a plea for nuance
My post-election social media feeds are half-filled with exclamatory proclamations of a country now headed to greater grandeur than it has known, while another half of the updates, statuses and links swear impending doom for women, children and wage earners. We are a bit prone to say things such as, “these are the most divided times” and such- and I am sure there are even numbers out there to back this up. But I have studied just enough history to know about the civil war and civil rights and…
for the day the calendar says it's been 8 years.
Today, I will go to the same restaurant, being sure to walk the same route- as best I can remember. And that’s just it, I hate myself for forgetting something about that day- but I can’t recall, what I can’t recall. about the day that changed it all. I tell myself to let it go, but that only serves to swell the guilt. I can picture well his almond eyes. But I’m not sure if that is from the pictures or actually stolen from those cherished moments I beheld them. There is no way to love those gone in a…
Crawl. Walk. Run.
It’s been 4 weeks since I have written. Or bathed. It’s been 4 weeks since Ginny’s back surgery. Thanks to all who have served us so well. Meals have been made, laundry folded. Sure, it’s a bit of a downer when you realize that a friend of the opposite gender folded your tightey-whiteys. I haves opted to frame this panicked moment of comprehension as the moment our friendship grew larger (you know who you are & there are more than one of you I am afraid). I am also suddenly motivated to going shopping for new underwear. Oh and I…
Almost. Not yet.
Sometimes I write for you. Sometimes I write for me. This is most likely the latter. It’s been quite a season in the Land ‘O Mooneys. Many of you know that while on our trip to Michigan, Ginny re-injured her back. And so her vacation headed more toward Purgatory than Petoskey. [That ole trick that we first learned two years back whereby the disc decides to come out of place and push on the nerve and Ginny winces and leans over and keeps mommy-ing even though she is in a lot of pain and on a lot of meds.] Last…
Kindergarten.
Blonde hair poured over the top of the purple, floral-covered backpack that swallowed up most the rest of her, until her legs peeked out from the skirt she had laid out with precision the night before. This would be her outfit for the first day of kindergarten. She has chosen her own clothes since sometime around two. Ginny long ago decided to pick her battles and clothes didn’t make the list. We felt a bit a sheepish in her Punky Brewster stage but she has developed quite the eye for fashion over three years of fine-tuning. You see the way…
in the midst
Tomorrow my beloved and our three amigos will pile into Big Red and we will point that bad boy north; our annual summer voyage to Petoskey, Michigan takes about 14.5 hours according to the Google. But Google is a liar; we hustle to do it in double time. Ginny will bring out the crafts, games and ideas she has been piecing together since last year’s trip. She will patiently answer each and every question, move to the back to pick up of dropped toys and employee ninja-fairy mind tricks to keep the kids from asking how much longer. I will…
Guest Post:: Atlas Girl (Emily Wierenga)
If someone sat me down and pointed the barrel near my vicinity and asked me what was my favorite genre of books….then, and only then, I would offer up “memoir” in a muffled tone. Thereafter, I would stand up and kick his butt with some Ozark ninja moves that I learned only from being on the receiving end when I was younger (it’s my story, go with it). I don’t like to be pinned down on questions such as these, but be it known that I love memoir and I believe the world needs more believers to tell authentic stories….
when it gets hard and you are who you hate
I am kicking Ginny out of our house for 2.5 days come Tuesday. She deserves more. But this currently seems tantamount to cresting Everest- so we’ll celebrate instead of mourn the fact that 2.5 days is a gold medal moment. I am the very dad that scoffed at fathers who acted like they were super heroes when they took care of their own kids…behaving as though they had done something worthy of a cookie. Or- worse yet- call dad a “babysitter” and I would verbally molly wop you upside the head. “it’s really more fatherhood than babysitting don’t you think?” …
books, clubs & imaginary conversations
When you take long breaks from blogging, you have stuff to pass on to the world- the one you actively ignored for a while. Sorry ’bout that. My soul thanks you for your grace. 1.) I am working on a children’s book. Admittedly, this is sort of like saying, “I am working on a rocket.” It takes a LONG time and it may NEVER fly and I DON’T understand publishers; especially the ones who don’t see me as Hemingway reincarnated. I prefer to keep all thing uncertain to my chest. So this is a big break through (or something…
on chasing, tickling and not writing
It has been a while. I know your life must have seemed incomplete without my typed- up musings. I see that you have found a way through my absence. As have I. My last blog post ranted on the cyclical nature of blogging and the whole phenomenon of the fear of being quiet. So, I decided to swallow my own medicine. To walk away from the blog for a while. Though it seems trivial, even silly, to admit…..I like writing. I want to be a writer. I am a writer. I want everyone to like me. I want publishers to…
Matt & Ginny start the second half of season 1 with a seemingly simply question: What is a good life? An entire episode focused on the life of a man known as Bulldog– told through the eyes of his brother, Chris Wheeler. It is a journey of Chris beginning to see a person who was…
In the age of television talent shows galore, our hosts attend one that manages to flip the narrative of what a talent show is & could be. Chelsea, Jordan & Claire want to sing at the bEfriend talent show hosted by 99 Balloons, but to do so they will have to overcome their fear of…
Matthew Lyle & Ginny Mooney continue the discussion of healing and the church by delving into the lives of their friends with disability who do not want to be healed, cured or fixed. When they stumble upon an article, written by Madeleine Ryan, entitled Dear Parents: Your Child with Autism is Perfect it is though…
When the loss of a child becomes a nationwide, prayer movement to #wakeupolive what does it say about the church and its relationship to healing? to suffering? In the first part of a two-part series discussing healing & the church, Matthew Lyle Mooney along with his wife, Ginny Mooney, set out to discuss the awkward…
Summer is here. At 5, 6 and 8 we got rascals riding bikes and swimming at a skill level whereby we are not in constant stress. I told Ginny sometime some summer not long ago that I was done going to pools. With 3 that cannot swim alone, I can only act like I’m listening…
I’ve worked hard to develop a new habit of carving out Monday mornings to sit and think and pray and grasp for some semblance of sanity before I cannonball into the week that will eat my lunch if I let it. It’s a rebellious act of counter-intuition as weekends are supposed to be the very…
We’ve reached that point in these beloved Ozarks where we’re just all waiting around for the good weather. We get all four seasons here; just enough of winter to know we don’t want to move north; which we needed no help knowin’. Being bone-tired of Ole Man Winter being a hanger-on is all you’re allowed…
I often look at my backside in the mirror. I move quickly past the place that you imagined I was seeking and find the splotchy spot just above the bend of my right leg. It’s my biggest scar- remnants of days I spent riding my Honda 80 dirt bike for hours on end along the…
Check it out, Ginny & Lena are in the current edition of National Geographic. A while back, a wonderful photographer followed our family around for a few days in order to capture photos illustrative of an article on brain development…fascinating article and wonderful pictures (we think). _____________________________________ If…
Against my better judgment, Ginny convinced me last Monday to sit beside her and watch the American Music Awards. I begrudgingly complied- mainly due to the fact that I love her and if she invites me to sit close to her, I do it- every time. I’m a sucker that way, but that doesn’t mean…