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laughter

Keep believing

I can’t even begin to describe how much I’ve learned since starting HeartStories in 2012 (officially 2013).  I was in it for what I could do to help others, but sitting here, looking back, it’s been almost seven years of the most intense season of growth of my life.  And I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon.  I live in a constant state of walking in the unknown.

Nothing is sure to work. 

Every risky choice I make is made from layers of experience, seeking wise counsel, praying earnestly, and then simply deciding it’s worth it to jump.  Merely choosing to do the next right thing. Sometimes that process turns out beautifully, even better than I could have hoped.  But it also often leads to painful lessons, challenges, and struggles I didn’t see coming.   IT’s the essence of the John Ortberg quote that you’ve surely heard me say a million times.  I still …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Love In Action Our Story Purpose Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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Why Football?

As I plan out the content for our Girls Night Out events each month, I ask a lot of questions.  I try to get in women’s heads about what’s going to be top of mind during that month.  When it came time to plan the September 5th GNO, the answer I kept getting was: “Football”!  To which I answered, “Well that’s all fine and dandy, but I’m talking about GNO here.”

Many answers were very similar: 

Look, I grew up around football.  My husband is glued to the game all season.  My son has been playing since he could walk.  My daughter cheers for all the games.  And of course, I know enough to get by, or at least pretend to.  But if I’m honest, I’m not really sure what’s going on out there.    

I am right there with them. 

I mentioned in a live video I made last week, that I …

by Crystal Gornto Community Girl's Night Out Love In Action Loving Others Loving Yourself The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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Add life to your years

The beauty eating the greenery at Girls Night Out?   That’s my joyful friend Melanie.  She brings laughter wherever she goes.  She’s brilliant and wise.  She’s serious about supporting parents as they navigate the unknown waters of raising kids.

But you can always count on her to bring the laughter.  

Yesterday, as I watched a quick video of Mel and her husband Jeff promoting a parenting class they teach together at our church, I couldn’t help but smile at their joy.  Those two seem to always be laughing.  Case in point: While we had a house full of guests during a holiday party, they led their entire home group to our house to sing Christmas carols.  Only Jeff and Melanie. . . they wore pantyhose on their heads.  Yep.  They were singing loudly in front of a crowd of mostly strangers, in stockings caps, like bank robbers.  There’s a backstory of course.  I …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Love in Friendship Loving Others Loving Yourself Purpose Leave a comment chat
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Thank them for their service

When I arrived at our venue to set up Thursday night for Girls Night Out, I was pleasantly surprised to find the room decked out with festive holiday decor.  A fully dressed Christmas tree reached up to the ceiling, and two life-size nutcracker soldiers stood guard at the front of the room.

We always bring our own design theme, but this was a welcome addition.  

As is tradition during our Holiday Ready GNO, we needed to screencast a little closed circuit tv presentation of our hair & makeup artist’s tips and tricks, so that everyone in the room could see the techniques they were using on models, up close and personal.  It’s also been a tradition that my camera skills, combined with a our not-so-professional equipment have sometimes made this part of the evening a comedy of errors.  So this year, I was determined to get it all set up and do …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspiration Inspirational Words Love In Action Love in Family Loving Others Purpose The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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The evolution of beauty

Meeting these beautiful women for brunch at UP Inspired Kitchen on Friday was one of the most fun and exciting experiences I’ve had in a very long time.  It was full of very open conversation, laughter, and maybe a few little tears.   They are our treasured featured guests for the upcoming “Let’s Get Together” HeartStories GNO. (Meet them all here!) We met up to chat about the ways in which we all approach beauty differently and laugh about the hilarious beauty routines we each embrace.

But something different emerged, and it was even more beautiful. 

We ended up talking our own individual evolutions of understanding of beauty.  We shared stories from what we were told about beauty as little girls, to what we understand is beautiful no, as grown women (some with little girls and boys of our own).  We shared how we talk about and represent beauty to our kids.  We laughed …

by Crystal Gornto Female Social Entrepreneurs Girl's Night Out Inspirational Leaders Inspirational Women Love In Action Love in Friendship Our Story Leave a comment chat
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A fresh perspective

Oddly, we’ve had several discussions about money over Spring Break this year.  The boys and I stayed up late one night calculating the amount of money they’ll need to save to pay for their part of a car when they turn 16, if they decide they want one.  We broke that down into an annual, monthly and hourly rate.

They were astonished. 

It turned out that they really needed to get to work, and soon.  As a result, they asked how they could earn money around the house.  I asked them to make a list of jobs and what they thought those jobs were worth.  It was quite a humorous exercise, but in the end, we came up with a list of jobs that would actually help the family beyond their usual responsibilities.  Things like: washing windows, sweeping the garage, washing the car, removing and cleaning the wasp nests etc. . .

We …

by Crystal Gornto Inspiration Priorities The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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