Why I will Always LOVE Working with Teenagers...

Hey Kanakuk Friends,
It's funny when you blog and you think about 56.4 things to blog about and other days it's just 1 thing. Just one thing you want to type...express, encourage, or just write your heart. That's today for me...just my heart.

This summer would have been my 16th summer at K2. I was such a bonehead when I got hired in college. Our staff now is so incredible but it literally is an act of Jesus that I ever got a call from Kanakuk. 16 summers of teens...being immersed into their lives, hearing all the good-the bad-the hard-the sad-the horrific-and everything in between, just learning so much from them. Some moments filing them under "remember to never do this with my kids when they are teens." Some moments as I watch the rare gal that still has an innocence and genuine spirit to her and thinking..."go talk to her and see what her parents did." Always learning in those 16 years...always.

I am in a little season on life...little hearts, little toes, little hearts. But my summers were full of big kids, big problems, big dreams and big decisions. K1 will fill my heart just like K2 did...but I am pretty sure that K2 and teenage ministry will always be there. To sit down with a teenage girl that is so desperate for Jesus and for Jesus to use a goofy director of a summer kamp...yep, that will be missed. So enough of the missing it...why am I blogging about it?

So many avenues to go with this...but in summation of whether you are a mom of teens, a discipler of teens (all K2 staff...THAT'S YOU!), teenage ministry full time or just volunteer for teen retreats...don't lose hope in them! EVER. They need to be believed in. They need hope and love and OUR TIME. They need our face, not face time with their phone. They need hugs, not likes to their instagram accounts. They need truth, not more whatevers. They need the unconditional, ever powerful unending grace and love from a Savior that created them and has a wonderful, beautiful story written just for them.

They might be hormonal and a bit cray-cray but they need YOU...

Adventure and Wonder,

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com
Teenagers...come hang out here for your summer!

It's just 1 number difference...

Hey Friends,

I sat at the keyboard for like 10 minutes not quite sure how to begin.

Shay and I are moving our summer camp director roles from K-2 to K-1. It all started when Kris Cooper and his wife Diane, long time K-1 Directors and dear friends of ours closed a 37-year chapter of ministry at Kanakuk. We can't even begin to imagine filling their shoes and we will miss them!

I keep telling myself that moving from K-2 to K-1 is just 1 number difference...just one simple number.

But it's not. It's 250 teenage girls staring at me like I'm crazy as I try my best to get some laughs during our Komo Rules talk. It's being the caboose in triathlete every day...literally always last. It's the shaving parties during FOB, the dance parties to Lecrae and the girl pageants when you make over your counselor. It's all those things that make this so much more than just a 1 number move.

Shay and I are so excited to be on this crazy twist of a turn in moving to K-1. It's good. It's really good...mostly in part because Jesus is truly at the center of it. K-2 has been my home for 15 years, 12 years being full-time. Trish, although honors me like a co-director of K-2, is the best executive director in the whole wide world. We know each other so well and I treasure all she has taught me. She saw potential in me...she shouldn't have because I was a mess of a 19 year old. Joe and DJ, oh tears tears...I love your umbrella of love, friendship, laughter, tears and grace. You have poured your guts into Shay and I. You have taught with example and then used words. You have sacrificed so much for us to have the amazing life of being directors for this amazing Kamp that you basically built with your own two hands. Oh our hearts will miss you (I know a rather dramatic statement as we are just going to K-1 for the summer months but you know what I mean!) The summer staff teams...past and present...I have memories, so many memories that could fill all of K-2! So much laughter! I will treasure those. KAMPERS! Some of you "Kampers" are now moms (what??!!!) and wives and business women and church leaders and amazing women...You made me the woman I am in so many ways. Kampers are what make Kanakuk. Kampers are what make K-2 so dear to me. Kampers are what bring life and laughter to the gates. You bring magical moments when you raise your hands in worship. You bring the rawest of hearts in your questions in 1-on-1's. You make Kanakuk…Kamp to me. 

