God is Truth. Media Lies.

God has a plan and all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Today especially, there is power in being a person of faith, one of the reasons being because eliminating fear is a main goal. Without faith it is impossible to please God. (Heb 11:6) The just shall live by faith. (Hab 2:4) The one who fears has not been made perfect in love, because fear involves torment. (1 John 4:18) Faith eradicates fear. It is the belief that God has a good plan for me, for you, for everyone and everything, our job is only to know Him and walk in what He wills. God created each and every one of us with a purpose that aligns with our pure passion and He loves us all so much, desiring to see us walk out what good we were made for. He wants to see us believe the best about ourselves and see each other the way He sees us, imperfectly wonderful and eager to have a healthy relationship with Him and with each other. 

All of us are reeling from what is going on in the world right now, if you’re paying attention. So much has been so hard. Images, words and actions just ripping the very fabric of our society apart, causing us all deep pain (some more than others) as we see what is going on. It has been very tragic. I see how God is using these difficult experiences in our society to shape willing people’s hearts, myself included, more and more toward the marginalized, poor, indigenous, and afflicted… and I am so thankful. Jesus said when we take care of those with the least, we take care of Him. (Matt 25:40) Racism is being combatted. A lot of corruption is also being exposed. Systems of underground criminal behaviour are being brought to light and this is so amazing! God wants to expose evil, He is allowing the shaking, and He loves justice! He promises that everything which is done in secret will eventually be brought to light. (Luke 8:17)

On the other side of the coin… I am also seeing many words, images and actions in our society troubling to me in a different way as I do not believe they’re leading to positive change, left unchecked. I wonder what’s become of our words and views about ourselves and others in light of the love God has for us and what He thinks of us and wants us to think of each other? What I see in this space is devastating to me. Many people are calling themselves, others, and/or our society negative names and placing judgemental labels on the same, putting other people or themselves in boxes based upon something physical about them, their vocation, or their history. People are finding an interpretation of meaning about themselves, and others, not based on how God sees us, but based on their own, another’s, or the socially acceptable perception. Our world is becoming more and more caught up in interpretations based on the outward appearance. The norm is evermore the identification of the self or other through a physical, temporal trait, and this is highly stifling to our eternal complexity and Godly spirituality. Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samual 16:7)

I increasingly see people feeling the need to remain silent on their own discomfort with these stifling labels, boxes, and judgements. Many people’s experiences and perspectives don’t fit inside these confinements, but they are ostracized for expressing what does not fit in with the ever changing mainstream narrative. There is grouping based on physical or vocational features and shaming of groups based on what is temporal, not eternal and, really, grouping of what cannot and should not be grouped, labelled or judged. More and more people (out of fear or programming) are speaking only on what and when our culture deems as right. Yes, it is good to root up evil and to speak against it when (and not when) mainstream media says so. But it is not good (edifying, loving, or ultimately beneficial) to negatively group and label yourself or anyone for anything and assign to all in that group something irredeemable based strictly upon that label. It eliminates our unique individuality and overall mental and spiritual health to so strongly identify with only one physical feature or aspect of ourselves and see ourselves, or others, primarily through that lens without a way of escape. It closes us off from God and one another to do this. Where is there room for redemption when you are in a group labelled by society as irrevocably irredeemable? Those in the ostracized group then self-shame in hopes of appeasement to their perceived other, but to what end? Biracial people, for example – does the white half of them owe their black half an apology for a perceived suppressive superiority over the other’s lesser-ness? Or the lighter skinned mixed brother to the darker? Do you see the damaging divisiveness in this line of thinking? Do you see how far this is from how God wants us to see ourselves and each other? I sure hope you do! Because if not, you’re being duped. Meanings are being manipulated. While God will use what is intended for harm to be made into good for those who are willing (Gen 50:20), those who don’t understand the spiritual battle going on beneath the physical reality will come ultimately to ruin. (Hos 4:6) My heart. My heart. 

