Hi Everyone! I haven't updated in over a month. Finals are going on now, I have two on Tuesday and two on Wednesday and then I'm going to Philly with Meg my roommate for a few days. Also, we're stopping in NY city for a night! Nice!

Last night, walking home from the gym, which is quite a ways from my dorm, I was thinking about the cold and how much I hate it. I hate it a lot, and I think about that each day when I walk outside, sometimes more than once or twice a day. Finally, I have found the answer and I suspect that God has provided it. I was looking in the snow and I thought I saw a paw print. Paw prints are my favorite things to find in nature, besides little baby lost animals (which I've only found once before and that was a raccoon that my mom made me release the next day). When I was younger I would get all bundled up in the winter and take my dog Rocky outside to our woods in Illinois. Rocky and I would run around and slide down the hills and find deer tracks and sometimes deep poop and have a really good time until I got way too cold to keep going. So I thought, "What the heck is keeping me from enjoying the winter season just as much as I did when I was 10???" And then I realized that the only difference is that I no longer inconvenience myself by putting on enough layers to stay warm. Therefore, my defeat over winter is inevitable, all I have to do it take 5-10 more minutes each morning to dress in enough layers! It was literally an epiphany moment for me, and it made my night! Now, I can be happy year round, since it seems I am stuck here in Boston suburbs for the next two and half years, of which one entire year will be spent in weather below 32 degrees. God is soooo good! I have been praying that He would change the weather. Halfway into the cold months I realized that God wanted to give the weather to some people because some people are born to love God's creation of winter. I am not one of those people but I think God is saying that all I need is a little adjusting, just like some people need a little adjusting to the heat in the warm months. Well, now that I've realized it, I will be a very happy girl.

Praise God!

this was on Halloween, it is my winter coat, which I love

my roommates and I getting ready for our homecoming "Highschool Cliche" dance

Liz and Molly (Megan's little sister) outside before the dance. They went as dorks. I love this picture!

xoxo-ashley

omgosh i am such a zombie right now. It's like 7am and we stayed up too late for this. i have to work at 8 at Express. Heh, i do feel its best to have a sense of humor about these things sometimes. I learned how to knit. is knitting big out there in the rest of the world? because it is pretty much the rage here at Gordon. I am knitting my mom a scarf and it's navy blue, she can only wear cotton and no wool, so that left me one choice of yarn in the Abbott Yarn Shop in Beverly, MA. It was the cutest place run by an ancient old lady who couldn't hear very well and used a wooden cash register. she does not take credit cards, just cash or checks. and on her cash register was a stone, like the smooth ones in MI, that said "Remember to Pray." God is so good. Who could live without Him, NO ONE! There is no God like Jehovah!

Caitlyn, one of my best friends from home, is driving the hour and a half to visit me tonight and she's sleeping over. I have great friends. Megan, one of my roommates, is going to clean the room and she will be here tonight because she wants to meet Caitlyn. I couldn't ask for better friends, they care so much.

Ryan bought be something and he won't tell me what it is. I want it right now and I dont even think it's arrived in Iraq for him to ship it here. Waiting.....waiting...... I am so bad with surprises. Every time we talk I think i bug him to tell me what it is. This time, i really have no idea. I could guess, but I won't.

I'm not sure if I think this Xanga was a good one or not, remember what I said about being a zombie?  Okay, peace joy love like a river mountain ocean!

XoXoXo Ashley

So here's my update for Xanga, gosh it's been a while

We rearranged our room and it looks awesome. It looks like a child's room because the beds are all like different levels and we're kind of on top of each other. Megan's bed is halfway underneath Liz's.

My roommate Liz was really sick for a while, but she's better than ever now!

I went to a revival thing at Harvard on Sunday. A woman named Heidi Baker spoke and it was so amazing. She's on the internet and stuff because she has a really amazing ministry. The night brought my focus back onto Jesus and helped me realize that nothing else matters than Him, that there is nothing besides Him. Now it's just a matter of letting him put things back into perspective for me, I guess I didn't realize how far away I was but I'm glad to be Home again.

Ryan's doing okay, he misses me and I miss him and that's life. He calls once a week usually, sometimes twice. Tough stuff out there, what an extreme environment. Spring break is getting closer and closer.

I ordered my Christmas cards last night! Yes, Christmas is almost here!!!

Okay everyone. I love you all

Ashley

So my last entry was just a map of Iraq. Sorry for no explanation, I don't know how much I'm supposed to say. Anyways, I haven't updated for a while but I have a quick one today. Ryan is pretty good, he calls at least every other day! We don't always get to talk for very long, sometimes I'm going to a meeting or he has things to do. Some wives don't hear from their husbands very much, I am blessed by one who wants to talk :) By the way, this is pretty much all about Ryan, this update I mean. Sorry, I will have to do another one sometime soon. Well, my prayers have been that his mid-tour leave will be when I do not have school so that we can spend the two weeks together. He heard that the date the put in for him, which I pray will be approved, is March 3rd. My spring break goes from March 4th-12th!!! Can you believe it! God is SO REAL and SO GOOD! Ryan doesn't have any say in when his leave will happen, so I pray and hope that this date will really be the one! Praise God, that is awesome!!

Now i'm off to start two new classes: Christian Perspectives on Communication and Sociological Perspectives. I think I am going to declare Social Work as my major. Okay! I love everyone of you :)

XOXO