thanksgiving pics

check out matt's blog for our thanksgiving adventures

north carolina

we safely arrived at the ashdowns yesterday at 7:30 - earlier than expected. we had a great road trip from boston and were able to surprise jasen and amanda at the airport. the weather is rainy and windy, but we're so excited to be with family!

happy thanksgiving to all of you :o)

one month, one week, & one day

UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!

i can't wait!! :o)

houston?

so i've really been wrestling with where God is going to take us after matt is done with school. boston is great, but i don't see us here long-term and it's not a place where we would be able to accomplish our short-time and long-term goals. we have been blessed here, but it doesn't feel like home. so...the two options we have (as of right now) are houston and oregon. both places would be near family and be affordable to buy a house in the near future and they would be warmer than boston. so i simply asked amanda & jasen to come up with a list of the top 10 reasons why we should move to houston. i said, "because we're here" is not allowed. here's what they came up with:

JASEN'S LIST
1. cubbies come to town 16 times a year
2. i can get free tix to all 16 times (box seats anyone?)
3. NO SNOW
4. it is 78 degress on oct 31st
5. concerts: death cab, album leaf, snow patrol, shane and shane, derek webb all this year! (and i got free tix for 3 of these 5)
6. POKER NIGHT
7. amy's ice cream - you will not be dissapointed. i'm pretty sure this is Jesus' fav ice cream fyi
8. beth moore has a bible study here
9. THE FOOD IS AMAZING - tex mex, pappasitos, mission burrito, benihana, and NO LEGAL SEAFOOD
10. phantom of the opera, the lion king, wicked - ALL HERE! yes we get broadway shows all the time
11. coin to fly around to any sweet conference we want and here amazing bands - ie DELIRIOUS AND WILLOW CREEK

(I thought this was more of a list to convince matt with #1, 2, 4, 6, 9 & 11, but not bad)

AMANDA'S LIST
1. you can't say your family in oregon. that's obvious.
2. you can transfer your job no problem.
3. downtown is a sweet place to work in.
4. YOU CAN ACTUALLY AFFORD A HOUSE HERE
5. you can get pluged in at a church, and matt can lead with jasen.
6. the galleria. (HUGE mall)
7. katy mills mall
8. austin is 2.5 hours away. one of my top 5 fav cities.
9. i will be off during the summer, so i can spend it all with you moving here! and driving your cars and stuff back.
10. IKEA is 10 minutes away...
11. (one more in case #1 didn't count) gas costs $1.98 a gallon.

so...depending on a few details that have to be lined up, i think i'm convinced. now we have to work on matt!