A trip down memory lane...

It has been almost 2 years since I have blogged, I am going to blame facebook : ). No really, this blog was a way for my family and me to be connected while I was living in Boston, so when I moved home I didn't use it as much.

As all of you know, the new guy in my life that I blogged about 2 years ago is now my husband Dan. He is still every bit as amazing and more as I said he was 2 years ago. We have almost been married for one year and I wish I would have blogged this year because it has been one of the most wonderful years of my life. He is my best friend, my favorite person, my everything and I can't imagine life with out him.

I still am blessed to work at Calvary, and I still love it. However, I think I used to put more of myself into my job than I have as of late. I think it is easy to slip into doing to motions after everything isn't new anymore. But I am still learning about myself and about God. I am learning that I don't have to fight other people's battles and the only person I should be trying to please is God, the rest will fall into place. I am learning in order for students to share their stories sometimes I have to share some of my stories, from the fun silly ones, to the ones where I have learned hard lessons. I am learning that God has called me to be in this job, even though I am not perfect in this job. I am learning that His grace and forgiveness covers me, and I mean covers me. I am learning that being in worship every week, sometimes multiple times a week is so important to my faith walk because it helps keep my cup full. I am learning how to love people that are sometimes hard for me to love, and how to reach out to students who are sometimes hard to reach out too. And I am learning that I am just a vessel, while I have so many great relationships with students at Calvary, I am not the person who influences their faith the most. It is their parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, small group leaders and camp counselors; it is the mission trips I take them on and camp wapo. I am merely the vessel that helps provides these opportunities and ministries for God to do His work. It is not about me, it is about Him. That seems to be a lesson I have been learning over and over again in my life. But I am privileged to just be a part of these teens lives.

Reading my blog made me miss my Gordon Conwell friends, that was such a wonderful community. I also miss Boston, Dan and I are planning on going there this August to visit Sabrina and her baby boy Kai (due in July). It will be wonderful to show Dan that part of my life.

As I blog late at night/early in the morning while my husbands sleeps in our bedroom and our cat lays by my side I know that God is calling me to enjoy this time of my life. To be content, to not want more than I have because I already have more than I could have ever asked for. For the last 10 years there has always been something new and exciting happening from graduating from High School to going to college and working at Wapo and than FLBC for 3 summers, to finishing college and moving to Boston to go to seminary to moving back to minnesota getting my dream job, marrying my dream guy and buying a house and having a kitten. Life has slowed down, but life is good. I am trying to be content. It is hard, the world teaches us not to be content, to always be wanting more. But I am not apart of this world, I am God's and I am going to focus on what he is calling me to do.

Well here is hoping I blog more, it is such a good reminder of where I have been, and how I have gotten to where I am today. It is also such a good reminder of Gods faithfulness and His plan for my life.

Oh one more thing, I mentioned moving home to be with my family was something I was really looking forward too, well it was and is absolutely worth it. I have grown so close to all of them, especially my Dad in the past 2 and 1/2 years that I can't imagine being anywhere else in the world. Minnesota has my heart forever.

One more thing....GO GOPHERS, number 10 seed in the NCAA tournament...beat those longhorns on thursday : )

Life Update

It has been a while since I have written on my blog, and I blame it all on myspace and facebook : ) but I thought for those who still do check it, a life update might be due.

First of all the biggest life update is Dan (see above) Dan and I meet in September at a church I go to on Sunday Night here in the cities called the Upper Room. But we probably never would have meet there if it were not for our mutual friends Kimmy and Aj, Aj and Dan are best friends, and Aj is married to Kimmy who I worked at camp with for three summers. So anyway we started hanging out in big groups, starting talking here and there we hit it off right away but nothing really happened until Jan./Feb. when we joined a meal group (it is just like a small group) at the Upper Room together than we started hanging out more one and one and than he asked me on a date on the first of March(a boy being forward with his feelings..an answered prayer)and we have been going strong ever since. He is an absolutely wonderful guy with a great heart for God and other people, our communication is amazing and I have so much fun with him no matter what we are doing, and he seems to get me and have a way with me more than anyone ever has, you could say that I feel like I am walking on cloud nine. But it is very real. We are going on a mission trip this summer to Haiti which I am so excited for because it will be a great way to get to know each other. There is no rush though, I am just really trying to enjoy this stage of our relationship and listen and follow Gods timing and will as is he. But all that to say it is going very good and I am so HAPPY!!

