Secret Keeper Girl

By Dannah Gresh

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Proverbs 22:6

I’m holding a brand new copy of Six Ways To Keep The Little In Your Girl. In those pages, I write about beginning the pray for my daughter when I was just nineteen. I didn’t want her to know my hurts. I wanted to be able to help her navigate past them. At least the big ones. I really never stopped pleading with God for the help to raise a godly girl, and he’s been so generous in answering that prayer. Lexi is head-over-heels in love with Jesus,  not boy-crazy, and is a bold testimony for Christ to her unsaved friends. Autumn, whom we just adopted three years ago, is an eager new believer with a great heart of mercy. I’m so blessed. (Thank you, Lord!) I believe the promise that if we attempt to raise them to know God’s way, they will not depart when they are old. (Might a bit while they are  young, but not when they’re old!)I know it was from prayer that God has built these beautiful girls for me, and I hope you’ll be encouraged to keep praying even though our thirty days is over. To help you in that effort, I want to give away five copies of my brand new book. Hey, it’s my official “release day.” Celebrate with me. I’m going to randomly select five winners to receive a free copy of Six Ways To Keep The Little In Your Girl. For a chance to win simply:

1. Visit the Six Ways To Keep The Little In Your Girl bookstore page.
2. Write a comment below telling me specifically how it might encourage you as you raise your girl.
3. Come back one week from September 1st to find out who has been randomly selected to win.

Keep praying, moms!

Posted By Dannah Gresh

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED! CONGRATULATIONS TO SHANNON!

Here’s the crowd at a recent Miley Cyrus concert.

Looks to me like the average age of a Miley Cyrus fan is still ten. Here’s what that crowd saw on stage.

And that’s a mild photo. Most of what Miley is doing on stage right now, including simulated lesbian kisses and deviant sexual simulations, won’t show up in the photos on this blog since we get little visitors. (To see more, you can subscribe to my monthly eblasts here. I’ll keep you up-to-date on any cultural issues that face you and your daughter!) There is no doubt that the behavior of Miley is going to infect her fans. A lot of attention has been brought to my recent Open Letter To Billy Ray & Tish Cyrus. Many mediums such as the Baptist Free Press, American Family Association and Chris Fabry Live have jumped on the band wagon to have an intelligent dialogue about how Miley’s behavior may infect our little girls. I’d like to suggest that the word-of-mouth of a couple of hundred moms is more powerful than any single media outlet, so I’d like you to put on the hat of discerning reporter, if you don’t mind, and help me out. Inspired by one mom and daughter who called in on Chris Fabry Live, I want to issue a Miley Mania Mash Challenge. Ten-year-old Ariel, after seeing Miley’s recent Can’t Be Tamed video, came home and told her mom that she was sad. Ariel decided to stop watching Hannah Montana and asked her mom to please help her gather up her Miley fan gear and throw it away. I was so proud of that little girl that I sent her an entire set of Secret Keeper Girl stuff to fill the gap. I want to give away another set of free stuff to a mother/daughter pair who are willing to do the same. Here’s how you can be our randomly selected winner.

1. Read my Open Letter To Billy Ray & Tish Cyrus.  Share it on your facebook page or link to it in your blog. Remember to keep it kind and hopeful that Miley will turn around. Let’s not bash her, but I think at this point it is OK to boycott her.
2. Talk to your daughter about her Miley Mania, if she’s a fan. Consider unplugging and throwing away fan gear. If you aren’t a fan, have another talk about why you aren’t and help your daughter to think through this for the discussions that might come up with friends who are. If you need some help talking, check out the two blogs that I wrote to help you out.
3. Leave a comment here telling me where you linked the letter so we can check it out, and what you and your daughter decided about your family’s point of action.

A winner for our entire Secret Keeper Girl line-up including two mother/daughter date kits, four fiction books, a Bible study and a t-shirt will be randomly selected on June 17th. Check back to see who our winner is.

Posted By Dannah Gresh, Creator Secret Keeper Girl. Each year we pause in the spring to evaluate how our ministry work is progressing at Pure Freedom/Secret Keeper Girl. Here are a few exciting facts that I, Dannah, wanted to share with you.

• Over 500,000 have attended a purity event for teens facilitated by myself or one of my team members since we started just over ten years ago.

• Over 20,000 churches have led their own retreats using our Bible-based purity curriculum.

• 75,000 students in Zambia have completed our abstinence training and heard the gospel.

• Last year over 600 little girls received Christ as their Savior at our Secret Keeper Girl events.

Our work is both exciting and challenging for me. You see, the work has been growing but our staff has been shrinking due to financial shortfalls. All this work is being done with a staff made up of:

One full time paid writer and teacher. (That’s me!)

• One part time CEO! (That’s Bob!)
• One part time paid assistant. (That’s Eileen!)
• One quarter-time designer. (That’s Andy!)

