It is Wednesday already? Kinda hard to believe. I have been having a good time here in the valley. So far I have spent time with local family and seen a couple of friends. I still have a couple more friends I am hoping to see before I leave. (You know who you are!:)) I also have been doing some shopping, went to one of Ryan’s games, been out to eat at some of our local establishments (go Mexican food!), and relaxed a lot.

I brought home with me four books to read. I am normally not a big reader, although I used to be growing up, and this summer I have really gotten back into it. At Saranac I read Blue Like Jazz and He’s Just Not That Into You. I brought home Redeeming Love, For Women Only (basically the Christian equivalent of He’s Just Not That Into You…but goes beyond dating) and two schoolbooks – Sacred Marriage and another book on forgiveness (can’t remember the name) that I have to read for a class. I finished Redeeming Love and I’m about halfway through For Women Only. I told myself I was going to also read and finish one schoolbook this week and next so I can have a head start on the semester. Better get on that I guess. I also just got an email from my boss asking us to have How People Grow read by Sept.11. Whew!

Anyway, today I am hoping to go to breakfast with my dad and then I am going to be helping Brooke run errands with the baby. It is still kinda hard for her to do everything by herself and of course I am happy to help. The baby is adorable and has quickly become the highlight of my trip home. She is already developing a little personality and is such a good baby. I love her, and it makes me hope that one day I can experience all of this myself.

I am going to San Fran for the weekend. Yay!!:)

A week from today is the big 2-8. Wow.

yesterday i went shopping in fresno and made a stop at the riverpark target. i loooove target. much to my surprise they now have a starbucks in the target!!

starbucks in target? i think i have died and gone to heaven.

Californiaaaaaa,
Californiaaaaaa,
Here I coooooooooooooome!

Well, actually I am already here but that is a fun song to sing anyway.:) So hello from the golden state!! I have been here since Sunday night. Wow, it is good to be home again. Weird, but good.

I say weird because in a way it seems like I haven’t left. It is funny how easily I can fall into an old routine again. I remember how to get everywhere, people seem the same, places are (mostly) the same and Jersey seems like a distant world. I really do feel like I live two lives – an East Coast one and a West Coast one. It’s pretty crazy, but I like it.

I don’t have many plans (aside from San Francisco, spending time with my niece, Janell’s shower and the normal catching up with people) while I am home so I do hope that all of you WC people who are reading this will give me a call. I would love to hang out with all of you.

More in a few days! I’m off to Fres-yes…haven’t been there in eight months, crazy! Whoever thought I would miss Fresno??;)

hello there prayer partners,

as i write this i am sitting in the golden state. i got in late last night and i am glad to be here. i just wanted to write you one last email to thank you for praying for our time at saranac.

i can go into many stories of our time. but, simply put, it was wonderful. god taught me a lot. i was so blessed to be a part of it.

thanks for your faithfulness in praying.

love, ashley

hi everyone,

this is my second to last prayer update email. i will write once more on saturday or sunday when i return to jersey.:) thanks so much for being on our prayer team!!

please pray for:
-campers as they hear the cross talk tonight
-leaders as they interact with the kids
-assignment team, summer staff and work crew as we prepare to leave
-that the a-team kids would not have chicken pox (still undetermined) and if it is, that it won't spread
-safe trip home
-me to continue to get over being sick

thank god for:
-a wonderful three weeks
-kids who met christ
-good weather to end on
-new friends
-this chance to serve him in this capacity
-saranac

i hope you all are well! drop me a line if you have a chance.

thanks, ashley

happy sunday everyone,

i had the best day contact work wise with summer staff today. we had great talks and i really feel like i had the opportunity to have quality time with most of them. it was amazing. praise the lord for that.

some of you know that i have been sick. i was really out of commission a couple of days ago but at least today i feel strong enough to be up and around. please pray that i will feel better soon. this sore throat is SO ANNOYING...and the only thing i have left to get rid of.

we have a new speaker this week. his name is daniel and he is from california (ooooooh yeah). he was brought in by the request of the "higher uppers" in yl due to our 110 asian yl kids here. his girlfriend becky is here as well. please pray that they will feel like a part of our team and that kids will hear the words that the lord is speaking through him.

