30 Days Blog Challenge Day 19

Day 19: Something You Miss

Something I miss...something I miss...something I miss.
Oh, I know.
I miss being a little kid, when I could just sit around, without worrying about drama...
I miss the people I thought that I knew - that were my good friends - that have walked out of my life for one reason or another.
I miss my old church family.
I miss watching Barney, The Big Comfy Couch, & Sesame Street. - Don't make fun.
I miss playing with Barbies. And dolls.

Apparently I miss my childhood more that I thought! :D

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 18

Day 18: Something You Regret

I, like my mom, think that if we ask God for forgiveness, we should not dwell on the things that we've done in our past. But there's really NOT that much that I truly regret doing in my 17 (almost!) years.

I'd say that, even though this wasn't really my choice, going to public school for three years was the thing I regret most. I know that I didn't have much say in it, because my parents got the decision, but those three years were some of the worst of my entire life.
I'd also say that I regret losing some of my best friends, from falling-outs that weren't even worth it. I guess it is how it's supposed to be, but I definitely miss people that I used to be very close to.

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 17

Day 17: Something You're Looking Forward To

1. I am looking forward to going to Kylie's in 8 days, although I'm nervous about the plane ride. I know I keep saying this, but it's getting closer and closer, making me more and more nervous.
2. I am looking forward to my 17th birthday 2 days after I return home from Kylie's.
3. I am looking forward to going to South Carolina to help at the Operation Christmas Child Distribution Center.
4. I am looking forward to winter, because the sooner it comes, the sooner it goes! :P

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 16

Day 16: Dream House

I don't want a huge house, but I would love something bigger than what I am living in right now. I LOVE my house, because I've grown up in it all my life - since I was brought home from the hospital. Well, I always said that when I was grown and married, I would kick my parents out and live in this house myself.
Not so much anymore. I think I'll let my parents keep it. I'd like something a little more 'me', I guess. Something bigger, with more bathrooms. LOL
First off, I would like at least 4 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms. Right now, I live in with a one full bathroom, so my family and I have to fight for the bathroom on Sunday mornings.

This is SOMETHING like I would like. I would like it to have a newer look to it, but ya know, I just want a house where I'm with the person (people) I love, so if it's tiny, with one bathroom, and 2 bedrooms, I'll be happy. Or try to be! ;)

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 15

Day 15: Bible Verse

1. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
2. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
   (Philippians 4:13)
3. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
   (John 3:16-17)
   

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 14

Day 14: A Picture You Love

This is a picture of mom and me with Will Franklin Chapman and Caleb Chapman from February 2010
A picture of Mom and I with Mark Hall from Casting Crowns:
A picture of me with John Micah Sumrall from Kutless:
A picture of me with Stellar Kart:

A picture of me and my mom:

A picture of me with my mom's best friend. I'm not exactly sure how old I am here. (She passed away in March of 2010.)

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 13

Day 13: Goals

1. To graduate high school, and go to college for SOMETHING. Not sure what yet.
2. Become a wife and mother.
3. Eventually homeschool my children
4. Grow in my relationship with Jesus
5. Meet my best bloggie and internet friends. (As you know, I've met a few, and I'll be meeting Kylie soon, but there are so many more I'd just LOVE to meet!)
   

30 Days Blog Challenge Day 12

Day 12: What You Believe:

1. Jesus is my Savior and loves me more than anyone else in this world
2. That I have the best parents in the world
3. That although my friends live all over the USA, they are still some of the best people who God has brought into my life. You guys know who you are.
4. That I'll be nervous taking off on the airplane to go visit Kylie. Yes, it's only 11 days. Seeing a plane take off the other day from Harrisburg airport on the way to Lancaster made me even more nervous. I WILL be okay ;)
   

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 11

I FAIL! LOL I need to work backwards again! But I will catch up! :P

Day 11: Favorite TV Shows

1. Charlies Angels
2. Dukes of Hazzard
3. Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Mysteries
4. Say Yes to the Dress
5. What Not to Wear
6. Full House
7. Simon & Simon
8. The Waltons
9. Little House on the Prairie
10. Laverne and Shirley
    

....

