"Pirates" pictures coming soon!

Kittens!

Very late on Easter night, five sweet kittens were born! Curio is (once again) a wonderful mama, and is enjoying her precious new babies. We haven't named them yet, but there are three tigers and two blacks. They are extremely small, since they were premature. Hopefully I'll have a little photo shoot tomorrow and get the announcement pictures posted soon. :)

When I told daddy I had news for him on Monday morning, he immediately asked, "Am I a grandpa again?"

Love,
ashley

from "Don't Waste Your Life" by john piper

"... it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil.1:20,21)

Notice verse 20: "It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed." Stop here just a moment. Shame is that horrible feeling of guilt or failure when you don't measure up before people whose approval you want very much. It's what the little child feels in the Christmas program when he forgets his lines, and the tears well up, and the silence seems eternal, and the other kids snicker brutally. I remember these horrible times...
What then is the opposite of shame? It's when the child remembers the lines and hears the applause... The opposite of being shamed is being honored. Yes, usually. But Paul was a very unusual person. And Christians ought to be very unusual people. For Paul, the opposite of being shamed was not his being honored, but Christ's being honored through him. "It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that... Christ will be honored in my body."
What you love determines what you feel shame about. If you love for men to make much of you, you will feel shame when they don't. But if you love for men to make much of Christ, then you will feel shame when He is belittled on your account. And Paul loved Christ more than anything or anyone. "Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." (Phil.3:7-8).
Whenever something is of tremendous value to you, and you cherish its beauty or power or uniqueness, you want to draw others' attention to it and waken in them the same joy. That is why Paul's all-consuming goal in life was for Christ to be magnified. Christ was of infinite value to Paul, and so Paul longed for others to see and savor this value. That is what it means to magnify Christ - to show the magnitude of His value.

Fun Memory

This was Corrie, Me, and Becky during last year's Fine Linen production! "Prince and the Pauper" was so much fun, and we've added many new friends to the group since then. The Lord is wonderful to bless our lives with dear friends such as these!

Shopping Trip ~ enjoy!

You know the expression "shop 'til you drop"? Here's a good example.

Pouting Models...

...what happened to their arms?

Keeping track of purchases.

Her head is too big.

Stephanie Anne!!

mmhhmmm ...

wild and crazy

Our lovely mama, my most special girlfriend.

Please Come!

Updates coming...

Hey everyone out there! I do have some amazing pictures from our shopping trip that will get posted very soon, and I am also taking my camera to youth group tonight (just for fun). So keep checking back!
Because of His great love,
Ashley Lou