Meet the Child Care Council Staff

Rodney (husband), Kennedy (granddaughter), Nick (son), Kaylyn (daughter) at

UK Pharmacy School White Coat Graduation

Meet the Child Care Council Staff

Introducing Melissa W.

Belinda @ Kids Matter

I think most people will agree that there are days when we just need a good laugh, right? I have to say, the day I interviewed Melissa was one of those days for me and man, did she make me laugh. I hope you enjoy getting to know her as much I did. She truly is an amazing person, with a delightful sense of humor and wonderful caring nature. Please allow me to introduce Melissa, a 16 year veteran of the CCC serving the counties of Boyle and Mercer as an ES. Melissa loves her job because, “I love helping people… it simply makes me feel good to know I am able to make someone else’s life better.”

Melissa, born in Chicago, moved to Caney, KY in 1976. Melissa is one of five children. She and her siblings blazed trails throughout the mountains around her home, “… playing every game from hide-n-seek to cops-n-robbers”. Melissa attributes becoming a hiking aficionado to those precious times with her siblings spent hiking the four beautiful mountain tops surrounding their home.

Hiking is a huge part of Melissa’s life and, acting as a contagion, has spread rampant through her household with the exception of her husband who she says, “… is like hiking with an old bear”. She and her “old bear” plan to go on a hiking adventure with another couple at Yosemite National Park in California. (By the time this posts, she will have already made the trip so, be sure and ask for pictures. It has to be gorgeous there!)

Melissa’s family consists of her husband, Rodney, to whom she has been married 22 wonderful years. Her son, Nicholas, who just finished his first year at the UK School of Pharmacy, and his daughter, Kennedy, who is four and is the, “new little sunshine” in their family. Melissa’s daughter, Kaylyn, just finished her second year of undergrad at SEU in Florida. Melissa said she always called her daughter “my sunshine” so, it’s no wonder she loves it in Florida. Kassidy, Nick’s fiancé, is also a beloved member of the family. They also have a 12 year old dog named Andy, who is the protector of the family.

While each of the members of the household goes about their busy schedules every day, they also have an alternate life as superheroes. What, you say? You read correctly. I often ask interviewee’s if they were a superhero, who it would be, what powers would they have, and why. Melissa took this question to a whole new level and I was absolutely delighted with her response. “If you didn’t know, I am already a superhero. I am Lunar Woman. My husband is Solar Man. My daughter is Techno girl. My son is Aqua Man. Now, let me explain. Each character emerged from my mouth one night while I was quite agitated at my husband for leaving the lights on all over the house! He loves all the Marvel Comics and movies about superheroes and it, like hiking, rubbed off on all of the rest of the family. I asked him why he constantly leaves the light on in every room of the house, but then I answered my own question. I said, ‘I know, you are Solar Man and you derive all of your power from the sun (or artificial lighting). I then must be Lunar Woman, as I have to keep Solar Man from gaining too much power as that would make him impossible to live with’. At this point I was on a roll, so I brought our children into it. ‘My son, Nick, is Aqua Man, as he must get his power from the extremely long showers he takes. My daughter is Techno Girl, who gets her power from technology (she had over 13,000 texts on her phone, a constant source of irritation)’. We are a family of superheroes who gain our power first through Jesus Christ, who strengthens us, and then through the love, laughter and tears we have shared as a family. Our greatest contribution is the example we set for others, something I have always told my children.”

Melissa’s very favorite food is watermelon, which she says she eats every single day and her husband is the one that cuts it up for her. Now, that’s love and I’m thinking Lunar Woman is a much better superhero name than Watermelon Girl. Her favorite get you up and going song is by Jesus Culture and is called, “Happy Day”. She graduated from Berea College with a degree in Child Development. She contributes her success in life to her father whom she says, “… showed me what true love and sacrifice look like by watching him walk out his faith in Christ every day of his simple, yet complicated life. I have never met a more content man who has so little possessions. I hope to be like him one day. I am so thankful to have him in my life and every time I go visit, I am humbled by the fingerprints on all of our pictures from him putting his hands on the frames each night and praying for us all.”

“Family, is the people God places around you to challenge you daily to be better; to know you like no one else does and to love you in spite of yourself. You take family with you wherever you go. Family is not a bunch of independent people doing their own thing but rather an interwoven group of individuals with personal strengths and struggles that help and are helped by each other making an even stronger more beautiful tapestry in the end.”  Her advice to families everywhere, “… build the foundation strong while you are young and root your children deep in Christ so that when the storms come, you will be able to weather them together. The soccer games and dance classes will not hold you together, but all the prayers will.”