Archive for the ‘Modesty’ Category

Seven Days in a Dress. It’s never too late to begin your own Challenge!

Click to read any of the previous installments you may have missed:
Take the Challenge! (Introduction)
Day 1 (Sunday “Go To Meetin’ Clothes”)
Day 2 (Shoe Musings)
Day 3 (Family Photos)

Today is another work-around-the-house day, so not a fashion spectacular. I hope some of you young ladies with prettier clothes will post your photos for all of us to enjoy!

The denim jumper makes an encore appearance! Tiffany is wearing it with a navy blue and grey shirt, a navy head covering, navy blue knee socks (“Look, Ma! I got some cute winter socks!”), and – here they are – the sneakers. Hey, they have blue on them, so they match, right??

Jewel is wearing a lovely black and white herringbone dress, with black tights, and her crazy pink tennis-shoe-boots (she’s five, so we accept these things). She especially wanted to show off the hairstyle she did for herself today: a ponytail with additional rubber-band decorations down the length.

Not having appropriate winter clothing has made this challenge actually a challenge for me. Someone with more disposable income might choose to go buy a few items to add to their wardrobe and more easily overcome such obstacles.

But I guess what I want to say to any of you who are facing obstacles in your journey is this – if you wait to begin your trip until all the traffic lights between you and your destination are green, you’ll never leave your driveway. Just take that first step, in faith…

Come share the journey, and support our Sisters – Iron sharpens iron! Using the link tool below, you can share the link to your blog post, or to a public photo or album – hopefully this version will allow a thumbnail of one of your photos to be displayed, as well.

Seven Days in a Dress – are you joining us on this journey?

Click to read through if you’ve missed any of the previous installments:
Take the Challenge! (Introduction)
Day 1 (Sunday “Go To Meetin’ Clothes”)
Day 2 (Shoe Musings)

Today’s photos are slightly different (hopefully better)… We just had our family portraits done for this year, and I am sharing them instead of trying to take our own duplicate picture of the outfits. Thanks to the miracle of digital photography, there’s not a delay of weeks while we wait for developing and printing them!

We wanted to have Wolf and Nick in their uniforms (Wolf from the Air Force Reserves, Nick from Civil Air Patrol), so we thought it would be fun for the kids and I to wear “knock-off” clothes made from the Air Force’s ABU camouflage pattern.

Tiffany is wearing a custom-made nursing jumper, with a coordinating tan blouse. White peds and brown Sanitas on the bottom, a camo bandanna as a head-covering over a ponytail on top. (Boy, my legs were cold! But I didn’t have any tights or warm socks that matched.)

Jewel is wearing a jumper I made, with a tan blouse (same fabric as mine). She has on her favorite boots, and a camo headband (with ponytail). In a couple of the shots she also has on the hat that is actually part of R.T.’s outfit.

I got a great comment on my Facebook wall yesterday –

‎2 days in skirt & hose, lovin the compliments

Hooray!

So, how is your Challenge going? Are you noticing a difference in the way you feel? In the way people react to you?

Using the “Linky” below, you can share the link to your blog post, or to a public photo or album. Let’s share the journey, and support our Sisters!

Seven Days in a Dress – are you joining us on this journey?

Click to read through if you’ve missed any of the previous installments:
Take the Challenge! (Introduction)
Day 1 (Sunday “Go To Meetin’ Clothes”)

So, here is the photo we took of our outfits yesterday:

Miss Jewel is wearing a very cute red dress, with black tights and her very-favorite-shoes-in-the-whole-world boots. Her hair is in a simple ponytail. Yes, the dress is actually too short by our standards. It was given to us as a hand-me-down, and since she liked it so much, and it was at least close, I told her she could wear it once before we re-gifted it.

Tiffany is wearing a denim jumper with a gray polo shirt, black textured tights, and the black Sanitas shoes again. A grey plaid flannel shirt is standing in for a jacket. Ponytail and white headcovering round out the ensemble. (Gotta say it again: I adore my Nursing Jumpers and Hanging Veils from Katie’s Mercantile!)

Let’s talk about shoes for a minute, since it’s probably already obvious to you that my shoe wardrobe is limited.

