bits of my heart

life has been a blur

lately

we have been to the park,

the river, to the ocean,
rode a ferry boat

played games, went to dinner

 had movie nights
with lots of junk food ;)

we tried to just make as 

many memories as possible

knowing full well

that sunday

july 30th 

the car would be loaded up

and off they would go

sunday arrived.

we went to church

and i had the honor

of singing with my daughter
 and son in law

on the worship team

something that i will

never, ever forget;

it was such a blessing
to me!

after church

everyone met here 

at the house.

all three daughters

and the son in laws

and both grandsons

we tried to keep it

as low-keyed and casual

as we could

we had a dq ice cream cake

which i had 

'auf wiedersehen' 

put on
 for them;

one of the hardest 

days i have ever had

was sunday

i tried to keep it together

and not lose it

knowing full well

that if i lost it

everyone else would too

we took a family photo;

and then it was time for 

them to get in the car 

and drive to seattle;

monday they

caught the plane

for vienna.

i have heard from them

and they arrived safely! :)

i held it together

all day sunday

and then monday

i went for my morning walk

 i was out in our 

field

where it was private

and i lost it

just totally lost it...

ugly, gut wrenching sobs.

i am better now-

truly i am.

my daughter & son in law

 are amazing

and i am so proud of them...

that they could listen to

God's call to them,

really listen

and drop everything

and follow him.

what a blessing they will

be to so many lives!

i am still shining,

may be a little duller

than usual

but, i am shining! :)

*thank you to my

daughter, tessa for taking

the photos and allowing

me to post them!

ready or not?!

trying not to

hang on so tightly

this i know;
i need

to set them free

deep down i know

they need to go

out into the world

to shine their light

to share his love
with others*

to live confidently
on their own
so very
far away from
home

i cannot smother
i must not cling
but, to let them
go and spread
their wings

a hole
in my heart
left by their
absence

i know, yes, i know
it is time
it is right
to take a deep breath,
to smile
 through
this emptiness
and to be ever
so proud
of them

as hard as it is;
ready or not
i will let go

melody-mae

*our daughter tawni, her husband sean
along with my three year old grandson, jackson
will be moving at the end of july
to vienna, austria for missionary work
http://seantawn.blogspot.com/

missions

good morning!
when i began my blog
i wanted a place to put my
writing, photos and just a 
creative outlet. 
i didn't come up with an unique
name, i used my first and middle name-
nothing fancy. 
just my name.


today's letter is m


m is for:
my first and middle name-
melody mae
my husband's name-
mark
all three of our daughter's middle names-
michelle. marie. megan.
it is for the m&m's we served at 
our wedding- 
for the name of our dairy-farm-
marmel dairy
the letter m also stands for:
memories.
those wonderful, sweet memories.


but, lately there is another word
that has been ricocheting around our home-


missions and missionary.


our daughter, son in law
& our three year old grandson
have taken a call to serve
in Vienna, Austria!
this will be a long term mission
for approximately two years!


as a christian i am so very proud
and very excited to see how God uses them!
as a mom & granny i am a bit sad.
two years away from that little boy's face
is hard for me...
but, who in the world am i to 
stand in the way of God?
really, who am i to say no to him?


thank goodness in this day and age
we have skype & face book! :)
plus my husband and i are going to 
hopefully start saving money to visit 
in a year. (vacation to vienna? yes, please!

if you would like to learn about what they are doing

or follow their journey or even donate to this
amazing call, 
they too have a blog:
http://seantawn.blogspot.com/


here is a bit from their blog
from the about us section;
Sean and Tawni Sattler have recently heard and obeyed God's call to leave their home in Bellingham, WA to serve as missionaries in Vienna, Austria. Sean will be teaching math full-time at the International Christian School of Vienna (ICSV); Tawni will be assisting part-time in the drama department at the school, while she supports Sean and their son Jackson in this huge transition. Sean and Tawni will also both be involved with the school's Worship Ministry.
http://seantawn.blogspot.com/p/what-were-about.html

i would ask my friends and followers for prayer-

for this family that means the world to me

that they would be a blessing to others,
and in return BE blessed...

