Mittens :)

I do so love my new mittens!  They are my first mittens I have ever knit and they were super easy!  You can check out the free pattern here.  Knitting has never been my most favorite thing to do - mostly 

I think it's because I have never truly learned how to knit in the round... so basically everything I make is either a scarf... or something I knitted flat and cheated by crocheting together :)  

I think the most annoying thing about making things in pairs is that once you finish one it is super exciting - but then you have another whole one to make... worst...

I hope you enjoy the pictures of my nubby mittens and they inspire you to make them like they had inspired me!

starting to make a dent in my large stash of needlepoint yarn!

honestly, who knew that this weird shape would turn into a mitten!!

I haven't decided if I will call them my watermelon or strawberry mittens yet... but who nicknames mittens after summer fruit anyways...

So my hair is getting crazy long!  It's at the point where if I am sitting it pretty much touches the seat.  I am beginning to question if I am one of those weird long haired people... I think I may have to go in for a trim soon....

while this photo was being taken kyle was throwing snowballs at me... thanks bud!

Loving this song right now -- 

yours till the crow flies or the flies crow :)

ashleigh

He is faithful :)

well friends it finally happened - I finally hiked the trinket trail! I have pretty much been wanting to do this for years and now I can say I have done it!

The trail was pretty much like walking through a child's dream  - everything was beatiful and green and then you would see these toys and random trinkets along the trails edge like little friends coming out of the forest to say hello and wave :) Here are some pics of ones that I stopped for - hiking and taking pictures did not always work... but it did kinda remind me of the scene in yes man when they do running photography!

so many cute ponies :)

it's about this point in my hike when I pretty much just lost all desire to keep going.  I allowed something to come and just steal all my joy... and I had to continue on just unhappy and half crying... (hiking+crying=sooo embarrassing...)  At one point I just started praying Jesus you need to come and just change my attitude and I felt Him tell me that I just needed more of Him in me - and then I felt like yelling "Well how do I do that!"

 

So I slowly continued on... and I just kept repeating the name of Jesus - each step just saying Jesus, Jesus, Jesus and I just so desperately needed more of Him in me. So I keep going and a song pops into my head and the lyric is "You are hope and joy, love and peace and light" and those were all the things I needed! so I kept going and asking Jesus I need your hope, Jesus I need your joy, Jesus I need your love and your peace and your light.

 

As I am hiking Jesus starts using each of my friends to show me His character - one friend would try to make me laugh telling me stories, another giving hope in encouraging words and by the time we stopped for a rest Jesus had fully given me more of Him - His hope, joy, love, peace and light - He just changed the whole experience.  He is just so glorious!

 

At this moment I start getting excited for my post hike candy - usually I need something to make me excited to finish and so I leave candy in the car to give me motivation to finish strong :)

 

we pretty much made quick work of these jujubes!

 

so just to encourage you when times are rough - He is so faithful!

 

happy trails - Ashleigh

Needlework a new addiction!

Hello friends - just wanted to share some more pictures of my newest embroidery creation - this one for sure has much more colour :)  This weekend I hope to get working on my first tapestry project! Since I have loads of yarn now it will be fun to play around and learn some new things.  I also have a few of my own embroidery patterns I hope to share with you soon - I am really excited about them :)

oh, itsn't it just lovely :)

Check out all the Anna Maria Horner fabric that I just added to my stash - maybe I have more than one addiction... but colours are just so beautiful to me!

I just had a night of just soaking in worship and it just put peace and joy back in me after a few days of just feeling a little sick and drained and left me feeling happy and relaxed

The Lord your God is in your midst,

    a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness;

    he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

Jesus knows me and sees me - I'm the one that He wants

He rejoices in you - come and rejoice in Him

Jesus your love is so beautiful!

yours till the kitchen sinks

ashleigh

My new bible cover!

oh how I love to create things that have no real purpose except to make my life more colourful!  So after recently getting a new bible it was time to make a cover for it - I chose one of my favorite amy butler fabrics - so much fun!

its kinda humungous haha

don't they just look like they can be best friends!

hmm... maybe I should have tidied up the threads before taking the pictures haha...

