A night to remember

You know those moments where you couldn't imagine it being any more perfect and all you want to do is savor it and remember every detail? That was last night for me. At one point I was just sitting next to our bonfire as the girls were roasting marshmallows and making so many s'mores their stomachs hurt, laughing, talking, and sharing stories, with worship music in the background as sparks floated up into the starry night sky and thinking "this is what life's all about". Yesterday I was blessed to see one thing God's been laying on my heart for some time now finally come into fruition - a girl's night. Every last detail God was in... it blew and still does blow my mind to think about.

We had about 15 girls show up, all between the ages of 10-17. They come from all sorts of backgrounds but one thing was constant with all of them, they all need to hear and hear again just who they are to their heavenly Father. I'll be honest, sometimes I buck against the cliche themes for girls/women's events (don't hate me) but this time I knew God really wanted them to hear those "cliche" things because just because everyone hears about them doesn't mean they remember them or live them. I wanted them to leave knowing they are precious to God and that God's purpose for them is more than just living for a boy or to please their friends. I also had five women who don't just talk the talk, but they walk the walk in order to encourage my younger girls to stay strong and to see Ugandan women (some in their twenties, some older) who truly live passionately for Christ.

The day began after many of them finished with the Inductive Bible Study class Jess is teaching to the youth. We began with having chalk numbers written on the ground and then a di was rolled and the number it landed on was the number that the girl standing on that number had to answer a question from the game "Loaded Questions". It was fun and very telling and I may or may not have been the subject of some of the answers as they gave me a hard time about my current relationship status :). We did that for about an hour and then it was time for dinner and then for the bon fire.

Let me just say that it was an awesome bonfire! (and I'm not just saying it because Davis made it). Then the girls were instructed in the way of s'mores. I wasn't sure if they would enjoy them but boy howdy did they! It was hilarious! Even the "Big girls" partook in the marshmallowy goodness. Then Mary shared some of what was on her heart about God's timing and not rushing into doing things just because your friends say that you should. The other women also shared a little bit. We asked questions, and discussed issues and then it was time to go in.

My friend Anne brought the idea of spin the nail polish bottle... now before you judge, this is how it works: you take turns with each girl picking a color and then they spin the nail polish bottle and whoever it points to is the one you paint one finger the color you choose. It was hilarious and we definitely disrupted the rest of the building with our laughter.

We ate cookies, watched Princess Bride, and then finally by 1am everyone had a place to sleep as we packed into the girls dorm... I was EXHAUSTED!

By 5 I was awake again to work on a couple of things and also just to breathe and compose myself before the girls woke up. Davis helped make the tea so I could finish making the notes I made for each girl. We had tea, chapattis, and then I shared with them about what type of character we should have using examples of women in Scripture. We then just painted nails again - that's what nail polish remover is for - and tried to do our own version of American Idol (not so successfully though) and then it was time to go home.

I'm so blown away by how it went. Thank you for all of you who prayed for this event! Your prayers were answered in HUGE ways!