the story i find myself in

so many thanks to ben and matt for opening up your houses for us to crash!! had a great time at hero's on friday eveing with jeff and stacey, i love being back in fullerton. then a day of hanging with my wonderful bride to be on saturday. had lunch with steve, who is now in africa for a month...i am excited to see how God uses him while he is there. after lunch we headed to good ol IKEA, then south coast to hang with matt for the evening. we got to see allie and matt's new place and it rocks!! we are sooo stoked for them, i think we got a little apartment envy too...hopefully soon we can figure out what is going on... and today marks ONE YEAR of my life with amanda!!! hard to believe it has been that long...seems like just yesterday we were here at camp last year...what a blessing it has been!! i love you baby!! looking forward to many more years together!!

Posted by ashdown at 6/27/2005 01:23:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

so camp is officially over - first one in the books! a great week all around...but there is a guest group this weekend so now amanda and i are tryin to figure where to land for a couple of days...we will find something soon i'm sure. and i am trying this dash blog widget thing....seems pretty cool - go tiger!

Posted by ashdown at 6/24/2005 02:02:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

as i am typing this post, i am remembering being here last year, typing about trademark's first worship leading experience. what a good memory....we rocked the socks off temecula...anyways, just finished our first night here with the new tm and it was great!! got a chance to hang with troy and keith, the teachers for the summer, and lead worship with the all the staff to conclude the staff training. it was great, the band was tight and confident, troy and keith did awesome and the overall vibe in the tent was great. i am anticipating God doing some amazing things in and through us this summer. i am blessed to have an awesome team!! did some new songs tonight that i am stoked on...when the tears fall, marvelous light, missions flame, here is our king....i am excited to see how God using these songs and how they take shape for the summer. i cant wait for the students to get here. its gonna be dope....

Posted by ashdown at 6/17/2005 01:10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

just wanted to say a quick congrats to one amanda christine shilling for completing this school year!! i got to go to the awards ceremony last night and i am so proud of her! and a big thanks to ben and wally for helping me move all day yesterday!

Posted by ashdown at 6/16/2005 11:20:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

thanks to Ben, i am now very fond of THE ALBUM LEAF. i think this kind of music could be my new favorite - i am calling it ambient chill on my itunes genre...think slower postal service songs with no lyrics. just sweet piano tones, rhodes stuff and drum loops. also, picked up the new coldplay and i gotta say - a little too 80's for me. at least on the first listen through....so yeah - hopefully it grows on me...i dont think anything will compare to parachutes though, still my fav to this day...

Posted by ashdown at 6/11/2005 10:13:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

so its at the end of tuesday and things are shaping up well out here at good ol ponderosa pines!! after a long of day of set up and sound check in the tent on monday, we were finally able to attempt some songs...and here we are on tues with 9 songs under our belt! yeah!! i am so excited about this team that God gave me for the summer, everyone in the band rocks and i am sooooo excited. on a personal note, i am playing the electric guitar. crazy i know. i am still afraid of it - but all seems to be going well. i am playin electric (thanks again ry!!) and wally is playin keys and kelsi is playin acoustic and we have the tightest rhythm section on the planet, adam and ben. i am excited if ya cant tell.... welp, off to bed - i have been getting up early and running in the morning before breakfast, so time for some rest - 6.30am will come quickly... ciao from running springs...

Posted by ashdown at 6/08/2005 12:55:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

so amanda and i arrived up here last night around 10pm and got to see Aaron and Nikki! it is sooo great to be back up here. after a great nights rest and sleeping in, amanda and i went for a run. i know, crazy. we ran all the way down to green valley lake road and back. well, i guess ran down and walked back! its gonna take a little bit to get adjusted to the altitude. amanda is crazy, she did it twice - crazy i say. after hangin with aaron and rachel post run, we headed out to the field and got our first warm up game of frisbee golf in!! so great, i cannot wait to be playing again. so all that to say it has been a wonderful morning so far, hanging with the one i love, i cant wait for days like this all the time!! cant wait to have the rest of you guys up - this is going to be a great summer! now i am off to practice the electric guitar!! (thanks ry!)

Posted by ashdown at 6/04/2005 01:47:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

so at amanda's school she can earn tickets and then cash them in for cool prizes, like at Chuck-E- Chesee, so she won us some movie tickets!! so being that we had a free afternoon, we headed out to see Crash. wow, what an amazing film. i highly recommend it. i'm sure by now you've all heard enough about it, so all i will say it is a film for this generation and everyone should see it. simply amazing. i am heading up to pondo tomorrow evening!! cant wait to get up there, it's gonna be so great.

Posted by ashdown at 6/03/2005 12:41:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

so i am back at my fav hangout - its a grind - this morning after a quick stop at the storage unit this morning. i was able to head out to oceanside and hang with ryan yesterday, it was so great to be with him - be in prayer for them as he and holly and some others from his community are heading out to Thialand for 6 weeks in 6 days!! it is so awesome to see how God has used them and i am excited to see what God does in this extended time this summer. you can keep up with them here - Sharps Abroad. i am working on wedding stuff this morning....99 days, 20 hours, 42 minuntes, and 13 seconds until I AM MARRIED! WOOO HOOOOOO!!!! (thanks tiger widgets) i just got a hold of the Hilton San Bernardino to reserve some rooms for out of town guests for the wedding- they hooked us up!! so if you are coming from out of town and want to stay local - check it out and be on the watch for the wedding invites!! they are coming soon, amanda and i are working on them today and hopefully finalizing them to send to holly, who has so graciously given her so valuable time to work on them for us, even as she is trying to finish up sooo much stuff before thailand. THANK YOU HOLLY!!! back to planning...

Posted by ashdown at 6/02/2005 11:40:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

tiger is cool.

Posted by ashdown at 6/01/2005 06:45:00 PM | Permalink | Comments