Friendship Friday: Introducing Sarah

I guess that it's definitely safe to say that my friends are all over the USA. I really don't have all that many friends that live close, and the ones that do live close I rarely see.

So with that said, today I'm focusing on one of my best friends - Sarah. She and I have known each other since I was 13 and she was 16, I believe. We met on HSB - because, you know, that's the most awesome place to meet ever! - and have kept in contact ever since. That means we've been friends for over 6 years! Wow, crazy!

Despite the age difference - although not great, we're in very different stages of life - I have always felt like we were kindred spirits, so to speak. We can talk about just about anything, and I always felt I could open up to her.

She now is married and has a beautiful baby girl that she and I joke is my "niece". I can only hope that someday I meet this girl and can give her a big ol' hug.

I know that Sarah and I will be friends for a very long time, and I can't wait to see what is next for our friendship. :D

Mostly, I wish that I had a picture of the two of us together, but I know in my heart that someday we will! :) Someday, for sure.

"Some friends are like stars...you don't always see them, but you know they're there." 

~Ashley

Friendship Friday: Featuring Natalie!

 I've known Natalie for almost 5 years. She and I met through Sam - and also through HomeschoolBlogger in January of 2008.

Natalie is definitely one of those people you meet and know is going to be a best friend for life. She's a sweetheart, and I love her for it! 

We first met in person in June of 2009 at the LEAH homeschool convention! I went to spend the night at her house (Sam was there was well!), and we had a great time, though it wasn't near long enough to spend with someone! :D 

November of 2009, Natalie came down to my house! We had a blast! I will never forget the times when we played our guitars and talked. Again, a weekend was just NOT long enough to spend with this amazing girl!

It's such a blessing that Natalie and I only live a little over 5 hours from each other. We are able to make regular trips to see each other! In July of 2010, I went back to Natalie's house - but this time for a week. Most would say that a week is too long to spend with one person, but I didn't feel that way at all! We had a great time, and didn't even get on each others nerves.
I think it's 'cause we're just awesome.
We did lots of fun things that week, including going kayaking, shopping and to Natalie's horseriding lesson. Also, we just talked and talked, and of course, played guitar. :)

Sadly, the last time I saw Natalie was October of 2011. I miss her like crazy! She is at college pretty far away from me. But in October of 2011, I went back up to New York for a week in the fall! It was so fun!

I've come to the realization over the last five years that you really don't get a better friend that Natalie. Although she and I don't talk as much anymore as we're both super busy, when we do talk it's like nothing has changed and we jump right into conversations like we just talked yesterday.

Truth is, I miss her like crazy. Gotta make it a plan to head up there for a weekend in Summer 2013 so that I can see her!


"There comes a point in your life when you realize who really matters, who never did, and who always will." - Unknown

Wordless Wednesday

ONE day before NaNoWriMo, I decided it was a good idea to get myself into the rewriting process of A World Without Sound.

I hate when my brain tells me to do such things. :p

Friendship Friday: Meet Nicky

A couple years ago when we were in the process of switching churches, I met Nichole.

She and I hit it off right away - being very similar in both our mannerisms and the things that we like and dislike.

She and I become great friends over the last few years, going through many things at the same times --- including some problems, trials and some great times.

I have always felt like I could talk to Nicky about anything --- guys, friend problems, things going on in my life. Somehow she has always been someone that I could easily open up to, and I think she feels the same way about me. ;)

In the end of August, Nicky left for college - a college over 6 hours away. I miss my friend that I went shopping with, went to the movies with, had sleepovers with, talked to all the time. But I also know that this is another step in her life, and we're going to stay friends throughout the whole thing.

We've talked on the phone a few times since she's been gone, and it's like nothing has changed --- we were able to talk about our lives as if she wasn't even gone. But Thanksgiving is coming FAST, and I can't wait to see my best friend!

God definitely knows what he's doing when he brings friends into your life. At the time I met Nicky, I hadn't had many friends that lived close to me --- most of them lived in different states, and then he gave me Nicky. And although she now lives in a different state, I was so glad to have her close, and I'm anxiously awaiting her times homes from college.

And, although I know I have no say in this, I hope that she decides to stay home from college next year. ;) I just miss my buddy. :)

I love you, Nicky!

Friendship Friday: Meet Sam

My mom has decided to start a meme over on her blog all about our friends! I haven't posted on my blog in a while, but I decided this was a great reason to start back up, since I have so many great friends that I should be bragging about! 

So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to one of my best friends, Samantha. 

I met Sam in 2007, via HomeschoolBlogger. Those were the good old days --- when HSB was the place to blog for homeschoolers, and everyone hung out there all the time, writing blog posts and keeping up with great friends! I met a lot of people that I am STILL awesome friends with (probably will be posting about them later on.) 

Sam and I met exactly five years ago, almost to the day, and we've been great friends ever since. We talked on HSB for a while, then started instant messaging, then talking on the phone. I don't know what I would have done without her friendship over the last couple of years.

We met for the first time at the New York LEAH convention in 2009. Mom and I were there in a homeschool booth and she came to meet me. :)  We've seen each other four times since then, and this year she's been going to college about 2 1/2 hours from me! 

