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Love in Family

In these posts we discuss ways we can love our families well.

Showing up matters

It’s been a rough week it’s been on so many of our hearts. I’m not even a sports fan, unless my kids are playing. Kobe Bryant wasn’t on my radar.  Though he was a legend, he wouldn’t even have ranked in 10,000 people I was thinking about going into the weekend.

But oh, what a difference a day makes.

His passing in such a tragic event, while being an engaged parent, seemed to stop the heartbeat of the world momentarily.  It felt like a sucker punch in the gut to sports fans and parents near and far.  It’s been such a heavy few days, even for me, until a random moment with Noah, we just happened to catch the quick clip of Elle Duncan, a sportscaster on ESPN (at about minute 1:20) offering a tribute to Kobe’s life.  Through tears, she shared:

“I suppose that the only small source of comfort for me …

by Crystal Gornto Community Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Inspirational Words Love In Action Love in Friendship Loving Others Motherhood Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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Low Power Mode

Wouldn’t it be great if our bodies came with the option for automatic “Low Power Mode” just like our iPhones?

This is the definition on Apple’s website:

“Use Low Power Mode to save battery life on your iPhone. Low Power Mode reduces the amount of power that your iPhone uses when the battery gets low.  When Low Power Mode is on, your iPhone will last longer before you need to charge it, but some features might take longer to update or complete.  Also, some tasks might not work until you turn off Low Power Mode, or until you charge your iPhone to 80% or higher.  When Low Power Mode is on, the battery in the status bar will be yellow.   After you charge your iPhone to 80% or higher, Low Power Mode automatically turns off. ”

How great would it be if our bodies had a setting for that?

Like before they forced us to …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Leaders Inspirational Women Love In Action Loving Others Loving Yourself Motherhood Priorities Leave a comment chat
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Room for both

When people ask me about my favorite memories of our family “Legacy” trip to Israel it’s hard to give an answer.  After a trip so full of meaningful memories, there are so many incredible stories to tell.

They’re all my favorite. 

There was one moment that was my most memorable personal moment om the trip and I’ll find a way to write about it one day.  Until then, I’ll share some of the best moments and learnings from our journey in small pieces along the way.  This picture is the day we visited the Garden of Gethsemane, tucked in at the foot of the Mount of Olives, with a beautiful upward view of the ancient walls of Jerusalem.  In the Christian faith, this is the historical site that has significant meaning because it’s believed to be the olive garden where Jesus prayed in agony, was betrayed, and arrested the night before he …

by Crystal Gornto Community Inspiration Loving Others Motherhood Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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What time is for

Who knew that boys in their early teens were still interested in gingerbread houses?  A mama can hope, but these days, that hope gets dashed at times by swings of emotion or apathy, and things don’t turn out quite the way I imagine they might.

But this was one of my favorite recent moments by far.  

The boys were hanging out at the house when I had to make a dog food run to the grocery store.  When I saw the gingerbread house kits, my heart sunk a little and I tried not to get my hopes up.  (Which is a whole other blog)  We’ve decorated them nearly every year, but I had a feeling they wouldn’t be interested this year.  Especially while they had a friend over.  I picked them up anyway, thinking that if they gave the thumbs down, I would share them with the neighbors.

When I walked in, I …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Words Loving Others Motherhood Priorities The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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Making it through

While we were in Israel, we had some scary moments exploring dark tunnels.  Some were dry and relatively benign.  Some were pitch-black and full of water.  In the first “tunnel tour” I wasn’t worried about much.  Though inclosed, the walls where high, there was light inside, the ground was dry, and everyone was relatively calm.  But when we reached Hezekiah’s tunnels, there was a moment you had to choose.

Were you going into the dark water system tunnel with a flashlight or the adjacent dry, well-lit tunnel with the rest of the group?

That decision was made a little more complex by the fact that there was a giant class of kindergartners entering the dark water tunnel just ahead of us.  They were screaming and splashing all around.  The male teacher who was bringing up the rear, had a lovely handgun slid in the side pocket of his jeans with the …

by Crystal Gornto Community Inspiration Love In Action Love in Family Love in Friendship Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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Sister, keep going

This is a picture of my “previous life”.  I was a medical device sales rep, spending my days working cases in operating rooms and cardiac cath labs.  It worked hard and made great money.  I was able to be present for most of the important moments for the kids at school.  I didn’t get to take them to school most days and I didn’t get to pick them up.

But when I was there, I was ALL there.  

At night, we were free to laugh and play.  I didn’t have the looming stress of how in the world I would get it all done tomorrow.  I wasn’t worried about how I was going to make payroll and keep the lights on.  (That was someone else’s job.) After my years as a server and a flight attendant, I spent the rest of my career, leading up to HeartStories in sales and this was the …

by Crystal Gornto Female Social Entrepreneurs Inspiration Inspirational Women Inspirational Words Loving Yourself Motherhood Our Story Purpose Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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