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  • Kari Kampakis, Writer

    3 days ago

    Kari Kampakis, Writer
    Friends, please help!!! Francis Hagan is senior at Mountain Brook High School, a kind, joyful & beautiful 17-year-old girl with her whole life in front of her. She needs a kidney soon, and since no one in her family is a perfect match, they must trust and rely on God to bring forth the perfect donor. This could be anyone's daughter or son, so please view this through that lens - as if you were at the mercy of another human willing to give your child a kidney that would sustain them for the next 15-20 years. If you're willing to be screened as a donor, please fill out this UAB form (uabmedicine.org/patient-care/treatments/kidney-transplant/donor-form) There is no commitment if you take this step, and since time is crucial, sooner is better. (you can message me to get Francis' birthday)Please pray for Francis, her family, and her medical team. Share this flyer with your church community, Bible study, or anyone who may be willing to forever change the life of a teenage girl. As you think about the season Francis is entering, it becomes clear what this gift could mean. This 1st kidney transplant could take Francis through college, into a career, into marriage and potentially motherhood -- all major milestones with a profound ripple effect. Thank you for getting the word out and helping the Hagans cast a wide net. The surgery will be done in Birmingham with all costs covered by the recipient's insurance. God already knows who this perfect match is, so let's pray for clarity and conviction from the Holy Spirit as this person steps into the story of sweet Francis. For more information on being a living kidney donor: www.uabmedicine.org/transplant/living-donor-program ... See MoreSee Less

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    Kari Kampakis, Writer

    3 days ago

    Kari Kampakis, Writer
    When my kids were small, I thought car time was mundane. But as they got older, I realized the car is where the magic happens. The car is where you have the best conversations - where you can tell what kind day your child had by their facial expression as they walk toward the car; where you get to know, talk, and laugh with their friends as you drive carpool; where you can have awkward conversations because it’s easier to be honest when you’re not facing a person (learned that in a psychology class); where you can pray or share a quick story/life lesson as you take them to school; where you get one-on-one time and a chance to tell your child how proud you are of them; and where you can connect with your teens and keep a pulse on their lives (especially if yours are like mine and stay up later than you, bringing nighttime rituals to an end 😴).I’ve written about seeing car time as a blessing to enjoy, not a burden to endure, in a post called “Be the Driver” and also in #loveherwellbook. And now that I have 2 teens driving and only 2 kids left to carpool, I realize what a small window of time we have to be a taxi cab. Don’t waste it by wishing the time away. I remember my mom saying that when my little sister (the youngest of 5) turned 16, she’d been driving carpool for 25 years. As a teenager, I thought that sounded absolutely miserable! But as a mom, I realize how fast that time flies, and how it doesn’t feel that long, because so many great memories are made along the way. By the time my youngest turns 16, I will have driven carpool for 23 years. I know already that I’ll see it as a badge of honor — and that I won’t regret a single second being anyone’s taxi driver 🤍*For more inspiration join Kari Kampakis, Writer or check out these bestselling resources for mothers and daughters:LOVE HER WELL: amzn.to/2EtDBFX10 ULTIMATE TRUTHS GIRLS SHOULD KNOW: amzn.to/2niGdf9LIKED: amzn.to/2na8fds ... See MoreSee Less

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    Kari Kampakis, Writer

    1 week ago

    Kari Kampakis, Writer
    I talked to an old friend this week who went through a dark and scary health crisis with her husband two years ago. He is doing well now, but at the time, it was all uncertain. Doctors said he had a 50/50 chance of returning to normal. She told me, “God doesn’t let me forget. When someone calls me because they’ve had a similar scare, I can cry with them. I can easily go back to that time and remember how I felt. And sometimes, when I find feel discouraged and am waiting to see what God will do next in my life, I remind myself to look back and think about what He already did for our family. How He carried us through that hard time.” I love this because it reminds me that faith is best understood in hindsight. Only as we look back on a trial can we see God’s presence and protection. Only upon reflection can we see how different pieces of the puzzle ultimately fit together. In the book Boundaries, the authors say that the Bible is full of God’s reminding His people of what He did in the past to give them faith for the future. One of my favorite examples comes from ancient Israel, where they stacked stones to memorialize and remember God’s goodness and faithfulness. As Joshua led the 12 tribes of Israel into the Promised Land, he told each tribe to pull a stone out of the river and stack them in a memorial to remind people that God had safely led them on their journey to Canaan. Every time they looked at these stones, they’d remember God’s miracles. These stones would also tell about God’s faithfulness to future generations as they asked what the stones meant. Right now, we are surrounded by heartache, trials, and bad news. And when the crisis involves someone we know and love, it’s a challenge to feel hope. It’s difficult to believe God even exists. In these moments, we can remember what He’s already done. We can create a stack of stones in our lives where each stone represents a past miracle or trial He carried us through - and let the past give us hope for the future. Hope is rooted in memory. And though it is painful to go back and remember dark seasons, God is gracious in not letting us forget🤍 ... See MoreSee Less

