The In-Between

{for the full effect...this should be read while listening to the song "Le Chant" by Andrea Marie Reagan link to Andrea Marie's Album} 

Pictures usually inspire my heart to write…pictures I see waiting to happen outside my window, pictures I make with my handy little iphone or my big Canon Mark II, pictures I create in my mind when beautiful music is playing, pictures I see when looking back thru the history of our life remembering the moments that swept me off my feet and made me remember why I am alive.  This morning I was looking back thru my photos…and there it was, my Cadence Zion, 9 years old, brown as an indian, sitting in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.  As parents we "capture" our children with our eyes all the time…most of those times are when they are not looking. It is the way there hands move or the way they smile when no one is around and they amuse themselves, or maybe when they look at you and all at once you feel love like you've never felt before.  I feel like a constant camera, asking the Holy Spirit always to help me savor this life I have with them.  I ask that He would keep me alert and alive, that my eyes could be kissed with eternity.  He has put eternity in the hearts of men…How do we connect with eternity in every day life.  I am on a journey to feel eternity here on this earth…in the real soil of life.  Cadence Zion here in this moment…I caught him in the in between.  In between what? I can't remember. It doesn't matter.  Oh that every season would be my favorite.  That I would look back on life and feel overwhelmed by the goodness of God to invite me into motherhood.  Life is moving, always, may we get into the flow of the beauty of it.  That we would trade in our heaviness for a weightless grace to love deep.

The Helser Family West Coast/Hawaii Excursion

{ Part Three: Hawaii}

I have waited a long time to post my final part of our family excursion to the West. I needed time for the depth of what happened to really sink into my heart. I needed to wait and really hear from the Lord what I should write, and not write. Really I just needed time. You see, one of the best parts of the trip was that we were going to get to see my sister and her family in Hawaii. They are leaders of a YWAM school in Kona, Hawaii. You must know that my sister, Shannon, is my most treasured friend in the whole world. She is the truest and most lovely example of family and friendship that I have ever seen. The privilege of getting to see them there, in Hawaii, with our kids was unbelievable. Not to mention that their daughter Shiloh and my daughter Haven are best friends. While we were in Oregon we got a call that my sister had gone to the doctor for an 8 month check-up for her pregnancy. While there, the nurse could not find a heartbeat. I cannot explain what the next 24 hours felt like. These are the moments that you choose to shed your methods of praying like a beggar and take up a wild trust in the Father. You say to yourself, "The Lord would never let this baby die...." You strap on your knee pads and fall to floor, you weep, you yell, you fall silent and then you pray more. We waited 24 hours till my sister gave birth to Selah Praise...she was stillborn. You will find out in time that my life has not been void of suffering and sorrow, but this sent my heart into a tailspin. Where was His goodness in all of this?

We arrived in Kona 4 days later, and the timing of it all was crazy. I have tried over and over to figure out how to describe what my heart felt and experienced in those days. How do you describe sorrow? I sat on the porch the first night asking the Father how I was going to teach and lead worship in the middle of all this. The Father responded, "Melissa, you have found me in the tension, you will find me again." Jonathan, Cadence, Haven and I had the privilege of going to the hills of the Big Island to bury little Selah Praise. I have never experienced a funeral so sweet and so sad. My sister had given all the children beautiful Hawaiian leaves and flowers to put on the grave. In the waiting time, the kids had played with the leaves to the point of them falling apart. As we walked through the lovely hills, Cadence asked me if he could say something during the ceremony. Honestly, I was reluctant to let him, not knowing what he would say and not wanting him to be overwhelmed in the moment, but he insisted. At the end of the ceremony, Cadence walked with confidence up to the grave, broken leaf and flower in hand. He looked at everyone and said, " Selah's body is like this leaf, but her spirit is like this flower." He then pulled the striking white flower out of the leaf. He confidently went on to talk about Selah being in Heaven with the Lord and how happy she is. After a few minutes he turned and looked at the little casket. He dropped the flower and said, "Selah, I will see you in Heaven."

I am consistently proud of my kids, but it has taken me months to understand what the Lord did that day. My nine-year-old was able to rise above grief and sorrow and declare truth. Sure, he has not had seasons of intense suffering, but maybe that is why the Lord said, "to even see the Kingdom of God, you must see like a child." We so quickly lose "our sight." Disappointment creeps in and poisons our heart. We marry circumstance and the love of the Lord...things going great--He loves me...things going bad--He has left me. We try to fight the whispering lie that He is not good and doesn't care. I will not pretend that this lie wasn't loud in my ears. It was blaring. I spent the last days in Kona teaching about worship, standing on stages and singing about His love and weeping with my sister. I will rejoice and speak of my niece with joy, for she is more alive than I can imagine, living in the fullness of everything I believe in. Resurrection is flowing in her body. She is dancing with the angels, walking with the Father and being consumed with tangible love. Hawaii, to say the least, was glorious and terrible, beautiful and tragic. The Father said to me once,"Melissa, if you can't see me in the rain, you can't see me at all." I chose, there, to see Him in the torrential downpour of sorrow. I know the clouds will part and shine the brightest light on my sister and brother and their beautiful children. In the meantime, we ride the waves of sorrow and let them take us to the shores of joy. I heard Kris Vallaton say recently, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. How can you be comforted unless you properly let your heart mourn." I refuse to end this post with some crazy revelation and feel pressure to turn my life into some amazing ministry moment. We laughed, we cried, we ate good food and bad, we went to the beach, we sat in silence and weeping, we sang to Lord and let Him sing over us, we savored the privilege of life and breath and the beauty of family, and at the end of it all this I know, that even when we walk to the edge of sorrow and back, He is unexplainably good.

