Guest Blogger- Big Tough Girl Ashley!

Hello Everyone!

My name is Ashley Mitchell and I am so excited to write this post for Angie and Clayton! It is such an honor and they are so amazing. I have been following their blog and have really enjoyed their open and honest hearts! I was asked to share a little bit about myself.
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I am 31 years old and I am married to my Amazing Grace.

We have an amazing, beautiful daughter, Tyler Ann who is now 13 months…I don’t know what we did before our baby girl! I am a member of the LDS church and serve faithfully in the Young Women's Program. I have an incredible family that I love dearly, I love to read, I love to scrapbook and create art, I love to spend time outdoors, camping and at the lake, I am a
die-hard college football fan,I think snow is magical...
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and I am a birth mom.
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.At 26 I found myself pregnant and in an impossible situation. My life was changed forever. I had to make a decision and it almost killed me. I was so lucky to have family around me. When I made the decision to place my baby for adoption I felt a great deal of peace come over me. I was so blessed to come in contact with the amazing adoptive family that took my son as their own!

After my sons placement I spent many years lost and out of control.
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I never really had anyone tell me what to expect after I placed my baby, I never had anyone that I could talk with about the guilt, sadness, grief that I was feeling.
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I tried to keep myself together and act like everything was fine but it was almost impossible. I spent years away from the church and turned to drinking, drugs and casual relationships trying to find anything that would fill the void that I was feeling. It took many mistakes and many break downs to finally snap out of it.

After everything that I experienced I realized how important it is to have people around you that understand what you are going through and can help you and teach you from their own experiences. That is where the next chapter of my life took me.

In 2010 I founded a non-profit organization called
Blessings in a Basket. It was set up with the birth mothers in mind. They have a great need for love, support, healing and connecting and so through gift baskets, life coaching, a community of other birth moms, support groups, retreats and so much more we are bringing that to them. My number one priority is to be there for the birth moms, night and day, offering any amount of information and support that I can.

BIB is set up now to reach not just the birth moms but the birth fathers, the parents of the birth parents, adoption agencies and adoptive families…there are so many ways that people can donate to Blessings in a Basket through all of our different events, baskets, advertising etc. If anyone has any questions about the organization or about how they can reach out and help, they can contact me at any time ashley@blessingsinabasket.org.

My son will be 5 years old in April, 2011…it has been 5 years. I have spent much of that time in darkness and a year in the light. Giving my son for adoption was the best choice for me and everyone involved. It was in no way the easiest choice and it came with the most “side-effects”..but I found a way to get through them. I know that I was watched over and protected, I know that I had more of a story to tell, I know that I had people waiting for me and that needed me. I have been able to reach so many women, amazing “Big Tough Girls” and I am the luckiest person on the planet.
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It took a long time to get here but we always try to show where life goes after adoption…give the birth moms the tools that they need, life coaching and direction to move forward and not backward, to succeed and not fail, to love and not grieve. We offer opportunities of employment for those interested and help with placement for those looking down another path.

I am not picketing the streets screaming pro-life, I am not a college graduate, I am not a business whiz, I am not well connected in society and I am not wealthy. I am just a girl who found herself pregnant and who placed her son for adoption…I am telling my story in hopes to help one girl at a time!