I am on the road for the next two weeks. Maybe I will see some of you!?

Hopefully you have heard about my most recently released book, Barbara and Susan’s Guide to the Empty Nest. My co-author, Susan Yates, and I will be speaking at McLean Bible Church (co-hosted by The Falls Church) in Vienna, Virginia, on October 1 to share our empty nest story with a fabulous group of ladies. We hope that many of you in the greater Washington, D.C., area can join us for this Empty Nest event.

Then on October 10 and 11 we’ll be speaking as a part of the True Woman 08 in Chicago, Illinois. This event is completely sold out.  However, you are able to join in on all the fun through a webcast that is being made available through the True Woman 08 website.

One of the dreams that Susan and I have had from the beginning of the Empty Nest project is to encourage the creation of an “Empty Nest Community”—a nationwide group of girlfriends. We hope that both our speaking and our personal radio conversations on FamilyLife Today and Revive Our Hearts will help spur you to gather together with other empty nest women, or soon-to-be empty nest women.

Each of us need women with whom we can share honestly the challenges of the empty nest.  But it shouldn’t stop there.  We should have other women with whom we are like “iron sharpening iron,” sharpening and challenging one another to take definite, specific steps to discover the next great adventures that God has already planned for us in this new season. Your adventure may be something totally unexpected, or it may be the fruition of a dream you’ve had to put on hold as you raised your children. It is always helpful to sort out options in the context of a community of friends. Clarity often comes when we bounce things off of one another.

We have written our book with the hope that it can be used as a tool to help women discover God’s purpose for their second half of life. It is designed to be used in a small group setting with the purpose of helping one another discover their passions and new avenues for service in this new season. Many groups of women across the country are already meeting to read the book and grow together.

We invite you to start a group in your city! And I hope to hear from you the things that you and your friends are discovering as we take this journey together.