3 Year Anniversary

It's been a while since I've posted a blog here. I know I'm lacking on my responsibilities, but Ian and I have been pretty busy hosting people and traveling.

Ian and I celebrated our three-year anniversary over Veteran's day. He surprised me with a trip to Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmish, Germany. It's right along the border between Germany and Austria with some spectacular views! We did a lot of hiking and also saw quite a few unique castles. All in all, it was a wonderful time.

This is the view from our hotel room at Edelweiss. It was beautiful.

Ian sitting on top of the mountain with a view of the Neuschwanstein Castle in the back ground. It was SO beautiful! But the hiking trails behind the castle were the best! We had a great time.

We took a cable car up to the top of the Zugspitze. (The largest mountain in Germany.) Ian snapped this picture of me being goofy. The views of the Alps were amazing and breath-taking.

Ian trying to walk-on-water at Eibsee Lake. What beautiful surroundings!

Ian and I hiked the Partnach Gorge. It was wonderfully fascinating. The river was beautiful. If you look to the left in the picture, you can just barely see me. That's how HUGE the gorge was!

There are more pictures of our trip on my myspace page. (http://www.myspace.com/ashsteggie) And more pictures to come from our trip to Prague as well as a visit with my mom and dad. More to come so stay tuned in!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Ashley S.

My Hero's

My Aunt Cindy sent this e-mail to me and I liked the meaning and message of it so much as well that I decided to post it here. The only thing I would change is saying that "My heroes are the people who place themselves at risk for the benefit of others, and their families that support them." It takes a strong family to support a hero and in my mind they are just as courageous as the hero. (I know it's more than a week past Veteran's Day, but I've been a little busy and I'm trying to catch up.)

Ashley S.

This came from Col. Oliver North and I totally agree with his comments.

Heroes aren't athletes who set new sports records or Hollywood actors who make daring films or politicians who make bold promises. Heroes are people who place themselves at risk for the benefit of others.

My Heroes wear flak jackets, flight suits and combat boots, and we owe them a debt of gratitude. America enjoys freedom today because our true heroes, the men and women of the United States Armed Forces, are willing to sacrifice their tomorrows for us.

This Veteran's Day, please pay tribute to the bravery and sacrifice of the men and women who wear our nation's uniform. To all our active duty Armed Forces and all our veterans, we at Freedom Alliance salute you and thank you for your service.

This may be something that you may want to share with the class tomorrow since it is Veterans Day.

Wake up America!

Beware Charismatic Men Who Preach 'Change'

Editor, Times-Dispatch:
(Richmond Times Dispatch)

Each year I get to celebrate Independence Day twice. On June 30 I celebrate my independence day and on July 4 I celebrate America's. This year is special, because it marks the 40th anniversary of my independence.

On June 30, 1968, I escaped Communist Cuba and a few months later I was in the United States to stay. That I happened to arrive in Richmond on Thanksgiving Day is just part of the story, but I digress.

I've thought a lot about the anniversary this year. The election-year rhetoric has made me think a lot about Cuba and what transpired there. In the late 1950s, most Cubans thought Cuba needed a change, and they were right. So when a young leader came along, every Cuban was at least receptive.

When the young leader spoke eloquently and passionately and denounced the old system, the press fell in love with him. They never questioned who his friends were or what he really believed in. When he said he would help the farmers and the poor and bring free medical care and education to all, everyone followed. When he said he would bring justice and equality to all, everyone said "Praise the Lord." And when the young leader said, "I will be for change and I'll bring you change," everyone yelled, "Viva Fidel!"

But nobody asked about the change, so by the time the executioner's guns went silent the people's guns had been taken away. By the time everyone was equal, they were equally poor, hungry, and oppressed. By the time everyone received their free education it was worth nothing. By the time the press noticed, it was too late, because they were now working for him. By the time the change was finally implemented Cuba had been knocked down a couple of notches to Third-World status. By the time the change was over more than a million people had taken to boats, rafts, and inner tubes. You can call those who made it ashore anywhere else in the world the most fortunate Cubans. And now I'm back to the beginning of my story.

Luckily, we would never fall in America for a young leader who promised change without asking, what change? How will you carry it out? What will it cost America?

Would we?