This little blog will stay somewhat the same as I don't think many 10 year olds read blogs. Maybe I'm wrong...but I guess we are just expanding the gaze. Or maybe narrowing it to just what Jesus puts on my heart. No matter the age or Kamp...just Jesus. That's probably the best idea anyways. 

Our mission is still the same. I love the heart of Kanakuk Kamps! I love the heart of Jesus that dwells in every office at Kanakuk Kamps. May we always be about our Father's heart…

Be awesome & Love Jesus,

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com
THE BEST CAMP EVER! Here!

What I Wish I Could Tell My Teenage Self about...Moms...

{source: me. those little feets are my littles...minus the most recent addition}

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
Well, sorry I've been such a slacker...the blog is finding itself on the very end of my to-do list as a certain little cutie newborn is hogging my arms. I don't mind too much.

Today's post might be super mooshy and totally relevant to life right now for me. I try hard to stay in the "mind of a teenage girl" for posts and will try with this post also as I type about what I wish I could tell my teenage self about my mom. Hence what I wish you could know NOW about your mom or any woman in your life that loves you and cares for you...

By the way (I totally typed BTW and went back and typed it out b/c it was like I was trying too hard to be cool! Made me laugh), you can read the other series by clicking below:

1. What I Wish I Could Tell My Teenage Self about...FAMILY. 
2. What I Wish I Could Tell My Teenage Self about...BOYS.

Okay so here is what I wish I could tell my teenage self about...MOMS.

1. Moms are so tired. Now I might be typing this from a very personal place but let me extend on this a bit. Although I am physically tired with this little newborn stage I still would say moms (of teenagers or tweens or young ones) are tired. As the hubs and I had our EOD (end of day) talk before we drift off to sleep-time I literally looked at him and said..."I'm going to be tired for the next 25 years." I think moms need more sleep but I also think this point is all too telling of their hearts. Do you know that I can hear any movement in our house...any little foot or cough. I hear the faintest of cry or the toddler version of "mommy" before it's even uttered. I would guess that even in teenage years it's the same...just a bigger version of those toddlers. I bet your mom hears every tear after you don't make the cheer team as you lay in bed. I bet she hears the door knob turns and knows you are home safe. She is up late worrying and yet trying not to worry and let you go. She lays in bed staring at the old popcorn ceiling wondering will you and she ever make it through these teenage years? She awakes at 5 am for a bathroom break and can't go back to bed because she is dreaming of the day she will give you away and the day you become a mom. She's tired...but trust me I can honestly say...it's the best kind of tired.

2. Moms are dirty. Yep. I presently have spit up down my whole shoulder. I haven't shaved in 5 years since we started having kids. I do own a toothbrush, though every little in my house has put it in their mouth too to "bwush teef." Again, stay with me for moms of teenagers as they are a bit out of the spit up and haven't showered phase...I hope. That would be weird if your kid still spit up on you. Ew. Your mom's hands are covered with glue from the project in 5th grade with all the planets. Pinterest wasn't around yet...therefore it was actually hard to make. Your mom's hands are covered in spaghetti sauce, chicken guts, burgers for the team and chocolate chips to feed the neighborhood kids. Your mom's hands are so dirty from the snotty noses you had during allergy season as a toddler, throw up from the flu that would hit like an atom bomb every year in your house and lice bugs from the horrible sunday at church when you "shared" with the itchy head kid. Your mom's are dirty...with your life. They are in it. They are a part of you. They have daily picked you up and cleaned you off. Sometimes they want to pick you up when you should fall and fall hard...so instead of picking you up they crawl in whatever "dirt" you have gotten yourself into. Mom's meet you in dirt...they wish with all their heart you would never get dirty or hurt. They know they can't protect you from that so instead...they meet you in your dirt.