I am not a perfect human by any stretch and I’ve made a lot of mistakes and some bad choices. I’ve found mercy in God and healing for my brokenness and so I know Him because I love Him so much and I spend time with Him and learning about Him in His Word. It makes everything in me writhe with pain to see how we have so much anger, outrage, and indignation here in our society over only what the media puts in front of our faces and most aren’t seeing the great deception we are under. Our society is not perfect, but it’s one of the most free places in the world with so much opportunity to be better if we truly understood. Yet our freedoms are quickly dwindling away while our minds and spirits become more and more imprisoned as we Netflix and chill through increased tribulation. Most don’t pay attention to what’s really going on in the world. The whole rest of the planet is literally being physically enslaved and traumatized by the very elite groups and corporations that mentally enslave us to our culture and consumerism, puppeteering us into further emotional, mental and spiritual degredation, brokenness and servitude to them. Most people have no idea what’s really going on because it’s not on the news or mainstream media and they trust CNN, Hollywood, Google, etc. to tell the truth. Why? Why do you trust? These outlets are controlled by greedy globalist elite who want to control and use you. Almost no one talks about it, and even less people talk about what these evil elite are really connected to. 

I don’t talk about modern slavery, human trafficking, a lot. I don’t share with people the countless tears I’ve shed and prayers I’ve said over the past ten years since I learned about the occult ritualistic abuse taking place underneath the very fabric of our society and the massive rings of underground slavery, where humans are bought and sold for mere dollars and the rape and torture of children and women runs rampant. I don’t want to bother people with what keeps me up at night. Nobody wants to hear that slavery and the mistreatment of people is more prevalent now than it ever has been in the history of the world. No one wants to remember that the clothes you’re likely wearing right now were made by tiny little overworked hands of colour in a corporate owned sweat shop under forced slave labour. You think it’s a far away problem but it’s all around us. Please hear me, it’s not that I’m unhappy that racism is being talked about in the West – I can see it’s starting to lead some toward greater care for the marginalized which is the heart of God! We need reform and support for those who are vulnerable here in our society too! It’s just that I see plain as day how the greedy unwholesome powers that be are manipulating people’s very real pain into a race war, taking advantage with their powerful media voice to focus on creating division and distraction, and it infuriates me how the devil is such a LIAR! Our nations are disintegrating into hate for, and fear of, one another as the world around us cries ever louder and bleeds, abused. While there is good going on right now, I can’t help but think that overall we are moving backward in the West with our loving, respectful connection to one another, and to God, as opinions and people become muted or amplified based on whether or not they fit with the engineered cultural dialogue. Our ability to even help ourselves, let alone help the rest of the world, is being lost amongst our fear and infighting. We need to be able to be imperfectly wonderful to each other. We need to be free to respectfully connect. We need God. 

I am not trying to pass judgement on anyone. I am always learning and growing. But I do wonder if and when people are going to look deeper than what and how the digital screen in front of us tells us to? I hope this movement to see brokenness and the marginalized moves beyond our own society and we begin to grow past stifling labels, boxes, and judgements to really see the whole broken world for what it is, in need of salvation. Our culture is still a long way off from that it seems and it makes me very sad. I get it… it is not easy to wade through the mainstream media propaganda, since most don’t even recognize that’s what it is. The mission, should you choose to accept it: get to the issues on the heart of God. What can I do? I pray. I donate. I am writing. I dream of a day when I can do more. I speak when and how I feel God leads me to. And right now He’s telling me it’s time to pick up my shield of faith and start speaking loud and clear. #KingdomOverCulture 

