For the Love Mug Swap- It's Not Just All About the Mug

So as part of the For the Love launch team I participated in a mug swap.  For a $5 donation to Help One Now, we were randomly assigned another sister to "stalk" and then "mug".  Help One Now is a an organization in Haiti that partners with local leaders to care for orphans and children that live in extreme poverty.   Their goal is to transform communities and break the cycle.  Me and my fellow For the Love sisters, will be sending on big check to the organization next week when we gather in Texas.

This is the kind of organization that is totally up my alley don't you think?

What happened next was basically a bunch of us randomly friending each other on Facebook, finding each others blogs, Pinterest boards and Instragram accounts.  We then went shopping for each other.  It was totally our choice as to how much we sent in the box.  The object was just a mug, but I know for me, I wanted to do a little more.

I was assigned "A" from Alabama.  I found A on Facebook and then looked back over several months of her posts.  I then found A's blog and read for a couple of hours one night.  And then I chose a theme to build my box around.  I chose red.  Well, the girl does cheer "Roll Tide" on occasions.

I then started my shopping.  First stop, Target.  I mean I had other things to get too, but what better place to start then at the store with the big RED circles.  I looked in housewares, I looked through the back to college area (the perks of living in the middle of college central), I looked through the beauty area.  And I settled on these two items:

Yeah I know, a little random.  But it was a start.

The next day, I was on amazon shopping, for I don't remember what, and decided to check out the mugs.   I searched all kinds of combinations of colors and sayings and types and sizes and finally came upon one that had this on the box:

Jackpot.  Thank you Amazon Prime.

I then decided that I needed a couple of other things to round out the box.  So I ventured to the local Hallmark store during my lunch break and found a couple of more items.

Later that night, I wrote a note in a card that I found, and packed the box by securely wrapping, added air bubble thingies, and taped it up and finally addressed it.

I prayed over it first with my FTL mug in hand

It took me a couple of days to actually make it to the post office but I did and off it went.   It journeyed from NC to Alabama to A's home.

And of course, once the mug made it to it's destination, A announced it to the group via our private Facebook page that it had arrived.

It made by day.

Yes this swap was about blessing a sister and maybe giving her a little something to remind her of God's grace but for me this process ended up being about so much more.  It was more then just a mug.  It was about finding someone that understands what I am going through.  It was about finding someone to partner in prayer with.  It was about finding someone that gets it that sometimes life just sucks.

A and I have a lot in common.  More then we would prefer to have, but I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to get to "know" her.  I am sure that this is just the beginning of a new friendship.    And I can't wait to give her a hug next weekend in Texas.

And since all of you know that I am more of a giver then receiver, I was so much more concerned about the box that I sent then the box that was going to be sent to me.

But alas, my box arrived this week as well.  And I was "mugged" by "A" from Florida.  I think she did a great job stalking me as well.  And totally understands that "Carolina Blue" is the best shade of blue (even if there are a tons of shades of the actual color).

I have greatly enjoyed getting a chance to make two new friends.

So who's in for having our own mug swap?   It is so much fun to stalk and then mug.

Launch Day is Over.... now what?

So as many of you know, I have been a part of the launch team for Jen Hatmaker's new book, For the Love.  Well, the book has officially been released and is available on several websites and in stores all across the country.  If you haven't seen it you, see my previous post for my review of the book.  If that doesn't make you want to go get it, I am not sure what will.  

If you pre-ordered a copy of the book, like I have been recommending for months, then you should have your copy.  If not, stalk UPS, the mailman, Fed Ex, and then pounce.  I got the ones that I pre-ordered yesterday and it felt like Christmas.  

There is this really cool group of women that get these copies.  Do you want to be one of them?

If you didn't pre-order a copy, then stop reading this, get in the car and go get a copy today.  I promise, it is worth every penny.  I know that the Barnes and Nobles in Brier Creek has several on the shelf.   Look on the top shelf in Top Picks in the Christian Life section.  I may or may not have moved them there (hee, hee).

There are also ebook versions available (for both Nook and Kindle), if that is your preferred method of reading.

And then once you have your copy, turn to page 213......

There is a really cool name on that page.....well there are lots of cool names on that page and the one before and the one after.  

Those cool names belong to the launch team members that I have "met" over the past several months.  Some of them, I have gotten to know very well and there is even one that I have already gotten to meet in person.   And to top it all off there are a bunch more that I will get to meet in September.  Yep, this girl, is Austin, Texas (well more precisely Buda, Texas bound) Labor Day weekend.   And I can't wait.   Yes, I get to meet Jen Hatmaker (which I still can't believe), but I also get to hug the necks of so many women that I have come to know and love.  

But the most cool thing about being a part of the team is that we have all lived this book out loud and are so excited to now get to share it all that we live life with on a more personal level.  And if you are reading this then that means you.    

