Meli's world

Today, my husband of 12 years turns 30! and to think that I have known him since he was 16 leaves me a bit emotional. I am very blessed to call him mine and be the one who gets the privilege of being his wife. But if you happen to call him family, friend, or co worker, you are pretty blessed too. This guy exudes so much of what I hope to be one day..... loving, selfless, generous, humble and easy going....... Here are a couple of the reasons I love him. I am bypassing the traditional birthday card this year and going all out with this blog..... Babe, 1) You Seek Jesus first! - nothing is more important to you then seeking God, His kingdom, and His direction for your life! “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” – Matthew 6:33 ” 2) You serve! This has always been something that attracts me to you. you are so willing to help anyone in need and give up your time to do for others.... anyone needs help you are there! Mann...

It's been a while since I followed up on the Marriage is awesome series. 6 months actually and marriage hasn't stopped being awesome, I have just been working hard to make sure it stays that way. My husband and I have been connecting in other ways developing friendships, and serving at church on top of our full time jobs and kids of our own. When I started the blog and this series in particular, I felt led by God to tell of my experiences and what I've learned to be encouragement, to be light, to be salt. I knew not everyone would be interested in what I'd have to say but if at least one person read it and was encouraged to grow in their faith, their love or marriage, then it was all worth it. In a culture where people don't believe in marriage, marriages are ending in divorce and it's hard to tell the married people apart from the single people, I felt led to tell the world why and how marriage can be awesome. Instead of other people.painting a picture ...

  I tried to write this while we were in Trinidad last week and I was inspired by my surroundings. Mountains!!! Something we never see in Florida. It's funny cause just a couple of days before that I heard Usher blaring somewhere and I remembered what I considered my favorite song at one point ::: Moving mountains. You know the sappy love-break up R&B song???    About 5 years ago I could relate to everything that song was saying. A love gone wrong. The bad taking away the good. lyrics from Usher's "Moving Mountains" Trying and trying and nothing seeming to work. I really contemplated divorce at this point in my life. My husband and I had been married close to 6 years and had a baby boy. We were struggling to make it out of my parents house and everything seemed to be a fight. I don't know looking back I felt a lot of resentment for entering marriage so young with nothing, struggling to find an affordable place where we could feel ...

Two days ago we celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary. Yes, we celebrate two anniversaries a year; the one when we became girlfriend and boyfriend and when we got married. For our tenth anniversary, we had envisioned having the wedding we always wanted and renewing our vows. However a couple of months ago we decided to postpone that since we would not be able to plan it how we wanted. Since then we were thinking of something great to do and due to circumstances and commitments beyond our control, we didn't plan much at all. Instead we decided to have a simple dinner together. Funny the older we get, the more it seems simplicity is key. When we were younger I envisioned him being this hopeless romantic who would plan great getaways or elaborate surprises but as I get older, not only has he become more creative, but the things I used to expect have changed. I find that at one point in our relationship I was living day to day trying to get by...make it to the next date, th...

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...

  Growing up in a Hispanic household, things were a bit old fashioned. My dad worked; Overtime, double shifts, and more than 1 job if necessary to take care of us. My mom, as far as I could remember in my childhood was a stay at home mom. As a kid, this is what I envisioned all marriages were like. My mom was up early to see my dad off for work, and have breakfast served and his lunch packed. When he worked the overnight, she also made sure dinner was served at 11pm before his shift. She stayed at home taking care of us, taking us to the library, playground, outside, anywhere we could go without a car. I watched my mom serve my dad daily. Day in and day out, washng dishes, cooking, laundry, and all the to do things in the house while my dad worked. I never thought any less of any of them. As a kid, I loved having my mom home and getting to spend time with her. And in my mind, that’s what the man did, work to provide. Sure, I missed my dad, but the one Saturday a week he was ...

Today was a beautiful day here in Florida...hot, sunny and humid. Typical for an August day. We spent it at the park at a picnic from my husband, Emerald's job. With all the things I witnessed today I figured it be a perfect time to follow up on my blog series: MIA Marriage is awesome. Today's topic: boundaries. My husband works as a customer service representative at an A.C. Company. Its like a store and a warehouse where he sits at a counter making sales to customers or clients that walk in or call on the phone. Its a mostly male dominated field and he's had great opportunity to move up from warehouse manager and driving deliveries. Now its a great job, and I've always trusted my husband because as I've said before we tell each other everything, but recently a female got hired to work there to do the same thing he does. Sitting at the same counter 40 hours a week. I have to admit, it was a little difficult to get used to the idea, but having learned so much...

M.I.A is a hashtag trend I've been using on Facebook a lot. It stands for Marriage is Awesome. Last week, I felt the need to put up a disclaimer with it letting people know I am in no way putting it up as if my marriage is the only awesome one, or better than anyone's. My reasoning for starting these series of posts is because I find it so disheartening and discouraging that statistics show less and less people in my age group are getting married or want to be married. And for those that do marry, more than 50% of those marriages end up in divorce. I think a lot of people have misconceptions of marriage and are letting things keep them from entering into one of the greatest relationships and commitment that exist. I know most people will question a 25 year old's ability to speak about marriage and give anyone any type of counsel, but speaking from 10 years of experience, I think I have seen a lot of things I wish I could have done differently and am constantly growing...