About Me

Hi, I’m Ashley!

I’m a follower of Jesus, wife to my husband of twelve years, stay-at-home mama to two energetic little boys, writer and blogger when the Spirit moves me …

ALWAYS a work in progress.

This blog began as a humble response to God’s very clear call to write down and share what He was doing in my heart and in my life, but I’ll be honest. My first thoughts when He called me were,

“How in the world am I—an introverted, technology-illiterate, socially quirky stay-at-home mom who is running on fumes most days—supposed to do this?? Are you sure, Lord? This seems very risky.”

The truth is … I was scared … of failure, of letting down the One who saved me, of making mistakes, of ridicule and vulnerability, of change. So many what-ifs!

So I delayed and bargained and denied and all but forgot His call, and do you know what happened?

Nothing happened. Not a thing. Nothing changed in the world around me.

But I was miserable. I was anxious. I was guilt-ridden. I was deceiving myself to the point of disobedience. I felt physically unwell and unsettled. I couldn’t hear my Father clearly anymore, which finally brought me to me knees in prayer.

Something had to give, and that something was me.

Here’s the thing I’d conveniently forgotten: trusting God and His plan is never risky. God isn’t a risk; He is life and love and perfection itself. His grace is sufficient to meet our every need and is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). It never runs out and can never be taken away.

We may be hemmed in and hard-pressed on every side, but GRACE.

We may be stuck fast in our own fear and uncertainty, but GRACE.

We may be sick and tired of being sick and tired, but GRACE.

We may be overwhelmed and burnt-out, but GRACE.

We may be hanging on by a thread, but GRACE.

When we can’t remove or shake off the burdens of this world, His GRACE is what strengthens our backs and hearts to be able to carry them because He carries them with us (Matthew 11:28-30), using it all for good (Romans 8:28).

Our God is loving and oh so gracious, and He is faithful to remind me every day—good, bad and in-between—that I desperately need His Son:

“Come home to me, child. My arms are open wide and waiting for you.”

So … finally … after all the hemming and hawing and hesitation, I now joyfully have a Christian mom blog! I write a lot about motherhood, but really this dear-to-my-heart project is for anyone hoping to deepen their relationship with the Lord and for anyone needing the solidarity of another imperfect parent.

Everyone is welcome here!

I’m beyond excited to see what God does with all of this! The Holy Spirit truly does stick with us even in our uncertainty, preparing our hearts to take the next right step.

Friends, I want to invite you on this journey with me, and as my heart hears from the Lord, I want to encourage you and speak life and truth into your journey as well!

The Maker of the universe has skillfully and lovingly created ALL of us for such a time as this, for a reason, with purpose and great worth. I pray we can embrace His grace more and more and live filled with gratefulness for who He is, who we are in Him, and what He has done.

That perspective shift may be all it takes to find ourselves smack dab in the middle of lasting joy!

Thank you for being here, friends!

Ashley

“For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”

JOHN 1:16 (ESV)

More about me, the less writer-y and more person-y side:

Everything above is still true-to-me, but I really want you to get to know me as a person too, as someone who does things other than write and type and overthink, haha. So …

My husband’s name is David, and we have two sweet and strong-willed boys (Owen, 6 years old; Nolan, 4 years old). I’m also a cat mom to two of the most loving 15-year-old tabbies, Gretchen and Pebble.

I’ve lived all over the US (military kid) but call Alabama home. Roll Tide, y’all!

I love the theatre, art galleries and history museums, traveling the world, anything science- or space-related, and being outside when the weather isn’t so darn hot (Alabama doesn’t play around with heat and humidity).

I have a bit of a sweet tooth (working on that) and chocolate-dipped toffee is my love language, unless you have any kind of ice cream, then that’s my love language. Can they both be my love language?

Right now, family, the boys’ schools, and our home take up the majority of my time, and I would love to be able to finish an oil painting I started nearly 10 years ago. LIFE and new callings and priorities—like quality sleep when you have two young ones—seem to have pushed it to the back burner. One day, though, you may see a random post about old oil paints, unfinished projects, and how to keep cat hair and sticky little fingers away from wet canvases, haha.

I’m a sucker for a good song and thoughtful lyrics, which my boys seem to have inherited. Dance parties happen on the regular at our house and are the best antidote to the grumpies and the boreds. David is usually our very supportive DJ who opts out of the awkward moving of the limbs portion.

I tend to:

• root for the underdog (unless it’s Alabama football),
• stay up too late on school nights to put down on paper all the thoughts swirling around in my head,
• drink my tea unsweet … and hot … “Gasp!” (I know. Can I even call myself a Southerner?),
• be an extroverted introvert who loves meeting new people but craves both authentic connection and alone time (Could that be any more confusing?),
• say yes to too many things … without realizing until it’s too late that I’ve said yes to too many things,
• avoid conflict, unless it involves my children (we often are their only advocates), then try to remember to breathe and be an adultier version of myself (“love your neighbor” and all),
• be my own worst critic,
• struggle some with anxiety and change,
• give people the benefit of the doubt and not be easily offended,
• wash the same load of laundry multiple times because it sat in the washer for too long,
• cheer for my friends and their successes—there is room enough for all of us at the table and no one needs any more drama than what this world already provides,
• eat my sons’ leftovers off of their snack plates because I’ve forgotten to eat breakfast,
• become engrossed in a good book and lose track of all time (Bookmarks are for quitters, right?),
• wear my emotions on my face and laugh too loudly but wholeheartedly,
• be okay with being the person you can call at 2:00 a.m. when everything falls apart or goes sideways,
• have a hard time asking for help (it’s ridiculous, I know),
• over-share when I’m nervous as you may have figured out by now.

So, that’s me in a very large nut shell. I’m so glad you’ve made it this far! Thank you for sticking with me, friend! There’s more to come, so stay tuned.

Ashley