I have never been a part of a launch team before and never gotten to read a book before it is available to the public and I am so glad that I got to be a part of this venture.  I have learned a lot about community, womenship (yeah, that's not a word, but in Jen's world, it is okay to make up words), support, love, and see constant reminders of grace.   I have laughed, I have cried, I have prayed, I have given words of encourgement, and I have been blessed beyond measure.   I have learned about what is means to live in a community and why it is so important.  

So for those of you that don't feel like you have a community, I want to welcome and invite you to mine.  Every Tuesday, a group of women fill my living room for 2 hours.   These women pray, eat, drink wine (yep, we drink wine in my small group --- no judging, Jesus did turn water into wine), pray and talk about God.  

And starting in September, we are going to be talking about this book.   If you are looking for a community, will you consider joining the one that meets in my home.   The biggest thing that I have learned through this experience is that we all need community.  We all need fellowship.  We all need peeps in our lives to love us, pray for us, support us.  Women need women.  

And so what is going to happen to the virtual community that I have been a part of for so long.  Absolutely nothing.  We are keeping our private Facebook group.  We have exchanged emails, phone numbers, blog addresses, mailing addresses.  We are going to remain a community at large.  We are going to continue to share ideas, continue to pray, continue to encourage, but most importantly continue to extend GRACE to one another.  

Because we as women, really need a constant reminder that GRACE is all that we need.  

Will you consider finding a community for you to call your own as well?

A Review of For The Love by Jen Hatmaker

So as part of the For the Love launch team, I have been asked to write a review of the book.  To be honest, I am a little intimidated to tackle the task.  It was hard enough to come up with a brief endorsement.   I mean, how do you write a review for one of your favorite authors who is a best seller and someone that you admire so much.  How do you put into words the emotions, the take aways, the life changing moments that I had while reading this book.

I am still overwhelmed that I have even been a part of this process and the fact that my name, yep, my name is even printed in the book (It's on page 213).

But I am going to try my best.  Here is what I think about the book.  Here is what I learned.

For the Love, Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards, was written for every women or every man that loves a woman.  Jen uses stories from her own life, of the lives around her and others that she has come in contact with.  There are moments that she gets serious, moments that she makes you cry, and moments that she has you laughing so hard that you pee in your yoga pants.

Jen (and yep, we are on a first name basis now) reminds us that we as women are so hard on ourselves as well as those around us.   We take on too much, we worry about aging, we forgot what the Gospel is all about, and we wear leggings as pants.  For. The.Love.  Leggings are not pants.

She also reminds us that we cave to commercialism way to much, we forget to be honest, and we try to make our families into people that they are not.  Jen tells us to let our spicy kids be spicy and our sweet kids be sweet.

She thanks the creators of maxi dresses, because we all know that what they are just crotchless yoga pants.  Just don't Google those words together.

She reminds us that we struggle with what we should do with our lives, tells us that is okay to not always know what to do when raising our kids.   She talks about the fact that school is a struggle, and kids need guidance, but also at times need to be let go of.

And don't get her started about marriage.   Jen reminds us sisters that marriage is supposed to be about having fun.  She tells us all to lighten up, be nice, be honest, stop trying to change and have lots of sex.  (Yep, I just typed the word sex in my blog.   And in a review about a book, written by a Christian.  For. the. Love., this is not your average book.)

And if I don't have you at sex, there's more.

Jen also focuses on the need of finding others to live life with and how important it is.  She even gives you supper club menus.  Hence why I am now in the search of the perfect dutch oven.   You have to read the book to get the recipe, I am not sharing.   Sharing porches, sharing tables, messing up kitchens.  That is what it means to live in a community.  This is what it means to life live.  And Jen talks about all of this.

Jen also talks about how we are all so different and tell us that it's okay.  Be yourself.  Be you.  

She also tell us that we all have difficult people in our lives.   Life is only made harder when those around don't support us.  And she gives us permission to walk away and instructs us on how to do that and how to do it with grace.   But more importantly, she helps us learn how to deal with those difficult ones that must be in our lives.

And it wouldn't be a Christian Life book without Jen talking Church.  Yes the church.  Most of us grew up in one, but the statistics don't lie.  Fewer of us are going and we can't keep people in the sears.   And don't get her started about doing missions right.

She reminds us that the Church is a mess.  The church and those in the church need the most grace of all.  That includes the leaders.  Yes, she talks to you Pastors.  She reminds us that we as Christians, all do more damage to ourselves and to others more then we will ever understand.  We (and she means us Christians) all need to stop being so crappy.

So, Jen makes us laugh.  She makes us cry.  She reminds us of Grace.   She gets it.  Jen understands what is is like to life live.   And it is all in this book.  

The world is a tough place to live and we need to remember that we were all sent here to do one thing.  And that one thing is to Love.  Jen said it best, "We can have our junk together in a thousand areas, but if we don't have love, we are totally bankrupt."   So thank you Jen for writing this book.   Thank you for the reminders.   Thank you for being honest.  Thank you for telling us like it is.

