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What I Wore Wednesday 10.30.2013

October 30, 2013 by Amy 4 Comments

It’s Wednesday when I share my outfits from the week.

I pair my outfits with inspirational photos. Read more about that here.

Email and RSS readers need to click over to the site to see the inspirational photos.

Alright, this weekend was Allume. The conference is very casual so my shirt-pants-boots combo fit right in.

Here’s an iPhone shot from the first day of Allume on the streets of Greenville, SC and look! I finally found some colored pants! Becky and I got to Greenville a tad early so we swung through Anthropologie. Knowing the last time I went, Blood Water Belt started so I was planning to just browse. However, in the sale room, I found these pants and when I put them on, they were just so perfect. I was praying standing in the dressing room, Lord, PLEASE don’t make me give these up if I buy them. I got the green light and when I got to the register, they were even more on sale than I thought. Thank you, Lord! They are SO comfortable.

I didn’t grab a photo of the second day from Allume, but I basically wore this outfit above with different jewelry, different hair and sans the terrible look on my face (photo from last year).

Here’s another iPhone picture from the streets of Greenville on Day 3. I believe this was towards the end of the day when we snuck out at the end of dinner for cupcakes. Oh yes. I totally cheated on eating clean.

I wore this working at home and we did a bit of shopping for Lexi’s birthday party this weekend.

I wore this exactly nowhere but home.

As a bonus, here are some fun SmileBooth photos with the outfits from Allume.

Let’s connect! Like AmyJBennett on Facebook. Follow me on Pinterest (where I post these inspirational pictures),Instagram (where you might sneak an early peek of an outfit) or Twitter.

Linked with The Pleated Poppy

A Good Season

October 29, 2013 by Amy 7 Comments

I’ve been sitting on these photos of my family for a few weeks now.

I think they’re stunning. Not because we’re beautiful, although I think my children are. I love the light, the fall colors, the simple fact that my family is all together, the beautiful work of a photographer.

And I didn’t want to share.

I didn’t want to seem like I was bragging—didn’t want anyone to feel less than maybe because they couldn’t even afford family pictures or some family members were sick or whatever.

Over the weekend, though, two people said something that dispelled my fear.

Lisa Whittle talked about how we try to diminish who we are to make someone else feel better. She encouraged us to embrace it without apologies. Ann Voskamp said we steal praise from heaven.

So, guys, I’m not into stealing praise from heaven. This is our family’s annual photos.

For whatever reason God decided to let me be a part of this beautiful family and it is such a gift. We’re far from perfect but we’re healthy. We’re happy. We love Jesus. He is SO good to us.

Sometimes I thank God quietly and he just whispers, enjoy it. These are the good years.

I don’t know if that means we have some hard years coming up. Maybe. But maybe they’ll all be good years. I just know we’re in such a sweet time as a family and I’m just so, so grateful.

I look at this picture of me and Scott and think of us just a few years ago. My goodness, what a work God has done.

These kids. They undo me. Everything I do I do for their happiness and health. I couldn’t love them more and I know God feels just the same way about all of us. They show me Jesus.

Not all our seasons will be like this but I’m so, so grateful for this one.

I’m grateful for him giving talent to photographers like ours and grateful for organizations like Help-Portrait that understand the power of photographs and gives back to those in need. If you’ve never heard of Help-Portrait, I’d highly recommend you checking them out. Perhaps you can help give others a moment where they can thank God for his blessings.

To God be the glory!

Allume 2013

October 27, 2013 by Amy 44 Comments

Such great community at Allume

I’m back from Allume 2013 (Christian women’s blogging conference) and I’m skipping right to the deep stuff. For my regular readers, you’ve gotten nothing but crumbs the past few weeks. I hope this makes up for it. Grab a cup of coffee and hang in there! God does some cool stuff at the end!

After Allume last year, I knew I wanted more than ever to my words to matter. My blog wasn’t just an online journal or a hobby to me. I rebranded and read all I could about writing and increasing the audience here. I was just about desperate to grow and make a difference.

As part of that training, I signed up for Lysa TerKeurst’s Compel Training about a month ago. It’s a private online training course for writers. I love Lysa and her work and was ecstatic to soak up what I could from a 14-time author. I started a session on goals and the speaker said something like, “I assume if you’re listening to this then God has called you write. That means making goals and writing is nothing short of obedience.” I clicked the pause button almost out of anger. I had no goals and in fact, did not remember ever being called to write in response to a call from God. Sure, I’d prayed about it before and never felt called to quit blogging, but I’d never specifically felt called to write either.

