So much can happen in a moment.

I think that's the worst title ever. Rules.... Sentences aren't titles... and you should never start a sentence with "so". LOL but I'm feeling a bit worn out as there's been so much happening lately. This Summer has been busy, full and fun. Lots of work.... lots of play. I've been tubing with friends, taken road trips to visit friends... been to a Bible conference, and then I've put in a lot of hours at work to make up for all the fun. I can't complain. Even now the clock seems to be ticking the time away from me and I have so much to accomplish today. Therefore I will share a few photos that will give you a picture of the events that have occurred lately:

My friend, Kay Lee had a birthday so we made sure to celebrate with  lunch at Red Lobster, pedicures, tubing down a river and a movie!

 

 I've been learning how to use my big, new Canon camera... but till I get adjusted I keep my powershot handy. :)

 I went down to a Bible conference in Chicago with a bunch of friends! It was so much fun!!!

 Late night snacks at IHOP!!!

 Some of my wonderful friends....

 So my car broke down on the way home. A cop helped us out... we got a tow to a truck stop... where we waited for two hours till my dad could come pick up my car, and give us a ride home. Didn't get to bed till 2:30 AM!!!! =S


AND..... my cousin Julianne got married on Friday. Which also happened to be my Grammy's birthday. So it was a big celebration... and the wedding was planned in ONLY 48 hours, as the groom was visiting on leave from military and they decided to just get married!!

 My uncle, Julianne and my Grammy...

 Roman & Julianne

 My brother, Isaac, read some scriptures and spoke some words...

 My daddy did the marrying. :)

I was privileged with the responsibility of taking the photographs.... which proved to be tricky since we had a lot of evening sun and shadows.

I also had the opportunity of baking the cake.... with a little inspiration from a friend and the flowers they gave me to use, it turned out pretty nice for the short notice I had to prepare it and being that I'm not a professional cake baker. ;)

We'll see what the rest of the summer.... 

Ready For Adventure

Well, it's been too long since I last blogged. But life has been busy, so I have a lot of excuses for my lack of blogginess. I've felt something like a chicken with it's head cut off..... and have been able to relate to Prince Humperdinck when he said,"Tyrone, you know how much I love watching you work, but I've got my country's 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it; I'm swamped."

It's been one of those moments where there are a billion things to get done and not enough time to do it all. Needless to say, it hasn't been an unenjoyable period of time. I was able to attend a single ladies retreat in the beginning of February which was edifying, fun and I met so many nice gals!

Then in the later half of February my good friends Hannah and Mike were engaged..... to be married on the 8th of March!!! This past weekend!!! Really it was something like 18 days to plan. And 18 days were quite enough. Everything came together wonderfully.

 Mr. Kubetz gave an excellent message!!

My dad married them!

 Hannah was a beautiful bride and Mike, a very handsome groom.

To make matters even better, my awesome friends Robbie and Courtney came up!! And I just love their spontaneity: On their way up they stopped to go skiing.... and then drove more.... and then stopped at a hotel to go swimming.... and finally made it to my house!!! .....and the next morning, before the wedding, they went out for breakfast at the local Norwegian restaurant, then making it to the wedding just in the nick-of-time, zipping into their seats just before the processional started!! =D If you ever need advice on how to pack the most fun into one trip just ask Courtney and Robbie!!!

To top things off, the cake was awesome... and they decided to use the little clothes-pin bride & groom I'd made for Hannah when I heard she was getting married. I hadn't thought of it being a cake topper when I made it... but it looked so cute next to Mike's toy John Deere tractor! =D

Mike's Aunt Lori (and also the wife of the farmer Hannah's been working for) helped with the organization, orchestration and decoration of the whole event. Literally, the wedding wouldn't have been half as classy and lovely if she hadn't participated. She's quite a talented lady and she made the cake too!!! 

We decided to take a few pictures.... the three of us besties: Courtney, Sandy and I!!  ...and so we made the guys be in a picture too, and this is what happened! Hehe:

They are so funny!!!!

All in all it was a beautiful day, the weather was unusually gorgeous and warm, and everyone had a fun time!!!

Now that the wedding's over I have to pack and prepare like crazy... because on the 12th I'm headed to Colorado with my bros, Isaac and Channing, to visit my aunt & uncle and also my cousin Dustin!!! We're all so excited!!!! 

...oh, and did I mention that during all of this wedding planning and vacation preparing I had a short time to prepare an article for the local newspaper that I'm writing for now (which I'm very excited about)! Wheeew.....

I'm looking forward to taking it easy for two weeks out West.

Anyways, I doubt I'll be posting again until April. BUT.... ya never know. ;)

Our God's Alive

This past weekend I headed down to Chicago, Illinois with my brother and some friends from church for a Bible conference. It was so edifying! I learned so much and had such a fun time!!! I was able to meet a whole bunch of really nice people and see old, dear friends.
There were actually two conferences going on at once. One was geared towards people going through a college series, "Grace School of the Bible" and the other was aimed at young people as it was a Purity Conference. I was able to sit in on three of the GSB messages but spent most of the weekend learning and relearning things about what God's word has to say about purity.


I was hoping to post a few picture, but I left my camera with some friends.... so I have to wait a while before I get it back.


