Good Advice.

A friend of mine gave me some good advice...She told me that I needed to update my blog. She is RIGHT!

I find that blogging is a great way for me to vent and share what is happening in my world. Right now, there is TONS happening in my world. If you are at all familiar with The Salvation Army at all...Then you will know what I am talking about. If you do not know, here is what I have on the go right now:

- taking applications for Christmas assistance (hampers & toys)

- getting ready for our kettle kick off which is on November 20th

- the kick off consists of a "Arrest Request" you may know it as "Jail and Bail" which is what the Cancer Society uses...Anyhow, many (20 now) high profile people in our community have agreed to allow the police to come and "arrest" them and take them to a mock jail that will be set up at our local Canadian Tire. They will be charged and thrown into jail where they need to call people in order to raise money to bail them out. This takes a TON of work because we need to get the jail, Sask tel donates the phones, food is donated for our jailbirds and the radio station comes on site and does their thing. It is great publicity and it will kick off our kettle campaign well! I am hoping for at least $10,000 from this venture.

- We are doing the "Adopt-A-Family" program which has taken a ton of time as well because I had to get the information packages all ready. Well worth it tho! Tim Horton's alone is sponsoring 3 families (any size)! :)

- Last year instead of Christmas hampers, vouchers were given to buy groceries. This year I feel that a hamper should be given...This means a whole lot of extra coordinating. PRAISE GOD the Wholesale Club will order our turkey's cheap and keep them at the store and accept vouchers for pick up. I also partnered with a small bakery down the street from the Church. They have agreed to bake fresh bread for the hampers! That is a lot of work on their part but it is worth it.

- With Christmas comes extra speaking engagements. I accepted two speaking opportunities and one of them takes place tomorrow. Prayers please.

- Mike and I will be on television next Monday for our local channel to talk about us and of course what is happening with The Salvation Army in Weyburn.

- Then the Holiday Train will be coming to Weyburn on December 18th. This train will have food that will be donated to our Food Bank. It stops here all decorated and lit up, has a live band and of course Santa Claus will be there!!! That will be nice.

- As with most Army churches, a lot is happening this time of year. On top of all of this, we had a fire inspection at both the Thrift Store and church so we are getting everything that needs to be done there done....as well we are prepping for an audit that is happening at the end of this month! It is soooo busy and I LOOOOVE it!

There is so much more happening here that I am sure is slipping my mind. I am enjoying my new life as an Officer. However at times I find myself feeling lonely. At times I miss living in the community we had at college. I would have a girls night, if I had girls here to do that. That all will come in time. Life here is wonderful! I LOVE our community and I love serving God in all ways.

Well...Thanks Alison for your advice. I hope this will satisfy until next time. :)

A New Life

Well I know it has been far too long since I have posted anything new. I apologize to those who have been trying to follow our journey in college. I will give you an update of my life over these past few months since we found out where we will be moving.

Most recently we signed our undertakings in the principals office. For those of you who do not know what these are, they are some of the promises we make to become officers in the Salvation Army. We also signed our covenant on Sunday which was a service I will never forget. Following this wonderful service we had lunch and kidette commissioning! It was so fun to watch the kids walk in with their sashes on and salute the commissioner! These have been days that I will remember for a life time.

We are getting ready to head to Toronto for our ordination and commissioning and I am really excited/a tiny bit scared. To think that God believes that I am capable to lead His people...I know I will not have all the answers but I DO know how to love people and lead them to the Lord so I can take comfort in that! The moving truck was here yesterday to pick our things up so now it feels so final. I have to remember to keep breathing and singing "One day at a time....Sweet Jesus..."

I am sure I will write more on this later but for now I will post some pictures and hope that you will forgive me for my lack of discipline. Blessings my friends.

Off We GOOOOO....

