Thankful Thursday – Post 20

Last summer I posted an interview with Rachel Held Evans, blogger and author of a spiritual memoir, Evolving in Monkey Town.

Rachel is now working on a new book project called the Biblical Womanhood Project. For that, she is following many of the Biblical guidelines for women, along with researching various religious groups from Orthodox Jews to Mormons to Amish (and many groups in between) to see how different women live out being a Biblical Woman.

Rachel describes the project as “John Piper meets Martha Stewart meets Julie & Julia meets A Year of Living Biblically. Just enough crazy to interest everyone.” (Will be published in 2012)

A few months ago, Rachel asked if anyone has connections to any of those groups. I volunteered to connect her with Amish and Mennonites, never imagining how sweet it would end up being for me. This week I am spending a few days playing tour guide for her. She keeps thanking me … but I am the one getting the better end of the deal!

So today I am thankful:

To be spending time with Rachel.

To talk about writing (trying not to drive her crazy with questions)

Connecting with other cool folks who live nearby that Rachel and I both met online … Maile & Shawn Smucker and Erika & Bryan Allain.

For an informational visit with my friend’s Amish aunt.

For a good visit with my brilliant, hard-working Mennonite cousin … who not only runs her own bakery, but also has fabulous gardens.

To spend time thinking about where I’ve come from (I grew up traditional conservative Mennonite, which is similar to Amish)

To go to the Mennonite Information Center with Rachel today.

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So it’s a different week for me – have you ever had a unique week/day that you are grateful for?

And what are you thankful for today?