everyone arrived at camp safely today. praise the lord!

another praise - i have a niece now. sullivan hadley phelan. can't wait to see her.

i will write again in a couple of days. thanks for praying with me as we enter our last week!

love, ashley

i became an aunt this morning...and it's a girl!

sullivan hadley phelan

may she follow jesus and know love and service to the fullest.

i'll post pics as soon as i get my hands on some!

hi all,

today we are at the halfway point. hard to believe and it is bittersweet. thanks for all your prayers!

things here are going well. the weather has cooled off tremendously and that has been amazing. last night we had a low of 45! that is winter in central california.;) it has been great - and it really has been making camp more "comfortable" for everyone. praise the lord for that.

last night when we were cleaning up from the rodeo we were taking down the wooden cows (we hang from the ceiling) and one of the ss girls, julia, got hit in the head when one fell on her. thankfully it did not require stitches but it did shake her up a bit. please pray for healing.

the ss is feeling tired and a couple are in bed sick today. please pray for their health.

as always, please pray that jesus will be prominent in everything we do.

personally i am doing well. i am anxious to go home (to california). knowing that i get to go home next sunday, after being away for 8 months (i haven't been home since christmas), is super exciting. i will get to see family, friends, etc. please also pray for my new niece or nephew who is to arrive any day. i am so excited to be an aunt.

"j" is hanging in there. i am communicating with her via email and phone with possible and she seems to be doing better. please continue to pray for her.

i hope all is well with you all. drop me a line if you have a chance.

blessings, ashley

praises:

-we had 85 people stand up today and say that they decided to give their hearts to jesus this week. it was amazing.
-we all made it through the week safely and had a lot of fun doing hard work together.
-my awesome night in lake placid with the summer staff girls. one girl (college age) said, "i hope i am as cool as you when i am old!" am i that old?? since when did a 20-year-old think 27 was old?? too funny!
-the fact that god loves me and you - and is 100% passionate about us.

requests:

-i was on the phone with john tonight when i noticed my call waiting going off. i didn't answer because i didn't recognize the number and i thought they could leave a message and i would call them later. well, they ended up getting saranac's number off of my voicemail, which i have listed as an emergency number, and got a hold of me that way. it ended up being a girl from my club at home who needed to talk to me. due to privacy - and the fact that this is a public forum - i will not put anymore here. just pray for her and her situation. that she will have peace and clarity from her creator.
-my broken toe - that it will heal soon!!! -our new batch of campers. -that i will be able to serve others as jesus would.

i am sending out prayer letters while i am at saranac and will also post them here. here is the last one that already went out - and i am hoping to send out another one on sunday.

i did break my toe today. not much you can do about a broken toe but it sucks having to stumble around. now i have broken two toes in my lifetime, along with my leg twice. lovely.;) i am such a klutz!!

august 1

happy tuesday everyone!

well, last night we all experienced quite a event. our camp was underneath the eye of a very severe thunderstorm and we were all woken up in the middle of night to a HUGE (and when i say HUGE, i mean HUGE) storm. there was constant lightning and the loudest thunder i have ever heard. it was the worst storm i have ever experienced and many of the older people say it was for them as well. lightning even took out a tree on camp . it was unbelievable...and, i'll admit it, scary. i was waiting for the fire alarm to go off!

this is why i am writing you. praise the lord that the storm hit when it did. no one was outside. with the lightning hitting our camp it could have been a very dangerous situation had campers been outside. thankfully the lord provided.it did take out our power (but has been restored). however it did "fry" appliances around camp. please pray that we can get all of that restored. please also pray that kids will be alert tonight at club. because all of us were awake for a good part of the night, kids might begin to feel tired and less able to pay attention at club. dave, our speaker, is speaking on the need of man and we would love for kids to be able to be 100% attentive.

other then all of that, things are going well. i am continuing to connect with girls and that has been fun. please pray that that will continue and that we will be able to have meaningful conversations.i have to get going - please drop me a line (i love to get mail of any kind). please also let me know how i can pray for you!

in a few hours i will be leaving for my assignment at saranac. right now i am waiting for my laundry to finish and then i will start packing. i will be gone for three weeks and then will be home in california for about three weeks. i can't wait.

