WRITING

Matt Mooney

Matt Mooney

Somebody See Me

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 there all along. You can learn more about Chris & Lindsey Wheeler as well as learn more about Lindsey’s book Sacred Tears at bottleoftears.com. Produced by Matthew Lyle MooneyMusic provided by Musicbed & Blue Dot Sessions.Sound effects provided by creators Freesound.org

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we are not our talents

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 what others will think of them. In addition, Jamie shares a story of when celebrating someone with a disability is actually demeaning. Listen along as we contrast these two stories and are challenged to treat persons with disability as individuals instead of as a monolithic…

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we are not our bodies. Part 2.

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 they are reading everything they have lived with their own daughter. Madeleine describes her journey throughout life and why the changes she desires have nothing to do with her autism. You can find out more about Madeleine and her newly released first novel- A Room…

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we are not our bodies. Part 1

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 relationship the current Christian culture has with disability. Along the way, they talk with author KJ Ramsey & friend, Emeka NNaka, who help challenge the cultural norms that exist around disability. Music & sound provided by Musicbed, Blue Dot Sessions & Freesound.org Script available at…

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summer

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 to whatever adult is talking to me, my head drawing a repeated triangle from locating the 3 bobbing heads while I simultaneously feign my best impression of the laid back dad & try not to tell this person what an idiot they are for trying…

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weekends with rascals

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 thing that serves us this way.  Now, I love my weekends at home and all- but it’s not a peaceful-cup-of-coffee-type of experience currently. If I had to measure, I would say it packs about the same rest as being chased by a pack of wolves….

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The Surface Dialogue Guidebook

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 to talk about- other than the razorback basketball revival- in these parts; whether it be the gal sacking your groceries or the college hipster handing you $4 coffee, so goes the surface dialogue guidebook.  It’s unwritten but just as real as the holy book itself…

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shifting gears

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 hill behind my house where within a 3-minute ride Arkansas turned into Oklahoma. Often times I would lug the unstarted motorcycle to the top of a certain steep drop off in order to mount the red machine, point it downhill and coast until max speed;…

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striving for a secret

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 you have been around me much, it does not take long to learn of certain things that come along as a part of the package- tethered to the molecules that combine to make me: At 37, I am still unable to grow any semblance of…

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from Fergie to Ferguson

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 I don’t moan on and on about the drivel that she makes me watch. Ginny admittedly loves television.  She loves awards shows.  Loves reality tv.  She once made me watch the Bachelor; she seemed happy.  I put my foot down and told her I would…

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Thankful for this gal…

By Matt Mooney | November 25, 2009

Here are some recent photos from my phone.

Tampa

By Matt Mooney | November 17, 2009

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…

The leash is longer

By Matt Mooney | November 17, 2009

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….

And the leaves keep talking

By Matt Mooney | October 27, 2009

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…

october

By Matt Mooney | October 21, 2009

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…

impossible love

By Matt Mooney | October 9, 2009

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…

thirty thanks

By Matt Mooney | October 2, 2009

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…

the latest & the greatest

By Matt Mooney | September 23, 2009

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…

the Walmarts post

By Matt Mooney | September 14, 2009

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…

the latest happenings

By Matt Mooney | September 12, 2009

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…