Growing

Glory Girl Friends, 

I have had many of you ask why the Foundation is having a separate drive to collect donations for our Love Totes this year instead of having you bring your donations to the Bunco event.  I'm glad you asked!  In short it is because the Foundation's causes have grown!  Our two main serving areas are the Love Totes and the housing we provide to families in need (read here for more information on the Glory House).  Each of these opportunities to serve has grown over the last couple of years so we are expanding our opportunities for you to give! 

First, let me explain what the Love Totes are and why they are important.  Each Love Tote is a re-usable shopping bag that is filled with all kinds of items such as snacks, hand lotion, crossword/game books, magazines, candy, gum, mints, fuzzy socks, lap blankets, hand sanitizer, nail care sets, and sleep masks.  The purpose of these Totes is to bring a little love and ray of hope to families in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit at Arkansas Children's Hospital during the holidays.

The Glory Girl Foundation relies on YOU to donate the items to fill the Love Totes each year!  After we collect the donations we carefully divide all of the items and assemble the Totes so that each Tote is roughly the same.  The Totes are then taken to the CVICU to be enjoyed by the families.  

Providing the Love Totes to our families exemplifies the very heart of what our organization stands for.  But now, in addition to the Love Totes, we will also need to begin to focus on the monthly budget that must be met in order to meet the monthly expenses of the Glory House.  This year we are doing a separate drive for the Love Totes so that we can allow the purpose of our Christmas Bunco event on Friday, December 9, to raise funds for the monthly expenses of the Glory House.  

I hope this helps explain why we are doing things a little differently this year.  We are just tweaking things to allow you a greater opportunity to bless these families over the holidays - and we are beyond thankful for your continued support!  

HERE IS WHAT WE ARE ASKING YOU TO DO..

FIRST - remember these families as you are at Walmart or Dollar Tree this week!  Pick up a few of the items on the donation list and bring them by Heritage United Methodist, Stirred Catering and Coffee, or Morton Family Dentistry in Van Buren.  If you are in Alma you can drop them at Trimmer's Hair Salon.  You can drop off items through this Friday, November 18th.  

AND THEN -  come play Bunco with us on Friday, December 9th, at Madam's Main Attraction in Van Buren ($20/ticket at the door) and help us continue to make the Glory House available for families in need!  I will be posting a Christmas Bunco Facebook event in the next few days - make sure and respond that you will be there!  Stay tuned as I announce some awesome businesses who are donating prizes this year!  We will have great food as always (hint: Stirred Coffee and Catering) and, as always, lots of laughing and fun!

The Foundation is able to love and bless hurting families because of you!  As long as there are families that have been traumatized and displaced and heartbroken, I want us to push ourselves to give more.  Thank you for growing with us to meet the needs in our backyard!

See you on December 9th!

Shield

But you, O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high. Psalm 3:3

This scripture has permeated almost every inch of my journey since Glory was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome in 2010.  Actually, God has been speaking through this scripture since we suffered our first miscarriage 10 years ago.  After that first bitter taste of pain a friend sent me a card expressing that she was praying the God of Psalm 3:3 would "lift up my head" and restore His promises to me.  God's Word came alive through that simple connection and would continue to reveal God's loving heart.

I held fast to Psalm 3:3 throughout my three pregnancies that followed and thought it even more significant after we named our youngest Glory (who was our fourth pregnancy and our second surviving child).  The significance of her name - Glory - seemed to be the culmination of what this scripture had for me.

A few weeks ago God spoke and revealed the significance of the "shield" reference in the scripture.  How could I have missed God acting as my shield from paralyzing grief during those years filled with not only intense pain but also immeasurable joy? 

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.  Isaiah 53:4

But you, O Lord!  You are a shield around me.  You shielded me from grief that would destroy me.  Your shield was wide during the days immediately following Glory's death.  Your shield narrowed in the following months as You brought me - from great pain caused by great love - to a place closer to You.  You have perfectly shielded me from the sword of depression and all-consuming grief.  

I want you to show Love, not offer sacrifices.  I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.  Hosea 6:6

I will NOT be ashamed of the joy that has resulted.  Your joy is my strength!  Joy that would be impossible if I was not under the provision of Your shield.  Allowing grief to consume me could never pay the price for what You have done.  That is not what you have required - you desire our heart above sacrifice.  

Because of your shield.  I am free. 

Enjoying living under the provision of His shield today.

Scarred

I have a message of hope to share with you today.

Quite a few years ago, before Glory was born, I had a sweet friend who lost her toddler-age son to an illness.  As she went through what was, I'm sure, the hardest part of her life, I followed her story as she displayed courage and strength.  Since her son's death we have communicated a few times but the seasons of our lives took us in different directions.

