4 for friends
Blogging has not been on the radar the last few days. Fall is shaping up to be a bit wild. Well, that is an understatement. Great things on the calendar in days ahead- a lot of them. It’s a pet peave of mine when people tell me how busy they are: One, we’re only as busy as we want to be. Two, am I supposed to be saddened or impressed? Thus, I will not subject you to the very thing I despise. Here’s a list of the latest: #1 I am headed to Ireland on Monday. I will be in…
a plea for Vanya
This is a special window of the year. These precious calendar days when Eliot was here on earth with us. 99 of them. Holy moments tallying the sunrises and sunsets. July 20th- October 27th. We have so much to remember and to be thankful for; never enough. And I am left still sorting out my life in the wake of losing my son. Don’t for a moment think I am all better, I am not. Better is not the destination for the jaunt my life has taken. Instead of trying to get better, I am trying to live out the…
A response to Patty
I make it a point to not respond to idiots who profess Christ. There are not enough hours in a day, and I get in all a dither and my blood boils and that can’t be good, so I steer away from attempting to set straight blowhard losers who hide behind a Jesus they obviously do not care enough to listen to. And if you think I am too hard and ungraceful, then you most likely have a point, and all I can offer up is that I am a work in progress. That and none of my words thus…
Home and Away
We made it back to the beautiful hot mess that is Fayetteville. We ditched the St. Louis stopover on the return trip and opted to push through the drive back, walking in the door at midnight- 17.5 hours later. So that must be what a hangover feels like. Hazel & Anders have been perfect angels since we have been home, only serving by way of juxtaposition to reinforce just exactly how unruly they had been. After three weeks, you kind of forget what your kids are like when they’re happy. They loved the time in Michigan, and we crafted such…
Tips for Trips:: 5 reminders when traveling with little persons
Our time in Michigan has been all over the map. We jump back in Big Red Sunday to head south on a 16-hour, two-day jaunt that we are anticipating with feelings typically reserved for dental visits. Along with a social media fast on the trip, I saw this sticker parked across the road from our cottage on day 1 & decided it was right. It has been good. It has been bad. There have been huge smiles & huge tantrums. Lena is doing great, recovering from surgery well and seeming to be in her Michigan groove for the most part….
Rascal Roadtrip:: Post-Op & Michigan Bound
Well, I am thrilled to say that Lena’s surgery is behind us. Thanks for the prayers and concern. She is a tough little girl. I do not mean this in any way lightly, but she would not have made it to our arms if she were not. For the most part, the surgery went fairly smooth. Her awakening from the anesthesia was anything but and we think that she awoke with the desire for Ukraine to her voice again. Ginny and I both had the cold sweats and tried to not maim the nearby staff. They were oh-so kind- all…
Rascal Roadtrip:: St. Louis Surgery
I have decided to quit the twitt (and all social media) for our month of travel. But I will be blogging, and today I am using the blog for periodic updates on Lena’s surgery. We made it to St. Louis, and everyone but Lena actually succeeded in getting sleep last night. We were all in the same hotel room, so I had my doubts, but 80% of us slept; the six hours in the car were passed with maps, games and movies. Lena just went back for surgery, and I am probably just typing to pass the nervous energy. The…
sexy's not coming back.
We’re wheels up tomorrow, let the rascal roadtrip begin. I plan on blogging all kinds of great pictures and making you all jealous with beautiful prose on how much fun our family is having and how my tan is coming along. As reality sets in I will probably not blog for weeks on end, owing to a lack of sleep as I rock a rascal, try not to cuss and wonder what we were thinking. We’re throwing our circus in Big Red (the mini van) and driving to Michigan; with a pit stop in St. Louis for eye surgery. We’re…
6 days. 6 years.
The blog went down due to who knows what. We have fought the good fight to be back up and expect to go viral any second now. In addition to that excuse, I have been doing some writing extracurricular to the blog, and thus have had little left in the tank for the bloggy blog. But you know what, no more excuses. Let’s do this… We head out on the RASCAL ROADTRIP in 6 days. The first leg of the journey entails an eye surgery for Miss Lena on the 19th in St. Louis. We would appreciate your prayers. Lena’s…
an update from Ginny
Ginny posted recently on our kiddos- complete with a video performance by every rascal. Somehow, these little moments captured on her phone seem to provide so much insight on each of them. I thought I would just point others to it since I found it so fun. And, if that doesn’t sell you on it, well Lena crawled last week and she documents that. LENA IS CRAWLING. If you would have told me that 5 months ago, I would have had you admitted or slapped you back to 1987. We’re so set on loving her no matter what- that sometimes…
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…