Life after Christmas

So Christmas has come and gone with its wonderful times and traditions, and now I am back to work, and soon to be back in school. I technically don't have to start school again til next Sunday, but considering they gave the same amount of work to do in 3 days that they would for a whole week, I start tomorrow. So, I guess a 6 day break is better than none. ; ) This would have to be the first year that I was back to a normal the day after Christmas. Life never stops for the plumber! 

As for notable Christmas gifts: snow shoes, for which I can only hope and pray for more snow so that I can use them, a nice soft fleece from my beloved Adam, and wonderful gift cards, most of which I spent yesterday during a big after-Christmas sale shopping spree. ; ) Every girls dream.     ; ) 

Well, I guess that is about it for now. I hope and trust that all of you had a wonderful Christmas as well. Lots of Love! ~Ashley

Merry Christmas

It is hard to believe that it is really almost Christmas! The go go go-ness has not stopped yet, as many people commented about me working on Christmas Eve. I was asked to play at the Episcopal (Yes! I finally learned how to spell that!) church for their Christmas Eve service at 4:00pm. It will be simple for me as it is only a few Christmas hymns, which is nice. After that begins my relaxation and the traditional night before Christmas activities: watching White Christmas and It's a Wonderful life, while eating soy cheese and crackers and soy nog (ok, so my traditions are a little different this year : ) ). Then its off to bed to wait for the joys of Christmas day! 

For all of you who read this blog, have a Merry Christmas and wonderful Holiday season! 

Signs of Winter

Here are a few Christmas pics of us...

Before the big storm
During the big storm

Winter is Here!

Life, and Miracles!

Life is busy as always, but I have a few spare moments so I thought it time to update everyone. Practice continues for the Arlington High school and Middle school Christmas programs. I met with the director, Patty Cody, and the group on Monday afternoon to go over the first and last song, which is all I get. The principle will not allow them to have a full rehearsal, so the rest of the songs we are going to have to wing! Yikes!!! Lots of prayers are going to be said by a certain pianist tomorrow night as I depend on God for even the page turns to go smoothly. Doing these musical things has really proved to me how completely dependent I am on God for even the smallest things. I know that if it wasn't for Him, I would have flubbed previous concerts many times. So after tomorrow night there is another concert the following Thursday, two actually, with the same group during the day. Then in two more days we will have the Christmas program at our church. God is good, though, and I know He will get me through. 

Now to a much more important update:

Last Sabbath we held one of the most exciting events our church has seen.......... 11 Baptisms! But even more excitingly for me, one of them was my Dad! Praise God for the incredible miracles He is doing! God is wonderful, and I am seeing now that He is readying His people in many ways for the days to come. I know this doesn't mean smooth sailing from here. In fact, it probably means just the opposite, but just the same we have the assurance that God will be with us through it all, and some day we are all going to be united in the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! May we all be there on that day!

God is amazing!

I have been even busier than normal these past couple weeks, as my post last night stated. School and work always keep me at a normal busy, but adding the evangelistic series four nights a week at our church, plus playing for the high school and elementary school Christmas programs, I am a bit overloaded. But God is good and I know He will give me the strength to get through. I don't think I mentioned it in an earlier post, but I was asked to play again for the local high school, for their holiday programs, as previously stated. This will be another $350 for whatever God decides to use it for. I am a bit swamped with how much music there is this time, though. There is a huge stack for both the elementary and the high school programs. 

On a different note, God has been working amazing miracles with the evangelistic series. There has been a steady, consistent group that has been attending these past four weeks, and several of them have expressed their desire to be baptized. Most of them have also been coming to church on Sabbath the past two weeks. I am continually amazed by how God is breaking down barriers and really creating a hunger in people to know the truth in God's word. It has been a privilege to get to know these people and discover how precious each one is. I am only now beginning to understand what a blessing God has given us by allowing us to be used in His work to reach people. The more I experience and take part in it, the more I love it. One thing I have discovered is this work is not as scary as I always thought it was. It is actually really fun to be able to talk to people and get to know them. The devil sure does know how to keep us from the blessings of God though, doesn't he? But thank the Lord He is bigger!

Well, I guess that about wraps it up. Hope all of you are doing well, and if I don't talk to you before, Happy Thanksgiving!

Anyways, 

Blogging will return soon...

My poor faithful blog reader! I have been so slow on posting. The truth is that I have been flat out doing a million things in the past couple weeks, and there is really no hope of things slowing down until after the holidays, but there is SOOOO much to tell, really good things too! So I will do my best to set aside some time to update you all on what has been unfolding here in the past couple weeks as well as what is up in the future of the next few weeks. Until I get a chance, my warmest wishes to you all! Take care!

Survival Skills

Well everyone, I have made it through the first hectic week of my third term. Classes started last Wednesday: Anatomy and Physiology II and College Mathematics (officially the easiest math class in history). So far so good, but the week sure did keep me busy. Between adjusting to new classes, attending the seminar meetings at our church, being substitute teacher for Primary Sabbath School on Sabbath, and playing for the Federated Church Sunday morning, I was more than a little exhausted by the end of Sunday. God is getting me through, though. I was able to catch up with a good friend last night by chatting in gmail. Our talk lasted much longer than I expected, cause it was near midnight when I rolled into bed. But God is good, and I woke up without much trouble this morning, and was back up to normal par energy level after a good workout. 

Oh, for those big breakfast eaters out there, you may have already tried this, but I combined some concoctions that made a delicious meal: Lightly toasted whole wheat bread bread with natural peanut butter on it, Pour homemade apple sauce on top. Then top with slices of bananas..... Mmmmmm mmmmmm good!

Ok, well I guess that about covers it for now. Hope you all have a good week!