Sam was actually supposed to be coming to my house this weekend for a visit, but ended up being sick and wasn't able to come after all. :( 

One of the thing that I love most about Sam (I call her Sammers), is that we can be crazy together and think nothing of it. We can talk, laugh, do crazy things, and we know that the other won't be like, 'what the heck did she just do'? 

With 5 years of being friends, I can't wait for another 5! 

"Friendship is born at the time when one person says to the other, 'What, you too? I thought I was the only one!'" CS Lewis 
 

Baby Names - Just Because

My dear friend Ashley posted a link on Facebook to a girl's blog that was bored so she posted a list of her favorite baby names. I've been thinking a lot about this lately. I usually blame it on my being an author and thinking up awesome names because of that, but I've been asking lots of questions about family names and stuff for later reference and for when I have kids.

When I'm older and married and have kids - just so you all know. :P

I want my kids to have old-fashioned names that I'll bring back. So, without further ado, I give you my list of favorite baby names.


Hazel Julia
This is my all-time favorite name for a girl right now. My grandpa's mom was Hazel and I never got to meet her. My grandma's mom was Julia. I think the two of those names together would mean a lot to not only a child but also my family and me.
The great thing about this name is that just a few years ago, I would've cringed if someone mentioned naming a daughter this. It's just so old fashioned.
This is a name that unlike a lot of the ones I love, I wouldn't use for a story character because I want to use it for one of my children someday.

Hattie Jo

Hattie is also a family name. If I remember this right, Hattie was my great-grandpa's cousin but she actually raised him. But don't hold me to that. Either way, I love the name Hattie. Jo is my mom's middle name.

William Lee
William is my great-grandpa's first name, my grandpa's middle name and my little brother's middle name. I also have an uncle with this name as well. So it's definitely a family name. Although, I didn't really start liking this name until I read the Love Comes Softly Series by Janette Oke and loved the Willie character. Now I don't like the name Willie, but love the name Will.

Lucy Louise
Truthfully, I'm not 100% sure who Lucy was, but I know that it's in my family somewhere. Mom would know. And Louise is my grandma's middle name. I think this would be so cute because then she could be LuLu or LouLou. Or LuLou.


Other names I love but didn't make my top list:
Eleanor
Evelyn
Landon
Nathan
Matthias
Ryan

So there ya have it. Ashley's favorite baby names.

Wanna share yours? Do it and leave a comment with the link!

~Ashley

To Die For

Please check out the new blog

I have created with my good friend,

Angelica! It's called To Die For and it is

geared toward teenage girls!

To Die For

A Little Advice

Advice? What am I talking about? Who am I to give advice? Just someone who has gone through this situation and has been disappointed quite a few times.

Wait, what situation?
Let me explain.
But in order to do that, we need to go back about 5 years.

So picture this...I'm 13 years old. I'm in my room. And I have a CD on; bobbing my head and screaming at the top of my lungs.

Any guesses on who I'm listening to? If you know me even a little bit, you'd probably guess The Jonas Brothers.
And you'd be right.

I was 13 when I first heard about the Jonas Brothers. It didn't take me very long to really get into their music and to want to know more about them. When I found out they were Christians, I was ECSTATIC! I can't even explain.

I think the reason I liked that so much was because, since they believed like I did, I thought maybe - oh, just maybe - I could end up marrying one of them. Mostly because I knew there weren't a lot of Christian girls in Hollywood, and they'd probably have to go outside of Hollywood to find a girl.
And I was outside of Hollywood. And a Christian.

I L.O.V.E.D. the Jonas Brothers. Too much, really.

I idolized them. I had hundreds of pictures of them on my computer. I had posters on my wall. All their CDs on my iPod.

So now that you know all of that about me....I'm going to say something about what I've learned from this experience.

First off, you can't expect the people in Hollywood to be perfect. They are going to make mistakes. They are going to get ripped apart because they're in the spotlight 24/7. They aren't perfect, therefore, we have no reason to idolize them.

They are normal people just like you and me. Well, maybe not normal, but you get the point.

I'm not going to lie. I have been disappointed by the three guys that I looked up to more than anyone in the world. I'm only going to touch on why, because being judgmental is something that I need to work on, and I don't want anyone to think I am that way.

One thing that I will touch on, because it REALLY made me disappointed, was Joe's explicit song on his album, Fastlife. I'm still trying to understand this one. How can a professing Christian have an EXPLICIT song on his album? I really don't understand this, and truthfully, I don't think I want to.

Call idolizing what you want: obsession, love. But I think it's just that: idolizing. I used to say I had OJD : Obsessive Jonas Disorder. What the heck was I thinking? Looking back, I realize I was stupid.

As Christians, we need to realize that obsessing over anything but the Lord, and his plan for our lives, is dumb. Plus, we're just going to watch the people that we idolize fall and that will only cause disappointment and anger for the person.

So I don't know. Maybe it's a lesson that every teenager has to learn - to hold someone up on a pedestal and slowly watch them fall. Maybe it's God's way of showing us that they're human and they're going to make mistakes.