3. Moms are screw-ups. Preach. Yes. I cannot tell you how many nights I have walked in at midnight to my little 2 pigtails room and had to whisper in their ear..."Mommy is so sorry for being impatient today. I love you and please forgive mommy." There is no answer besides a little breath breathing so sweetly in and out with her thumb hanging out the side of her mouth. I have to do it...I couldn't sleep laying there and knowing I screwed up. I don't live in guilt (that's a whole nother blog post to mommies out there) but I am so very quick to say sorry. Sweet teenage girls...Your mom isn't perfect. She messes up. She is trying to figure out how to protect you, but not overprotect you...to raise you but not too quick but not too slow where you are living at home when you are 27. She is trying...be gracious. Talk to her. Don't shut her out. If she hurts your feelings, share that...but here is a crazy idea...listen to her why's and thoughts. Your momma might surprise you. Forgive her and know that no one loves you like she does. Seriously...no one. (besides Jesus. obvi.)

4. Moms are people. When was the last time you (yes, you little teenage girl that types more words to a stupid iPhone screen than actually talks to someone) sat down with your mom after arriving home from school and said..."how was your day, mom?" MIND BLOWN. Go try it. Your mom is a person...breathing, with feelings, thoughts, hard days, celebrations. Get to know her. Know her little sayings that are so "your mom." Cook her favorite recipes and learn how she does it so you can pass that on. Your mom is this full picture of love, grace, unconditional everything, patience, and acceptance...you owe it to yourself to know her. Hold her hand when you are walking. Hug her at night. Run into her bed on Saturday morning to just laugh and then go get donuts in your pjs. See her. If you do this you will see Jesus...

5. Moms are Jesus to you every day. Oh, how many moments did my mom probably stand in our hallway so overwhelmed in raising a teenage daughter. My silence, my door slams, my rollercoaster of emotions, my attitude...oh Jesus please come back before we hit the teenage years in our home. But my mom showed me Jesus...she was steadfast in her love, she always scratched my back at night which said I love you in every way, and she always took care of me. That's Jesus. My mom gave me the foundation of Jesus in my life. That deserves a million bucks and a million thanks...the great thing about moms, though, is that a little hug or "i love you" is all it takes to make our hearts smile and rest in a job well done.

Go get your momma...read this together. See her. Promise me...

Be awesome and Love Jesus,

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

What I Wish I Could Tell My Teenage Self about...BOYS

{source}

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
Goodness, I love when I start a "series" and really it just lives on the world wide web as a serie. No "s." Well, boom...this just became a series..."What I wish I could tell my teenage self about...______"

The first addition was on FAMILY. You can read it HERE . I thought for the second addition we would jump into the topic that will bring inward squeals (because no way do you outwardly act like boys are a biggie...totally cool) and crazy eyes (eyes that all teenage girls have and make their parents roll their eyes and cry into their daughter's old dolls longing for the days of yore with pigtails and poopy diapers...yes, they would probably pick the poopy diapers) --- That was a long statement for parentheses. (I just googled "parenthesis" plural as who knew how to spell that).

Okay, so drumroll for the Top 5 Things I Wish I could Tell My Teenage Self about BOYS.
1. They smell. (deep, I know). Sometimes they smell good since they have all fallen prey to those ridiculous AXE commercials. This smell with burn the hair all the way up your nostrils b/c it is so oddly strong, bad strong, not like oh, big muscles strong. Also, after their athletic endeavors or for some who sweat easily just being called on in class, their body odor is, well, like that of their lineage. Poor Adam...no deodarant back then. (Oops, but the garden was perfect so maybe Adam didn't have BO).

2. Boys want you to be a good friend. Oh, the drama. I love the girls in the summer who say these words to me. "I hate drama" and then they continue to talk through with me their life and it's like a scene blitz of every CW show and vampire movie without the vampire teeth. Seriously. Guys that are great guys want just good friends. I am not speaking to the age 'ole question of "Can a girl and a guy be best friends?" (Oh, that's a whole nother blog...is "nother" a word...it was to my mamma). I look back to leadership teams (I didn't really have friends in high school...Looo-ser! I know. Or college really but at K2 on staff...there I found great friends...guys and gals. Deep memories!) and I realize I had sweet guy friends...true brothers in Christ. Oh, so sweet! It was pure and clean and safe. The operative word to this item is FRIEND. Be a sweet, kind and true friend.

