A pair of siblings who thought they were heading to their single mom's friend's home for a surprise birthday couldn’t contain their excitement when they discovered their own possessions and realized she had purchased their dream home. Hard-working mom Melanie has always put her children first, moving five hours across Texas from Wichita Falls to Houston in 2018 to pick up work. With no friends or family in Houston, Melanie later admitted that she struggled to make ends meet as she worked as a respiratory therapist at a local children's hospital for around two years. But in early 2020, the determined mom made a huge call to help put her family on a stronger financial footing. As the pandemic was hitting New York, the area was in desperate need of respiratory experts and medical staff. So Melanie drove to Oklahoma to drop her children off with their grandparents, accepted a FEMA-funded position in New York, and headed to what was, at the time, seen as the epicenter of the virus in America. The 33-year-old said she had nearly tripled her pay in the high-risk role, working 23 days without a break, and then taking just one day off a week for the rest of her three-month position. Having then returned to Texas, Melanie worked to tackle the virus in San Antonio, during which time her improved financial position meant she could sign the papers on a new-build home for her and her children, Zachary and Kairi.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 What does that say?
00:02 This is our house!
00:04 This is our house!
00:06 Melanie had just separated from her husband and moved to Houston with her kids to work as a respiratory therapist.
00:13 I was really in a dark place, I think. Really scared.
00:17 The whole drive was so ugly outside and then as soon as we started coming into the Montgomery County area,
00:23 it was just beautiful. The sun came out, the trees were just so gorgeous, it was just very green and lush.
00:31 I just knew it was a sign that everything was going to be okay.
00:37 But Melanie was barely making ends meet, so when she had the chance to triple her pay by temporarily working in New York during the pandemic,
00:46 she decided to go, leaving her kids with their grandparents.
00:50 I was terrified. I was so scared. I didn't know if I was going to see my kids again.
00:55 On my hotel room mirror, I had had sticky notes of all the bills that I had accumulated through my separation.
01:03 It was my motivation. I put myself in the mindset that I was just there to work and it was going to be worth it in the end.
01:10 I had this goal to buy my kids a house.
01:15 When my kids were really little, they did have a house and they did have a yard and a trampoline.
01:20 They had everything that they could have wanted when they were really, really little.
01:23 I just wanted that for them again and I just wanted them to have a safe place.
01:31 And eventually, when she came home in a better financial situation, she was able to give them that safe place.
01:39 I told my kids that we were going to go and surprise one of my friends.
01:46 As I'm driving up the foothills and I see all these beautiful trees and I'm coming into the community, I can see the lake in the background.
01:56 And then there's this little, the entryway has a little waterfall and the name of the community.
02:02 Oh my gosh, I just started crying because never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be able to even consider living in a place like this.
02:12 But now, they'd all be calling this place home.
02:17 Are we going to surprise her?
02:21 Huh? Yeah, we're going to surprise her.
02:23 Oh, Mom, look at this.
02:24 Huh?
02:25 We're going to surprise her?
02:27 Yeah.
02:28 But please be real quiet.
02:30 Mom, she has the same neck as you.
02:33 She has a what?
02:34 She has the same neck as me.
02:36 She has the same piano.
02:37 Oh, that's me.
02:38 Wait, this is all our stuff.
02:40 Mom, look at all that stuff.
02:41 What do you mean?
02:42 This is, she, we have this.
02:45 She took our piano.
02:46 We have this.
02:47 You have it?
02:48 Yeah.
02:49 No way.
02:50 You have the suitcase.
02:51 Wait, what?
02:52 You have the suitcase.
02:53 Come here.
02:54 Everything in here is ours.
02:55 No, it's not.
02:56 This is the same thing.
02:59 This, this, this, this, that.
03:02 What?
03:03 No, it's not.
03:05 No, we have this.
03:07 You are crazy.
03:08 Mom, look outside.
03:10 Can we go to the surprise house?
03:14 What?
03:15 Is she going to surprise us?
03:16 No.
03:17 Zap it.
03:18 Can we go jump on a trampoline?
03:23 Yeah.
03:24 Okay.
03:25 Can I use the zap?
03:26 Zap and Kyrie.
03:27 What does that say?
03:29 Zap and Kyrie.
03:30 This is our house.
03:31 This is our house.
03:32 This is our house.
03:33 That's when it got me.
03:34 Every time I watch that video, it gets to me because my son, my kids are amazing kids.
03:43 I have the best kids and my son has definitely been there, there a lot.
03:50 It was such a special moment and it ended up working out for us and I'm so grateful for it.
03:58 We hear trampolines.
03:59 That's our trampoline too, yeah.
04:01 Hurry, go check out your new room.
04:04 Why don't you guys all look at your rooms?
04:06 You're the best mom ever.
04:10 The kids, they see what you're doing.
04:12 At the end of the day, that's what's important.
04:14 They love to look at that video all the time and they know how hard I worked for them.
04:18 And I think that's what's important, that they know that you're doing your best for them.
04:22 This is the best day of my life.
04:25 I know.