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I've been meaning to share that a couple sweet friends from our church family have started blogging. One is our assistant pastor, Rene. He blogs about faith and running. Check out his blog: RunFight and tell him I sent you!
Also, Rene's cute wife, Shannon blogs at: Strength and Courage. Shannon makes really cute cards for various occasions. She has such a precious heart for the Lord, and is a beautiful wife and mama with the sweetest spirit of encouragement. Rene and Shannon have a really neat testimony and a great love story. I hope they will share it sometime. And, I hope you will take a minute to pop over and welcome them to blogland!
We've been busy as ever with golf, baseball, and SGM work. Our band One Way is working on a couple upcoming music events. And, we continue to receive and distribute Dreams of You orders for bereaved parents all over the country and beyond. Our friend Dave will be hosting the annual Ride4Grace motorcycle run event on Sunday August 21, 2011.
Thank you to those of you who have been praying for Tug, the son of my dear friend, who was recently in a car accident. You can keep on on Tug's progress by reading the original post...updates will be at the bottom. Also, due to the mounting medical expenses and time off work for the parents, friends are taking a collection to help support this family. Those who feel led to donate in this way can use the SGM donate button on the right sidebar and write "For Tug" in the notes/message section of the paypal donation form. Please keep praying for this family and for Tug to have a full recovery and healing.
We are going to be doing a major blog/website overhaul soon and switching to Wordpress. I would really like to get the word out about SGM. So many times we hear from families that say they wish they would have known we were here when they were walking through their losses. That is so discouraging...to know that we could have helped someone and missed the opportunity. So, I would love to find ways to spread the word that we are here and continue to be more effective in supporting grieving families.
You can help by answering a few questions.
1. What kinds of posts are most relevant to you as a reader?
entertaining/funny
bereavement support
biblical encouragement/bible study
heartfelt stories
everyday random stuff
2. We began Walking With You a couple years ago in an effort to make sure that families could feel supported on this journey. As time goes on, many families have moved to a different place in their walk, but there are new families out there in need of support. Does anyone have an idea of how we can continue to reach out and support one another in the various places each is on this walk? What was most helpful to you in working through your grief...as far as finding support in the blogging community?
3. How can we better serve families? What are some of the resources you have found most helpful in your grief?
4. In an effort to help more families have access to the Dreams of You materials, what do you think about having people in each state willing to donate materials to local hospitals?
8 comments:
I meant to post about Mattie's auction on my blog too so this is a good reminder to do that!!
I'll write the date of the motorcycle run on the calendar. Anth is gonna sell both of his bikes so if he hasn't by then I'm sure we can be there.
Will continue to pray for Tug!
I think it's a good idea to switch to wordpress for the site. For websites wordpress seems to be the better choice. Will you be working with Franchesca?
I'll give you a hodge podge of answers:
I love all of your posts. Of course, I use the blog to keep up with the family, too, so I like those posts, but your inspirational posts are terrific.
You know that I'm willing to be the St. Louis connection for SGM.
Chase and I are still praying every single night for Tug.
Thanks so much for sharing about our auction and for donating! I'll go check out those blogs and praying for the Ride for Grace and Tug!
I find all of the above interesting on your blog. It's always nice to laugh in one post and cry in another. That's life.... there's ups and there's downs, but we are all here "holding" one another with love and understanding.
1. I like all of it. If I'm honest, sometimes I get bogged down if I focus too much on what is missing (I know everyone is different, I'm just talking about me. I don't mean I want to forget our little ones or never talk about them). You seem to have a good balance, and I appreciate it. Sometimes I just need to hear about your food quests and have a good chuckle :).
2. I like Walking With You, particularly the threads study we did. It was sometimes a lot to get done in a week, but I really felt like I learned so much about how I was grieving. I also enjoyed meeting others at various stages of their journey and learning about them. I'm not always great about blogging about it, but I try to pop in now and then.
3. I enjoy what you already do. The community is invaluable, you have a gift for virtual hospitality! I would just continue providing the non-judgmental support you do and letting God shine through.
4. I think this could be a good idea.
1. all of it. i like the variety :)
2. i think the questions were very helpful. maybe have a separate section that just lists the questions with links to your responses. and also links to the bible study.
3. i think you do an amazing job. maybe you can start sisters chapters/reps in other locations (like california? :D) to have more face to face reach in other areas... and you'd have a reason to come over here, too. i think just finding the community has been most helpful -- feeling less alone and more "normal" in my grief process and not having the judgment or pressure to move on.
4. i think that is a great idea!
Kelly, this is long overdue, but thanks for the mention. I am just starting to get the RunFight blog rolling . . . Thanks for the encouraging note!
On another note, you will definitely enjoy WordPress as a blogging platform. Looking forward to seeing the new design.
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