Clear Focus

I was challenged today to keep my eyes focused on Jesus. The rest of life may be out of focus, even blurry, but that is okay!

"...Look to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

Hebrews 12:2

Make It or Break It

"I am the true Vine, and My Father is the Gardener. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit...

...while every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it will be more fruitful.

Remain in Me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.



Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me."
(from John 15)

That's our desire...that we would bear much fruit and remain in Him.

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I'm never sure who actually reads this blog, but Jerad and I thought we'd throw out a prayer request into blogland with the hopes that you'll be diligent to pray for us. From this Saturday to next Saturday, Jerad and I will be going to a missionary candidate school. The mission organization will determine if we'll become missionary-appointees.

For Jerad and I this will hopefully be a "Make it or Break it" week. We've always had a heart for missions...I remember as a young child wanting to some day be a missionary. The need is SO GREAT, but just because there is a need doesn't mean it's our calling. Do you know what I mean?

Should Jerad and I take our young family to another country where Christians make up less than 1% of the population? A place where it's illegal to build a church unless the land has already been designated for religious purposes? Should Jerad and I take our family to another country when God is using us to further His Kingdom right here where we're at?

Please be praying for us. We praise God He worked out childcare for Little Bear and Pretty Little Princess while we'll be gone. He also provided a wonderful housesitter who will also tend to our dog, fish, and now TWO hamsters!

Please pray that this next week will make it SO clear to both Jerad and I as to what our future holds. We love where God has us now, but does He want us to step out of our comfort zone and commit ourselves to missions for the next 5 years?

What Lasts?

As beautiful as thes flowers from the Biltmore are....

...eventually, they will wither and fade. But...

....what will last?

"The grass withers, the flower fade, but the Word of our God stands forever." Isaiah 40:8

Pictures taken by my sister and her 14-year-old daughter.

The Pics I Promised

There will be more pics another time...another post!

Hope you're enjoying today!

Busy, Busy, BUSY!!!!

I thought summer was a time to SLOW down and take a deep breath after a hectic school year, but the Mellette household has been anything but SLOW!

A few days after school was out, we headed to KENTUCKY to visit the hottie hubby's grandparents. What a memorable visit. It happened to be our 10th anniversary and the hubs did a fabulous job surprising me the night before our big anniversary. He took me to a quaint restaurant I had never been to before...BUT, earlier that day he had dropped off a mini rose bush, card, and present so that when we walked into the restaurant, the gifts were decorating our private table! SOOOOOO romantic!

So, on our actual anniversary - June 17 - we were in London, KY visiting with his Granny and Papo (pronounced PaPaw). His Papo is a Korean War Vet and OH the stories and pictures he shared with us when the kiddies went to bed!!!!! I felt like I was sitting with royalty! He is a TRUE AMERICAN HERO! He was one of EIGHT men out of his platoon of 800 who survived Korea. His love for Jesus and his love for his wife is precious and at 81 years old, that's just too cute!

After a night's visit in KY, we joined up with my family in North Carolina to begin a week-long celebratory vacation...and, just what we were celebrating? My dad's upcoming 70th birthday! You'd never guess my dad was reaching that milestone...as my hubby pointed out the other day, "Your dad is one of the hardest working men I've ever met. He's hard to keep up with!" They had been chipping wood together and my dad is one energetic dude.

Anyways, in NC we tutored the largest private home in AMERICA: the Biltmore! Wow! What a home! It was 250 rooms and we spent 2 1/2 hours there and still didn't see everything! My children walked away from the experience saying they were thankful for where we live because they'd get LOST in such a BIG house....plus, there would be WAY TOO MANY toilets to clean! hee hee

From NC, we traveled to Tennessee - the Smokey Mountains and stayed in one of the coolest cabins ever! The cabin was stocked with a pinball machine, air hockey table, arcade games, Foosball game, pool table, hot tub, swimming pool, movie/theatre room and so much more! We never heard, "I'm bored" from any of the 9 grandkids there! We also went to DollyWood which was soooo much fun! It was a neat amusement park that was so family friendly and sold many Christian t-shirts. I'd go back in a heartbeat! Like Pretty Little Princess said, "We just need to go home to get Rocky (our beagle) and Pollyanna (her hamster) and then we can move into the cabin!"

My hubby's brother-in-law, his prego wife and almost 2-year-old son spent a little more than a week at our home. We shopped, showed them the sights and did a little of this and a little of that. And, today I just finished a 2-day INFO packed grad class! Now to do the homework!!!!

I'll post more pics...my computer is being a stinker!

How are you spending your summer?