Twenty

Twenty years ago today a baby girl was born. No big deal, right? I already had a baby girl cousin & a baby girl sister. What would be so special about this girl.

Wrong answer. This girl embodied special from the moment I met her. This girl's name is Minkey {for all practical purposes}. Yeah, she's my youngest cousin. Yeah, she's one of my best friends. Yeah, I love all the junk right out of her.

This post honors her with twenty of my most favorite things about her.

Happy Birthday, Mink.

1. I love her eyeballs. They're brown & beautiful. They make you admired when you look into them.

2. While we're on her appearance, I love that she looks a teensy bit Asian.

3. I love that she's like a sister to me. I treasure having a sister {Cal} as much as more than I treasure the breath I'm breathing right now. The more the merrier. Thank God for my honorary sister, Mink.

4. I love that she thinks I'm kind of cool. {I have never been cool. Never will be; Don't tell my Minkey that!}

5. I love that Mink is a hungry ranger. She like gets my need for food. She gets that it's a need. She gets that I sometime need food right. now.

6. I love that she is a servant, a helper-bee. She is always looking for ways to help me. {I especially love when she comes to MI and cleans my house.}

7. Yeah, I love that she comes to MI. Come back anytime, Minkus. I miss you!!!!!!

8. I love how chill she is and that she is content to just be with me. {Favorite quality in a friend} I love that she lets me be myself. That me being myself is enough for her.

9. I love that she is my friend now. No longer just my baby cousin. I love that we'll be forever friends.

10. I love LOVE love that she goes along with my shenanigans. Always has. Maybe always will. {Pretty please??}

11. I LOVE the following shenanigans the most ... {in a very particular order} Room Service, POF {Spit Baby & Laughne 4eva!!!}, Team Canasta & Cuban Uno.

12. I love that Mink is always learning. She is forever asking good questions + I love that she thinks I actually have something meaningful to offer.

13. I love that in recent years, I have had the opportunity to really pour a lot of energy into her faith walk. It has been the absolute JOY of my life.

14. I love that in former years, Mink attended my backyard Bible clubs. {Don't be impressed. It was always just me, her, and Kiss.} I thank God now for whatever tidbits He used to draw her to His Son. What a privilege!

15. I love her devotion to the Word of God. Unwavering.

16. I love watching Mink now that she has a boyfriend. {Most people [myself included] DREAD this day for their littles. Myself included. However ...} she (+J)  have navigated through the tricky waters of dating with caution, thoughtful prayer & counsel. And it just makes me proud.

17. I love seeing her heart for people develop. Her heart for her sisters. Her heart to share truth. Her heart for family. Her heart for the nations. She gets it. Love God + Love People.

18. I love how much my husband loves her. Yep. She's one of Josh's favorite people too.

19. I love Decembers with her. {Favorite memory alert: Gingerbread houses + trying to get Bubba Joe to sample the buttermilk/goat's milk/whatever else kind of milk we bought + burning ourselves with glue gun [me getting chastised for not supervising well enough] + dancing to country music videos [esp. Toby Keith's Who's Your Daddy?] Of course, I also love always sitting in the front seat on 12/24 with her on our ride. Oh yeah, we rule!} Yes & Amen. We will be reunited in less than two weeks. Praise the Lord. Hallelujer.

20. I love that even though she's twenty, she will ALWAYS be 7!!!! Happy 7th Birthday, Minkey Leigh.

Love you always,
Ash

Five Things I'm Loving Right Now

It's December, y'all! My baby is eighteen months old. (That's halfway to two! Somebody please slow this down!) We are all up in the Christmas spirit, and here's what I'm into these days ...

1. O Christmas Tree! My amazingly sweet, wonderfully awesome, handsomely helpful, super great husband stood outside of Target in the Michigan cold on Thanksgiving night to get me my beautiful new, 6-foot, pre-lit with colorful lights Christmas tree. Can you tell that I love it?! Boo Boo thinks that a few of the ornaments are really great. His very favorite is the jingle bell candy cane. Lucky for us, we simply close the glass door to our extra room so John can looky, but no touchy. Score!