There are a number of factors at play:

• When I began dressing more modestly, I got rid of a large portion of my shoe wardrobe along with clothes. Tough financial times, and other priorities, have kept extra shoes low on the priority list.
• I have hard-to-fit-feet. Being tall, and not a tiny person, shoes that fit are hard to come by. Even if I just want a pair of cheapies, Payless or similar stores have very limited options in larger sizes.
• I’m a homemaker, and the mother of small children. Ideally, this would not mean that one is frumpy, but it does make it more important that shoes are comfortable for the days’ activities, and less important that one’s shoes are “cute.”
• Weak ankles. Boy, that sounds like a cliche, eh? Seriously, though, I have badly sprained both ankles in the last few years, the left one twice. I’m nervous about my footing, especially if I may have to walk on slippery surfaces or uneven ground (which is always likely with little kids!). Frankly, most of the time I wear sneakers, and my church shoes are a black pair and a brown pair of the Sanitas.

Now, even with all that said, I am not entirely content with the state of affairs.

For one thing, I think my husband would enjoy the way I look more if I had some more interesting footwear – at least from time to time.

As part of my commitment to try and add a bit more variety to my wardrobe, beginning with this Challenge, I am also going to work on getting another pair or two of shoes into the rotation… But it may take a little longer to implement.

Please take a moment to share your journey with us!

Using the “Linky” below, you can share the link to your blog post, if you are blogging about your journey. If you don’t blog, you can leave a link to a public photo or album (this can be done on Facebook, Flicker, Photobucket, and many other free sites!).

Seven Days in a Dress – are you ready to join us on this journey?

To read my introduction and guidelines, head back a few posts, or just click for the Take the Challenge! post.

As you probably know, we already wear skirts full-time, so that part of it is not as much of a “challenge” for us. We are excited to host this event, though, since this is a cause we feel so strongly about. I am also making a bit of a personal challenge to add a little more variety and pizazz to my wardrobe this week (when you see how bland it still is, you’ll laugh at the idea that this is more variety!).

Since I wanted to post my post each day while I typically have a moment – first thing in the morning… and since Jewel, the lighting, and I are not typically all ready to photograph until later in the day… I decided to do my photos a day ahead. In other words, I took a picture of us yesterday, which will appear today. This afternoon I will document today’s outfits, but that will actually appear in tomorrow’s post.

So here are Jewel and I in our “Sunday Go To Meetin’” clothes:

I’m sorry for the poor exposure. I didn’t look at the picture until after we were all changed into our pajamas! Lesson learned…

Miss Jewel is wearing a lovely long-sleeved dress with a green velveteen bodice and a creme skirt with layers of tulle over a solid lining. She completes the outfit with white tights and shoes. Her hair, hiding in this photo, is in a bun, with a flounce of creme ribbons nicely matching her skirt.

Tiffany is wearing a black skirt with a red and white rose print and a long-sleeved black mock-turtleneck (extra warm because it’s a nursing top, so two layers!). A cotton slip/petticoat, black tights, black Santia shoes, a coordinating watch, and a black lace covering veil over a bun complete the outfit.

Honestly, we were caught off-guard Sunday morning by the cold. Having lived the past three years in South Florida, I was fortunate to be able to find a warm top, and some extra layers for the bottom.

It’s still cold today – maybe it’s actually winter? – so we’ll see what else I can find!

Are you joining us? If you’re blogging about your Challenge, please share your link so that we can all enjoy each others’ adventures, and learn from one another – iron sharpens iron!

You may use the Linky whether you’re “on time” with our week in December, or joining us later… Just post your entry here whenever you have your “Day 1″!

I look forward to reading your entries, and seeing you back here tomorrow!

Since we made our transition to more modest, feminine dress, we have lived in places where weather wasn’t really an issue.

The South Florida definition of “Winter” includes an average of three days where the thermometer dips down… below room temperature!

Not that the Mississippi Gulf Coast is exactly the frozen tundra, but the temperature has already started getting down into the 30′s at night, which is a bit chilly for a short-sleeved shirt and a breezy cotton skirt.

So now we begin a new chapter in our adventure – figuring out how to keep our legs warm, without resorting to pants.

I think Jewel will have an easier time than I.

She looks so cute in her thick, plushy tights with hearts and horses on them… But I’m not seeing that for myself.

