What I’ve Been Up to Lately

So while I’m working, um, procrastinating, on my stated blog purpose, I thought I’d share what I’ve been up to lately, some of which may interest you as well:

BLOOM BOOK CLUB – you may have noticed the new blog button that I put in the sidebar. This book club was started by Angie and Jessica and has its own blog site. In Angie’s words:

“The name of the book club is Bloom and the tag is Read. Discuss. Grow. Do you love it as much as we do? We think that it has so many cool interpretations. Our prayer is that it will become a vibrant community of believers who can challenge each other and encourage one another in our walks. Our common bond will be the books that we read – and we think Crazy Love is the perfect way to start.”

As Angie indicated, the first book is Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God, by Francis Chan. I’ve already started reading it and it’s fantastic. I’m really excited to work through this book as part of the Bloom Community. If you’re interested, it’s not too late to jump in. The first discussion day is next Sunday, September 13 and you can read the first two chapters here so you won’t miss a thing while you’re waiting to get your book. Check out Bloom for all the details.

SECRET KEEPER GIRL – those of you with young girls may like this. Secret Keeper Girl is a part of Pure Freedom, which was founded by Dannah Gresh. Pure Freedom

“provides resources with radically-unique approaches to focus on specific issues that teen girls and/or guys face in the area of purity and holiness. Our events, the hallmark of our ministry, are about sexual purity and yet they are much more about the totality of a life submitted to the will of God in a quest to enjoy the blessings of His plan.”

The Secret Keeper Girl site is a great place for girls and moms to learn about modesty and purity. You may want to sign the Bod Squad Petition, and your daughter may want to play games. They also go on Tour. I’m watching to see if they come to Michigan.What I am most excited about is Dannah’s books: Secret Keeper Girl: 8 Great Dates for You and Your Daughter. The first book is about true beauty and modesty and the second book is about the true gift of friendship. These are actually kits that include a CD with messages from Dannah, an instruction book for the moms to prepare and complete a date with your daughter and a diary for your daughter that includes a mini bible study of sorts. We’ve done one date so far and we scaled it down to do at home, but it was a lot of fun for both of us. It’s a great bonding opportunity for us and the lessons are great for young girls. The material reminds both me and Isabelle of Me, Myself and Lies, but on a tween age level. We’re looking forward to our future dates on Sunday evenings while my son is at Youth Group.

A BATHROOM MAKEOVER – this has kept me pretty busy for the last two weeks {my wonderful husband squeezed it in as a final summer project before school starts}. After almost eleven years in our house, everything is ready to be redone. Everything is either worn out or out of style. Since our pocketbook isn’t big enough for the living room yet, we decided to tackle the kids’ bathroom. Even at that, we had a small budget that wouldn’t allow us to make all the changes that I wanted.

So how is this of interest to you? We’re doing things Nestor style. The Nestor’s motto is “It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful.”

In my mind, perfect would have been a new countertop; for that matter, it would have included a double sink and new tile as well. Had I waited until we could afford perfect, we’d be waiting a mighty long time. So we decided that imperfectly beautiful is better than perfectly not done.

The bathroom has a bright yellow countertop. When I chose it I was thinking bright and cheery for my kids. Eleven years later, I’m stuck with a yellow countertop that is just way too bright and cheery. I gave in to the imperfection of it, and took on the challenge to make the room look a bit more sophisticated in all it’s bright yellow cheeriness. We removed very stuck wallpaper border, toned down the walls {which were also a bright and cheery yellow}, got a yellow toile shower curtain, new chrome hardware, white towels, and added black as an accent color.

After all our hard work, there’s a paint ring around the old light fixture that we’re still trying to get rid of, a new chip in the countertop {making it even more imperfect!}, rugs that still need to be replaced {I hope to get that done tomorrow}, a little white cupboard thing that is waiting to be painted black {and since school starts on Tuesday, it may not get done until Thanksgiving break}, and a wall that is waiting for the perfect wrought iron accent piece {I’m thinking a fleur de lis – if you run across one, let me know!}. It’s not finished, and it’s definitely not perfect; but, in my estimation, it is beautiful. Thank you, Nestor!