I am blessed!

What a wonderful birthday I had this year...I feel so extremely blessed by the kindness and sweet notes from friends and family.Beth, Katey, Jamie, Karen, Mindy, Elianna, and Elijah all took me out for supper at the Green Mill Restaurant...yummy!Katelyn and I share the same birthday so we celebrated together with a rousing party at the Tingelstads! Ben and Gilles cooked up a fabulous Asian dinner and we all feasted in style! Thanks guys!Isn't that a great table! Beautiful!Happy Birthday Katelyn! It is fun celebrating with you!

Happy Anniversary!

It was two years ago today that we gathered to celebrate the marriage covenant of

Benjamin Jordan Caron

and

Melinda Kay Berge

What an eventful two years it has been and how amazing to see the abundant blessings that God has poured out into their lives--two significant ones being Elianna and Elijah!

Congratulations Ben and Mindy! We celebrate with you and love you both!

October birthday party...

Once a month, the Berge family gathers to celebrate all of the birthdays from the month. The month of October belongs to Matt, me, Ben, and Missy (we missed you!). We enjoyed delicious grilled burgers (thanks to dad!) and lots of other yummy dishes. We had a wonderful time together!

Ben, Matt, and I...the things I have to put up with! You hope that as they get older they will start acting their age, but...(sigh)

Matt and I trying to get that last candle blown out. Uff Da!

Elijah update!

Sorry about the long wait for an update. A lot has happened in the past week since Elijah was born. Mindy got out of the hospital after a short stay and is doing absolutely great. Thank you all for praying. God heard those prayers and worked in a mighty way! Then this last weekend we had a big moving party and moved Ben and Mindy out of their old house into the "cottage" (which is closer to us! Yay!). Here are a few pictures from the last week...

What a wonderful mother Mindy is...isn't she just beautiful!

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Elianna composing a love song for her little brother.

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What a blessing it is to hold that sweet bundle!

Although he doesn't look as happy about it as I do.

Announcing...

The Birth of
Elijah Kenneth Caron

Born: September 26th, 2007 (Grandpa Ken's Birthday too!)
Time: 4:40 am



More details will follow soon!

For now, please pray for Mindy as she is in the hospital recovering from a severe hemorage.
She is doing much better now though. Praise the Lord!

Autumn splendor!

I love how all of creation reflects God's glory...it serves one purpose: to glorify God. Even in death, the leaves fall with such grace and beauty. Their colors shouting out praises to their Creator! What a lesson in joyful obedience we have lying right beneath our feet!

"Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein:

then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice." Psalm 96:12

"Out of the north comes golden splendor;

Around God is awesome majesty." Job 37:22

Simeon Olaf Sahlstrom

If you haven't heard yet, I have a new nephew! Simeon Sahlstrom...my sister Melissa's newest blessing. It was so wonderful to finally be able to meet this precious little guy yesterday. He is so good and such a fun bundle to hold. Check out The Sahlstrom blog for more pictures.

Peacefully sleeping
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Cute little feet!
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A happy auntie...what a sweetie he is!
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Not the baby anymore...

but Erina doesn't seem to mind. She really loves her new baby brother and smothers him with kisses every chance she gets!

I love my nieces and nephews so much! They are such a blessing from God!

New Every Morning

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,

"therefore I will hope in him.

"The Lord is good to those who wait for him,

to the soul who seeks him.

Lamentations 3:22-25

Summer Highlights

Autumn is definitely in the air and it feels so wonderful. I enjoy these crisp, cool days. But, as I was going through my pictures, I couldn't help but remember all the wonderful days of summer, especially our family music festival. Here are a few highlights and pictures that never got posted...

The Lake Itasca Family Bluegrass Festival!

This was a huge event for our family and one that we enjoyed very much.

The Franz Family was absolutely amazing...as always!

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Snack Shack Duty!

My sister-in-law, Beth, and her sister Jamie (Jamie is on the left)

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The Bontrager children singing
"...as arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are children to their father"

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My beautiful cousins with their lovely voices, praising God!
Janna, Erica, Amanda, Katelynn, and Audra

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Sweet little Charissa Wissmann...not really sure if I was friend or foe!

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Next year is sure to be even better!

I hope I see you there!

The Lord will guide you!

"And the LORD

will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a

watered garden,

And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail."

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Isaiah 58:11

Do you support blasphemy?

Wow...I was really challenged by this. It made me realize how easy it is for us as humans to justify our sin. Check it out...here.

A place of refreshing

Ok...the moral of this post is "don't be dumb and get too busy!" (I have to learn this one over and over!) This summer was a pretty busy one and sadly I allowed it to consume my time to the point that my quiet time in the Word suffered. It is such a dangerous place, to be a soldier of the cross and not have any armour on! I began to realize that I was losing battles and feeling so spiritually dry. While I was in Ireland I had a lot of time to just be in the Word and pray and oh, it was good and so refreshing!

