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
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…
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…
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…
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…
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….
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…
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;…
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…
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…
Well, first of all. We (me, Anders & Lena) made it on the home-front with Ginny & Hazel in Florida for four days. That may seem minuscule to you, but if so- you are a moron. This is huge, folks! I had tons of help and those who helped are now inscribed in my will….
When I get busy, I don’t blog. When I don’t blog, I start to think that I should. But, I’m busy- so I don’t. Ginny and Hazel are headed to Florida tomorrow to visit her grandfather. So I’m preparing to say goodbye to both of the responsible ones in our family. Hazel’s the second mom….
I am 35 now. Grey hairs abound and all the more with each mornings’ appearance. I did not drink coffee for the first 31 years of my life. I know this with a clarity I seldom have because Hazel is 4. I did not drink coffee until Hazel. Hazel didn’t sleep for her first 8…
I don’t know that I do New Year’s resolutions any more, though I think I should and harbor no ill-will toward those who do. It seems to be in vogue to not do them and so that kind of makes me want to. Anyway, I think I do more of a wishful theme for the…
Dear Uncle Influenza, You are a real S.O.B. (seriously obstinate blowhole). And this time you have done it. I have tired of the way you only come around the holidays- and not actually on them, but just after we have said goodbye to the rest of our real family and headed home to be alone…
Here’s a little update on the lay of the land from Mooney-ville these days. I don’t pretend that my little life-updates are of much consequence to you. But one of the objectives for this little narcissistic enterprise known as a blog includes putting down on paper the moments as they pass. A way to capture…
A year ago today we stepped off of a plane holding our daughter and skipping hurriedly through mazes of halls, down an escalator and into the arms of our rascals. Hazel and Anders had been without their mom and dad for 6 weeks and it almost killed us. Lena had been in a crib within…
THINGS THAT MATTER MOST:: Last year, I included in our annual list themes and items from the year that did not fit on a normal best of list. The type of things that were lived and not consumed. Here’s a grab bag of 2012’s things that mattered most: **I got sidetracked on the ramblings below…
I am a few days late on my yearend review. And that may be all you need to know about 2012. Our family of five became a family of six. Don’t be thrown, I still count my first and why wouldn’t I. This was a year of letting go. A year’s distance further down the…
What do you do to celebrate Jesus’ coming to earth? you dance. Merry Christmas from our family to you.