Starry-Eyed

Being a mom is all of it: light and dark, highs and lows, fever pitch frustration and all-consuming love. By now, you already know that with great love comes great joy . . . and great pain. It can be crazy-making! But it doesn't have to be.In Starry-Eyed, MOPS CEO Mandy Arioto reveals how the brightest and darkest moments of motherhood alike can become a sacred--and sanity-saving--opportunity to encounter God. There is a way to flourish in the midst of it all, and it starts with embracing the light and darkness in life with expectation and awe.Heartening, enchanting, and always unflinchingly honest, Starry-Eyed will show you how to find the unexpected grace in your life as a woman, wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. Consider this your heart-to-heart sit-down with a woman who’s been there, and can help you find fresh eyes to see how beauty and pain can mingle with purpose.  

Between the blaring, always-on-duty world of mothering and our woman’s wistful yearning for personal time and space, Mandy Arioto wedges a place for us to be. Courageous. Ever honest. Present. Here is a lovely read that weaves hope in our here. I found myself bobbing along after Mandy’s musings, chasing her like a child after a firefly through inky nights, eager to capture her discoveries as my own. Dark. Light. Mandy convinces us that God uses everything to shape us into who we always wanted to be., Starry-Eyed will encourage moms of all ages and stages to embrace grace in the midst of their ordinary life. From the weary to the wonderful, the stressful to the sublime, God is there. We just need a little help seeing him. Mandy Arioto shows us how., Mandy’s candid stories about what it means to be a woman, a wife, and a mother had me laughing out loud one moment and crying the next. Starry- Eyed is the kind of book you buy multiple copies of to give away to friends., I first heard of Mandy when I was a pastor at MOSAIC in Los Angeles. Our campus pastor in San Diego kept saying, “You have to meet Mandy!” He would tell me, “She’s the future, man.” I finally got to know Mandy in an RV by the beach on a “speaker’s retreat” that turned into a surf session. I was struck by her quiet power and her depth of insight. When Mandy leads, people grow. When Mandy speaks, hearts open. When Mandy cares, our world heals. Mandy is an amazing mom, leader, speaker, and woman of faith. As I read Mandy’s book, I thought of my own mom, my wife, my sisters, and my daughters. I want them to be informed by Mandy’s bold and insightful words. I want my daughters to know they were created for the wild light and the beautiful darkness. I’m getting this book for every mom in my life., By dignifying the darkness, Mandy Arioto leads us into the dark night as well as the jubilant light and reminds us there are gifts in both. Whether she’s writing about motherhood, vocation, friendship, marriage, or family, we are invited to consider how we are formed by life’s changing skies. You are sure to find yourself and your journey in these pages.

Mandy Arioto, as President and CEO for MOPS International, represents the voice of the organization’s 130,000+ mother members. A recognized speaker, Mandy addresses faith, modern motherhood, and cultural trends for both national and international audiences, and she has also been featured on MSN, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, and USA Today. She and her husband are in the throes of raising three young kids to be adventurous, tender-hearted world-changers. Follow Mandy at www.mandyarioto.com and mops.org, and be sure to catch her Have More Fun podcast.