This is it!  The 2013 Swimsuit edition of Embracing Modesty.  I’m so excited!

I want to start by telling you how we choose what we will wear for swimming.  While we need to be comfortable and have free movement in the water, we are never willing to compromise the convictions that we have about how we should dress.  It may feel weird at first, but if you have a conviction to cover yourself more than a typical swimsuit will cover, then you may have to give up that fear of feeling out of place and stop wearing them.

For our swimwear we have the same basic boundaries that we have for our regular clothes.  We don’t show our shoulders, cleavage, thighs, etc. It isn’t easy to find things to wear that are affordable and within our boundaries.  The trick is to be flexible and think outside the box.

As a basic beginning, we all have one-piece bathing suits that we wear underneath some of our swimwear.  In most of these photos we are wearing those under what you can see.  We do this because the tops we wear will occasionally float up when we’re swimming or playing in the water.  Uh-oh!

I’ll start with our oldest daughter, Grace.  She has a swimsuit we purchased years ago from a company called Wholesome Wear.  She wears it constantly every summer and it has held up beautifully.  She loves it.

The whole thing, including leggings underneath and the cute little sleeved top, is one piece that just zips up the front.  It is very lightweight and comfortable.  I’d be happy to buy these for all of the girls, but they are a bit costly.  Plus we need more than one suit since we swim almost every day, sometimes twice a day.

My friend Sara bought a darling modest swimsuit for her 10 year old daughter.  This suit from Meant to Be Modest is triple cuteness!

But don’t worry….there are plenty of options if you can’t afford or don’t want to wear these types of suits.  I look for short, stretchy summer dresses that would be easy to swim in.  Then we put bike shorts and a one-piece bathing suit underneath. And we feel great about what we are wearing!

For this season I found short dresses at Sam’s Club made from lycra, so they are perfect to swim in.  Hope is wearing a one-piece and bike shorts under the dress.  She will swim in this….it won’t come off when she gets in the water.  These are available right now at Sam’s.  $16.98.  YES!

Another idea is a dress made from t-shirt knit.  Again, bathing suit and bike shorts under it complete the look.  She swam in this all summer last year and it worked great!

I would suggest Old Navy, Target, Walmart and Cato for these little dresses.  They aren’t that hard to find once you get your radar going.

Sometimes we wear lightweight shorts with a long top.  These shorts are made with fabric that dries quickly.  We just look for loose fitting shorts that we think would do well in the water.  This is our backup-because-everything-else-is-dirty option.

And me, well I don’t care much for swimwear.  But since we have a pool I do like to swim in the summer, and I LOVE the beach.  So I found a stretchy skirt and top that works well for me. I have a blue shirt on in this photo, but I don’t wear a that underneath if I’m getting in the water.  I just have the one-piece bathing suit under the black top.  Oh!  And I have this is other colors also.  When I saw these in the store I got 3 of them.

Please excuse my pasty white legs.  They rarely see the light of day.

I can’t tell you how wonderful it has been for us to be able to let go of the expectations to wear bikinis/bathing suits that expose parts of our body that we are not comfortable with showing.  Not only has it given us a complete confidence, but I have been blessed with some wonderful conversations with strangers that see us on the beach.  They walk over to tell me how grateful they are that we are modestly dressed and I get to reply with love and acceptance of Christ.

Here are a few final tips:

*When buying a knit dress, be sure to check the neckline for stretching.  If it stretches easily it could become a problem with the weight of the water.
*If you’re not buying actual swimwear, look for the lightest weight fabrics you can find.  Otherwise it will be too heavy when it gets wet.
*Makes sure the shoulders are high or if you can pin a strap across the back of them so they don’t slip down when you swim. It kills all of the fun when your top keeps slipping around!
*Avoid reds.  They tend to bleed and fade easily.
*If you’re going for shorts, we also like looking in the men’s swim shorts section.  Often they have long floral shorts that could be feminine if put with a cute top..
*Sometimes it’s easier to find knit dresses that are tank top style.  We just put a cute rash guard under those!
*Don’t be afraid to cut off the bottom of a longer knit skirt if you think it would be good for swimming.  Knits don’t ravel, so you can just cut them off wherever you want!
*If you have trouble finding one-piece suits that cover enough, look for polo suits or lifeguard suits.  They go up high on the neck and have much more coverage.