also would you pray for the rest of the family,

we would all appreciate it!

may you have a lovely, weekend!

here in washington, it is suppose 
to be sunny & warm the next few days
which means i plan to try to get out and
enjoy some of it!


be blessed. 
shine your light!

maybe a nap will help?!

it is saturday afternoon

and this granny has had one busy day-

i had to be in town by 9:00am to meet

my college daughter and middle daughter

to help them set up a car wash to raise more

funds for their mission trip to Africa...

i brought the hose, buckets, rags and etc.

they provided the labor of course :)

but, now the middle daughter is the one with

the 2 yr old grandson, his daddy works on saturday

and mommy was doing the carwash

so granny volunteered to take him to the

nearby park and then for lunch!

i got some great pictures of him, he loved it

because this particular park is right on the pacific ocean

yes, can we say: gorgeous!?

so this is what day twenty-one looked like

i knew i was going to be in the cold

either helping them with the car wash or with

the grandson at the park...so here it is;

pink striped top from old navy (wore it on day :3) jeans and boots (not shown) orange and pink silk scarf from forver 21,

then because of the car wash, the black military coat (love it and it was thrifted!!)

this is the J-man stylin'!

sunglasses, stocking hat, windbreaker and his vans...yep my stylin' grandson

had so much FUN  looking at the sailboats in the ocean

picking up rocks and pinecones and then finally playing on the playground while the ocean's waves

crashed on the shore in

the background...

what a lovely way to spend the day!

what a wonderful weekend it has been, so far-

may you be blessed with a weekend full of

all the things that make your heart smile

that make you, oh so thankful

 please be happy today

because life is truly GREAT!

and above all else

know you are loved!

now, off to try and take a lil' nap?

yeah, i know...who am i kidding? ;)

shine!

melody-mae

half of 30

oh my goodness
today marks the
fifteenth day
i am now half way
through my 30 for 30 remix!

last night my girls put on
a talent show at our church
to help raise funds for the two of them
to go to Africa on a mission trip

it was very succesful
they had a great turnout
and with last nights
free will offerring
they are at their half way mark
for raising funds
so they are pretty excited about that!

there were many performers
a 2nd grader from our church played the keyboard and sang
an 8 year old performed a gymnastics routine
and my daughter had lots of her
 college friends who sang
along with the
middle daughter/son in law duo
and myself!
i felt the many prayers-
i had not done a solo
for a few years and thought i
might be a bit rusty
but, i felt uplifted as i was on stage
and i know i was being prayed for
so thank you to all who offered
them up it helped
i didn't embarrass myself or my family...lol

here is what i wore last night to the
talent show:

the creamy ivory dress is from old navy, purple cardi from the gap, necklaces are thrifted as are my favorite little leopard flats
and underneath i wore some jegging type pants from forever 21

so now we are ready to head back
to church today...
and i am on nursery duty
so usually i don't wear a dress or skirt
we are going to thai food afterwards
to celebrate the youngest daughter along with
one of the son in laws birthdays...
so this is what my day looks like
on day fifteen-

white peasant top, i love this comfy thing...which i thrifted some time ago, the jeans are bootleg from kohls, i am wearing the sweet leopard flats with this outfit and the best scarf ever...is from PARIS!  i purchased this scarf in a little market, on our walk up to the St. Pierre de Montmarte! if you know anything about Montmarte it is crazy beautiful...a church that sits on a hill overlooking all of Paris...it was amazing! (google it if you get the chance)
my prayer is that you have a wonderful
& blessed day
spend time being thankful
for the gifts you have been given
i know for me...i have so much to
be thankful for and i give thanks today
for it all!

blessings,
melody-mae