Manuel Alvarez Jr. Sandy Hook.

original url: http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/search.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-07-07-0033.html

Bike Ride

Hello All,

Ian and I haven't gone many places so far, because I've been a bit under the weather for the past couple of weeks. I keep getting sick with some kind of sever cold that keeps letting me get better for a day or two and then I get sick again. But I've been feeling much better the last few days, so hopfeully I'm getting better this time for good!

On that note, I went for a bike ride today around the surrounding villages and took some great pictures of the country-side and of the village that we live in and other villages that are near by. So I thought I would post some of the pictures here to share how beautiful it is here! The leaves are starting to turn and the "fall colors" are beautiful and vibrant. This is a picture of the Vil's River.

The village of Schönlind from a distance. This is where we live!!


Another picture of our beautiful town and the beautiful fall colors.


It's hard to explain where this picture was taken, but it was basically taken on the property that we live on. I just thought it was so beautiful, I had to snap a quick photo of the old wagon wheel with the stones and etc.


At the edge of every village, they locals cut fire wood all throughout the year and store it all together on the edge of every town or village. So in the winter time, they already have all this fire wood already cut that the whole village will share to heat their homes in the winter. Kinda a neat idea. So here's a picture of the cut wood that the village we live in is saving for the winter season. I decided I had to take this picture because of the beautiful yellow trees.

This is the road that I normally ride my bike on. To the right in a corn field, to the left is the Vil's River, and straight a head is Schönlind.

That's it for now. Don't forget the other pictures I have posted on my other website. (www.myspace.com/ashsteggie) These pictures will also be posted there, along with others that I didn't include in this blog. Well, I gotta run for now. Ian is taking me to dinner and to see the new movie Eagle Eye that's out. Yay! :o) Have a great weekend every one! Please feel free to comment!

Love,
Ashley & Ian

UPDATES!

Alright Y'all,

Good news! Ian and I found a car! Yay! Praise God. We've had it now for a little over two weeks, and though it's kinda older, we think it will do just fine for our purposes here. Plus, it was not too expensive, and that was key since we'll only be needing it for such a short amount of time. We also got an apartment off post! Yay! Another Praise God! We're currently in the process of trying to find enough furniture to make our new home comfortable, but also not go over board since we again, won't be here that long probably. Please pray for us as we continue to seek out God's will and guidance in our lives. Ian and I are still searching what God's purpose is for our time here. As well as looking for a job for when we come home. In the mean time, Ian and I are trying to enjoy Europe and travel around a bit. Over this last weekend Ian and I went to Munich for the first day of Oktoberfest. It was just a day trip, but it was a lot of fun. We arrived in Munich at about 10:30am, and spend the whole day there, not leaving until about 8:30pm that night. For the majority of the day we stayed at the Oktoberfest. There was a big parade, and a lot of carnival type rides and booths to buy food and candy and drinks at. Then there are the "beer halls." Which are kinda the main event at Oktoberfest. You are crammed into these tables where they serve you these huge mugs of special beer made just for the Oktoberfest. You can also order food as well. For the majority of the time, you just chat and hang out with the people around you. Which are normally poeple from different parts of Europe and the world. We met several guys from Australia and a few from Italy that made the trip to Munich just for Oktoberfest. It's basically just one big party!

Towards the afternoon, it can get a little bit crazy, due to too many people drinking too much beer. After I walked passed some guy who had just puked in the middle of the street, I was done and ready to leave. At that point in time, it was still only like 3:00 in the afternoon. So we still had a lot of the day left. With some time to kill and a desire to get out of the madness that is Oktoberfest, Ian and I decided to hop back onto the train and go exploring.

We figured out where the "heart" of the city was in Munich, and got off at that stop and walked around for a while. We walked around and did a little shopping, and after a while we were both tired of walking and getting kinda hungry. So we stopped in a little restaurant for some dinner. After dinner, we walked around the central part of the city and saw the Glocken Speil, which was very kool. After that, we hopped back on the train and met up with the rest of the group that we came down to Munich with and headed back home for the night. All in all, it was a great day of exploring and fun, mixed with a little bit of German beer. :o)

Hope every one is doing well. We're thinking of you and missing you lots!

Love,
Ian and Ashley

P.S. Some pictures for your enjoyment!