At this point in time, I was struggling so much with coming up with content at all. Even though I was learning all of this stuff about how to create content, my heart felt dry and it didn’t seem that God was giving me anything to share. I have an advisory board for the blog and even they seemed to stay mum.

With response almost nil and ideas lacking, I started questioning everything. Should I quit? Does God want me doing something else? Have I been called to write? Was it time to step away finally?

A few weeks passed and the word “intimacy” kept coming up in sermons or blogs. I knew Allume was coming up and I sensed that God was beginning to prepare me for the weekend, so I made a concerted effort to dwell with him.

I made a specific playlist and worshipped him in the mornings. One of my favorite songs was Oceans by Hillsong United. I read blogs with a Christian focus and really tried to listen to God speaking. I kept a journal on my desk of things I heard him saying to me.

The first post God took me to was one about giving God nothing—meaning, we need to give up the idea of needing to give God anything to be accepted. I had to ask myself did I really believe God accepted me just as I am without ever writing, or even doing, anything for him? I felt God asking me to stop writing for a time—give him nothing and really dwell with him.

The phrase he placed in my heart regarding my writing was “cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians says God loves a cheerful giver. The passage is speaking about financial gifts the Corinthians had given but I felt God’s permission to apply that passage to my writing:

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

He showed me I was no longer blogging out of a joy and overflow of his grace, but as something I saw as a duty—one he hadn’t even asked me to do! God began showing me that once I write out of joy, then God can bless and then HE will make every good work abound. If you look up the original meaning of “good work” it actually can be translated to “art”. He was responsible for making the writing abound!

This idea of being a cheerful giver was the framework for other messages I began hearing:

Through Andy Stanley, God opened my eyes to my addiction to applause. If I didn’t get enough feedback or comments or shares, I felt like the post was an utter failure. My joy was contingent upon the response and the worse the response was on one post, the worse I felt about the next one. It was a terrible cycle.

Through Holley Gerth and Joel Clark, I knew I needed to live a better life. By all accounts, I have a great life but I felt like I needed to sacrifice all the time. Making myself happy on purpose seemed overly indulgent. I’ll let you read through their posts but it’s not supposed to be this way! I couldn’t give cheerfully if I was trying to be miserable!
Not only did I need to live well but I needed to be loved well. My name “Amy” means beloved and God wanted me to live up that! He wants to love us ALL so much! My true joy and ability to give cheerfully is born out of giving back because he gave to me first out of love.

Through all that, I learned once I gave, the outcome was not up to me. My job was to cheerfully give back through writing and any outcomes were up to him. Whether I ever went viral or even impacted one person, the act of writing was meant to be out of thankfulness and an expression of joy to him.

I know that’s a lot and in fact, to even digest all of that, I created a visual of how it all fit together:

To summarize, God called me to dwell with him and give nothing for a time. In that, he led me to dump all the acceptance and approval. My new cycle was to be loved by him, be happy and live well within him, create out of the overflow with him, cheerfully give that to and for God and then let him bless it which would then feed into impact to others and his love to me.

Whew. Walking into Allume, this exact picture was in my suitcase and on my heart.

I walked into Allume still with the question, though, God, is this what you’ve called me to? I wanted God to confirm what I felt he’d been telling me. Or maybe, he’d ask me to walk away.

Well.

If you went to Allume, I hope you’re seeing just how God had prepared my heart! I think nearly everything God told me in those 2 weeks is what God spoke through the conference. As I flip through my notes, here are some highlights:

Sarah Mae says we need to learn to go back to our first love.
Logan Wolfram says a life well-lived is full of good content.
Ann Voskamp says when you write for an audience of one, you always count.
Ann says our hunger to be known is a good, God-given appetite and we ought to feed the hunger with what makes you beautiful not anxious.
Ann says the greatest tragedy is to be widely known instead of known intimately.
Ann reminds us to focus on a name that calls you BELOVED.
Melanie Shankle said security and approval comes when we know we are loved and adored by Jesus who has our name engraved on his hands.
Melanie says God sees us even when the world doesn’t.
September McCarthy reminded us to live well with our family.
Joel Clark reminded us to live well and finds what makes us come alive
Joy Thigpen talked about finding something that makes ourselves and others bloom and finding an outlet for our creativity so we are just a conduit.
Jennie Allen changed her entire keynote by the spirit’s prompting to talk about sins that have us entangled and God’s desire to free us. Her specific struggle? Letting go of approval.
Bianca Olthoff talked from Ezekiel 37 where they saw dry bones and how God is reviving us and those around us.

