There I was, green as the jungle around me, trying to learn life here in this sweltering humidity and heat with a five month old and barely three year old. Learning new fruits and foods and how to take the laundry off the line when the flash rainstorms came. I’d already killed my fair shareContinue reading “Five Minute Friday: Friend”
Author Archives: Ash
Five Things You Should Know About Motherhood
I wasn\’t there, but I think I know the look on your face when you saw those two pink lines. And then you looked at the instructions at least 37 times because you were sure that you must have misunderstood how to hold the stick or pee on it the right direction. Or maybe twoContinue reading “Five Things You Should Know About Motherhood”
Five Minute Friday: Writer
“I’m not a speaker. I’m a writer.” I have said that many times. In this field of ours sometimes you are thought of as a speaker. But I’m just not. I fumble at my words and try to grab them back, hit the delete button and try the sentence again. The truth is, speaking isn’tContinue reading “Five Minute Friday: Writer”
Top Ten Highlights of 2013
I laid in bed this morning listening to the rain on the metal roof of our home, thinking about the past year and one thought kept resonating in my mind. We are crazy. Or at least this year almost made us that way. But by the grace of God, we are different people today thatContinue reading “Top Ten Highlights of 2013”
I Finally Let Myself Say It
I finally let myself say it. I\’ve been waiting for someone else to say it. Another mom. Another missionary. Anyone really. But no one ever did. They\’d say, \”Wow, how do you do it?\” or watch while I fumble–oh how I fumble–at trying to control screaming, whining, disobedient children, be a “good” missionary, maintain myContinue reading “I Finally Let Myself Say It”
Broken Teeth and Broken Lives: If We Weren\’t "Just" Moms
We read the document line by line, our plea to the judge to make this brown-eyed girl our own. Our lawyer had drawn it up for us, ensuring that while this would be a lengthy process, it really was not all that complicated. “Richard Whittemore, married, pilot, resident at….” So far so good. “Ashley Whittemore,Continue reading “Broken Teeth and Broken Lives: If We Weren\’t "Just" Moms”
Glimpse at the Good
In the midst of the hard, like little beams of light breaking through the clouds, God gives us little glimpses of what He’s doing here to keep us going. Here’s a list of some of the great things God has and is doing in our part of the world. —We are facilitating the start ofContinue reading “Glimpse at the Good”
When Living the Dream Feels More Like a Nightmare
“These are our ‘good ole’ days’, you know?” I said to him as we precariously swerved through the potholes of the washing-away-street, us and our three kiddos all crammed up on our motorcycle going home after a dinner out because neither of us could decide who was less tired enough to cook. One day, theseContinue reading “When Living the Dream Feels More Like a Nightmare”
One Year Later
In some ways it seems like yesterday and in others it seems like decades, but it was in fact one year ago today that we left behind what we knew as “home” to begin a new journey, four years in the making. Looking back, I feel like we were just babies, taking our first steps.Continue reading “One Year Later”
This Serving Jesus Thing
“Because it’s uncomfortable and difficult and I don’t want to,” I said. That’s how I was feeling, so right or wrong I said it. He just looked at me, knowingly, patiently. It looked easier in the missionary biographies and blog posts, this serving Jesus thing. More adrenaline filled and more close the pages and fallContinue reading “This Serving Jesus Thing”
S T R E A M S + T H O R N S 