Daughter of the King

WOW! It’s been almost one year since I posted anything here. What a rollercoaster year it was. Isn’t that the way nowadays? For so many of us. Days all a jumble… Some good, some bad… I believe my young family and I came out stronger after all the personal blows we have grown through and I feel like I can now really focus on the calling God has placed on my life, recognizing the pace I need to move at. What a wonderful feeling! God knows I struggle daily with being Christ-like in everything, yet the more I honour and worship Him, the more He blesses me with His love, joy, peace, and wisdom. The more I give credence to His teachings and plug into what the Holy Spirit is doing, the more I desire to do the right thing and generally have greater discipline in doing so. “Faith without works is dead.” (James 2:17)

Discipline is good for me, good for us all when done the right way. Right now I’m a full time wife and homeschooling mom to two very energetic little boys, cook-cleaner-personal shopper-administrator of our home /family, on-call nurse to Tristan (who was born with hemophilia), and also a part-time model and entrepreneur with a global business that generates up to a quarter million in gross sales annually. I volunteer at our church and have many family and friends to keep up with and take care of, plus personal stuff to work through myself from my childhood. I try not to forget about taking care of ‘lil old me because if we don’t take good care of ourselves, how are we going to take good care of anyone else, right? Anyway, how would I stay on track with all of those responsibilities without discipline? The truth is, sometimes I’m not as disciplined as I should be in the face of all I have to manage, and people and circumstances can fall through the cracks. It happens to all of us, I think. Ugh. How I beat myself up for it and then avoid the very people I know I’ve let down! I get into a defeated mindset. But I have been practicing greater discipline overall in my habits, and have grown to a place where I really believe I am called to rise up a bit higher, do just a little bit more. Practically, I believe this means being more lovingly truthful to so as to lift some others along with me, refreshing us to a new level and a new season of greater choice and options, where we can lighten our loads and brighten each other’s days. So many of us today need a great refreshing, the kind only God can give, truthfully. We are all so thirsty, we try everything to quench it, and we need only to be still and sing a song of worship and praise to our Maker. To be in nature and see His beauty reflected… To see ourselves through His eyes, uniquely created. “Be still and know…” (Psalm 46:10)

I am no longer afraid of who I am, or at least, almost. It’s been so difficult in my life to reconcile this physical world with the spiritual realm I was trained from a young age to be so familiar with. I haven’t wanted to offend people with my beliefs or to come off as “too Godly”. I’ve had difficulty reconciling my righteousness in Christ with being a model and a woman who wants to be considered physically attractive. I have been afraid to fully stand in who I am and put it out there in the world for fear of being unpopular or eventually put in chains (sometimes I wonder in this world…) for my beliefs. Jesus. Do you feel the weight, the depth of that name? It’s very utterance resounds within each of us. I know you feel it’s weight, which it has for many reasons. We live in such an epic time in history! Prophecy being fulfilled before the eyes of those who see! So many who do see are quiet, apprehensive, shy. It’s now or never that those who love Jesus and serve Him be vocal. I no longer struggle with showing the world more of who I wholly am because I know that as long as I’m ultimately defined in God, there is no other way than to declare Him while discovering who He made me to be. I believe this is actually our most aligned state. Awe and discovery, childlike faith. We each have the potential to reflect His nature uniquely, as God loves variety, and I’m becoming more and more comfortable with my own brand and what that looks like in the world. What a thing – to create in the physical what you envision in the spiritual. We all have the potential. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future.’” (Jeremiah 29:11)

I prayed over the angst I feel sometimes when I share my faith and I believe the Lord spoke to me and asked me, “Would you rather help a few people, or worry about offending the ones you weren’t going to help anyway?” So, I ask you. Are you afraid to truly stand in who you are as I have been? Do you know who that is? God does. He wants to talk to you, to know you more. He knows everything about us already, but it’s that relationship with us He desires, and that we desire deep within. That one-on-one connection that reflects the nature of the innate bond between a parent and child. He loves you NO MATTER WHAT and only wants you to choose Him over and again. My belief is that we must be in constant remembrance that we are the King’s children in the eternal, spiritual realm (while striving to love and be like the Lord Jesus, our fellow prince and heir to the Kingdom) so that we can remember who we are in this temporary physical realm which wars with God, and therefore us, if we are among those who seek Him in any way. The spiritual has more sustenance than the physical. What a wondrous thing to ponder! Unfathomable mysteries. God, to know You more. To be like You…

