Adventures of Youth Ministry

The blog is back! The month of January was a busy time and there's just no way to include off of the adventures we experienced, but we wanted to share some of the highlights.

This picture pretty much sums it up. Youth ministry is exausting.

Ghetto Golf... Putt Putt on cement....interesting.

First youth retreat as a married couple.

Check out my new cup!

Being silly.

Andy and some of the teens taking a snack break.

The cooks from the weekend.

His Element Youth Ministry

One of the workers gave me free tokens....and i won a few tickets!

What was I thinking....?

Holding on for dear life.

The month of January was a busy time of youth activities. It began with our Sabbath Retreat in Gatlinburg, TN. We had a great time of rest and adventure with our teens. Ashley struggled with the 12 hour plus bus ride with a bunch of teenagers. Let's just say it was long ans smelly. We celebrated our one year anniversary on a youth trip, but it was amazing to look back ans see how the Lord has worked in our lives this past year. God has not only blessed us with each other, we are incredibly blessed with the teens we minister to. What a blessing it was to spend time with them and to see them worship together.

photo-blog from Christmas in Michigan

Sunday lunch at Ashley's Favorite place.

Ashley's favorite present from Andy...a pink scooter!


We all had fun trying it out.

Andy & Ashley day after Christmas

Family picture with Brandon giving Ashley a "wet willy"

Christmas morning Ashley and the new scooter!! Woot Woot!

Andy and his funny gift from Ashley. A cup with a container for cookies on the bottom and a cup that keeps milk cold on top.

Beautiful mom on Christmas morning

Watch out! Ashley's on the move!

Ashley's reaction to the gift. Andy had this packed in the suitcase all the way from Florida and I never knew it!

Gift from mom.

Our stockings all stuffed!

Christmas Morning!

Fell asleep Christmas eve during the movie.

Brandon's photo skills.

The vegetarian was not liking this.

An Ashley tradition of making something out of cheese...it's weird, i know.

Waiting to eat on Christmas eve...Brandon was bored.

Ashley wanted a nice Christmas Pic and Brandon managed to get in the photo.

That will do, I guess.

This is how the festivities began. That's Ashley's brother on the end playing the bells at the Christmas Eve service.

Christmas Vacation!!!

Today we will be leaving Florida for Flint! We are excited to see family and friends and SNOW! Andy is especially excited and hoping for a white Christmas.

Ashley loves seeing Andy's excitment about seeing snow.

Venice, FL 70°F
Feels like: 70°F

Flint, MI

27°F
Feels like: 18°F

Our Debut as Mary and Joseph

Ashley's baby bump had to be created with a basket.

Our favorite picture from the show.

The Giant AMAZING Christmas tree!

Three Wiseman...wiseguys... make their entrance

This is how we spent most of December....practicing for "Joy, Joy, Joy", theChristmas pagant at Venice Church of the Nazarene. Of course being the newlyweds and part of the staff we got recruited to play the parts of Mary and Joseph. We actually really enjoyed these roles and it made us get into the holiday season. We had 4 shows and began practicing well before Thanksgiving. It was a fun time and Ashley got to know many of the people at church better.

Some of the most exciting parts of the experience included:

• seeing the giant Christmas tree raised from the ground
• all the back stage laughs
• holding our friends baby (Jonah) who played the part of Jesus
• seeing everyones reaction when they realized it was a real baby
• having Grama and Grampa Bowser and friends from Ashley's work come see us
• hearing Andy talk about what he wanted in his "green room"

We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and hope you embrace the true meaning of the season, the birth of our Savior.

Giving Thanks

Our First Thanksgiving

Ashley getting ready to cook.

Getting the table ready

Andy saved the day by getting the neck and giblets out for Ashley

Smells so good cooking!




The turkey came out perfect! We were shocked!

We are so thankful.

Look who is excited for the Black Friday sales...


Waiting in line at Target at 4:00 am. (Notice the free bag and Starbucks in hand)

We had an amazing Thanksgiving and really enjoyed making new memories together. We originally were going to spend Thanksgiving with Andy's family, but they weren't able to make it down to Florida, so we enjoyed the day together. Andy, Ashley and Riley (the dog) enjoyed a day of cooking together, eating together and watching football. We were shocked with how great our meal came out =) Ashley is a good cook, but preparing that much food and making sure it was already at the same time was what mattered. We enjoyed leftovers, football and Rockband with Andy's friend Scott who joined us later in the day.

The next morning we got up bright and early for the Black Friday shopping deals. Andy wasn't too sure about getting up that early, but when he saw that we saved tons of money he perked up...and the many cups of coffee helped too. He was a trooper and secretly enjoyed the shopping...eerr... quality time with Ashley.

We had a great First Thanksgiving together and are ready for the Christmas season to begin!

Riley & Me

The one and only time Riley was allowed to sit on the couch...to "help me blog"

First of all I never thought I would have a dog, much less cry over one, unless of course I was crying with fear. I have always been afraid of dogs and growing up we didn't have pets. Well, unless you count a turtle me and my brother found when we were lived in Kansas, we named it Michelangelo after one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We also had our fair share of being fish owners, but never had a dog...aka....a real pet.

Marrying Andy ment becoming a pet owner and I have learned to accept the dog hair, poopy walks, dog park and all that comes with owning a dog. However, it wasnt' till Sunday night that I realized how much Riley means to me. Before now I didn't fully understand how people could be so attached to their pets, and not I have to admit I am one of those people.

Sunday night I went to bed as soon as our Small Group members left. I had just fallen asleep when I heard a crashing thud. I ran into the living room and saw Riley and Andy on the lanai. I sreamed "What happened? Are you okay?" thinking that Andy fell. He was semi laughing, but had a concerned look on his face and was checking Riley's face. Our poor Riley-dog ran smack into the glass sliding door. It was something straight out of a Windex commercial. Poor thing.

After we checked to see if she was okay I started crying hysterically. It freaked me out so much that something happened to her. I was afraid she had a concusion or something. Andy just looked at me and said, "are you really crying? you love her don't you?!" All I could do was hold her and cry. I can now say I finally understand what it is liked to be attached to a pet. The things I love most about Riley include: her excitement everytime I walk in the door, that she sleeps on the floor next to my side of the bed, when I'm at home alone she follows me around and sits in whatever room I'm in, and last but not least....she takes treats from me, but not Andy =)

I am thankful for...(in pictures)

Celebrating over two months of marriage to the most amazing man. Eating s steak dinner together and going to a movie of my choice.

The ministry God has placed me in. Being a youth pastor's wife is something I never thought would be my calling, but God is faithful to show us His ways.