3. Boys have no "cycle" but just as many hormonal or "cray-cray-ness." (Man, webster should holler cuz I'm making up some awesome vocab words. My english teacher mom will be proud...Hey Mom!). I know girls have periods, puberty and body changes. Girls are labeled as harder and emotions everywhere. I would debate though that teenage boys...equally as weird, hormonal, puberty-ness and well funny. Girls, I know so much emotions swirl in your little heart in a day. For boys I don't think they have 4,000 words they want to share with someone but they are equally as clumsy, awkward and need help. They aren't Mr. Cool Face all the time. (This point goes back being a good friend b/c all y'all got to many cells that are cray-cray to be anything but friends.) For all adults...like a 7th grade boy is maybe my favorite to try and conversate with...it's hysterical.  (Conversate...totally not a word)

4. Boys are boys. Don't make them girls or make them Channing Tatum in Step Up (the original, let's be honest after the 1st one it was pretty much downhill from there.) Don't be mad that for Valentine's day your boyfriend of 12 hours just got you a box of those chocolates from Walmart...maybe I over dramatize, no, I've heard it before from your girlies at kamp. Be glad they are boys and you are a girl. I just cringe when girls say...I have no girlfriends. I just hang out with guys. Sweet girl, that's not that cool. You need your girlfriends. They need guy time. They need to explore and conquer stuff and girls need to bake with their moms and crochet (you don't do that, oh, here's hoping that's what the teenage version of my baby L, baby B and baby T girls want to do or I'll just be moving to a cave in Australia and have prearranged marriages to my best friend's children...it's do-able, us kanakuk people know how to have babies!).

5. Boys are creations of the Most High God who intimately knows how awesome of a gift they are and YOU are. I hate to use such a cliche but here it comes...what if we started to look at boys...the guy you are crushing on, the guy who gets slammed into his locker by the football jocks every day, the guy who you ate mud pies with growing up, the guy who is the most popular for all the wrong reasons...each of those guys as your brother. The brother who loves you, protects you, makes you laugh...a brother. A brother who is a great friend, but not a boyfriend since you and he are all of 13 years old. A brother who is a great date for prom b/c you can dance like a crazy person and laugh, but not a great date for prom if he has a room key waiting. A brother who can come over and play games with your folks and build a friendship if you must hang out with each other, but not a boy who honks his horn for you to come out or even worse, comes and shakes your daddy's hand and then that hand is roaming places it shouldn't later on in the date. He is your brother. You are his sister. Live as such...until your hand is placed in the one Jesus has written to hold your most precious heart. (Or until Jesus holds your heart and comes back and we are all jamming in Heaven in MC Hammer pants...I'm just sure of it).

So there ya go...please no theological debates or "let's anonymously argue" on comments. I have no degree, officially but just my thoughts to make you smile and maybe see the world a little different...go hug your daddy or high five your friends...girls and guys alike!

Click HERE to read "What I Wish I Could Tell My Teenage Self about...FAMILY."

Be awesome & Love Jesus,

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com
Wanna come to summer camp! You totally should!

Check This Out...

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
I mean c'mon...this is exciting! Here's the deal...this year let's make "bringing a friend to kamp" mean something. How about you get a new kamper to sign up for Kamp and we will sponsor a teen to Kids Across America. It's a total win-win! Seriously...go get someone to sign up...

Here are the deets...(yeah, I'm trendy and relevant...okay, I'm really not)

You bring a friend to @kanakukk2, we'll send a teen to @KAAUKNOW. Have friends use the code K2KAA2014 when registering.

Go...do this. It's only awesomeness that can come from it.

Be awesome & Love Jesus,


kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

12 Miles...

{source}

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
Well, I ran 12 miles this past weekend. Ugg! I am training (training to me means I only run on Saturdays with my best friend...training to most should be doing some training during the week! But YOLO right?)

