This is it – the (in)courage online, extreme home makeover reveal!

And to kick off the celebrations let’s give a big round of applause to Amy from Thoughts on the Divine who was randomly selected lucky entry number 79 and the winner of $500 from DaySpring – half for her and half for the charity of her choice!

But man oh man were we ever blown away by your beautiful stories of shared encouragement. You absolutely made our day!

OK, on with the celebrations.  Since the site’s being going live over the weekend, we know a few of you got to enjoy a sneak peek. But here now is the first-hand skinny on our new space. We’ve been listening to all your comments and suggestions and taking notes, making lists, and checking them twice. Because we want this space to reflect YOU! So, without further ado, let’s “Move that Bus!” and show you around your lovingly-updated, favorite, beach house, home-away-from-home! It’s what we’ve been counting down to for 30 days after all.

Beautiful new paint & design: We’re bringing the beach house feel right into the heart of this space. Inviting lines, colors, and textures to create a welcoming, relaxing getaway.

Fresh navigation: All those things you said you’d like to add to the beach house – more voices, room for conversation, resources we can share, and community – we’ve added them all.

Daily guest posters: With so many remarkable voices that make up the (in)courage community, we have built on an addition where we can feature a fresh guest voice each and every day.

Room for conversation: Thanks to a move over to WordPress we now have threaded comments integrated into each post. Let the feedback and discussion begin!

Delicious resources: You’ve asked us what our favorite “recommends” are. Well, now we have them all on a single page where you can find the blogs we love, the organizations we partner with, and the causes we can all support.

An (in)courage community: Thanks to the fantastic support of the founders of the BlogFrog, we now have our very own, customized (in)courage community. Just click on the tab “Join Our Community”  in the navigation bar and come and visit a while. Share your thoughts, ask a question, offer a suggestion. It’s a place where we can hang out for longer than the length of a post and enjoy getting to know one another.

DaySpring: Supporting us from the beginning as we built this beach house, DaySpring believes in connecting people with the heart of God through messages of hope and encouragement every day, everywhere. We invite you to go and get to know them better.

Monthly (in)courage calendar: We listened when you said how much you loved the downloadable desktop calendar that Dawn created in June. So we’re making this a monthly feature and will have a new calendar available for you each and every month.

{Deep breath…}

Oh girls, we are so grateful for each and every one of you. We are so blessed that the Lord has built this place where we can gather and share our hearts.

Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain. Psalm 127:1.

And we can’t wait to see what He has planned for our next year.

Won’t you join us tonight for a twitter house warming party from 9pm-10pm EST? We’d love to thank you, hug you, and celebrate you with one last giveaway blast. Meet us under the hashtag #incourage. We’ll be the ones with big, goofy grins yelling –

Welcome Home!

Photo by Dawn Camp of 14 of our (in)courage gals who spent the weekend together dreaming up new ways to love on you right here, where you are always welcome – just as you are.

By Lisa-Jo, The Gypsy Mama

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