I Have Been Blessed...

Why Hello Blogger World,

I've really neglected my blog once again but a lot has been going on and I just haven't had much time for blogging.  But I'm very excited to be able to come back from my long absence with some very happy news!  God has been so very good to me.  My life has been changed and I will be forever grateful.  As most of you know I have been raised going to a Baptist church for 23 years.  I grew up knowing all the stories of the Bible, I knew who God was, but I didn't know Him as my Heavenly Father.  I had the privilege of going to a Christian school where I was taught how much God loved me, and the value of living a good life in God's will.  I knew that the principles I was taught all my life to be the absolute Truth, and there is no way I could deny them.  I loved the Truth, I loved the idea of being a Christian and wanted it for my own personal life.  I always strove to do what I knew to be right but was always looking for the true meaning of life.  I would constantly be filling up my time, trying to keep busy, trying to keep myself happy, but it would never last very long.  I knew something was missing.  I knew I was not fulfilling the reason I was created.  I knew there was more to life then the way I was occupying my time.  The past few months of my life have been some very trying months and God began to reveal the seriousness of dealing with the reason for my unhappiness, my sin, my lost condition.  I could not put this off any longer.  I could no longer live my life on my own, I needed the Lord's guidance and direction in my life.  I was wasting time, I was wasting all that God had blessed me with, I was wasting my life.  I needed to once and for all apply what I had been taught for so many years to my life.  About a month ago the Lord in His goodness began speaking to my heart like never before.  I could not put off the Holy Spirit pressing my heart that this was the time in my life to make a decision, I was at a crossroads!  I really took seriously what a privilege this was and I was determined to put it off no longer.  The Lord used the verse Is 45:22- "Look unto Me and be ye saved."  to get a hold of my heart and show me my need to just simply trust Christ with my life, my future.  I had gotten to the place where I knew what I was before God, I was lost, nothing good about me in myself.  I knew the best I could do before God would never be enough to get me to Heaven.  Christ was my only hope, my only way to be right with God.  The Lord had done everything that was needed for my salvation and all I needed to do was turn from my sin and trust Him with everything.  He had promised He would save me and I had no reason to doubt Him.  All God has ever done for me has only been good and I owed Him everything.  So, on June 5th I surrendered my life, my will, my heart to the Lord.  And in giving up my life, God has given me more than I could have ever dreamed of.  I have peace in my heart, a reason for living, a joy like never before.  I am determined to live every day for MY Lord, and serve Him all my days.  If only the whole world could know My Heavenly Father; that is my greatest, deepest prayer.  If I could say one thing in closing is that true Christianity is real,  it cannot be made up and it cannot be denied.  The Holy Spirits work in a true believer is unmistakable and it is truly supernatural.  The assurance of knowing you are saved and that you will spend eternity in Heaven with God gives such peace and security there is nothing at all to fear.  With the Lord as my Guide I can live a fulfilling life doing all that God has for me.  I'm very excited for the road ahead.  I will never turn back I can only press forward to bigger and better things.  I have truly found the meaning of life, the reason I was created, to live my life for the Lord.  God is so good, I have been blessed!  Thank you for reading!  Melissa Ann~

Just for kicks...

St. Patricks Day Brought To You By Melissa And Becca

So this past Saturday the SYWA girls were out and about doing our March St. Patty's Day drop offs. Becca and I went out together and had a wonderful time. We were all over the Island from Garden City to Islip! Let me tell you this was no easy task, and with a GPS that was quite confused it made our day even more interesting! Nassau county can be quite confusing as it is and dare I say treacherous. One road in particular, a three lane highway, made our route quite the challenge. Needless to say we couldn't quite make it across all three lanes so we had to break the law a couple of times. This situation was the birth of a new favorite phrase..."It says you can't but you have to." Sounds like a great excuse to tell the police when he pulls you over. :) We had some great laughs and made plenty of memories through out the day! Drop off days are a blast and what made it even better was it was a beautiful St. Patty's Day. Hope you all had a great weekend too and are continuing to enjoy the gorgeous weather this week.



Becca and I!
So there is a story behind this picture...this was one of those circumstances where my lovely GPS told me to go straight and make a left...well the next picture explains why that is quite impossible!
YEP...the street was a dead end!!! I would have been happy to fit my little Sebastian (that's my cars name) through the fence but it wasn't quite wide enough!
Our SYWA gifts...Irish Soda Bread! :)

Have a great week everyone! Melissa Ann~

Our night with the New York Rangers

So Tuesday night my family and cousin went to a Ranger game. It is such a fun experience to see a hockey game live and in person. And, its even MORE fun when they WIN!! :) We went to a favorite BBQ place called, Brother Jimmy's!! You absolutely have got to try this place next time you visit the city. Here are a few pics from the night. Enjoy!!

Mom and Dad at Brother Jimmy's...Josh of course trying to ruin the pic!! ;)
Me, Chris, and Josh...messin' around!
The brother and I!
Brother Jimmy's hot sauce...sooooooo good!
Josh playing music with the glasses of water! :P
Mom and her boy!
Madison Square Garden! :)
My Josh!
Practice!
Me excited for a great game!
Thanks for looking~

Thankful...

Today was such a beautiful day here on Long Island. Almost 65 degrees, blue skies, sunny, it just felt like Spring! As I was on my lunch break today I decided to take a drive to just get out of the office for a little while and enjoy some fresh air. I had a lot of things on my mind and I found myself smiling as I began to think about all the things in my life that I've been blessed with. Its easy to forget sometimes how much we have to be thankful for when instead you're looking at all the ways you wish things could be different. Life can be very hard sometimes but I've realized that a lot of times these things are only brought into our lives to help us learn, grow, and cherish all the people in our lives who love us and want us to be the very best we can be. I know I have been given so much and I realize it more and more everyday. I want to cherish every minute of every day and live it to the fullest. I want to show the people I love how much they mean to me in any way I can. I want to love life and and enjoy the simple things of life because as someone once said one day we will wake up and realize that those were really the big things...! We are only given one life and I found myself desiring more than ever to make my life count. I want to be make my life useful, and profitable. I don't want to waste time complaining and trying to work things out myself. I do know that there is a plan for my life and I want to find it and devote myself to it with all my heart! Just thought I would share my thoughts...thanks for reading!

Just love Winnie the Pooh Quotes...

If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together...there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But, the most important thing is, even if we're apart, I'll always be with you.

Winnie The Pooh~

Just Something Happy...

What is it exactly that makes me someone smile over polka dots? I still haven't quite figured it out... but in my opinion they're happy and make me happy..nothing wrong with that!! :)

The Blog Is Back

Hello everybody!! I know its been a really long time since the blogs have been up and running but I really started to miss them!! So, I'm going to get my blog going again and I hope more people will as well. I hope you enjoy the new blog, The Melissa Ann!! It will just be my place to jot down and record tidbits of my daily life and anything interesting I might come across. Its funny how many memories came flooding back to mind as I was looking through my old posts. I want this blog to continue to be a place where memories are recorded as they're made. I hope you enjoy it!!