Shipping!!

2. @BetterLifeBeam. Yeah, that's kind of an inside joke between me & my friend Rebecca as we ship Better Life Bags well into the evening hours. I'm living the dream, y'all. Working for one of my best friends. Eating chocolate cookies together. Learning a lot about sewing {okay, really just about cutting fabric, but it's a start, right?}. I am so into having a super-part-time job. Thanks, Rebecca, for the opportunity! If you haven't gotten a Christmas gift for a sweet lady on your list yet, Better Life Bags might be the solution (order by Dec. 5)! A fully customize-able, handmade bag that gives back to my community. Read about our mission here and shop here. 

Black Friday 2012.

3. Daily emails from my hubby. My sweetheart is super busy right now starting a new trimester with his sophomores & seniors. A new trimester full of Physics, Biology & Biochemistry. He's never taught Biochem before, so it's a bit of a transition, but he's a super smart guy = He's gonna rock it! Hubby is also restructuring classroom discipline & implementing new procedures for students' notebooks. All of that = a lot of work = we don't see as much of each other as we'd like. However, because my sweet lives with me in SUCH an understanding manner (1 Peter 3:7), I receive an almost-daily email from him to communicate the things that he didn't have a chance to say before. I love him.

Photo Cred: Kayla Johnson Photography (Atlanta)

4. Reading 1 Thessalonians. I have been mighty challenged by Paul's love & devotion for the people this letter is addressed to. Wow. 1 Thess 2:7 blew me away, y'all. "But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children." (My emphasis added to make it LOUD & CLEAR how cray cray this statement is) Y'all, I am on month 18 of nursing my wee one. It is a full time job. When John wants to nurse, 9 times out of 10, I stop what I'm doing and I feed him. John wants to nurse OFTEN. John's needs are above my own every single day. I can't even really put into words how much nursing a child communicates love for that child, but it's also such an epic gospel picture to me. Giving of yourself constantly that another life might be sustained. Giving of yourself that a little one can find comfort. Giving of yourself when it's inconvenient and even painful.

Bahahahaha! Love you both!

Paul has never given birth. Paul has never nursed a baby. But Paul has given birth spiritually and nursed his spiritual babes with the truth. And then verse 8: "So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us." Let me be clear. There is no one on the planet dearer to me than my child. There are so many reasons for that, but the #1 reason is that he's MINE. I worked really hard to get him here. Since he's been here, I've worked even harder. He has full access to almost every area of my life. He is mine. Thus, I have been thinking. Who is mine in the spiritual sense? Not in a weird way, like "I am yo mama," but who am I taking ownership of spiritually? Who am I checking in on? Who am I inviting into my life? Even into the really messy parts? Who's needs am I putting above my own? Who am I affectionately desirous of? Who is becoming more & more dear to me? The answers to this question scared me a little because lots of times, I choose to stay home in my warm little house with my warm little boy watching Madagascar. The end.
But I am sensing that God wants me to stay in contact with those who I've viewed as mine in the past. God wants me to keep laboring in prayer over them (1 Thess 1:2). God wants me to keep doing things the hard way so that I can see them & talk to them (them be in either GA or NC, I be in MI ... So what? Who cares?). God wants them to remain dear to me. Yesterday, Josh let me spend the whole afternoon at Starbucks with Jesus (heavens open, angels sing, hallelujer). I spent a good portion of that time praying for them. For Jessica. For Mink. For Meghan. For Em-Dig. For Han. Look out, homies. I am believing God for big things in & through you, and I have never loved you more.

Happy Birthday, Mink!

5. Deals. Dudes, if you read through all that super-spiritual stuff, kudos. As a treat, here's a simple, straightforward, superficial fifth like. I've been getting some steals on my Christmas shopping. I can't ruin any surprises for the big people, but I'll suffice it to say that we bought a train table with tracks for $10 this past weekend for a little person. John P will be a happy camper come present day (Dec. 20).

Thanks for taking the time to read all this jibber-jabber. Y'all rule! Happy December to ya! Thanks to Julie for the opportunity to link up!