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.