I can’t even fit all the applicable notes.

The final night, though, something very personal and special happened. Jeff Shinabarger spoke as our final keynote and do you know what set of verses he shared? 2 Corinthians 9!! He talked about us being cheerful givers and being generous without expecting anything in return.

David Walker came up after to lead us in worship. I was in tears the entire hour and then was blown away that the last song they sang was the exact song from my playlist that I’d been worshipping God with—Oceans. I was singing and crying and praising God and someone came up behind me and asked to pray for me. I didn’t know her. She’s not a blogger and had no idea who I was either but felt led to pray for me.

I can’t remember all she spoke over me, but she said she felt that I was feeling spiritually bankrupt and that God wanted me to know he was with me and hovering over me as I searched for him in the darkness. He delighted in me and that it was like the alabaster jar, broken and a wonderful perfume being poured out.

She prayed a second time after I had gathered myself and gone back over to her. She said she saw Samuel and Eli when Samuel kept thinking Eli was calling for him and it was God. Eli told Samuel to say, “Here I am”. She said that’s what was required of me…that God was calling and that all I needed to say was Here I am.

Y’all. That’s not even the end.

Worship was over and I had won one of 10 paintings that artists had been painting during worship. Logan had explained that there had been prayer over the paintings and she wanted us to talk to the artist and said she believed it was a message for us.

I began crying again as I saw my painting was of a feather. When I did the rebranding this year, we had found a theme of feathers and wings in my Pinterest boards—a symbol of encouragement and lifting others up. And more than that, the word “replenish” was painted below the feather.

Y’all. I can’t even stand it.

Here I am crying out to God to be called, feeling broken and dry, looking to others for approval and acceptance—a stranger even confirms I felt bankrupt–and God just shouted back to me, I see you broken, I love you, I want to replenish you and call you out for my purposes. You just need to be available.

After all of that, I believe my calling is simply to dwell with him and be available for whatever purposes he has for me. My writing will be an overflow of that relationship and will be to and for him. Through that process, I hope it does encourage and lift others up but that’s not my job. God is the lover of our souls, not me!

I know this stuff is deep and spiritual and charismatic and whatever. THAT IS GOD. He cares so carefully about each one of us like this and we should all be experiencing him. I love him more than ever and he’s just so faithful to me. I screw it all up and he still cares enough to call me his beloved.

To those of you who have been readers here, I am bent low apologizing. If you ever have been blessed by words here, it is a true work of God that has filled in the gaps.

I have no idea what this blog will look like from here on out. It could look the same or different but know the heart behind it has changed.

To the organizers and speakers of Allume, please know that God moved mightily through your faithfulness and sacrifice. Thank you.

To God be the glory!

Creamed Peas Recipe

October 10, 2013 by Amy 13 Comments

Yesterday on Instagram I posted a picture of the creamed peas I made for dinner. I realized that I’d never, not once seen creamed peas served outside my parents’ house. I wondered if this was a regional thing from where my parents are from in Maryland and Pennsylvania, if it was something Southern my mom picked up since moving South 30 years ago or perhaps it was generational. I asked if anyone was familiar with them, but no one seemed to be.

Creamed peas were a staple for us growing up. One of my mom’s classic dishes was roast beef and mashed potatoes and more often than not, creamed peas. The creamier, the better. I’ve never been a huge fan of anything green, but there’s something about creamed peas. Emma had two helpings last night and was spooning huge spoonfuls one after the other. If you have kids—or hate vegetables yourself—you know you’ll take them however you can get it.

Google seems to think creamed peas is a Southern dish but I’ve lived in the South my whole life and as I said, have never seen them around. One site said creamed peas on toast was popular during the Great Depression since most people couldn’t afford meat and it’s quite filling.

Either way, creamed peas are a comfort side dish like no other—they’re easy peasy and need to be shared.