What she had went through, I thought, was the worst thing that could possibly happen to a mother.  When I thought of her son's death, I only saw darkness.  As far as I knew, if your child passed away, your life was over. There could be no more happiness for that mother.  No more joy.

Oh, how wrong I was.  I could only see one part of my friend's story.  I assumed the death of a child was an event that happened, defeated you - end of story.

I want to tell you today - I have been blessed, friends, to get to meet one amazing little girl. And the fulfillment of her earthly purpose was only the beginning of my story.  I want to tell you that today I have greater joy than I have ever had.  I am scarred forever by love.

This is amazing grace...

This is unfailing love...

That You would take my place...

That You would bear my cross.

These lyrics by Phil Wickham spoke to me this morning.  What do you think is impossible today?  What do you think you could never survive?  I want to know!  Because I want to tell you that an unexplainable joy comes in the morning.  

Be patient, friends, and you will be scarred by a love that will bring you through the impossible...

Resolutions

I am one of those people who put their Christmas tree up right after Halloween.  I mean, Thanksgiving is great and all, but this girl has food issues, so Thanksgiving really just stresses me out!  I want to go straight into Christmas and the magic of it all.  I love sitting in my living room with just the soft glow of the lights.  Now, since I put my tree up so early, come Christmas morning, and all the presents have been opened, Santa has come and gone, and we have finally picked up all the trash, it is now time to take the tree down.  Christmas is over people!  Let’s get it packed up and back in the closet, Momma is DONE.  After I get everything put away, I do start to feel a little sad, my soft little twinkling lights are gone, and the living room seems so bare.  Then I have to think, wait a minute, this is a clean slate.  There is a New Year coming, and a New Year means RESOLUTIONS! 

            I LOVE the idea of resolutions, for about one hot minute.  I start to think oh, I want to eat clean, I want to exercise for longer than two months, I want to be more patient, I want to finish my Bible study in a timely manner (I can easily turn a 6 week Bible study into a 6 month one), I want to read more.  I make ALL THESE GRAND PLANS, I play it up so big in my head, BUT the closer it gets to the first Monday in January, (because ALL life changes must begin on a Monday), I start to rethink every single resolution, however, this year, I do have one I really want to try hard to keep.  I want to read 52 books this year, so I want to share with you a few books that I am reading, and a couple that are my absolute most favorites.

The Dovekeepers, by Alice Hoffman

Forget the miniseries, I watched the first five minutes and it was so different from the book, I turned it off and deleted it off of my DVR.  This is THE.BEST.BOOK I have ever read.  It is based on the ancient historian Josephus recorded account of the Roman siege of the Jewish settlement of Masada, where two women and five children survive.  The story’s focus is four strong and courageous women, and how their lives brought them to Masada.

Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes by Denise Grover Swank

This was a free Kindle book, so needing something to read, I decided to download it.  There are eight books currently in this series, and it is such a fun read, I finished all eight in just a couple of weeks.  This is the type of book that had me laughing out loud and staying up way past my bedtime to read one more chapter. 

Girl at the End of the World: My Escape from Fundamentalism in Search of Faith with a Future by Elizabeth Esther

This book kept popping up on people’s reading list, so I decided to give it a try.  The book is an account of Elizabeth’s life growing up in a fundamentalist Christian church.  This book brings with it an entire array of emotions, be ready to have your heartbreak for her, and then you will find yourself laughing, but it is a book that you will find yourself thinking about for days.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

I have not read this one yet, but Goodreads keeps telling me I am going to love it.  I LOVED Gone Girl, and this book promises to deliver a great suspense too.

A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband “Master” by Rachel Held Evans

I have not read this one either.  It popped up after I finished reading Girl at the End of the World, and after reading the summary, I was highly curious.  Rachel Held Evans decides to take a year and live the biblical definition of womanhood. 

These are just a few of my favorites, and what I am getting ready to read.  What do I need to add to my list, I have forty-eight more to go before the end of the year, and I am always looking for suggestions? What are some of your resolutions, or do you even bother? 

Shannon

Why Love Totes

One of the best experiences in life is when someone comes alongside you and shares your passion as if it were her own.  That is what Shannon Holmes has done.  Our hearts desires are the same - to love God's people because He has loved us.  But Shannon has chosen to channel that love through the Glory Girl Foundation and work for it's cause.  I could not do what I do without her, and I'm so glad she has chosen to write today about why we do our Love Totes at Christmas: 

I never had the honor of meeting our precious Glory Girl.  Before her birth, Kerry and I were acquantances, we had mutual friends, we were seated at a table together at a wedding, we spoke when we ran into each other at the grocery store, but we did not share our hopes and dreams with one another, yet.  I followed Kerry and Glory’s story like so many people did.  I prayed for them, I cried for them, my heart, the heart of a mother, broke for them, like so many others.  Little did we know, there was a plan, His plan, a plan years in the making, that would bring us together.   