camp at rockbridge was great, except for the fact that one of the leaders, holli who is a really good friend fo mine, got sick and had to go home early. (but she is going to be ok.) the kids had a terrific time and all of our kids who didn't know christ did indeed become believers. i will post pictures when i have time.

the day we got back from camp i went and picked my dad up from the airport and we spent the next few days moving. he helped me out sooo much. i seriously could not have done it without him. now i am completely in my new place and it is nice. i'm glad that everything is done and when i come home in six weeks i won't have to come home to a house full of boxes! again, i will post pictures when i have time.:)

hannah is getting ready to move and that makes me sad. i have really enjoyed living with her and being friends with her. next year is going to be so weird! my fall will fly by though with fun events and visitors so i'm sure i will manage. but she will greatly be missed.

it looks like a got a part-time job as a nanny. young life couldn't really afford to keep me on full-time so i will be working two jobs. it's not my favorite thing to do but it should help me make ends meet. i am meeting with the family on the 20th to put the final details into place.

here is my address - please write me!
Ashley Phelan, A-Team
Young Life's Saranac Village
4014 State Route 30
Saranac Lake, NY 12983

i will have phone and email access so i will definitely be around in that way as well.

well, i better get going. big day ahead of me. sorry about my sporadic postings - i will try to be better. i am going to take a few mins to catch up on all of yours while my laundry finishes.

lots of love!!

hey everyone!

my roommate and really good friend is moving back to the west coast. (lucky! just kidding. i love it here.) so, that means that i have to move. effective july 19 my new address and number is:
1133 old york road apt. 4
ringoes, nj 08551
908-788-5228
my cell phone is the same: 908-391-7608

i am moving the day after i come home from camp. what was i thinking???;)

speaking of camp - please pray for us! we will be at rockbridge july 12-18. we have 19 total going. the leaders are driving kids down and back so please pray for safety and for our week in general.

love and miss you all, ashley

happy friday!

thanks for all of your concern about the flooding. while the rivers are still more full then usual, they are now passable and the water is definitely receding. it has been an adventure for me but for the people who were flooded out i'm sure it was misery. some reports said it was the worst flooding in years and years.

i hope you enjoyed your fourth of july. i am posting a picture from my time at the phillies/padres game on the holiday. there was a surprise downpour and you can see how soaked we are. it was actually really funny.

i went to the city with hannah the other day. we won tickets to see "the drowsy chaperone." it was great and we were quite excited. we also took a cruise around the harbor. i am posting a pic that hannah took of the statue of liberty.


i leave for camp on wednesday, and then move out the day after i come home. but, my dad is coming here to help me move so that is a huge help. i am sad to move but it has to be done. and, my new apt. is decent. :) i will post pics of it on here soon.

that's all for now - more soon! enjoy your weekend! xoxo

Hunterdon County in a state of emergency...and this is just the beginning. Here are some pics, articles, and thoughts on our flooding.

The famous Mill in Clinton (my town). Closed due to flooding.

Flooding in Clinton 

Overflowing over the wall and onto the street. Raritan River. 

Raritan River about 3 mins. where I live. 

Washington Crossing Bridge. This is how I found out I was stuck in PA. Thanksfully I found another bridge to cross over just in time. 

I had to leave because water was coming towards me. 

Others were standing there in amazement as well. 

Washington Corssing Bridge. I am on the PA side. The bridge is close due to flooding. (This is where Washington Crossed the Delaware. I was able to cross it to go to Newtown. When I came home I was not allowed to cross back.) 

The bridge before it was "swallowed." 

Standing on the PA side of Washington Crossing. You can see how the water was slowly creeping towards me as I was standing there. 

A pic from online - a different pic of flooding on 29. 

A pic I found online. This is on Road 29 - the road I usually take. Obviously it was closed. 

