El Shaddai

So this morning Brooklyn and I were rocking and listening to her lullabys for the first time and the music to this song came on and I almost starting crying. I have loved this song from my childhood but I haven't heard it too much in recent years. It made me want to remember every lyric so they are below. I didn't even know what it meant but mom just explained it to me and its very appropriate for the days of life I'm in right now.

This name of God conveys that He has everything we need - "The breasted one" - the ONE who has everything we need for protection, love, life. How I wish I could give Brooklyn everything she needs but I never could. I can't wait for Brooklyn to grow up knowing and proclaiming this name of God and knowing Him as the giver of everything she needs.

El Shaddai, El Shaddai, El-Elyon na Adonia,

Age to age You're still the same, By the power of the name.

El Shaddai, El Shaddai, Erkamka na Adonai,

We will praise and lift You high, El Shaddai.

Through your love and through the ram, You saved the son of Abraham;

Through the power of your hand,Turned the sea into dry land.

To the outcast on her knees,You were the God who really sees,

And by Your might,You set Your children free.

El Shaddai, El Shaddai, El-Elyon na Adonai,

Age to age Your still the same, By the power of Your name.

El Shaddai, El Shaddai, Erkamka na Adonai,

We will praise and lift You high, El Shaddai

Through the years You've made it clear, That the time of Christ was near,

Though the people couldn't see, What Messiah ought to be.

Though Your Word contained the plan, They just could not understand

Your most awesome work was done Through the frailty of Your Son.

El Shaddai, El Shaddai, El-Elyon na Adonai,

Age to age You're still the same, By the power of the name

El Shaddai, El Shaddai, Erkamka na Adonai

I will praise and lift You high, El Shaddai

Pics of Brooklyn

I couldn't have survived this week without mom and dad!

Mom hasn't stopped working since she got here!!!Dad hung the adorable hanger so her diaper bag (by Marlee) could hang on the door.

Dad's working on some picture frames to complete the nursery.



Here are more pictures of Brooklyn and from our first week as parents! Thanks for all the prayers, love and support we couldn't make it without friends and family!

Smiling w/ mom!

Ready to go home from the hospital!

Love my bunny shoes from Auntie Em!

My Sweet Baby

I actually checked voicemail today - thank you to everyone who has left me messages, come to see me, sent me text messages, prayed for us - I am truely overwhelmed at the love I've felt from all of you. I can't tell you how much we are in love with Brooklyn - she is awesome. Of course we are having little sleep but she's worth it. Here are a few pics - sorry its taken so long! :)

Sweet girl!

My Valentine!

Belly Pics - My Version

Ok, so to say that I'm not a fan of posting belly pics of myself is an understatement since there have been NONE since conception! :) However, mom talked me into getting some pictures taken while Brooklyn was still in me so that I'd remember what I looked like and I can show her some day. I believe D'Arcy was the origination of this inspiration, so thanks D'Arcy for the beautiful pics you have of your pregnancies. Anyway...our family has a serious problem with pictures...in that we are VERY obsessed with them (as my husband reminds me all the time) so I wasn't that hard to convince.

So, I called up Birmingham photographer, Jessica Wright, and we had a session scheduled in a few days. She was wonderful! I can't rave about Jessica enough - she was quick, told me exactly what to do, where to stand, where to look - and she got some great pics of a very pregnant Ashley.

**Disclaimer - to those of you pregnant or pregnant in the future - I'd highly recommend planning and getting this done earlier - say 32 - 34 weeks. Don't wait around and do this unplanned like I did at 37 weeks - I'm a little big to say the least!**

Brookie's boots from auntie Em!

Nursery Pics...finally!

This is a picture looking into the nursery from the door. Window w/ Em's awesome curtains is to the left and the changing table is on the right.

I've had these stars for years - I got them from a great little place in Franklin (PD's) and I asked Matt to hang them in the guest bedroom years ago - he never did and they have been kicked around in our closet for about four years. Now they have a perfect place in Brooklyn's room! The picture above shows where they are the best, they are in the corner beside her crib.

Here is the changing table - this was our first nursery purchase a long time ago! The bulletin board over it is going to eventually (hopefully soon) have 12 little frames in it to hold a picture from each month of her first year of life. A great friend at SPC made the bulletin board for her room.

This is the moses basket mom and dad got for Brooklyn at one of the showers, it will most likely not live in her nursery but for now, its in there!

Here is the very involved looking crib! The blanket hanging in the back left corner is the one I made her, the cream one next to that is the one Meredith made her, and the pink one on the front is one from mom and dad. I'm sure they won't be there long! The diaper bag is from Marlee, she made it herself! The pink bows will obviously not stay there, they are for the mailbox and door in the hospital!

Closer picture of the crib w/ bedding.

This is a pic of the amazing curtains my sister made. The pics I have don't do them justice - they are VERY long. The window they are covering goes from floor up to about 100 inches so the panels she made are about 120 inches to reach from the very top of the window to the floor. The window is HUGE - it has a weird dome thing in the top so I wanted panels to be long enough to cover the whole window and make it really dark in the room. We love these! And Matt did a GREAT job hanging them, with no help from me.

Here is the chair I can't wait to sleep in! :) And above it is a precious Brooklyn frame made by aunt Rochelle - isn't she talented!!!

Another pic of the chair...aka...future bed for me probably.

I'm an Aunt...again!!!

That's right!!!! My sis is pregnant! We are SO excited and thankful for baby Fridrichsen coming in August! I can't wait to find out if Brooklyn is getting a girl cousin or a boy cousin...either way she will have lots of fun years ahead!

Congrats Em and Jonas!!! Love y'all!Ash at 35 weeks, Em at 10 weeks!

Promise to post some sort of belly pic soon, I'm just not a huge fan of those, if you can't tell! :)

Christmas '09

This year, Christmas was spread out - ok so every year it kind of is - Matt had to work so many hours the week of Christmas we had to celebrate early and late. On December 12th we got Christmas early with the Spann's! It was fun - they came up to Birmingham because Matt didn't have enough time off to travel to Dothan and we had WAY too much yummy food and swapped some of our Christmas gifts.

We had a great meal of snacky Christmas foods - my favorite - and we were all stuffed as we watched Mark Ingram accept the Heisman Trophey for 2009. It was a great way to kick off Christmas celebrations! (Ok - disclaimer - that REALLY makes me sound like an Alabama fan...let me be clear - I am NOT an Alabama fan. I do like them more than I did when I moved here 11 years ago, but I remain a TN fan...it has been difficult but I do remain true to the orange and white.)

Here are some pictures from the Spann Christmas!

Gabby getting into some yummy food!

Braden and Elle - who is not too sure about Christmas just yet!

Braden with his new race car set!


Braden helping Nanny with a present!

The Ray family Christmas was celebrated a couple of times. I drove up to Nashville on the 24th (after Matt had gotten home and gone to bed) to celebrate with The Collins at Aunt Jack's house. This year we decided to do a dirty santa among the adults and it was pretty fun. Some people ended up going home with what they brought (by choice) and there was only minimal stealing. Next year I think we'll have to let the claws come out a little more!

Here are some pictures from Jackie's house:

Brian is drooling over the tool kit that Em opened.

Christian helping Wes with his new Snuggie! Dad admiring his new $20 cigar!

Brian is checking out Peyton and Benjamin, the youngest twins in the family!

Matt was finally done with his Christmas rotations on the 26th so mom and dad followed me back to Birmingham so we could celebrate Christmas with Matt. He had a lot of presents to open! Elle of course helped him as she always does! Next year we'll have little Brooklyn with us! AHHHHH! Kinda scary!