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!

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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!

Good Friday

David just sent me this picture from his camera so I thought I would share it with you all as well. This was taken on Good Friday, just before the service where David directed the choir and I played along with my violin--such a great service and such a blessing to be able to play along!

It was truly a good Friday. It is amazing to think that the Lord of all Creation died on the cross in our place...and what joy to know that three days later He rose again! Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;

Spotless Lamb of God was He;

“Full atonement!” can it be?

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Philip P. Bliss, 1875

April snow storm!

So I'm not sure about you, but when I think of Spring it usually conjures up images of green growing things, bunnies, birds in their nests and bubbling brooks. But then again I am a little delusional to think that way considering that I live in Minnesota. So this morning, I looked out my window and saw this instead...

At church this morning I heard a lot of moaning and groaning about it. It is kind of a pain getting stuck and having wet snow blowing in your face and wading through snow drifts to get to your car. But on the other hand....I sort of feel like I am 6 years old again and it's Christmas morning and life just couldn't possibly get any better.

Check that out! I took this picture 4 or 5 hours ago and it has been snowing steady ever since! Pretty amazing considering that at this same time yesterday there was grass in that very spot.

I don't care what anybody says...I love it!

The Sound of Music

"The hills are alive, with the sound of music...!!!" Well, there aren't exactly a lot of hills down here in southern Minnesota but the soy bean fields were certainly privileged! This weekend I was able to go down to my oldest sister Melissa's house and see 5 members of their family perform in the musical, The Sound of Music. It was incredible and extremely well done!

Ben had a lead role as Rolph and he did a fantastic job. I was blown away by his stage presence and amazing solo ("I am 17, going on 18")!

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Annika was a postulant in the Abby. Here she is with Megan Gilmore who played Louisa von Trapp.

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The von Trapp Family singers!
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All the postulants
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Part of the children's choir in which Charisma and Becca sang.

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Annika and Melissa...after the show

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After the show we went back to the Sahlstroms along with 25 other people (there were 21 people sleeping in their house last night!). The Sahlstroms are well known for their hospitality and do a great job at it! It was a quick trip but so much fun!

Congratulations, Sahlstrom clan, on an amazing performance!

David's Family

Meet David's family! I wish you could all have the blessing of meeting them in person as I did and experience their warm hospitality and delightful company. What a great family!

We'll start with David's mom and dad. David's mom (Maryanne) is blessed with talent. She paints incredible pictures, cooks delicious meals, and thinks of every possible way to make a person feel right at home! She even sent me home with a beautiful framed painting that she did of Mt. Errigal. I couldn't believe that she gave me such a treasure!

David's dad (Caldwell) is man of God who loves preaching the Gospel message of Jesus Christ to the lost and does so very well and with passion. (Click here to hear him!) It was a highlight for me, hearing him preach. He also works with horses--doing some early stage training and breaking before selling them. Here is a picture of him hunting down a fox that was after the chickens...!

Next, meet Paul (David's brother) and Karen. They live a few minutes away from David's parents and were great fun to hang out with. They invited us over for the most amazing pizza one night (I'd never heard of bananas on pizza before that! It was great stuff!).

Paul and Karen have two children. Their oldest is Rhiannon and she was my little buddy while I was there. She LOVED my violin and we played all sorts of songs together on it. What an angel...so cute!

Their youngest is Reuben. He will be two this summer and is learning to say all sorts of words. He even learned to say my name by the time I left!

Sarah, is David's only sister and she was a blast to be with. She left halfway through my visit to go to Israel on a tour but the time I was able to spend with her was a lot of fun.

Here are a few more shots of the kiddos...because I just couldn't resist!

David and his little shadow

Karen and a sleepy boy.

Rhiannon loved bowling when we went one evening. She had the highest score for a long time (aided by various kid's bowling tools of course--Now that I think about it, I should have used them too!)

Little Reuben

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And that is David's wonderful family--the favorite part of my trip!

Back to the Emerald Isle

It seems almost like a dream that I was actually able to fly across the Atlantic once again to visit beautiful Ireland. What an incredible experience and wonderful time I had! This time I was privileged to stay with David's parents, Caldwell and Maryanne, and have the blessing of being in their home for two weeks. Here is a picture of it...

While I was there I was able to see David in action in his many jobs related to music. One that he had while I was there was directing a small choir for the Good Friday service. They sounded beautiful.

David and I also played a few songs together throughout the weekend. At one service, David, his brother Paul, and I all played together before their dad brought the message. It was so great and a privilege to be included like that. I really enjoyed playing with them and also hearing David's father preach. A wonderful man of God!

We had time to do so many fun things. One of them was taking a ride on David's amazing bike through the rolling hills of Irish countryside! I am convinced that there is absolutely no better way to see the beauty of the land than on the back of a bike. It was incredible!

We also visited the Giant's Causeway, which is a wonder of creation that just blows your mind.

My favorite part of the trip was spending time with David's family. (I will introduce them to you in my next post.) They were so nice and made me feel so at home. Here David is playing with his nephew Reuben...such an adorable child!

I had a completely wonderful time...it was a trip that I will never forget!

This was the view out my window as I flew back home.

I was sad to leave but so grateful and happy to see how God's hand was at work in our lives. As David says so often, "God is good!"