Katey's Birthday Bowling Bash: Thomas edition

Thomas was hilarious to watch at Katey's birthday party. He has an extreme dramatic streak running through him, so things can be very entertaining with him around! These pictures give you a glimpse of his dramatic side...

Yes...that is a STRIKE on his score card! Maybe the dramatics actually pay off! Hmmm?

Katey's Birthday Bowling Bash!

Katey celebrated her 13th birthday on June 11th. She is a beautiful young lady and I am so grateful for such a wonderful niece. She has a gentleness and sweetness in her that is refreshing and lovely. So, to celebrate her birthday we all got together at Matt and Beth's and started out with her traditional Jello pies. They are surprisingly good!

Thomas couldn't wait!...

After the pie, we all headed out to go bowling!

(sorry Mindy, I know you are blinking in this picture but it is the only picture that shows most of our whole group!)

We were all pretty bad at it but we had so much fun! Even Elijah thought so!

It was Elianna's first bowling experience...

(check out those cute little bowling shoes!)

...and she thought it was great fun!

It was a wonderful afternoon. Elijah had so much fun...he wore himself out!

Addressing the invitations

Karen came over and helped me address all of the envelopes for the invitations. She is such a tremendous blessing to me! It was a lot of work but went so much faster with two of us...and it was way more fun!

Wedding flowers!

My mom, Auntie Eve, and I all headed into Bemidji Florist last week and picked out the flowers for my wedding. It was SO HARD to choose! All of the different varieties and gorgeous colors were amazing. Here is a little sampling of some of the ones I settled on finally.

You can see a little swatch of the bridesmaid dress material in the picture below. I am in the midst of sewing today and absolutely love the material. It is going to look so stunning on my beautiful bridesmaids! I can hardly wait. Only 5 weeks and 3 days to go!

Engaged!!

On May 22nd, 2008, I said yes to the man I love when he asked me if I would marry him! That little word has turned my world upside down! I am now a fiancé and the future wife of David! Whoa!

Okay, now for the story…

The Start:
It was a perfect day and we woke up early to head out to Itasca State Park for a good bike ride. But first we had a nice breakfast of Dad's famous oatmeal which was a lovely start to a perfect day. After chatting with Mom and Dad for a bit, they bid us farewell and off we went (they both knew what was going to happen!). The bikes were in the back and David was driving Dad's truck. He was feeling very trucker-ish and completely enjoyed the ride. I was entertained just watching him hang his arm out the window and pretend to be a country hick from the sticks. He really couldn't pull it off though, thank goodness!

The Proposal (my favorite part!):
When we arrived at the Headwaters to the Mississippi River, we got out of the truck and started off down the path to the river. I noticed that David seemed to be in some sort of an awful hurry and thought we should maybe slow down a little and just enjoy the walk but he was on a definite mission and there was no stopping him! When we arrived at the source I said, "There it is!" expecting some sort of exclamation of wonder and amazement at this humble beginning to the mighty river. Instead he took my hand and nearly dragged me across a log lying over the river. His mind was obviously not on the river. On the other side we stopped near the flowing water and David turned and looked at me. THEN he said it...those amazing words that have changed our lives significantly! He asked me if I would be his wife! I was shocked and delighted and amazed and…well, I think I nearly choked him with a hug and then said YES!! What an amazing moment it was, forever frozen in my memory. The sky was brilliant blue, the sun was shining bright, a pair of ducks watched us from their nest nearby, fish were jumping in the lake, and a loon was calling across the water and I became engaged to the man that I love with all my heart! It was a perfect day!

*

Project PGH: Paint Grandma's House

This weekend the extended Berge family had the wonderful privilege of working all together on a special project--painting Grandma's house! It is amazing how a big, time-consuming project like painting a house can turn into a pleasant excuse to just enjoy each other's company. So here we go, step by step, on how to paint a house... :)

Step 1: Scrape all the old, peeling yellow paint off.

Here, Justin is demonstrating that painting doesn't necessarily have to be a safe activity.

Step 2: Cut plastic to cover all the windows.

Step 3: Endure cold blustery wind while taping the plastic to the windows

Step 4: Stop your hard work to smile for the camera!

Step 5: Coffee break! (there is nothing like a yummy "Grandma cookie" to retore your energy!)

