Secret Keeper Girl

Posted by Dannah Gresh, Creator of Secret Keeper Girl. As I see the fall back-to-school stuff hitting the stores, I am mindful that at anytime I could lose focus…and so can our daughters! How’s a mom keep perspective and teach her daughter to do the same? Well, I’m going to try a little scripture challenge with my girls this August! Before we head out to spend money on the outward appearance, I’m going to ask them to spend a little time grooming the inside with some scripture memory. I want them to spend time focusing positively on what their body truly is. If you’ve accepted Jesus Christ’s forgiveness and made him your Lord—and both of my girls have—, God dwells within you: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Each time we choose which clothes to wear, we’re decorating the temple of the living God. I’m going to ask my girls to memorize that verse and pack it in their hearts as we hit the mall to spend cold hard cash this month! And that, my friend, I THINK is God’s must-have accessory of the season!

Posted by Dannah Gresh, Creator of Secret Keeper GirlAs I get ready to purchase fall clothing for our Fall 2009 Secret Keeper Girl Tour, I’m mindful to be aware of strong fall fashion trends. I’m excited about one of them because it’s fun, modest and comfortable. Apparently, the must-have item for this fall will be a cozy Western-style plaid button-down! I found this one at American Eagle and I love it. Check back tomorrow for what I believe is God’s must-have accessory for this season’s back-to-school shopping!

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!

Shhhh! My two fifteen-year-old girls are reading. They’re not clamoring for me to take them to the mall or the pool. They’re not hiding away in their laptops, engrossed by facebook. They’re READING! And, they’ve been at it for almost four hours. I’ve unwittingly stumbled onto the secret to getting teenagers to read.Every summer, the Gresh kids get a reading challenge. I present it at the beginning of the summer, and I pay them by the book. When my kids were young, money talked! They gobbled up books faster than popsicles on a hot day. Last summer—with nothing but teenagers in the house, it didn’t go well.So this year, I took a different approach. I decided not to even mention a reading challenge. I decided to just take the girls to the bookstore and let them browse. We went yesterday, and before I knew it they were both bringing me books that they wanted to read. They read for several hours last night and today! Turns out, I did actually stumble on to the secret.A 2008 study on teenagers and reading found that the secret is finding something that they connect with. In other words, reading occurs if you plug it into a passion or desire. While 700 pages of Melville with not risk of a pop-quiz looming in 1st period will probably not illicit desire, there’s probably something that will. Your job as a mom or youth leader is to find that passion button and feed it!