House Groups

I recently started attending a new church! While I love ebc it was time to move on and find a smaller church, where I could connect more easily. They have a very similar set up, except that its not multi-campus church. Just one church of about 250 attendees (instead of 30,000). The bonus is, that K loves the new church. She says there aren’t as many kids in her class. (Before there were anywhere from 22-40 depending what service we went to! Now she has 10 or less.

They have a really neat set-up during the “school year” September-May called “House Groups”. Essentially 30 people or so, show up at a house, and mingle for about 30-45 minutes, and then break out into different areas of the house (gender specific) into groups of around 8 or so to discuss that past Sunday’s message.

Can I even tell you what a blessing this is to find this church? The house group I “belong” to is absolutely amazing. The nicest, most genuine people you’d ever meet, and everyone is very transparent. They don’t pretend that they have it all together, and are just very real! I am looking forward to next fall when it starts up again. But I still have 1 more week left with them! 🙂

Three Thought Thursday

1.) Running – My training plan for Grandma’s has not stayed the course, but I am still managing to get my long runs in. I still have time, but I really need to make more of an effort on getting my mid-week runs in – instead of just waiting to the weekend to run.

2.) Heat Yoga – Took a class at Life Time one week when it was disturbingly cold (in April – or was it March) and fell in love! The class I normally go to is a Vinyassa class which basically means non-stop movement between all of the poses. I like it because it feels like more of a legitimate workout, and my skin ALWAYS feels amazing after I sweat out over 1/2 pound from each class :-). I also have been enjoying (on occasion) a ballet class at Life Time, and KC is excited to start swimming classes next month at LTF as well! (Yay to fitness!)

3.) 70’s
Its finally going to be in the 70’s this weekend which means complete and total amazingness! I plan to sit on my deck, (when I should probably be running) and my backyard patio, open all of the windows and enjoy the “real” spring! KC is mega pumped to be outside! In fact – today is supposed to be around 56* when we get home, so I’ll open the house up tonight too!

Friday Finds

A new thing I’m finding that people do on their blog as of late is post to interesting articles that they’ve stumbled upon over the week in case any of your followers are in the reading mood.


So – since i’m a follower of the trends (on occasion)- I thought i’d join this trend too. So for the first in many posts of “Friday Finds” here is what I found on the internet this week!

Dear Daughter, Here’s Why I Work
Sometimes I feel guilty being at work while someone else is bringing up K by day. Many days she begs me to stay home with her and snuggle, and I do long to but I know that I can’t… this article put it so succinctly – “I work because I love it”, and “I work because this nice house and those gymnastics lessons, and those sneakers you need to have are all made possibly by two incomes”.

Shit Ship My Pants
Absolutely the funniest commercial you will see – especially because its from a “reputable” store!


Do these links even need any further explanation? I try so careful to protect my litte K – and instill in her a healthy body image. I think bringing up girls definitely has its challenges, but one of the most challenging is the damage that can be done to their spirit when the image of their bodies are attacked by either someone, or themselves.

This is one of the reasons I’m most excited for the school that K will be going to next fall! They all have to wear uniforms, which I think takes a part of the equation out for girls being mean to girls. Sure – there are ways around this as my mother pointed out, but we won’t have to dread mornings or the night before determining what she is going to wear for the day so that she can be comfortable – yet fit in. Kids are so tough on each other!

The articles (especially part 1) put a lot of the responsibility on the mother. Where a girl gains her self esteem stems from her mother. I want to be the kind of mom that K can come to at any time, I want to role model for her that she doesn’t have to look like a girl in a magazine or a music video, I want her to be the kind of girl that doesn’t turn to sex at a young age because she is looking for more.

Abolition International
This past week a lot of awareness was brought up by sex trafficking, a modern day form of human slavery.  Interestingly enough – this week and not on purpose I also listened to a podcast from a pastor down in Nashville, TN (The Rescued Rescue) and a lot of his message revolved around sex trafficking, and then in the local news a sex trafficking ring was just busted this week! (Thank God!)

If you’ve not clicked on any of the links above – I urge you to watch this clip!
“Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world!” ~ U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
And a new movie just came out in theatres that addresses this: