99 Balloons

Eliot Mooney was given ninety-nine days on earth. His parents, Matt and Ginny, had a birthday party on each one.

At the celebration service for their son’s life, Matt said, “Not a pulpit. Not a slick presentation. Not a best-selling book. But a six-pound boy with Trisomy 18. God found great pleasure in taking a lowly thing in the eyes of the world and showing truth.” One of Matt and Ginny's favorite verses is 2 Peter 3:8: "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years."

Eliot's story gained further attention when the 99 balloons video was shown on Oprah this week. The response was so powerful that Oprah invited Matt and Ginny to be interviewed on the show October 31st at 4pm.

Matt is a community pastor at my church and this family has a special place in my heart. Let's support them as they share the hope-filled, inspiring story of how God can redeem the greatest heartaches of our lives and use them for His purposes.

A Little Slice of American Life

Hello Friends!

Mark and I just got back from a trip to see our family. They live in a sweet, southern small town where people say y'all and ask how you're doing even if they don't know your name. Their church had a fall festival complete with pony rides and free cotton candy...

 

In a small town, you don't need a fancy place to have a festival. Just find a field and get going.

My newest nephew got his first pony ride. Don't worry--daddy held on tight the whole time!

I spent about twenty minutes doing the cake walk so I could win a homemade cupcake with pink icing and sprinkles. (I'm willing to go a long way for a little bit of sugar.)

My cousin won a Razorback football in a raffle. (The guy behind him is obviously filled with envy.)

If you had been there, I would have made sure you had at least one free hot dog, taken you on the cake walk with me (and even let you keep your cupcake if you won), and probably snapped your picture to post on my blog.

Maybe next year...

The "Do What You Can" Plan

Dear Friends,

I'm not feeling well this morning and I'm heading out on a trip this afternoon. But before I go, I wanted to share an article I wrote about two years ago for Zia magazine with you. It's called "The Do What You Can" Plan. It keeps coming to mind lately because of the craziness in my schedule so I wanted to pass it along to you too. I'd love to hear your ideas for doing what you can--I need all the advice I can get right now! (:

The "Do What You Can" Plan: Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

I am the queen of lofty goals. Around the new year I start imagining how I will exercise for an hour every morning, bond with my husband every night, and write the most brilliant book ever published within the year. However, three days into the plan, I realize my shiny new ambitions will never be realized. And while all of my good intentions are staring me in the face, I realize something is drastically wrong. Rather than providing much-needed motivation, the goals created to help me live a full, balanced life have instead become the seeds of future disappointment.

One day I was driving to work and telling myself once again, “When things slow down, I will go to the gym and work out all the time. I’ll get in shape. It will be great.” Then I think, “I’ve been telling myself this for five years. Things are never going to slow down. I’ve got to do what I can.” That was the beginning of what I like to call “The Do What You Can Plan.”

“The Do What You Can Plan” is exactly what it sounds like-you do what you can to achieve your goals. For me, this meant doing whatever little bit of exercise I could each day. If I could only fit in ten sit-ups, that’s all I would do. A year later, I’d lost the post-college weight I wanted to shed and dropped a clothing size. I was shocked that I’d actually reached my goal by doing so little. So I decided to start applying “The Do What You Can Plan” to other areas of my life and spend some time figuring out exactly what made it work. Here are a few things I’ve discovered along the way.

To read the rest click here