Christmas at the Youngs

We enjoyed Christmastime to the fullest this year. Most of the time was spent with family just relaxing and playing with Bennett.

Bennett loved the Christmas tree. He would point and say "Ahh" when he walked in the living room every morning like it was so beautiful.

Christmas Morning-Bennett plays with his new toys.

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Bennett loves vaccum cleaners. He follows me all around the house when I am vaccuming ,and he crys when I put it up. So he got his own vaccum for Christmas.

I hope everyone else had a blessed Christmas, and I can't wait to see ya'll soon!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

Merry Christmas! Here's a video Chip, Aubie and I made for the church! Enjoy!

Everyone's Address

Shelley-2301 Ellenwood Drive Opelika AL 36801
Jessica-182 Liberty Trail Hamilton AL 35570
Becky-158 Hidden Creek Cove Pelham, AL 35124
Kelly-12012 Huntcliff Rd. Huntsville, AL 35803
Ashley- 321 Bel Aire Dr. Franklin, TN 37064
Haley-30013 St. Barbara St. Daphne, AL 36526

For Jessica and anyone else who needs them.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

NOW

Part of the team during a recent conference.

Altar Call and Commissioning during Summer Ramp 2.

Happy December already!

Can you believe it?
It is so good to hear from everyone, I love seeing the pictures and hearing how your lives are changing and moving.

Two weeks ago I spent four days in Birmingham for work and was able to stay with Becky. I had an amazing time talking and catching up with her. Becky, I am so thankful for your friendship, Cliff bars, help and encouragement. You and Kellan are doing amazing things in Birmingham. I left so inspired.

I am currently recovering from a cold, loving my ever so insane life and wishing that Hamilton had at least a Chick fil A.

Life in Hamilton, AL is quickly moving, Andrew and I are officially registered Marion County Foster Parents and our nieghbor was just saved! Father is keeping us all constantly stirred and amazed. People from all over are hearing the word of Lord for their own lives and moving themselves and their families to Hamilton to serve the ministry and be a part of what the Lord is doing here. It seems unreal at times, because you don't move to Hamilton for the shopping or anything:)-The team is daily taking communion together and growing into a new level of unity. We have bought and cleaned out an old skating rink and are renovating it as a storehouse for the poor and hurting in our community. We are also building a camp, currently clearing 120 acres, and while clearing the land they found a natural stream that will provide enough water to supply the entire facilities! Camp Ramp will consist of so much that I will have to blog just about it sometime. In our Community Sunday night services we are seeing supernatural healings, lives saved, restorations and the presence of the Lord like never before. We are preparing a huge Christmas Extravaganza as an outreach for our community, I am having to put the pointe shoes on again, and yesterday morning's 5 1/2 hour rehearsal is a confirmation that I am no longer a ballerina by any means. Winter Ramp is already sold out with over 1200 young people and we are anxiously awaiting to see what the Lord is going to do this conference.

Andrew and I were talking on our way to Thanksgiving about how thankful we are for The Ramp, Mrs. Karen, Damon, Chosen, and the gracious hand of our Father for allowing us the chance to lay down our lives for a generation to be awakened and equipped.

Last night, the word of the Lord was so pressing for me that I wanted to share, because I believe it is is a word for all Christians NOW. Today, December 1st press into the Lord like never before, do not wait for the new year. I have been feeling like the Lord was stirring or showing me a need for a deeper level of intimacy, but was pushing it away because my perspective was wrong. I was counting the cost, when the real question is not what it will cost, but what will I miss if I do not change and press into Him. Last night this was the opening word from Damon, I immediately went to tears, and when I looked around I was surrounded by a mass of others who were hearing the same thing and crying the same tears. I believe that where we are headed as a body of believers it is necessary. I am challenging myself not to be distracted by HOHO and all the wordly demands of Christmas, but to live consecrated as unto the Lord...I am not sure what the Lord is about to do, but I am committed to living Persuaded.

"Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."Romans 14:5

"And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform."Romans 4:21

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Hebrews 11:13

Love to all, can not wait to see you all in January!xjessa

S-L-A-C-K-E-R

            "Thats our hall director" :)

Hello my sweet friends. I was talking to Ashley tonight and she asked, "So, have you read our blog lately?" and in my stupidity I reply, "What blog?" Yes, life has really caught up to me recently, and blogging, well, I guess it never registered to me. So, now I just caught up and read everyone's updates, and I am blown away about everything that I have been missing. Jessa, 

my heart breaks for you and your loss. I can't imagine the hurt and confusion. But knowing that we have a sovereign God who has orchestrated every step is so comforting. Know that I am praying for you! Becks, I can't believe Kellan is starting seminary! How exciting! I will definitely be praying for you- that the Lord will continue to mold your marriage and provide time for each of you to be together in the busyness that comes before you. Hales, wow- I am so excited that you and Paul are still leaning on the Father to guide you in your marriage. What hard decisions and times you have had to face. Know that Chip and I are daily praying for you and Paul, and we know that the Father has this in His hands. What a great time to look to Him for guidance and grow deeper in His word and truths! Shells, I can't get over how big Bennett is! He is beautiful- just like his mama and dada! And Ash, your love for these girls- it excites me! This ministry sounds absolutely amazing!

