bringing holiday cheer!

This is probably my favorite time of the year (besides my birthday) I'm a big birthday lover! But there is something about this time of year... the leaves changing, the smell outside, the weather... it's the most wonderful time of the year! As soon as Halloween is over the Christmas music comes out (I'll sometimes even do a little sneak preview of Christmas music before then)- yes I'm one of those people. I've recently discovered this awesome radio station that plays the best Christmas music and Luke and I listened to it all the way from Arkansas to Tulsa the other day... that equals a great road trip and an automatic good mood! I thought in honor of getting super excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas and my music listening I've been doing lately that I'd blog about it. I'm thinking about doing a fun countdown when December 1st comes and changing my playlist (see below) to chritmas music, but for now here is to the great holidays coming up! I love getting into the holiday spirit! Cheers!

Callin' the HOGS!

This past weekend Luke and I made a trip to Arkansas to hang out with his family and go to a Razorback game. We both really wanted to go to a game and finally found a great time to go and it worked out even more perfectly thanks to our great friends Seth and Chelsea for the tickets!! It was so great to be back in Fayetteville and it brought back so many good memories. I loooove football and the smell of tailgating! It gives you this exciting feeling when your at a college football game, I don't know what it is, but I love it! We hope to one day be able to purchase season tickets and be able to go to alot more games. It felt weird going back as an alumni and not as a student... it made me miss being in college so much! Here are a few pictures from the game! Hope everyone had a great weekend.

I love when the band comes out before the game starts.... and this guy runs out right as the drums start getting faster. I'm not sure if he has a name or not, but I love this!

Trick or Treat

I hope everyone has a great Halloween weekend! Eat lots of candy, I know I will..... yummmm!!

Halloween

Luke and I finally made our way to the pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect pumpkin to carve! Last year we had a blast doing this.... we made dinner, listened to some good music and carved pumpkins! Last year we were creative and did our pumpkins free hand... Luke carved a scary pumpkin face and I did a peace sign (of course)! This year we decided to use templates that came with our cutting kit. Luke chose a scary skull and I did a wicked witch. We always have so much fun doing this and it's a great way to be creative and festive together! Here are a few pictures of our pumpkin carving date...

Before carving our masterpieces!

Luke doing a little pattern matching and me carving!

And the results.... Drum role please!!!

Ta-Da! This picture was taken at night with my flash on and it doesn't give the full effect.... but when there in the dark, lit up they look awesome!

Happy Halloween everyone! Love: Luke and Ashley

Jesus hates religion...

I know the title seems a little far out there, but hear me out! Our pastor at church is doing a series over this right now and today was the first day of it. You can also checkout this website that is connected with the Church at Battlecreek to learn more about the sermons and comment on what religion means to you (www.jesushatesreligion.com). Our pastor made many great points about how people react with talking about religion and talking about God and I couldn't agree more... if you're having a conversation with someone and you start talking about God most likely people want to turn there head and have no part in the discussion... if you start talking about religion it makes others feel a little more comfortable. Why is that? My opinion about religion is that it has become so "clicky" there are all these different groups and beliefs and lists of things you should do and not do. I think religion has stirred so far away from what it's really about and thats Jesus... he is the only one that can lead you through the walk of a believer, he is the only one who is perfect! When you get so caught up in "religion" I think you get confused about what exactly it is you believe in, who exactly your living your life for. I think people who say my religion is ___ and I believe it "SO THAT" I'll get to heaven is all wrong... I think people who say I'm a believer and I believe because he is the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6) are two completely different things. I know this might sound a little confusing, but I've been talking to Luke about it and when I say it to him I feel like I'm making sense, but now that I'm writing it I'm like wow that sounds really confusing. I'm still trying to fully understand the difference, but just something to get you thinking a little... leave me a comment, I want to hear what you think. And look for more posts to come about the "Jesus hates religion" series my pastor is doing!

crooked paths

There has been a lot going on lately.... it's one of those chapters in your life that you'd like to skip over. I know later on down the road going through all of this is only going to make me stronger, but its tough! Luke and I have been having countless conversations just about everything. It has been a daily struggle lately to have faith. Some days are better than others... and then there are those days that you feel like you're all alone and you don't know whats going to happen. We've been graduated for 4 months now, the job market hasn't gotten any better and it's hard to stay focused and positive. I've been reading in Proverbs lately and it talks about having wisdom and trusting in God. One of my favorite verses is:

Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

Right now I feel like I'm on all sorts of crooked paths... I feel lost at times honestly. Confused about what it is that God wants me to do with my life and where he wants me to be. When I read this verse this time it spoke to me differently with everything I have going on in my life right now. I know it's easy to get frustrated and to sometimes not see the picture of God's plans for us, but theres absolutley nothing I can do except trust in him and leave my worries in his hands and he will straighten my paths for me.

My own father is a great example of someone who has never stopped trusting in God. He was without a job for about 8 months and had all of the stresses of how to provide for his family and get bills and everything else taken care of weighing down on his shoulders. I know my dad had tough days, but you never heard about them and you couldn't tell if it was a bad day or not. He is such a hard worker, as well as my mom.... they both will do anything for my brothers, sister, and I. But both of my parents trusted in God 100% to provide and take care of us and that's exactly what God did... he provided for my family and on those days that our paths seemed crooked he straightened them and gave us hope when it was much needed! Yes 8 months is a very long time, but God has a reason for everything.

This has been a long post, but it feels good to journal about this... There are bad days and it's hard to deal with them sometimes... but in the end God is always going to be there for us and he's always going to straighten our paths out, we just have to trust in him! And he has perfect timing for everything. Hang in there Luke... we're going to get through this (together). And we're going to look back in 10 years and probably laugh. =)Take a deep breath and runnnnnnnn! Life gets crazy, but be thankful for each day he gives us!

tulsa bound!

2 weeks ago Luke made the big move to Tulsa! After lots of prayer and 2 months of being apart we have both felt that God was calling us to Tulsa (for the time being). Luke has never lived anywhere outside of Northwest Arkansas so this is a pretty big deal and I tried to make the move as comfortable and exciting as possible! I think he likes it so far and he's only an hour and a half away from his country life of (fishing, hunting, etc.) It won't be long though till he gets Tulsa figured out a little better and finds those outdoor places here to run to!!! I am so excited he is here and it won't be long till he loves it and calls it home (it will just take some getting used to). I am so excited to see what God has planned for both of us and I feel like now we can really pursue what that is now that he's here! I had to take a picture by a Tulsa sign! I was such a mom on the whole way down... I went to Arkansas to help him pack up his car and mine and so the whole way down I was snapping pictures of him! He'll appreciate it them one day and be glad I took them. Love you Luke!