Confidence in the Future

November went by really quickly. It still baffles me that it’s actually December. All the time when I was a kid, my parents told me that the older you get the faster your days go by. I never believed them much when I was a kid. Heck, I thought I was invincible and that I’d live forever. Not exactly true. :) Anyways, I am living what my parents told me. Days seem to pass by so quickly – it makes me realize the brevity of my life.

Knowing that your life is short, makes you change many things. It makes you want to be reconciled with everyone, it makes you want to share with others your convictions and beliefs, it makes you even evaluate why you are here for such a short time and how you can make a difference (even if it’s a small difference). Most days I really try to live with much conviction. Conviction that my life might very well end tomorrow. I mean, it’s true. No one knows when they will die. Everyone knows they will die—it’s inevitable. You can’t escape death. We all have to come to grips with that.

The thing I love about my life is that it has a purpose and is going somewhere. Even if I were to die tomorrow, I would be confident in many things:
-Confident in where I’m going when I die. I belong to Jesus Christ, who has conquered death. I don’t have to worry or be anxious (even though I find myself to be that way at times, to be candid). I can rest easy in the hands of God, knowing He knows when and where I will be when I die.
-Confident that God will take care of my husband and family after I die (if I die before everyone else). I don’t have to worry about anyone – God is in control!
-Confident that my life wasn’t just a meaningless, by chance event. God has me here, right where I am for a purpose. Everything He has ordained in my life is for a reason – my family, my job, my husband, my calling, my friends, etc. The list can continue. I have no idea who I made an impact on. There is a greater purpose than what I could even begin to comprehend. And I might not never know, but that’s okay. I can just trust God to know and that’s good enough.

I just hope that I always have this attitude. I never want to be so angry and resentful that I forget how short life is. Life is too short to be angry. Or even insecure. I have every reason to be secure completely. Not because anything I’ve done, but because of what Christ has done. If I were to see Him like He sees me – WOW! My life would radically change. What keeps me from seeing myself in that light? Like everyone else in this world, I’m just caught up in my own junk. Even though I have Christ, I’m still human. I still have issues that I have to work through.

What about you? Do you think about these things?

I hope that you enjoy your week! I am hoping to blog more this month. I have seemed to forget to blog as often as I used to. Hopefully that will change. :)

Thanks for reading – have a great afternoon!

2009 - Holiday Mini Sessions!

Check out my photography blog for the original post: http://www.transparentlifephotos.com/blog/

My Monthly Update :)

Wow! It’s been a while since I’ve blogged on here. I used to be so consistent at one time. I think my consistency has changed to my photography blog, that I update at least once a week (or try to update once a week).

So a lot has been happening lately.

As my previous post mentioned, October was going to be bringing ‘crazy’ in my life – which it did. It pretty much consisted of work, sleep and eating. That’s about it! It was crazy moving an office that had been there for 27+ years! Talk about a LOT of stuff!

So we are officially moved. We’re no longer in Richardson, but in Plano, which adds a little to my travel time. At first I was slightly frustrated at this because I feel like I literally get home, eat, and go to bed. I feel there’s not enough time to do anything unless I don’t want to get any sleep. So it’s been a little frustrating, but I realized that I really need to be content with where I am. I have a job, a very good one, and I have transportation to and from there. That’s a blessing.

My sister had her baby yesterday at 2 PM. She is SO adorable – a spitting image of my other niece, Haelee. After a while, my sister began hemorrhaging, her pulse dropped and her blood pressure as well. They took her to the ICU to stop the hemorrhaging and to watch her closely. As far as I know she is fine. Please keep her in your prayers. This was on my mind when I went to bed and when I woke up this morning.

A lot of decisions have been made, as well, regarding Josh and my future, too. I’ve told many people this, but we have decided to no longer be a CARES Team, unless we can’t find any place to live by January, then we will continue through the year. We have been looking for places to live – specifically garage apartments, or servant’s quarters. If you know of anything in Dallas, if you could please let us know, we’d appreciate the info!

We hope to take a trip to an overseas country (which most of you know what it is, but I can’t mention it on here) in March which we’re really excited about. We’re hoping it will reveal much about what we’ll be doing long term in the future. Please be praying that the trip would be well planned and executed, and have a strong vision, as we want to make the most of it.