We ran 12...and we survived! Woohoo! It is comical the motivation we use to push each other! We laugh alot, chat, stop chatting to breath, realize we have to chat or we want to quit, and chat more. It's awesome!

Go get out and grab a friend for a walk, run or even a skip through a park! (a safe park not a sketchy no one can see you park)

Be awesome & Love Jesus, 

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

Write it Out...

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
As I finished my time with Jesus this morning my heart just started writing in my journal...

You are my all.
  You are Savior.
    You are near.
      You are mighty and intimate.
        You hear me.
          You are in control of all things.
            You are good.
              You place desires in me.

the list could have and continues to go on with each morning. I wonder if we all took time to simply write out who God is...his character, his actions towards us, his relationship with us and of us...how differently would we see our God when trials, hardships or just plain bad days come swinging at us.

So go, write it out...

Be awesome & Love Jesus, 

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

Who is Ready for Kamp...

{source}

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
The picture might be weird to some but to most of us Kamp girls we LOVE our Nike Tempos at K2! Now over the years I have tried other shorts and liked them but I must admit my drawers are still mostly filled with the good ole Tempos! I loved last season at the outlet they had some shorts that had spandex lined into them and I'm kind of obsessed with them also...kind of kicked myself I didn't buy them in every color when they were there as I haven't seen them since...but they were just plain colors with a different shade of spandex! Awesome for Triathlete Abdomination time!

But all in all I am still a tempo girl...just scored a pair for $9 the other day from the Outlet! Holler, bargain shopper!

Get the tempos out (or any other shorts for kamp!)...kamp is coming!

Be awesome & Love Jesus, 

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

Great Read, Sorry, Still on Social Media Box...

{source}

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
Well, I'm sorry (sort of) that I have been on the social media kick here lately. I came across this article that is amazingly written that is a great balance in not shutting out social media but how to live healthily (not sure this is a word) in it. I LOVED the article and loved his premise of connecting and not comparing...

Here is the link. Go here but I'm also pasting it below....


I keep having the same conversation over and over. It starts like this: “I gave up Facebook for Lent, and I realized I’m a lot happier without it.” Or like this, “Pinterest makes me hate my house.” Or like this: “I stopped following a friend on Instagram, and now that I don’t see nonstop snapshots of her perfect life, I like her better.”

Yikes. This is a thing. This is coming up in conversation after conversation. The danger of the internet is that it’s very very easy to tell partial truths—to show the fabulous meal but not the mess to clean up afterward. To display the smiling couple-shot, but not the fight you had three days ago. To offer up the sparkly milestones but not the spiraling meltdowns.

I’m not anti-technology or anti-Internet, certainly, but I do think it’s important for us to remind ourselves from time to time that watching other peoples’ post-worthy moments on Facebook is always going to yield a prettier version of life than the one you’re living right now. That’s how it works.

WHEN YOU’RE WAITING FOR YOUR COFFEE TO BREW, THE MAJORITY OF YOUR FRIENDS PROBABLY AREN’T DOING ANYTHING ANY MORE SPECIAL. BUT IT ONLY TAKES ONE FRIEND AT THE EIFFEL TOWER TO MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE A LOSER.

My life looks better on the Internet than it does in real life. Everyone’s life looks better on the internet than it does in real life. The Internet is partial truths—we get to decide what people see and what they don’t. That’s why it’s safer short term. And that’s why it’s much, much more dangerous long term.
Because community—the rich kind, the transforming kind, the valuable and difficult kind—doesn’t happen in partial truths and well-edited photo collections on Instagram. Community happens when we hear each other’s actual voices, when we enter one another’s actual homes, with actual messes, around actual tables telling stories that ramble on beyond 140 pithy characters.

But seeing the best possible, often-unrealistic, half-truth version of other peoples’ lives isn’t the only danger of the Internet. Our envy buttons also get pushed because we rarely check Facebook when we’re having our own peak experiences. We check it when we’re bored and when we’re lonely, and it intensifies that boredom and loneliness.

