our first great date

Mission: to define and discuss Your Beauty in God's Eyes

The first date in this awesome book, Eight Great Dates for Moms and Daughters, involves going to a proper tea house to celebrate all things beautiful and fancy.
We got all dressed up and got all ready to enjoy some beautiful treats and to relax together.

On the way to the date, the author has made available an mp3 audio for you both to listen to in the car on the way to the date. Since this is the first date, she describes what a secret keeper girl is, and one foundational truth that is the basis for all the dates to come: you are a masterpiece created by God.

The way the author has you illustrate this foundational truth is by using different kinds of cups.

We talked about the fine china, the silver, the linens. The beautiful music, the gorgeous surroundings.

And then we compared it to if we had gone to have this time together at Applebee's or Chick-fil-a. It still would have been great, but there is just something so special about surrounding ourselves with beautiful and delicate things, things that are not common.

As directed to in the book, I pulled out a coffee cup that I use each day, and a styrofoam cup that you can throw away.

We compared our lives, our beauty, our value to these different cups. How many people, who don't know that they are a masterpiece created by God, treat themselves or are treated like ordinary, every day cups. Some even treat themselves like styrofoam: cheap and disposable.

But we know that we are loved, valued, created, cherished by the One True God, and that changes everything!

Dates that are coming up:

Date 2 : Real Physical Beauty

Date 3 : The Source Of Beauty

Date 4 : The Power Of Beauty

Date 5 : Truth Or Bare Fashion

Date 6 : The Bod Squad

Date 7 : Internal Fashion

Date 8 : Affirmation Of Beauty

There was even an mp3 to listen to on the way home, wrapping up the date and the biblical truth. I gave Marie a beautiful tea cup to keep in her room as a way to remember our date and her worth as a child of God. Love this book and these ideas!

how do you spell love?

**rejoicing today with other families who have waited so long to hear good news: referrals! Read here, here, and here!

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today was a crazy day.

there were dishes in the dishwasher that needed to be taken out (clean), dishes in sink that needed to be put in (dirty), dishes wrapped around the counter waiting to be dealt with.

there is clean laundry waiting to be put away, clean laundry waiting to be sorted in a heap upstairs, dirty laundry everywhere.

it was a hard core school day. you know, the kind that you have to have if you want to have lighter days on Fridays. which we do. on Fridays, that's great. On Wednesdays when you have to work, not so great.

This afternoon, I went out to get the mail. I don't usually get the mail since my kids like to do that job, but today I did.

And there was a big bulky envelope waiting for me. Addressed to ME. from one of my very favorite people in the entire world. the person who has loved me the longest of anyone else on this planet.

I went inside, put down my keys and the trash I had gathered from the car, and the rest of the mail. I tore open the package, and there were two "home" kinda magazines (my faves), a Starbucks gift card (my total fave), and a sweet note from my mom.

I melted.

I love that she thought of me.

how did she know?

(well, maybe it was the text I sent her last Thursday asking her to come immediately to my house, a seven hour drive, because I was totally exhausted and officially retiring.)

thanks so much, mom. it meant the world.

my mom and her mom

reading with Kate

helping Marie with her homeschool

meeting Malachi

helping Elizabeth eat something totally yummy

because tonight I needed to laugh

it was one of those days.

i really, really needed to laugh.

8 great dates

Back in February or March, I started to research books that I wanted to read in order to get me ready to talk with Marie about things/changes that are getting ready to happen in her life.

I asked friends.

I googled.

I amazoned.

I read blogs.

I scoured our church library and our public library for materials that explained things in a beautiful, clear way.

Wow.

It was hard to find something I liked!

Some books just gave WAY too much information right off the bat.

Some books had a tone about them that just made these changes seem silly, or like something to mock. Even "christian" books.

But then I found some that may just work, that may give me a map, a plan, a road sign for how to navigate the changes coming soon with dignity and confidence that this is what God planned.

After much thought and deliberation, I bought:
and
I think this American Girl book is very well done. My only beef is that they introduce eating disorders, which I totally don't get. This is a very introductory book about your body and nutrition and health, so introducing what *might* happen or potential problems with eating seems too soon to me (especially when there are a gazillion problems that might happen with all the other things they are introducing, like irregular periods or mood disorders, but none of that gets brought up (nor should it at this point) so why eating disorders get full pages at this stage is beyond me). But I bought it anyway for its respectful tone and clear explanations.

I also bought this for her and this for me.

And then this happened. And my search for great materials and soul food for our upcoming conversations stopped.

Until recently.

