our extraordinary ordinary

Melissa Furniss Writer-Photographer-Artist Greenville, SC Rockin' it with Jasper Furniss since 2005 Mama to the famously beautiful Crosby + Finn This is a small attempt to share my God story with as much vulnerability, humanity and grace as possible. I hope it helps you feel less alone in this crazy, beautiful world. "I just try to live every day as if I've deliberately come back to this one day--to enjoy it, as if it was the full final day of my extraordinary, ordinary life. We're all traveling through time together, every day of our lives. All we can do is do our best to relish this remarkable ride." -About Time

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Happy, happy birthday to this beautiful, little soul. Our sweet Crosby has the heart of Jesus beating in his chest. He sits with me and pats my back when I’m throwing up in the bathroom. He cups my face with his tiny little hands while we’re sleeping side by side. He’ll look at me in my pineapple pj’s—with my hair flung up in a towel and my face covered in a mud mask—and say with complete sincerity, “Mama! You look beautiful!”. Cros is and always has been an extraordinary little human. I still can’t believe we get to do life with him every day. ——— Parenting is a really hard calling. It’s unpredictable and exhausting and all-encompassing (Most days I look like Tom Hanks in Cast Away). And we’re just a few years in—I can’t even wrap my head around the decades of parenthood still to come! (Although, let’s be real. Toddlerhood is CRAY. If I never had to clean up another Target aisle after a tantrum-induced Goldfish massacre, I’d count myself #blessed.) But I digress. When I stop to zoom out on the big picture, it’s impossible to miss: THESE ARE THE GOOD OLD DAYS. These are the days that shape us and refine us and make us hardcore, belly laugh. These are the days we get to teach our children how to see the world with wonder and adventure and empathy, only to re-learn those lessons ourselves. These are the days that the gospel—the concepts and scriptures I’ve studied a hundred other times in my life—become more real and tangible than they’ve ever been before. Yes, these days will become our sweetest memories. So while they’re still today, I’m gonna snuggle with my boys. And eat birthday cake. And have a water gun fight. And tell them I love them way too many times. And watch Peppa Pig. And memorize every. single. tiny. detail of our extraordinary, ordinary life. (at Greenville, South Carolina)

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💯 our favorite stop on our LA excursion. “There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?” ———— #DunderMifflin #JimandPam #CasaDeHalpert #Scranton #DesertIsland #RyanStartedTheFire #YouKnowWhoElseDidntGoToBusinessSchool? #LeBronJamesTracyMcGradyKobeBryant #IWasJustUmImInLoveWithYou #ImSorryIMisinterpretedOurFriendship #ThisIsntEvenAStopwatch #ItsADigitalThermometer #TheLittleCarsGoInTheCompactSpot #CallJamesPAlbiniSeeIfHeHandlesHateCrimes #IBraveheart #IfYouWereDrivingATransAmYouWouldBeTheSmartestIdiotInTheWholeWorld #ThatIsOurBuilding #AndWeSellPaper #LoveDoesAdventures (at Dunder Mifflin Paper Company)

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I hope the chief doesn’t mind that I’m 14 years late for my internship. 😬 #GreysAnatomy #SeattleGrace #GreySloanMemorial #TheFurnsTakeLA ——— “It doesn't matter how tough we are. Trauma always leaves a scar. It follows us home, it changes our lives. Trauma messes everybody up. But maybe that's the point. All the pain and the fear and the crap. Maybe going through all that is what keeps us moving forward. It's what pushes us. Maybe we have to get a little messed up, before we can step up.” (at Los Angeles, California)

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Ann Perkins’ house & JJ’s Diner, which—brace yourself—DOES NOT SERVE BREAKFAST FOOD. Because apparently the world isn’t depressing enough. 😉 “We need to remember what's important in life: friends, waffles, work. Or waffles, friends, work. Doesn't matter... but work is third.” #TheFurnsTakeLA #ParksandRec #AnnYouRainbowInfusedSpaceUnicorn #YouBeautifulRuleBreakingMoth (at Los Angeles, California)

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Okay, last few places, I swear... Jim & Pam’s rehearsal dinner spot! Fun fact: it’s the same place Mia hears Sebastian play their song for the first time in La La Land. More important fun fact: this restaurant serves the yummiest crab-stuffed mushrooms IRL. Someone should make a movie just about dem shrooms. Hollywood—you killin’ it, gurrr! “For a really long time that's all I had. Little moments with a girl who saw me as a friend. And a lot of people told me I was crazy to wait this long for a date with a girl I work with. But I think even then I knew that... I was waiting for my wife.” ————— #TheFurnsTakeLA #TheOffice #JimandPam #LaLaLand #MiaandSebastian #LookWhoseNameWasInTheRoomTheWholeTime (at The Smoke House Restaurant)