So here's the update from Huntsville! Chip and I are busy little bees. I am teaching 7th grade special ed this year. It has definitely been, well, challenging. (Kind of ironic that the school I am working for is named Challenger.) My job consists of me team-teaching (teaching with another teacher) 4 inclusion math classes and 1 science class. I also teach a class called "Learning Strategies"- where I basically teach study, test-taking, and social skills. The beginning of the year was really difficult. I had one little boy who was AWFUL- he never did any work and always disrupted class. When I would try to call the mom, the phone lines would be disconnected. I also had one boy that had anger issues and was very defiant. The Lord, in His faithfulness, knew I was at my wits end. So, in October one of the boys move

d to Tennessee and the other one was expelled. Life has been much better :). However, my job requires me to deal with a lot of young kids with a lot of deep issues. A lot of family problems, and heartbreaking situations. The Father has been teaching me about how truly blessed I am. I come home weeping with a broken heart for some of these students (at my school and in our youth) who come from nothing, no support, no family. I have really begun to see just how important it is for the church to be the church. To find these lost souls who have nothing and tell the the greatest story of all- that they do have something! They have a Father who will never fail them, never hurt them, always be there for them, wants what's best for them, who will love them unconditionally. They have a Savior that loved them so much, that he gave himself up just for them, so that they could spend eternity with him! Hallelujah!  

It is looking like Chip might be able to go on full time staff at our church in January! Yay! Our prayer is that we will continually seek the Father to lead this youth group, our marriage, and our future. It has been amazing to see the Lord's provision, and we look forward to see what else the Lord has in store for our future as we continually seek His will for our life. 

Okay, this is a long enough post for now. Now that I realize we have a blog, hopefully I will be a much better reader and updater! I miss y'all so very much! Look forward to the reunion in January! :)

Kels

Here's a picture of our new boxer, Aubie, that we rescued from the Humane Society

Birthday Boy!

We celebrated Bennett's first birthday with some friends and family at our house. It was alot of fun even though it seems like a big blurr to me. I can't believe a year has come and gone.

This cake was an ordeal. It only took twice to get it right. Thanks to Aunt Nat for icing it.

Birthday Boy all decked out. He wore that hat like a trooper. I was so proud!

The cute invitation that matched the cake.

Bennett especially liked the wrapping paper, tissue paper, bags, boxes, and balloons.

This is what Bebe and Rooster(my parents) gave Bennett.

Yummy! He liked his cake. Playing in it was the best part.

Notice the cake was head to toe. You know me, I couldn't wait to clean it up.

LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!

First of all I want to say that I absolutely adore this. I just got on here for the first time with a nudge from Renee, and I can't believe it took me so long. Renee...if Bennett were any cuter I think I would just have to come take him. Becks...Congrats to you and Kellen! What a life altering time in your lives. As for the money...God will provide everything you need, but I know you know that already. Ash...you are seriously one of the most incredible people I know. I love that your entire life is centered upon your next mission field. As for the club...that is amazing! I am definitly going to have to come visit again and experience this first hand! : ) Jessa, you are still in my prayers! Kells...I saw your wedding pics on facebook and they were beyond gorgeous! I hope you and Chip are doing fantastic and loving all of the new challenges you are getting to face together.

As for me...these past several months have been a doozy!!! Paul and I are still seperated and I am still trying to come to terms on a life without him. We are still going to marriage counseling and spending time together, but no decisions have been made. I decided from the very beginning that we had to give it until at least December before we made a decision either way, but I am thinking that we are still going to need more time. The good news is that we know we love each other and that we want this to work, but there are alot of barriers to overcome before we can truly be happy together. In the past few weeks, I have starting growing very weary of the situation and questioning how much longer I can go through this. The Lord as always is very faithful and allowed us to have one of the best heart to hearts we have probably ever had. Since you all know what a wonderful communicator I am (and Paul is as lousy as me I can assure you) so this was truly a blessing for us to be able to sit down and open up the way we did. We are also crossing another bridge that we have both struggled with for a while now. Paul is going to the doctor to discuss his manic depressive behaviors. For the past several years, Paul has struggled a lot with depression even when he cannot identify one thing in his life that makes him feel that way. Since I am very hesitant to turn to medication, I have not encouraged him to take action despite the fact that his father, our counselor, and many other people have urged him to seek medical attention. Lately, his roller coaster of emotions have gotten worse and after a lot of hesitation we are finally willing to consider that there truly may be a chemical imbalance that he is dealing with. Not that we see this as a cure to our situation, but at least now we feel like we are taking one more step in trying to work through our issues. I will keep you all posted on where we go from here. In the meantime, I am looking for jobs and still trying to get plans together for moving back towards home so that my life doesn't completely fall apart if all of this doesn't work out the way I want it to. Please continue praying us!!! I know that the Lords' will has a way of prevailing in the end and that is what is keeping me going right now. I love, love, love you girls and I am so looking forward to our weekend together!

