I am thrilled to bring you the first of my friends in our Celebrating MOM photo series, here on this blog. In case you haven’t heard, we are celebrating Moms! Moms of all types, and phases, but for now, Moms of preschoolers.
Moms whose lives are traveling at the speed of light, and whose babies are growing out of phases as quickly as they are growing out of their jeans.
A few weeks ago, I hosted a photoshoot event, in which I invited several young Mothers that I knew to come and be models for a day. I asked them each to bring an item from their home that represented where they are in their lives. Something ordinary, something they touch every day, that speaks to where they’re at.
I wanted them to feel the beauty and the sacred-ness of what they do every day, the same way I felt it when Thalyta took pictures of me and my baby’s first six months, and the things I had held so tenderly and briefly along the way.
Ashleigh chose her daughter’s ballet skirt and shoes, and her son’s Superman backpack, because her kids are involved in school, superheroes, and ballet right now.
This speaks to me of balance. The boy and the girl. The masculine and the feminine. Ashleigh ties them together so beautifully. I see her as strong, but tender. Firm, but sweet. Energetic, but calm.
She always seems centered, and has a way of juggling life’s imbalances with ease and pleasant-ness.
She is Mama to two little munchkins, Lizzie, (5) and Evan (4).
The best thing she has learned from Motherhood, is that “life is so much more fun when you stop trying to control, and when you just let go and live.”
(Amen to that, girl!)
She is joyful, passionate, and honest, and is the happiest when she is in nature and surrounded by the people she loves.
Ashleigh’s dream is to help women, to mentor them and come alongside of them, doing life together, and helping them find freedom, in just “being.” That they would discover life as it really is, not as they think it should be.
I believe she is already doing that, and I, for one have been so blessed and changed by walking with her, in this.
She describes her life right now as: ‘beautiful chaos.’
But I say it’s all BEAUTIFUL.
I don’t see the chaos, I only see the beauty of a woman who has learned to stay present in all of it: the good, the bad, AND the mess.
One who knows how to stay grounded in God, in truth, and in honest relationships with people. And one who stays happy in the process!
Ashleigh, what a beautiful, balanced woman you are.
P.S. Keep being YOU!:)
Note: All photo credits belong to Thalyta and Thalyta Swanson Photography, rights reserved. If you would like to share this, or any part of this content, please link back to this article, in its original entirety. Thank you! So we can all stay happy.:) -Ruthie