On the long 41/2 hour drive one of the guys played this song that was new to me. It has a powerful and uplifting message. Give it a listen:

Promotional Video

Friends from my church made a promotional video of the Mid-Winter Retreat! I greatly enjoyed watching it as it was like reliving the event though it was only bits and pieces of the weekend. :) 

This first video is an overview of the whole weekend and all of the different activities:

This second video is an overview of the "Singpsiration" on Saturday night and it also includes a few interviews of what some of the people thought about the conference: 

2012 Mid-Winter Retreat

Alas, the 2012 Berean Bible Church Mid-Winter Retreat has finally come and gone. It took place this past weekend, and boy! what a good time! 

The Essence

It is always such a blessing to fellowship with saints, some that you see regularly and others whom you visit with once or twice a year. The time spent learning about God and his plan for man through rightly dividing His Word is such a beautiful privilege! The Title/Theme of the conference this year was Evangelism. What I love about conferences and sermons is that you go in with your preconceived ideas and leave with new understandings!!!
Probably one of my favorite parts of the conference (if it is possible to have a favorite part) each year is the Timothy Session. It's about two hours or so of time in which young men give short messages on a certain topic. The topic this year was Leadership. Five guys spoke, each on a different Bible leader of his choice: Solomon, "Nobody" (a.k.a. Abraham's faithful servant in Genesis 24), David, Elijah, and Joseph (Genesis). These messages are so wonderful because, not only do I get to learn more about God's plan but it is great to see young men who are able and willing to learn and teach God's Word. 

The messages throughout the rest of the conference were very inspiring as well. I learned so much and am anxious to get into the Bible and study so that I may be fully equipt to share the gospel of salvation! I wish I could just share all my notes and excitement with you but I think it would be better if I just directed you to the messages so that you may listen to them for yourself:

Conference Messages

Another wonderful part of the conference is what has officially been titled, "Singspiration." Every Saturday night after dinner everyone gathers together to sing and play hymns and other spiritual/Christian music!!! This year I brought my violin and guitar and also my voice of course. Sadly all of the passionate singing from the night before (when a bunch of the saints had a little, impromptu singspiration) took a tol on my vocal chords and my throat is still in pain, even to this day! I am quite envious of people who never tire (physically) of singing. By the end of Saturday night my violin was my voice and so I really got a much needed practice! ;)
There were a few of us "die-hard" musicians that gathered up our instruments on Sunday and played the afternoon away as well! It was so much fun to have so much talent and love for music in one place!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

Friends From the Conference!

The Conference Room on Saturday

Friends... heading out to eat.

What a bunch of Crazy People, right?! =D

The 'adult' table. ;)

This is the only picture I have from "Singspiration"

As you see it was quite an enjoyable time! ;) ....like I said above, I only have one picture from "Singspiration", but that is because I took a bunch of video!!! =D Even better right?!
You can watch the videos by clicking on the link below:

 Videos of Singspiration

Here are a few pictures from Sunday:

After the last message on Sunday morning.

My friend Rachel and I... next to the lovely flowers of course!

A young man from my church, Wesley, happens to be naturally talented at arranging flowers and as a musician as well (the numbers are for the hymns he played on the piano for the congregation to sing along to)!

Here's the front of the church.... and the bouquets.

Fellowship Dinner/ Potluck in the Basement.

Another shot of the Basement.

A few folks gathered upstairs to eat their dinner.

Visiting after church.

The "Die-Hard" Musicians on Sunday afternoon.

Anyhoooo... what a fabulous time, indeed! Who knows what next year will bring?!
That is all I have for now.

Until Next Time,
Mary Ellen

The Mid-Winter Retreat

This past weekend was one of the most looked-forward-to weekends of the year for the Grace believers in the area. The Mid-Winter Retreat!!
It was an excellent conference this year. From March 4 to Sunday the 6th. There were friends from far and near who gathered to fellowship, share in potlucks, and learn more about God's wonderful blessings for us. The focus of the conference was The Unity of the Spirit (or the Seven One's) mentioned in Ephesians 4.

⁴There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

 ⁵One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

 ⁶One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 

One of the most exciting sessions was the very first on Friday afternoon. We call it the Timothy Session because our elders pick a handful of young men or men who have little experience in preaching to do short 30 minute messages. Let me just say that the people who didn't make it to the Timothy Session this year really missed out!!! Those guys had some great topics and passionately delved into the word of God and taught about so much with just the little time they were given. 

In fact you can listen to/download all the messages from this weekend on the Berean Bible Church website.

One of the events I always look forward to is Singspiration. On Saturday night a bunch of the believers gather together to sing music together or do special pieces of music for the others. It is such a fun, up-lifting time to sing praises to God! 

Then there is always the Friday night fun. These past two conferences we've been able to get into the room our church reserves for Nursery/Day Care in the hotel, the night before. I think the hotel let's us get in the room so that we don't all hang out and get noisy in the lobby (which has happened in the past).

We have a great time though! This year we played mostly Catchphrase! 

What a wonderful time!!!! I learned so much!!! I've been enjoying studying off the notes I took and I'm looking for some openings in my busy household so I can listen to some of those excellent messages again. 

I think the main point of the conference was this:

This life is not about you and I, but about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and that we should live for his Glory!