Embrace The adventure.

I haven’t taken the time to blog in a very long time, but I found this would be the perfect opportunity to get back to it  On November 5 th while visiting for a London church conference my boyfriend, Kaspar, asked me to be his wife! ..but since I haven’t blogged in a while, allow me to rewind back a while back..way back.. In 2005 (10 years ago. Wow, I’m getting old.) before my senior year of highschool, a family I babysat for had asked me to be their summer nanny in Finland. I agreed and off I went. While in Finland, I also got the opportunity to visit Stockholm, Sweden and Tallinn, Estonia. I remember walking the old town streets and thinking how life would be to live in a place like these, or even the faint thought of falling in love with a stranger in a foreign place, but I absolutely knew for sure that Europe was of no interest to me. People were different and at the time I was too selfish to notice how unusual I must have been to them.. Flash forward two years,...

Today I went running (this is not normal..lol..pray for my consistency).. anyway, I was thinking about a lesson I heard this morning with a point about being comfortable (you can see how running inspired this reflection)...then a light bulb went off in my head.. God will never put me in a position of comfort because it results in complacency.   Life has absolutely been an uncomfortable adventure thus far. I was thinking about all the different places I've had the opportunity to live, and I can't think of one place where I would have chosen to live with comfort being the priority on my mind. I have been forced to grow and stretch in areas I didn't even realize I had issues with.  I remember growing up, my parents chose to move our family from Arizona to Michigan and then to Oklahoma. I remember these being the most uncomfortable changes I had ever felt. New friends, new cultures, new everything. Arizona was my first comfort zone and I had dreamt of the...

  Andra Månad i Sverige :) (Start of the 2nd month) More pictures to tell of my life these past couple weeks.. I have no idea what this is still.. Yoojin, a friend from class, made us authentic Korean food Our Swedish Class In return, we made Yoojin 'Merican food ;p Largest candy bar ever. Walt made it to Sweden!! Glas (Ice cream) and sightseeing First Starbucks Trip in Sweden Chokladbullar och carmel macchiato :) (Btw they don't really sell ICED coffee anywhere else besides starbucks) Bold as a lion --subtle reminders in the tunnelbannan double rainbow all the way :p Until later, Ash

Michelle and Erik's engagement: I'm so grateful I was able to take part in an evening to remember. It all started with a walk through the graveyard..lol..No, I'm not kidding. Erik has noble ancestors and we decided to go check out their cool graves :) Then we walked by the water and headed to dinner. The restaurant was called Ulla Win Bladh It was some of the best food I've ever had: veal and caviar  Biff Rydberg med rå äggula aka beef, potatoes, egg, and pure awesomeness. Argo and Anu agreed the food was amazing ;) My company for the night :)   Then right before desert, Erik had champagne delivered to the table; Michelle's glass had a ring in the bottom of it...  the moment we all were waiting for She said yes!  It was a great night and a great time of celebration. We ended the evening with a prayer overlooking the water accompanied by some ducks.  I wish I had gotten more pictures, but the eve...

A few pictures from Skokloster Castle, a 1600's castle in Sweden :)  I'm not much of a history person, but my hearts been converted recently. There's so much to learn in this culture.

Day 11 i Sverige ..a few recent photos :)  (This has got to be the most boring job) This past Saturday we celebrated Kaspar and Erik's birthdays :) great food and people.                                                    Wow, I really love it here. If you would have asked me 10 years ago where I would be and what I would be doing, I had it allll wrong. It's only been a little shy of two weeks and I definitely feel at home in Sweden-- It's difficult for me to put in words, but there's no greater feeling than knowing you're exactly where you should be (which is, I believe, where ever God places you). Argo did a lesson today about changing our hearts to have the mind of Christ; it's really amazing to see how my mind and heart have been changed from a stubbornness in my own plans to em...