Seriously, I’m sure tights are part of the equation, albeit plain ones.

I’ve also looked for warm knee socks. Being tall, though (and thus wearing a shoe size 10W or 10.5), I have a hard time finding good-looking socks that fit well. Most “typical” ladies’ socks say “fits shoe size 4-10″. Men’s sizes work for athletic socks, but they just don’t have the same style options!

Not that I’m making all our clothes – not by a long shot – but I am already chafing at the idea that one of our wardrobe staples for the winter has to be something that I can’t make.

Great minds think alike – this morning I found this helpful post on Staying Warm in Skirts over at Feelin’ Feminine!

What do you do to stay warm, while staying feminine?

If you’ve been reading a while, you’ve probably already heard about The Challenge from Feelin’ Feminine: Seven Days in a Dress.

As For My House will be hosting the December 2010 edition of The Challenge, beginning next Monday, December 6th. Jewel and I are proud to be your guides for this exciting adventure!

The idea is to wear only skirts/dresses every day for a week. You can mix-and-match outfits, accessorize, and have fun styling your hair.

We hope you will also take a picture of your outfit each day, post it on your blog, and share with the other participants. I will include a “Linky” share with each of my daily posts.

Of course there are no “rules”, as each person is on her own journey, but to honor the spirit of the challenge, and the integrity of readers of both genders, we ask that all outfits posted be a skirt that reaches at least to the knee, and a modest top (nothing sleeveless or with plunging necklines, etc.).

Even if you don’t have a blog, or don’t want to share (or even choose to share just once or twice during the week!), I hope you will take up the challenge. Give it a try, and see just how much – or how little – your attire impacts your life, in a variety of different arenas.

At the end of the week, you may wish to refer to (and perhaps even post and share your answers to!) Feelin’ Feminine’s list of questions for reflection:

• How was the experience for you?
• Any particular stories?
• Did wearing skirts rather than pants affect the way you felt?
• The way you felt about yourself?
• The way you acted?
• The way you carried yourself?
• Were you able to go about everyday activity as freely as pants?
• How did people respond?
• After the challenge do you desire to keep wearing skirts more regularly, or were you desperate to wear pants again?

To honor everyone’s Sabbath, we will have the post-intensive beginning and end of The Challenge on Mondays. Since we have readers in both camps, and this is definitely My Father’s Business, I will continue to post our outfits and a Linky on both Saturday and Sunday next week.

So, how about it? Will you join us? See what it’s like, and how it feels and works for you?

What have you got to lose?

In case you haven’t heard of them, I’d like to introduce you to a great company called Bondi Band.

Bondi Bands are terrific stay-in-place, wicking headbands (and more) – great for your really active type activities, but also for the daily “marathon”!

And they also believe in giving back…

In an effort to make the world a little better, each year BondiBand picks a charity to donate some of our hard earned profits to.

We are a simple company with a dedication and belief in our product. Our philosophy is to make a great product at a great price and to build relationships one at a time. And as much as we believe in making a tidy profit we also believe in giving back. Each year we donate 10% of our pretax profits to charity. For 2008 we have chosen the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

First, let me show you my beautiful girl, wearing an adorable Bondi Band “Pigtail Hat”!

Is that the cutest thing ever, or what?

And also, much to everyone’s amusement, R.T. has also decided that anything Jewel likes that much must be a good thing…

The hat is tough and well made, the color is vibrant… And did I mention adorable? They make a ponytail style, too!

And yes, they sent something for me, as well. Other than suggesting the pigtail hat for Jewel, I didn’t make any requests – typically when you receive samples for review you don’t get to choose…

So, I was beyond delighted when I pulled out a black “original” Bondi Band for me to try, and this was the imprint:

What a caring, thoughtful treat!

I truly enjoyed wearing my Bondi Band, which did an amazing job of staying in place. It was nice not to have to mess with the pair of clips I wear with all the other headcoverings in my current wardrobe.

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Want to get your hands on this? Here’s how!

BUY IT!

Online directly from Bondi Band!

WIN IT!

TWO lucky As For My House readers will win a Bondi Band of their choice!

Make sure to leave your email address with each comment. (Used only to contact the winner. If your email is entered in the form it will be saved for me but not displayed).

