Secret Keeper Girl

Why is it that family photos are never what you think they will be? Today, we had one. I posted a sign on the front door so everyone had one week’s notice to be on the front porch at 3:45, dressed and beautiful! Everyone was supposed to wear red. No one told me until 3:50 that “only dad has red shirts!” So, we ended up in white. Then, of course, we HAD to have Stormie in the shot. It went downhill from there. Check it out.This one (below) is actually my favorite!But, alas, this is the official family photo. Almost boring, huh? �

Hey moms! Want great overall advice on being a godly woman? You’ve got to get onto the Girls Gone Wise blog by my dear friend Mary Kassian. Meet Mary…

She’s a respected author and really has been at the grassroots level of creating a movement to define true biblical womanhood. She’s solid. But between creating theology for moms, wives and women of excellence…she jumps out of airplanes and stuff. She’s wild in her play-life, but wise in her theology. I love that about her because I think that to be relevant to our world on issues of womanhood, we need to be contemporary. It is difficult to convince a feminist that we love being godly wives, moms and biblical women when we don’t live lively! It’s some battleground. 

I’ve just joined Mary’s blogging team—along with Leslie Ludy and Carolyn McCulley— and one of my first posts is up today. It’s about “sexting.” Check it out!

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!

I know! I know! That’s like the worst possible way to keep people away. Such temptation evokes curiosity. (My husband says this is like the wall at the carnival with a little hole marked “Do not under any circumstances look in here.” Of course you’re gonna look!) Well, “don’t visit” is the message being sent by the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families. Apparently, Calvin Klein is following Abercrombie and Fitch’s long lead in using soft-core porn to sell  clothing to teens. Publicly this can be seen on a billboard on the corners of Houston and Lafayette in NYC where a semi-nude “threesome” is featured. The website is worse. (Or so I’m told. I stuck to my guns. Didn’t visit!) Marketing campaigns no longer lean toward spending a lot on tv commercials and ads, but push tons of money into their websites where they can mark things as “unrated” or “banned” to tantalize viewers. This trend mainstreams porn. Let’s not give in to it. I never like to be negative, so let me say that even though Calvin Klein is being boycotted. I’d like you to think in terms of saying thanks with your spending dollars. Find retailers who are advertising appropriately to our kids. Spend your money there this summer! Where will you spend yours?

**This giveaway is now closed. Thank you for all your comments and responses. I will post the winner June 24th! Make sure you look for the next outfit that is being given away** 

Congratulations to Karri Ann winner of the ultimate Secret Keeper Girl outfit! She is all set for wearing those white pants modestly! There are only two outfits left to win so make sure you leave a comment this week and remember to check back next week for our final outfit. 

The fourth SKG fashion giveaway is what we like to call our modern hippie! You might not believe it, but the hippie-look is making a comeback this year! SKG is here to show you how to get it with modern flare. We paired this “peace sign” tunic with Bermuda cut jean shorts.  Don’t put your funky fashion scarves away for the summer.  We wrapped one on for a modern touch to this 1960’s inspired look.  Would you believe we even found a leather, braided head-piece? This outfit not only passes the “Truth or Bare Fashion Tests” it also demonstrates the fun you can have with fashion!  It is the perfect fusion of fun and modest fashion!

Our modern hippie outfit is a size 12 and includes: one pale yellow “peace” tunic, jean Bermudas , jean vest, brown scarf, brown hand bag, and braided head band.

Remember you must leave a comment to enter the contest! You don’t want miss this chance to win! Peace out!

**This giveaway is now closed. Thank you for all your comments and responses. I will post the winner June 17th! Make sure you look for the next outfit that is being given away** 

It’s Wednesday! You know what that means? It is time to give away another outfit! Before I talk about the next outfit I just want to say congratulations to Heather Lephart the winner of the mismatched mayhem outfit. I am loving the comments so keep them coming.

Our third Secret Keeper Girl Fashion show giveaway is the ultimate Secret Keeper Girl outfit.  White pants don’t seem like they’re a danger zone, but hey…if you wear the wrong panties it all goes bad! The ultimate SKG is showing us how adorable they are when worn well. We paired white pants with a great Secret Keeper Girl t-shirt and a simple headband.  For a danger-free way to wear white pants…make sure you stock your drawers with some all-white white GRANNY PANTIES! 

The ultimate Secret Keeper Girl outfit is a size 8. It includes a SKG t-shirt, white pants, and a turquoise headband. Leave a comment for a chance to win!

