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This past Saturday, Abigail and I were gifted with tickets to attend Dannah Gresh’s Secret Keeper Girl event.  To say it was wonderful is an understatement.  It’s geared toward Moms and Daughters between the ages of 9 and 12, and if you have a daughter close to that range, I highly recommend this event!  We went with several other moms and daughters, and I think the moms had just as much fun as the daughters!

From their website:  “What is a Secret Keeper Girl? Well, she is lots of things! A Secret Keeper Girl values modesty, she surrounds herself with wise friends and she embraces Godly beauty. But, the most important thing for you to know is that a Secret Keeper Girl is a masterpiece created by God. “

The things about beauty, modesty, and personal value I’ve been trying to pour into Abigail’s heart and mind were taught in a fun, lighthearted, and entertaining way.  All of us (the girls and moms) were challenged to value and embrace the way God made each of us.  It went beautifully along with what God’s been teaching me through Beth Moore’s book, “So Long Insecurity”. 

If Barbie were a real woman:

• She would be 6 feet tall.
• She would have size 5 feet! (think about the balance issue there!)
• Her neck would be 9 inches long!
• Her waist would be the same as the circumfrence of a 4 month old baby’s HEAD!
• And because of the size and weight of her chest, along with her tiny waist and small feet, she would have to WALK ON ALL FOURS to balance herself!

Knowing this information takes the mystique away from this unattainable beauty.  I think I’ll keep my shape and walk upright, thank you! (Abigail’s been walking around the house on all fours saying she’s “playing Barbie”.  They encouraged the girls to do this – which makes trying to be like Barbie even more riduculous to them!)

Then after some powerful Scripture teaching on how we all are wonderfully made, we were asked to place our hands on a part of our body we’d rather change.  Then we dedicated that body part to the Lord.  I gave my “Problem Area(s)” to the Lord for His use and glory – and have to tell you… it was/is freeing!

We were reminded that the “beautiful and perfect” women we see in the media are not “real”.  They are real women and girls who have had lots of help and photo-shopping.  We saw this video made by Dove.  It, too, is a freeing de-bunker of the myth that we are supposed to naturally look like the girls on TV and in magazines.

One more thing.  We learned some “Truth or Bare” Fashion tests – Modesty tests that every outfit should pass (these are for us moms, too!)  Find the tests and the solutions (in case of a fail) here.

* I just read over this – it sounds like I’m blogging a “review” of the event – but in a way, I guess I am.  In a short amount of time, a lot of wisdom and healing and encouragement was shared with girls and their moms.  If a Secret Keeper Girl event comes to a location near you, it will be well worth your time to get yourself and your daughter there!

On another note: Probably like you, there is so much on my mind that needs prayer today~ people I know, people I don’t (like the tornado victims in MS), people I connect with in the blogosphere, and in our own personal lives (our house to sell!).  I’m reminding myself, and wanted to remind you that these things are not heavy to our Lord.  He knows every detail of every need.  We join Him in prayer so we can have a part in His work in the lives of others.  When we feel that overwhelming burden that is about to burry us, we can place it in Jesus’ lap, look into His face, say His sweet Name, and let Him love us to rest.  He is more than capable to carry and take care of all that is on our minds and hearts… He is All Powerful, All Knowing, and All Present!  He will carry us and those heavy weights we try to bear!!!

My the Lord Jesus Christ bless you today, my friends…
Jennifer

Hi friends~  Hope you are having a great day!  I’ve been doing a little blog “organization” lately, and discovered something I didn’t know was there.  “Pages”.  Out of curiosity, I clicked on the tab “Edit Pages” in my settings, and found that I could categorize some things and run them across the top of the blog.

So I did.

And while I was doing this, I re-read many of the things I’ve written about the Lord and His work in our lives.  I’ve laughed, cried, shaken my head, and just grown purely grateful all over again for the things the Lord is doing and has done.

Never before have I faithfully written in a journal.  I’ve started many.  We have shelves full of journals with 1/4 of the pages used.  But with blogging – I’m finally keeping a consistent journal, and God has used it time and time again to bless and strengthen my life.

I put up a new page the other day.  It’s at the top right of the blog (under the title picture), called Our Journey: Urged on By Faith.  On it, I linked many of the blog posts telling our story as we’ve walked this 9 month road of unemployment and blindly trusting the Lord.  Boy, has He ever been good to us!!!

During this last week where I especially needed to be reminded to keep my eyes focusing on and trusting Him, He used my own words and stories of His past faithfulness to us as a Spirit-Lifter and Faith-Booster.  I’m so thankful these things were written down. 

On top of that, God has blessed and enriched my life with so many new people and friends… friends from all over the world!  (It seems funny to call someone I’ve never seen face-to-face my friend…. but when someone shares her heart through what she writes – it’s easy to feel like you know her.)  There’s something comforting to me about knowing that when I move away from my community and the friends here, my blogging community stays the same.

Whether you’re local or long-distance, I thank you for being a part of the blogging community in which I reside.  I love you in the Lord Jesus, and thank God for you and your part in my life.

A reminder of God’s Work, and Friends like you… That’s why I’m glad I blog. 🙂

Jennifer

Happy Monday, friends. 🙂

I’m taking a “Coffee Break” this week, and spending time with friends and family. I’ve been wanting to share some favorite links with you for a while, and this is the perfect opportunity.  I’ve scheduled a new post for every day, and hope you enjoy the links as much as I do.

I plan to catch up on my blog reading this week, so I’ll see you around the blogosphere.