I hope you found some ideas here for ways to look modest even when swimming.  Thanks so much for all of your encouragement through this series.  The response has been amazing!

Check out the rest of this series in our Embracing Modesty Gallery!

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The post Embracing Modesty, No. 19 — Swimsuit Edition! appeared first on The Pennington Point.

If you’re following me on my “get fit” journey I hope you’re ready for a long road.  This morning as I got on the scale and prepared myself.  It had dropped.  One. half. pound.

Yep, that’s it.  No fanfare, please.

The funny thing is, I’m not disappointed.  My goal is to get healthy.  I am thinking in my expert self-analysis that if I change what’s happening on the inside then the outside will reflect that.  I’ve done several quick weight loss programs in the past and I lose weight, but I can’t wait for the misery to end, then I gain it back.

So this time my strategy is different.  Change my habits, slowly instead of being drastic, until I am more healthy.

For the past 2 weeks I have exercised 6x each week.  I have cut sugar out of my diet and starting today I will no longer eat after 7:00PM.  This is going to be another difficult change.  But if I, the world’s most stagnant person, can start to exercise then surely I can do this too.  It will take some getting used to though.  Last night I ate dinner at 9:15.  {shame}

As far as the slow weight loss, I am going to try paying more attention to my portion sizes and cut them back a little more.  I can do that pretty easily I think.

So that’s it.  Week 2 done.  I’m know this will take a lot longer than 42 days, but really that’s OK.  I’m going to get there.

How are you doing on your journey to fitness?

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There are so many things I haven’t caught you up on since April ended.  That was a really crazy month for us with me doing so much traveling and James wrapping up tax season.

1. Our daughter Hope is graduating this year.  She has worked really hard to finish all of her school and be done with it.  She’s not a natural student, so I think she’s looking forward to having time to do some things that are more of her own interests.  We are not having a graduation ceremony.  She didn’t care about it and we couldn’t find a good time to do it, so we’ve decided to take a little trip instead.  That fits her personality better.  But we will send out announcements.  Here’s the picture we are using….she’s a beauty!

2. Speaking of traveling, I’m planning a few simple summer trips:

*In June some of my daughters and I will head to Kansas City for the One Year Adventure Novel Summer Workshop.  If you have a budding writer, this workshop is fabulous!  We went last year and my kids were so inspired that we can’t wait to go again.  I’d be glad to answer any questions about it if you think it’s something you might want to do.

*Most of us will be attending the Teach Them Diligently Marketplace in Houston in July.  I don’t know if my whole family will go since we have the farm animals to tend to.  But it will be nice to also visit with my parents while we are there.  If you’re going, please let me know so we can meet!

*In August I will be heading to California for a women’s retreat in Rancho Mirage, CA.  I will be the keynote speaker and I am super excited!  If you are in the area and are interested in attending let me know and I can email you more information.

3. We’ve got new products in the shop and more on the way!  I’ve added Mason Jar Straw Lids with Acrylic Straws for the kids.  We did a fun photo shoot last weekend for those and my boys clowned it up for the camera.

4. Lastly, I have a great series coming up about siblings.  I get so many questions asking how we did it….our kids get along so well.  So I am working on a 6 part series starting in June on that subject.  Stay tuned!

Have a wonderful day and enjoy your family!

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This weekend proves what my whole family has feared….I am on a mission to get my house completely cleaned out.  I mean completely.

It started with my exhaustive bedroom clean out last weekend and is still going strong.  I’m like the movie “Speed.”  I have a sense that if I slow down with the cleaning & organizing I could die.

James must have picked up on my craze because he said to me yesterday, “For one of your Mother’s Day presents I am going to clean out my closet.”