P.S.S Please also enjoy more pictures from my myspace photo albums. There are two albums with new pictures taken from Germany. Both have "Germany" in the title. Follow the link, (www.myspace.com/ashsteggie) and then click on "pic's."

We're in Germany!

Hey Family & Friends,

I just wanted to give a shout out to every one and let them know that I am officially in Germany now! I made it yesterday (Saturday, September 6th) into Frankfurt international airport in Frankfurt, Germany. Ian was able to rent a car for the weekend and he made the 3 hour drive to come and pick me up.

We're back in Bavaria now and on the base. I can't wait to take pictures of everything here and post them for every one to see. It has a very unique feel to it here. Almost like you're living on a movie set, or in a fairy tale or something. It's incredibly beautiful.

Our next plans of action are to try and find a car to buy. A good sound card that's not too expensive is crucial for us right now. Another crucial thing we have to find in the next 2 weeks is a place for us to live. We can't have one without the other either. We can't hunt for a place to live too much until we know we'll have a car that can get us to and from the base. So please keep that in your prayers for us as we're trying to get things settled. It sure would make our living here for the next 5 months much more enjoyable if we had a nice place to stay and good, reliable transportation. Please continue to pray that God will guide us and lead us in our next steps as we make decisions in our lives, as well. Thanks for he prayers and support.

I'll be posting pictures as soon as I can!

Ashley & Ian

10 Things To Never Say To Someone With A Deployed Soldier

I got this off a military support website and thought it was a REALLY good thing to share. I've been asked some of these questions before, and I gotta tell you...it's pretty hard to be nice to people when they ask some of these things. Have some respect for the men and women that give their lives so you can live out your own freely, people!

10 Things To Never Say To Someone With A Deployed Soldier

I have been through a few deployments myself and I'm always amazed by some of the comments received. Through our time in the Army, I've heard quite a few and heard many more that have been relayed to me by other Army wives. So I decided to develop the top ten things you should never say to someone who has a soldier deployed. Ready?

1. I don't know how you do it.

Well, guess what? In all honesty, I don't know how I do it either. I just do. Because really, what other choice do I have?

2. I could never deal with it if my husband was gone for that long.

Hmmm...how does hearing how someone else can't deal with it help me to deal with it?

3. Are you scared that something may happen to him while he's there?

This one has always really perplexed me. Of course, I'm scared. I wouldn't be human if I wasn't. But being reminded of the fact that something may happen to him doesn't help me out.

4. Do you miss him?

Every time I was asked this, I just wanted to respond "Oh, no, definitely not. I like it when he's gone. It gives me the chance to be all by myself 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Who wouldn't want that?" Of course, I miss him. Wouldn't you miss your husband?

5. I know just how you feel. My husband was on a business trip last month for three days and I just thought I would die.

Are you kidding me? First, I barely notice now if my husband is only gone for three days. Second, unless his business trip was to a place where everyone is openly carrying a gun in the street trying to kill him and suicide bombers and roadside bombs are prevalent, its not remotely close to being the same. The only thing I may give you on this one is that you know what it's like to sleep in an empty bed.

6. Do you worry about him cheating on you? Or along the same lines...How can you go without sex for so long?

Well, people, it is a little thing called self control. That and a love for my husband and respect for my marriage. Do some people cheat? Sure they do - both here in the states and overseas. But people cheat in civilian marriages too. Being in the military has no bearing on that.

7. How can you sleep at night knowing your husband is a murderer? Won't you be afraid when he comes home?

This one sets me off more than any other. No soldier is a murderer. Have they had to kill someone? Quite possibly. But there are a great many soldiers who never have. It's not something they talk about in daily conversation. Regardless of what they do overseas, it does not make them a murderer. They are in a war zone and following orders. I have never once even had an inkling that I should be afraid of my husband because he is a soldier.

8. I'm so sorry your husband had to be deployed. Don't you just hate President Bush?

My husband joined the military of his own free will AFTER 9/11 knowing full well that he would probably be deployed. The President may be the one running the show, but both my husband and I knew what we were getting into when he joined. I'm proud of him and his accomplishments. And I don't discuss politics or religion with anyone. :-)

9. If you truly supported your husband, you would be protesting so..he wouldn't have to deploy again/could be brought home/the war would end.

