Melissa B.

I have known Mariel for 17 years. We met when she came her junior year to St. Croix Lutheran.  I can still remember meeting her and her mom that first day in the dorms. We lived in the dorms together for those two years of high school, and during that time we became close friends. She came with my family for some holidays, just as she went with other families and friends at times.  We continued to stay in contact as we went off to different colleges. I was blessed to visit and stay with her family two times. Once for a mission trip to the Dominican Republic, and once just to spend time with her and her family. She met my husband before I did in college.

Over the years, I was in her wedding and she was part of ours. My husband and I are blessed to be Godparents to her second child. We have seen how loving, patient, and kind she is with all babies and children. We have witnessed this time and time again in the way she talks to, holds and interacts with babies. She is the first to want to hold and snuggle someone's baby. When we were finally blessed with a child through adoption, the piece of advice she gave me rang in my head all the time. She told me despite what some people say, "you can never spoil a baby".  Anytime I worried about how to do something, like adjust my son's sleep habits, I would contact Mariel. She is one of the best mothers I know, and an example I can only hope to follow. She was always encouraging and reminding me that each child is different and that is ok. What works for one may not work for every child.  
​
I remember going to an aquarium with her and her children and being in awe of the way she asked her kids questions. It was very evident that she was a teacher, and a very good one at that. She wasn't just asking "What do you see? What is this?"  She asked questions that had her children thinking and responding in ways I would not have thought of.