I was over the moon excited.  He couldn’t have given me a better gift if he has said there was a spa weekend to go along with it.  I should tell you that we don’t share this closet.  It’s just his.  I never even look in there.  But the knowledge that there is this black hole of messiness in my house that I couldn’t clean or straighten was an albatross around my neck.

I didn’t complain much about it because I have read that verse in the Bible about a man being better on the corner of a roof than inside the house with a nagging wife.  Every time I wanted to let loose about the messy closet I pictured him up on the roof trying to get as far away from me as possible and it stopped me.  The idea of my husband being miserable because of me is enough to close even my mouth.  And that’s a tall order.

So he and the boys spent the entire afternoon pulling everything out, folding, sorting, stacking and putting it back in the closet.  It was awesome!  Best Mother’s Day gift EVER!

Speaking of my house, I wanted to thank you all for your clever ideas about my extra room last week.  Your main suggestions were a reading room/library, exercise room or sewing/craft area.  Well I hate to admit this because it proves that I am pampered and I like to keep that fact mostly to myself, but I already have spaces for all of those things.  We have a little room that we call our “study room” where we have shelves, a desk and a comfy place to sit.  I have a whole space for Shop24 to do projects like that. And my bedroom has plenty of space to do my exercises.

I think the moral of the story is I am spoiled.  Plain and simple.

But please don’t tell my husband because I am hoping he will keep the momentum going and clean out the garage.

But I’m not going to nag about it.  Nosirree.

Have a great week!

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It’s been unusually cool here in Texas for this time of year.  Normally we’ve pulled the summer clothes out of the back of the closet by now.  But it’s still in the 70s so we haven’t started the hot weather dressing just yet.  I know you have a lot of questions about that.  We’ll be in the hot weather clothing very soon and you’ll get sick of seeing them by the end of summer!

This week we’ve been wearing between-season clothes.  Not too hot, not to cold, JUST right.  Like the the three bears.  I’m Mamma Bear….way too soft.

This week Grace wore a little shrug over a tank.  It’s a great way to cover the arms.  And, of course, she tied her scarf in a darling braid….love it!

She and Faith both fell in love with these cork heeled sandals last week at Shoe Carnival.  The store had a buy one-get one half off sale.  So each girl got a pair and split the savings.  Here’s Faith in the same shoes.

She loves to wear a color peeking out under a neutral for that little splash.  Here she matched her hair bows.  Red.  Love.

Faith’s style is so different than Grace’s.  Faith is funky and off center while Grace is all neat and perfectly matched.  But they both look great.  Be yourself.  Find what you love and add it to your wardrobe.

Me, I like a little bit of the unexpected.

I threw a bunch of pearls on with this little dotted top I got at Target last spring.  I wouldn’t normally wear pearls with a red t-shirt, not sure why.  But on this day it felt right.  So I went with it.

This last outfit isn’t my favorite.  But I wanted to show you this cute top.  It’s very lightweight and open on the sides (you can see its fun shape in the photo at the top of this post), making it great for this between-season stuff.  I should have worn it with a skirt that wasn’t as full.  If I wear a full top I try to wear a lighter weight skirt and vice versa.

I expect this between-season weather to end very soon.  I am not in a hurry though.  The Texas heat nearly does me in every year.  I’m delicate.  See?  I AM Mamma Bear!

See you next week for our big Embracing Modesty Swimsuit Edition.  You can be sure it will be nothing like the Sports Illustrated version. 

Check out the rest of this series in our Embracing Modesty Gallery!

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I’ve been planning a few summer projects and looking around the house and yard to see what I can do with basically no money.  I love a challenge and making my home nicer for free is one of my favorites!

My first stop for inspiration was Hometalk.  What I love about Hometalk is that it is more of a community, with people sharing ideas and not just a quick look.  Sometimes I want to just get an idea, but often I have questions and wonderings.  I thirst for knowledge.  Especially since I gave up Diet Dr Pepper.  I used to thirst for that.

