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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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….
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,…