Church is also going very good, spring is here and the kids tend to be a little more crazy this time of year but its all good. We just got done with the youth musical which I helped by doing all of the dancing for (none of the singing : ) ) but they did such a great job and it was really good bonding time with the kids. Ministry still can be tough but I am learning to balance it all and not take so much of it home with me but it is hard because my heart is in this church.

This summer is going to be crazy I am going to(are you ready for this) Boston for a week in May, Haiti for 10 days in June on a mission trip, Indiana for a wedding in July, Milwaukee, WI. with 21 Jr. High kids on a mission trip in mid July, A week at camp with the all the youth group at the end of July, Backpacking in Montana for a week in August and than rounding it out with a wedding in Ohio mid Aug. It is going to be a fun summer : )

I hope that everyone is well, Thanks for reading!

With lots of Joy -
Melanie

Ministry...sometimes there are no words.

Many times over the past month I have thought of many different things that I should blog about but when it came down to writting I often could never put into to words what I was feeling so I just said forget it. Let me explain this past month of my life I have been doing a lot of ministry, more than a normal month because of retreats and ski trips, and I have dealt with a lot of different and hard things and now that it is all done I can relax a little bit but I am so tired that I am not even sure I can relax, I have learned so much and I have felt so many different emotions this past month that it is almost impossiable to just sit and not process or think about it, especially now that it is all done.

I am learning how to be a minister to a hurting world, to a world that is unfair and often leaves teens feeling unimportant, I am ministering in a world that is against me, spending one weekend teaching 8th graders that sex is a gift from God and that it is only meant for marriage for a reason doesn't make up for the endless hours and days of the media and culture telling them that sex is no big deal, and if it feels good, do it. It is hard, it is hard to know the root of peoples pain, and to hurt along side with them, it is hard to know that you can't fix there pain, that sometimes all you can do is listen and pray. But thank God that he is in control, which is something we all know but I think it is something that we forget. and Thank God that he has overcome this world and that he is bigger than this world. These are promises that I have always known in my head and in my heart but they have taken on new meaning, because I have to believe it with all of my heart because it is the only thing that gives me hope somedays, and sometimes it is the only hope I can offer to my youth.

Ministry is hard, and people have hard lives, but ministry is fufulling and joyful, and it is a blessing to get to be a part of so many peoples families. I wouldn't trade my job for anything, and there is nothing else I would rather do and I mean that with my whole heart...but somedays at the end of the day I am glad that God hears prayers that have no words but have heart.

New Years Eve Crew

  

International Relationships

Well it has been a long time since I have written, to be honest Facebook and Myspace have kind of consumed my online time lately. But everything is going very well. I am really just enjoying life right now and being able to do as many things as I do. My job is amazing I really couldn't of painted a better picture of what I have going on at Calvary, the youth, the families, the staff I feel like I have been there for years. Not everyday is easy, but that is ministry and well that is life, but the good defentially out weighs everything else.

This past weekend my good friend Ingrid from Canada came to visit!! We had such a great time! I felt like I was on vacation because all I did for four days was play with my camp friends! Here are some pics of the visit.

I hope everyone is well (for those of you who still check this) Steady On!



 
Pretending to be tourist at MOA

 
This is my really good friend Chase, he is the first person I met at camp and I worked with him for two summers, we have had lots of crazy times together and he always says to me "oh Mel G" I hadn't seen him in a year and half and it was so good to spend time with him and Ingrid
 
Canada and America loving eachother :) It was so much fun to have a "roomate" for 4 days!
 
We had a girls night and what is a girls night without some food! 

A new slide show

Home for the Holidays

 


After two absent Thanksgivings it was great to be home for Thanksgiving this year. It was a great couple of days of relaxing and being with family and of course eating :) It was nice to have a couple of days off of work as well, everything is still going great but I had worked a lot of nights the week before and it was nice to go up "north" to Forest Lake. :)