Really? My definition of support must be much different than the definition of support by these people. Supporting my husband means supporting him in what he does and what he believes in. It does not mean disrespecting the men and women who volunteered to defend our country and our rights. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have the right to protest in the first place. I'm certainly not putting myself in a position where it could be construed as anything other than 100% support for our troops and their families.

10. I can't believe your husband did this to you. Aren't you mad at him?

Um, what?! My husband didn't do anything to me. He honors his agreements and he follows the orders of his superiors. There's certainly nothing sad or maddening about having a husband who fulfills his commitments. Don't feel sorry for me. I'm proud of my husband and I completely support him.

No News is Good News?

Hey Boys & Girls,

A few updates from the Stegherr house hold. There really isn't much to update on! It's been just over 3 weeks since I saw Ian last. He's doing well in Germany for the most part I believe. He's started coaching kid's soccer on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. He's been pretty busy with trying to hunt down some means of transportation over there, because that will determine what kind of housing he could look for us, or just me. But it's important to be able to have a way to get around. Right now, I think he mostly feels a little trapped on the base. Because it's a smaller post, and also in the middle of no where practically, and most of the base is all deployed..it makes it seem rather desolate and isolated, I think. Ian seems to be keeping himself pretty busy though, with work and looking for transportation and housing for us, and also coaching the kids in soccer, as well as hanging out with the guys and families from his unit. (And I'm sure there are some video game nights involved in there as well!) All in all, Ian seems to be doing okay.

I, on the other hand, am trying my best to be patient and wait upon God's timing to get me over to Germany. But it's been a little rough on me. Being seperated from your spouse always leaves a bit of tension and strain upon your marriage. And unfortunatly, Ian and I have a life that leaves us with lots of time apart. So any prayers that people would wish to pray for us, you can pray for this:
-That our time apart would strengthen us and our marriage, and not cause us to drift further apart from one another.
-That when we are reunited with one another, the transition period into being back around each other would go smoothly, and we wouldn't hurt one another with bitter or resentful hearts.
-That, if it's God's will to get me over to Germany to be with Ian, that would happen sooner rather than later, and that I would have the grace and patients to be able to deal with whatever comes my way.

I think other than just missing Ian, everything is okay for the most part. I'm having a good time spending time with my parents, and doing daily life with them for a while. I went to school with my mom (since she's a 1st grade teacher) and helped her with her first day of school. That was fun. I've been camping with my parents and some extended family a couple of weeks ago, which was a nice trip. And helping my dad out around the house with things here and there has been fun as well. All in all, I have little to complain about, and everything to be grateful for.

Thank you for the support and prayers.

Sincerely,
Ashley

The Waiting Game...

Hello All,

Ian and I are at our appropriate destinations for the present moment. I'm in Texas with my family and Ian is in Germany! God was so good to bless us with Ian's promotion just before Ian left!! A few more pieces of paper need to be signed, but other than that, Ian is officially "MSgt Stegherr" (E-7). I am very proud of him! We're also very thankful that God had Ian's promotion board go smoothly. We had been praying for that a lot. Thank you to all of our friends and family that had us in your prayers!

Things with our apartment and storage unit went smoothly for the most part. All worked out in the end and went well, and we got our FULL security deposit back from our landlord. Thank you God!! We got almost all of our things into our stroage unit, and the few things we couldn't fit either Ian and I put in our cars to leave them there. Or a couple trusted friends graciously allowed us to store a few things at their homes. THANK YOU guys!! We couldn't have done it without your help.

So far, Ian's been gone for about 6 days. I've had one shorter phone call, and two brief e-mails. I take that to mean that Ian is working hard and staying busy. At the moment, I don't even know what kind of internet access he has, or "free time" to write or call. But I know he's probably working very hard at trying to get things set up quickly and working hard on finding a way to get me over there to join him as soon as possible. I wish I had more information to report on Ian, but at the moment, I'm still just playing the waiting game.

Prayer Requests:

-Please pray that God's will would be done in our lives, and that He would make it abundantly clear whether or not I am suppose to join Ian in Germany.

-Please continue to pray that God would work things out for my trip over to Germany. That I would be able to fly space A, without any hook up or problems and make it to Germany quickly if that is God's will. Also that I would be able to find an affordable place to live while I am there. We don't know if Ian and I will be allowed to live together over there or not. So be praying for God's will in that area as well.

