I’m Melissa and I spend my days rocking out with my daughter who was born in August of 08. We live in Northern Virginia with Jacob, the husband/dad and two doting grandparents.
I graduated from Gordon College in 2002 and went on to a Masters in Religion at Duke University. I’ve also studied theology and ancient languages at the University of Portland, Oxford University, Daystar University, Jerusalem University College, and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, either as non-degree or study-abroad.
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. We were a part of the L’Arche community for almost 4 years. My primary scholarly interest flows from this experience and I hope someday to look at the theological outworking of centering the disabled in the church’s practices, particularly that of baptism.
I named our blog after a Bob Dylan song by the same name off the “New Morning” album. It’s decidedly unlike our lives but maybe some day. Here’s a line…
“Build me a cabin in Utah,
Marry me a wife, catch rainbow trout,
Have a bunch of kids who call me “Pa,”
That must be what it’s all about,
That must be what it’s all about.“
1 comment
Comments feed for this article
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