Author: Ashley

What’s Your Word?

~ Ashley ~ Leave a comment

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A few years ago, my New Year’s resolution was to never again make a New Year’s resolution. I had a bad habit of setting my goals way too high and then falling short every single year which left me feeling like a total failure.

I would decide on New Year’s Eve (probably after eating pizza and chicken wings) to run 20 miles a day and do eleventy thousand push-ups and eat kale at every meal. Then, on January 4th, when I would inevitably find myself polishing off the last of my kid’s mac and cheese, I would feel so defeated. The shame would come crashing down when I counted up how many push-ups I had actually done (negative seven).

Something had to change.

Instead of resolutions, I began to choose one word for the upcoming year. I would spend the last week of December reflecting on the year. Which areas of my life did I do well? Where did I struggle? How would I love to see myself at the end of next year? Then I would try to set the tone for the next 365 days by choosing one special word to be a reminder to myself of how I want to live my days. And with that small change, everything shifted…

To continue reading please click through to Atlanta Area Moms Blog here: https://atlanta.citymomsblog.com/mom/whats-your-word/

What Moms Really Want for Christmas

~ Ashley ~ Leave a comment

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In a recently conducted, extremely reliable, incredibly scientific poll done by–um–me on my social media, researchers (also me) have discovered what moms truly want for Christmas.

The question posed to moms was simple: “If Santa could bring you anything, real or imagined, what would you ask for?”

The responses came and a trend overwhelmingly presented itself. While Santa might have a hard time filling the requests exactly as hoped, I took the liberty of offering up a few, slightly more realistic, alternatives.

CHEF
Every evening around 6:00, these people who live in our houses want to eat. Again. Which means we’re supposed to feed these tiny humans. Again. There are only so many times we can get away with frozen nugget-shaped meat product and leftover shells and cheese. Believe me. I’ve tested those limits. So if Santa could bring moms a chef to do all your menu planning and shopping and cooking? Dream come true. A personal chef is sadly out of reach for most of us. But what about these alternatives to make mealtime a bit easier?
– Meal Subscription Service that could deliver fresh ingredients and detailed recipes right to your door. No thinking required. Which is great because I have zero brain cells left by dinnertime.
– Grocery Delivery or Curbside Pickup is now a thing at several major supermarkets. Not having to become the People of Walmart twice a week sounds heavenly to me.
– Menu Planning and List Making Service would at least cut down on the time it takes to plan the weekly menu and shopping lists. This would save us all from being stuck in a repetitive dinner rotation.

To discover the next four must-have gifts for mom, please click through to Atlanta Area Moms Blog. Because while Santa might have trouble gift wrapping a maid, there are some great alternatives waiting to go under the tree! http://atlanta.citymomsblog.com/mom/what-moms-really-want-for-christmas/

A Few Favorite Places to Get Back to Nature

~ Ashley ~ Leave a comment

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With the cooler temperatures and the gorgeous leaves, I find myself giving thanks daily to live in north Georgia. Especially during this time of year. I want to be outside all the time. For all the things. Hayrides, pumpkin patches, family hikes, bonfires, farm tours. Autumn is my jam.

If your family is like mine and you love being outdoors during this season, family camping trips are awesome adventures. Whether it’s a dream come true or your worst nightmare, memories are sure to be made and they will last a lifetime! I grew up in Florida and we would spend our vacations camping in north Georgia. Some of my earliest childhood memories include sleeping bags, mountain air, and grumpy geese.

So if you’re ready to add some solid points towards that “Mom of the Year” title, here are a few of my favorite campgrounds. They’re so much fun, you won’t even realize you’re roughing it.

Please click through to read about my top three choices at Atlanta Area Moms Blog. Offering tons of activities in gorgeous settings (along with some alternatives to roughing it in a tent), you’ll want to add these places to your list! http://atlanta.citymomsblog.com/mom/favorite-places-get-back-nature/

 

Do You Know the Power of Your Words?

