GIVING TUESDAY: only the most fun idea ever!

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Ok so I woke up with the most fun idea ever. Let’s give love away – together!

It’s Giving Tuesday, and once-upon-a-walk-around-the-world, we learned a lot about giving. We became big fans because we saw what giving could do. Seriously, our entire business plan at Home4Good is based on this premise: we can actually change the world … for good.

Also, we became big fans of Royal Family Kids a few years ago, and we learn more about more about what Love looks like every summer as brutiful stories unfold in the lives of foster youth throughout SoCal. One of my favorite moments is captured in this photo, right before the kids get off the bus for a week of camp. Their counselors are there and THEIR NAMES ARE ON THEIR WELCOME CARDS, letting them know right away that love is ready for them, that they have been expected and prepared for. Yep, all the feels.

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And then of course I love getting A Girl and Her Heart book into the hands and hearts of all my girls (pardon the adorable photo bomb by Abby). I want little beans everywhere to know we are beloved. We are ENOUGH.

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AND SO THE IDEA … let’s GIVEITAWAY! Together! And let’s make it personal. Because that’s what love is.

So today, for GIVINGTUESDAY:

  • Every order of A Girl and Her Heart using the code GIVEITAWAY will be reduced by 20% and given to a local foster youth for Christmas through Royal Family Kids mentoring clubs.
  • Each book will be personalized with a note to them and from you BY NAME, so they know this was bought for them specifically, that love prepared for and anticipated them by name this Christmas.

Seriously, most fun idea ever. Let’s go, giving Tuesday! Let’s give love away – by name!

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A Girl and Her Heart: Girl, Meet World [BIRTHDAY release!]

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I could not be more excited to introduce you to A Girl and Her Heart. TODAY is the release day in celebration of my favorite HEART, and the fact that we are LIVING a miracle

Girl, meet World.

video-linkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R4foBqY7ME

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Also, a SPECIAL BIRTHDAY OFFER.

For every order this week that includes the note

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON”, Jason and I will BOTH autograph your copy.

(available only on orders through this site – silly Amazon won’t let me into their warehouse)

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Also available at

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(just remember, I can’t add anything extra, adorable, or extra-adorable to Amazon orders)

 

 

 

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Last Day to Pre-Order and Win some of this Girl’s Favorite Things

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The final giveaway for release week A Girl and Her Heart includes a few of my favorite things, like a Tee of your choice from Tacos and Tees and Road to Hana loose-leaf tea from Tranquil Tea Lounge. ALL entries from this week will be included PLUS you can still enter today by sharing and tagging – bonus entries with every PRE-ORDER before midnight tonight. Winner announced tomorrow 😘

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On Being Enough. And being Beloved. (spoiler alert, you’re already both)

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When I wrote A Girl and Her Heart, I was listening. Finally. To the still small voice that was fighting through all my noise and hurts and was asking me if I really believed I was enough.

And here again, on the most beautiful of mornings, with incredible things to celebrate like, oh you know, LIFE and BIRTHDAYS and BOOKS, I have to pause and hear that voice again. Because it’s still saying the same thing. Do I really believe I am enough? It’s tricky, the more you put a message into the world, the more you have to fight to believe it.

Because there are just so. many. other. voices. And they tell us that we need to BE … something. Something more. Something else. Something ‘better.’ Something _______. It’s an ever-moving target.

Last month I had breakfast with a very successful and well-respected Attorney here in Orange County. He was telling me a story of an earlier ‘failure’ in his career. He started to say, “I’m embarrassed to tell you this …” and then stopped himself and said (“No, I’m not embarrassed. That’s not my name. I’m Mark, the Beloved.”) as if in a parenthetical.

At the time, I thought it was kind of a corny exercise – especially to do out loud. In front of a stranger.

I’ve been doing it ever since.

Because oh my goodness, THAT is the word the Father’s voice is speaking. And it already tells us exactly what we need to be. Be loved. Because you are. Without anything extra. Without anything you can add or do. You are so, so loved. Because I am. I am so, so loved. Without being something else, something more, something ___________________. We are BELOVED.

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And we need to hear it over and over again. And sometimes, we need to hear our own voice repeating this truth. Out loud. No matter how corny it might feel.

We need to practice this Big Truth and preach it to ourselves, even if it sounds silly: “No, I’m not Brooke the Author/Wife/Friend/Boss. I’m Brooke the Beloved.”

I’m not ________, the Athlete, I’m the Beloved.

I’m not ___________, the Straight-A student, I’m the Beloved.

I’m not __________, the Mom. I’m the Beloved.

So participating in today’s giveaway is going to be a bit harder than the rest – a bit more risky, a bit more vulnerable, and a lot more powerful: It will mean being this voice to each other and to ourselves. Practice telling yourself that you are already enough. You are ______, the BELOVED.

I’ll be practicing and preaching right along with you.

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And also, I think giveaway competitions can be kind of corny too. But I’m trying them this week because they are a tool, and because I want to get this message to as many big and little hearts as possible. And because I want a way to say THANK YOU to everyone who’s helping spread it. So in that spirit, here’s how to enter TODAY’S GIVEAWAY:

  • Share this Big Truth on your Facebook or Instagram. You can use this image or a selfie.
  • Use this caption or something like it: “In a world with so many competing voices, I’m listening to the One that tells me the Truth: that I am enough. That I am the Beloved.”
  • Use the hashtags #iamenough #iambeloved #agirlandherheartbook
  • Tag girls who you want to tell: YOU ARE ENOUGH. YOU ARE BELOVED. One extra entry for every friend you tag – and when you tag them, they are automatically entered to win too.

Entries close at 9pm (pst) tonight because … vacation. And now, I’m going hiking.

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So there’s this Girl [new book giveaway!]

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So there’s this Girl. And I love her. And I’m so excited for you to meet her.

I met her about six years ago as I was living her story. The story of a Girl who needed to remember some big things. Some big truths – like who she is, Whose she is, and what makes her heart truly beautiful. She needed to remember that she’s enough without any of love’s trinkets. Because love itself is already hers. Priceless love. Without cost. And timeless beauty. Without expiration.

So I took this Girl to meet an artist friend of mine, the amazingly talented Jenny Lewis. And she loved her too. And she poured that love onto page after page of beautiful hand-drawn illustrations.

And now, thanks to the cheerleading of countless friends … A Girl and Her Heart is ready to meet you! This is the first illustrated storybook of a series I’ll be releasing under Big Truths for Little Hearts – and it’s only right that this first one starts with the core, the heart of everything, reminding us that love and beauty don’t start with us: they are gifts we receive and share.


This Girl is ready to bring those big truths into the hearts of all the littles – and bigs – YOU love. She releases on October 23, 2016, in honor and celebration of my Jason’s (miraculous) birthday.

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So it’s BIRTHDAY WEEK! Which means GIFTS – I’ll be drawing a name each night to GIVEAWAY an autographed copy of A Girl and Her Heart! Watch every day for how to enter.

ENTER TODAY’S GIVEAWAY:

One entry for each of the following:

  • Comment below
  • Share on your Facebook or Instagram
  • Tag girls who you want to tell: YOU ARE LOVED, SO LOVED, JUST FOR BEING YOU!
  • One entry for every friend you tag – and when you tag them, they are automatically entered to win too! (Be sure to tag me too so I can count it!)
  • Entries close at 7pm every night (PST). You can also skip the wait and GO PRE-ORDER HERE. Books will ship immediately after October 23 and I’ll personally sign every pre-order 
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