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    Kari Kampakis, Writer

    2 weeks ago

    Kari Kampakis, Writer
    "Unfortunately, my first interview was a flop. I was so nervous going in, and in the formal atmosphere—where multiple people took turns asking questions—I grew self-conscious and tongue-tied. It was an embarrassing experience I couldn’t escape fast enough.Nevertheless, I held out hope. Ever the optimist, I convinced myself it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Maybe they hadn’t noticed the tremor in my voice or the fragmented answers. Maybe they could see a diamond in the rough—and would grant me a second interview to redeem myself.Suffice it to say my name was not on the list posted two days later at the Ferguson Center. Everyone I knew made the cut, everyone but me. For the first time in my life I wasn’t even a finalist, and the reality that I’d bombed something very important to me was crushing.It was Ash Wednesday, and trying to keep my priorities straight I attended Mass that evening. Throughout the service, I dwelled on the day’s events until I felt much worse. Needing some affirmation, I drove to my parents’ house—fifteen minutes from campus—immediately after church." ... See MoreSee Less

    Ashes to Ashes

    www.karikampakis.com

    There’s one day a year that I wear my faith on my forehead. Yes, on Ash Wednesday anyone who crosses my path can see that I’m a Christian. And while I’ve been wearing the ashen cross si...
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    Kari Kampakis, Writer

    2 weeks ago

    Kari Kampakis, Writer
    At the end of the day, only two questions matter: 1) Am I pleasing God and 2) Do I like who I'm becoming? Being kind helps you answer "yes" to both questions. In a world that's quick to point fingers, criticize, and hate, choose kindness when possible. Remember that being kind is a sign of strength, not weakness, because it takes self-discipline and character to be kind even when those around you are not.*For more inspiration join Kari Kampakis, Writerr or check out these bestselling resources for mothers and daughters:LOVE HER WELL: amzn.to/2EtDBFX10 ULTIMATE TRUTHS GIRLS SHOULD KNOW: amzn.to/2niGdf9LIKED: amzn.to/2na8fds ... See MoreSee Less

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    Friends, spread the word! Francis is a kind, joyfu Friends, spread the word! Francis is a kind, joyful, and beautiful 17-year-old girl at Mountain Brook High School. She has her whole life in front of her and needs a kidney. Since no one in her family is a perfect match, they must rely on God to bring forth a donor. He already knows who this person is, so let’s pray for clarity and conviction from the Holy Spirit as they step into Francis’ story. If you’d consider being her donor, please fill out the UAB donor form through the link in my bio (message me for Francis’ birthday). Or, forward this message and the form to anyone who might consider being a donor. In the meantime, please pray for Francis, her family, and her medical team. We love you @francis_hagan and @melissahagan3 , and we pray that you feel surrounded by love and lifted up by prayer as you journey into this chapter🙏🏻
    When my kids were small, I thought car time was mu When my kids were small, I thought car time was mundane. But as they got older, I realized the car is where the magic happens. 

The car is where you have the best conversations - where you can tell what kind day your child had by their facial expression as they walk toward the car; where you get to know, talk, and laugh with their friends as you drive carpool; where you can have awkward conversations because it’s easier to be honest when you’re not facing a person (learned that in a psychology class); where you can pray or share a quick story/life lesson as you take them to school; where you get one-on-one time and a chance to tell your child how proud you are of them; and where you can connect with your teens and keep a pulse on their lives (especially if yours are like mine and stay up later than you, bringing nighttime rituals to an end 😴).