~ Ashley ~ Leave a comment

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the look on her face. As soon as the words rushed out of my mouth, I regretted saying them, but they tumbled out faster than I could pull them back. Once they were out there, the damage was done.

We were eleven years old that summer at church camp, and for the first time in my life, the “cool” girls were paying attention to me. Wanting to make myself more acceptable to them, I tried to distance myself from my closest friend. And when the line was drawn in the sand, I outright denied our friendship right to her face.

Even though we eventually reconciled, and she graciously forgave me, the shame of that moment still burns whenever it comes to mind. More than twenty-five years later, I still feel awful for the words I said.

I’m constantly in awe of the power of words. They can bring life and love and joy and peace. They can also bring utter destruction in a matter of seconds. “Sticks and stones can break your bones but words will never hurt”? I beg to differ.

“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21 NIV).

If I asked you to remember a time in your life when you said something you regret, I bet it wouldn’t be too difficult to think of several times. I’m also willing to wager you’ve had at least a handful of hurtful things said to you over the years…

I’d love for you to click through to The Glorious Table to read the remainder of this post. Join us in a conversation about the power of words and how we can speak life into one another.

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Play and Learn with Sid the Science Kid

~ Ashley ~ Leave a comment

Hey, Atlanta, there’s a new kid in town!

Children’s Museum of Atlanta just unveiled their newest feature exhibit and it is all kinds of awesome. Sid the Science Kid: The Super-Duper Exhibit was an absolute hit with all three of my kids (ages 2-11). This fun traveling exhibit brings to life the award-winning PBS KIDS TV series, Sid the Science Kid.

The exhibit recreates Sid’s kitchen, bedroom, backyard, and classroom, allowing kids to become “science kids” themselves! Kids can step into Sid’s world and investigate everyday science questions through the use of scientific tools and hands-on activities.

Check out our favorite parts of Sid’s world!

Click through to Atlanta Area Moms Blog to see how great this new exhibit is! You can find photos and more info about the latest and greatest at Children’s Museum of Atlanta.

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Finding God in the Middle of Your Mess

~ Ashley ~ Leave a comment

“Wait. When do you have to be out?”

My friend and I were sitting in my living room, and as she looked around, she was thinking she must have misheard me. My family had been living in our rental home for two years, and it was time to move on. We were scheduled to turn in the keys in just four days.

Not one thing had been packed. Not a book. Not a photo album. Not a single fork.

“You have help coming, right?”

I mumbled something about it all being fine and that we’d figure it out. We were moving just twenty minutes down the road and everything would be okay. I basically said everything but the one word I knew I needed to say—help.

Because we’ve been friends for almost twenty years, she knows me well. My protest went in one ear and out the other. Within the hour, she had lined up her husband and set aside Saturday to help us.

My friend spent countless hours over the next several days cleaning out bathroom drawers, pulling long-forgotten items from under beds, and battling giant dust bunnies behind the dryer…

Please click through to The Glorious Tableto continue reading about how accepting help with a move brought up all kinds of emotions but, most of all, pointed us back to Jesus.

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Could the Old Wives’ Tales Really Know?

~ Ashley ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been pregnant three times. And each time those two little pink lines popped up, I had about five and a half minutes before I started obsessing over whether baby was a boy or a girl.

I needed to know all the things to plan all the things. It was my very poor attempt at feeling any amount of control in a completely unpredictable situation.

Google became my best friend and told me approximately eleven million ways to tell if your baby is a boy or a girl. Each method was totally backed up by the completely trustworthy folks of the internet and all their extensive lack of scientific research.

But because our first born’s ultrasound tech happily announced we would have a girl and we prepped for said baby girl (in the totally neurotic way only first-time parents could) just to finally birth a handsome baby boy? I spent way too much time during my next pregnancies trying to beat the system.

So I’m gonna take one for the team here and share some of these theories and how it applied to my last baby, complete with excerpts from my pregnancy journal…

Click through to Atlanta Area Moms Blog to check out my experiments with the most popular old wives’ tales for gender predictions. See which ones were correct and which were wrong! 

