friday of spring break! 

Hung out with these cute kiddos the first day of my spring break :) 

I went to Alabama the latter half of the week to visit my BM's parents. On the way there, I had lunch with an old friend in Atlanta, and I decided to take the scenic route to my grandparents' house. I drove through Sewanee, the University of the South, in the mountains of Tennessee, and Chattanooga. It was SO pretty. I may or may not want to move there one day :)

Tennessee River. 

Barn on my grandparents' property. 

All in all, it was a great spring break. I enjoyed some time with my BD, his wife, and some friends during the beginning of the week when they came here to go to the Masters. I really enjoyed the peacefulness of staying with my grandparents for a few days in the country. Ending the week with Easter Sunday tomorrow is perfection! (Oh, if you're a local and not at church at 11 AM tomorrow, check out WBC on WRDW, News Channel 12. It's our first Sunday on TV! Or check us out on the web.) 

Listened to Mystery, by Charlie Hall on the way home today. Perfect for Easter Sunday. My favorite part: "Celebrate His death and rising, lift your eyes, proclaim His coming!" So grateful we serve a RISEN King!