So I hopped over to Hometalk to see what goodness I could find and there was plenty of it!  Awnings and pergolas and great plant ideas.  I’m all inspired now….so watch out!

If you haven’t tried Hometalk you should check it out.  There’s no cost, just sign up and follow people.  You can start by following me!  And if you don’t know anyone else to follow, I enjoy scrolling down the homepage and seeing all of the real people with real ideas!

I have a board on Hometalk with nothing but ideas for ways to use old wood.  Oh yes…..that’s just what I need for my free summer projects!

What projects do you have planned for the summer?

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It’s been a week since starting my “42 Days to Fit” challenge and since a bunch of you said you were going to do it with me, I thought we should check in.

So far I have lost a whopping ONE POUND.  I know it’s not much, but I’m not too disappointed.  In the past I will do these crazy diets and lose a bunch of weight, but then I am anxious to get back to normal and I gain the weight back once I have met my goal.  So I have a new plan.  Here it is: Don’t do that!

Instead, I am using the 42 Days ebook as a guide to change my lifestyle.  This past week it’s been about going off of sugar, drinking more water (which I need to do more) and exercising.  I think that’s enough change for one week, don’t you?  I have never really exercised with regularity, so it’s been a big difference in my life.

Every morning I try to convince myself to stay in bed.  “Just this one day,” I tell myself, “won’t hurt anything.”

But then I think about my kids and how they have started getting up early too.  Noah is walking with me on the days I walk and that has been so nice!  He talks to me about his life and at 14, I don’t get to talk with him much so I am treasuring that.  Our road is a sweet, simple place to walk.  We love to look at the little houses along the way.

On the alternate days when I’m just exercising in my room by myself I am more tempted to skip it.  But so far I have made myself get up and do it.  It’s a whole new Lisa!

Another thing I am doing is T-Tapp Basic Workout Plus.  Have you heard of it?  It’s a 15 minute workout that I had great success with a few years ago.  It’s not too terribly hard and I really feel better after I do it (which is unusual since I mostly feel worse after exercising). I am doing that 3x a week (the same day I am doing some, not all, of the core workout, which is making me so sore!)

I can’t say my meals have been super great.  I’m not pigging out, but I know they could be lower in calories.  But for me, the sad truth is, if I jump into something drastic I will be miserable and not stick to it.  I know myself.  I’m weak.  Not eating sugar has been such a big change that I will have to work slowly into watching calories too.

I have a long way to go y’all!

I’m not going to rush it.

So how about you?  Are you making an effort to get fit?

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So much for easy, peaceful weekends.  Ever since starting my fitness challenge, I am up and at ‘em every morning.  It has changed my activity level drastically.  I am not sure how I feel about that yet.  In theory I should be glad that I am actually using my body for more than a recliner decoration, but my legs are crying out in opposition.

On Saturday morning I decided to do a job I had been putting off for too long.  My bedroom had become a waste dump for everything that didn’t have a place in the house.  Books, picture frames, kids’ drawings, blankets, pillows…..anything we didn’t know where to put but wanted to keep.  It was beginning to resemble an episode of Hoarders.

In addition, I had never finished cleaning up the nursery since moving Levi out about 3 months ago and I was starting to feel ashamed of myself for my laziness.  Since James was out of town this weekend, I thought it would be a good time to clean out the two rooms, get rid of the junk and get ‘er done.

As usual, my ideas are too big for my energy level.  The older kids all had things they needed to do (rude) and so I just had the younger boys to help me.  A willing heart is nice, but it’s also nice if the person helping you isn’t more interested in his jacket zipper than he is vacuuming under the chair you are holding up.  Let’s just say, it was a long morning.

After lunch I asked my older 3 girls if they could just help me for a couple of hours so we could get this job finished.  I promise you I wasn’t intentionally being deceitful, which they may have wondered at 8:00 PM when we were still working.

