Celebrity Joy: 30
August 13, 2016
CELEBRITY! So many people have called me a celebrity lately thanks to the local news piece that covered our story of rare chromosome disorder diagnosis. It got me thinking. And laughing out loud. Celebrity. That is the last thing I ever dreamed of. And especially not for this reason–a child with great need. Now I realize I am not REALLY a celebrity. But I am getting a lot more calls and emails from other mama’s wanting to connect and wanting to hope (I will have to come back to this one because this subject gives me a billion different feelings worth writing about).
A celebrity is a very important person, right–VIP? I struggle with this because I have never placed much importance in fame. I have actually been pretty anti-celebrity. I can’t tell you who sings songs on the radio or who the famous actor is in a movie. Because I just don’t really care. Sorry, but that is just me. I know I am a minority probably.
But like most things, God has used THIS to help me reflect and learn and develop into something new ; what He wants for me. Again, I am not thinking “He wants me to be famous.”. But I feel I have learned a lot about myself and my community in this time since our story was made so public . I have always taught my children not to put faith in their celebrity idols because they are just people; people that make mistakes. And I have always believed that God sees us all equally important and loved; that money or exposure or even talent or good deeds shouldn’t make us feel more important. And yet, I find myself promoting my image, my company, my family. It doesn’t feel natural. I am coming at this from way out of my comfort zone.
These last couple months have been a whirlwind of events, meetings and feelings. I don’t think my writing actually does justice to the emotional battle I feel daily. Reality vs. Hope; Faith vs. Fear. I can’t even shut my brain off at night to sleep. I wake thinking of all the action items I have for the day and ways to reach out to others, which isn’t my absolute favorite thing to do. Asking for help has not been easy but I have had a ton of family and friends step up and offer and take some of that burden. In fact most of the help has come from people reaching out to us. Even strangers. One Wednesday, I received a Facebook message from a reporter at our local news station asking to interview me that day. I had no time to prepare anything or even put on makeup. Thankfully this reporter did such a great job at capturing the JOY in this piece that aired just hours later.
Word was spreading. Our message of Joy was also being tweeted and was taking off on Instagram and Facebook www.facebook.com/xtraordinaryjoyinc. Our website www.xtraordinaryjoy.org
was up and getting hundreds of hits daily. There were so many people anxious to share the hope we have. One teenager (we have never met) who saw us, emailed to tell us she was setting up a bake sale to fundraise for our research efforts. 
My new celebrity status (chuckle, laugh, haha–5 minutes of fame–well 3 to be exact), well it is serving its purpose–to help drive me even more to live up to the hype. (you will have to read the next blog post for all the progress–coming soon)
The more deeply I get into the Foundation work, the more I know this is eXactly where God has planned for me my whole life. Moments when I am full of my own self-doubt I feel God’s presence so profound that I know He has it all under control. Moments when I want to go back to a “normal” ordinary life, my heart is flooded with eXtra-ordinary joy. Moments when I am frustrated with my desire to control the timing and response to my pleas, I feel God’s patience and peace that His timing is perfect. It is easy to wrap myself in all the daily “stuff”. My to-do list grows everyday. With every check on the list, I add twenty-two other reminders. And God is still there. He is guiding me and providing–in so many ways. I especially feel His lavish love seeing the people that have come together to form Xtraordinary Joy board of directors, planning and fundraising and energized. Wow. He blows me away with His goodness. Sometimes I just “stumble”across a lead and know it is all His guidance. I am eXperiencing a whole new JOY in this purpose and seeing Him move in everyday needs.
God is the real CELEBRITY. He is who I wish to honor with all that I do. It isn’t easy to have your life on display, but there is a great purpose to the exposure–accountability, motivation (as if I needed more) and spreading awareness. Please keep spreading the Joy and sharing our story, so that we can do more. The next blog post will address how we are planning the “more”. For now, know that we appreciate all of you.
