Hi friends. I’m Ashley but my friends call me Ash.

(though my favorite humans call me mama & babe)

“About Me” pages are unusually difficult, are they not? How can we pick and choose what is relevant enough to share about, not too much but not too little? I’ll try to keep this quick.

“For Where Your Treasure Is” is a place for me to share practical encouragement for other home educators and home keepers like myself, and also discuss the deepest musings of my heart through the Holy Spirit. The name comes from the verse in Matthew 6:21, a scripture that the Holy Spirit whispered into my heart that would be the name of my book one day. That was before I knew Substack existed, but the idea of taking writing more seriously had been heavy on my mind. Our pastor quoted this piece of scripture in a sermon and I can still vividly remember thinking “THAT is it. That’s the name.” So, I’m not sure if I’ll ever write a book, or what it would truly be on… But if I did, it’d be something about the heart of Christ. This verse from Jesus’ sermon on the mount speaks deeply to my story and my heart, one I’ll elaborate more on some day. For now, know that He wants more for us than we could ever dream of. May we share His desires and die a thousand deaths for the sake of following Him to eternity.

All you should know about me is: God, in His infinite power and faithfulness, saved me. I was once broken, lost, deep in the trenches of grief. Mental illness plagued my mind. Nearly ten years ago, I’d lost my only little brother to teenage suicide. A precious soul full of so much heart and intellect suddenly had his entire life stolen from him, and yet somehow He managed to save me. Like our parents and our younger sister, I just couldn’t comprehend our new reality of life without Will.

When I finally gave in after my year long rebellion, Christ welcomed me home with open arms. And that’s when Jesus found me, for real this time. I’d walked through tragedy before, looked the fragility of life in the face, but it took bringing me to my lowest of lows to finally break my heart for what breaks His.

The Lord graciously had His hand in all of it, despite my pride and arrogance constantly leading me astray. I met my husband nearly 13 years ago at 18 years old. Our story is long and convoluted, woven with strands of God’s mercy in both our lives. There’s virtually no reason my husband and I should still be together, let alone in a healthy, happy marriage. But because of Christ, we are best friends. Love has conquered our deepest and darkest hurts. What the enemy meant for evil, He used for good. All that we are today is because of the Lord’s goodness and grace.

We are now blessed parents to three, bright little boys. My husband is a firefighter paramedic and I have the immense privilege of keeping our home and educating our children. I love baking sourdough bread, taking care of our chickens, learning new recipes, experimenting with our boys, browsing second hand book stores, going on adventures as a family, watching The Office for the thousandth time, painting and drawing, and finding treasures at whatever thrift store is nearby.

Thank you so much for being here and reading my work. I pray my words would encourage you, push you closer to Christ, or offer some sort of practical application to your life — whether it be through your motherhood, homeschool, or your home-keeping.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. - Romans 12:2

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