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Melissa Lee

@im.melissa.lee

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✨ Just a Jesus loving Mom & Photographer, who’s navigating this crazy thing called life after heartbreak, Domestic Violence and betrayal 🖤

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Such a perfect day for a wedding! I can’t believe that my little baby nephew married the love of his life today…. Full circle moment ❤️ by @im.melissa.lee

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8 days ago

I love doing life with you 🖤

More family pictures to come! by @im.melissa.lee

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12 days ago

“What do you do when you have one day off a week?”

“Oh you know… renovate a house!”

Let it be on record we solved our first “home ownership problem” and survived 😆 by @im.melissa.lee

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14 days ago

Anyone else feeling Christmas already??? Just me? 😆🎄 by @im.melissa.lee

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15 days ago

There was a moment, right in the middle of one of the hardest seasons of my life, when I stood looking out a sliding glass door over a beautiful piece of property.

Fields. Mountains. Cows. Quiet.

I watched the sun come up through those windows and disappear again at night, and something in me became very clear.

I remembered what home felt like.

Growing up in the country. Watching cars come up the road. Cows in the yard. Jumping in puddles and piles of leaves. Sleeping on the trampoline. Christmases with friends. Getting ready for dances and prom. First loves. Backyard barbecues, birthday cookouts, and the breeze moving across the land while everyone we loved gathered around.

Our house wasn’t fancy. It wasn’t big. It definitely wasn’t perfect, but it was home.

And standing there looking out that sliding glass door during such a hard season, I realized how badly I wanted that feeling back.

Not a specific house.
Not a specific place.
Just peace.

Land beneath my feet. Room to breathe. Sunrises and sunsets through my windows. Somewhere quiet, safe and mine.

At the time, I had no idea how I would ever get there. I didn’t know how I would afford a home on my own or what life would look like when everything finally settled.

But God knew.

And somehow, piece by piece, He made a way.

Tonight, after ripping out floors and working on this little house that will soon be home, I walked outside and watched the sunset over my property.

And it hit me.

This is it.

She ain’t no 90-acre ranch.

She’s little. She’s imperfect. She’s got projects everywhere and plenty that still needs some love.

But she’s mighty.

And she’s mine.

The sun will come up through my windows in the morning and go down outside them every night. I’ll have my little patch of ground, my quiet, my animals, my space to breathe, and a place where new memories can be made.

God opened the door, and I walked through it.

No one gets to hold it over my head.
No one gets to take it away from me.

Small. Quiet. Imperfect.

And so incredibly peaceful.

Turns out, my heart knew what home was supposed to feel like all along. by @im.melissa.lee

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22 days ago

Exactly how I feel today 🖤 taken in Central Point, Oregon by @im.melissa.lee

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24 days ago

Sunday soup bowls with nana and papa! #foreverfamily by @im.melissa.lee

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a month ago

Ughhh…. Young love…. It will never get old! taken in Jacksonville, Oregon by @im.melissa.lee

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a month ago

Hell, I know we’re broken
But it won’t go to waste
‘Cause there’s gold in those pieces
Thank God you didn’t throw them away
Yeah, I know you’re holding
A past full of pain
But if you look closely
There’s beauty in the cracks of the paint

‘Cause bullets and blades have left scars that won’t fade
But I like how they look on your face
And blood leaves a stain that reminds us of pain
And one day it’ll all wash away
I know your past was a God awful place
But look what it made

Hold me close
Convince me my ugly’s beautiful
‘Cause I believe you more than you’ll ever know
Keep a place for me in your centerfold
When I don’t deserve because I have

Bullets and blades have left scars that won’t fade
But I like how they look on your face
Blood leaves a stain that reminds us of pain
And one day it’ll all wash away
I know your past was a God awful place
But look what it made

Baby, look what
Baby, look what

Bullets and blades have left scars that won’t fade
But I like how they look on your face
Blood leaves a stain that reminds us of pain
And one day it’ll all wash away
Know your past was a God awful place
I know your past was a God awful place
But look what it made by @im.melissa.lee

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a month ago

Oh my sweet babes.

God blessed me beyond measure the day He gave you both to me, and I will spend the rest of my life protecting what He entrusted to my care.

I hope you always know just how deeply you are loved and just how fiercely you are protected.

I am soft with you, but make no mistake — there is a very different side of me when it comes to anyone who tries to hurt my children.

If someone mistreats you, disrespects you, tears you down, or intentionally brings pain into your life, your mama will not sit quietly and watch it happen.

I will speak up.
I will step in.
I will draw lines.
I will close doors.
And I will make damn sure you never feel like you have to face it alone.

I will protect your name when you aren’t in the room.
I will protect your heart when someone is careless with it.
I will protect your peace when someone tries to disrupt it.
And I will remind anyone who forgets that my babies are not easy targets.

There is a strength in me that only exists because I am your mother.

A strength that is gentle when you need somewhere safe to land and fierce as hell when you need someone standing between you and the world.

You are my sweet babes. My greatest blessings. Two of the most precious gifts God has ever placed in my hands.

And I take that responsibility seriously.

Love you, guide you, pray over you, stand beside you — and protect you.

Always. by @im.melissa.lee

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a month ago

Sundays…. It’s for family 🖤 by @im.melissa.lee

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a month ago

A whole year.

These pictures were taken almost a year ago, and somehow it’s already almost time for this year’s family pictures.

When I look at them now, I don’t just see us. I see a version of us who had no idea how much life was about to change.

Since then, one of my babies got braces and his smile has changed right along with him. One of my babies grew up, spread her wings, and started building a life of her own.

We’ve walked through courtrooms, heartbreak, healing, forgiveness, medical scares, endings and beginnings. The home we once shared is being sold. Relationships have broken, healed, and found their way back. And somewhere in the middle of it all, our family grew, with new people to love and new little faces woven into our lives.

Life changes so much in a year.

Houses change. People grow. Kids grow up. Chapters close.

But home was never really the walls around us.

Home has always been us.

I’ve always tried to teach my children one thing: Mom is here. I’m not going anywhere. We may get hurt, angry, lost, or shaken, but we come home. We love each other through the hard parts, and we do not give up on family.

There were moments this year when I couldn’t see what was on the other side.

But God was already there.

Taking things I thought were broken and making something beautiful from them.

Not perfect. Not untouched by pain.

Beautiful because of the healing.
Beautiful because of the growth.
Beautiful because of the mercy.

So when we take this year’s pictures, they’ll look different.

We look different.
Our family looks different.
Our lives are different.

But underneath it all, we are still us.

Still growing.
Still healing.
Still loving.
Still choosing each other.
Still believing.
Still home.

And our story is still being written. 🤍 by @im.melissa.lee

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a month ago