Summer Update: Bluegrass Festival!

Okay...this is something that we (as a family) look forward to and plan for all year long! 

The Lake Itasca Family Bluegrass Festival! 

We love hosting it and this year had an even more significant appeal because David and I decided to get married on the last day of the festival, and on the same grounds there. Crazy plan...I know...but definitely an event we will never forget!

Here are some 1500-2000 people enjoying some great gospel bluegrass in my beautiful homeland of northern Minnesota.

This family, the Johnson Family, sang so beautifully, you would have thought that angels had descended! We were so privileged to also have them sing at our wedding. It was lovely...I wish you could have heard them! Oh wait! You can hear them if you jump over to my brother Matt's blog and check out his YouTube video of these guys. Thanks Matt!

David and his brother and sister also sang at the festival. You should have seen the huge crowd that gathered in the showcase stage when they started. They were massively popular! I couldn't even squeeze into the back to catch a look at my own future husband (imagine that!) so I finally had to sneak into a side door!

And in the midst of it all, we were planning a wedding! David caught a picture of me sewing one of the bridesmaid dress belts on one of our many trips back and forth to the festival site. It was a crazy busy time, but it just seemed fitting for us to get married in the midst of all the music. It was what brought us together and something that we both love so much. 

Summer Update: Wedding Rehearsal!

The day arrived for the wedding rehearsal and excitement was in the air! It really made the reality of our upcoming wedding start to sink in for me! It sort of seemed like a dream before that. The day was filled with lots of work and planning...

My wonderful dad (and I mean WONDERFUL!!) built us these stairs for in front of the stage (he also built the stage!) so we could walk up to the head table in style. Isn't he great!?

Okay, time to practice walking up the "isle". We didn't have the chairs set up yet so we had to use our imaginations a little. Paul (David's brother) and Mindy (my sister) show us how it's done. 

I believe the guys are having a discussion on where they should stand.

Waiting for his bride...

After the rehearsal, my Mom and Dad surprised us by treating everyone to an amazing dinner at the Douglas Lodge in Lake Itasca State Park. It was perfect and the lake was beautiful that evening! Thank you Mom and Dad! 

(Isn't my husband handsome!? Wow!)

Summer Update: Target practice!

We tried out some of the firearms one day and had some great target shooting practice.

They called me "Annie Oakley" and made me pose with my rifle. 

So here I am...Ta Da!

Ben and Justin got out their pistols and were showing David some real northern Minnesota fun!

Ben: "So, you just aim it at the target, like this, and then shoot at the little circle in the middle, and don't forget to look real cool like me!" (He didn't really say that, but he does look pretty cool, doesn't he?) :)

And for the big finale...!

Live video of David trying his hand at it!

He was brilliant! (of course) :)

Summer Update: David's family arrives!

The wedding was fast approaching and so many preparations were taking place. The exciting day finally came when David's family arrived, signaling that the wedding was only one week away! It was so wonderful to see them all arrive in the airport and drive them back to meet my family. They were all excited to be in the USA!

Reuben and Rhiannon find some new friends at the Mall of America!

All of our families took time the weekend before the wedding to go to a rodeo! This rodeo is my Mom's favorite and our family has sung at it a few years ago. It was great to be back and to experience the fun with David's family.

God has blessed me richly with such a great family! Look at them...aren't they great!? I appreciate, every day, that I have married into such a wonderful bunch of people!

Summer Update: Family Reunion

Okay...here is the next segment of our summer update series! On a beautiful weekend in July, the whole Berge family gathered together once again. We continue to grow and add more and more members each year. It is such a joy to meet new fiances, hold new babies, and see all the old faces once again.

The Berge Family Reunion Band!! Singing around the campfire some of those great old hymns, some praise songs, and some crazy ones like "I'm My Own Grandpa" (Thanks to Monty!).

Elianna...one of the newer members of the Berge family, with her beautiful mommy (my lovely sister Mindy)!

Here is the Ken Berge section of the family. I love my family!

David really enjoyed his first Berge family reunion...right David? :) Who couldn't love such a crazy fun family! It was a wonderful weekend.

Pre-Wedding Moments

Here is a majorly over-due update from our summer! I finally have a Saturday that is free from any other commitments and so here I am...ready to bring you some pictures! Before I can show you any Ireland shots though, I thought I should probably do a bit of an update first. So here we go!.. 

This post covers some of the crazy fun that we had before our wedding took place on August 3rd. 

After David arrived in Minnesota, on July 7th, we immediately jumped into our marriage counseling book that had been assigned to us. We had less than a month to go through it all so it was a tiny bit of an overload. But, as you can see, I didn't seem to mind too much...maybe I am just distracted by my sparkly ring!

Mr. and Mrs. Barkman met with us before our wedding and blessed us with their wisdom and example. It was a complete privilege to have them counsel us and have Mr. Barkman marry us. What precious people they are to us! 

Here we are with our official marriage license! That is a significant piece of paper to possess! 

Our family had a few concerts scheduled and one of the last ones was at the Aardahl Lutheran Church. This is where we had one of our very first concerts as well, so it was extremely significant for us to play there again.

Little Elijah enjoyed the concert too!

Dad, Ben, and David all took off one Saturday and enjoyed a good round of golf. Gotta love those sweet Father-in-law/son-in-law bonding moments!

more to come....

Wedding pictures!

Check out the pictures from my wedding!! Done by the amazing Abigail Vander Hamm

www.abigailbriana.com/davidmelanie

Thanks Abigail!

Update!

Hi All!

I apologize for my lack of posting lately. Sadly, I am unable to post any pictures (although I am dying to!!) until we get a broad band internet connection installed in our new house. For now I will just post you a little journal update. 

We enjoyed our time in Holland very much. It was a very multi-cultural experience as we met people from all over the world. The Operation Mobilization conference we were playing music at was a sending conference for people going out on the mission field for two years or longer. I worked in the "creche" (nursery) for the two weeks and loved listening to all the children speaking their different languages. It's amazing how they can communicate with each other!

Now we are back home in Ireland and getting all settled into our new home. It is so beautiful and I am really looking forward to posting some pictures of it for you soon! 

I love you all! Thanks for praying for us and for your interest in our adventures. It is a blessing to have friends like you in our life. Please write and keep in touch! 

Love,

Melanie and David

I'm Married!!!

Mr. & Mrs. David Darragh

Praise the Lord! For I have found the one my heart has searched for. God is a Giver of incredible gifts and His gifts are worth waiting a lifetime for!

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!