Tampa
Because my wife has threatened to out me if I did not mention something, here I go. I am leaving tomorrow headed to Tampa, Florida to attend a banquet put on by Family First. I will be receiving an award named after Tony Dungy’s father (Wilbur L. Dungy). I am more than flattered and honestly humbled. It is a bit overwhelming, as it feels somewhat like being handed the World Series Championship in the first inning of game 1. With that said, it is a great testament to my son and my God. Ginny disagrees, but I feel as if…
The leash is longer
MM: At our Dr.’s appointment last week, after 9 weeks of complete bed rest, Ginny was given the green light to get off the couch for “1 to 2 hours a day.” Needless to say, she is quite happy with this turn of events; she was most excited to be able to cook a meal. Ginny still cannot be left alone with Hazel; so, her life changing freedom hours have not equated to much change on my end. Our friends and family are a constant at our house. They’ve got to be tired of us, but they show no signs…
And the leaves keep talking
MM: It has been a while. Ginny’s bed rest has not really allowed much time for blogging- or going to the bathroom for that matter. She has a Dr.’s appointment tomorrow. It has now been 6 weeks and 5 days of bed rest, but who’s counting? Me, that’s who. February, the month she’s due, seems more like a speck on a distant horizon than a reality, almost a little cruel to actually dwell on. But getting through a day is a victory, and a good thing for baby #3. I always prepare scripted answers to questions I know I will…
october
gm: october is a great month. leaves are changing & falling. football is in the air. pumpkins on the porch & pumpkin bread, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin muffins in the kitchen. lately, when folks come over to help bedrest life happen they have on jeans & boots & scarves. everyone is buying candy & working on their halloween costumes. and…october is when hazel was born, when i was born & when eliot went home to be with Jesus. yep, it’s a big month around here. hazel turned 1 last wednesday & on saturday we had a little party at our house….
impossible love
there’s a line from a movie i have never seen that my dear friend often quotes when we are talking about being moms. the mom in this movie looks at her daughter, sighs, & says “impossible love”. if you are a mom, my guess is that resonates with you. how can you even describe what loving your kid looks like? what it feels like? it bursts, aches, frustrates, rejoices, thanks, tires, energizes. it can make you feel crazy one moment & more sane than you’ve ever felt the next. i think about this often as i attempt to mother eliot…
thirty thanks
gm: A friend of mine keeps a blog completely of lists…and I love it. Not sure why, but it intrigues me and even when the topic is seemingly not that interesting, it is really interesting. So this post is a little random list of some of my most recent bedrest observations. I do not presume that this is interesting, but I guess you never know. Things in my normal life that I usually take for granted, but bedrest has reminded me that I am really really really grateful for: 1. An incredible husband (think I’m just saying that? wrong, see…
the latest & the greatest
gm: the latest: so what i affectionately call the “bedrest journey” continues at the mooney household. we went in to the doctor last week & there was no change with the placenta previa. we left there with a better understanding of what is going on, since the info received before pretty much was in the midst of a scary unexpected trip to the hospital. at this appointment, we were able to sit & ask our doctor (side note: this incredible, God-send woman who delivered eliot & hazel & has walked through a lot with us) to explain further what happened…
the Walmarts post
MM: I insisted that we give some sort of update on life even though Ginny just wanted to release some apparent, pent-up anger. I am glad she is writing. I am currently happy about all things that occupy her while simultaneously involving little to no movement. Read the post prior to this one if you did not know that Ginny has been placed on bed rest. She is doing well- although the most difficult part by far, for her, has been the mandatory hands-off approach to parenting Hazel. I am tired, but smiling. Yes, we’ve bonded. Hazel always loves the…
the latest happenings
GM: Very rarely in this life are we still. Quiet. Calm. Listening. The merry-go-round of life just goes & goes, only faster, never slower & all you hear is the hum of it going round & round & the loud background circus music. I’m nearly 5 months pregnant with an 11 month daughter, a dreamer husband, a little small business, friends that have not been called back, a home full of empty walls & a floor that needs to be repaired & laundry piled up…well, you get the idea. The carousel has been spinning & spinning for quite some time…
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…