A Very Special Week

My family is off on a wonderful vacation to Disney World this week.  As with any time away, there are check lists of things to get done.

I had to make sure all my projects are up to date at work and that I have a back up plan in place for anything that might come up.

I've let our neighbors know how to reach us and made arrangements with the house sitter.

We've got the dog being taken care of by her favorite human being.

The house is as cleaned up as it can be and will, therefore, be a bit more welcoming when we come home.

The mail is on hold.

And then there is my little old blog.

I have asked for guest bloggers in the past and sometimes I get a great response and sometimes... well, not so much.

This time around, instead of just asking my blog communities to guest post, I reached out to my friends, to a local moms group, and to my all my Facebook connections.  These are mom friends, church friends, people from my past... a very eclectic group.

And they came out of the woodwork.

And there is some awesome stuff they want to share!

So for the next week - or more - I am going to feature some guest bloggers.  Some of them have a blog but wanted to share something a little different over here.  Some have never blogged or really written much of anything since high school.  But everyone has something to say, has a unique voice.  Some of the posts will make you cry, leave you feeling empowered, make you laugh.

What has really touched me is that so many have come forward wanting to share some really intense stories, past personal pain, current struggles.  The next week or so of posts will have some heavy topics... and all are very real, very hard circumstances and experiences.  In each of the harder stories, I hope you will see the hope, the friendship, the lifting up, the survival... because in the hardest stories, that is the part that shines through.

I would really love it if you'd be the Best Readers Ever and be sure to leave many comments for my guest posters this week - let the writers know that their words meant something to you.

Enjoy!