I love reading the words of old songs and recently found this one that fit so well...

When Thou Wakest in the Morning

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When thou wakest in the morning

Ere thou tread’st the untried way

Of the lot that lies before thee

Through the coming busy day;

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Whether sunbeams promise brightness,

Whether dim forebodings fall,

Be thy dawning glad or gloomy,

Go to Jesus, tell Him all.

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Isn't that great and don't you just lovest that old English! I hopeth thou art encouraged-eth by it!...there really is a treasure of unimaginable refreshing to be found at Jesus feet! May we never neglect it!

The recipe for success...

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

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He shall be like a tree

planted by streams of water

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that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers." Psalm 1:1-3

The many faces of Ireland

May I introduce to you some of the wonderful people I was privileged to meet...

Sweet little Fiona

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Tom and Noirin De Lasa...they were wonderful beyond words!

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A kind lady who invited us in for tea and showed us some old pictures

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A man at the train station

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Our young tour guide on the train

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Tom De Lasa with two of his great loves: his guitar and the Word of God

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The faces of some crazy mountain climbers!

(me, Lady the dog, Tom, Larry Skrant, and David Darragh)

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And last, but not least, Ben...the wonderful dog from the B&B where I stayed!

I'm Back!

Imagine white sandy beaches, purple heather covered hills, blue mountains, and green, green, green everywhere....and you have barely even scratched the surface of the beauty of Ireland! It was a feast for the eyes everywhere I looked! But the most beautiful thing I experienced by far was the people. Such hospitality and warm generosity at every turn...I was so blessed by it all! Here are a few pictures to give you a tiny taste of my trip:

The beautiful coast of Ireland

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Delicious food!

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New, wonderful friends!

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It was a wonderful time altogether and there are many more pictures to come! The whole trip was like an incredible gift to me that seems like a dream. I am so grateful for the chance I was given to meet some of the most wonderful believers, learn a few rousing Irish tunes, experience a good dose of Celtic culture, and bask in God's amazing creation.

Praise the Lord for the good gifts that He gives!

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of lights..."

~James 1:17

London

I am in London now...just arrived a few hours ago. It is a rainy and cloudy day today...a little dreary but great for taking pictures! I was telling my family that it is like listening to the BBC all around you everywhere you go...the accent is pretty great. Just had my tea and feeling pretty grand! I will be posting more soon.

God bless
Melanie

Ireland

Hey everybody! Just a quick note from Ireland...it is absolutely beautiful. I am excited to show you some of the pictures of this lovely land. The people are even more wonderful...so gracious and kind. I have been blessed!

Love you all, thanks for praying!

Lift up your eyes

"To whom then will you liken God,

or what likeness compare with him?

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...Do you not know? Do you not hear?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

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...It is he who sits above the circle of the earth

...who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them like a tent to dwell in.

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Lift up your eyes on high and see..."

Lift up your eyes on high and see..."

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And behold who has created these things..."

(Isaiah 40:18-26)

Matt's house

Progress is happening fast on my brother, Matt's house. Now that it is sheetrocked it is easier to imagine what it will look like when finished. It is so beautiful!

The master bedroom

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We all went over the other day and cleaned up some garbage and had a giant campfire. Here is Katey enjoying it from a safe distance...

Speaking of Katey...it is so wonderful to have her around...she is my little buddy. We have been enjoying all kinds of adventures together...swimming, loooong bike rides, taking gun safety training together, working of various projects...it has been wonderful!

Love you Katey bug!!

It's Back!!

There was much joy and celebration when a big brown box came in the mail the other day baring precious cargo...my restored camera! YAY! It is wonderful to have it back and it works great. They replaced a broken shutter, an interior chip, and cleaned the sensors--all at no cost to me outside of shipping! I guess sometimes an extended warranty pays off.

So I am trying to remember how to take pictures again. It has been about two months so I am a little out of practice. Just for fun, here is a "before" picture taken when my camera was broken...

(I know, pretty bad huh?)

And an "after" picture...

(Ahhh, much better!)

I am grateful for the way God works to teach us how to appreciate things that we take for granted sometimes. So I am back and have a bunch of pictures to show you! See you more often hopefully!

Ya'll Come!

WWW.FAMILYBLUEGRASS.COM

Just want to remind everybody that greatest gospel bluegrass festival ever is fast approaching! Mark your calenders for the first weekend in August (3-5) and come visit the beautiful northwoods of Minnesota. Feast your ears to some beautiful music and enjoy this great event with your whole family. You will LOVE it! Check out the line-up at http://www.familybluegrass.com/ .

Hope to see you there!

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