-Please pray for Ian as he gets to know the guys that he'll be working with over in Germany. That he would be able to find christian men to help provide him with a support system.

-Please continue to pray for our departure from Germany and coming back into the United States. We really need God's guidance and direction in providing us with a job and place to live when we return home from Germany.

Have fun watching the Olympics everyone! We're enjoying watching it at my parents place. I hope every one is doing well. Please feel free to leave comments if you have any questions!

Love,

Ashley

Blessed

Hello All,

Yesterday Ian and I moved about 95% of everything we own out of our apartment and into storage, thanks to the help of our wonderful friends. For this week, we'll be sleeping on our futon mattress on the floor. :o) But we don't mind. (We slept on it last night, and it's honestly not as bad as I expected. We've also had offers from friends to stay with them. So if we feel like we need a decent night's sleep in an actual bed, we'll consider that.) We still have a few minor things left to pack away and put into our storage unit, but Ian and I think it's all going to fit very snuggly. The rest we'll be packing into our cars and taking with us to our various destination.

We'd like to personally say THANK YOU so very much to every one that helped us yesterday! Whether it was helping to pack things, or load boxes, or lift heavy furniture, or helping us get creative in finding ways to fit all of our stuff into our storage unit! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! We were so blessed by every one's help yesterday! God has truly been so good to us by putting such wonderful people into our lives.

Ian and I are planning on taking care of some things and finishing up some unfinished business with what's left of this week. By Thursday the 31st, we'll be doing the final walk-through of our apartment with our landlord. We'll be praying that everything goes well and smoothly and we get our security deposit back without any problems. The night of the 31st, we'll be temporarily staying with Geoff and Becky Waller! Which we're excited about. Then Friday August 1st, Ian and I will have the rehearsal dinner for our friends Dawn & Marcelo's wedding. Then Saturday August 2nd is their wedding. Hopefully Sunday the 3rd and Monday the 4th, Ian and I will be finishing up a few things, and we'll get him off to Germany without a hitch. At the moment, it looks like Ian's departure date will be pushed back by a day or two if he can't get everything he needs to get done in time.

Current Prayer Requests:

-Our walk-through on Thursday goes well and we get our security deposit back easily.
-Ian is STILL waiting on his official orders. At the moment, it looks like he might not get them until a few days before he leaves. (The main reason we would like his orders sooner rather than later, is because there are a lot of financial accounts we can do special things with when Ian is on military orders. So we'll need to make tons of phone calls to switch things around. But we need the time to do it, and we need Ian to be on orders.)
-Ian is still waiting on his promotion from TSgt (E-6) to MSgt (E-7). This is a big deal for us! We would REALLY really like Ian to be promoted before he leaves. It will make the whole process easier if he is.
-Ian could be meeting with a promotion board this Friday at his base in Peoria. This is significant because if he doesn't get the promotion before he leaves, meeting with the promotion board will speed the process up and help it to go smoother after he's gone. So we need his meeting with the promotion board to be good and go smoothly.

That's all for updates for now. Thanks again to every one that helped us yesterday!! We couldn't have done it without you guys.

Love,
Ashley & Ian

Another Day...Another Move...

Hello All,

Things are coming right along for Ian and I. The packing is finally starting to come together a little bit more. Though we haven't yet started moving things into a storage unit yet, we have managed to get quite a few things boxed up, and even manage to sell some unneeded furniture. Slowly but surely the apartment is beginning to empty. Before we know it, we'll be outta here and on to Germany!

Ian is still spending most of the week down in Peoria at the base getting ready to leave. Meanwhile, I'm working on packing up the house and closing down my business, along with taking care of a few clients here and there for some extra cash.

Last week was a little rougher than expected, but I'm learning that God's faithfulness is forever unwavering. I'm doing a better job this week at trusting Him more, and that seems to make things more bearable. I know He has our best interests in His heart. So where ever He decides to lead us, we'll be ready to follow. Still though, it's a little harder than I expected to leave our community and support behind. We're going to miss all of our friends so much! I wasn't expecting to be sad about moving, but I'm finding that I am. I'm also excited though to embark on our new journey in life.

