Embrace The adventure.

Congratulations!!! So first of all, I'm so excited for you! I can't wait to watch your pretty face walk down the isle to the man God has placed you with! Secondly, I wanted to share some of the things that helped me during my engagement and wedding planning time! (obviously my suggestions may not be relevant for everyone's situation, but I hope they are helpful <3 ) He popped the question! Now what?..   Get a lot of advice from your ministry leaders/disciplers- They will help you tremendously from making rash decisions. Because my husband and I lead a campus ministry in Sweden, it was important for us to balance ministry and planning, so what worked for us was meeting once a week in the morning to go through any updated plans for the wedding and spent the rest of the week focused on ministry. This also helps in the area of purity so your mind is guarded from thinking about wedding stuff and each other all the time. Lets be real, satan is there for...

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.