When you’re laughing at a meal with friends, are you scrolling through Pinterest? When you’re in labor with your much-prayed-for-deeply-loved child, are you checking to see what’s happening on Instagram? Of course not. We check in with our phones when it seems like nothing fun is happening in our own lives—when we’re getting our oil changed or waiting for the coffee to brew.

It makes sense, then, that anyone else’s fun or beauty or sparkle gets under our skin. It magnifies our own dissatisfaction with that moment. When you’re waiting for your coffee to brew, the majority of your friends probably aren’t doing anything any more special.

But it only takes one friend at the Eiffel Tower to make you feel like a loser.

I’m a writer. I use Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and Pinterest and my blog as part of my professional life—as a way to connect with readers and be part of a conversation that we’re creating together, a conversation about creativity and faith and writing and parenting and community and life around the table. It’s a lovely conversation, and part of my work involves reading many blogs and commenting on lots of photos and scrolling through status after status.

Some days it feels rich and multi-faceted. I learn and I’m inspired. I find recipes I want to try and stories I want to live. I feel connected and thankful to be part of such an intelligent and creative internet community.

And then on some days, I feel like I have nothing to offer, like I must be the only one who isn’t a graphic designer and hasn’t yet managed to display her entire darling life online with lots of chevron and mint accents. I feel so certain that my life is a lot less darling than other peoples’ lives.

But that’s the Internet. The nature of it. I so easily fall prey to the seduction of other people’s partial truths and heavily filtered photos, making everything look amazing. And their amazing looking lives make me feel not amazing at all.

Let’s choose community. Let’s stop comparing. Let’s start connecting.

Some days when I sit down at my laptop, instead of choosing to be an observer via Facebook, I choose to be a friend via email. Instead of scrolling through someone else’s carefully curated images, I use those few seconds to send a text to a person I really know and really love and really want to be connected to.

It’s not about technology or not. I’m not suggesting you get all old-school-pen-and-paper about it (unless that’s your thing.) It’s about connecting instead of comparing. Instead of using the computer to watch someone else’s perfectly crafted life, enter into someone’s less-than-perfect life. You can use Facebook if you want, but you might find email, Skype and phone calls work better.

USING TECHNOLOGY TO BUILD COMMUNITY INSTEAD OF BUILDING CAREFULLY-CURATED IMAGES OF OURSELVES IS AN OPTION, AND A WORTHWHILE ONE.

The distinction I’m making is public vs. private, not in person vs. long distance. I have very close, very honest friendships that depend on phone calls and Skype dates and long wandering emails, and I’m thankful that technology allows for those connections. But I don’t think you can build transforming friendships that take place only in a public sphere like Facebook or Instagram.
For many of us, walking away from the Internet isn’t an option. But using it to connect instead of compare is an option, and a life-changing one. Using technology to build community instead of building carefully-curated images of ourselves is an option, and a worthwhile one.

And on the days when you peer into the screen of your laptop and all you see are other people’s peak experiences that highlight your lack in that moment, remember that life isn’t about the story you tell about yourself on the Internet. It’s about a million more beautiful and complex things than that, like love and faith and really listening. It’s about using what you’ve been given to craft a life of gratitude and passion and grace.

Remember that the very best things in life can’t be captured in status updates.

Be awesome & Love Jesus, 


kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

Why Tweet?...

{source}

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
Okay, I am so not on a soap box of social media...I just recently told our leadership team that I am not anti-twitter I just don't know why I would do it. Why would anyone in this world care about my 140 characters about random basic nothings of my day. It's just so odd...and then the pressure to be funny. Oh, man. I am sweating just typing it...

So I told the team that I just like telling the people I'm with when I think of something I would tweet...but I like just telling them and adding hashtags and all of us laughing. It's way more fun! Then the people I'm with, we connect. We laugh, in person. Anyways, the team had a ball with that and have given me the clear that I would do well on twitter...my response. I'm not ready...probably never will be.

