you have redeemed my soul...

you have redeemed my soul
from the pit of emptiness
you have redeemed my soul
from death

i was a hungry child
i was a dried up river
i was a burned out forest
and no one could do anything for me

but you put food in my body
water in my dry bed
and to my blackened branches
you brought the spring time green of new life

and nothing is impossible for you

-waterdeep

i first heard this song from a friend of mine when she was going through a really hard time
i have loved it ever since
it is simple but speaks volumes at the same time
thank you Jesus for your redemption

leah michelle

"let me tell you 'bout a girl i know..." i have a ray charles song playing in my head as i sit here thinking about the wonderful lady who's birthday it is today

my wonderful sister leah is celebrating the start of a new year

people get confused when i talk about leah, because i always say "my sister... " whenever i mention something about leah or something that we have done together. and then people say "you have a sister?" "ya, she's married to josh..." and then they look at me funny, like either josh is actually an inlaw and they never understood that, or my siblings married each other (ha!) or i'm just crazy and don't know what i'm talking about

but, (like leah mentioned at my wedding) we are no in laws. we are sisters! through and through. and i am so thankful.

if you want to know many different reasons why leah is wonderful, read my moms blog because it is filled with many of the wonderful things about leah!

i just wanted to write about how much i love my sister, and how i am so thankful for her. i am grateful for every time we've laughed together, and cried together. i have learned so much from her especially in the past year.

i can also say, that i'm glad leah likes me as well, and liked me when she first met me. i can't even remember how many notes i wrote her full of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and nonsense. i was definitely 14. :)

so, at the beginning of this new year i am lifting my sister up to Jesus, thanking Him for all that he has carried us through in the last year, and thanking him for not leaving us. i'm excited about a new year with leah, finding new things to learn, hearing new kindergarten stories, talking about Jay, grocery shopping (because one day we decided that would be a fun thing for us to do together, especially one day when we're both moms at home with kids!), new life, walks at the lake, text messages, christmas, and maybe even some more karaoke...

happy birthday sist, princess, L-michelle... my wonderful sister leah!

love, ash, pump, pumpy, pumpkin...

metaphor for joy

leah sent this to me today, and i really liked it
so enjoy:

Trust. gratitude. inspiration. Friday

I think the beauty of twinkle lights is the perfect metaphor for joy.

Joy is not a constant. It comes to us in moments - often ordinary moments.
Sometimes we miss out on the bursts of joy because we're too busy chasing down the extraordinary moments. Other times we're so afraid of the dark that we don't dare let ourselves enjoy the light.

A joyful life is not a floodlight of joy. That would eventually become unbearable.

I believe a joyful life is made up of joyful moments gracefully strung together by trust, gratitude, and inspiration.

-- Brene Brown

accident

i'm home sick with my cold again
i sit underneath an air conditioner vent at work.. so i hope that this cold won't happen more than once this summer.

i left work early so that i can get some sleep, and at confusion corner i witnessed an accident
the light turned green, and the two cars a head of me started to drive through the intersection
then this little red car decided to keep driving through the RED light

they hit the truck so hard that it lost a chunk of its bumper and did more than a 360, after the car hit the truck it then hit the side of another car

all because he decided he could go even though it was red
it just made me so mad
those other drivers were just going about their normal day and then that one person decided that they were in more of a rush than everyone else and changed the whole course of their day
i think that everyone was ok, i saw the people that were in the car/truck that got hit, and they were both ok, although i wasn't sure about the one that went through the red light.

i hope that everyone was ok and that that person learned to just take life a little slower and to be more careful.

now i'm off to take a long nap.