It’s so easy to fall off the bandwagon. You know, you’re chugging along and the all of a sudden you realize you’ve stopped praying as regularly or haven’t dug into the Word in awhile. Your (my) morning gratitude prayers stop and you wonder why you don’t feel right… Then you remember. Even when you don’t feel like it, you’re supposed to stay disciplined so you don’t stop. Talking about myself here, right, but really, we’ve all gotta stay on track… Read your Bible and pray everyday sort of Sunday School stuff that we seldom place proper value on in our busy lives. God actually calls us to “pray without ceasing”, meaning being in constant conversation with Him as we go about our day. (1 Thess 5:17)

Music is one way that I know I can be be passively renewing my mind all the time. Praise and worship feeds my spirit and soul, haha and even my body sometimes! Everything we put into us affects what comes out of us. Laugh if you want by current jam is “Your Love is Beautiful” by Hillsong’s Darlene Zschech. If King David danced, so should we all! Somehow when you get your boogie on in the Spirit, even just being silly at first, you just feel better/stronger. I mean but then there’s old school DC Talk, like “Jesus is Alright” HAHA! My guilty music pleasure is old school Tupac, Biggie, Snoop, etc. but that’s besides the point (and only for weekends away with Jeff and a little extra wine because we all have some things in our lives that aren’t necessarily the best for us – just keepin it real). My point however, is probably best summed up by CS Lewis who wrote, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world” (Mere Christianity). One of our greatest challenges in this life is being eternal spiritual beings placed in this physical, temporary world who need to put ourselves in constant remembrance of who we truly are. Let us live more in light of eternity, friends. Crown on head, Kingdom to represent. Love and truth.

Hopefully it won’t be another year until the next post!

Love,

Ashlie

 

Family in the Spring

I’m a little late posting these spring photos of our family surrounded by High Park Toronto’s cherry blossoms. It’s summer now (although it doesn’t all to often feel like it in Toronto yet). I suppose I was waiting for the perfect post to come to me, now that I had finally shared that huge bit about Tristan in my last post. I started writing on a few different topics, but none of them were exactly right as a follow up. I realized yesterday what I need to say.

I’m grateful for my three beautiful guys, so sweet and wonderful, but being a good wife and mom is really hard sometimes. Especially in the face of difficulties. It is rewarding if you strive for it, however. Every family has some struggles. No one would guess that behind the scenes of this photoshoot, Jeff and I had a heated argument! Family. Yet the foundation of our society is family and it’s critical to care for it, no matter how difficult it can be at times. I’m watching a lot of families I care about crumbling and struggling the past few months. I personally believe there is an increased attack in our society against the nuclear family… Politically, socially, in entertainment and even in the spiritual realm. We need to pray for and care for families more, and above all our own. The downfall of every great civilization in the world began with the downfall of the family.

We have a responsibility to our greatest treasures, our children (and theirs), to work toward the preservation of the family. This may mean something as simple as forgiveness in our home. It may mean getting help. It may mean giving help. Maybe it means speaking up or getting politically involved. Whatever it means for you, the family is sacred and everything in our power should be done to preserve it. Healthy people come from healthy families.

For my part, I work hard to be the wife and mom God wants me to be and I do it for Him, regardless of what goes on with my family. I’m fortunate I have a man who loves God too. We pray for each other. I am also getting more politically involved, in support of protecting family values! A little more vocal too, as you can read.