Ready or not, the questions are coming. The books came out of the closet. The first date was planned and here is a glimpse:


More details on our first great date to come!

after the airport...an absolute MUST read

A dear friend sent me this link, a blog post entitled "after the airport" early this morning.
It is so, so good. Well worth your time!

whoa--weekend catch up

the weekend.

the l-o-n-g beautiful weekend

so great to have Joel home for an extra day. I just breathe better when he is here!

Friday, homeschool choir started back up for the year after being cancelled last week due to Hurricane Irene. Fridays are not a typical homeschooling day, and it is a fun break to get out and see friends!

then we had our first violin lesson with our new violin teacher for the girls. our old and beloved teacher moved quite suddenly. we were so sad. this first lesson went pretty well. it's always hard to get used to new people and what is important to them (typically very different than what was important to the previous teacher.)

sold our double jogger on craigslist.

Friday night was MOVIE NIGHT. This is our newest thing. The kids ask for movies much less if they KNOW we are watching one on Friday night. Last week was Soul Surfer, which we all loved, but Caleb pretended he didn't. I highly recommend it. This past week we watched Ramona and Beezus. Hmmmm. Not sure I recommend that one. I love movies where the siblings speak KINDLY to each other!

Saturday, we cleaned up, and Marie and I got ready for our special date. More on this special date next post.

While Marie and I were on our special date, Joel kept the crew, mowed the lawn, MOPPED the floor (I know!!!) and got the house in great shape. He is so awesome.

That night we had dear friends come for dinner. There were kids everywhere, and it was loud, but fellowship with good friends, especially ones who don't live here anymore, is a gift. Thank you, Brian and Amanda!

Sunday was a sweet worship time, and it even included Starbucks with my husband. It just doesn't get better than THAT! then we had an unexpected cancellation in our schedule so we had a quiet afternoon at home...which meant nap for me!

sold another stroller we had but didn't use anymore (purge city around here, I feel like I can't breathe!)

yesterday we had a very fun cookout with some friends over at our house. it was a ton of kids running around, so it was NOT quiet, but it was fun. we had burgers, hot dogs, sweet potato fries, fruit salad, orzo salad, and rice krispie treats. lots of people contributed so it was a delicious feast! Great to catch up with old friends and get to know some new ones.

Phew! I'm tired just writing about it. Somebody at the cookout last night asked me how our adjustment was going. I hadn't thought about it in awhile...I told him that I think the big "A" adjustment is over and done and complete (yay! said with a tired smile), and that the little "a" adjustments would be a new part of our lives for years. we still have so much to learn and so far to go, but God is here, my friends. God is here.

boys weekend

Caleb recently celebrated his 8th birthday.

To celebrate, Joel took him on a boys weekend away, just the two of them.

Joel bought him tickets to see his first professional baseball game in Atlanta. He gave him the tickets on his actual birthday, giving him something to look forward to for several weeks.

Saying goodbye:

Upon entering our totally cool swagger wagon, Caleb found a new baseball hat waiting for him on the seat, to get him ready for the big game.
Joel packed all the essentials: a camera, coffee, and new baseballs for autographs.

This picture was taken as the big adventure started:


Once they arrived in Atlanta, they threw their sparse belongings into their hotel room, and walked to the stadium in time to see warm ups.

Little did they know that on this night, Bobby Cox's number was being retired. There were many old players there to sign autographs, so they stood in line (#177!!) and waited.

Once they got their autographs, they found their seats and waited for the game to begin.

They ate pizza and Powerade. Caleb's favorite.

The game was a blow out, with 10 runs! What a fun game to be at!

When the game was over, there were fireworks.

It took a long time to get back to the hotel room, and by the time they were there, we had one tired boy. "Mom," Caleb said, "we walked at LEAST 1 mile."

The next morning, they ate a manly breakfast at the hotel and then experienced the World Of Coke. Caleb was highly impressed with the various flavors of Coke from around the world, such as Fanta Magic (but no Fanta Fiesta, like we enjoyed in Rwanda! bummer!) You are allowed to sample as many different brands of Coke as you want, make your own Coke concoctions, and even watch old Coca Cola commercials!

After their World Of Coke tour, they ate lunch at the Varsity, a legendary grease pit attached to the Georgia Dome, where they enjoyed plenty of onion rings. When Joel asked Caleb what he wanted to drink with his meal, Caleb said, "Anything but Coke."


They stopped by the CNN Headquarters and found some fun things:
Once they made it home, we heard all about the fun they had and the things they saw. They passed out gifts for all of us, including Vanilla Coke lip smacker for me, and plastic classic Coca Cola cups for the kids.

We love to build memories with our blessings, and spending one on one time with them is one of our favorite ways to do this. Nothing says I love you more than wanting to spend time with JUST you!