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Love in Family

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

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 …

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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 …

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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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Tonight, and every night

When I was growing up, I wasn’t allowed to dress up for Halloween or go trick-or-treating.  To my family, Halloween was a celebration of death and darkness and we wanted no part of that.  Instead, we celebrated “fall” by going to all the Fall Festivals.  On Halloween, we would wait in anticipation for dad to come because he would take us to the candy store and buy us big bags of candy.  Then, we’d turn off the front porch light and gather in the back of the house in the dark, to watch a movie and eat popcorn.  It was a blast.  We absolutely loved it! (at least I did)

But on my very first Halloween with Noah, I was excited to dress him up.  

He was a darling little chubby bubby golfer.  I dressed my kids up every year, until recently as they’ve gotten older.  Lately, it’s been a little touch-and-go, …

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Be at peace

Have you seen Brené Brown’s recent Instagram post about pumpkin pics?  I died.  “I accidentally pulled up Instagram instead of Instacart.  Now it’s 2 hours later and I have no groceries for Sunday prep, but I know where Rhianna bought her hoop earrings and I have 20 cute pumpkin pics saved.”

Ever been there?

I know I have.  The image above is case-in-point.  I actually work hard to batch my social media “scrolling” so that I don’t end up falling down all the rabbit holes (or pumpkin holes, as the case may be) throughout the day.  I wish I could say that the day this book found me I accidentally pulled up Instagram instead of Instacart.  But let’s be real, Instacart is too complicated for me.  I’m a Kroger pickup kind of girl.  Either way, when this Renewed healing journal showed up in my feed, I swiftly disappeared down the rabbit hole.

The …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Words Love In Action Loving Yourself Motherhood Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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