hello to those who read…
the littles are in bed after a day designed to provide the kind of tired that only comes from the summer….some how it is just different in the summer…

so a funny…i posted the other day on my fb status that i was taking on a favorite laundry mini-shoot with my two kids and their two friends…asking if i had lost my mind….clearly i had, but all worked out no thanks to all of you sweet friends and your oh so funny comments ha!!….mini-van full in the middle with kids, in the back with camera and clothes…. one little is a VERY special friend for almost a year now…t.m….she is logan’s favorite person on the planet i think…and has been since the first day they rode the bus together…awwwww…and actually the first time we met her we found out that she also had three other siblings…and mia’s new friend was one of them….and we asked “can we take her with us too?”…how fun….so we have had several outings together and i think they are beautiful….so you know what that means….nikon….portrait lense…heaven….for me anyway!!

and so i share…a peak of favorite laundry’s spring line 2010…reworked fabric, remember?….i am trying to be so very efficient around here as to make all the business minds involved happy….hmmmm…..
so here goes…our special friends…and some new clothes…
p.s. i think i would have gotten more and better pictures if i was not keeping up with four kids all around the same age…while changing clothes in the parking lot….after having promised ice cream…you think? ok FB people you win…you were right…

until next time…my soul has a resting place….
all of my love to my people…you know who you are….yeah you….

hello to those who read…
good morning to new lurkers and old….please go back and ready love story parts 1 & 2 so that you aren’t reading the end of the novel first…you just can’t skip to the end- sweetly said from one who hates surprises…

so …if someone were to describe you one of two ways would it be that you take risks or that you don’t…cautious? or do you have more than your fair share of guts? i am most definately a guts person…
i will weigh the consequences, the benefits, and make a decision…i usually don’t change my mind…

well ruth had guts…naomi too but ruth is the one that put feet to what naomi told her to do….

the ashley summary of ruth 3?

so naomi decides it is high time that ruth found somewhere else to live and what that meant was she needed to get married…so naomi suggested boaz of course…so she told her to take a bath and go to the “threshing floor” where boaz would be by himself separating the grain from the stalk. boaz would be asleep at some point there as well….so naomi told her to wait until he was asleep and then creep in, uncover his feet, and lie down …of course she startled him when she got to her resting spot….evidently “uncover his feet and lie down” means something forward in Bible times, but appropriate….hmmmmm

boaz promptly asked who she was and she replied…she was his servant ruth…further she asked him to “spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman redeemer”…he went on to say that he would do whatever she asked of him and he also offered his blessings to her…along with more food…people…this was a woman who knew what she wanted and asked it of him…

this to me is a true picture of God’s provision as well…we ask him to cover us with his protection and while he does it may not always be the way we have asked… he is sovereign…how i wish that was one of the easier parts of christianity! don’t you??

there are a few points demonstrated here….love is patient, love protects, love is pure, love provides, and love has a price….all of these things describe not only what boaz offered ruth but also what our Savior offers to us…

there is a word in Hebrew that encompasses all of these things…..HESED…meaning love, kindness, grace, loyalty, & goodness….one word takes care of all of this together….amazing…describes God to perfection.

my prayer is that we will see HESED through each of our life journeys….we CAN travel with a lighter load knowing that these are the things that are ultimately offered to each and every one of God’s children….

we are probably all familiar with Proverbs 31…a portrait through words of a christian woman right? our pastor mentioned that the original order of the Bible might have been …the chapter of provers and then ruth…and really it makes perfect sence that proverbs 31 was probably talking about ruth

i used to pray this passage inserting and personalizing …

paraphrasing starting with v.10….(i knew you would ask- lol)
God make me a wife of noble character…
and worth far more than rubies..
God help my husband to have full confidence in me and i want to lack nothing of value…
Help me to bring him good and not harm all the days of my life…
help me work with eager hands…
God give me the strength to rise early and provide food for my family and portions for everyone that helps me (with bbtn….)
Help me go about my work vigorously with strength for all of my tasks…
Let my trading be profitable…
God give me a heart for the poor and help me extend my arms to the needy….
Help me to respect my husband…
God, i want to be clothed in strength and dignity and laugh at the days to come….(like today…it was a doozy)
Help me to speak with wisdom and faithful instruction, watch over the affairs of my household, and not be idle- i pray that my children and husband will arise and call me blessed…

father God…you know my heart everyday and you shelter me on the days when i am not able to confidently pray this prayer….God deepen my love for the things that come from your hand whatever they may be….help me to accept your will always and without wavering….may all glory be yours…everything is from you….