If I eat my words, then so be it but for now my 140 characters will just be said out loud to my littles most of the day and dear friends.

p.s. i might not be on twitter but kanakuk is and kanakuktrish is...so follow them!

Be awesome & Love Jesus, 

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

I will Fight...

{source}

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
Well, I feel like sometimes I have a soap box on Social Media and the Effects of "Shallowing" the next generation...and by sometimes I mean I could go off about it all the time.

I am not a hater at all...hence you are reading this on a blog where you possibly clicked over from Facebook. I am a moderation, healthy user of it. My biggest fear each summer is more and more I am seeing teenage girls, YOU, not able to have healthy face to face interaction with your peers or older adults. You overshare through a keyboard but can't have a polite conversation to your elder. You twitter your opinions and heart but yet can't look someone in the eye to TALK to them.

I will always fight this. I don't want facebook to be over or twitter to be gone...I just don't want to have a generation of youth that can't or doesn't know how to function without feeling like their life is a real TV show and they are the STAR. You aren't.

So today check your heart when you add a  picture of yourself in a bikini...why? Check your healthy radar of social media when you are spending more time on twitter than you are on homework or being outside? Realize that something could be a bit off if all during dinner at your home there are beeps, dings, rings and tweet sounds that distract from a dinner table where America was built.

Side note: mommas and daddies create "cell phone free zone" at your house...do it! Maybe for you too...

Social media is not bad...but is it creating something in us that is?

Be awesome & Love Jesus, 

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

Awkward Turtle...

{source}

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
I found this little image above and just died laughing. I might be aging myself or most of your might not even remember but one summer (again I can't remember which) we had a saying through the girls side of K2 called the "awkward turtle." It basically was for when we are all awkward at some point in our lives...some more than others and then there is me who stays in an awkward state.

Anyways, rock on all you awkward moment rockers! Embrace them my turtle friends!

Be awesome & Love Jesus, 

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

Hello...

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
Well, HELLO I'M BACK...sorry for the absence. I'm sure you were all devastated by your lack of every other day posts here at Kanakuk Ashley. Pick up those kleenexes for your tears shall be no more...a bit dramatic. Yep!

Well, it's just been a crazy month. Why was March crazy? No idea. Any ideas? None from me. Promise I won't leave again...

Be Awesome & Love Jesus,

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

Love This...

{source}

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friend,
Well, I mean I adore this saying...STOP THE GLORIFICATION OF BUSY. What's funny is that I never thought it would apply to you all...teenage girls. But honestly 90% of my conversations (okay, totally must fess up that I just made up that statistic! Oh well) are about how busy you are. Stop it!

I laugh at this quote because honestly I HATE being busy. I hate answering people with "Oh, just really busy." Ugg...hate it, won't do it, won't live it! Of course my personality feels too busy if we have 2 nights out of the 7 scheduled. What can I say I'm a total homebody that loves snugglin' in after the littles are all asleep with a fun show with the husband or a little crafting or just luxurious nothing time of Pinterest or blogging. So all that to say...being busy is nothing to rock your tiara too!

So stop soaking in your pride as you answer that "life is just so busy." Is that really the first answer you want to say when someone says, "hey how are you?" Think about it...busy-ness is not healthy...busy-ness is a distraction...busy-ness is stuff, not people...busy-ness is a void of just being able to be still...don't be busy...

Be awesome & Love Jesus, 

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

Settlers of Catan...

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
Well, meet our new little game night friend! It's called The Settlers of Catan and it is oh so fun! I mean so fun! It does have strategy and thinking involved but I don't love strategy and I still like it. Did that just totally throw me under the bus as a total blonde? Yes! Cool!

We have been playing it with our neighbors who we adore and it is a great game that is light and fun and you can still have conversation during it! It creates memories and is just a clean good time! Woohoo! I think you can get it online from Wal-mart but for sure Amazon!

Go play a board game!

Be awesome & Love Jesus, 

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

Any Seniors Feeling Anxious...