Here is an article online about our area. The bold part is where I am.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Up to 200,000 people in the Wilkes-Barre area were ordered to evacuate their homes Wednesday because of rising water on the Susquehanna River, swelled by a record-breaking deluge that has killed at least 11 people across the Northeast.
Thousands more were ordered to leave their homes in New Jersey, New York and Maryland. Across the region, rescue helicopters plucked residents from rooftops as rivers and streams surged over their banks, washed out roads and bridges and cut off villages.
Wilkes-Barre, a northeastern Pennsylvania city that was devastated by flooding in 1972 by the remnants of Hurricane Agnes, is protected by levees. But county officials said the Susquehanna was expected to crest just a few feet from the tops of the 41-foot floodwalls.
Luzerne County Commissioner Todd Vonderheid said officials worried about the stability of the levees because the water was expected to press up against them for 48 hours.
"It is honestly precautionary," Vonderheid said. "We have great faith the levees are going to hold."
A dozen helicopters from the Pennsylvania National Guard, the state police and the Coast Guard were sent on search and rescue missions, plucking stranded residents from rooftops in Bloomsburg, Sayre and New Milford. Hundreds of National Guard personnel were preparing to distribute ice, water, and meals ready to eat.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell declared a disaster emergency in 46 of the state's 67 counties.
Flooding closed many roads in the Philadelphia area, including the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Officials walked rafts through deep water to ferry children out of a tennis camp in Philadelphia.
The soaking weather was produced by a low-pressure system that has been stalled just offshore since the weekend and pumped moist tropical air northward along the East Coast.
The same system drenched Washington, D.C., on Sunday and Monday, closing the National Archives, the IRS, the Justice Department and other major government buildings in the nation's capital.
Binghamton, N.Y., received a record-breaking one-day total of 4.05 inches of rain on Tuesday. Although the bulk of the rain moved out of the area Wednesday, forecasters said more showers and occasional thunderstorms were possible along the East Coast for the rest of the week, and rivers and streams continued to rise from the runoff.
An estimated 2,200 people were ordered to evacuate an area surrounding Lake Needwood at Rockville, Md., which was approaching 25 feet above normal Wednesday. Engineers found weakened spots on the lake's earthen dam, said Bruce Romer, the county's chief administrative officer.
New York state officials said two truck drivers were killed early Wednesday when they drove into a 25-foot-deep chasm that a flooded creek had carved across all four lanes of Interstate 88, about 35 miles northeast of Binghamton.
Thousands of people were evacuated from communities across New York state, including hundreds in the Binghamton area. Whole villages north of Binghamton in rural Delaware County were isolated by high water.
Along the Delaware River, more than 1,000 people left low-lying areas of Trenton, N.J. New Jersey state workers in buildings along the Delaware prepared to leave work early. The debris-choked river caused the capital city's water filtration system to shut down. North of Trenton, motorists had to be rescued from their cars because of flash flooding.
In addition to the two deaths in New York, the weather was blamed for four deaths each in Maryland and Pennsylvania and one in Virginia.
The Agnes flood caused 50 deaths and more than $2 billion in damage in Pennsylvania, and remains the worst natural disaster in state history.
After Agnes left 20,000 families homeless in Wilkes-Barre and surrounding Luzerne County towns, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers undertook one of the most ambitious flood-control projects east of the Mississippi River, raising the existing levees by 3 to 5 feet.
The $200 million project was finally completed in 2003, three decades after it was proposed and nearly two decades after Congress authorized it.

rain, rain go away!!

i am tired of being under flood watchers and warnings. and even though i love thunderstorms, i am tired of being kept inside.

and i just went down into our basement. it flooded. oh @@@@!

ah, the joys of living on the EC.

<3

i had a great weekend with kristin. i drove down on friday to spend a few days with her and catch up. it was great...lots of fun. the highlight was going to church at the national cathedral. if you ever get the opportunity you should definitely try to attend a service. it is breathtaking! kristin and i also shopped (one of my favorite things to do!), ate yummy food, and caught up on each other's lives. good times!

hannah is gone this week. she is away at camp. so, it is just me and the rosie-girl at home. hannah will be back on friday.

it has been raining her a lot!! i hear it has been very hot at home. yikes - i would much rather be in heat then 100 degree weather!

i will try to post some pics for you soon. have a good day! xoxo

wow, so much time has passed - again - since i have written an update. crazy! i have so much to tell you!

