Circles Are Better Than Rows

In a previous post, I mentioned that on the night of my bachlorette party weekend, Ben went to GroupLink at our church and got us into a Married Small Group.  For those not familiar, here is a little information.  Ben and I attend Buckhead Church which is one of Andy Stanley's churches in the North Point Ministries organization.  Buckhead Church truly believes in getting people out of rows and into circles.  We don't have adult Sunday School or anything like that, but instead we have Community Groups that meet weekly/bi-weekly that help you pursue spiritual growth and healthy relationships.  In a community group, usually everyone is in the same stage of life and area of town.  I have been in singles community group for years and I actually met one of my best friends and bridesmaids, Anna, through my community group.  Ben had never been in a community group, (he had never lived in Atlanta long enough to join one) but was definitely on the same page with me in joining a Married Small Group once we got married. 

GroupLink happens twice a year and I like to say it's basically "sorority recruitment".  You basically go to church and "find" your new community group.  We decided that we wanted to join a "Just Married" Community Group.  In this group, there is a leader that has been married for awhile and then everyone else has been married for less than 2 years.  At GroupLink, Ben found a wonderful couple, Mark and Michelle, who would be leading a "Just Married Group".  They connected and then we got into their group with 4 other couples.  Last night was our second time to meet but our first official "real lesson".  We are currently going through a starter book that helps us get to know the other couples as well as help define what we think a marriage is as well as how God sees it.  Ben and I left last night with a good feeling about our group as well as a new "best practice" to try to include in our marriage. 

After community group (I still call it a small group), we headed home because I had a "Fring Date" with my best friends!!!  If you don't know what "Fring is", well, it's awesome!  I have 3 best friends from college - Jennifer, Kendal, and Yitin.  We tasked Yitin with finding a way to get us all connected at the same time.  Basically, there is a free app that you download on your Iphone or Ipad and we were able to have a 4 way video conference call.  It was so awkward and great at the same time!!  There will DEFINITELY be many more Fring dates to come!  Since 2 live in TX, one in LA, and me in GA, this is the best thing!! 

While on my "fring date", Ben knocked a few things off the "to do list".  One of the things was hanging curtains in the Hearth Room. (Insert - we need a new name for this room because "Hearth Room" is just not cool!)  We had bought the curtains before we moved in, but then I really started liking our new French Doors with side glass without curtains, so we were going to put the curtains in another room.  After Ben was gone to Guard this weekend, I decided that every window needed to be covered or I was going to freak and stress myself out!!  Below are the curtains over the French Doors.  You can see there is an open spot with just a rug.  This is in front of the fire place because we are still trying to figure out what furniture to put there.  You can also see our kitchen and all our new appliances.  We are without a range hood (that's another long story) and the massive microwave is still hanging out on the countertop.  Ben is going to be building a pantry that holds the microwave, but for now, it's taking up counterspace, but who can live without a microwave??  Not us!!  Our next window covering to purchase will be shutters over the kitchen sink.  That window really freaked me out while Ben was gone because you can see every reflection!