Update!

So I can officially say it has been "forever" since I last wrote a blog. I rarely ever get on here anymore except to read Chelsey's since she is the ONLY one who now regularly updates us internet folk on her life. (Which I REALLY appreciate considering I don't get to talk to her very often)
So, gosh..... what have I been up to lately?....
•Just got my wisdom teeth taken out on Friday. Went really well. Still in a little bit of pain, but that might be because I "forget" to do the salt water rinses. I can't wait to eat something yummy with no pain and within a time frame that is reasonable.
•God has been showing up in ridiculously amazing ways lately. I've been trying to spend more time with Him and allow Him to speak to me and it's been great. Just living completely for Him and not worrying about anything else.
•First off, I was super nervous about my wisdom teeth.. partly because I had to get an I.V. and I had never had one. But I just prayed about it and low and behold as soon as I stepped into the oral surgeons office there was this immediate peace over me. And they used this numbing spray before they gave me the I.V. so I didn’t even feel it. Yay Jesus! Also, the surgeon didn’t even have to do stitches and I had absolutely NO swelling! God is so great.
•I had an AMAZING birthday. Like… I think it was possibly the best birthday ever. The only thing that was missing was my friends who go to school else where. I went to dinner with some friends then took silly pictures then played rockband (thanks, Andrea!). Then we had the Ingrid concert! I ended up getting to meet her and get an autograph. I was BEYOND stoked. SO great! The concert was realllllly good. Matthew Perryman Jones was her opener and he was great. Please please please check him out. I’ve had his song “Save You” on repeat for awhile now. I also got to give Sarah front row seats to the concert. She wasn’t gonna be able to go because of money and I got to give her FRONT ROW seats. It was an amazing moment. My sisters also got to go which was cool. It was just overall a great birthday. Thanks to everyone!
•I was out of money for the month of October due to having to pay all my bills PLUS the lovely insurance bill. I stressed to begin with but then decided that Jesus is my Dad and He would find a way to take care of me. Once I decided that a check came in the mail from financial aid that was COMPLETELY unexpected for like, $700. With that $700 I started a savings account, paid my own dentist bill, got some “winter” clothes, paid off two months worth of gas bills (I was behind a month), gave an offering to Stirring, and some other things that I can’t remember. Amazing.
•I started painting. At first it was just something that I had wanted to do but as soon as I started, Jesus started giving me pictures to paint. I just finished one for Andrea that said “Just as I know the petals on the flowers, I know the desires of your heart and cannot withhold good from you.” It was yellow with a bunch of flowers all over it. It turned out JUST how I wanted it to. Really cute. He gave me another one to paint which I will start tomorrow (hopefully).
•I’ve been going to life group. It’s been SO great. I have met SO many amazing women of God. I love just talking and spending time with them. We are reading “Real Sex” and it’s actually super good. I have a lot of fun there. I just can’t get over how amazing all of those women are and how thankful I am that God brought them into my life!
•Stirring has been doing the “Chuppah” series. It has been life changing. Every single week I have been able to take something away from the message. Nate has done such a great job discussing the sometimes “taboo” subjects. Just… go listen to the podcasts. Then you will understand what I am talking about.
•I finally feel like my life has somewhat of a direction which for me, is crazy. Jesus showed me my profession: Cosmetology. It had been brought up in my life OH SO MANY times however, I refused to see it. Thank JESUS that He continually brings things up in our lives until we GET it. I’m really excited for it. Ever since I (and Jesus) decided this was my profession I have felt this overwhelming peace. And I feel like I can finally breathe. For so long I was always worked up about what I was gonna do with the rest of my life and I felt like I was on some time crunch. Now that I’ve decided I feel that I can relax. And I also feel that I can take the time to do other things that I have wanted to do. Which brings me to my next bullet.
•BSSM. Something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I had always been interested in it but never really knew what it was. I talked to Ashley about it and as soon as she told me what it was I felt that I NEEDED to go. At first I used the excuse that “I didn’t know if I could be as strong of a ‘Jesus’ person in the profession I was choosing and I didn’t think I had a strong enough foundation to NOT be sucked into the materialistic world of Cosmetology.” Well Jesus told me to just shut up about that reallllllll fast. He also helped me realize that I didn’t need an “excuse” to want to do something. That it was okay to want to do BSSM just because. I now know that I want to do it in order to spend an entire year completely devoted to Him. To spend a year in the Bethel culture. Just soaking all that in and learning all of the things Bethel has to offer. Gosh, just thinking about it makes me happy. So that is definitely something I am considering for next fall. However, it is $3600 which might not sound like much but you get NO financial aid therefore I have to come up with that all on my own. Hence the starting of the savings account. However, prayer is needed for financial wisdom and diligence of actually putting my money into that account.
•Stirring is looking at getting a building all for themselves! No more renting a room in a different church! It’s gonna be in the “Christian Supply” place across from Dutch Bros and the Post Office. SO exciting! I can’t wait!
•I got a new Jesus Culture CD. SOOOOO amazing. Possibly my favorite one. Gotta check it out. “We Cry Out”
•I am anxiously awaiting my bday present from Chelsey Davis. She keeps telling me when she is working on it and I’m getting really excited.
•Some new people in my life. Jamie, Andrea, and Stephanie. They are all great. Beyond words. I love them all and have only known them for like, a month.
•Jesus is constantly working in me. Which is what I’ve asked for. So that’s good.
•I miss Megan. A lot. I can’t wait for her to come home for Thanksgiving! I actually can’t wait for a few friends to come home. Like Jess. And Bri. And Bre. Yeah. It’s gonna be a good break.
•I miss Chelsey too. A lot a lot. We have only been talking since the end of senior year however, we have gotten super close and I miss not being able to spend a random evening with her… stalking people and having cigars. And she won’t be home till Christmas. Ugh. BUT I get to pick her lovely face up from the airport followed by the 2 hour drive home!!!
•Classes are not so great. I really hate going and am having an EXTREMELY hard time gathering the motivation to go. Partly because I know these classes are doing me NO good since this is my last semester but also partly because I am just lazy. It’s a really bad thing. Prayer would be nice.
•Been having some really weird dreams lately. Really odd.
•I miss Amanda. I only see her like, once a week. It makes me sad.
•OH! Side note. Tina is thinking about going to BSSM as well. Well, more like… she IS going. God is doing amazing things in her as well and I am SO glad I have her to walk with through this Jesus stuff.
•I’m trying to plan a trip to LA/San Diego to see my lovely friends. I want it to be a week long adventure complete with a trip to Disneyland.
•Regina Spektor concert is next weekend. I’m excited, but my sister has been bothering me lately so we shall see how that goes. I’m happy Alex and Tina are going with us! It should be fun. It’ll be nice to just be goofy and silly and see Regina at the same time! Please pray though because the concert is in Oakland…
•I think that’s all for now. If you took the time to read all of this then you really do love me and I thank you. I am going to try to update this more often.

Love love love,
Ashtyn