Here you can see this is one of the first recipes I wrote down as a new wife and even with all the stains, I hope it’s one I don’t lose any time soon.

Creamed Peas

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour)

1 cup milk

1 can of peas, drained

Salt and pepper to taste

In a small pan, melt the butter on medium-low. As soon as the butter melts, sprinkle the flour over the butter and stir with a fork or whisk. Continue stirring until it is thick like a paste. Usually this just takes a few seconds. Once it’s thickened, slowly pour the milk and continue stirring. I usually pour about 1/8 cup in and then stir until it’s thickened again and then pour more. I like my cream nice and thick. Once the milk is in and it’s nice and creamy, fold in the peas. Cook it just long enough to get the peas warmed. Season with salt and pepper to taste—I do both generously.

If you want the full effect of my childhood meal, here are the roast and gravy recipes and I recommend Pioneer Woman’s mashed potatoes even though Mom always made the Idahoan Premium instant ones. Those are great too, I just love making fresh ones.

Make them with your next meal and let me know if any picky veggies eaters are swayed by the creamy goodness!

The Law, Love and a Review of Jesus > Religion

October 8, 2013 by Amy 1 Comment

I found myself in tears in my living room. It was an ordinary weeknight. I’d just been lying with my daughter reading as I do every night, but had to excuse myself so I didn’t lose it in front of her.

I’d been reading Jeff Bethke’s new book Jesus > Religion and a passage explained a set of Scriptures that always left question marks in its wake.

Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

While I always understood Jesus died for all my sins, I’d always read this and thought But Jesus said the Law is still valid. He might have covered all my sins, but he still expects me to obey the law. Then things would get confusing. Which law was still valid? Which do I have to follow? Which can I ignore?

The pendulum would swing the other way at times and I’d think well of course we don’t have the law. Jesus got rid of all that. We’re totally free to do whatever we want. Eat, drink and be merry!

And then I would think, but…but…Jesus is holy and wants us to be holy. I know the Holy Spirit guides me away from some of the same things the law does. The law fits in there somewhere. Plus, didn’t Jesus say…

Somewhere in my head I knew he’d freed us from the law, but I just could not understand how these verses made it all work together.

In response to these verses in Jesus > Religion, Jeff writes:

Jesus wants to make it clear: he isn’t taking God’s moral law lightly. The only difference is, he didn’t come to crush us with it—which religious people do, like the leaders in John 8—but rather, he came to fulfill it for us. When something is “fulfilled,” it means it has reached its end or completion. That’s what Jesus said he was doing. He was fulfilling the righteous requirements of it, on our behalf, to give us perfect standing with God.

That paragraph is what sent me in tears out of my daughter’s room. I’d read that verse so many times but finally I understood. I am free. Totally and completely free from the law. Jesus fulfilled all the requirements for me.

And here’s how I finally understood the rest: God hasn’t changed. He still desires for us to be holy. The law shows what God’s holiness looks like. It’s purpose is to show that we don’t meet that standard. With religion, we try to follow all the rules so we will be right with God. With Jesus, he does it all for us and then we begin to obey and grow out of a love relationship with him. Likely, the more we grow, naturally we are obeying the laws because we are becoming more like the character of God which is displayed through the law. But we do not have to obey the law first to be right with God or even to maintain our righteousness.

The law then to me as a Christian is simply a mirror of God’s character.

God is so good to me in that our sermon yesterday, the question for us was if we are free from the law, can we just do what we want? The answer is that yes, we’re free from the law but when we have that relationship, we live out of love and want to obey his Spirit not his law. It’s like God just wanted to give me an extra pat on the back and say, yes! You’ve got it now!

And this is what I love about Christianity. I don’t have it all figured it out. The questions don’t go away. But the trust doesn’t either. I may not understand every piece of the puzzle but I trust that the puzzle is complete in Christ. He shows me answers when I’m ready and sometimes that’s when my heart, a book and a sermon are ready to intersect.

I’m convinced Jesus > Religion is going to be part of so many more moments of clarity. Jeff is a voice for a generation that desperately needs to hear Jesus is relevant and a reminder to long-time believers what we truly believe. Jesus > Religion released this week and whether you are a person of strong faith or the word religion sends you running, I’d highly recommend it.