So here is my family. Imperfect. Jeff and I argue sometimes. There’s drama. We’ve sought counselling to strengthen our relationship. But we’re doing alright, you know? We are committed to each other. This life is but a breath. We keep our eyes focused on the prize of the high calling of God through Christ Jesus. It keeps us on track. It’s real power. It sustains us, brings us joy, and guides us when we are not being too selfish to pay attention. God helps us to think of one another more and less about ourselves. He shows us how these little humans watching us (our kids) are being formed by every word, action, and decision we make. I personally don’t know how anyone can carry such responsibility without God! To me, it’s like being cut off from your life source. He so desires to have a relationship with every single one of us. We were created for this. We all need to talk to Him more. He is health for each of us and every family.

 

The Lost Year: 2016 – Hemophilia and More…

So here it is. In writing for anyone to see. Most of our closest friends and family know already. It seems so odd to be announcing it. Writing about it. Sharing it with the world at large. We just didn’t know how to deal with it. We were shocked… Overwhelmed… Still are. Still trying to navigate it all.

Hemophilia. “The royal’s disease”. One of the most famous royal’s with it being Russian Prince Alexei Romanov, son of Tsar Nicholas II, great-grandson of Queen Victoria. But, Tristan? No. Not Tristan… Tristan!? What???

Hemophilia is a rare blood disease that mainly affects males. It is a genetic mutation which is inherited. It is very rare; occurring in about 1 in 10,000 births. It affects the blood’s ability to clot and it is considered a life threatening disability.

How did Tristan get hemophilia? It still seems surreal to even ask that question. All the confusion started around the beginning of 2016. It was just another morning, prepping Tristan for preschool… then I noticed he was limping a little bit. After checking him out, I noticed his knee was swollen, but there was no bruise. Jeff took him to Emergency. One X-ray later, it was determined that Tristan had fluid around his knee, likely blood. They thought he had hemophilia. Down to SickKids for more tests, they said. On Friday March 18th, at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, Tristan was diagnosed with Severe Hemophilia, Type A. I was told I was the likely carrier. Later, my genetic test results confirmed this was the case. My mom’s genetic results are still to come back from the lab (it takes months) but her blood tests show she is likely not a carrier. So, I found out, this means that, when I was conceived, there was a genetic mutation and I randomly became a carrier of hemophilia. Although I bruise easily, which I now know is common in female carriers, I otherwise show no signs. Tristan being diagnosed with this illness means it would possibly affect his children as well, and theirs… Now we see… this diagnosis means the mutation has the potential to exist in our family for generations to come. Great. I’m a mutant and I’ve passed the gene onto my family. Awesome. Just what every loving mother wants to hear. We all have our crosses to carry.

What this translates to for Tristan… Every week, we drive to SickKids Hospital so that Tristan can receive an infusion – a needle into the tiniest little blue vein in his still very small hand – and receive into his blood the synthesized protein his body doesn’t naturally produce. This is so that he is protected from simple things like jumping or falling… things that other people do and easily recover from. Internal bleeds are the biggest concern. Joint bleeds, like the one he had in his knee, are common in those with hemophilia, and the damage from these can be crippling. Tristan is protected from bleeds for about 4 days after an infusion. So even with all these efforts going to and from the hospital, he’s still not protected all the time. Sometimes, even after we make the effort to go, Tristan is putting up such a fight that they miss the vein, and have to poke him again. Sometimes we have just left without the treatment because another poke just wasn’t going to happen… He screams. We feel like screaming too but we’re supposed to be strong for him, right?

They say that one day, we’ll be giving Tristan these shots ourselves, and then when he is 11 or 12, he’ll learn to administer his own treatment at a camp for kids with hemophilia. We got invited to a hemophilia conference at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. There, we heard that maybe one day there will be another answer, like gene therapy, taking away the need for these weekly shots. We also find out there that some parents of kids with hemophilia give their children shots everyday to make sure they are always 100% protected. Now we’re back at the hospital again; all of a sudden there’s government and medical forms in front of us to fill out. A lot of them. All of this information and paperwork comes flying at us. I’m still sorting through the last of it over a year later….

