We are Rick and Melanie Dardar and we have 6 children: Gabe 11, Austin 9, Juliana 7, Addey 5, Eamon 2, and our newest daughter, Mary Klaire 5 months.  We have truly been blessed by God with six amazing blessings who have changed our lives in so many ways.  Some days I could just melt because they bring my heart so much joy, and other days I feel like they are my "heavenly sandpaper" smoothing out all of my rough edges by rubbing their own rough edges against me.  I wouldn't trade them for anything and know that I am blessed to have six healthy, loving children.

Our journey began together in 1998 in the unlikeliest of places...Sonic Drive-In.  I, Melanie, a carhop, and Rick, a customer, met when God allowed our paths to cross on a Wednesday night in April.  I was 16 years old at the time, living life in any way that brought me pleasure.  Rick had just moved to Mississippi from Louisiana trying to figure out what life had in store for him.  After church, he came by Sonic to eat.  He ordered a #2 with no onions and a Dr. Pepper.  I was working behind the counter that night, but my boss noticed it was getting busy so he asked for me to take the order out.  I hurriedly took the order out, and to my surprise, the guy in the car wanted to take me out sometime.  He asked for my number and, well, here we are today!  We knew within a week we wanted to be married, but since I was only 16 and still had a year of high school to go, my parents said no.  We married on June 5th 1999, on my 18th birthday, the day after Rick's 20th.

Fast forward almost 14 years to 2013 and you find us happily married, with our bustling household.  Rick is graduating from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary this May.  We feel God calling us to the mission field, probably far away from the familiar, but with God's hand leading, we are excited about what the future holds for our family.  This week, though, we are focusing on getting ourselves and our children mission minded where we are.  The kids and we brainstormed ideas on how to serve our community to show the love of Christ in practical ways.  We'll keep you up to date on how this goes as the week progresses.

We have found that if you look for opportunities to serve God and serve people, He will show you great things that can be done for His glory.  I want to encourage you to seek out something to do for God, showing His love to those around you.  Jesus said when you do it to them, you are really serving Him!  What an honor to serve and to know that He will use even me!

"Love is the root of missions; sacrifice is the fruit of missions."  Roderick Davis


Until the whole world hears,

Rick and Melanie Dardar