...like a rollercoaster...

Ummm...if you look at these pictures, you will know how my day went yesterday...fun huh?!

It started at the beach with girlfriends...after the kids went to school! OK...it wasn't THAT beach in the picture, but we sure did our best to imagine that we were in the Caribbean on a little vacay! It's fun to dream right?! The beach was ah.maaa.zing...clear water...lots of sun...great company and conversations.

OK...next picture...

Got home at 2:00 and was going to LEISURELY shower and clean up before the kids got home...WRONG with a big 'ol capital W!!

My sweet, adorable dog Gracie pooped ALL over the house and let me tell you...I knew the moment I walked in the house! IT REAKED! It was under the pool table, on the wood floors....cleaned that up, took a 5 minute shower and headed to church to decorate for our women's event last night.

Tied over 150 balloons...came home just in time to help the boy with his math homework...couldn't find chin guards...ran to my room to look for them AND it hit me! That smell...AGAIN...GRACIE!!! We are now late for soccer practice but I HAVE to scrub the carpets the best I can. Race to get the boy to practice (10 min late)...head home to have 15 min to get ready for our event at church. Y'all...I still had beach sand on my face!! But tried covering it up with make-up...you know, "ACT AS IF..." I'd really washed my face after a day at the beach!

Phew...made it on time to set up, practice the drama, run through the songs we were singing...oh, and totally ate almonds on the way for dinner.

When our speaker got up to talk about "What defines you?", it was like my body just breathed a big sigh, my shoulders relaxed and I listened to Jesus speak to me through her. It was awesome, amazing, life changing, exciting...last night was the perfect, most best way to finish off my day.

The beach was like the ride up the big hill on a roller coaster...we anticipated having a great day, it was exciting and we enjoyed the slower pace of the day there :)

The big drop, up and down hills and a few loop-de-loops for the rest of my day...and I looked and felt that scary cat picture!!

BUT when the "ride" stopped...it was amazing and exhilarating!

Thank you Lord for this day that you made...craziness and all. It was worth going through it to get to the end!!

A 7th and a 4th grader

My 4th grader

My 7th grader (Holy Cow!)

I can't even believe I am writing about the first day of school already! This summer just flew by...way too fast and I am trying to adjust to a quiet house again. Although I miss them while they are in school, I imagine I will be getting alot done around the house...meaning lots of fun projects and the not so fun cleaning projects!

Facebook-less

I'm feeling a weight lifted off me today...a bit like someone detoxing from drugs or alcohol (not that I have ever gone through that!) but I imagine I might have a taste of what that is like...a little nugget if you will. So here it goes..."Hi, I'm Ashley....and I am addicted to Facebook"...there, I said it! I have known it for a while...God has made me aware for quite some time...but I didn't want to listen. I liked knowing what my friends were doing...I enjoyed looking through all their photo albums...I liked playing Bejeweled Blitz over and over to try to beat my friends (which I NEVER did!)...I woke up every morning to log on and see what was happening...I even had a few times where I would stare at my screen trying to come up with a funny or interesting status. I would check it on my phone constantly...and sometimes my feelings would get hurt because I would see things my friends did, knowing I wasn't invited. Or I would be worried about posting something because I wouldn't want to hurt someone's feelings...do you see the STRESS pattern forming here?! This.is.ridiculous.really! But you know the worst thing? Facebook was taking time away from the Lord...and my family...it was in my thoughts, and probably making me "assume" things that were not even true.

So, as of yesterday I am FACEBOOK-LESS! It's been weird not knowing what everyone's up to...but I'll get used to it. But it just feels amazing to know that I am doing what God has been nudging me to do and just like I felt as a child when I chose to obey my parents, I have that same feeling now knowing that I chose to obey my Heavenly Father.

I pray my mornings now will be me longing to read my Bible and have conversations over coffee with Jesus...and I'm pretty sure the things he will tell me will be so much more "great and mighty" than anything I would read on FB!