Holly's News From Washington

We’re still digging out from Washington’s fourth largest blizzard in history, “Snowzilla.” It’s mandatory to disparage our nation’s Capitol when it snows—especially if you migrated here from the Midwest. Well, I’m from the Midwest—I grew up in Ohio and Iowa—and I love my adopted, southern city. Precisely because it is a southern city, it’s not economical to lay in the plows and trucks that Chicago and Cleveland depend on. So when we get a really big storm, it means our Metro mass transit system closes, the federal government closes, and our cars are buried for days. My neighborhood, Capitol Hill, had a party atmosphere, with nothing but kids and their sleds and neighborhood dogs on the roads. Folks helped each other shovel their sidewalks.

Things to be thankful for:

The last couple of Thanksgivings, my husband and our two daughters, Josie and Grace (who are now 18 and 20) have started a new tradition for our big dinner. We threw over turkey, green bean casserole, and sweet potatoes and instead had a “Favorite Things” dinner. Everybody in the family, including the dogs, gets to have their favorite thing on the menu. Last year, we had macaroni and cheese, crab Norfolk, homemade whoopee pies, and—my favorite—Pacific Lime Mold, an appalling lime-pineapple-cottage cheese concoction from the 1950’s that my Mom used to make and only I eat today.

I’ve been thinking of favorite things a lot these days. We have so much to be grateful for in the past year.

Holly's Top Ten Tips for Lobbying

IJM’s wonderful Advocacy Summit is coming up fast!  We can’t wait to have our friends from around the United States converge on Washington for advocacy training and story-telling followed by a day of meetings with members of Congress, senators and their staff in support of our cherished End Modern Slavery Initiative Act of 2015 (EMSI, #EndSlaveryAct). Many of those coming to the Advocacy Summit are experienced lobbyists, having visited their Senate and House offices many times. But for some, it will be the first time up on Capitol Hill. Either way, we want to make sure our advocates are well prepared.

Prayer Matters (And Advocacy Does, Too)

The theme for IJM’s Global Prayer Gathering this year was “Prayer Matters.” It was a beautiful testament to God’s work through prayer, and I was entirely on board. I always have been, as imperfectly as I’ve acted on my belief in prayer. IJM doesn’t stop there, though, and in a few months, it will host its annual Advocacy Summit. Its unofficial theme could be “Advocacy Matters.” I’m on board with this too, but I haven’t always been.