Okay, gals, thanks for being so patient with me this week! With my mom only here for about a day and a half, I really wanted to hang out with her instead of hanging out on my laptop. So thank you.
But, y'all have totally been on my mind in the midst of wandering around IKEA (mmm...meatballs!), Trader Joes (mmm...everything!), and floating around the pool (ahhhh...). Mom and I talked a lot about this book, about spiritual mothering, about the group she did the book with, about how mentoring works or could work or might work, and lots else.
So!
I sat down and compiled a list of everyone who said they wanted to join in--there are about 35 of us so far. And that seems like a pretty big group of women who are interested in the topic and willing to spend some time learning more about it. I'm so thrilled!
It's not too late to join if you're interested. Just let me know you want in and you're in! If you are new around here, you might want to click here to see how this whole thing got started.
And if you're thinking you want to join in but you don't have a blog, don't let that stop you. I've been thinking about how this can work for everyone and think I may have a plan.
First, I made a button! Because if we're going to do this, we have to have a button, right? :) You can take a peek at it over there on the right in the sidebar. (And you'll find the code for it down below if you want one too!)
I was thinking about what to call this venture and decided that "an online book reading/study/discussion/club thing" wouldn't fit on a button very well. And as I thought about what we're doing I came up with the Read+Chat+Live thing.
We're reading it together, chatting about it, and then living it out wherever we are. Yes, we can READ and LIVE on our own, but the CHAT part is often just as helpful and challenging as what we read on the page on our own. (Which is why I love group Bible study so much, but that's a whole other thing.)
(Plus, the words each have four letters and fit nicely in the space I had.)
So, LET'S GET STARTED!
1. If you haven't ordered the book, you need to do that. Here's a link to get a copy from Amazon if you want to go that route.
2. When you get the book, if you're like me you'll put your name in the front as well as "Fall 2009" so you'll remember in the future when you first read it. And you'll need a pen handy when you start reading, because you're going to want to underline. A lot.
3. Read the foreword, introduction, and chapter 1.
There are 12 chapters and I think each one merits a discussion by itself, so I'm thinking that it'll be best to do this once a week--otherwise we'll still be going six months from now. (Not that that's bad, but the book is so good I don't think you'll want to wait that long to finish it!)
I'll do a post on Sunday afternoon with some specific questions and you can respond to them and do your own post anytime during the week that works best for you. If you have a blog, you can link to your blog post in the comments. If not, you can respond directly in the comments. And if you have a blog, but want to just use the comments, you can do that too.
I'd love for us to take the time to read what the others have to say--at the same time I recognize that 35 extra posts a week to read is a lot. So maybe pick a few a day or a handful a week to read, switching it up until you visit everyone at least once or twice. Given that we can't sit together in a room and chat for a few hours each week, it's going to be in commenting to/with each other that the chatting will take place.
To give everyone time to get a book in hand and read the first chapter, I'll do my first post on Sunday, September 20.
How's that sound?
For now, here's what I want to know in the comments (that way they'll be easy for all of us to find fast this one time) that will help us get to know each other a bit better.
Your name
Your age-ISH
Location
Blog, if you have one
What is it about this topic that excites you? Why are you interested in it?
I'll even go first:
Joanne Heim
37
Phoenix, AZ
The Simple Wife (www.thesimplewife.typepad.com)
I want a mentor! And I feel challenged to be mentoring someone else too--especially after LPL in Laramie in May. And I will need a mentor when I return to seminary--it's part of the degree program. But how do you go about getting one? What do you do together? I'm looking for some concrete answers, some input, some wisdom, some challenge, some direction. That's why I'm excited about reading this book!
Your turn! Happy Saturday everyone,
Joanne
P.S. If you want a sidebar button, here's the code you need:
It looks like this and links anyone who clicks on it (does that make them a clicker?!) to this post in case they want to join in too.