This past Sunday evening, our House Group from church hosted a "See-Ya-Later" party. It was a lot of fun, and the desserts were yummy! We'd like to say Thank You to every one that helped host the event, as well as say Thank You to every one that was able to attend. They had a time of prayer for us, and it was very uplifting and refreshing. Thank you all again for all of your prayers and support during our transition. If God should choose to take our lives in a different direction and not have us return to Chicago, we will miss every one terribly. But, we will most definitely come back to visit!

That's it for now folks. Hope every one is having a great week!

Love,
Ashley

Moving

Hello All,

We start off this week with the great news that our landlord has found some one to rent out our apartment for our last remaining month. Our lease was until the end of August, and since Ian and I would both be leaving before that, we had really hoped to either end our lease a month early (ending it on July 31st) or find some one that would possibly want to rent it out right away and take over for our last remaining month. (This would save us from having to pay our rent in August-an overall savings of over 1,000 dollars at least, as well as getting out security deposit back sooner rather than later.) Happily, our landlord called us the day (July 4th) she listed it on craigslist.com and had some one interested in it immediately. To our amazement, the new tenants saw the ad the first day it was posted, responded within the hour to the ad, made arrangements to come look at our apartment with our landlord the same day, and a few short hours later they saw our apartment, liked it and filled out the application forms, also putting down a security deposit as well! This all happening in one day and even before 1:00 in the afternoon!

Moving out of our apartment on July 31st still leaves us with a bit of a problem. We don't have any place to live for about 4 days! Ian's departure date is Monday August 4th, and my friend Dawn's wedding is on Saturday August 2nd. So we need a place to stay for the few days that we'll still be in Chicago-land. Again, God has blessed us with such wonderful people. Some friends from our church House Group have graciously offered up their spare bedroom and agreed to tolerate our dogs being in their home for a few days. We were so blessed by their generosity. Every step we take towards moving to Germany, God continues to give us little boosts here and there with help and His provisions.

Thank you to all that have remembered us in your prayers. We appreciate the support and couldn't ask for a better community.

Ashley & Ian

Movie Reviews

Ian and I had the pleasure of seeing two good movies recently. Well, we've seen more than two good movies, but the last two I wanted to comment on.

Wanted: A good action movie over all, but prepare yourself for a few gorey secenes. The plot was pretty decent, and the actions sences were top notch. If you are a James McAvoy is as hot and steamy in this film as he is in any other film I've seen him in. Though his character at first is weak, when he gets "strong," you won't be disapointed by his performance. If you're an Angelina Jolie fan, she's certainly won't disapoint in this movie. The scene you see in the previews with her walking away with all that tattoos on her back is the same secene where she shows some full rear-end nuditiy. Other than her rear, you don't see anything else, the rest of the movie is pretty clean on the nudity front. (Minus a scene in the beginning with two people 'getting it on.' And again, you only see a guy's butt I believe. Another draw back to the movie was the language. If you don't mind hearing the "F" word quite a bit, then it won't bother you. But if you don't particularly like the gorey violence, mild nudity, and horrible language, I suggest you go see Get Smart!

Get Smart: All in all, Get Smart seemed like the "clean" version of Wanted. Both movies share similarities on low levels (assasins, double agents, spies, etc.) but the story lines are completely different. I personally enjoyed Get Smart much better. It was clean, no nudity, mild violence, but not very gorey, and there was still quite a bit of very entertaining action. Steve Carell made the movie not only funny, but down right hilarious! Ann Hathaway was just as good as she's been in any other movie I've ever seen of her. I'm growing rather fond of her movies actually. To date, I haven't seen one of them so far that I didn't like. "The Rock" adds an interesting twist with his character, and yet agian, does another good performance on the big screen. Yet another person I didn't expect to like, but so far out of all the movies I've seen with him in them, I've yet to find one I didn't like.

Ian and I also saw the Incredible Hulk and Iron Man a while back. Out of the two, I prefered Iron Man, but both were equally enjoyable. Both good and entertaining movies! However, Get Smart by far takes the cake on any movie that I've seen in a while. Yes, to me, it was THAT good!!

Enjoy everyone!