 A word from the Secret Keeper Girl office: We are so excited to be hosting a Secret Keeper Girl event in our hometown of State College, PA August 17 2009! Check out our other fall tour spots under the tour tab on secretkeepergirl.com. Maybe we are coming to your hometown! 

Posted by Dannah Gresh, Creator of Secret Keeper Girl I’m delighted to say that we have officially survived swimwear shopping 2009! The girls choices? Lexi, who is our water skier, selected a Nike sport tankini top with a swim skort bottom. Here’s the suit (though she selected it with red accents).

We bought Lexi’s suit at Dick’s Sporting Goods in State College, but you can buy it online at kohls.com or at nike.com.

Autumn, who we just adopted in China 18 months ago and who had never been in the water before, isn’t much of a swimmer. We’re working on it. She is so brave. It’s been a big fear to overcome, but we throw her in the water with a life jacket and our beloved dog, Stormie, to hold on to and she’s overcoming her fears. We bought a suit this summer with a touch of faith that she’ll get her face wet! It is a tankini top with boy-short bottoms.

We bought it at Kohl’s in State College, but you can buy it at kohls.com.Now, on to the smattering of letters I’ve been getting and that I want to give voice to. A good handful of folks have been kindly letting me know that they don’t think what I posted is “modest.” They would rather we avoided swimsuits altogether. I think this is an important part of our dialogue. Here is one of the well-presented letters:

 Dear Dannah, Thanks for all your efforts on modesty and purity. My wife and I love yourbooks and share them with others whenever we get the chance. I hope you won’t be offended if I express my feeling that the “modest”bathing suits pictured in your email were anything but modest. I understandthey are relatively modest, but from the male point of view they exposed waytoo much leg and present a strong temptation.   I was very happy to see you mention the need for a coverup. I would justask that perhaps you make it more clear to your audiance that: NO modernbathing suit is truely modest; these are just the least immodest choicesavailable; it is essentail to put on a coverup as soon as you get out of thewater. Otherwise I fear girls and women will be decieved into believing theyare modestly dressed in such suits –not intentionally decieved of course. You may want to suggest what we and many others do. My wife and daughter, 30and almost 5 respectively, both wear board shorts and longsleeve sun-protection swim shirts as their swimsuits, not just as coverups. Wefind this is the most modest option out there and Land’s End and L L Beanhave plenty ( OK some) of stylish options. I know it is hard, and again I thank you for your efforts!Your fans…

So, let me be clear. This good friend of my ministry doesn’t think swimsuits are modest! Neither do I! Swimsuits are not modest. Period. Nothing about them is. My husband and I sat in my home office and struggled with what to post and what to say about swimwear because I’m asked so often to address it. As we suspected, I’ve gotten a lot of emails from people who would rather we didn’t buy swimwear at all. (By the way, I would love you to post those thoughts here rather than email me. It’s good for everyone to hear your thoughts.) I understand. I want to give you voice. I just also want to be truthful and honest about where we are as a family. We wear swimwear.Here’s the deal. I’ll repeat what I said in my e-blast and blog post a week ago. Let me set up the scenario. We have an old boat that my husband bought for nearly nothing with hardly any miles on. We make up for its first few easy years of mild use, by using it hard in its retirement years. We ski, jump off of cliffs, swim with our labradoodle, and defy death with our 8 foot raft several times each week. My girls wear board shorts and t-shirts or tank tops until they get into the water.  Then, they change into life preservers, which cover more than a t-shirt and often keep their shorts on when they get in.Thanks for being kind and sensitive to where I’m at on this. It’s  not easy to be here publicly. But I think this conversation is important. There are a lot of Christian girls reaching for bikinis this season and I’d like to see them reconsider.

**This giveaway is now closed. Thank you for all your comments and responses. I will post the winner June 10th! Make sure you look for the next outfit that is being given away!**

Hey Secret Keeper Girls and moms! I loved reading all your posts for the punk rock outfit give-away! To choose our winner we went to random.org and had the random integer generator pick the number.  And the winner of the punk rock outfit is Kathy Horn!!! Congratulations!

Are you ready to hear which outfit is being given away next? It is our mini-skirt modified outfit! Every Secret Keeper Girl faces the seemingly impossible mission of navigating the unstoppable mini-skirt.  Look at how you can wear it modestly. We’ve paired this bright green mini with some navy leggings, which inspired us to layer and layer until we had a funky look or mis-matched mayhem.  Multiple colorful headbands finish the look with drama! Isn’t this outfit adorable? Leave a comment for a chance to win this colorful fun outfit!

Our mini-skirt modified outfit is a size 6/7. It includes a green striped mini, orange tank top, pink shrug, navy leggings, and multiple colorful headbands.

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.