            Kerry and I were brought together by something that can only be attributed to His perfect timing.  It was a combination of women, who wanted to show the love of Jesus, lift up one another, and make a difference.  Kerry shared her heart, wide open and exposed, she wanted to do something for the families in the CVICU at Arkansas Children’s Hospital at Christmas, but she wanted it to be difference than anything anyone else does.  It was one of those moments where, you feel so lucky to be a witness to someone’s dream, and you think to yourself, I want to help make this happen for my friend.  This is when the idea for the “Love Totes” was born.  Kerry shared how she wanted to take care of the families.  She wanted to cater to them.  To the Mom’s and the Dad’s who were spending their Christmas in the hospital holding vigil at their child’s side, not knowing what the next day, hour, or minute may hold.  To do something, anything, to let them know, people are praying for you, people care about you, as Momma’s, our hearts break with yours. 

Shannon and Kerry

            As the time to deliver the “Love Totes” drew near, my anxiety was greatly increasing.  There were so many stipulations the hospital had, as to who could deliver the totes, what could be in the totes, had we had a flu shot.  I was also worried about the reception we would have from the families who were there.  I never wanted any family to be uncomfortable with our presence.  I could only hope and pray they would know we were coming from a place of love.  I did not understand their pain, I could not even begin to try, but I hoped they were receptive to our love.  When we arrived at the CVICU waiting room, with our boxed dinners and totes, I was struck by the overwhelming sense of exhaustion.  There was a row of chairs along the wall that doubled as beds, and there were Mommas, tired, beyond the point of exhaustion, holding vigil at their baby’s bedside, for an endless number of days and nights.  They were called a few at a time into the waiting room to get their dinner and their tote, and when they came in, there was so much appreciation and love in these Momma’s eyes.  The fact that someone thought about them.  Someone took time to bring them a boxed dinner, and a bag with things that they can use at that very moment.  Something to pamper themselves as they hold vigil by their baby’s side.  Something to make, if even for a moment, them feel special.  Something that says, carry on Momma, we love you, our hearts break for you, you are a warrior, you are not alone. 

Love Totes ready to go the families at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock

            This is why we do Love Totes.  This is why we ask you to help us.  This is why we do what we do.  As women, as mothers, as sisters, as daughters, we are to take care of each other, we are to lift one another up, we are to share the burden, if only for a moment, if only in a tote. 

Personal

If there was ever a time to get personal, I think it would be Christmastime, don't you?   I mean, that's when God got very personal with us by sending His Son.  

Disneyland, California

When my world fell out from beneath me, these are the men who were by my side.  God orchestrated my brother to be with me and my husband as we heard the most dreaded of words - "There's something wrong with your baby's heart".  Personal rose to a new level through the dark, rocky ground of tragedy.  So personal that a husband and wife were given the first name for their precious baby girl by her Creator, and the already close relationship between a brother and a sister was sealed through a middle name.

Glory Danielle.

She has been gone for 4 years this Christmas.  Sometime I wonder what I'm doing.  Am I doing all that I can for His Kingdom?  Am I honoring her name by my words and actions?

My God is so good.  For when I ask those questions, He answers not audibly but by showing me someone who needs what I can give - someone to bond with in tragedy.  A relationship.  Pushing me forward.  Never leaving me where I am.

"Tractor Treating" on Halloween Night

Stand with me this Christmas and give something to someone who is looking for what you have.  I want our time on December 5th to be special this year - personal.  We know each other pretty well now, right?  But let's not let that be enough.  Let's come together during this season where we celebrate the most personal relationship that exists.  The relationship that was forged by what first appeared to be a tragedy, but only through Jesus' birth and painful limitations as a human man could the ultimate relationship be formed.  

This is why I am inviting you to come and celebrate with us as we gather items to bring to families in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit of Arkansas Children's Hospital this Christmas.  A way to bring a small glimmer of hope.  A feeling of connection.   

A relationship.  

After all, that is what He values, right?  A relationship.  A personal one.

I really hope you can join us at my house on Saturday, December 5th, for a special evening of laughter, food, BUNCO, and strengthening our personal relationships through gathering supplies for our "Love Totes".  We can make a difference in forcing evil and darkness out of our world - one small act of Love at a time....

Because we wanted to have our event in a more personal environment this year, please be sure to RSVP to our Facebook event, email me at glorygirlfoundation@gmail.com, or send me a message on our website, so that I can send you details on the location.  We look forward to seeing you on December 5th!