parents

my parents were here for a vacation last week. half the week we spent here on the east coast and the other half we spent in arkansas. it was nice spending time with them. you know, being single and being forced to be independent, i sometimes forget what it is like having family around. and then family comes around and i remember how nice it is! it was sad to see them go but i will be home in california aug. 20 - sept.4. that will be nice. anyway, we spent some time in langhorne, flemington and nyc. then we went and saw extended family down south. good times.

summer

i know that i once wrote a post about how busy i was going to be this summer. i was so excited about all the adventures and how quickly summer was going to pass for me. well, due to several reasons but mainly that of money, my summer plans have been greatly reduced. this, of course, is depressing but i am trying to make the best of it. if any of you want to come visit - now's the time!! i have lot's of availability in my schedule!

job

school here ends this friday. club (both yl and wl) have ended and now my work schedule has calmed down tremendously. it is actually kind of a nice break. anyway, tomorrow i am having a very important meeting with my committee chair. we are going to decide if ylwj can afford to keep on a staff person. if not, that means i am out of a job i love and feel called to (most days:)) and that totally breaks my heart! but, at the same time, i cannot stay in a position that has problems that we have seemed to have lately - and most of it is financial. anyway, please be praying for me. i need clarity!!

living arrangement

along with a possible new job (although i would see it as being temporary until i graduate in may) i also have another big life thing going on that i can't talk about just yet in this forum. but, it has me very sad and stressed out. call me and i'll give you details!

mom

my mom is having fairly major surgery today. wish i could be home to help. praying that all goes well!

look at this crazy story i just came across....

Man Finds Python in Rental Car
AP
PADUCAH, Ky. (May 29) - The next time Dan McBride rents a car, he may want to inspect it not just for dings and dents but also for snakes. The assistant athletic director at Eastern Kentucky University found a two-foot-long ball python in his rental car this week as he left the Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament in Paducah.
McBride got into his car Wednesday night with a colleague and saw the snake draped across the console.
McBride said he thought it was a rubber snake someone put there as a joke. He even gave the snake a pat and put the car into drive.
As he drove toward the exit, the snake lifted its head. McBride hit the brakes, then started to get out of the car. But the snake was on the gear shift, forcing McBride to keep his foot on the brake.
"You can't act tough when you are sitting a foot and a half away from a snake," said his colleague, Simon Gray.
The snake was captured, and was being held until its owner comes to claim it, authorities said.

hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend! i went to lake champion on a leadership retreat. it was nice. we had great weather and it was fun to simply hang out without any kids...hehehe now i am back and i have my last wyldlife meeting tonight and last young life meeting tomorrow. wow! then my summer will finally be here and life will be nice, but different for the next few months. my parents come out a week from tomorrow. yay!

yesterday was memorial day and i hope you remembered all those who serve us in the military. we truly are blessed to live in this wonderful country of ours. i remember my paternal grandfather who was killed while serving our country. i never met him. i also think of my maternal grandfather who served during ww2. i also think of my good friend chris who is in the army and has been a part of the iraqi war. i am so proud, and thankful, of all the men and women in the armed forces.

i have a confession to make. and this may be a shock, because all of you know how i admire martha stewart and aim to be a suzy homemaker even in my "singleness"...

ok, here it goes. i hate to change the sheets on my bed. not only is my mattress super heavy, but my bed is up against the wall. so, my dislike for changing sheets has changed into a total disgust.

so, i just ignore it. it's just sheets afterall, right? it's not like i wear them out during the day. and i always have better things to do then wrestle with my ginormous mattress and change those stupid sheets.

well the other day i was talking to my mom about them. she was astonished to hear that i have not changed them in a super long time. my mom is very ritual about changing the sheets - every saturday morning she or my dad makes sure the chore is done. and i used to be somewhat good about it as well - i would change them at the beginning of every month.

but...well...here it goes - i haven't changed them since i moved in. in mid december. but wait!!they seem perfectly fine to me though.

hahahahaha will you still be my friend? how often do you change yours?

hello everyone!

i am sitting on my lunch break here in the grad/commuter lounge at pbu. i am taking a summer school class. hard to believe i am taking a summer school class in may, huh? yeah, it's crazy, but possible since my semester ended on may 1. i am taking an intensive course that is just this week - but it is five days in a row from 8:30 - 5. it is on revelation and daniel. while it is hard to listen to lecture nine hours everyday, i am learning a bunch and as of saturday i won't have school again until september. awesome!

