just a post....

I always say I'm going to write on here more often, but then I don't. You would think I might more often as I have the internet readily available now (which by the way is so nice!).

Well here I am....
I never finished telling about my trip to Panama. It was just so good! God showed up each and every day and gave everyone strength in ways that we might not have expected, like when it was so stinking hot (which was every single day) and the students didn't think they could keep going, they did and God totally blessed them because of it. I just have so many great memories and made so many lasting friendships. God is just so good. I really need to get my journal out and then write more. I just loved it and am currently signed up to hopefully go with Big World Ventures and Never the Same Missions to Peru next summer. I'll be writing more about that on here and keeping everyone up to date with my financial situation.
Here is a God story for all you readers about going to Peru. In Panama they showed us a really cool video about the trip to Peru and I watched it and pretty much decided right then that I was not going to Peru. It didn't look very exciting, and I definitely did NOT want to fundraise, I wanted a nice normal summer where maybe I could go on vacation and just do what I wanted. Shortly after thinking that, I knew that God wanted me to go. I can still say that I'm not all that excited about fund raising but I do know that God wants me there next summer. I am not entirely sure why or even how I am going to get there but still I am willing to go and I know that God will definitely provide. And some pretty amazing people are going back as well, so I am sort of excited:-D

I think I'm getting sick, ugh!!! Seriously? It might have something to do with the fact that I worked 19 hours straight on Monday. What was I thinking?!?

Well speaking of mission trips, I am going to Honduras in almost a month!!! AHHH!!! :-D I can't wait! The trips to Honduras are always really refreshing because incredible people go, God shows up and we get to do surgeries for people who are actually grateful, even if you just fix up their ACL. I love seeing the joy on the Honduran faces as we help them and I love being able to do my job and serve my Creator as well. And I'm looking forward to going because my friend Lauren is going. We actually met on one of the previous trips to Honduras and I'm super excited to serve with her again! :-D

Well I think thats about all for now. I'll write more soon (notice I did not say tomorrow, hehe)!!!

Feels like fall!

Today is extraordinarily fall like and I love it!!

Thats really all I have to say :-) I'll write more on here later!

But I am so excited about the fall weather!! hooray!

hmm

I feel like writing but dont know what to write about...

I could easily write about my Panama trip which I did say I would do but just dont feel like it. I also dont feel like using apostrophes so I'm not going too. At least not in the word dont. Also apostrophes is a weird word.

I really dont want to work at 9am tomorrow morning, yuck! I hate needing to be to work by 9am, anyone that works at 7am sorry for complaining. But still, EWW...

Zeena keeps sitting and staring at me and whining as I write this and its really annoying. I keep telling her to stop and she just keeps whining...Thank you weirdo dog

I got to hang out with some of my friends from Panama last night and this afternoon. It was so nice!! And lots of fun!!

I ate a really good cantina chicken burrito today from Taco Bell and oh my word it was soo soo tasty. So surprising, so if you like Taco Bell which I would hope that you might you should definitely try one. I would even say that it rivals Qdoba. SOO GOOD!!

I'm still reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to check it out again at the library, for the third time.... Who does that? ugh!!

Jared just turned off the light in the bedroom, left and is now watching tv...really? And I'm still sitting in the dark...

My grammar and punctuation in this post are awful. Sorry to all of you...

Today was a beautiful day so was yesterday, it was the perfect temperature!! AHHH :-D

Well since I have to get up early tomorrow (yuck) I should probably go to bed. Although I say that and I probably wont even go to bed until after midnight because that always seems to happen.....

Internet at our house!!

So I'm writing this from my living room! So excited! Its the little things yes, but I am pretty excited that we have internet! Its nice to be able to go on a real computer:-)

Today Jared and I went to the beach and I got fried! Seriously? I mean it was overcast so it didnt really feel like I was getting to much sun so that's probably why it happened. oh well, I'm sure I'll survive and in a few days have a real nice tan.

I went to Panama and LOVED IT!!!!!! IT was just incredible and God taught me so much and gave us on team 4 the best team ever. The girls and guys on my team were so amazing! I just feel so blessed that I was able to go and then to meet such amazing teenagers. God is such a great God! We learned about God's will for our life and it was really neat to see some of the teens finding out what that meant or means and how they were going to change when they got home. Gosh, it was just so good!

 

 Me and the twins on their first ever plane ride!

 Mariah looking all cute in her cat costume and I love the coloring.

 Me and Shiane leaving the Embera tribe. (I'll write more about that later)

 Crazy hair night! I have dinosaurs in my hair! RAWR!

 Those are the hand dug out canoes that we rode in! Coast guard unapproved :-D

 A part of our team in a canoe!

 Me and Mariah with a beautiful view behind us!

 Mariah and her new friend from the tribe;-)

 I bought some super sweet orange earrings!

Such adorable kids!!!

Mariah and Makayla with some cute Panamanian twins!


Well thats all for now, I'll write more about the trip maybe tomorrow! Just because I can! YES!~

A post about why I'm a dork

So I was reading my sister in laws blog and she has a post about being a dork and not being ashamed of those dorky things....

Since I enjoyed reading her post so much here is my list of things may make me a HUGE dork, but I don't really care what anyone thinks because I am who I am and even love the dorky side of myself. ;-)

I'm Ashleigh and;

I love love love to read.

I love to have a night all by myself.

I like my animals more than most people.

