Girls Who Try

A little more than a week ago, Kendra and I had the privilege of attending Allume, an amazing blogging/writing conference in Greenville, South Carolina. While there, we had a couple of meetings that were exciting to us, and so we posted this on our Facebook wall:

Today Kristin and I are at a blogger/writer’s conference called Allume and we are meeting with TWO publishers about a book idea that we have. Y'all, book deals are few and far between--kind of like hitting the lottery--but we decided we’re going to TRY anyway. And you know what? Tries are worth celebrating too. We don’t need to wait to be wildly successful before we let people in on what we’re doing. We don’t need to be afraid of failing and others knowing about it. What are you trying to do well today, friends? Parenting? Your job? A dream that you have? Can we just tell you, we are in the middle of the trying too, and we want to cheer you on! Our kids may see us fail a lot, but hopefully they’ll also see and remember moms who ALWAYS tried. Much love, friends. ‪#‎girlswhotry‬

Afterwards, we got such sweet encouragement from folks who read it and responded that we thought, You know what? We should celebrate more tries. Why aren't we doing that already?


I love this quote from Glennon Melton of Momastery, who says, "Life is forever tries. You are simply allowed to shamelessly and joyfully begin again." (She argues the same thing about God, that he is forever tries, which I love!) And it's true: Each day we can try to live life, to love others, to do hard things--or we can choose not to bother. Trying can be exciting and full of hope, but it can also feel like thankless drudgery.

So for the next month, we want to try something fun. We're going to have a #girlswhotry party over on our Facebook page, and we're going to celebrate all the amazing, "trying" people we know. We've even figured out a fun contest to get things rolling. From now until the end of November, each time you tell us about someone you see who is trying over on our Facebook page, you and your nominee will be entered in to win prizes. Simply post your nominee (tag them, if possible) to our Facebook wall and tell us what they're doing and why you admire them for trying. Please note: We will be highlighting some of the #girlswhotry entries received, so you may be featured on our page! We've got a few prizes in store for you, including jewelry from Work of Worth, notecards from Life Passionately, our books, gift cards and more!

Come join the party--we'll see you on Facebook!

Today we are linking up with Jennifer Dukes Lee and Kelly Balarie.