Quack, Quack!

Bennett was a duck for halloween!

We went to a fall festival with friends.

Bennett's favorite game. He almost dove in:)

The 50's Family

First pumkin carving!!!

Lots of fun, Big mess.

2 years next month!

So it has been 2 years in November since I moved to Tennessee! It is crazy how the time has flown by... When you think about what all has happened in each of our lives in two years it really is amazing... Marriages, babies, moving, different jobs, miscarriages, etc. The great comfort in all of this is that the Lord remains the same! Amen!

So I wanted to give a recent update of happenings in the great state of Tennessee. Over the last two years the Lord has really given me a heart to get involved in efforts of racial reconcilation. It is a huge heartbeat of our church to try and reconcile the relationship that we have with the African American community here. Last year I found out about a ministry called Baby Girls Club. Nicole C. Mullen started this minstry. She has a heart for mentoring girls in our community. So every Tuesday and Wednesday the club meets in the clubhouse that she bought and set up for them. The older girls meet on Tuesday and the younger ones meet on Wednesday. I work on Tuesday with the older girls. I pick some of them up from school and bring them to the clubhouse.We have about 10 girls from that ages of 12-18. Two of the girls have babies of their own.

This is what club looks like for me on a Tuesday...

The first hour we dance!! This is my favorite part! I have learned two step routines and Nicole is the one that teaches us the routines.. It is so fun! It is fun to see the come alive as they dance. 358 girls would have so much fun with it!

Also, they call me Ms. Ashley... any adult woman they have to address with Ms. in front of their name. We also eat some great food while we are at club. We have this one woman who brings food and she brings homemade goodies! Oh my gosh... So yummy!

The second hour we do Bible Study. These girls have a limited knowledge of God. We are starting from the beginning with them. We are in Genesis right now. These precious girls ask some of the hardest questions I have ever had to answer. Their situations just break my heart... But we want them to be strong women, so we talk a lot about work ethic and making something of your self and not using the cards you were dealt in life as an excuse to be lazy...

The last little bit we have I help them with homework or we let them use the computers that are at the clubouse. We also have someone teaching them how to sew and how to do other crafts if they want to do that. Then when club is over, I drive some of the girls home.

Needless to say at the end of Tuesday I am exhausted!! But it is so worth it! My goal and vision is to love these girls, share Jesus with them, and to walk through life with them. I want them to feel welcome in the church and I also want to have some of my girls come to the club. After all isn't that heaven will be like.. All races, all nationalities. I want my girls to learn from them and the baby girls to learn from my Williamson County kids.

The picture is one from the jr. high lock in. These are four of the baby girls. These are some that are jr. high age. Three are sisters: Diamond, Africa, and October and Amber is the other one in the picture. For fun I also included a pic from me last night at our annual Barn Party!! I was Miss University of Alabama!! ha ha.

I love you girls!

Officially Poor

Hey girls! This is so fun!! I would love to upload a picture on here however my computer decided to erase everything on my harddrive!!! In the world of the Dedges the latest news is that Kellan was accepted to Beeson Divinity School!! We are thrilled about the four years ahead! We are however officially poor now!! We are even considering moving into married housing at Samford and while the landscape is far better there than at my current house, the living quarters are significantly smaller!! Not to mention they have been there for a thousand years!!! In some odd fasion I am excited about this time in our lives to not really have a lot material wise! It is fun to watch and see how the Lord provides and cares for His children! Kellan will start in February and at that point he will be working part time at the church as well!! Besides that, life is busy but fairly normal! I love ya'll!

Happy Fall

There are lots of fun things to do in the fall, one of which is going to Farmer and the Dell Pumpkin Patch! Bennett picked out a pumpkin, played in a corn trough, went on a hayride, and enjoyed every minute of it!

Bennett is growing so fast! His first birthday is nearly 2 weeks away. Of course the plans for his party are well underway:)

Things Bennett loves to do:

1.pointing to everything with his cute little finger

2.What does a cow say? "moo" (imagine him saying a quick, abrupt MOO almost before you finish asking the question) He knows other sounds like quack and errr(rooster) sometimes.

3. Walking behind the walker-fast-forward speed. We have to slow him down. Also without any regard to what's in front of him. He will run it over or at least try.

4. He is still a screamer. What can you do? Maybe he'll out grow this when he starts talking. But I will say I miss the little things he is out growing, and I am sure one day I'll look back and somewhat miss this too.

5. Loves looking at photos throughout the house. Points to everyone and says "dada". Still no "mama".

6. Loves riding in the little red wagon. He looks irresistable sitting up ready to go with his little baseball cap on.

7. Ringing bells- My parent have a big dinner bell at their house. He lunges toward it when we visit and our neighbors have small version on their mail box that he rings as we pass by it in the wagon.