So this was the reality we got punched in the stomach with, right after having a baby – little Caelum – born with his own difficulties. Our sweet little baby boy was born on November 14th, 2015 with a stenosis in his gastrointestinal tract. Awesome. Yes. At 10 days old, still with no idea at that time what we would be going through with Tristan soon after, we were at SickKids with Caelum, getting his digestive system working and having a number of tests done to make sure there were no other abnormalities. There weren’t, praise be to God, and he is so great now! But for his first year of life we continued with unpleasant treatments at home for him and regular visits to SickKids for treatments and check-ups. So there we were, end of 2015, with a beautiful new baby who had a very uncomfortable birth defect, just tryna figure out life with two (our new normal) and then we notice one day, within just a few months, Tristan is limping…

The lost year. 2016. It was a rough year for a lot of people, I think. So many people lost loved ones, experienced medical issues, went through hard times… I try not to dwell on it but rather figure out how I can get my act together enough to still live out the plans God has for me and my family. Discipline and gratitude. Truly two of the most difficult characteristics to master in oneself.

You know, I don’t know if I can or should be grateful for what Tristan is going through. Riddle me this. I try to put myself in his shoes and think how I would feel or what I would want if I was him… how will he perceive what I choose for him now when he is an adult? That’s how I’ve been learning to navigate the decisions I make on his behalf. I do believe all things happen for a reason, and that there must be good which will come from this, and for that I am grateful. I’m also grateful that our young family of four has grown closer and stronger; although, I’m not sure if it’s in the face of all these difficulties or because of them… Jeff says he thinks a little of both. I’m grateful too that I live a country where the $300,000 annual cost of Tristan’s treatment is covered by Canadian Blood Services! Thank God for that! Furthermore, I’m grateful I live in a country where Tristan has access to this life-saving treatment, because in countries where it’s not available, little boys with this condition don’t usually live past their teen years. I’m grateful too that I live uptown from one of the best children’s hospitals in the world where Tristan is cared for by staff I believe are genuinely trying to do what they think is best for him. It’s difficult for me to let my babies be in the hands of doctors and nurses when I’ve spent most of my life gravitating more toward simple solutions for health, natural remedies, and was about to explore naturopathic medicine for our family, before my life became a blur of boys with treatments and medical appointments. There is no natural remedy for hemophilia. Only supernatural. We’ve prayed a lot for Tristan’s healing. It’s a tough balance to strike – trying to accept and navigate the reality of what you’re dealing with, while still maintaining a focus on faith that miracles ARE possible. They are. If you believe in miracles, please pray for Tristan. God’s will be done.

Speaking of miracles… (and segueing because I need an easy out after a long blog post) I found it to be miraculous that our family managed to get so many amazing pictures on our walk a few weeks ago in the Arboretum at Humber College in Toronto. It’s been nice to have more freedom to do fun things like this recently. We finally feel like we’re getting a grip on our lives again! Lives that will never be the same. 2017 is seeming like a year of blessing. I believe there’s a lot of opportunity to grab ahold of this year. All of us just need to respond rightly to it. Gratitude and discipline, I think.

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to contact me with questions or comments about Tristan or our family’s experiences living with hemophilia.