Ashley

Germany Here We Come

Hey Guys,

Well it's official! We are going to GERMANY!! Well, it's official that Ian is going to Germany, and we are about 95% sure that once he gets over there, I'll be able to join him shortly. We knew going into this that we probably wouldn't have a definite answer on whether or not I would be able to join him. So we're okay with the way things are working out. I feel very confident that God wouldn't have brought us this far if I wasn't meant to go with Ian. Either that, or God has something better in his plan for us, and maybe my path is to temporary separated from Ian to work on finishing my degree. Either way, we know that God has everything under control and that's good enough for us right now.

Now the most important things we need to worry about are finding out what to do with our apartment and spending time with friends before we leave. Some friends have mentioned that they might want to take over our lease (which ends in August) and sign a new lease of their own for another 6 months. But we need to talk to our landlord first and see what happens. This would be perfect for us, because then we wouldn't have to worry about having to pack up and move our entire house right now. Nor do we have to pay for a storage unit. (Which honestly isn't too horrible at like less than $150 a month.) But we'll see.

We're very excited though, because timing couldn't be better for us. All in all, God has been very good. It's been tough learning to trust Him through out this whole process, but as always He has prooven to be forever faithful. A few praises to account for; Ian will be leaving early August and he WILL be able to attend our friend's wedding! (Dawn and Marcelo-August 2nd.) I am a Matron of Honor in the wedding, and Dawn and Mars are very good friends to us, so we really wanted Ian to be able to attend the wedding. Thankfully, God is so good that he worked out that little detail for us. Another praise is that our lease just "happens" to end in August, which is when Ian will be leaving any way. So whether or not our friends take the apartment and hang on to our stuff, or we put it all in storage and end our lease, the timing of it all couldn't be more perfect! Another praise is that the original numbers for Ian's pay while he is in Germany were good, but when we did some final checking we found out that he'll actually be making quite a bit more than what we originally expected. Effectivly turning our "good" pay into "GREAT" pay. Which we are so grateful for.

Thanks so much to the family and friends that have been praying for us through this whole thing. Ian losing his job very suddenly was quite a shock for us. But God being so faithful as He always is has showed us a better path to walk down for now. For that, we will forever give Him all the Glory.

Ashley

Starting Fresh

Hello All,

Since most of the people that I know and see on a regular basis use this particular form of communication in the cyber space realms, I think I'll be a "crowd pleaser" and follow the yellow brick road to this blogging home. I've never been much on blogging, but we'll see how it goes. I'm much more interested in going places, seeing things, taking pictures and then writing about those things. I suppose it makes me feel most accomplished. Like I've actually done something for the day, week, month, year, & life in general. So I suppose now I'll have to come up with something more to write about.

Ian, my husband, uses his "blogging" spot for his political outlet. He says that rather than talk to me about it, which I'm not at all interested in 95% of the time, it makes it a nice way for him to vent about his opinions. I suppose if you just HAVE to tell people your opinions, this is a good way of doing it. Whether they agree with you or not, it easy to delete their comments, ignore them all together, or if you rather, respond in a matter befitting your personality. Me, I figured half of the time people never really read or care about what I have to say. I suppose that's probably why I've never really bothered with "blogging" in the first place. But alas, perhaps this blog will be different.

As opposed to my rather favorite website-myspace- I feel as if this one is rather, cave-manish. That isn't to be insulting to the people that feel the gmail blog here is The Almight Force in blogging establishments. It's very simple and easy, but has no, shall we say personality or style of it's own. Perhaps I just haven't given it proper time and attention to find it's personal style. I like that on myspace you can add music to your profile, pictures, slides shows, blogs, videos, comments. Though you can add videos and images to your blogging posts here, it's just on one long "page". Which seems, if nothing else, to imply that your whole life is just one long run on sentence. Instead of pages, chapters, links and etc. your stories and blogs just continue one after the other. I have to confess that I also rather like the artistic and interesting back grounds that you have to choose from on myspace. You can create something yourself or choose from hundreds and thousands of designed pages. Some more dark and graphic than others, but all most creative. There's a background design for almost every personality or mood. Which I tend to prefer since I feel my mood tends to be a reflection of the music and background that I add to my myspace page.