My blog is under construction right now. Not sure what is exactly going on, but backgrounds won't go into my template, and my background is white. Working on figuring out why it's not working.

30 Days Blog Challenge: Day 10

Day 10: Something You're Afraid Of

Something I'm afraid of? I'm afraid of lots of things, really. But especially:
Losing friends that I love - both to falling-outs and other reasons.
Never getting married, hence, never having kids.
That I will never figure out what I'm supposed to do with my life. People keep asking: "What do you want to do when you're out of high school?" I say, "I have no idea." They say, "Oh. Okay." Ha. I guess the more people ask, the more annoying it gets, like I should just be able to figure this out without any thought. Well, I can't.
Mice.
Snakes.

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 9

Day 9: A Picture of Your Friends

I wish this topic would've come after I traveled to CO in just a couple of weeks! But I'm doing it now, and I might edit it later! :)

Truthfully, I don't have many friends that live in Pennsylvania, that I feel that I can tell everything to - that I feel like I would talk to about just anything. But I do have a couple of friends here who I love, and love having in my life.

Two of my great friends - well, 4 actually - live in New York. I have been there twice to hang out with them, once for just one night - last summer, and for a week this summer. It was a great time and I hope to do it again soon! I miss them! :(

This is Natalie and me, taking a little break from kayaking. It was SO much fun kayaking with her older brother!
Sam and me, after the church service! We matched and hadn't even talked about it! :P
This is a picture of Mandy & me after church:
This is Jen and me. This was the last day that we had to spend together before I went home! That was a sad day! :(
A picture of Jen, Natalie and me that I absolutely love! It's one of my favorite pictures from the trip!
A picture of my good friend, Ali and me, while waiting in line for Kali River Rapids in the Animal Kingdom at Disney World:
With good friends, Mary Beth and Nicky, at church, after the Christmas Service:
With Shaiya, after a long weekend at the Suarez's house for a meeting. (My mom works for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.)
Meeting a good blogging friend, Bethany. :D

I have so many more blogging buddies that I would love to meet, but have yet to. I didn't put their pictures in here, because I haven't met them yet. You all know who you are! :D

30 Days Blog Challenge Day 8

Day 8: A Place You've Traveled To

Well, my family likes to travel around a lot. Well, at least I do! I love to travel. I like to get away from the house and go to different states, and different places.

In May, my family went to Disney World. I love Disney World and this was my 4th time there. I love it there and would go every year it was a possibility.

A gorgeous picture of the castle:

My friend, Ali and me in in front of the castle:

Ali and me in really cool hats! :D Needless to say, we didn't buy them. Too expensive. But they ARE cute!

Ali and me waiting for the parade:

30 Days Blog Challenge Day 7

Day 7: Favorite Movies

Favorite Movies:
1. Some Kind of Wonderful
This has just recently become one of my favorite movies! My mom introduced it to me - it's a movie from the 80s - and I loved it!
2. A Walk To Remember
I LOVED this movie from the first time I watched it. Everytime I see it, I bawl like a baby, but I still continue to watch it.
3. The Last Song
I am not at all a Miley Cyrus fan - I don't like her very much at all anymore, but I still really like this movie. I think that someone could've played the part better as Ronnie - the main girl character - but I still LOVE this movie. Again, I cry my eyes out as I watch this movie.
4. Sweet Home Alabama
Again, this is a movie that my parents introduced me to, but I just started really liking it when I was older. I love watching it. It's a happy romance that I think most anyone would like.
5. The Blind Side
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie! It is one of the best movies I have ever seen. I like that it's based on a true story. :D It makes me cry too. :(
6. Where the Heart Is
This movie is sad too. Is there a pattern here? The majority of the movies I've written about are sad. Wow.
7. National Treasure & National Treasure: Book of Secrets
These are some of the best movies ever! I love Riley Poole, who keeps me laughing, no matter how many times I've seen them! I'm hoping for some more movies! :D

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 6

I got behind, so I'm going back a couple of days.

Day 6: A Picture of Something That Makes You Happy

Something that makes me happy is(are) little kids. I have always loved little kids, especially baby age kids.

Me and my baby cousin.

Me and Adelie. She is 2 1/2 now. Where does the time go?!