My advice to you is: if you're a Christian, prove it. Don't just say it, because talk is cheap. Show people through you ACTIONS that you're a Christian. It's the only way for them to truly know that you are.

Like Blimey cow has said, "If I spend a whole day with you, and I don't know that you're a Christian, you're doing it wrong."

Writing Blog

Go check out my writing blog

HERE

In God We Still Trust

This song is where I got the idea for my blog name. It's a great song.
And should make all of us think!

Growing up . . . and Learning to Be Okay With It

So as of the last few months, I have felt myself growing and turning into someone new. Not the same ol' Ashley that I used to be. I miss her sometimes - the girl who could sit around and do nothing and wished that she had something to do. Wished that she could have a good story plot. A girl who could listen to music all day --- oh wait, I can still do that. False alarm.

But the thing I've been noticing most of all is that THINGS are changing. My brain doesn't work like it used to. With my busy schedule and all that's going on, I don't have time for things that I used to have time for. I don't have time to be on the computer as much, nor do I have time to sit and read a book (unless it's in the evening before bed).

With a few random jobs here and there, and finishing up school, my life is in crazy mode right now. Some days I wish that it would slow down and let me catch up. The end of February is drawing near, and I'm pretty sure that my 18th birthday in November was just here.

Now, unlike before I don't have a lot of time to be on the computer - unless it's for work. I usually get some pleasure computer time sometime during the day but sometimes I just don't feel like being on the computer anymore.

And as for never having story plot ideas when I was younger? Man. Now they come at me like a freight train, one after another. I barely have time to write out the ideas for one before another one comes sauntering into my brain saying, 'hello, please write me down so that someday when you have time maybe you'll think of me and write me'. Too many plot ideas, too little time.

And I've been learning that growing up can also mean growing apart. As I'm learning who I am as a Christian and as a person in the world, I'm also starting to understand that as we grow older we start to lose things that we had when we were children. i.e., favorite people in our lives (people who looked awesome when we were kids, but as we get older we realize how different we truly are. I had this happen with a person that I am related to. She was my role model growing up. Now as I'm a Christian teenager and she's a bit older and not a Christian, I realize that we are completely different) We can also grow apart from friends.


I think growing apart from friends has got to be the hardest thing that can ever happen. Friends are people that we know that we can go to when we're having problems and they'll be on our side, no matter what. Sometimes there's one thing that happens that causes people not to be friends anymore. But sometimes it's gradual and there's no way to stop it. And that just has to be okay.

I'm trying to figure out where I'm going in my life and where God wants me to be. I've been writing a story called A World Without Sound about a girl whose deaf and is trying to find her place in the world. She's been living in the same town, in the same house for all her life - just like me. Truthfully, we are very similar. Of course, there are things about her that are different but I couldn't make my character just like me, could I?

So if you are my friend, please excuse me as I'm still growing. As that one saying goes - I'm still under construction, God isn't finished with me yet. Well, that might not be it word for word but that's the gist of it.

I'm going to try my hardest to let God work in my life the way he sees fit. Even when I don't feel like my life is going the way that I had planned. 'Cause he's got a plan greater than anything that I can even imagine. Wow, I just can't wait to see what it is.

In closing to this blog post, I'm going to post a Brandon Heath song that talks about growing up - and how God is always working in our lives.




~Ashley

#thatawkwardmomentwhen . . .

. . . editing becomes more fun than the actual writing of a story.

Sometimes I hate when my writing process goes this way instead of the other way. Should I try to get more writing done, in place of editing/making a cover for a story that is yet to be finished? Um, yes. I should.

But most of the time, I have a better chance of writing a good story when I already have a good cover. Somehow it helps me put the story into perspective when I see the cover.

For example, when I'm looking for a book to read, I have to like the cover of the book before I pick it up and start reading. I don't know why but covers are important to me.

So making a cover for a World Without Sound will hopefully make it easier for me to have a better story now that I can see what the cover will look like.

I . . . hope.

~Ashley

A World Without Sound cover is copyrighted by AshleyStrawser & HannahLyter.

Wow.

Sometimes life can sure take you for a loop. I guess that's one thing about life - you never know what's going to happen next, or whether or not you'll have the life you had the day before.

Today, my mom woke up just fine, being her normal self. Then all of a sudden, she told me that she couldn't remember things that had been happening in the past week and a half - she didn't remember quitting her job, or taking some tests for her new job as a Disney travel agent. I wasn't sure what was wrong - so I called Dad upstairs to their room, where Mom was laying down.

Dad called my grandparents over - my grandma is a nurse, and they eventually ended up taking her to the hospital forty-five minutes away from our house. Mom has been under a lot of stress lately, and so we're thinking that it might be related to that.

Please be in prayers for her. My mom is my best friend. If this wasn't her, she'd be the one that I was talking to about what was going on.

Right now, she's at the hospital. My grandpa called and said that they had taken her back to a room, but they haven't heard anything since then.

I turned on Christian music, and am letting that soothe me while I'm praying for and thinking of my mom. One song came up, though, that seriously made me stop in my tracks, and I think that it was played just for me.

/