I love vampires, whether that is the twilight books, watching vampire diaries(soo good!), true blood. I'm not sure why that is, yes SUPER dorky! If they were real I would date one :)

I have never been to a casino, and don't really have any desire to go.

I like to wear dresses and sometimes think I was born in the wrong era. I think I would have done well back in pioneer days.

I am fascinated by Amish people. Sometimes I wish I was Amish, it just seems so much more simple and just plain(no pun intended) cool!

Sometimes I'm probably to much of a "good dutch girl" as I use almost everything til there is one drop left or less of something, examples would be shampoo, toothpaste, cleaning products.

I know that I don't like beer, but yet I always try it hoping that it might change.

I love getting a good deal, even if I don't necessarily need something I will buy it because it's such a good deal!

I am not ashamed to admit that I buy clothes at Meijer, Walmart, Target, Salvation Army and Goodwill(good deals at those last two!!).

I love eating ice cream! And could easily eat it every night.

I love cheese.

I really like to cook and bake but rarely do because I hate leftovers.

I would much rather stay at home and read then go out to a bar or even to a movie.

I've never been to Mackinaw Island and I've lived in Michigan my whole life.

I've never smoked anything.

I love my Chacos (sandals) and wish I could wear them the whole year.

I love warm weather, sun, and sand! I wish I lived near a beach.

I love my iphone and will probably always have one. My iphone is the one piece of technology that I don't absolutely despise.

I really love getting my hair hi-lighted, it makes me feel so much better about myself when its done nicely and looks good. Really dorky that makes me feel better...

I hate going to walmart because they have 50 lanes and there are only ever 2 open. Seriously?? How does that make any sense???? UGH!!! Can you tell that I was there recently? For one thing mind you and I didnt get it because I couldnt stand that I was waiting for 5 minutes and it would have been more like 15-20.

I like to take self portraits of myself :-) alot of those occur while driving.

Well I know that there are alot more and maybe as I think of them I'll add them. So stay tuned.

And I love jeep wranglers! Probably way more than I should, I said earlier that I wouldn't want to go to a casino but this weekend at a casino nearby one could win a jeep and I would go for that reason alone! I think that they are the best car in the world! Yep I'm a weirdo:)

Almost there..

So in just 3 short days we'll be hosting a celebration of Jared and I's marriage.

Hooray for a tasty pig roast and more importantly a mashed potato bar! And the cupcakes which I am also excited about it!

I got all my fun pictures in the mail and am looking forward to having those out! I still have quite a bit to do in the next 2 days, including getting plates siliverware and all that jazz. Getting some frames and picture holders. And just the last minute things that come with having a party. But I am really excited to see so many people! :-D

I always have really great ideas of what I want to write on here and when I finally sit down, I can never remember.

Currently: I am still reading Harry Potter book 2. It's as thought I cannot get through it!

I am at work right now but its my Friday!!

I ran 3.6 miles on Sunday and my mom, twins and myself are all signed up for the color run 5k, on August 5th. I am actually really looking forward to it! Mainly for the color aspect of it, they throw different colors at the runners at each K. So its going to be fun! And while on Facebook earlier I saw that Binder Park Zoo has a 5k on June 23rd...hmmm maybe I'll venture out and do that and then I get a pass for the zoo for the day and of course a t-shirt which pretty much makes it worth it to me. Yep, I'm a dork.

On Saturday I have only 3 weeks left until Panama!!! AHH!!! SO excited!! :-) But I still have alot to do!

I'm hoping that tomorrow we will make pizzas for dinner, we bought everything on Sunday and right now it sounds so delightful.

Well I suppose I should wait 20 minutes and begin my trek home!

Still alive..

I'm still around even though my blog might not show that. I'm currently at work after a nice 5 days off.

After having 5 days off I really would prefer to be at home but alas I am here. So I'll make the best of it and blog:-)

What have I been up too?

Well we went to Florida for 9 days which was great! I loved it and getting to do all the fun parks and dinner shows. My favorite was probably Sea World and I'm even going to write that I cried while watching the Shamu show. It was just so cool to me to see how incredible God's creation is. Jared was a trooper and a super nice husband because I know that doing all the animal parks and dinner shows are not his favorite. But he did get to go to Harry Potter, which I also enjoyed and I am now actually reading the books. Everything at Harry Potter was very true to the movies. One of the rides made both Jared and I feel SUPER sick, so I didnt even end up going on the other major roller coaster. So that really is not so fun or it made me realize I might be getting old and I can't ride roller coasters anymore...I'm hoping that it was just the ride and that I can still enjoy Cedar Point maybe even this summer.

Currently(besides being at work) I'm looking forward to our reception/pig roast fun on June 9th. Hopefully the weather will be nice. I just ordered some fun collages, canvas prints and a couple other picture things for it. I'm excited to see how they turned out! I am also quite excited to have a mashed potato bar and have super yummy cupcakes!! YES!

And then at the end of June, its time for Panama!! Yeah mission trips! I'm so excited to go as a leader and be able to have that experience. God is so good. And I'm also excited because we finally have a youth pastor at church and I think we may start small groups soon and I would just love that. But back to the mission trip, I know its not about the fun excursions that we are going to have although we are going on a boat to an island where howler monkeys abound! And then we are going on a jungle viewing thing, which is going to be beautiful! And I am also most excited about being a leader and meeting and being able to impact alot of teens.


God is so good!