Wow, It's Been a While

This was from a couple weeks ago...

what a weekend.

thursday was volunteer appreciation night for midtown and what better way to say thanks than an 80s prom. i had the best time dressing up, eating lizards thicket, dancing, watching thriller performed live, hanging out with awesome people, etc. etc. thanks again so much to everyone who had something to do with putting that on. it was way too much fun.

friday tors & i headed to atlanta for a birthday show. our roadtrips are always memorable & this one was no different. we made many new random friends along the way, per usual, & even had an experience with a real live guardian angel. i don't know his name, but he works at bell south in augusta. <3 my birthday present was a ticket to see lydia. they blew me away, of course, & then i got to chat with the lead singer a bit. super nice dude. we watched metro station, armor for sleep, & saves the day. so much fun.

saturday i went to my favorite skating rink & pretended like i know how to roll bounce at teen night. i'm obsessed. i'll be back next saturday, tell you that much. best music ever, dance party all up on the walls, shoot the duck contest, what more could i ask for? then we rolled (skateless) over to seafood heaven aboard the harbor inn ship o fun. yum. so good. kristie got me an ariel ice cream cake but it somehow got put in the fridge instead of the freezer. haha. welp, it was still delish. then jonathan spilled my drink. it was an action packed evening. haha. no seriously i loved it. = D i have the most incredible people in my life. period. a bunch of us went to liberty for drinks later on. it was mad fun. the night ended at red hot for dancing. funny as always.

i finished up the midtown new members class & then went to a meeting for the coffee team. pretty excited about that- it's gonna be sweet. found out i'm going to get to go to the mexico mission trip this summer. i had signed up, but then i found out my cousin's wedding was the day we get back so i didn't know if it would work out, but i'm coming back a day early so i get to do both. yessssss. dustin's message stabbed me in the heart (in a good way) and i had a nice long talk with God sunday night. it was awesome. thennnn God surprised me with something really cool...

i'm going to pearlington, mississippi may 18th for a week with my real estate broker & his wife & a few other people to help rebuild homes devastated by katrina. they told me to be thinking of someone to ask to go with me bc it's 2 to a pod/tent thing & i just haven't had a clue who would be able to pay & have a random week to spend with me in a pod building houses in crazy heat. i talked to my dad about it, but he may have to be out of town for something else. well, after praying about ideas of who to ask for a few weeks i randomly OUT OF THE BLUE got this email from a friend....

"Mellie,
I've been wanting and feeling a need to do some kind of mission work for a long time now. Right after highschool I spent a couple summers in eastern Kentucky on missions trips conducting vacation Bible school for very poor areas. It was such a blessing!! God put a calling on me to keep doing that kind of work for Him but I got so caught up for so long in doing things to meet my own needs that I practically forgot about the needs of others. Now I once again am feeling a push to do some mission work of some kind. I never hear about things going on-- and I don't have lots of money to pay my way to foreign countries... but I thought maybe you can provide some insight since you have been on a lot of trips. I've been wanting to go to LA, and MS since Katrina to help rebuild but have not been able to connect with any groups who were going-- a lot of churches offer info to their members but if you're not a member or don't know other members then you don't hear about the trips. I gave money to the Red Cross for the relief after Katrina b/c I couldn't seem to find any other way to help-- I seriously tried to get in with some sort of Christian group who was actually going there but for whatever reason it never came to pass. Now I just want to do something- whatever God shows me, not necessarily connected to Katrina.
-So keep this in your prayers if you will. I want to get plugged in with some sort of group effort but don't know what that might be or how to find it. Hopefully if God wills it, He'll open up a door for me to do something soon!"

UMMMMMMMMMM ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!? i screamed aloud in my apartment. well, long story short, this friend is officially going on the trip with me & i couldn't be more ecstatic about it. God is insane & blows me away like nobody's business. pretty cool, huh?

finally my parents are out of town for almost 2 weeks so i get to house/dog sit for them. it's been relaxing & nice. some chillin & thinkin on the hammock, walking buster & getting pulled by the leash almost to the point of busting it on the sidewalk in front of a semi-attractive guy mowing his lawn, eating everything in the kitchen, laughing at horrible pictures of me on the walls, etc. i'm looking forward to this time : )