For the Love is a reminder that love and God's grace is all that we need.  With it, we can be mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, friends and neighbors to all.  So my recommendation, go buy the book.  It has changed my life and it will change yours too.

Change

So life has very different lately.  Different in good ways and also different in difficult ways.  Life has also been busy.  But then there were times when it was quiet, sometimes a little too quiet, but I have learned that the quiet time, the "me time", has been well overdue.  

There have been changes going on at work.  In case you missed that big announcement, you can get a re-fresher here: Redwoods is now part of Crum & Forster

These changes have been for the good, but have come with challenges. New systems to learn, new relationships to develop, new co-workers, new processes.  Just a lot of change.  But change in a good way.  Change in an exciting way.

Many of you are also aware of the fact that I am on the launch team for Jen Hatmaker's new book, For the Love.  If you aren't, then I just can't even deal with you right now because obviously you haven't been paying attention to the blog or my Facebook timeline or my conversations.

My involvement with the launch team has lead to new friendships, new ways to share, new ideas,   lots of reading, lots of writing, and lots of highlighting.  Lots of changes to my Facebook Feed.  I have been so blessed to be a part of this team and can't wait to really start sharing with others what I have learned about what it means to live as a Christian women in this day and age.  I have learned that I need to work on making changes in my life and how I live my life.  

The amazing staff at The Summit Church also made me take a break from my responsibilites on Saturday nights with Summit Kids for July and half of August.   So my weekends have been freed up. That has been a big change beacause I was so used to not being able to make plans for Saturday afternoons.   So I have been out and about.  Been Traveling.  Spending time with people.   Done some more traveling.  I think the staff thought I would use the time to rest and recharge my batteries, but I have filled it up instead.   But I promise, some of those adventures did allow me to recharge as well.  But that change is ending.  I start back this week as Team Leader for the Saturday Elementary Summit Kids Team.

But one change that I have not told many of you about is that life is now (and actually has been for a a few months now) just about me.  There is no more "we" in my life.  I haven't wanted to make a big deal about this change in status, but a few of you have started to catch on and I decided that it was time to help you read between the lines.  I have gone through this before.  More times than I wish.  But it is a part of life.  It can be a part of relationships and it is what it is.

And to answer everyone's question, I am okay.  It hasn't been an easy change, but it is a change that has happened and it is a change that I have come to accept.

I am not going to go into details about it.  If you want to know more, you know how to get in touch with me.   But I felt like it was time for me to tell everyone.  Who knows what the future holds.

Who knows what changes are going to happen next.  

But one thing that I have learned is that I am not in control.  God has a plan for my life.  God knows what changes are coming.  God knows what he wants me to do.  I just have to let God take control and lead me.

So here's to change.  

For the Love Endorsement

As you are all aware, I am part of the launch team for Jen Hatmaker's new book "For the Love".   If you didn't know this information, then you clearly have not been paying attention to my Facebook posts or had any conversations with me over the past few months.   The best part of being a member of the team is that I get to tell you about the book and try my best to convince you to read it too.

But seriously, all I really have to do is convince you to pre-order it.  Once you have your hands on it, you won't be able to put it down.  I have lost track of how many times I have read my advanced copy. I have underlined, highlighted, and written all over it.

Here is the endorsement that I submitted to the publisher for consideration to be put in the book.  I have posted it to Facebook but if you didn't see it, here it is:  

"Thank you Jen Hatmaker for writing this book.  I think everyone needs to experience the laughter that makes you pee in your yoga pants, cry until the box of tissues is empty and be inspired to buy a dutch oven at midnight on a Tuesday (I am so thankful for Amazon Prime).  You have turned the polite Southern way to curse into so much more.  Here's a fist bump.  For the love, your new BFF."
- Gwendolyn, covered in God's grace, lover of good wine and novice in the kitchen, Durham, NC.   

My endorsement didn't get chosen to go in the actual printed book, but it was posted on the book's website.  However, my name will be listed in the book as a member of the launch team.  Kind of cool.  At least I think it is.

You can still pre-order the book prior to the release date by checking out the For The Love website.  However, I have heard that some Barnes and Nobles stores already have it on the shelf.

The book is set to be released on August 18th.  You can pre-order it anytime between now and then and you won't be charged anything until it actually ships.  And you also can get some freebies if you pre-order it such as bonus essays, noonday collection discount codes, Jen's favorite recipe ebook and much more.   The more copies you order the more free stuff you can get.   Check out the For the Love website for more details.

As I have mentioned before, the closer we get the more I will share.  But until then I will leave you with one of my many favorite quotes from the book....

"How many trot out that tired cliche---"I'm waiting for God to open a door"- and He is all, "I love you, but get going Pumpkin," because usually chasing the dream in your heart looks surprising like work.  Don't just stand there, bust a move.  (God often sounds like Young MC.)  You are good at something for a reason.  God designed you this way on purpose.  It isn't fake or a fluke or small.  These are the mind and heart and hands and voice you've been given so use them."

- Jen Hatmaker, For the Love