Hey friends, I am Melissa. I am a wife, an oily mom to two toddlers, a nurse, and a writer. I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself to you. I joined the Grits, Grace, and Granola Crew recently, and I am thrilled to be in this space with you. I have been married to my high school sweetheart for 9 years, and we have been an item for 18 years now, whoa that sounds like forever. Our journey to becoming parents was littered with infertility and doubt. Eventually we felt God, calling us towards foster care and adoption. We have been foster parents for 5 years now, and we have had 3 foster placements in that time span. We have adopted 2 of those 3 little joys. We adopted our daughter when she was still a baby, and we finalized our son's adoption this past February.
Parenthood is one of the greatest joys, and one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I love my babies so much, but somedays I am so ready for bed time. They are 14 months apart in age, so its a wild ride most days in our house. They are best friends, but feed off each other"s energy as well. As foster parents we have only taken infant placements, so we had 3 newborns with in the span of 2 years in our house. There was lots of running on fumes, and very little sleep those first couple of years. I am certain that is what led to my "glitter strands" in my hair now days. Talking about foster care and adoption is a passion of mine, so you will likely hear more about that from me in the future.
When we are not working, and in the thick of every day life we enjoy traveling as a couple and family. We bought a camper this past Spring, and enjoyed spending most of our weekends Spring through Summer this year camping. We camped at local state parks on the lake, or at our favorite beach campground. In a year that has surrounded us all with chaos, it felt kind of magical to have those weekends tucked away in our camper. Now it wasn't all roses, camping with toddlers is a little bit of a challenge at times. But I am certain my kids had the best time soaking up the sun, sand, and making memories as a family. I can't wait to share our camping adventures and tips next week with Kenzie on the blog!
Justin and I snuck away for the second year in a row for an anniversary trip, and we camped at the beach. We enjoy the time away to recharge our batteries. A wise friend of mine was speaking in a couples class gave these words of wisdom on maintaining your marriage "talk to your spouse daily, date weekly, and retreat yearly" -Traci Weldie. I thought that was brilliant, and I have continued to remind myself of that often. We have always valued traveling as a couple, and enjoy making those memories as a family now.
One thing, I'm looking forward to is an adult-only trip coming up that my husband booked for us as a surprise birthday gift. We've been to Disney 10 times as a family, but I'm excited about our first Disney adventure- just the two of us! I'm excited that our friend Lorie from #livelikelorie is helping me plan the ultimate bucket list.
I am excited to get to know all of you that have joined our community here at Grits, Grace, and Granola. To speak with you on the joys and struggles of relationships, motherhood, and life in general. To come along beside you as we learn and grow together.
Connect with me on instagram.
Happy Nesting,
Mel
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