December 8th, 2022

Writer and intentional homemaker Ruth McKeaney will be joined by non-profit founder and volunteer Sue Braaten and 5-time Grammy nominee Brandon Heath

How to Watch

The Anchor at Home premieres at 7pm PST on December 8th on the Anchor YouTube channel. The whole Anchor community will be able to watch together no matter where they are!

5 Steps for a Successful Watch Party

Invite your family and friends to join you on Thursday, December 8th to hear from guest speakers Ruth McKeaney and Sue Braaten and musical guest Brandon Heath.

Make sure to communicate with your group and share the YouTube link, time, date and if needed, instructions to join a virtual discussion following the video.

Important: Make sure to have your guests sign up & be entered in the drawing. Guests can sign in and enter the drawing by clicking here.

Be online and tune to the video link when it premieres on December 8th at 7pm PST. Moderate your discussion following the video.

Make sure to tag @theanchorgathering and #anchorathome on social media and “like” us on Facebook and Instagram!

Mixer Prompts

Choose one, two or all three prompts to discuss so the women at your watch party can get to know one another.

  • Real tree or fake tree?

  • What is your favorite Christmas movie?

  • What is your favorite Christmas recipe?

Featured Guests

If Brandon Heath could offer a word of advice about how to navigate a well-lived life, he would sum it up in three words: faith, hope and love. These tenets of the Christian faith have provided an unshakable foundation for his own journey with Jesus through the years, and they continue to be the three virtues he claims in times of both joy and struggle. For Heath, it’s simply “instruction for a good life,” and this trifecta of wisdom converges on his sixth studio project, Faith Hope Love Repeat (Provident Label Group), an album that fuses his signature pop sensibilities with his storytelling gifts.

A Nashville native, Heath quickly won the hearts of listeners when he released his major label debut in 2006. With four No. 1 singles to his credit, including the RIAA Platinum-certified “Give Me Your Eyes,” the singer has garnered five GRAMMY® nominations, an American Music Award nod and an Emmy Award. In addition, he’s earned eight Dove Awards, including two consecutive Male Vocalist honors (2009, 2010) and a win for Song of the Year (“Give Me Your Eyes”). He’s also been recognized as a top lyricist in his field with numerous songwriting accolades, including being named BMI’s 2014 Songwriter of the Year.

There may never be a time when he doesn’t battle fear of some sort, but for today, Brandon Heath is taking his own advice, choosing to say “yes” to the open invitation of faith, hope and love. Repeat.

Ruth McKeaney is a former Assistant Attorney General for the State of Virginia, and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney. Ruth and her husband, Bob, are now raising their five children on their restored historic farm in Berwyn, PA. (Hillside Farm was featured in the books Stone Houses and Theology of Home and has been exhibited in multiple home tours.) They have flipped many historic homes over the last two decades and joyfully lived in each one of them. They have company more often than not in a given year.

As a constant host (to literally thousands of people over the years), Ruth goes to the heart of what makes one feel at home. Every day, her goal is to make her home a safe place so her family and her guests have the opportunity to have deeper needs met. Intentional homemaking, in its most idealized form, is creating a setting where vulnerability and honesty are valued and protected, where understanding and grace are fostered and love freely given.

It’s time to recover the richness of community that’s been lost in the hustle and bustle of today. We can still slow down. We can still prioritize our family and friends over our “to-do” lists. We can still find beauty in the midst of chaos. We can still sit around the table with bowls of pasta and laugh until two in the morning. We can still go home.

Sue and her husband Ken have been married for 46 years and have 4 wonderful adult children and 9 very incredible grandchildren. They have lived in the harbor for 45 years and her favorite 4 days of the summer are when she hosts her annual Cousins camp with just the grandchildren and no parents.

Sue has been the owner/operator of the Best Western Wesley Inn & Suites in Gig Harbor, Washington for the last 22 years. She loves serving her guests at the hotel and making sure they leave feeling special.

Sue has a passion for children and has worked as a volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for over 20 years after first being exposed to the Foster Care system in the process of adopting her youngest son from the system. Seeing the extreme need children living in Foster Care have for stability, Sue founded the Homestead Community to try and give these special children the opportunity to grow up in a loving, consistent place they can call home.

When not at work or volunteering she loves running and taking walks with friends is her way of staying in touch and connecting with many of them.

Discussion Questions

We hope you enjoyed the Anchor at Home! At this time, your host can lead your small group through these discussion questions.

  • What are your family traditions during the holidays?
  • How do you create expectation for Christmas both practically and spiritually?
  • How do you plan on intentionally blessing someone this Christmas?

This Month’s Drawing

Guests at your Watch Party or women watching on their own will be able to enter the drawing before the Anchor at Home begins and until 9pm. Please remind your guests to enter the drawing when they arrive at your Watch Party.

October’s Drawing is for the Anchor “hope” glassybaby, Hungry for Home by Ruth McKeaney, or a night at the Wesley Inn in Gig Harbor

How to Enter

Visit theanchorgathering.com/raffle to access the entry form.

Fill out the form and voilà, you’ve successfully entered!

Tips and Instructions for Hosts

  • Read guests the drawing URL (theanchorgathering.com/raffle) and they can visit it on their mobile device to submit the form.
  • Forward your guests this page or the Watch Party Kit PDF and direct them to these instructions.
  • Print out page 4 of the Watch Party Kit PDF fold in half, and set it at your Watch Party. Ask guests to scan the QR code to enter.
  • Pull up the drawing on your device (iPad, phone, etc.) and pass it around for each guest to enter.