I 
am an MDiv student at Princeton Theological Seminary and the mother of a three-year old daughter and an infant son. I co-parent with my friend and husband, Jacob. I hold a BA from Gordon College and an MA in Religion from Duke University.
One of the most important pieces of my theological formation was investing my life in L’Arche Nehalem, a community of men and women with and without intellectual disabilities who commit to life together in the spirit of Jesus’ Beatitudes. I am interested in theologies of vulnerability, baptism of the intellectually disabled, the relationship of bioethics/biotechnologies and contraception, radical democracy, and eating cake (not metaphorically).
I am a member of the Mennonite Church USA and I will likely seek ordination upon graduation.
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February 8, 2009 at 5:14 am
jessica
hi melissa–so i’m finally coming out of the blogstalking shadows to say hello. i found a link to your blog on caren’s blog. (i went to gordon with her–did you too?) i’ve really enjoyed reading your posts and particularly following your journey into parenthood. isn’t it a crazy world? my little boy, noah, is almost 3 now and in august i had a little girl, isla, who’s just about the same age as your little one. (we also thought about calling her scout but it just hasn’t stuck.) she’s also teething right now and is sometimes crazy fussy. it’s so frustrating not knowing how to help, isn’t it? but i did want to say, regarding the she-won’t-go-to-sleep-for-you issue, have you ever tried laying her down on her own when she’s all ready for bed and you’ve done everything else? i’m not trying to invite controversy–i just say this because it never occurred to us to try this with noah, and we spent a huge part of his first year trying to put him to sleep. and getting really frustrated when it didn’t work. but with isla, someone suggested we just swaddle her up and lay her down when she’s clearly sleepy, and lo and behold, almost always she falls asleep! i’m still shocked every time. sometimes she cries for a minute, a literal minute, or less, and sometimes she doesn’t make a peep. if she cries i go in and give her back her pacifier, and usually that works. it is just so lovely to not have to physically put her to sleep every time, particularly since i have another little one to tend to. and also don’t have arms of steel.
she’s still mostly in our bed, and nursing a lot at night still, but i don’t mind that because i don’t spend hours putting her to sleep.
anyway. unsolicited thoughts.
i have a blog too, which you’re welcome to check out. it’s at http://mostlysmallthings.blogspot.com/ it’s private but if you send me your email i can invite you. my email is mostlysmallthings@gmail.com
good luck with the big decisions! (and the small ones too.) i hope this can be the beginning of a virtual friendship.
warmly, jessica
November 3, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Pam Durso
Melissa,
Would love to connect with you about reposting your blog on being mother of a young child while in seminary – on the Baptist Women in Ministry blog. I think you have such helpful advice for women seminarians!
My email is pamdurso@bwim.info and our website is http://www.bwim.info.
Let me know what you think.
March 13, 2011 at 3:33 pm
Jim
I have been exploring a theology of vulnerability and trying to form bodily spiritualty based on the work of Jean vanier life.
I am in palliative care at the moment.
I just stumbled on you site.
Really beautiful and intelligent stuff here.
I would love to explore some of these ideas more.