Tonight I had a wonderful dinner with some friends and we were sharing about our lives and I was reliving some of my ywam memories and when I got home my old ywam journal caught my eye and I started reading it and wow!

haha if you know me I love colouring with crayons!

the pages were filled with a passion to know God more and to see how I was ready to change the world - to go to the nations - to just go - to share his love that was over filling me.

This is what I read in one of my entries - my faith should never be called something boring! It should be exhilarating!  It allows me to interact with the creator of EVERYTHING - so I will continue to seek out challenges and pursue a great God on a wild adventure

Now, after reading through all those entries I can remember just how much my life was forever changed - reading so many prayers that I had and seeing God answer them over the years and being reminded of the things I still need to keep praying into.  Re-reading that journal was like getting a hug from a really old friend :)

be safe, be healthy, be happy

ashleigh

Delightful :)

Hello Friends - today I attempted my first try at embroidery! and I loved it!  at first I thought man this is going to take forever but I actually finished it in one sitting! 

It is very cute and girly - I think it would look super cute in a little girls room :)

"delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" Psalm 37:4

I think it's really easy when we read this verse to think - If I am good and if I make God happy then I will get everything I want - If I am not getting what I want then God must not take any delight in me or I would have everything... It's really easy to make the whole verse about us.  About me.

But really I think if we look to God and enjoy Him  and focus on Him - then He will place wonderful, beautiful, purpose-filled desires in our heart that He will fulfill!

There are so many desires I am waiting on God for but I so want my heart cry to be that I want Him more than my desires.  When I look to God alone everything else fades and I am satisfied in Him

and remember He delights in you too - Zeph. 3:17

Good thing it was bright enough out for me to transfer the patter this morning!

aren't the little hearts the cutest :)

I also spent some time organizing all my embroidery floss - almost full!

May blessings and smiles be yours 

good night

ashleigh

Christmas crafts :)

Some of my Christmas crafts this year!

The crafting season started out with button trees - I made about 25 of these pretty babies for all my amazing volunteers :)

This mason jar of goodies had last years Christmas craft of a crocheted star and a fun dish cloth - if I was at a gift exchange this year this is what I was bringing!

This pretty cozy I made for my mom this year - super simple but super cute!

My dad's gift took a bit of more effort - I transferred pictures onto wood and glued felt to the bottom so now they are coasters - I wasn't too sure if they would actually work but they have so far through the whole Christmas season!

Hope you had a fun filled Christmas surrounded by family and friends and that Jesus met you there

Blessings 

Ashleigh 

advent - week two - peace :)

oh the peace week of advent... haha I for sure felt like this was a week to be praying that I would feel some peace this week - but there is another kind of peace we can have, and that is the peace that Jesus gives us :)

Matthew 3:1-6

3 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” ³ This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

    make straight paths for him.’”

⁴ John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist.His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶ Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

When I read this it reminds me to repent and sometimes I feel like this is a scary word to people, and and when they hear it they can picture someone standing on a soap box with a mega phone yelling "Repent now and save your soul"

Really, repentance I think is a discipline that we forget - or think doesn't apply to us, but I think it really is a beautiful thing because it brings us closer to Jesus.  I often even forget the importance of repenting, there was once a time in my life where it was a daily activity and I wouldn't go for longer than a day with unforgiveness or any sin because I just wanted every minute to be closer to Jesus. But things get busy, I forget, my heart becomes hard and I tell myself that it wasn't really gossip what I just said to my friend, I pretend that tv show I watch doesn't cause me to lust after things I don't have, and that when my feelings are hurt it is ok to hold that person in my debt until I want to forgive them... these things build up and our heart get's hard and we lose that peace, and we realize we can't hear that still small voice, because there is no room...

... but Jesus changes everything...

Jesus was born, died on the cross - such a crazy/beautiful act of love - and was resurrected!

The kingdom of God is here, yet is still coming.

All repenting really means is to in prayer confess the things that have caused us to stray away from Jesus, and ask forgiveness, and to choose to turn towards Jesus.  

It causes us to humble ourselves, and surrender our control over at the foot of the cross - both quite challenging things - but when we pray and humble ourselves, seek Jesus and turn from our ways the bible says that Jesus will hear and forgive us! With this forgiveness that can only come from Jesus comes peace.

Spend a minute or two and think about the peace Jesus brings through His life, death and resurrection 

So during this crazy time to you have peace?  

oh and here are some fun pics of my week :)

smiles and blessings

ashleigh