We think that God is using us pretty well, and that we’re being rather faithful to do as much as we can to rescue hearts and bring them close to Christ, with as little as is possible. As we move into 2010, our Secret Keeper Girl events are growing in size, requiring us to have the capital for more inventory of books, t-shirts and other items for moms and daughters to further their mentoring experience. Larger audiences require use to invest in a larger stage-set, higher quality graphics and sound equipment and it’s time to update our bible-based teaching script. We are looking at about a $20,000 need just to update our stage program by August of 2010.

Each year, we host an annual Living Letters event where we ask prayer warriors and kingdom funders to step up to walk beside us as we equip children and teens to live lives of purity, and help those who have fallen to heal from their sexual pain. Our event is next Tuesday and we’re calling it our Pure Freedom/Grace Prep Living Letters Fund Racer! Our setting is intentionally a relational and fun one—an outdoor fun zone complete with go-karts and batting cages—, because that is the character of our ministry. <

Here is where I can use your help.

We’ve had a few people step up to help us cover the cost of our event, but we aren’t quite there yet. If we could raise just $1650 more before next Tuesday, we can use the entire amount of $5000 from an anonymous donor as a matching incentive to raise funds that evening.Could you please consider sending a one-time gift of $50, $100, $500 or $1000 this week? As a way of saying thanks, I’ll send a signed book of your choice for a gift in any of these amounts. Click here to make your gift on-line, and be sure to include the title of any single book product on my website for me to sign in the comments section of your transaction. All gifts are tax-deductible.

In spring of 2010, Dannah Gresh will release her next book for older teens and college-aged women on the subject of sexual purity. This gritty look at the challenging questions that today’s young woman face is something Dannah has been praying over and working on for eight years. During that time, she has been tracing the Hebrew word for sex from Genesis through to Revelation where we see its Greek equivalent. This has provided some amazing insight into God’s thoughts about sex. It promises to deliver powerful biblical truth to a confused generation. As Dannah finishes up the manuscript, she is working with her publisher to find the right title to draw readers  in.  We need your opinion. If you are a teen, college-aged woman or the mom of one, she needs your opinion by Wednesday morning to provide some preliminary feedback to her team at Waterbrook/Multnomah. On Wednesday, we will randomly select a winner to receive ten copies of either And the Bride Wore White or Lies Young Women Believe. To be included in the drawing, you need to answer each of these questions thoroughly in the comments section below. Thanks for your help.

• 1.) How old are you? (If you are the mom of a teen or college aged girl, note that fact along with the age of your daughter.)
• 2.) Which of the titles below do you like the most? Why?
• 3.) Which of the titles below do you like the least? Why?
• 4.) Do you have any title ideas you want to suggest?

What Are You Waiting For? The One-Word Answer to the Love Your Soul Longs For 

A Lotta Yada: The One Thing No One Ever Tells You About Sex 

 ONE: The Surprising One-Word Answer to Your Questions About Sex

Known: Discover the Hidden Beauty of Pure Sexuality 

Revelation Sex: What Are You Waiting For? 

THE WINNER OF THE GIVEAWAY HAS BEEN RANDOMLY SELECTED. IT WAS MOLLY! YOU CAN STILL FEEL FREE TO LEAVE YOUR FEEDBACK CONCERNING THE TITLE. DANNAH WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR OPINION!

If you weren’t the winner of our great “punk rock” look given away last week, have no fear. A cuddlier, and cuter outfit is here. Make room for our 2009/10 Winter “Must Have” Outfit. This season it seems like everyone is sporting a buffalo plaid tunic—ours is bright pink and black. We paired it with really great, distressed jeans and a cozy, cuddly sweater in grey. (You supply the boots, hat and glasses!)

This outfit hit the SKG runway show during our fall season and was a favorite. In a size 6/7, it can be yours just in time for Christmas. (Imagine wrapping it up with a photo of you and your girl at the SKG event you attended.) All you need to do is share a comment below telling us about your favorite family Christmas tradition. Traditions are a great “glue” for families, and a critical tool in a mom’s ability to form values in her little girl. Social science aside, they’re fun. What’s yours? (Come back next week to see our winner posted.)

A winner has been selected for this giveaway and it is now closed. Thanks everyone for participating!

We are giving away two of our Secret Keeper Girl stage outfits just in time for Christmas. You could have this week’s outfit—the Punk Look—, and a special hand-written note from Secret Keeper Girl founder Dannah Gresh under your tree! This size 12 fashion-show outfit navigates through a couple of critical Secret Keeper Girl danger zones—the mini skirt and the punk look. The punk look went goth this fall with lots of skulls and crossbones. Since a Secret Keeper Girl loves Jesus, she represents life. So, we vote “no” to darkness and skulls and crossbones. Instead, try bright pink with a touch of black and other funky symbols. We also solved the mini-skirt problem with a pair of this season’s trend—imprinted leggings. This week’s winner will receive a white t-shirt, lime green “peace” leggings, plaid mini skirt, black jacket and hot pink scarf. How do you get a chance to win this random giveaway? Just tell us your favorite mother/daughter memory from 2009! Come back Wednesday, December 9th to see if you are the winner and to find out what outfit we’ll give away next! 