I’ve written about seeing car time as a blessing to enjoy, not a burden to endure, in a post called “Be the Driver” and also in #loveherwellbook. And now that I have 2 teens driving and only 2 kids left to carpool, I realize what a small window of time we have to be a chaffeur. I remember my mom saying that when my little sister (the youngest of 5) turned 16, she’d been driving carpool for 25 years. As a teenager, I thought that sounded absolutely miserable! But as a mom, I realize how fast that time flies because so many great memories are made along the way. By the time my youngest turns 16, I will have driven carpool for 23 years. I know already that I’ll see it as a badge of honor — and that I won’t regret a single second being anyone’s taxi driver 🤍
    At last, cousin Matthew! (Spoiler alert for #downt At last, cousin Matthew! (Spoiler alert for #downtonabbey so skip over if you haven’t watched). Ella and I just finished Season 2, and the finale left us so happy. Talk about a slow burn! Great writing, plotting, setting, and character development. (Who would have thought at the beginning that Mary would become so likable?) These people feel like old friends, and though I know there is drama ahead, it’s satisfying to see a season end happy. Anyone else binge-watching it now?
    How often do we thank God for boring, ordinary day How often do we thank God for boring, ordinary days? In my opinion, not enough. I’ve been thinking about this lately, and also remembering what my dad once told me: There are only 2 things we have to worry about regarding our kids 1. Their health and 2. Their relationship with God. When we have that, we have everything. The same is true for us. Whatever health blessings we have - eyes that see, arms that hug, a mind that thinks, lungs that breathe - is worthy of daily praise🙌🏻
    Most people want to know how to have deeper, bette Most people want to know how to have deeper, better friendships, and here is one way: Deal with your own stuff. Learn to sit with your pain and work through unpleasant thoughts, emotions, and life events. As you do this, you become the friend who can handle someone else’s unpleasant stuff. Instead of wanting to bolt when they share a heartache, you’ll journey with them through their darkest hours. It’s in these valleys where lifelong bonds are formed. People always remember who showed up and stayed - and who went MIA.

People are hurting in many different ways right now. They are learning what friendships they can count on - and which ones are worth their time and energy. Be the friend who isn’t scared away by a tough situation, the friend who can handle deep and heavy stuff. Increase your tolerance for the unpleasant in your life, and you’ll see your friendships benefit on an entirely new level. 

*Sidenote: @juliesparkman is a widely respected Birmingham counselor who provides wonderful resources through @restore_ministries. Her newest class “Life From the Inside Out....Why Your Heart Matters More Than What You Do” is  being streamed free on her podcast, Head to Heart. Julie’s talks are wise, relevant, and to the point, and if you want help taking control of your thought life and gaining emotional maturity, she’s your girl. I highly recommend anything that Julie produces (our neighborhood Bible study did her class “6 Weeks to Sane Thinking” over the summer, and it was incredible. Check it put on her podcast too!🤍)
    I talked to an old friend this week who went throu I talked to an old friend this week who went through a dark and scary health crisis with her husband two years ago. He is doing well now, but at the time, it was all uncertain. Doctors said he had a 50/50 chance of returning to normal. 
 
She told me, “God doesn’t let me forget. When someone calls me because they’ve had a similar scare, I can cry with them. I can easily go back to that time and remember how I felt. And sometimes, when I find feel discouraged and am waiting to see what God will do next in my life, I remind myself to look back and think about what He already did for our family. How He carried us through that hard time.”
 
I love this because it reminds me that faith is best understood in hindsight. Only as we look back on a trial can we see God’s presence and protection. Only upon reflection can we see how different pieces of the puzzle ultimately fit together.
 
In the book Boundaries, the authors say that the Bible is full of God’s reminding His people of what He did in the past to give them faith for the future. One of my favorite examples comes from ancient Israel, where they stacked stones to memorialize and remember God’s goodness and faithfulness. As Joshua led the 12 tribes of Israel into the Promised Land, he told each tribe to pull a stone out of the river and stack them in a memorial to remind people that God had safely led them on their journey to Canaan. Every time they looked at these stones, they’d remember God’s miracles. These stones would also tell about God’s faithfulness to future generations as they asked what the stones meant.
 
Right now, we are surrounded by heartache, trials, and bad news. And when the crisis involves someone we know and love, it’s a challenge to feel hope. It’s difficult to believe God even exists. In these moments, we can remember what He’s already done. We can create a stack of stones in our lives where each stone represents a past miracle or trial He carried us through - and let the past give us hope for the future.
 
Hope is rooted in memory. And though it is painful to go back and remember dark seasons, God is gracious in not letting us forget🤍
    First attempt at a #fridayintroduction. I’ve mea First attempt at a #fridayintroduction. I’ve meant to do this for a while and keep forgetting, so maybe the first thing you should know is that my brain can be like Dory in Finding Nemo 🐟🐟Anyone relate??