1. Head on over to Bondi Band and leave a comment here telling me what you’d like to try!

Extra Entries (leave separate comments for each).

Once you have completed #1, you can earn additional entries by doing any or all of the following. For those worth multiple entries, please leave that number of separate comments – each comment is one entry when I draw a number at the end!

2. Become a Fan of Bondi Band on Facebook.

In additon to these, there are MANY more ways to earn extra entries. You know, all the usual stuff like subscribing to the blog, Tweeting, and so on? Just click over to our Giveaway Policy page for all the details! (You can get an extra entry, for instance, just by entering our other current give-away(s)!)

This giveaway ends Saturday, 7/3 at 11:59pm (Eastern).

The winner will be chosen using random.org and announced on the blog, as well as contacted by email. Winner must respond within 48 hours, or a new winner will be selected. Your goodies will ship directly from the sponsor!

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Comments are now closed. Look for the winner in a separate post, soon!

Our Modest Matron for today is Nina, of alltumbledown: A Modest Attempt at Style.

The blog, in fact, is how I “met” Nina, clicking though to her site after reading her comment on another modesty blog.

Nina photographs herself every day (yes, every day!), and posts about her outfits – with little musings about style, modesty, and life thrown in for good measure.

I was very interested in her choices because of her Jewish faith… well, let me get out of the way and let Nina tell you all about herself.

• Religious affiliation: I’m a Modern Orthodox Jew. For those unfamiliar with the many shades of grey within the umbrella of Judaism, this means that I adhere pretty strictly to traditional Jewish law and practice while being fully involved in the positive aspects of the secular world.

I attended a Jewish day school from K-12, spent a year post-high school studying Jewish texts in Jerusalem and then went off to a small secular liberal-arts college.

• Life Situation: I have been married for nearly 2 years to my wonderful husband, a future doctor (since he’s halfway finished with med school, we joke that he is a “doc”). I work for a small museum in Lower Manhattan, where I do research, lead walking tours and manage viral communication. I plan on going back to school relatively soon for a PhD in history and religion. We don’t have kids yet, but are excited to start a family together in the not-too distant future.

• How long have you been dressing modestly? (Were you raised that way?)

I grew up Orthodox, and as such, always had a sense of propriety and modesty even when wearing shorts and bathing suits. My current modesty code, which includes wearing skirts to the knee and to-the-elbow sleeves, was a choice that I took on after my year in Israel. After spending the year studying Jewish law, I dedicated myself to more stringent observance, the most superficially apparent of which was my wardrobe.

Covering my head started after marriage, in accordance with Jewish law. I cover my head, not my hair (basic disagreement in Jewish law about which is the thing to cover – most people side with authorities who hold that hair is the issue, but I follow authorities who believe that the majority of the head, not hair, must be covered.) When I wear a hat or scarf, that is my hair hanging down.

• Can you share a little about your journey to modest dress?

For me, modesty is less about espousing a specific notion of femininity and much more about affiliating myself with a community and lifestyle. In the Jewish world (well, my Jewish world – there are just so many incredibly diverse communities that it is hard to generalize) wearing a skirt and headcovering automatically associates you with those who care about Jewish law. This isn’t to say that those who wear jeans and go bareheaded don’t—in fact, many do—but at first glance, my dress lets people know about my observance level.

I won’t lie: it isn’t easy, especially in summer when everyone walking around is wearing cute little sundresses and shorts. Dressing as I do has become rote but I do remember that it is a choice I anew make each day.

Blogging about my “modest attempt at style” has been the best resource for me. It challenges me to be creative with my wardrobe instead of wearing the same thing every day, and has put me in touch with an inspiring network of women who do the same.

Here’s my darling princess, Jewel, age 5, climbing up the climbing wall at the Miami Children’s Museum.

She’s a brave climber, for sure.

But also, and more importantly here, it simply never occured to her to think that climbing a rock wall was something that you wouldn’t, couldn’t, or shouldn’t do in a dress.

Whyever would that stop you?

As proud mama watched from the shade…

Victory!

Today’s Modest Matron is – Tamara!

Tamara is a Reformed Southern Baptist, and describes herself as, “joyfully married to a godly man, recently celebrating our 9th anniversary, and have been blessed with 5 children- the 5th being due November 2010. We home educate our blessings and serve the Lord in a foreign land.”