Ok so we are not going just yet. We do have a couple of months left before we travel to our new home in....Drum rolllll please WEYBURN SASKATCHEWAN!! I am SOOOO excited to go there. BUT, I am trying my hardest to finish well here in doing so, I must continue my studies and look forward to what comes next. I will keep you posted! Take care my friends...

Ray & Coral's Wedding Weekend

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go to Edmonton and be a part of Ray and Coral's wedding. Mike was a groomsmen and Megan was her Uncle Ray's flower girl! She was absolutely sweet!! At first we weren't sure if she was actually going to go down the aisle BUT...as soon as her Uncle Ray bent down at the end of the aisle she began her journey. Then when she started getting the "awwww..." reaction she began to "work" the crowd! She was truly sweet. The wedding was so beautiful and my new sister in law was a vision and Ray, well he was simply handsome!! BUT my husband takes the cake! HE was SMOKIN'!!! Sure glad I got to go home with him *Wink* Really though, it was a wonderful break being able to see different family members. Super refreshing.

Now we are back at college and we are only two days away from finding out where our first appointment will be! It is unbelievable! I am so excited to see where God and the Army has placed us.

Also I would like to ask you to pray for my best friends...I can't share too much about what to pray for but I CAN say that they have been trying to have a baby for many years. Please pray for peace and that a miracle would happen.

Well, I think that is all I have for you now. I am SURE I will have more a little later. ;) Take care my friends...HUGS.

An Array of STUFF!

Hey! So this will be a buffet of information for you...I am not promising a really great blog but I am giving you an update. Hopefully you will feel loved enough by just knowing what is happening in our lives. There will be some funny Megan stories and some details about commissioning as well as school. So let's begin with a funny Megan story (they are always a hoot).

While getting ready for daycare/school:
Megan singing in the living room while I am getting breakfast ready:
"I love you, you love me, I'M your happy fam-il-yyyy...With a great big hug and kiss for yooouuu, won't you guide my sleigh tonight!"

No kidding she had the tune DOWN PAT! LOL! That kid is sooo cute! Another phrase I want to throw in for good measure is how she asks to do something for a "few while" instead of saying a "few minuets." For example instead of asking "Mommy may I play for a few minuets?" she would say "Mommy may I play a few while?" Cracks me up. There are some phases she says that we correct right away but that one we haven't touched because for now it is just too cute! :) Alright, here is an update on college life, including commissioning.

Well, we are in our last week of classes and we are are headed into exams here next week. It isn't too bad because we only have one exam on Wednesday and one take home exam that I am half done. YAY!! Then after that, one more major paper to do and we are finished for a while!! Next Thursday my family and I are flying off to Edmonton to go to Mike's brothers wedding, it will be so nice to get away. It won't be too restful as both Mike and Meg's are in the wedding party and I am preaching on the Sunday but none the less it will be so nice to go home!

As for appointments...16 sleeps till we find out where we are going! YIPPEE!!! We are SOOOOOOOOOOO excited! Commissioning is coming up in Toronto fast as well. That will be fun too! All this is exciting because we can see an end to all the school work. I am ready to begin the real hard work! LOL! Of course I am going to miss the community I live in but I am trying not to think about that just yet *sniff, sniff*. I have made so many valuable friendships and I can hardly believe that I have to leave them. Ok, I am thinking about this too much so let me throw in another Meg story:

While playing "House" with her good friend James:
Mike:(peering into Megan's room, with a hushed voice) "Melissa come here quick...look at this.."
As I quietly peered into Megan's room, this is what I saw:
James was laying in Megan's bed with the covers tucked up to his chin as Megan knelt down by "his" bed with a bowed head and folded hands...she was praying softly for her "child."
She was the Mommy and he was the child and she was tucking him in for the night *SIGH*. This made our hearts as parents feel soooo good. Thank you Lord, we must be doing something right!

Anyhow, I am going to end of on that note. Enjoy this Easter season. May God bless you as you reflect on Him and what He has done for us. I love you ALL!