Let me introduce you to my dear friend, Ashley. I've known her since elementary school, and we've had some really sweet memories together over the years. We used to call her Tigger, because she just had this general bouncy air about her {especially on the basketball court for some reason, haha}, and it seems like every time anybody would come over to her house, it was time to clean out her hamster cage. Riiiight. She is a part of The Fab Five, and we of course did all the things that girls like to do growing up, like make up dances and get glamed-up for no reason at all. But we also enjoyed beating boys at sports together and going on the church fishing trips. One memory that I particularly will never forget is the night we all got a little more "adventurous" at the Bruski house and attempted to spend the night on the trampoline in her backyard. I'm pretty sure we didn't make it the whole night, though, as we were scared out of our bee-hinds because of the creepy woods surrounding her house!
So fast forward to October 18, 2008, and she was the first out of the Fab Five to get married! {In case you were wondering, yes, it was during a UGA game, but our bridesmaid dresses were red so all was good.} Ashley and her husband both graduated from Union University in Jackson, TN and are now both working as teachers, their schools only minutes away from each other. Here she is pictured with her sweet hubby, Kalep.
It was around the time this picture was taken at our wedding that Ashley told us she was having severe back pain, which she later found out was due to a bulged disk. Without going into too much detail, through her back pain from the bulged disk, the doctors were able to detect and save Ashley from other health problems, praise the Lord for his mysterious and perfectly-timed ways!
So after much prayer and seeking out their options, God was faithful once again. Tomorrow around 6 a.m., Ashley will enter an OR at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for minimally invasive back surgery. If all goes well, she will be able to walk on the treadmill on Wednesday! God continues to blow my mind with Ashley's story, and it is all very humbling. He has done nothing but open door after door, turned seemingly bad news into good news, all the while showing his Sovereignty over her life. He definitely has tremendous plans in store for the Robersons, as he's given them hearts overflowing for the people of Romania. They plan to join Ashley's family in Romania soon, specifically by being parents in a group home for abandoned children in the city of Oradea. You should check out Ashley & Kalep's recently created website to learn more about their calling and how you can support them.
I wanted to write about all of this so you could pray for Ashley and her family, and also see how amazing the God is she serves. Even though it will be minimally invasive, back surgery can still be very unnerving so pray that she will be at peace and that God's will be done, for her faith not to waiver in God, and for the surgery to go off with no complications.
2 Corinthians 4:7-18 "We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed...All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overcome to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
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