My thoughts...

So, tomorrow is my birthday and I was thinking about what that means to me. Most of you know my strong love for Jesus and all that his resurrection has promised for us all to enjoy. At church we have been on the topic of death and as morbid as that sounds it actually is a positive thing. We are all going to die and there is no getting around it, so we might as well talk about it. Celebrating my birthday, with my sister Andrea also, reminds me of how blessed I am to have reached 24 years of age. There is great joy everyday knowing there is a promise of a better place and that trials we face on earth won’t be in existence in heaven and that there will be greater joy than we can imagine. As exciting as celebrating a birthday is it is nothing compared to what the celebration will be like in Heaven and if anyone has questions about my certainty in that I would love to talk! Here is to me, Andrea and all others celebrating birthdays tomorrow and here is to the promise of a better eternity!

Happy Easter!

We wish you a very Happy Easter and all the blessings that come with the promise of the resurrection. Paul and I are headed to Gresham tomorrow evening and are looking forward for the opportunity for Paul to sing at the Good Shepherd Easter services. We hope to meet up with some friends and especially looking forward to seeing Paul's family that we haven't seen since Christmas. On Sunday we will head back to Corvallis to celebrate with my family in Corvallis.

We love having so many important, inspiring, inspirational, loving, caring, strengthening, encouraging, and gracious individuals in our lives. Tonight we had dinner with Duane and Melinda Ameele and always feel so encouraged and revived after spending time with them. Yesterday we visited Kari and Conrad Venti and got to meet their six week old twins Nolan and Mila for the first time. What a beautiful gift from God! Our time together was very precious. A few weeks ago we spent some good time with friends from college, both OSU and WOU, and with friends from Paul's work that all play a crucial role in who we are in the Lord. We are looking forward to visiting with more of my friends from college next weekend and the joys that they continue to bring to my life. Jacob and Andrea Fifhause are always so giving to us and we appreciate your flexibility to let us spend the night/borrow cars/borrow clothes/ borrow house things/ borrow yard things/ etc.

You are all continuously in our prayers and we feel so blessed to be able to share our lives with you all!

Much love and Happy Easter!

In Loving Memory

Ashley's grandfather passed away on February 20, 2008. He was a hardworking, loving, and honest man. He will truely be missed!

Louis Edward Spence
Oct. 6, 1922 — Feb. 20, 2008



Louis Edward Spence of Corvallis died at the age of 85 at West Hills Assisted Living Community.He was born in Elmwood, Ill., to Alva Lee and Wilda Tyler Spence. He had two brothers, Willis and Harry. The family moved to South Pasadena, Calif., in 1923, and he graduated from South Pasadena High School in 1940.

He joined the Army in November of 1942 and was stationed at Camp White and Camp Adair before going overseas with the 91st Division in March of 1944, where he served as a medic in Africa and Italy. He was awarded two Bronze Stars, three Battle Stars and the Medical Combat Badge while serving overseas. He was discharged in November 1945.He married Julia Bradbury of Klamath Falls on Feb. 26, 1944, in Corvallis. They moved in April 1946 to Klamath Falls, where he worked for the Miller Brothers Oldsmobile-Cadillac auto dealership for 43 years. He moved to Corvallis in July 2004. He was a life member of the VFW Post 1383, Elks Lodge 1247 and the American Legion.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Julia; mother; father; and two brothers.He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Clayton and Janet Spence of Corvallis; granddaughters, Crystal Becker of Canby, Ashley Hynes of Albany, and Andrea Fifhause of Corvallis; and great-grandson, Garrett Becker.

He thoroughly enjoyed many hunting trips with his son, family gatherings with his granddaughters, and dancing with his wife.

A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Monday, March 10, at West Hills Assisted Living Community, 5595 S.W. West Hills Road, followed by a graveside committal with military honors at Oak Lawn Memorial Park.Memorial contributions can be made to a veterans’ organization or Elks Lodge of your choice, c/o McHenry Funeral Home.

All fixed!

Our car is all fixed now. Thanks to Paul, Ramon and Justin's handy skills it started up on the first try and has been running great.

Cars...

Our trusty 1997 jetta gave into its age and millage by breaking down on us this week. While Paul was changing the oil he noticed what looked like oil mixed with water, meaning our head gasket was most likely broken. Paul has worked on cars before and wanted to try to fix this problem on his own instead of paying someone else to do it. Therefore, our jetta has sat torn apart in our garage this week. In order to get to the head gasket you have to take apart basically the whole engine and so we were able to replace some other parts we had wanted to since it crossed over into the 100,000 millage club.

It feels like we have really been tested with cars this last month. We are very lucky that Paul is able to do most of the work himself and I admire him a lot for persevering through the struggles he has faced while putting back together the car. We have gotten by with one car for most days and an occasional borrow from my sister and Ramon. The lord has provided well for us and we are trying hard not to forget that and praise him in every moment. We appreciate all the help we have also gotten from friends and family in order to make this repair happen in no more (hopefully) than a week.

Here are a few pictures of the men hard at work:

All done, both of us!

I, Ashley, finally graduated from college! I was talking with my friend Stacey last night and mentioned that at times it felt like I would never get to say that. Thinking back to all the changes that have happened during my time at Western Oregon it is awesome to think that our God had every piece planned out and I wouldn't change one bit of it, even if I took an extra year to complete my studies. Thanks to all of you who accompanied me on the journey!

Now what? Well, I am waiting for my license to be issued from the state. The school has told them that I have completed everything and so I am waiting for the state to send me my license. I can't teach with out that piece of paper and so I am hoping to have it by the end of December to start substituting when school starts back up in January. I decided to sub for a couple reasons; 1) it is hard to fine a full time teaching job in the middle of the year, and 2) I will get to know more school districts and schools.

Love you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! Hard to believe the end of November is among us. Next Monday my big work sample is due and then it is smooth sailing till December 8th when my graduation will take place. I am so grateful to have this section of my life almost complete. It has been a long road and I have enjoyed the ride, but am ready to move on. Teaching has been wonderful and it is going to be hard to leave the students and faculty. There have been a few fellow staff that have been diagnosed with life threatening things and it is wonderful to see everyone come together to support them.

We are staying local for Thanksgiving, spending it with the Spence family and a few other friends in Corvallis. My oldest sister and nephew are coming from Portland, my twin sister and husband, and my grandpa will all be there. We will miss the Hynes' during this time, but are excited to see them around Christmas!

Praises that Paul doesn't have any more traveling to do this year; Praises that Ashley will be able to work a few more hours during her time off from school; Praises that Andrea and Jacob are expecting their first baby! About a week ago I was able to celebrate the upcoming birth of our friends Kari and Conrad's twins, Mila and Nolan. Here is a picture from the shower, which I had a blast seeing my long time best friends also.