In the mean time, may the “beauty and delightfulness and favor of the Lord our God be upon us; confirm and establish the work of our hands–yes, the work of our hands, confirm and establish it.” Psalm 90:17 Amp

Much love to each of you…And I thank you for reading this blog.

Jennifer

Today’s link: Please meet my friend, Melanie. Stepping Closer

I’ve known Melanie for almost 20 years. She’s been a friend, mentor, and a catalyst in setting me up on that blind date with the man I married. 🙂 Melanie has a book soon to be published, and has recently started a blog. I know she’d love a visit and some encouragement as she journeys into blogging.

                                                                                          
Photo: Melanie and her husband, Randy, with James and me.

*EDITED  – JUST ABOUT A WEEK AFTER THIS POST WAS WRITTEN, FACEBOOK CHANGED EVERYTHING!   OH, WELL…  😉

Hi friends~  It’s day 5 of our “snowed in, school’s out” vacation.  We live on the top of two hills and the bottom of two others, and our road is still completly white with ice and snow.  We spent the last two days “semi-unplugged”, doing our best to stay away from the computers, TVs, and electronic games unless we could hop on and hop off, or it was something we all could do together.  It has been a refreshing change for us, and I think that at this point, everyone’s love tank is full.   It’s a good feeling.

I have a question for you, and hopefully a little info that you might find helpful.

Do you Facebook?

If you do, and you have more than 50 friends on Facebook, does it bother you that it’s hard to keep up with all of the status updates? I may be weird, but it bothers me. My thought is that if we are really trying to stay connected with people (and not just collecting “friends”), we would actually want to be able to read and respond to what is going on in the lives of our FB friends.

I realize that, in the scope of life, this is not a big deal. But it bothered me until I discovered an answer to my FB dilemma. And since we bloggers can’t keep a good thing to ourselves, I feel an insatiable desire to share it with you.  🙂

My feelings toward FaceBook fluctuate from season to season. When my life was busy and overwhelming, FB was just one more thing I needed to keep current. Even though I loved knowing what my friends were fixing for dinner, it was information overload.

But now that I’m in a “slower pace” of life, I’m enjoying and appreciating the connections FB affords. Especially in thinking that we will soon be moving (still waiting with the Lord on that… no word or phone call yet), in faith, I’m organizing my FB page, preparing to stay caught up with my Nashville friends via FB.

When I entered the FB world, my original plan was to limit my number of friends to 50, thinking that I could reasonably keep up with the status updates of about fifty people. But because I love people, I just couldn’t turn down a friend request. Soon my 50 became 100, then 200, then 300, etc.

I always wondered how people like my “good friends” (ha ha) Travis Cottrell and Mary Beth Chapman kept up with the status updates of their personal friends when those updates could so easily get lost amidst the thousands of “fan/friends” (like me) they had. Then one day, Travis said something about putting people in his “friends” and “old friends” categories. It made me think and start looking around FB to find the solution.

Here is what I found, and how it has helped me.

This is a [rather fuzzy] picture of my FB home (not profile) page.

On the left, there are categories provided by FB: Friends, Status Updates, News Feeds, Pages, Photos, Links, etc. At the bottom of this list is the little blue word, “More”. If you click on “More”, an extended list will appear. At the bottom of that list, in blue lettering, are the words, “Create New List”.

I decided to organize my friends by how I originally knew them… From the places I’ve lived in, to the schools I’ve attended, to my family, and my current church. I even have a “blog/online friends” category.

Once you’ve created your lists and added some friends, you can decide which list you want to be your main group that pops up when you go to your FB homepage. To set your main group for your homepage, go to your homepage and click on the blue “More”. Then click and drag the category you want to always see first to the top of the entire list.

Then you can drag and arrange the other categories in the order you want to see them. When you have the categories where you want them, it will automatically save them for you.

I have a fluid category simply called “Friends” set to pop up when I go to my home page. This is where I keep around 50 people that are currently in my life or those I am praying for and don’t want to miss a single update. I move people in and out of this list as needed, and try to keep it small.

My next category is “Status Updates”. When I click on this box, everyone’s status updates, no matter which group they fall in, pops up on my screen. The benefit of using Status Updates is that you see people from every category.  The challenge is that unless you are on FB all of the time (which I am not), the updates pile on top of each other and many are missed.

After the “Status Updates,” my other groups are listed.

When I get a chance to check FB, I can quickly see those in my fluid “Friends” category because they pop up on my home page. Next, I click “Status Updates” to see what’s currently up with everyone else. Then, I start clicking down the line of categories. Because I have a small number of people in each category, it is easy to see what people have posted. In about 10 minutes, I can stay caught up on over 300 people that I truly care about.

*Once you have your categories set up, you can very easily move people in and out of those categories, or put people into more than one category. Go to your Profile Page and look under your “friends list” on the left of your page. Click on the blue number of friends that you have. All of your friends and groups will be pulled up in ABC order.

Notice how each of my friends are in a specific list? Some are in one, and some are in two. To add or change people from list to list, just click on the word “list” beside the person, then you can put them in the category that best fits.

Make sense? I sure do hope so…  If not, please chalk it up to a mushy brain from being snowed in for 5 days. 🙂

How about you… do you have your FB organized? Do you have a different method to share with us? How do you feel about FB?

And btw, … if you want to be friends, I’d be glad to be your friend… I now have just the place to keep up with you! 🙂

Love to each of you~
Jennifer

PS: Happy Groundhog Day! 🙂