i am drinking a diet pepsi as i write this. i am trying to make some changes in my diet, and not drinking regular soda is one of them...well, since monday at least.:) i am not a fan of diet soda, and almost always would rather drink water instead if i had the choice - but soda contains caffeine - which has become my crack as i plow through this school week. i do enjoy regular soda, especially wild cherry pepsi, but it is certainly something that is rather easy for me to give up. next step? fried foods.

i hear it has been high 90's at home. we have been in the high 60's to low 70's. it has been nice, for sure...but it is easy to tell that spring is winding down. i'm sure that humidity is just around the corner. my favorite.

yesterday marks three weeks until my parents visit, and then i am heading to arkansas for a few days. good times. can't wait to have them here.

ok, gotta get going. ttyl (that is just for holli!;))<3

He thinks you're awesome. So do I!

Hannah and I won our second lottery in a row - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. We had front row center seats...it was awesome! Of course we would have rather had been at home with our moms...but since we couldn't - this came in a very close second.:) 

ok, so since sunday i have found out that three, yes three, people are engaged and/or married. and this is all since each couple met each other since christmas. i'm not knocking the quick engagement and/or marriage cause i think that if you know...you know...but i am battling a case of jealousy right now. i have been doing really well lately, not feeling sad that most of my friends are now married and i am one of the last ones left, but wow, this week has been rough for me. and it just has me asking questions as to why? am i not good enough in this or that department, if i changed this or that will my chances of getting married become higher...in essence - what is wrong with me?

now don't get me wrong, even though it is my heart's desire to be married i certainly will not marry just for the sake of bring married. i am smart enough to know that marriage is not an answer to any problem. i refuse to settle. i refuse to play games. and, like i said, i have been doing so well with being content with where the lord has me. i guess i am just frustrated and i am venting a bit.

i hear that "nice guys settle last." but i am wondering if the same goes for nice girls as well? although, i must admit that all my married girl friends are pretty kick-a** so i don't want you to think that i am not calling them nice - because they are incredible people. i think i am just a little irritated with the whole male race right now.

i have been thinking about this a lot this past week. there are so many things i could do if i were married, that are my heart's desire - things i just don't think i could do as a single person. adopt. lead a ministry team better. etc. so i guess i am confused, and frankly a little hurt, that i am being kept from better serving others and the lord. but i know this isn't a revelation to god. he and i talk about this a lot. and he always wins.

i know that the lord's timing is perfect. i know that he has the best plans for me. i am just hoping that one day i will be able to look back and say, "oh that's why you didn't allow me to be married then!":)

congratulations to my dear friends tiffanie and joe in selma. they welcomed bridget on may 1. so precious! can't wait to meet you little one!

speaking of birthdays...happy blog birthday to me! i am now over a year old - wow! such a big girl!

i want you all to go over and read my roomie's blog...www.hannahsnelling.blogspot.com. as soon as i can get someone to help me i will add her link (and other non-adxers) to my page!! thanks to carrie who helped me to put up the links in the first place.

also, good news! i passed all my classes. yay! i am now an official second year grad student! its so weird to think i am seven classes away from being a therapist... kinda good - and scary!

i am watching martha stewart right now and it is "cupcake day." how fun it would be to own my own bakery. and now it is making me want a cupcake!! yum!

enjoy your day!

Where have I been? Well, I've been here, there, and everywhere! Busy, busy, busy with school, work, and friends - but it has been awesome. Here are some pics (in no particular order) with highlights of the past couple of months...

To start off...here is a pic of me and Kristin at a civil war reenactment. It actually was very interesting!

Holli and me in La Jolla, CA. 

Holli and me sleeping on the floor at the Motel 6. Good times. 

What I woke up to our last morning...<3 

The completed house in Mexico. 

Jesus on the hillside in Puerto Nuevo. 

YL is lots of fun. Here John is holding spam that he shaped to resemble Adam, his leader. 

Wyld Life is going well...here is a pic of me and some of the kids. 

Here is Hannah after she won tickets to see Wicked after her 10th time of trying. Of course I was her guest of honor.;) They were awesome front row seats. It was wonderful!!!