This Is Me

So in this first blog I thought I should perhaps give a background of who I am and what led me to begin writing a new blog, for those who are interested. So here goes!

My name is Ashelle (pronounced uh-shell, not Ashley) and I've managed to stay alive for 25 years. I have one older sister, Lydia, and two loving parents who are still together. I was born in Kansas, raised in Nebraska, and at the age of 12 moved to the piney woods of east Texas (the pretty part that no one seems to know exists). At the time I had been home schooled my entire life, and although it was one of the best things that could have ever happened to me as far as education goes, my enrollment in a "real" school by 7th grade happened early enough to save me from ending up a social misfit.

The small community I lived in was mostly made up of Seventh-day Adventists, like me, and sported a church strategically built in between the elementary school and the academy across the street. A tiny "healthfood" store across from the academy sold candy for the kids and vegetarian foods for the adults. Our house was located 1/2 mile from this thriving metropolis, and it was my sheltered world until I flew the coop for my first year of college, 3 hours away.

After attending college in Texas for one exciting year, I gave in to Lydia's enticing suggestions to attend a college in Washington state with her. This is where I stayed for the remainder of my college life, majoring in Undecideds, Boys, pre-Chiropractic, pre-Physical Therapy....and finally one that I stuck with: pre-Physical Therapist Assistant.

After my second year of college came the pivotal part of my life in which Lydia and I decided we wanted to take a year out to become student missionaries in Poland. There is no way I can describe how amazing that year was for me. It was by far the most momentous, exciting, awe-inspiring year of my life. In between teaching English classes (which, I'll be honest, I'm a sucky teacher) we saved half of our meager stipend and used it to explore the land of Europe. Among our several stops were Germany, Lithuania, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, France, and Italy. Our adventures as two girls traveling alone cannot be surpassed, and we have even considered making a book of our numberous blogs from that trip. In the meantime, however, I cannot help but keep the memories alive by recording my own account of the adventure that I am about to embark on. :) But more about that in my next blog.

After completing my pre-PTA requirements in Washington, I transferred down to the sunny state of Califoria, specifically Loma Linda University, to complete the actual PTA program. While there I made more memories and friends to last a lifetime. Despite having a class that felt like family, it was difficult because during my last year at college in Washington I began dating an amazing guy named Shane, and when I left for California we decided to try to stick it out despite the distance. It was extremely hard, but to make along story short, we made it! A little over two years down the road now and we are still going strong.

After graduating, I made my way upstate to be where Shane would be completing his engineering masters degree. It is here that I snatched up a cute little apartment and planned to putter around studying for my board exams before landing a job that would miraculously erase my financial stress... But things don't always go according to plan........