Emma’s Braces – 2 Month Update

October 7, 2013 by Amy 3 Comments

Emma went for her first adjustment nearly two weeks ago but I’m just now getting around to giving you an update.

I thought I would tell you why I’ve been dragging on this particular post, but then I thought I might just show you.

Hey, Emma, let me get a picture of your teeth!

Emma! Take your shirt off your head!

Seriously, Em, come on!

This would only take a second if you’d just smile!

Let’s go over in the shade.

Emma! Let me see your face! Ok, 1, 2, 3, GO!

Annnd, smile!

Emma!

A real smile!

Put your hands down!

Open your eyes!

Look normal!

Close enough.

Sheesh. This was not our first attempt either. Keeping up with these updates may not be in my wheelhouse.

To recap progress:

Before:

After expander:

First week of braces:

2 month update:

The good part: As you can see, it’s totally changing her looks. Her front gap filled in within the first month and her teeth are lining up quickly.

I’ve been amazed but she has had VERY little pain. She didn’t complain at all after her adjustment and has only complained a time or two about one of her bottom front teeth hurting under pressure.

The bad part: the fun of cleaning them with all the new fancy tools has lost all appeal which has meant more yelling *ahem* reminding and work from me.

What’s next: she gets her expander out at the end of the month at her next appointment and honestly, she was disappointed to hear it.

Thoughts so far: Besides the cleaning, this has been a very pleasant experience and I think we’re well on our way!

Now someone please tell me their kids are just as hard to photograph!

A Suburban Mom and a Rock Star

October 4, 2013 by Amy 2 Comments

Scott’s been on a kick listening to 80’s rock bands. He really likes the guitar, so he was especially interested in listening to Slash, the guitar player from Guns N’ Roses (Sweet Child O’ Mine video. You’re welcome). One day as I was working, Scott was watching his performances and as people usually do on YouTube, he got a little sidetracked and started watching interviews of Slash.

In one, they talked about his sordid past including partying and drug addictions. In this particular interview, he was asked about his history with women. I listened as he confirmed rumors that he would rent a hall of hotel rooms and have different women, not knowing about each other, lined up for the night.

I was appalled.

How could he think so little of the women to do that to them? Surely the women knew they were only one in a long line of women he had used, if not in the same night, then over his career. Did they think so little of themselves? What in the world would make him do this?

He didn’t go into details and I haven’t done a lot of reading but I guess a sex addiction played a role. Even if an addiction had taken over, doesn’t it all start with us doing what we want because we can over and over?

I kept thinking about this for days.

—————————————————————————————

As I mentioned last week, I started eating well again. The days tick by and I realize just how enslaved to sugar I’d become. I wanted to quit but couldn’t. Just one more cookie, one more cupcake, one more latte, one more bowl of ice cream. I’ll start Monday. Oh, wait, tomorrow. Next month.

I wanted it. And no one was stopping me.

I believe it when I hear sugar is as addictive as heroin. Not that I know how addictive heroin is, but I know sugar is addictive.

A sugar addiction and sex addiction aren’t comparable in consequence, but possibly in cause.

It’s easy to dismiss Slash as disgusting, perverted and nothing like me but as I thought about Slash and his hall full of women, I realized I had no better excuse. I wanted it, could have it and did.

On its own, though, isn’t doing what we want the best part of being an adult?

Gretchen Rubin recently tweeted this just days before I started changing my eating habits and it rang so true to me:

We have freedom to explore those things we want to do but while they temporarily feel good, in the end, they bring death. If you read some of the articles by these legit rock stars they’ll admit it’s fun for a time, but it just cannot sustain a healthy lifestyle, or a life at all.

Certainly I’m not suggesting we should all abstain from things like sex or sugar just because it leads to addiction. But for some of us, we should. Part of growing as an adult is learning those things that make us eventually feel worse instead of better and then stopping them. As a Christian, we have a great running start at this as sin always leads to death. Still, we have much freedom in Christ and we still have to be wise in the gray areas.

I suppose I share all this to remind myself, and maybe you too, of a few things.

This gluttonous suburban mom is at times no better than a sex-crazed rock star.

None of us can throw stones–love before you judge.

Pleasure doesn’t equate to goodness. Let’s repeat that—pleasure doesn’t equate to goodness.

Sometimes we need help walking away–reach out to someone.

Changing your life is possible—a heart changed by Christ is the best.