Step 6: Back to work painting the trim with a steady, patient hand.

Step 7: Everyone contributing and doing their part!

Step 8: Gather food to feed the troups some supper!

Step 9: EAT!

And that is the end of this happy tale! I have to say, a day at Grandma's house is always a good thing--no matter what the occasion!

The Centrality of the Home

When I listened to this sermon by Voddie Baucham, I found myself shouting "AMEN" at my computer! It is my heart's cry! I feel such a burden for our children and our churches...it makes me weep when I hear the statistics and see the futility of so much "good" effort. Yet I see revival stirring...even in the hearts of our young Bright Lights girls and know that there is hope. It lies directly in my obedience in doing the hard (and often unpopular) things that God commands but oh the rewards when I do!

Praise God for those godly men and women who cherish their children and embrace their God given reponsibility to disciple them. My parents did that for me and I can't even begin to express how grateful I am to God for the eternal vision they imparted to me.

I love you Dad and Mom!

Bright Lights!

"And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction."

- Malachi 4:6

Recently I have been given a beautiful glimpse of the first part of this verse being lived out in real life! I help my sister, Mindy, with a girl's discipleship group called Bright Lights. The last meeting was a Father/Daughter night and it was powerful! Every girl had her dad there and a few invited their grandfathers. To see over 30 sets of fathers and daughters sitting side by side, turning their hearts to each other, was a beautiful sight.

The girls shared a few songs for their fathers that they had learned during choir time...including amazing harmony! Thanks to Beth for teaching us to sing!

The wonderful world of the Wissmanns

We were incredibly blessed to have the Wissmann Family here in Bemidji for four whole days doing a family seminar at Northern Bible Chapel. If you have never met this beautiful family, you are missing out BIG time. There are 13 children in the family and they all sing and many play instruments. It is such a lovely sight to see them all gathered around the microphone singing in perfect four part harmonies, glorifying God together.

On Saturday they were able to come over to our house for lunch. This was also the same day as the big snow storm, so they had to brave the deep snow! Nothing like a good Minnesota spring to really make you look forward to summer!

Bethany just returned from the Prizewinning Photography course through IPS so I was picking her brain on all that she learned. She has a wonderful gift for photography and it was fun to hear her excitement from the time she spent there.

Rachel and Ruth led a session for the children during the Family Seminar while the parents were in their session. They did a great job teaching them songs and Scripture.

Even Elijah was enjoying it! (Thanks to Hannah's wonderful baby skills and pretty necklace!)

Thank you Wissmann Family, for blessing us with your presence! We love you guys!

"Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing."

~Psalm 100:1-2

A beautiful gift

This morning, my mom came out of her bedroom with a large box in her hands and a twinkle in her eye and announced, "Mellie, I've had this for a while and I've decided that I am going to give it to you today!" So it isn't my birthday, Christmas is long gone, and it isn't National Give Your Daughters Something Really Nice Day, so what's the occasion? I just have a super wonderful mother who requires no occasion to completely bless my socks off!

So I opened the box and inside I found this!

It is an absolutely gorgeous large covered serving dish AND it matches my china set! Go here to see the rest of my china and how I came about getting it. I am a blessed girl! Thank you Mom!!

More David pics!

David has been sending me a few pictures here and there from his camera and so I can't resist posting a few of them from time to time. I continue to count my blessings at the opportunity that I had to go over to visit David and his friends and family. I am still amazed by it (which is probably obvious from my never ending posts on the subject!). :)

Here are two wonderful friends that I met while in Ireland...Pastor and Mrs. Phelim Doherty. They minister at the River City Church in Derry. They generously treated David and I to a meal out at a fancy Chinese restaurant and then welcomed us into their home for a wonderful time of fellowship and prayer. What a blessing they were with their sweet hospitality and amazing testimonies to the Lord's work in their lives!

And one more of David and I...this one was taken at the Giant's Causeway. That was a very interesting place and there are many myths and legends about how it was formed. Did a giant carve it? Ancient men with tools? Or could it have been formed by accelerated cooling of lava during a massive geological event (the Flood?). I don't know, but I do know that it is beautiful and I believe that only God could have created that. Like a certain other relationship that I am thinking of. ;) Some things are just too wonderful to understand fully!