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Home › Diaries › Khyraen › Introduction

Khyraen's Diary Entries

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Ashley, a Barlow Girl in an Britney World

Introduction

Hello again to all my few but precious loyal readers who have followed me since the early days of my pregnancy with Zac. You may even remember my long-winded introduction to the diary that precedes this one, my Preteenagers Today Diary. Well, if you do, the goals remain the same, but the introduction has changed.

Now, a moment for those of you new to my diaries. I am a 31-year-old California resident. My husband of (almost) 13 years and I share five children. We have a teenage daughter, Ashley, whom you will get to know through reading this diary.

We also have a 12-year-old son who has autism (named Joshua) and an 11-year-old son named Jonathan (Jonnie, we call him) who has ADHD and PDD-NOS. You may read all about them in my Special Kids Today Diary on iParenting.

In addition to the "big kids," we have two toddlers, Zacchai (Zac, he's 3) and Abigail (Abby, she's 2). You can read all about Zac and Abby in my Toddlers Today Diary. (I also write a Breastfeed.com Diary that details my nursing exploits from the time I was nursing just Zac – there never was a baby who loved nursing more – continuing through the difficult time of nursing while pregnant, right up to the present day of nursing two toddlers.)

We also have a cat name Tabitha (Tabby), and she is Ashley's beloved pet – a gift from God on her 10th birthday.

I am a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) who homeschools (h/s) all of my children. (Only 3 of my children are "school" age, but if you know anything about homeschooling, you know that one of the most dearly held beliefs of this movement is that all life is made for learning and therefore anything can be "school." After all, what are you doing when you encourage your baby's first steps, teach your toddler to eat with table manners or your preschool child to tie her shoe, if not teaching -- homeschooling.)

We are Christians without a church home (is that sad or what?) and who feel that God has a place in every area of our lives as the Author of them. We are book lovers and quite "conservative" in our lifestyle. (For example, dating is for married people; courting can wait until you're ready to look for a spouse. Until then, be yourself, have friends and figure out who God wants you to be.)

But, enough about "us," this diary is about Ashley, so let's give you a brief introduction to her.

Ashley is 14, just barely, and yet she has quite the woman's figure already. Her early development was a source of discomfort for her, but she is coming to terms with it (and actually enjoying it a bit). She loves animals and music and little kids and she is really starting to find quite a few boys "cute."

Ashley's favorite band is Barlow Girl, and she is totally committed to the Barlow lifestyle (one of radical purity and bold individualism – she has already had purple highlights in her hair once) followed closely by Superchic[k] and Zoe Girl. She only listens – or perhaps I should say mostly listens – to Christian rock. Her Mp3 player is always on her and at least one of her "ears" is always in (her ear.) She dances and sings to her music-as well as turns to it when she needs inspiration or is feeling blue.

Ashley also loves to read books. She is a total LotR fan (that's Lord of the Rings for those of you on a small, isolated island way out in the Artic Ocean for the last 10 years) and perhaps an even bigger Tolkien fan (gobbling up his lesser known works along with the popular ones.) Her father is a sci-fi/fantasy junkie, and she has picked up some of his tastes. For example, she loves L'Engle (author of A Wrinkle in Time.) She also love mysteries. (This kid just loves books; she has been caught reading a dictionary for fun.)

Ashley is very reliable and helpful around the house. She is practically a second mother to her two youngest siblings, and I don't find anything wrong with that, considering the age gap. She does the dishes and helps with the laundry. (Yes, we believe big time in chores; they teach responsibility, and that all life is not about your personal entertainment.) She's even already had one paid babysitting job -- besides the times we paid her because I wanted to go out without the kids.

Ashley loves the swim team and plans to have her first real job being a swimming instructor's assistant. She hopes that, after two years of that, she will have her half of the money saved up to go on a mission trip with other Christian girls from all over the world to Central (or South) America. (The group she plans to go with goes to a different country every year.)

Ashley may seem shy and soft spoken when you first meet her, but she isn't afraid to stand up (or even speak up) when she thinks something is wrong. (She's been known to ask her still-in-high-school uncles' girlfriends where the rest of their clothes were.) She has a soft heart, isn't afraid to cry and is very giving and thoughtful. (When I was on bed rest while pregnant with Zac, all on her own – it was her idea – she cut up veggies for me to have on my salad while she was with her two siblings being watched by my mom so I could rest.)

Ashley has her own walk with the Lord. I cannot tell you how important that is to me or how glad I was to find out. She keeps a Bible under her pillow and, if she cannot sleep, she takes it out and reads it. She also keeps a journal where she's been known to write down Scripture that encouraged her or challenged her, as well as her thoughts on what she's learned. (And, since these are some of the most important skills for a self-learner, I suppose I must say that she is well on her way to becoming a life-long learner as well.)

The dreaded teenage years? That is what everyone said; that was the hype. The reality has been different from my experience thus far. Granted, she is not a strong-willed child, but the fact of the matter is, we still talk together, she still shares her feelings with me, we are not constantly fighting, and she usually does what she is told. So much for the terrible teens! (A myth, just like the terrible twos.)

Ashley and I are enjoying our journey through the teenage years thus far. Of course, she is just a freshman; there are five more years to go for us. (We have decided that we will be doing high school over a five-year period, giving us plenty of time to cover everything we want to study. This was a decision we made together, though it is subject to amendment.) But, since we are having so much fun, perhaps you would like to join us.

(Well, so much for no long introduction!)

Best wishes,

Khy

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