Photography has been going well, too. It’s been a lot of fun taking pictures of people and being creative in that area. I don’t know where it’s going or what will happen to it whenever we go overseas permanently, but I do hope to use it over there. I’m just trying to rely on God for what He wants for it. I am trying so hard to hold it loosely, as I want His plan, not mine. Which, believe me, if I could do this full time, I would!

One more thing, we are now at about $14,500.00 left in debt from 60K, so we’re really stoked about that. We have been trying everything and anything to get out of debt (everything is legal, of course!) and we are just trying to stay focused on it. So praise God for paying off our debt. All glory goes to Him.

So that’s a short and sweet update on life with the Truckey’s. We are thinking through a lot right now and trying to figure out what we’re going to do.

I hope that you have a great day friend – thanks for reading!

-ashley

October will be bringing some CRAZY in my life!

Wow - October already? Kind of scary when you think about how fast time goes.

So just this week alone has been tons of "firsts" for me. I mentioned that in my tweet the other day and a few people asked me to expound. Here is my expounding. :)

These are my firsts:
-This is my first time to work 50+ hours in a week.
-This is my first time to record music in the studio! :)
-This is my first time to try out for Watermark's Music Ministry.
-This is my first wedding to photograph (on Sunday)
-This is my first time to shoot with a Canon 30D and Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.
-This is my first time to rent a camera lens from ZipLens.com.

I think that is it. Kind of fun! Lots of new things.

This month is going to be crazy. Not only am I doing a wedding on Sunday, I will be going to Houston next weekend to do a family portrait, and then the next week is the last week I'll be at the office I'm at because my work is moving to another location. Which, if any of you have ever moved before in your life, you know how stressful that is. So take that stress and times it by 10 because we're not only dealing with our own things that we work with on a daily basis, but all of our boxes in our warehouse (which there are WAY too many to count). Hence the reason for overtime.

In the midst of all of this, as well, we have CARES events and everything else in our lives.

So the craziness is coming. I'm trying to be calm and really just give it all to the Lord, but it's so hard to do that sometimes, you know? I always want to rely on myself and not God, but I always end up relying on him in the end anyways because things become impossible. While all of this ahead looks impossible, I do belong to and serve a magnificent God. For nothing is impossible with Him! Because He's God. :)

Anyways, quick update from here. I must continue trekking on. Have a great weekend.

Oh and look on my photography blog for new pictures of the cutest twins ever: http://tinyurl.com/mdwuse.

Peace and Hairgrease! (as my sister's and I always said when we're were younger!)

What's Going on With the Truckey's

I haven't blogged in a long time!! Since Sept 9! Crazy! Well, here's an update on life:

Last week was really weird for me.

On Monday, it was like a light switch with my emotions. I struggled with being angry all week. Which, if you know me at all, you know I'm a peaceful person. I don't like to be angry and don't hold any grudges. It's normally hard for me to be angry at anyone. And last week I was irritated and angry at everyone. So weird.

About halfway through the week I was really tired. I definitely wasn't understanding this because I was getting 8-9 hours of sleep a night! And it's still the same now.

So weird.

Other than that, things are good. Josh and I are realizing how close it is to the end of the year. We're so amazed that we'll be celebrating our 3rd Anniversary this January! It's so crazy to think about. What is even more crazy is that Sept 30 marks 8 years of being together. That is such a long time. It blows my mind every time.

Photography is going really well and keeping me busy. Almost every weekend in October is booked with a session! I'm trying not to book anymore because I need some time to catch up with all that I'm doing. If you're following me here on this blog, I hope you take some looks at my photography website and blog. I've been updating it pretty frequently - more frequently than this blog (whoops!).

CARES is going well, too. We've decided to end our commitment there this December and move on. It's a sad thing to think through, but we both realize the importance of pursuing our career in overseas work and at this time, that is the season we're in. With CARES we unfortunately don't have the time to do a lot of these things, so we think this would be a good transition for this time of the year. We'll still be in Dallas, so no worries about moving far away yet. We'll be moving north of Dallas in another apartment community. We're downsizing a lot, too. Our apartment now is WAY to big for us and we just don't want a lot of 'stuff.'

That's about it. :) Things are good. We're just trying to be content in where the Lord has us and enjoy our lives together.

Hope you're having a good Monday. :)