Me and baby Chase. He's nine months old now. Wow.

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 5

Day 5: Your Siblings

Gracie and me:

Ian and me:

I definitely have to say that my siblings are definitely a big blessing to me. I was an only child for the first 6 1/2 years of my life. My parents weren't able to have more kids after me, so they started the adoption process to adopt Gracie. I was ALMOST 7 when Gracie came home from Vietnam. I told my parents that I just wanted Gracie home before my birthday. She came home a couple of weeks before I turned 7. I remember traveling to the airport to see her - with my two uncles, their girlfriends, my grandparents and my mom's best friend, Sue. It was awesome! I remember holding her for the first time - and it could very well have been when I started loving holding babies so much!

Ian came along 6 years later. My mom always felt like she wanted to adopt again, so she when she got an email about the need for parents of boys in Vietnam, she sent it to my dad. She thought she was going to get an instant "NO!" but he said "Let's look into it." They did, and 8 months later, 10 days before Christmas, my little brother was added to our family. I definitely will not forget that day, because I was 13 at the time. We weren't able to go to the airport, but it was awesome to have him come home.

This picture was taken soon after Ian came home. I was 13, Ian was 9 months and Gracie was 6.



~~~~

I can also say that there are some people who I am NOT related to who have become like siblings to me. I have some people in my life who are some of my best friends, and who have become more like sisters to me.

My best friends, Kylie and Suzanna - who, neither of whom I have met (YET!), have become more like sisters to me than anything else. I can tell either of them anything, and they do the same for me. I don't know what I'd do without either of them, even though, we haven't been chatting as much lately, because of our busy schedules. :( I am going to Kylie's house in less than a month - 22 days, I believe. Suzanna and I have been trying to figure out how - and when - we can meet! It's just too bad that she lives over 19 hours away from me. :( Oh, well, Kylie lives over 23, so I know that it's all possible with God. :D

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 4 - A Day Late

Day 4: Your Parents

For those of you who plan to say "Oh my goodness, you look JUST like your mom', go ahead and stop right there. I already know that EVERYONE thinks that, so you might as well not even say it! :P I don't mind hearing it, but it does get old. Just a warning. :)
I may look like my mom, but if you ask her, I have a lot of my dad's tendencies, so I am probably more like him than I am like her. But, you know, I also act a lot like my mom. I think that anyone who truly knows me and my whole family, knows that I am a pretty good mix of both my parents.

My parents and I have always had a really good relationship, even when I was little. I would say that they are truly some of my best friends - and I feel like I can talk to them about anything. I know of so many people who can honestly say that they don't have a good relationship with their parents, and I truthfully, don't know what I would do WITHOUT mine. They are always there for me - and chose to homeschool me because they love me that much. It amazes me. They also decided to adopt my siblings from Vietnam when I was 6 and when I was 12. :D More about my siblings is coming in the next post! :D

I can also - like Katie - say that I have another set of people that I look up to - who I would say are definitely my second parents. We've known them probably close to 5 or so years. :D The picture that I'm going to post is from my birthday almost a year ago, and they now have another baby. But sadly, it's the most recent photo that I have with them!

Wordless Wednesday

30 Day Blog Challenge, Day 3

Day 3: Your First Love

Well, at sixteen, it's kinda hard to say that you've truly had a first love. I have never been in love before, never even had a boyfriend - not that I want one; I'm waiting on God to bring a guy into my life, until then, I'm fine with my single-ness.

But really, I guess I would say that my first love is Jesus. I accepted Him into my heart when I was five, so I'd say that he was definitely my first love. :)

Although, growing up, I did have my crushes here and there. I would say that my biggest crush growing up is kind-of embarrassing. My first crush was on a celebrity. I know that some people will most likely be offended by this - because this guy is from a secular band. He wasn't worth it in the end, but I definitely crushed on the guy.
Nick Jonas was my first big celebrity crush.

Now, I can honestly say, looking at him here - when I first started liking him, I'm not really sure why I thought he was cute. Wait, yes, I do, if I was terribly truthful with myself. He was in a band. That was famous. Famous + Singing + Guitar Playing + Curly Hair = Cute! :P

