AP: Hello All!!!!!

Ashton writes:

Hey everyone!

How are y'all doing? I hope everyone is well! It has certainly been a long time since I wrote last and I apologize for not writing like I said I would. Now that the pace of life has changed I am hoping that I will be able to write weekly updates. I am also going to start sending out weekly emails telling some stuff I have been learning in the prayer room and in class. So if you would like to be on the weekly email list, email me at my old email address or my mom's email address and I will be sure to add you to the list. However I will be posting these on this blog.

Okay, so quick update on how we are. As most of you probably know, our house sold 12 days after we put it on the market. We got full asking price, we didn't have to pay all of the closing costs, we got to keep our new fridge we like, and we got to live there from Dec. 19th to Jan. 8th rent free. God is so good. He ALWAYS takes care of his children.

Then we were worried how we were going to be able to do Christmas, OneThing, my birthday, and move all before Jan. 8th. But again God provided. After Christmas we went to the OneThing conference out in Kansas City. It was fabulous. God showed himself and moved in powerful ways. The couple of days after the conference my parents stayed to look for housing. (They had taken us during lunch one day to see the outsides of 3 different houses but they went to see the insides) Because we were new to the area and didn't really know where we wanted to live, they decided to rent a house 0.4 miles from the prayer room. It is a great house. So when they got back to Georgia we had 3 days to pack EVERYTHING. And I mean everything. But thankfully we had the help of some fabulous people. Thank you so much to everyone who helped us pack and load the Uhaul. We couldn't have done it without you. In fact, we might still be there packing if we didn't have any help! You guys were so helpful. Thank you for sacrificing your time to help us prepare to move. We thought that we were going to get everything in the biggest Uhaul and a trailer but we were wrong. Even though we had gone through and gotten rid of a lot of things we needed a second of the biggest Uhauls. God surprises us in many ways.

We drove on Friday, January 9th, my birthday. But thankfully I have a great family who made the day very special for me even though I was in a car the whole day. We had stopped in the McDonald's parking lot in Cartersville to regroup and take a bathroom break before the trip. I decided to go in and ask a worker if I could get anything for free because it was my 17th birthday and I was moving to Missouri. She gave me a sample special coffee drink! I thought that was very funny. When we got to Missouri on Saturday, Daddy called Jules Tompkins, a great friend we know from church, to get some of his friends in Kansas City to help us get the large pieces of furniture into the new house. About 6 of his friends came over after church to help carry the furniture. That was a huge blessing because by that day we had been carrying things for 3 days and my arms were beginning to give out.

We started Intro on Monday the 12th so we really didn't get time to unpack. But the next Monday we had off so we unpacked a lot of boxes! My room actually looks like a real room now! YEAH! This is our schedule: On Tues-Fri we go to a class in the morning and the prayer room in the afternoon. We have cell group on Wednesday night. It is so much fun! Then on Fri and Sat nights we go to the prayer room during the day and to the EGS (Encountering God Services-you can watch these online for free at www.ihop.org) On Sun we go to serve with the 2-4 yeare olds, go to church, and spend the afternoons in the prayer room. We get Mondays off as our day of Sabbath. This is our day of rest. If you want to call us, we will be available all day Monday. You can get us during the week but it is a little more tricky to reach us.

It has also snowed 3 times! The snow never really goes away. It just clumps into huge, dirty, ice blobs on the side of the road and in the yards. But the first time it snowed it Mallory and I got to play in it but not for long. It was -5 degrees and -19 degrees with the windchill! It was soooooo...... cold! Now it is in the 20s when we get up and in the 30s for a high. It is strange but I am beginning to think that it is warm! I never thought that I would say the 20s were warm!

Well, we've been here 3 weeks. It is so hard to believe that much time has gone by. It seems like it has only been a week or so. So many good things have happened to us. But I will write about what I've learned in my next post so you will come back to read more. :) If you would like to send us letters, email us and we will send you our address. We hope to be sending out a news letter soon which will have our address on it as well. We will put pictures on the blog as soon as we figure out how. It will probably be within the next couple of weeks. Well, I guess I will write another entry later. Talk to you soon!

Love ya!

His forever,
Ashton :)