Meli's world

Now that most of you know my story and everything my husband Emerald and I have been through, perhaps you will understand that the things I write about are lessons I've personally learned and the things that have made our marriage thrive and continually push forward. Getting married in our teenage years, it was like date night every night. We would eat out dinner after long days at work, or go out to breakfast before work. We would catch a movie or go for strolls at the mall randomly. So easy to do when you have no other priorities. We would go play tennis with friends at the park, go for walks, swims, or play video games. (yes we were teenagers). It was always exciting and it always gave us time to share our favorite activities and to talk about our days. However things change when you become parents. We moved in with my parents to save money during the pregnancy and never thought of how difficult that would be. Also, we had to get in saving mode for the addition to t...

That day in the car something changed. I heard God. I felt His love. I saw His forgiveness. I saw my sin. I saw how far I'd come and how much wrong I had done. I saw that I had made the idea of this perfect love my idol. And now that it failed me and it hadn't been perfect, I was ready to give up. I'd made Emerald my idol, and even in my idea of "love", I hadn't been able to love him wholly and pure. All that love wasn't even able for me to extend my forgiveness to him as he had to me in the past. That day had to be the day mercy came down and found me right there in my car. I can't quite explain it. It was like I had been given a new set of eyes. I could feel the hurt of betrayal yet I could feel His love fill my heart. I could see the mess I was in, but I could see the pieces He could put back together. I could decide to quit and have that be the end to my dream, but He showed me it could a new beginning. He wasn't only working in me, but ...

High school started with me trying to follow Christ and  be different. I was meeting new people and had the chance to change myself without any one knowing me. But I can say I still truly hadn't surrendered my pride, my needs or my heart to Jesus. The minute a cute guy told me he liked me I was back to wanting a relationship. It was a battle wanting to live a life free of sin and dealing with the real world and high school and all the temptations it had to offer. But I kept on going to church, learning more of the Bible.... And I kept on longing for a relationship, with respect and no cheating. I wanted love. A couple months into high school, I met my husband as most of you already know. He was so different. He was a senior and more mature than any guy I had dealt with. He was a great student. He was friendly, outgoing, respectful and didn’t have a “player” reputation. We became friends. We ate lunch together everyday and we had so much in common. He was a believer ...

  “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6 There’s always so much you want to be able to teach your child. I wonder a lot if my teaching Is effective or if they will really remember all I say. Not only in the classroom education part of it, but in the person side of it. For them to be loving, caring, forgiven, to know truth, to stand for truth, etc.   And then there are those moments, where we learn something from our kids. And we are reassured that they are learning and my prayers for them to be able to stand up for their beliefs is working. Emmanuel, my oldest who is 6 is a little clown. He loves to talk and sing and is very outspoken.   He has always been one that I can have conversations with since he was 2. Quick to talk, quick to learn and way advanced for his years. In the past month, my husband and I have also had the privilege to be his teachers at church and go in further detail...

Many of you who read my blogs are people who know me, or have known or met me at some point in their lives. Just because we talk, doesn't mean you know me, who I am, who I've been, or what I've been through. I'm sure most of you see me as this "religious" married mother.... Some of you may remember me as the girl that was barely in high school, or the boy crazy smart overachiever middle school girl, or some of you now know me as the church going woman I am today. But all of this is only bits and pieces of what has made me.... And what is still molding me and changing my life by His grace and power. I don't tell everyone I know my story, I am sure not everyone is interested. But I believe our personal stories can be of help to others and I have no reason to be ashamed of the mistakes I've made. I was raised "Catholic". Not a devout catholic, but I did get "baptized" by the sprinkling of the water as a baby, did my first commun...

  13 years ago today, as Americans, we faced one of the most tragic events in our history. We were all witness to a hate so evil, to the loss of life, to the vulnerability of our country. We can all remember exactly what we were doing, where we were, and how we felt. Not only that day, but the days, weeks and months leading up to it. The grieving, the disbelief, the shock, the grieving.     I remember being in my 7th grade English class that morning. Our social studies teacher Mr.Stabile walks in laughing, telling us to turn on the T.V. because there had just been an "accident" and a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. We turn on the T.V. all thinking this is just some random accident, and the gravity of the situation not sinking in. I remember watching and not capturing the reality of passengers in a plane crashing into a sky scraper with people in it, catching on fire and the loss of life that would be involved. As we are all discussing how a pilot cou...

Last night we decided to make it a movie night since I was sick all day. We always like to pick family movies that we can enjoy with the kids. We ended up watching "Mom's Night Out". The movie was all about a stay at home who had 3 kids, and always felt overwhelmed with everything. These kids' misbehavior was definitely exaggerated for the movie. She was a clean fanatic who was also trying to run a blog. She seemed a bit OCD trying to have everything in order and under control all the time and there was so much in her that I could relate to! As a mom, there were so many expectations I held in my mind before I actually had kids. I still have expectations in my head on a daily basis. All ones that I'm learning to let go of. In my mind, the kids will be great, we will have a nice family meal, do school work and still have family time or reading time. In my mind everyone will say yes mom and get things done. In my mind, I won't burn the rice. The kids will eat ...