As for now, I'm waiting for my first love to come along. :) God has someone out there planned for me, I just have to wait until he wants us to meet. :D

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 2

30 Day Blog Challenge
Day 2: Meaning Behind Your Blog Name


The meaning behind my blog name is pretty self-explanatory. "In God We Still Trust" means that I believe and TRUST in God, and that our country should too.

I got the idea behind my name from a song from Diamond Rio. I grew up listening to this band, because my mom always loved the band. I became a fan of them because of their fun, country songs that I enjoyed listening to. Recently, they switched from country music to Christian music. They wrote and sang a song called "In God We still Trust", and I really thought that it would be a cool blog title for my blog. I was, at the time, starting a new blog, here at blogspot, and switching from HomeSchoolBlogger, so I thought it was a good time to change to some better name.


Here is a video of the song "In God We Still Trust" by Diamond Rio! Hope you enjoy it!

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 1

30 Days Blog Challenge.

I am doing this a day late, but I am going to get caught up! Gives me a reason to post every day! :D

Day 1: introduce, recent picture, and 15 interesting facts

My name is Ashley and I will be 17 in just a little over a month. I am a born-again Christian; I accepted Christ into my life when I was 5. I was recently baptized at my church on August 8th 2010. . I go to a Baptist church about a half an hour from where I live, and love it!

15 Interesting Facts:

1. I am completely addicted to music. Not just one kind-of music either. I can go from recent country music all the way to the other end of the spectrum with Christian rock music. Ask anyone, I almost always have at least one earbud in.
2. I love to read. My favorite books are Christian fiction.
3. I LOVE to write. Even more than read, I think. I write Christian fiction, too, and write as much as I can.
4. I have two best friends. Neither of whom I have met. Yet. I met them both online - and I'm going to visit one of them in just...25 days! I am so excited.
5. I grew up in a Christian home. I am so thankful for that.
6. I have read through the Bible twice. I plan to do it more times.
7. I'm 5'5" and officially taller than my mom! Ha.
8. I stopped biting my fingernails last December and they are FINALLY starting to get stronger and become nails! :D
9. I absolutely love holding babies! I love babysitting little kids, and spending time with them!
10. I've played the guitar for about 2 years now. I love playing around with new songs, and picking styles.
11. I was obsessed with the Jonas Brothers for a while. Then I stopped liking them for a while, totally. Now, I like their music, but don't like to think back to the obsession I had. Total stupidity.
12. I love Nancy Drew computer games! I am addicted. Mom and I play them together - and we usually solve them in a couple of days!
13. I played soccer for 7 years, both indoor and outdoor and absolutely loved it. I don't even really know why I quit, and sometimes I miss it. Especially when I go to soccer games and see people I used to play with, still playing. *sigh*
14. I LOVE Disney World! It is one of my favorite places in the world! We were just there in May and I can't wait to go back!
15. I love English and History but pretty much despise Science and Math. Sorry to all you math and science lovers out there. Not my thing at all.

Is it sad that I ran out of somewhat interesting facts about myself?!

Wow..it's been a while...again

I think I either need to give up fully on blogging or actually start posting more, because every time I actually get around to posting, I always say 'it's been a while'. I think I'll stop doing that, and just post, because, well, even though it's been a while, I don't need to dwell on that.

It's only 30 days until I head to Kylie's house. I am so excited to actually be getting on a plane and flying out there. if you read my last post about it - the only nerve-wracking part is the idea of being on the plane for the first time, by myself. I'm sure I'll be fine, but I'm still a tad bit worried about that. But I WILL be okay!

Yesterday, my family and I went to the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg.It was fun, because we had just finished up reading about the Civil War in History and were able to remember a lot of the things that we saw yesterday - especially people and what part they had in the war.

Fall is definitely in the air in central PA. It has been cooling off, and I love getting into hoodies and jeans, and my converse! I also enjoyed wearing my 'faux' Uggs yesterday when it was dreary and rainy here.

I have youth group on Sunday and I'm supposed to be playing the guitar, so I have to get some worship songs ready - and quick! I haven't been able to play the guitar at all this past week, I've been so busy and it just so happens that youth group has to land the same week that I'm busy and not able to play my guitar. It's like all my life works like that. Ha.

~Ash