And true wisdom is knowing and doing what leads to life, regardless if you’re in front of your fridge or a hotel room door.

AmyJBennett.com Fall 2013 Survey Results

October 3, 2013 by Amy 9 Comments

Alright, folks. It’s time to discuss the survey results!

Thank you so much for participating in our first survey. It’s already helped me so much to understand who you are, what you like and what you don’t. Grab a cup of coffee because this is a long one!

I’m a nerdy visual learner, so I made an infographic. For those who prefer to talk it out, just keep scrolling down and we’ll chat afterwards with a recap.

Click on the picture for full resolution

If you’d like the data without the pretty pictures, I have a PDF of the raw results for you here.

Who You Are

You’re likely a married woman from your late 20’s to your early 40’s, have kids at home, live in the US and don’t blog. Basically, we’re a lot alike other than the blogging thing, obviously.

Lots of you don’t fit that description but no worries! If you’re male or single or don’t have kids or live in Australia (I wanna come visit), I still love you and desperately want you to keep coming back. Diversity is a GOOD thing!

How We Connect

Most of you found the site directly from me (on or offline) or someone else you know on or offline. That sounds kind of obvious but what I mean is there’s not a lot of people finding the blog from Google searches and then hanging around or even following me back from a comment I made somewhere, which I find enlightening.

On an on-going basis, a lot of you are subscribing at Facebook or an RSS reader. A small percentage of you don’t subscribe at all and should! Like the Facebook page, subscribe through RSS or email.

What You Like

I’m not hearing a big demand for a newsletter. On the other hand, if I found a way for it to be awesome, most of you would be down for that. Obvious follow-up question: for those that said maybe, what content would make it worth it to you?

For most of you, your favorite posts are personal/memoir, parenting or faith. The personal one seemed like a gimme since this is a lifestyle blog, although it was good to get confirmation you like to hear about the every day things. But I’ll admit the parenting one surprised me. I always hear people get annoyed when you talk about your kids too much. No? And finally, the faith one encouraged me. It was great to find out my favorite things to write about are your favorite things to read about. We’re a perfect match!

30% of you didn’t list a least favorite topic at all. Those that did said fashion, gardening and book/movie/TV reviews were your least favorite. Surprisingly, only one of the males listed fashion as their least favorite type of post.

I can understand the fashion (for real, it’s not my forte) and gardening (I’m no expert), but I’m a little sad about the book reviews. Not only did 16% of you suggest it was your least favorite topic, only 34% listed it as a favorite topic. I think I’ll come up with a different way to share what I’ve been reading.

So, that recaps the infographic. I’d love to know what other insights you have of the data, nerdy people.

Blogs You Read

You guys inundated me with other blogs that you read. I’m so eager to check them out. Here are a few that came up several times along with ones I recognized:

If you’re looking for a full list of the blogs, I uploaded a PDF of all the blogs you read.

Blogs Like AmyJBennett.com

The question I was very interested in was one most people skipped. It wasn’t easy so I’ll give you a pass, but it was what other blog reminds you of this one? Here are several of the blogs submitted:

I love a lot of those blogs so I was happy to see some friends on there! I take it as a great compliment and appreciate it! So, if you like this blog and want to check out more, bookmark a few of those!

This list gave me a really good idea of your perception of what this blog is about, so I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to list those.

General Feedback

And finally—general comments. For the sake of anonymity, I won’t share all the details but here are just a few generalities amongst the comments:

You guys like that I’ve infused faith more actively into all sorts of posts, regardless of the main topic.
You all want more honesty and transparency, regardless of how I believe it might be received.
You especially like when I share struggles you may relate to.
You like the differing content.
You want more life stories.
In general, you seem to just like following along on the journey.

I can not tell you how affirming and encouraging these statements are. It truly inspires me to dig deep and be brave. I enjoy writing here so much but at times feel like I’m not doing it right or not measuring up. What I’m realizing though is I just need to be me and that’s enough. You guys are helping me learn. For that, I thank you greatly.

Whew! Congrats if you’re still reading! Once again, thank you so much for taking our Fall 2013 Reader Survey. I hope to make these more regular.

Now, hit the comments and let me know what surprised or disappointed you, what questions you’d like to see answered and any feedback you have on the survey itself!

Hint: I wish I would have asked you about your faith background and also if you work!