Other tidbits:

1. I love to travel and really miss it, yet I’m also a homebody who likes to hibernate (helpful during a quarantine!) My husband is Greek, and in 2017 we spent a month in Greece, where he still has relatives, and our family’s been obsessed ever since. We dream of the day we can go back 🇬🇷 This picture is from Jackson Hole, one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen in the states. 

2. I grew up in a family of 5 kids, and I was #4. My little sis and I joke that we raised each other! There was always noise, laughter, and chaos, and everything was community property. Like, if you saw something, it was yours to use.  Years ago I ran into my sister’s childhood friend, and she told me she once walked into our bathroom and saw me using her toothbrush😳😂 We had a good laugh, and that about sums up what I thought was normal family life until I got to college.

3. I’m very sentimental and love pictures. Even in high school, I was always taking pictures and scrapbooking. After my first child was born, I did children’s photography and handtinting. I stopped while pregnant with my 3rd child to focus on writing. I knew I was burned out when I started to hope that my sittings got cancelled due to rain.

4. It took me 7 years (and lots of rejection) to get a book published. I wrote 3 fiction novels that will never see the light of day, and my dream is to try fiction writing again as I enter my 50s. I miss the creativity and using my imagination.

5. I’m big on exercise and live in workout clothes. I dropped my gym membership last March and now exercise at home with a Peleton bike and treadmill. They’re my sanity savers. I miss people, though, and also do long walks with friends.

6. I’m currently binge-watching Downton Abby with my oldest daughter. I forgot how good it is!

7. I’m a deep thinker, and even at a party, I’d rather have 1 deep conversation than 50 shallow ones.

Now, what about you?? Anything you’d like to share?
    The latest creation by @bakingwithellak, a #barbie The latest creation by @bakingwithellak, a #barbiecake for a little girl’s birthday party😍 It always amazes me when I wake up and see something like this sitting on our kitchen countertop. When I go to bed, all I see is icing, cake rounds and lots of pots and pans, but by the next morning, there’s a final product I never could have envisioned. She truly has hands with a magical touch (and the ability to stay up much later than me!) and I’m proud of her creativity and the lives she has touched through cake art. If you’re not following @bakingwithellak already, I highly recommend doing so. Especially if you live in Birmingham, you’ll be the first to know about the cake jars that she occasionally makes and only announces through her IG stories. As someone who has taste-tested way too many of her leftovers and scraps, I can vouch and say that her work is also delicious! #cakesofinstagram #cakeboss #talentedteens #barbiedreamcake #birminghambaker
    It was Ash Wednesday, and I was a freshman in coll It was Ash Wednesday, and I was a freshman in college. Days before I’d bombed an interview that was important to me, and I felt a major sense of rejection as I checked the call-back list and saw that I hadn’t made the cut.

I attended Mass that evening in hopes of forgetting about the interview to be a university ambassador. Instead, I dwelled on the day’s events, and deciding that I needed some affirmation, I drove to my parents’ house—15 minutes from campus—immediately after church.

As my dad asked how things were going, I poured out my heart. I waxed on about being a loser and an embarrassment of a daughter. Immediately and adamantly he shook his head. Then he pointed to the ashes on my forehead.

“Kari, what does it matter?” His voice was firm and compelling. “Look at your face—what does that cross mean? We all started as dust, and we’ll all end as dust. Anything that burns in this world—your body, your clothes, this house—none of it matters. That interview doesn’t matter. What matters is your soul, and how you live your life.”

It was as if a window of clarity had opened, expanding the world before my eyes. Only then could I see the spiritual short-sightedness of getting worked up over something that, in the long run, was inconsequential. Yes, I wanted to be an ambassador, but had it worked out, my dad would never have shared this wise nugget. What I thought was the life-changing event—not making the cut—actually led to a bigger moment, a soulful awakening to things that don’t burn.

It’s been 30 years since that event, yet I remember it each year on Ash Wednesday. I’m reminded of the truths that we often forget: there is life beyond the here and now, and this seemingly permanent world is only a temporary home. As mortals, we started as ashes, and we will end as ashes as well. Rather than put our faith in temporal goals, we’re meant to fix our eyes on the Savior who died on the cross and promises eternal life in heaven.

I’m looking forward to this Lenten season and the next 40 days. May they bring a soulful awakening to things that don’t burn and open the window of clarity that helps us see the hope, joy, and renewal of the victory still to come.💜
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