Just things to think about. I suppose to have this in chronological order, I should have posted my "previous blogs" from other pages first before writing this "introductory" blog into the new world of gmail blogging. But oh well, you'll just have to scroll down through the previous blogs to get to this original one. At the end of each blog here, I'll encourage you to check out my "other" website on myspace. It's open to the public, so you shouldn't have a problem accessing it, and as far as I am concerned it's by far the superior page to look at. Most of the information I put up here on this blog will also be put on the myspace blog as well. I'm not sure at the moment which site I'll be updating more frequently. I'll have to give you that information as I find it out myself. Hey, I'm not opposed to having the gmail blog grow on me in a way that transforms it in my own mind into becoming a superior site to myspace. Though, I severely doubt it. Now if at this point in time, you decide my style of writing or sarcastic nature is too unbecoming, please don't leave a comment, just don't come back. I feel that I should also mention that my writing style changes with my mood. Today, Sarcasm Abounds. :o)

Ashley

Tired of Waiting...

Tired of Waiting...

Okay so here's the deal. I'm tired of waiting on the military. All these confusing parts of a moving machine that never seem to get you where you need to be or want to be.

Ian and I have been waiting on a few minor details to be cleared up before we tell every one that we're moving to Germany. Yes, I did say moving to GERMANY. As in the country, where they speak this language called German. It's a short trip though, so don't go thinking that you're getting rid of us that easily. :o) It's a temporary duty for 6 months. Ian's main job would to teach and train the new kids that are just getting out of school. He would also be responsible for updating and changing their current programs and systems on how to train the new guys.

Since this is a TDY (temporary duty) it's basically being treated as a deployment for Ian. However, since it's a TDY to Germany, I would be able to accompany him. Currently we're looking for a place off post for us to live for the short 6 months that we would be there. That's not as much of a problem as getting permission to live off base. Ian has housing provided for him at no cost to us, but that housing situation doesn't allow me to be with him. So in the process of asking if we could have off post housing, the first time we asked we were turned down. However, this was due to the fact that they thought we were asking for the military to provide and pay for off post housing. That wasn't the case. We were asking for formal permission to live off post on our own, paying for it out of our own pocket. We have tried to clarify and are still waiting for a response.

Our Commander, that is doing all the negotiating in a sense for us with the Germany base, is just as confused about the situation as we are. We're getting a lot of conflicting information from different parties. Though I find it incredibly dis-heartening and frustrating, Ian assures me that it's like this every time when he goes on a deployment. So I feel a little more reassured by that.

So the long story short is that we're still waiting to hear about our housing situation. Please pray for us. Please pray that if this is God's best for us, things will fall into place they way they are meant to. Or that if this isn't God's best for us, it would be screamingly obvious that this is the wrong choice and God would open another door. Right now we kinda feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. June is winding down, and we still don't have any real answers or clear directions. If Germany isn't the right path, I'm afraid we don't know what the right path is.

Ashley

Unfortunate News....

Unfortunate News....

Hello Family & Friends,

As of Friday May 30th, Ian is no longer employed at his job in downtown Chicago. It was a bit of a surprise and shock, as we weren't expecting such a sudden turn of events.

The truth of the matter is that Ian and his boss didn't really see eye to eye on some things, and it eventually lead to the termination of his employment. In many ways, Ian is very happy to be done with that job.

Please pray for us as we're dealing with this stressful time. We know that God has everything in His hands, and we just want to be patient as we wait on the Lord to tell us what our next move should be. We have a lot of options infront of us, now we just need God's guidance to make the right decision.

Thanks for the support and prayers. We appreciate it very much.

Love,
Ashley & Ian

Hawaii May 2008

Hawaii

Hey Everybody,

My best friend Dawn and I just recently got back from our trip to Hawaii. We had a total blast. Thanks Tiffany!!! It was great getting to play with my neice and nephew and also just hang out and go to the beach in beautiful Hawaii. If you haven't ever been, you totally need to go. It's the most amazing place in the world.

Dawn and I flew back to Texas and she left and went back up to Chicago while I stayed in the south to hang out with my family for a little while longer. My husband also flew down and got to spend the weekend and Memorial Day with us, which was a nice treat.

All the new picture are either from this last trip to Texas, or from Hawaii. All of which took place between May 11th and May 26th.

After getting back home, I got a nasty cold and I've been kinda sick most of the week from that. But all in all, it's nice to be home. The day after I got back home, my hubby sent me big, beautiful sun flowers. What a sweet heart huh?

Thanks sweety, I love you!!

Well that's about all for now. Enjoy the new pictures!

Love,

Ashley