THIS GIVEAWAYS IS CLOSED. CONGRATULATIONS TO VICKI FROM TEXAS! AND THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR ADVICE!

You know the old saying, “A Penny For Your Thoughts?” Way underpaid. Your thoughts are worth so much more. That’s why I’m giving away one $50 gift card to Gap Kids for your thoughts (if you are a mom with an 8-12 year old daughter)! I think you’re worth it. I’m a little stuck in the negotiations of a title for my next book. So, if you’ll take five minutes to read the summary below, and then tell me which of the titles below you love (and which you hate)—I’ll enter you into my random drawing for the $50 gift card at one of our selected Shop Til You Drop retailers, Gap Kids. But the catch is, you have to be thorough in your entry. I need to know:

• Which title you most like.
• Why you most like it.
• Which title you least like.
• Why you least like it.

You tell me those four things, and you are in the running (if your daughter is 8-12). (What does that mean anyway?) OK, here we go…

SUMMARY OF BOOK:

By the time she’s sixteen, a Christian girl has a 50/50 chance of surviving life without experiencing sexual sin, eating disorders and depression. Parents who “did it right” can’t understand how it happened when their daughter falls on the wrong side of the stats. What they don’t know is that they may have done everything right, but started too late. The foundation for building an emotionally healthy teen girl—who stands free of the norms of an at-risk culture—is built between the ages of 8-12. But how does a parent navigate the critical subjects of boy-craziness, modesty, the Internet, and more without robbing her of her innocence? Here to guide the way, conversation-by-conversation, is best-selling author and mother/daughter connecting coach Dannah Gresh. She’ll help you explore six ways in which you can instill critical values in your daughter, while still keeping the “little” in your girl.

TITLE CHOICES:

•  Carpool Queen & Sleepover Diva: How Connecting to Your Tween Girl Now Will Rescue Her Heart Later
• What’s Your Connection IQ?: How to Build A Lifelong Connection With Your Tween Daughter
• Confessions of A Tween Mom: How I Prepared My Girls To Be A Godly Teens (And You Can Too!) 
• Preparing Your Daughter For Her Teens: Surviving Sixteen Starts When She Is Seven 
• Six Ways To Keep The “Little” In Your Girl: Surviving Sixteen Starts When She Is Seven 

 Remember, select one title you like (and tell me why), as well as the one one you least like (and tell  me why.) One random winner will be selected November  4th. I  need the brain-power of 100 moms to really get some good information, so tell a friend. (You can tell them they have to share the winnings!) Thanks for your help!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED! THANKS FOR ENTERING. MORE FREE STUFF COMING SOON. THE WINNER WAS “CHERYL!”
Posted by Dannah Gresh, Creator of Secret Keeper Girl  We’ve had a lot of tween clothing giveaways this summer, so I thought it was time to give away something a mom or a teen reader could enjoy! I’ve teamed up with my friends at Christa-taylor.com. They are donating a $25 gift certificate for the mom or teen who can tell me what they’d love to buy at the site. I can tell you for sure what my choice would be.This black coat dress is adorable, but modest. It’s all me! That’s what I love about Christa-Taylor.com. It’s modest, but refreshing and cute stuff! And, with the $25 gift certificate, this dress would only be $20.00! Can you say affordable? Check it out. To win the $25 gift certificate, just leave a comment telling us what you’d buy if you won. We’ll randomly select a winner on August 1st!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED! THANKS FOR ENTERING! WATCH FOR  MORE GREAT GIVEAWAYS!

Welcome to the final week of the SKG summer fashion giveaway! First, congratulations to Mary Anne the winner of last week’s “modern hippie” outfit! Secondly, to end our 5 weeks of giveaway with a flare we are going to do some dress surgery…

Let’s hear it for our final Secret Keeper Girl outfit!  This little yellow dress could have been a danger zone, but SKG is here to show you that you can wear it just fine with a little creativity.  A rooched sleeve turquoise t-shirt keeps a Secret Keeper Girl’s underarm and under garments modestly concealed.  Top it off with some color and you have a very 1980’s inspired look for 2009!

  “Dress Surgery” is a size 14. It includes a yellow dress, turquoise t-shirt, hot pink hat, pink and black beads, and black leggings. 

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Remember, if you would like to enter this giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment before next Wednesday.  Thank you for all the comments we have received over the last 5 weeks! I’ve had so much fun reading them and giving away these fun, fashionable and of course modest clothes!

Hi! Congratulations to the following bloggers! They won our great summer reading kit for moms and daughters. It includes one of each of our fabulous fiction books—must have summer reading for every Secret Keeper Girl—and a copy of Five Little Questions for the Life that God Designed for You! The winners are:

• -Kaityn 
• -Jennifer
• -Melinda Allen
• -Pamela
• -Sarah Smith

If you didn’t win, you can still have this great reading pack by clicking here.