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“Welcome to the real world. It sucks! You’re gonna love it.” #FRIENDS #CentralPerk #PrincessConsuelaAndCrapBag (at Burbank, California)

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“Gladiators don’t run. They fight, they slay dragons, they wipe off the blood, they stitch up their wounds, and they live to fight another day.” #Scandal #Gladiator #OliviaPope #PresidentGrant (at Los Angeles, California)

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“It is a love based on giving and receiving, as well as having and sharing. And the love that they give and have is shared and received. And through this having and giving and sharing and receiving, we too can share and love and have... and receive.” #FRIENDS #CentralPerk #WBStudioTour (at Burbank, California)

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“You really like him, don’t you?” “Yeah!” “Well, okay then. Just calm down.” “I just don’t want to do or say anything else that’s gonna be remotely moronic.” “I’m afraid once your heart is involved, it all comes out in Moron.” • • • #StarsHollow #GilmoreGirls #TheFurnsTakeLA (at Burbank, California)

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“I'm terrified that I'm going to make a hundred wrong decisions to keep you guys from living the perfect lives that you deserve, but I will protect you fiercely, and I will always sing to you when you can't sleep, and I will always be excited to hear you laugh.” ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ #ThisIsUs #PearsonFamilyHome ⠀⠀ (Yes, we got permission from the homeowner to take pictures. Kindest lady ever. She must be a Pearson.) (at Eagle Rock, Los Angeles)

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Stop number one... “My boyfriend doesn't believe in banks. It's early in the relationship. I'm still shaving above the knee. Know what I mean?” “He doesn't have a life plan. He doesn't even have a day plan. I once found a note that he wrote to himself that said, “Put on pants”... followed by a question mark.” “I got your text. When you’re going through a “Taylor Swift-like range of emotions,” I should come over, right?” “You like me? You like my personality?” “I was surprised too.” “Put on some pants or at least some really high socks.” “Really high socks it is, then!” “Look—every day you show me, in your own way, how you care about me. Like when you pick up rubber bands on the sidewalk.” “You care about burritos more than my children?” “You're putting me in a real tough spot right now!” Where’s that girl? With Jess! New Girl loft, baby!!! #TheFurnsTakeLA #NewGirl (at Arts District of Los Angeles)

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The Furns Take LA: TV Edition #YouAintReady ... (at Los Angeles, California)

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Hello, Pacific Ocean. It’s really, really nice to meet you. #BucketList #LoveDoesAdventures #TheCalifornians (at Windansea Beach)

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Praise the Lord for selahs and new places. We freaking need this. #lovedoesadventures #finally #calibaby

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Cros staring at a sand dollar = me trying to figure out adulthood (at Tybee Island, Georgia)

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It’s been a few weeks of sad, shocking grief. So many big questions, and so few comforting answers. I find myself feeling everything and understanding nothing. It’s confusing. It’s disorienting. It’s essentially a suck-fest. Left to my own devices, I’d have the curtains drawn and the covers over my head, like, forever and ever, amen. Truly, socially awkward hermit crabs envy my burrowing skills. (Side note: Anyone know a place that delivers three-tiered cakes made of pizza? Preferably with a side order of chocolate cake. Asking for a friend.) But for one moment in my emotional Upside Down, I remembered that Cheryl Strayed quote— “There’s always a sunrise and always a sunset and it’s up to you to choose to be there for it. Put yourself in the way of beauty.” I can’t answer every question or be a flawless mom, wife, believer, or friend—especially in this season. But I can open the curtains. I can turn my eyes to beauty. I can hold fast to Abba and believe Him still to be unshakably in love with me and His Church. I can fully trust what He says. “I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.” Isaiah 45:2. “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Genesis 28:15. ““Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.” Isaiah 54:10. I’m a broken, imperfect person. But reading about His perfect love makes me brave. So one breath at a time, may I put myself in the way of beauty— beautiful hope, beautiful authenticity, beautiful trust... Beautiful Jesus. Praying the same for you. (at Greenville, South Carolina)

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I’ll never get tired of singing and dancing with this goober! Mama loves you, little showman. 💕 #THISisthegreatestshow (at Greenville, South Carolina)