Be sure to read through to the end, to read the incredible story of Tamara’s “silent witness” to her community of muslim women.

Her History:

I was not raised to dress modestly. I was raised by a single woman who, by default, took on the ideology of feminism and seduction that is so prevalent in this world. This was all that she really knew as well, and so it was all she could teach. I faithfully followed the world’s ideals of womanhood most of my life, but as I came to know the Lord as an adult, He began to faithfully renew my mind in every aspect of life. I praise Him for the grace to work with me, the desperate mess that I was, step by step, layer by layer. I did grow away from seduction to a great degree before marriage, but it was after marriage that the Lord began His greatest work of holiness and healing in my life.

To give an example to show how the Lord began working in my life, in college, I began to understand that the way which I dress can affect a brother negatively. I was broken over this fact, and asked a few brothers in Christ to come and search my wardrobe and tell me the things that might make them or another brother stumble, and those things were thrown into the trash in shreds. However, I still had MUCH to learn about my own heart and how deep my ideologies were held and why, and the repentance and growth have been constant and increasing the older I grow in the Lord. He is faithful to renew our minds with His Truth.

Being a first generation Christian, the undertaking of the Lord’s growing me in holiness and Truth has been a large one. Though I can say that I *am* free, I must also profess to be ever growing in the freedom for which Christ has made me free!

Her Mission Story:

My husband and I desired to be missionaries from the time of our courtship. Much work was to be done in our lives- understanding right doctrines, ridding ourselves of debt, repentance of sin, understanding biblical order in the Church and biblical order in the home, what true ministry even is, what is a godly man, what is a godly woman, what the Bible says to all of these things. We had a long road of seeking, searching, failing, repenting, rejoicing in abasements, being broken and chastened, being strengthened, growing, praying… and the culmination of our prayers was an answer of discipleship among a precious body of believers in Spring, TX a little over three years ago.

For 1 1/2 years we were among a true fellowship who strived to honor the Lord- something we’ve found to be uncommon amongst modern Christianity at large. This church was a place where the focus was not on the lost, as though they were the very Lord of the church, but where true discipleship of believers, Titus 2 and edification in love could be found. Disciples were made in order that they would be strengthened to GO OUT and make more disciples in the world. We soaked up much, and this is really where the greatest paradigm shifts began to occur in most all areas of our lives. None of the principles were radically new to us, but rather added to our understanding and to our ability to walk out the direction which we already were headed, striving to serve the Lord. As a woman, I saw truly godly ladies and learned much from them. And, after 1 1/2 years of that- BOOM! We were sent.

As we came to the place where we were sent, not by a group, not my a man’s will, but by the sheer hand of God to do dominion work, we grew even more grateful for all the ways that the Lord had transformed our minds, our family, and us as individuals especially in those precious 20 months we had at our home church.

Tamara’s daughters with a family friend

Her Testimony of Modesty:

Pertaining to modest dress, we were sent to a place of absolute religious legalism. It saddens us to see women who are so oppressed, or who adopt cultural norms blindly without fully grasping their implications or origins. Prisoners who do not know they are behind bars. And yet, they are drawn to us.

Freedom is beautiful, and Christ can shine through those whom He has set free! Everywhere we go, people take our pictures, pet our children and kiss them, watch us, and more than several times, we have seen groups of women following us- watching us in awe.

I am every bit as conservative as these women, but I am different: I am free, because of Christ my Lord. I may not cover all the way down to my wrists and ankles, and all the way up my neck, but my clothing frames my face and not my body. My face is not wildly painted, as some women here feel the need to do in order to assert themselves. I am not oppressed. My husband and I are always together, and I am the only apple of his eye!

Where we live, everything about us is drastically different, yet similar in certain aspects of principle, and it has struck me being here how blessed I was to learn what biblical beauty and femininity are and how to let those things shine for God’s glory. As we- my daughters and I- dress modestly, chastely, and yet beautifully and femininely, the glory of God shines through us and that is one way to lift up the Lord so that He can draw all men unto Himself!

Our freedom in Christ is not to do whatever we want, but a freedom to finally be enabled to do as we should and live to glorify God on whatever mission field we are placed!

I can bring God glory just by being His free woman; His lady- amazing!