Me on my wedding day!

About Me:

My name is Ashley McIlwain. I am originally from a small town in Pennsylvania called Huntingdon. I grew up with an absolutely incredible family consisting of me, my Mom and Dad, and 2 older sisters. After high school I moved to West Palm Beach, FL where I did my undergraduate work at Palm Beach Atlantic University and earned a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Business Administration. My educational journey continued when I moved out to Southern California and earned my Masters in Clinical Psychology with a Specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy from Azusa Pacific University. I am not trying to keep it a secret, I am coming from a personal perspective of being a Christian, conservative, and in a lot of ways, traditional, so consider yourself informed and aware My passion is to help people, especially marriages. It’s a calling I have felt since a very young age, and it excites me to finally be equipped to help in this area.

Currently I am living in Irvine, CA with my incredible husband, Steve. We got married September 13, 2008, back home in Pennsylvania and life has never been better! Steve is my absolute best friend, rock, playmate, hero…well I could go on forever about all that he is, all that he means to me, and all the amazing things about him, but I will spare you Bottom line, I LOVE being married and want everyone to feel that way!

About Little Wifey:

What is Little Wifey? I wanted to try to find a way to help as many people as possible with their relationships and marriages. After much contemplation the idea for a website came to mind, and I really felt compelled and called to pursue it. My husband and I sat down to talk out ideas, a plan, and a name. Steve threw out the name “Little Wifey,” and we both felt it click and fell in love with it. Now it was just a matter of how to do this. Not knowing much about web design, coding, web hosting, and all of the other things that come along with having a website, I have struggled quite a bit with the process. Ultimately to just get into it, I started a blog, which has really been received well. It has been extremely exciting to see the amount of interest and need there is out there for this sort of thing. Now I realize that I need to expand to a full website, and that is what I set out to do and have finally accomplished. I really, really love helping people and am very passionate about that. Additionally, I am extremely passionate about marriages; I think they are this incredible gift from God and one of the greatest joys in life. Life with Steve, as a married woman, has been beyond incredible and blessed (even the challenges, differences, and tough times – my motto is those are times to grow closer together), and I just want that for everyone. I truly believe in marriage and that everyone deserves and can achieve a happy, healthy, blessed, and fulfilling marriage. That is why I set this site up – to provide a free resource for people to utilize where they can get information, articles, resources, recommendations, hints, and more all aimed at promoting the health, happiness, and fulfillment of marriage. It is my belief that every person can move their marriage from surviving to thriving!!!

A side note that I feel is important is not just marriages can benefit from Little Wifey. All relationships can benefit from the concepts, articles, tips, and information that I post on Little Wifey because the principles are applicable to all relationships. In fact, I would encourage people who are in relationships, serious relationships, and engagements to really look through this stuff to set themselves up for the best marriage possible. If you are single, these things can apply to other relationships as well as a future relationship. Start putting tools in your toolbox now so they are there when you need them. Plus, I am going to be touching on pre-marital things, single life things, individual things. As much as Little Wifey is targeted at marriages, it’s applicable way beyond that and will cover more than that. If you are thinking your marriage is already over or perhaps you are divorced, it’s never too late, and I really believe a lot of this information can change even the worst situation. We are created to be in relationship with others – those relationships take different forms: marriages, friendships, family, etc. Let’s set ourselves up for the best success possible in those relationships.

Finally, I have spent, do spend, and will continue to spend a lot of my time on this site. It is very important to me, and even though I make no profit from it, the payment is in helping even a single life. Sounds cheesy but is completely true. You may not always agree with my perspective, points, ideas, values, beliefs, etc., but know that my intentions are always just to help people in any way I can. My life has been an interesting one, and I have experienced a lot more than I would have ever personally chosen. However, those life experiences have given me a heart for people – their lives, their pains, their cries, and their stories, and their hearts. Again, I just want this website to help people even if it is in the tiniest of ways…it is all worth it then.