Melody was very open-hearted. What I mean by that is that when there were times she definitely had the opportunity or almost the right to be hard-hearted towards someone, she was always open…open to forgiveness…open to the possibility of new outcomes…open to doing the loving thing. When Bill’s ex-wife showed up with their 3 kids one night and said he had to take them or else they would end up in the children’s home, she didn’t hesitate to say of course we will take them. It didn’t matter if they had the room, it didn’t matter that the request was more of a demand or that she was also looking after her own 2 little ones. Nothing else mattered but those kids.
Later Bill’s ex was set on fire by her boyfriend. Melody and Bill went to the hospital to visit her and Melody told her that if she needed a place to stay she could come to their house. Most other women in this position would not have had that amount of compassion (to open their home) towards that ex, especially in light of the previous circumstances, but Melody didn’t hesitate to open her heart. She saw someone in need and that’s all that mattered. ♥
Love
Church Life
No matter where they lived, it was always very important to Melody to find a church for her family to attend. They would visit different churches until they found the one that they felt God calling them to attend and often they would go to one where they knew someone from a previous church they attended. With money tight, moving frequently meant finding a new church more often than not as traveling very far was cost prohibitive.
Melody had a passion for Christ and for teaching children about the path to salvation and how to have a relationship with God. She taught a class in children’s church at every church she ever belonged to and at some of them her class was the WHOLE children’s church! Bill and Melody would often volunteer for various church committees and helped out on the church bus. They had been active leaders in Boy Scouts and had a desire to help teach and mold youth, reaching out to help in any way that they could.
She touched the hearts and souls of hundreds of children over the years and loved to watch them grow up, discover their faith and find themselves. Vacation Bible School had to be one of the highlights of her year, often teaching craft classes or any other place she was needed.
For the last five to six years of her life she taught the 3-5 year old Sunday School class at her church. This definitely was not the easiest class to teach, but she loved it and built special bonds with many of the children in her class. She was very creative and came up with new ways to teach traditional concepts and values to little ones who had short attention spans and immature thought processes.
She taught the children that they could do things they never thought they could do and that God would always be there to help you, love you and forgive you when you make a mistake. She taught them to be kind and to treat others the way they would want to be treated. And she enjoyed every minute of it.
Melody had a passion for Christ and for teaching children about the path to salvation and how to have a relationship with God. She taught a class in children’s church at every church she ever belonged to and at some of them her class was the WHOLE children’s church! Bill and Melody would often volunteer for various church committees and helped out on the church bus. They had been active leaders in Boy Scouts and had a desire to help teach and mold youth, reaching out to help in any way that they could.
She touched the hearts and souls of hundreds of children over the years and loved to watch them grow up, discover their faith and find themselves. Vacation Bible School had to be one of the highlights of her year, often teaching craft classes or any other place she was needed.
For the last five to six years of her life she taught the 3-5 year old Sunday School class at her church. This definitely was not the easiest class to teach, but she loved it and built special bonds with many of the children in her class. She was very creative and came up with new ways to teach traditional concepts and values to little ones who had short attention spans and immature thought processes.
She taught the children that they could do things they never thought they could do and that God would always be there to help you, love you and forgive you when you make a mistake. She taught them to be kind and to treat others the way they would want to be treated. And she enjoyed every minute of it.