Ashlie

Reflections Remembered

I’m being propelled to write this post by that fact that I’ve finally gotten going on my boys’ memory journals. I used to write all the time when I was younger. Poetry, song lyrics, even a few short stories and reflections. It’s been a long time since I actualized that ancient art of cursive writing, rather than typing away on one of my Apple devices. It’s amazing what comes out of you when you let your pen in hand start moving you on a page.
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It’s been a breath of fresh air to put pen to paper again. The past few years have been a whirlwind and it was REALLY GETTING TO ME that I couldn’t remember Tristan (4 yrs old) at Caelum’s age (15 months). So I sat down and hammered out every season of Tristan’s life up to now, using my personal Instagram profile to jog my memory of what happened when. It has indeed been refreshing to really cement in my mind what happened in Tristan’s life at what time. I can really see more clearly now, as a parent, how Tristan’s not so little personality was affected by choices I made, though of course I do understand that nature (vs. nurture) also plays a huge part. Isn’t it interesting, in reflecting on all of that, how we are so much the byproducts of our parent’s faults as well as their strengths? Of course, it is our personal challenge to rise above what has happened to us in the past and work on ourselves and our lives to better our future; however, aside from our unique gifts and crosses to bear, the tools that we start out with, and on what level of the playing field, really are mainly a mishmash of what our parents gave to us, and their parents before them, and their parents before them… Genetics and lifestyle.
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Despite what my social media profiles may look like (I’m not very public with my personal life), our family has had a pretty rough time since getting going. We’re doing better now, but it’s been a tough 5 years since getting pregnant with Tristan, our little surprise, born just two years after we got married. We weren’t ready. He was adorable, but we were still trying to figure out our marriage and all the crap that we brought into it from our own upbringings. You know… All that stuff that comes with having the parents you have, and grandparents, and great grandparents… Your childhood… The junk most of us gotta work through. Especially if we’re to survive the life challenge of marriage lol. Two completely different people coming together to try and live life as one. Tristan maybe got the short end of the stick a little bit from two silly people who had a lot to learn about unselfishness (still do… speaking of which, I should call my grandma). I have loved Jeff and the boys so much through it all… through thick and thin. Jeff loves me and the boys too. #Grateful
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I suppose it’s cleansing, in a way, to really start to see, through writing, the flow of how and why we are who we are and why we do what we do. We are so molded by our exposures and the reactions and responses we have to them. And yet in that, we have so much control of our outcome and the outcome for our children, and their children, and even their children after that!
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I have so much more to tell you about our family and what the last few whirlwind years has been like, but I’m told long blog posts don’t work so well. For now I’ll just say that since becoming a mom, I’ve become a more purposeful person, year after year, in my attempts to give my children better than what I had, and what my parents had before that, and so on. It’s the only way to live! I guess it’s really about teaching them how to love…. To love life, people, the earth and it’s creatures… God, of course. It’s just amazing to really let it sink in that everything we do in our life literally shapes future lives – that of our family, for generations, and all the lives they affect. The boys’ memory journals for them are definitely a part of my attempt at greater purposefulness – capturing moments in time, cementing them in history, not letting their little lives be forgotten. So Tristan and Caelum are celebrated in cursive.
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2016 was an especially tough year for our family, as I know it was for a lot of people. It’s made us stronger. More on that next time. Here’s to 2017. ?
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“What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.” – Mother Teresa

My First Blog Post

Hello!
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My name is Ashlie Rocks and I’ve decided to start a blog. For those of you who don’t know me… yes, my name really is Ashlie Rocks. (I get asked all the time… I’ve even been asked if it’s a stage name before!) And yes, thank you, of course I obviously do rock. Obviously. 😉 I have my husband to thank for the last name, actually. His name is Jeff Rocks. Our kids are Tristan (age 4) and Caelum (age 1).
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A little about me: I’m a part-time model, part-time business owner, and full-time stay at home mom. I graduated from The University of Western Ontario with a BA in English Literature, worked at a bank after that, and then owned a small consulting company before becoming the business developer and promoter that I am today. I have always loved writing, music, and photography and these art forms are obviously not utilized much in my work, thus I seriously need a creative outlet to express myself through soooooo… Apologies in advance for my feeble attempts at humour and fumbling foray into whatever I may deem to be “artsy” in this blog as I attempt to give a little insight into my crazy life with two boys plus a hubby at home, and some info as to the goings on of my work world.
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To get things moving along, here’s a few pictures from our fall family outing to Whittamore Farm in Markham, Ontario, so you can catch a glimpse of my gang. More photos coming soon!
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Thanks for reading. Hope you follow along for all the fun! xo.
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Ashlie
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