March is a popular month for birthdays! Another one of my bridesmaids and also my college roommate is celebrating her birthday today. Tree and I met our freshman year of Taylor University and we shared a room for the next two years. God has blessed me so much through knowing Tree. She has been there for me through all the yucky times I experienced in college; she has supported me even when I know I was being a jerk! (I remember one time making her cry because I was hormonal and horribly mean to her… and she’s still my friend! That should tell you what sort of person she is!)

(By the way, I didn’t have a camera for almost all of college, so pretty much every picture I have from that time period has been stolen from someone else. I can’t remember who all sent me copies of your pictures, so I apologize for not giving proper credit!)

Tree and I started rooming together fall of 2002. Wow I look young in this picture.

This is from our suitemate Beth‘s wedding in 2003. Because at the time Tree and I were both in long-term relationships, Beth’s engagement and marriage prompted many discussions between Tree and I about our futures! It was really cool to dialogue with each other about what we thought marriage looked like for us. Pictured here are Tree, college friend Emily, me, and Paul.

During my junior year fall break, we went down to Atlanta! This picture makes me smile – who knew that one day my future husband would be working here? Tree and I are standing here with our friend Zay, who also came with us on our roadtrip (as well as Joanna, who is taking the picture!).

We got our pictures taken at a college thing. We’re royalty! :-)

Tree – how do I have NO pictures of the two of us at your wedding in 2005??? I stood beside Tree proudly as one of her bridesmaids as she married her boyfriend of 7 1/2 years! What a happy day!

I saw Tree again at our graduation in 2005. (Pictured here with our friend Bethany.)

Tree was one of my bridesmaids at our wedding in 2006. Our wedding anniversaries are exactly 6 months apart! We think the 29th is an awesome day to get married. Here is Tree with her husband, Daniel, and Paul and I.

The next time I saw Tree was at a friend’s wedding in 2008! She moved to the Dominican Republic after college, so she’s been hard to catch up with. :-) I got to spend a good amount of time with her during her visit to the States in 2008, which was fun! I also got to meet her son Jeremiah.

Tree and I have another fun thing – we were both pregnant at the same time! (With her 2nd and my 1st.) It was so neat to be able to talk to each other about what we were feeling at the same time. Savannah was born on August 22nd, and Tree’s little boy was born on August 24th! I think that is really awesome. Paul says, “Now Ashley, Savannah can marry whoever she wants, remember.”

I hope that this is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship! Now I’m just waiting for Tree to move back to the States so we can see her more often. :-)