We had to clean everything as we moved it.  The amount of dust in my bedroom would have filled a king sized pillow.  And I didn’t even deal with whatever is under my bed.  I don’t look under there.  It scares me a little.

By late Saturday night we were all completely spent with barely enough strength left to shower and get ourselves to bed.  Even my high energy girls were strewn across my bedroom sofa like boneless chickens (Did you ever see that picture?…so funny!)

Yep, that’s what we looked like.

I didn’t take before pictures, but you’ve seen messy rooms, right?  Here’s what my bedroom looks like this morning.  CLEAN! I want to paint the faux oak cabinet in the corner.  I’m thinking of painting it a gray green.  What do you think?

I’m loving the panorama option on my iphone.  You can see almost the whole room!  The door on the right goes to a long, narrow room that used to be the nursery.  I don’t know what to call it now, so we’re just calling it “the old nursery.”  It is a spare room I can use however I want.  Right now it’s just a quiet place for anyone to go read, get away, be alone.  But I have a few ideas for this room.

On Sunday we were still tired from the day before so I just filled my shop orders and we rested.  Kids played outside, girls read, we ate leftovers….nothing too strenuous.

There’s something about having a big job done that gives you permission to do nothing for about a week.

Summing up….these are the questions I have for you.  1. What would you do with an empty, long, narrow room?  2. What color should I paint the cabinet in the corner of my bedroom?

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I had planned to share some hot weather ideas with you today, but it’s been c-c-cold here this week and we couldn’t bear to wear our summer things.  So it will wait until the weather gets warm, which I am not in any hurry for.

Instead I’ll share few of the things Grace and I wore this past week.  The other girls wore mostly outfits you’ve already seen.

Grace has really embraced the scarf.  In fact, she is making a YouTube video of ways she likes to tie them.  I’ll share that with you when it’s ready.  Otherwise this outfit is a comfy skirt and top.  Easy-easy!

And I can’t leave this picture without mentioning her shoes.  Aren’t they darling?!  You can snap off the flowers and change them to others.  Cuteness!

It’s really all about the shoes, am I right?

I don’t remember what we were doing on this next day, but her little shirt vest is so cute I just had to show you.  She always looks so pretty.

This next pic is what I wore one day when I was running into town.  Just an easy day.

It’s finally getting warm enough for me to pull out my favorite Born sandals.  They are 10 years old, but I still love ‘em!

Even though you have seen many of these individual pieces already, mixing them up in new ways is what we love to do.

I hope you’re having a great time finding new ways to wear your things.  We will get to those warm weather ideas asap!

Check out the rest of this series in our Embracing Modesty Gallery!

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Well my friends.  It has begun.

I ate my last dessert, slept late for the last time.

The next 42 days will be filled with things that will take me out of my comfort zone. (Read HERE if you don’t know what I’m talking about.)

I got up this morning and exercised and wondered, “Who is this stranger wearing these horrid shoes and doing lunges?  She is unfamiliar to me.”

And man, oh man, I am sore already.  I can’t for the life of me figure out why people do this to for fun.  Like those people who actually exercise when they are on vacation….crazy town!

The good news is that “42 Days to Fit” seems like it’s a gradual increase into fitness, which is what I need.  Those people that go on The Biggest Loser and start training like Olympic athletes the very first day must go into some kind of exercise shock.  It’s not pretty, and I like to be pretty.

In fact, sweating in general is not my cup of tea.  Just one more reason, folks, that I might have a problem.

If you left a comment on the original post letting me know you will be joining me on this harrowing 42 day adventure, then I hope you’ll consider joining the Facebook group I set up.  It will be a place to encourage one another and share in the journey.  It is a private group, so we’ll have to become Facebook friends for me to add you.  Oh, and you don’t have to be doing the 42 day challenge to join us!

Today I’m drinking only water and eating more purposefully.  I did my core exercises and tomorrow I will start walking.

As an added bonus, I am planning to invite one of the kids to walk with me each time.  That will give us a chance to spend some one-on-one time together.

So, how are you doing?  Have you already started?

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