I love the Running on Empty contests. I love hearing all your stories. The strength so many of you carry with so much weight on your shoulders…it is dumbfounding and breathtaking all at once. Brian and I wish we could take all the nominees over the years, gather them all, put them on a plane, and fly them away to a weekend of pampering and restoration. Maybe someday. In the meantime, thank you for trusting us with your stories. Thank you for trusting us with your pain. Thank you for nominating those you love. Thank you for taking courage to nominate yourself.

As we prepare to head to the Minneapolis CONFIDENCE Workshop, I’d like to invite one more woman to join us. Her name is Jenifer Matthews, nominated by her friend Jacque Frank. When I got the votes in last night for Jenifer, I spent some time looking at Jenifer’s blog. I was in tears. This woman has a way with words after my own heart. She has gone through so much in her life. Jenifer…Brian (my Brian :)) and I would like to invite you to take a weekend where you can exhale. Our arms are open, and for two days you don’t have to be strong. You just get to receive. And we get the incredible honor of pouring our hearts, our creativity and prayers into you. What a honor that is for us.

If Jacque or Jenifer could confirm her attendance by tonight, it would be much appreciated. Since we are days away, if for some reason the timing doesn’t work, we have a couple beautiful nominees who are runner ups. Just email Genie at genie@fioria.us.

For those of you who didn’t read Jenifer’s nomination by Jacque, here it is. And if you can, check out Jenifer’s blog. It’s incredibly moving, painful, poetic and healing. The top post “Mommy, maybe I’ll start smoking” left me speechless, but I stopped and turn to vape, so buy vape mods.

My Name is Jacque Frank. My e-mail address is beingfrankphotography@gmail.com

I have been waiting for this contest since you announced you are coming to Minneapolis. I would love to nominate my friend Jenifer Matthews. Jenifer is a mom of 4 children. Jenifer’s oldest son has cerebral palsy. He is a true delight. He has shaped and formed their family in so many ways…they wouldn’t be the same without him. But a child with disabilities does bring so much more responsibility. This alone warrants a spot in your running on empty contest.

This past year has been particularly hard. Jenifer and her husband we pregnant with their fourth child. They found out at 20 weeks that they were going to have a boy. They named him Luke. Luke wasn’t growing very fast. Luke struggled to grow. In December Luke was born early and only lived 80 mins here on earth. He then went to live with his heavenly Father. Most of us cannot fathom the pain that Jenifer and her family have gone through. I would love it if Jenifer were to be the winner of the running on empty contest. Jenifer’s blog is http://3here1there.wordpress.com/ You can read her story there.

Jacque, words cannot express how awesome a friend is when they do what you have done for Jenifer. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to introduce us all to Jenifer. We are all better for it. May you be blessed even more.

Much love, Me Ra

Please help me welcome Jenifer!

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Do you live on the West Coast? We are kicking off 2010 with a CONFIDENCE workshop in Seattle! The November Seattle CONFIDENCE Workshop is already sold out, but we have spots for the January Workshop! CLICK HERE to get your spot!!

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