Traveling with kids Tip #8
[Even in the midst of unplanned heartache don't try to shelter them from it, just remember to still laugh & build sand castles]




{Haven aiming to conquer the Hawaiian Ocean with her floaties}


{My beautiful sister & brother in law...I love them deep}


{My amazing mother...the best grandmother in the world!}


{My sweet niece Arrow...I was the first person she saw when she came into the world & naturally her favorite}


Traveling with kids Tip #9
[Always, Always, Always stop on the side of the road and take beautiful pictures...your children must see you live in and capture the moment]




Traveling with kids Tip #10
[Teach your kids to savor family...at the end of it all family is the greatest gift]


{Have I mentioned that I love my husband and children.}


{Haven and her best friend/cousin Shiloh Grace}

The Helser Family West Coast/Hawaii Excursion

{ Part Two: Oregon Coast }

So here is part 2 of the 20 day trip....We said goodbye to our beloved Brittany with a lovely breakfast. Our children have learned to love deeply, and savor time with the ones they love. We left the lovely mountains of Eugene and drove up the coast. I am convinced that Oregon is one of the most beautiful states in America. We could not believe how many breathtaking views there were.

Traveling with kids Tip #3
[When visiting friends arrange time for intentional goodbyes]




Traveling with kids Tip #4
[Try to arrange several days for just them, and trust that they will appreciate it.]








Traveling with kids Tip #5
[Let them take off their shoes and have an adventure...does it really matter if they get wet?]



Traveling with kids Tip #6
[Point out beauty to them...and then let them point out beauty to you.]



Traveling with kids Tip #7
[Take silly pictures when they ask you to, I promise you will laugh later.]

The Helser Family West Coast/Hawaii Excursion

So one of the beautiful parts of being in full-time ministry, doing home school, and being married to Jonathan is all the lovely traveling. Our kids are now getting old enough to travel and remember all the amazing sites, appreciate the good food and make it through long plane rides. We had the privilege of going to Washington, Oregon, and Hawaii this November. It was a 20 day trip...Super Fun, Super Long, Super Amazing.


{ Part One: Washington to Oregon }

Seattle, Washington Pike Place Market

Traveling with kids Tip #1
[invite them into loving the things you love]
Our kids love, love, love big cities, little cafes, amazing coffee shops (for hot chocolate...of course), good food, breathtaking views, nice hotels, quiet moments to savor the privilege of traveling, movies on airplanes, quality time in the midst of a crazy schedule, meeting new people and the list goes on.


Downtown Seattle...Jonathan and Haven



The Crumpet Shop...Seattle {Cadence and Haven loved it!}


Traveling with kids Tip #2
[always make intentional time for them and the people they love]

Oregon Coast...Brittany & Peter drove up from California.





Me and my lovely husband.

Why Blog?

Why Blog? I want to write about my life...it's so full, that it is overflowing. I want to show off my beautiful family and the people I do life with...they are all so extraordinary. I am submerged in the dream of my life and it is worth sharing! I am a wife more in love after 11.5 years than the first day I said I do. I am a mother to two of the most lovely children in the whole world, they are the greatest joy of my life. I am a friend, thriving in beautiful relationships. I am a leader, loving full time ministry...pioneering schools, camps, and internships. I am in love with discipleship; the everyday nitty gritty of living in community and watching people get new hearts one day at a time. I am a songwriter finding the sweet relief of processing my seasons through melody, singing things to the Lord that I don't pray or journal or talk about. I am a worship leader, longing to see His kids get wrecked by His love. I must warn you, I am fearless in this area of my life and on a regular occurrence completely “let go.” I am a photographer, and have spent the last 7 years shooting weddings for a living, I loved it with all my heart and now I must fall back in love with looking through the glass eye and forever capturing moments that I wish would just stick around. I thought it would never happen, being jaded by what you love but the wedding business in all its glory can be a little exhausting. And last but not least I am a home school teacher, that's right I am in my 5th year of teaching my children how to read and write, how to spell, count, and analyze, but mostly I teach them how to love. How to love with a deep life fulfilling love, to love those around them with an uncommon, generous love...you know, the kind that unravels your tangled beliefs that love isn’t real. I am consistently teaching them how to be world changers, one smile at a time. So it is here that I take this leap into blog world...to write, to photograph, to be serious and be silly. To share and open a small window into our life, pier in with grace we are after all real people.