Some Blog News!

Here are just a few things that are new at Proverb31girl.com:

1. Since I’ve been posting a lot about how to save money and there is a lot of interest out there I’ve decided to make it easy on everyone and create a “Money Saving Ways” category in the menu. Hope that helps!
2. I’m working on integrating what Proverbs 31 is scripturally. Some people know about this chapter in the bible but not everyone does. And from what I’ve heard, a lot of people get the wrong impression of her (in my opinion). I hope to use my blog to help women want to BE like her, not throw their hands up in the air and claim 5 reasons why they can’t/don’t want to be like her.
3. I’ve created a coupon swapping group on Facebook! There is a lot of interest in how to save money and one way is to be in a community of people who have the same goals. In the group we’ll be sharing deals we find, advice we have, blogs we follow and most important, exchanging coupons. Click here to join!
4. A button and banner for easy sharing is coming soon!

Some Blog News!

Here are just a few things that are new at Proverb31girl.com:

1. Since I’ve been posting a lot about how to save money and there is a lot of interest out there I’ve decided to make it easy on everyone and create a “Money Saving Ways” category in the menu. Hope that helps!
2. I’m working on integrating what Proverbs 31 is scripturally. Some people know about this chapter in the bible but not everyone does. And from what I’ve heard, a lot of people get the wrong impression of her (in my opinion). I hope to use my blog to help women want to BE like her, not throw their hands up in the air and claim 5 reasons why they can’t/don’t want to be like her.
3. I’ve created a coupon swapping group on Facebook! There is a lot of interest in how to save money and one way is to be in a community of people who have the same goals. In the group we’ll be sharing deals we find, advice we have, blogs we follow and most important, exchanging coupons. Click here to join!
4. A button and banner for easy sharing is coming soon!

Now on Facebook!

This isn’t really a “post” but it is something that you may find interest in. I recently created a facebook page for this blog and am having a lot of fun developing quotes, pictures and ideas to share with my fans. Please take the 2 minutes and visit the page, “like” it and share with your friends. There are so many great things worth sharing but they just aren’t worth posting a blog about.

Thanks all!

Click here to visit my page!

I Need Your Advice, Really…

I know I implied that my next post would be about coupons but I’m stuck in a (not so serious) dilemma and need your advice. We all know that Facebook is a fun, addictive and powerful tool. We also know that it’s an incredible time sucker. If you look at my “contact” page you’ll notice that I’m contemplating creating a facebook fan page for my blog. It’ll be an easy way to read my posts, share them, comment on them, suggest my blog to others, post pictures maybe…I dunno, I’d have to see where it takes me. BUT I don’t want to go through the trouble of having the page if you guys don’t think it’s necessary/needed. Can you take the quick 1 question survey below and let me know your thoughts?

Click here to take the shortest survey you’ll ever take!

My goal of this blog is to take what I learn and experience in life and share it with the world to hopefully help others. So if there is a way to reach more people, I’m all for it. My goal isn’t to sell ad space or have a lot of readers if it isn’t making a difference in lives. Please give me all of the feedback you can! Thanks everyone and have a great weekend!

The Official Re-Launch

For all of you reading that aren’t following my facebook or twitter you may be a little confused why after so many months you’re seeing posts on my blog again.

Well, it’s probably the reason that most people will hand out the advice to never burn a bridge…you just never know if you’re going to cross it again.

If you look back you can read why I stopped blogging. God had brought me to a period of reflection within and cleaning up some aspects of my life. It required a bit more listening and a lot less talking. It also required A LOT of time. Add to that a new baby and a new lifestyle and God was right, I couldn’t handle keeping up with my blog during that season of my life.

A few months ago I started having blog topics pop up in my head. I couldn’t figure out what to do with them so I just wrote them down in a journal for myself and moved on. This kept happening more frequently and I soon found myself WANTING to blog again (something that hadn’t happened in a while). So I thought and prayed about it and felt that it was time to go back to blogging. But I knew that I wanted to do a re-launch, not just a post to follow up the old ones. So as you can see, I created a new layout – something that’s a bit easier to manage and reads more like a journal than a website. If you look at the menu you will also notice that I have cut down the topics I’ll be blogging about. As much as I LOVE music and really enjoy talking about it and doing interviews – it doesn’t fit with what I’m feeling called to write about (and let’s be honest, being a stay at home mom doesn’t allow much time for discovering new music). Now guys, before you assume there will now be nothing for you to read, I ask you to please give me a chance. I know that so much of my call is to reach young girls and women but I really do believe God has given me some topics that will relate to you personally and that will help you in relationships with these women I’m writing for.

Personally, you didn’t miss THAT much in my life. The biggest thing has been the weekly changes in the 1st year of a child’s life. It’s amazing how fast she grew and developed and has become the happy, funny little girl that she is at days away from her first birthday.