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When We Bloom

~ Ashley ~ Leave a comment

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Nothing compares to springtime in North Florida. We had the chance to go back to our hometown for a quick visit then, and the timing could not have been more perfect. It seemed as if all the trees and flowers were in full bloom.

One tree, in particular, caught my attention—the dogwood. Dogwoods are beautiful and a popular choice for landscaping. Feeling a tiny bit homesick, I wondered if there was a way to take this bit of Tallahassee back to Atlanta with me. Despite my categorically black thumb, I decided to research where to buy a dogwood and how to move it to my yard.

A quick internet search resulted in dozens of sites teeming with detailed instructions. You have to wait until just the right time of year to plant the sapling. You have to find just the right spot in your yard and prepare the soil. You have to dig a hole just the right size and at just the right depth. You have to spread the roots in just the right way. You have to water it just the right amount.

It was obvious that any dogwood tree coming home with me would be in immediate, mortal danger.

The next afternoon, while driving through my parents’ mostly wooded neighborhood, I spotted glorious white dogwood blossoms through some dense stands of pines and oaks. I had never realized so many dogwoods grow wild just down the street. They completely blend in with all the other trees around them until those few weeks each spring when they explode into bloom.

God used that moment to whisper a sweet encouragement to my heart, and I’d love to pass it along to you…

Have you ever felt yourself longing to leave a mark on this world? Have you ever struggled to find your calling? Please join me at The Glorious Table as we share some thoughts on calling. 

Facing Down Your Gorillas

~ Ashley ~ Leave a comment

One of the benefits of homeschooling my kids is that once I’ve recognized my sanity is at the breaking point, I can spontaneously declare a field trip day. On one such day, when nothing seemed to be going well, we ended up at the zoo for the afternoon. It seemed all the baby animals were also over it and the mamas were reaching their own breaking points.

When we came to the gorilla enclosure, we were treated to a show. Two juveniles were having the time of their lives. They wrestled, threw dirt at each other, and chased each other in circles around their mama. My kids loved this big game of mischief and could not be happier watching those two get into trouble.

After a few warnings, mama gorilla had finally had enough of their antics. (Solidarity, mama.) The big silverback jumped up from where she had been trying to get some peace and quiet and lunged after her rowdy kids. Everyone thought it was hilarious—except my two-year-old.

All Abby could see was this angry gorilla charging full speed right toward us. Terrified, she pointed and screamed, “IS COMIN’!” She called out for her daddy and instinctively reached for his hands, practically climbing up his legs, trying to get to the security of his arms.

To find out what happened next and read how we all have to face down our own gorillas sometimes, click through to The Glorious Table here:
http://theglorioustable.com/2017/05/facing-down-your-gorillas/.

 

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What About Saturday?

~ Ashley ~ Leave a comment

Nothing helps you realize just how much you don’t know like a child’s questions. The approximately 1,200 daily queries from my ten-and-under set certainly keep me on my toes. If your role in life has brought you anywhere near young children, I’m sure you know what I mean.

My kids tend to ask their most philosophical questions after we’ve said our bedtime prayers and I’m on my way out of the room.

“Mom? What if you wake up tomorrow and realize you’ve been asleep for seventy-five years and your whole life has been a dream?”

“Hey, Mom? Do you think there’s Chick-Fil-A in heaven?”

“Mom! If I tell God a joke, do you think he’ll laugh?”

One night we were talking about the upcoming Easter weekend. I explained Maundy Thursday, when Jesus and his disciples shared the Last Supper and Jesus was arrested. We talked about Good Friday and all the events of that sad day when Jesus died on the cross. Then we wrapped up with the celebration of Resurrection Sunday when Jesus conquered death and rose from the grave.

“But, Mom? You talked about Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. What about Saturday? What happened that day?”

To continue reading about the truth that question brought to mind, please join the conversation at The Glorious Table. Click here: http://theglorioustable.com/2017/04/what-about-saturday/.

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