{source}

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends...specifically Seniors,
It feels like that time of year when your stress levels are a bit higher than what some might call normal. Why you ask? Well, the open ended million dollar question begins to surface about this time for seniors..."What are you doing with your life?" Now this question can come in many forms..."Where are you going to college?" or "What are you going to major in?" But the question at the core sounds like...

WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE?

So the question sometimes has a quick answer for those who have a college picked out...but then worry sinks in as to your undecided major. For others you boldly claim your free spirit of not knowing where you want to go...but again inside your stomach is doing flip flops!

My advice...don't worry. Be active in pursuing your passions but don't take on anxiousness of a controlling role you don't even have...it's the God who created you and every fiber in your body who has each of your days in His Almighty hand. Rest in those hands...

Be awesome & Love Jesus, 

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

Say Hello...

{source}

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
I went out the other night with my husband and my best friend and her husband. It was such a fun night! We went to HuHot Grill for dinner and had a wonderful time! We then went to see a show at a theater in Springfield, MO. As I was chatting with my bestie (I don't think 30 year olds can use the word bestie without sounding like I am trying way to hard to stay relevant...oh, lets be honest I'm so over being relevant!) and looked over the crowd and my heart was saddened. You see our seats were the first row in the balcony. Which I believe are the best seats in a theatre. (Side note: seriously which way is the right way to spell theatre...oh our language!) We both looked over the crowd down below and it had to be at least 50% of people were sitting there next to friends, family, husbands and wives, daughters and dads, and yet 50% of the crowd were not talking or just being with their person but thumbing keypads or searching facebook or twitter. It was so so sad. My heart and body wanted to yell out...be here, be present, say hello to your wife, your friend, your grandpa! Say hello!! Ask a question, share a feeling, tell a story or just sit hand in hand people watching making up stories for the people around you...be with them!

So today, go say hello...not through facebook or twitter but to a real life human being. We were made for relationships and our heart will crave them. Don't fill your heart with a phone...fill it with a person!

Be awesome & Love Jesus, 

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

(The last sentence is not to promote a theological debate...obviously our hearts are full of Jesus but you know what I mean)

Can I Get an Amen...

{source}

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,

Well the picture is the post for today...I am loving my recent search of typography/prints and this one was one of my favorites because of the wonderful quote from C.S. Lewis but also I love this little girl in the picture. I realize I just typed little girl and she is probably a teenager or young adult...which by the way those words are basically the same. I'm smart...don't worry.

I love the innocence of her braided hair...I love the pureness of trueness of Lewis' words. May we wake up tomorrow and rely on our Jesus evermore...

Be awesome & Love Jesus, 

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

Why Kamp?...

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
Today I feel my heart beating fast as I type this post. Why? Well, because I now have 3 littles that in too short of a time will be able to go to summer kamp...so today I want to tell you why Kanakuk? This isn't advertising (okay technically it is but more a mom's heart) and it's not begging...it's belief. It's belief in a place that is cherished.

Why Kanakuk Kamps? Because it's real.
Why Kanakuk Kamps? Because it's away.
Why Kanakuk Kamps? Because we see a leader in every one of you.
Why Kanakuk Kamps? Because it's a refuge.
Why Kanakuk Kamps? Because it's FUN.
Why Kanakuk Kamps? Because it's simple and chaotic.
Why Kanakuk Kamps? Because it's cool.
Why Kanakuk Kamps? Because we want you to know that you are AWESOME!
Why Kanakuk Kamps? Because it's adventure.
Why Kanakuk Kamps? Because it's not facebook, twitter or instagram...it's conversations and relationships.

Why Kanakuk Kamps? Because I believe in this place...more than ever.

Be awesome & Love Jesus, 

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com

Countdown Anyone...

{source}

Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
Well, March just makes me think of it...SPRING BREAK! There were some years my fam and I just kicked it around the hometown and other years we headed for cold mountains or sunny beaches! It was such sweet memories with my family!

So let's start your countdown!!

Be awesome & Love Jesus, 

kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com