I’m looking forward to the “new” blog. And I’m definitely looking forward to more discussions, comments and feedback from my new and old readers. You can still see all of my old posts by using the tags on the right or the search field – I welcome your comments and feedback, even if it’s a post from 2 years ago!

So this is it – the official re-launch…welcome back friends. Let the journey begin :

What Will Be, Will Be

Howdy strangers. It’s been a while. Remember me? Well…remember my last post? If you don’t, go check it out. I had to re-read it before posting this blog and all I can say is “wow.” I was right on so far. Honestly, I haven’t thought much about what I wrote since I wrote it…but I guess what will be will be. I say this because everything I spoke about in my last post, has been so incredibly on-point with my life as of right now, 19 days later. That’s when you truly know that you hear from God.

That being said…was the easier part.

This part is a bit harder.

I’ve been blogging for a long time. I’ve actually developed some following. It amazes me. Thanks so much for reading what I have to say!

But the truth is, I don’t have much to say right now. God is doing such a quiet, humbling work in my life and I’m currently on a journey that isn’t meant for the public eye. He’s doing things in my heart that can’t be put into words. He’s opening my eyes to things that are meant for me alone to see. He’s opening doors that are marked with a sign “for members only” and the membership price is extremely high and the applications accepted are few.

So what am I trying to say? I’m saying that it’s official. As of right now, this blog is closed. Alive for people to read old posts but for the near future, no new posts will be written and published.

It’s been a fun and amazing journey but it’s just not what I’m supposed to be doing right now with my time. I’m sad and excited but I know that with God – what will be, will be. And things may change..but for now, my online blogging life door has been closed and I’m smiling at the other doors that are opening because of it.

Thanks for all of the love and support and comments and reading! You can still keep up with me on facebook and twitter and gmail and in person and all those other ways if you’re interested. And if not, that’s okay too. I’m believing that God has a plan much bigger than I could ever know.

With love,

Jess/Proverb31girl

New Layout! New Design!

Last month I made a list of changes to come for 2010. Soooo…as promised, here is my new design! (All email subscribers and RSS subscribers, click over to the actual blog today: www.proverb31girl.com)

I hope you enjoy the new site. I worked really hard on it (with the help of hubbie – thanks babe!) and am really proud to see how this blog has evolved over the past 2 years. The site is 95% done. For all of you checklist people out there, here are the new additions/features:

• New feel/new colors. I went for a cleaner, more organized site rather than a long page of blog entries
• New logo to reflect the new name. “Me4thought” is gone. “Proverb31girl” is here to stay
• Headshot and welcome note. I thought it would make things a big friendlier
• Some categories have been re-named and “Uncategorized” blogs have been properly distributed
• Lots of pictures! New with each post, there will be a thumbnail to warm up the place
• The home page will “feature” my newest post, followed by the most recent posts
• Each category on top has it’s own page of posts within that category
• An easy to use search function on the top right of each page
• To Come: Recent Comments link, Most Popular Posts link

So that’s it (I think). Take a look around. Read some blogs you might have missed in the past. And please excuse the lack of photos on some pages. The more recent ones will be much more lively to look at

Got a blog and aren’t listed on my blogroll? Leave me a comment and let me know – I love to check out what my readers are up to!

Thanks for all of your love and support – this blog is growing because of you!!

Jess

New for 2010!!

Hello bloggy friends. I’ve been a bit under the weather lately and therefore will not be posting anything music related this week. Instead, I’d like to give you a quick look at the exciting things to come in 2010!

Blog Related:

• A redesign! As much as I love the color scheme and logo I have now – I believe it’s time for something fresh and relevant to where this blog has gone in 2009. For those of you who subscribe through a reader or email, you probably don’t look at my actual site much. But take a look now, it won’t be the same for much longer! www.proverb31girl.com

• A new name! Years ago I started an online journal named “me4thought.” So when I started this blog, I wanted to somehow link my commonly used name “proverb31girl” with my old writing slate “me4thought.” This produced the very wordy blog name “me4thought: the life and thoughts of a proverb31girl.” 2009 was a big year for me as far as networking and writing goes, so in 2010 my blog name will truncate to the easy to remember (and now well known), Proverb31girl.

• More music! New Music Tuesday has been very successful, especially with the most recent addition of Music Spotlights, so expect more more more! More CD reviews, more interviews and new for 2010, concert and venue news!

• Guest writers! I’d really like to have some different voices funneling through the blog. Different topics. Different opinions. Different lifestyles. If you enjoy writing and are interested in being a contributing writer – please let me know your ideas! See the “contact me!” page to do so.

Life Related:

• Here’s the official announcement if you haven’t heard it already, July 3, 2010 I’ll officially be a mommy! Don’t worry, I’m not going to turn this into a mommy blog…just a mom who likes to write.