love story part 4 coming soon….and also a sneak peak for favorite laundry…

all of my love to my people…

hello to those who read regularly…and those that are here from “fly through my window”….
i am so glad you are here….if you are new, thank you for your visit….and please come back often….you will find quirky posts, tons of transparency, and tidbits and updates of “the clothes”…..i love lurkers!!!

all of my love to my people!!

hello to those who read…
how about a little intermission….i have left you tons of words…and what is a better break than tons of pictures?

how about some favorite summer things…things we will miss when it’s cold again….

a favorite thing to weekend cook…

do you know about fingerlings? (did YOU know the black ones are purple inside? and fabulous?)

really? is that safe?

i love this woman and her mom….farmers….

these are hers…

and these…

but…I’m a farmer too….this is mine!! LOL, can’t believe it actually grew….

and this…the darndest thing….upside-down….red ones coming soon…

home-made ice cream..only in the summer of course…

a flower from a sweet woman…at the farmer’s market…

what summer would be complete without a noodle necklace and a messy face?

but this makes me happy too…it’s full…random…i know….

and this…..missy…this one is for you!! LOL…..

until next time….ruth chapter three, love story part 3 is on the way….
all of my love to my people……

hello to those who read…
it’s early and sometimes this is the very best time to exercise, write, or work really….wishing for coffee but it simply makes too much noise and who would risk early arrival of the littles?….right?

and so we continue….the Ashley summary of ruth 2

we left naomi not seeing the faithfulness of God standing right beside her…isn’t that all of us? i know that the passage spoke to me and i still choose to see it only a few days out of the week….just being transparent people….the funny thing is that the Bible to me always seems to be so clear…how could naomi not see it…but the reality is that her day-to-day was just as muddled as ours is…life to participate in…daily, busy, life….it is just not as clear as the hindsight that the Bible provides for us…she was right in the middle…clarity is just not hers at the moment….

writing here…sharing this…is my clarity…in my quiet time comes clarity…not in the intensity of my day to day…not busy just intense….

so they have nowhere to live i am assuming…zero work and that means zero food…so ruth goes to clean up in the fields after the ones that have already harvested the grain…just picking up leftovers…(isn’t that what we feel like sometimes? cleaning up after those who have it great in life? getting the leftovers and making due…thankfully this is us in the most affluent way possible that we could even share that statement)

so ruth…just so happens to end up in the field of boaz (JUST so happened, right?)…boaz is a affluent, close prestigious family member of naomi’s late husband…hmmmmm right….Ruth 2 uses the terminology in NIV “as it turned out” he comes out and tells the others to not only take care of her and not to harm her but he fed her and asked her to stay in his fields….remember she was moabite…i picture that as a ghetto…and incestuous one….she stood out and she wasn’t one of them to be sure…which to me is even more amazing that she was not only allowed to gather grain but that boaz took an interest in her…from the beginning, immediately even…

seeing her in his fields he says…

11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

our pastor shares here that Boaz sought her as an outcast, sheltered her, served her at the table with everyone else, and then showers her with grace….

he not only let her collect the remaining sheaths but he told his workers to purposefully leave some for her…she ended up with about two months worth of grain instead of 2 days because of boaz….can you imagine noaomi’s reaction when she returned? i think it was a modernday REALLY? but the language there is this…

20 “The LORD bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers.”

but this is much like things that happen to us and we give it a big…. REALLY? letting things that God ordained as showing us his faithfulness as – “listen to what happened”….i am absolutely guilty of this daily…probably much more than anyone that will read this…wow…that is a spiritual spanking…

hmmmm

love story part #3 coming but for now….

yesterday, the kids and i set out to go “gym shopping”…my favorite gym, right by where we live…is discontinuing childcare in @ 10 days….so of course i got the sales people who were quite excited that i am the first of many leaving the gym…one of their competitors…so a few conversations later…a surprising conversation…
sales guy asked me why my phone was ringing incessantly (no offense but it rang probably 12 times in 10 minutes)…and i got to share what i do…the quick version, and before long i was making a choice to share the gospel or take a worldly approach…a business one…but that is beside the point- but it IS the point….while i shared with him i heard myself telling a story of God’s faithfulness to me despite me…using my circumstances and bbtn as a catalyst for that conversation….

while i know this post is wordy…i will offer this…
if we will open our eyes, notice in our quiet moments…God is faithful in every one of our circumstances and our individual circumstances are a reason to share what we know about the gospel…that salesperson’s face softened when he heard the good news yesterday and maybe there will be more opportunities there…maybe that is the only reason for bbtn…could be right? who knows…

until next time…
father God thank you for beginning to teach me how faithful you are to your children…even as i type…i feel my selfishness crop up and i put it at your feet…my purpose is yours…

all of my love to my people…