• Hubbie will have a new job! Location TBA.

• We’re moving! It might be to a different place in the same town or it might be out of state. We’re not sure yet. But we do know that it’s time for a bigger place!

• Road trips! Pregnancy (hopefully) won’t hold me back from visiting Club Worship and The Gates pre-baby and a few other places post-baby. Our kid is going to love dance music whether he/she likes it or not

Well that’s about all the updates I have right now. I hope you’re as excited as I am for this journey. 2010 is going to be a great year of change and new beginnings.

To be continued,

Jess/Proverb31girl

Christmas Vacation

Hello all. I promise to try my best and write but this week I’m on Christmas vacation and my brain has joined my body on this relaxing trip. In case you don’t hear from me, have a wonderful Christmas and I’ll be back posting before the new year!

Swap With Me!

Here’s the deal.

I have a nice spot on my blog for links. However, I need some help filling it. I would more than anything love to help my bloggy friends and readers promote what they’re doing – so post a comment or send me a message with your blog/website/myspace/whatever link and I’ll advertise for you!

And if you’re interested in doing a swap, put a link to my blog on your page. It’s simple: www.proverb31girl.com.

Now here is where it gets fancy. If you’re a graphics/video type person – feel free to send me those as well! I’m all about referring people to great sites so the more it stands out, the better.

And if you’re interested, I’ll send you some of my graphics too!

It’s simple. It’s fun. Let’s swap!

This Just In!

Chris bought me a netbook!! So I’ll get to blog from wherever my little computer takes me

He ordered it online so I can’t give a review about it but I promise to give you my thoughts and pictures once it comes in later this week!

I’m a fan of portable things and cute accessories for them. Do any of you have a netbook or laptop that you love? What kind do you have? Any fun accessories? Let me know!

Coming Soon…!

Hey ya’ll! This past weekend Chris (deeflash) and I traveled out of the country for the first time! We took the 7+ hour drive to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and spent the weekend with some really amazing people. I can’t wait to tell you about it but seeing as we got about 8 hours of sleep randomly in the 3 days we were in Canada and just 5 hours last night, I’m a bit pooped. So here’s what to come this week in me4thought:

• Pictures from The Gates in Harleysville, PA
• New Music Tuesday:Hillsong London
• Our Canada Trip – Facts/Stories
• Insight/Inspiration from Canada
• and whatever else God leads me to write about!

So while you eagerly await these blog posts, check out the ministry we got to be a part of while in Ottawa: Heat Worship House.

Adding Facebook to my blog!

In addition to twitter I have added facebook publishing to my blog.

Hello Twitter!

My blogs will now be automatically connected with my twitter account!  Technology can be so cool when it works.

Writing again

Wow…I haven’t written in a while. Probably because I’ve been all over the place mentally and when it’s time to write I’m writing in a notebook or on my mac…words that will eventually become my first book. Yup, i’m really writing a book. When God first put it on my heart to write I thought I would write where my heart is in ministry — improving young girls lives and helping them through the awkward and challenging stages of growing up. But I realized that there isn’t much I can provide people with in such a broad way. I’m better one on one, case by case…and therefore, writing a book became overwhelmingly challenging and with time, a distant memory. But months later, God spoke to me again. He told me my hands are anointed to write great words. I prayed about it and moved on with life. Next thing I know, a few days later, actually maybe a day later, I was cleaning the bathroom and suddenly words came to my head. Not quite a blog entry but more pages in a journal…a public journal. A mix of Anne Frank’s Diary and Catcher in the Rye. First person narration of life and thoughts. Memories and insight with a twist of off beat humor. So I sat down at my mac and started writing. An hour later, I had my first chapter of a book without a title. The next day I brought my new notebook with me on the bus to work. I looked around and stories popped into my head. So I wrote. The same thing happened for a few days in a row. Then I had about a week of nothing. I started cleaning and the words came back. I wrote for a few more days.

At this point I have a good amount of things written, parts of chapters, starts of characters…but no real focus. I know God is putting this book together piece by piece…it just seems that the pieces don’t go together yet. It’s an adventure. I’m writing what interests me. I’m writing what’s in my head. I’m writing what my imagination sounds like. I’m not trying to be anyone or aspire to be like any writer. I’m just writing what I hear in my head with the hopes that God will develop it into something of interest to someone besides myself. And if not, then hey – I can at least say that 1-I obeyed God 2-I wrote a book and 3-a few people read what I wrote (I know I have a few dedicated friends who will read it for the mere point of that’s what best friends do.)

And to all bosses and people out there who change everything I write, make me feel as if I’m not talented, and tear down all ideas I have — I know that you’re wrong and will no longer allow you to make me feel the way you do/have. There are many writers and styles because there are many readers and people out there with different personalities. We all have a voice and no one’s should be torn down.