The Sleepover!!!

We had a long and great night together! We began with portraits as the girls arrived, and had a blast!! After portraits, Kirsten and Joy made all of the girls healthy smoothies, which they loved. We got a few "Got Smoothie?" photos and the laughter began!

Around 7:30 we dove right into our lesson about sex, teaching everything they need (and want) to know! Some were very interested, some were quite giggly, some totally grossed out! We got a great new book this year to lead into our discussion,

After discussing the facts about what exactly sex is and how God created it to work, we dive into some facts that scare the girls pretty badly...STD's, AIDS, pregnancy, and the damage premarital sex does on your heart. After discussing those issues, Trish teaches on purity and tells the girls what the Bible has to say about sex.

We enjoyed having Jonerik and Frankie come again this year to speak to the girls again. It is great for the girls to see that there are good Christian guys out there, who are trying to live pure lives themselves. The girls ask the guys lots of questions, we always enjoy having them come over.

About this point in the night, I got a phone call from my husband Frank...who I ended up having to take to the ER for a severely painful kidney stone, I ended up being there until 5:30am with him. I returned back to the Hope House around 6am, crawled onto the air mattress, trying to get a bit of sleep.

Trish will have to post about the rest of the night, I heard it went well and they had a blast! I will say, I was most excited to see friendships form. Many of these girls did not know each other, and they finally bonded on Friday night. This photo was taken right before we began the sex talk, they were all being silly together. I am excited they now have each other!!

The beautiful girls...

I am really tired and will post about the night later (and I am sure Trish will too), but I wanted to get their group photo up in case anyone checked in to see how last night went! It will be a long story to write, but it was great! We were missing one girl, who decided not to come, but the 8 who were there had a blast! Here they are...

Trish's thoughts

Hey Everyone, this is Trish writing. I just wanted to quickly add my 2 cents to everything and let you know how awesome God is!! I wasn't really excited about God's Girls this year for a number of reasons, the biggest of which is that I didn't know many of the girls very well. Thankfully, this is quickly becoming one of my favorite years so far! I have been so impressed with how much the girls are paying attention, soaking things in and you can see their wheels turning while you talk. A lot of these girls are having to make some real choices about how they are going to live their lives and its so amazing to see God pursuing them and drawing them into a life with Him.

Tomorrow night we will give the girls the real challenge. We will put the God's Girls contract in their hands and ask them if this is how they want to choose to live. I really believe that these girls are actually asking themselves who they want to be and if they are ready to make this choice. If they sign the contract, this group of girls will have done so because they actually want to live like a God's Girl, not just because everyone else did it. That's so exciting and scary because it is definitely possible that some of them won't sign it.

Please be praying for these girls!!! They are all so beautiful and wonderful and they have the potential to grow into BEAUTIFUL women of God! Pray especially on Friday as they make their choice...God or the world.

"Changes & Choices"

Day 2 went well, and we were especially happy to have Shyann join us! The other 8 girls came back too and they all got to participate in a very in depth discussion about their bodies and the changes they are going through. We use The Body Book as a guide and walk the girls through everything! We discuss puberty and hormones, and spend a lot of time teaching about their period. The giggles are always great during this, but they get really great when we pass out the goodies...a baggie filled with different sorts of pads and a tampon! We open them all up and talk about how and when to use them, and enjoy a great time of learning and giggling!

We also talk with the girls about good hygiene and taking care of themselves. The girls each got to go "shopping" and picked out deodorant, body wash, a body sponge (and travel set), and flavored chapstick. They obviously enjoy getting new stuff and it is a fun way to emphasize the importance of taking care of ourselves.

The girls completed 2 surveys today, which we do anonymously, using a "privacy box"

The first was a survey called "My Changing Body" and the second, "My Choices." After our body discussion, we led into the discussion about the choices they make: language, music, tv, internet, friends, magazines, drugs, alcohol, etc. We spent a majority of our time during that segment talking about friends. One of the girls participating this year actually admitted that SHE was a bad influence on her friends. I was so happy to hear her say it out loud, because it happened to be something we already knew and had heard tons about from other girls. We are SO thankful God led her to God's Girls and are praying for the changes she will hopefully make after this week.

We learned 2 new songs, "Stand Out" by Jessie Daniels, and "Beauty" by Ayiehsa Woods, both new songs this year.

We are anticipating our sleepover on Friday night, which will conclude our week with the girls. We will be teaching all about sex, purity, boys, dating, and their future husbands! it is always a fun, intense and exhausting night for all, so please pray for us! We will also take their portraits on Friday, which is always SO much fun!!

A great 1st day...

We completed day one and were thrilled to have 8 beautiful girls there. We actually swapped out 2 for 2, Shyann and Mydeah did not show up (which we are very sad about), and Monique and Kelli DID join us! Monique and Kelli did a mini-God's Girls last fall, but asked if they could do the "real thing" of course we said yes and are very glad they have joined us!

We began by each girl getting their new bag, embroidered with their name! A huge thanks to my mom, Sandi, for making these for the girls! The girls were beyond thrilled with the bags and all of the goodies that went in them. Each girl also chose a pen, pencil, highlighter, journal and folder. After choosing their goodies, they got a healthy snack. We had baked chips, bananas, cherries, carrots and dip, cheese cubes and bottled water. We try to emphasize healthy snacking throughout the week.

We spoke about beauty and modesty today and Trish did an amazing job of telling the girls what the Bible has to say about each of these issues. Each girl got a brand new Bible and Bible cover. We dove right into the Bible, looking up many verses that Trish spoke about.

We taught 3 of the songs from the new 2007 cd, the first being our "theme song" for this year, "Daddy's Girl" by KJ52. We let the girls take home their new cd's today, instead of making them wait like we have in previous years. We want them to listen to it at home this week so they can learn the songs. We go over lyrics for all of the songs. If you want to see them, we have them on the God's Girls resource page!

We closed with some modesty clothing tests, which are always fun, and a candid discussion about "Bratz" and the image they portray to young girls. We always challenge a few of the girls who are huge Bratz fans with that part! We actually have a Bratz doll new in the box, dressed in horribly immodest clothing (as most of the dolls are) that we use as an example. We challenge the girls in many areas and it is awesome to see them step up and accept the challenge.

Be in prayer for these girls as they continue to be challenged throughout the week! We meet again on Wednesday!

We begin today!

Our first day of God's Girls 2007 begins at 2:30 today! Here is our schedule for the week:
Monday 2:30-5:30
Wednesday 2:30-5:30
Friday 6:30pm-Saturday 10:00am (sleepover)

We are excited to begin and have permission forms in for the following girls:
Adriana
Jennifer
Jakeema
Shyann
Mydeah
Shamira
Samira
Tamika
We are hoping to see a few other girls who were invited, but we will find out who God brings to us this afternoon!

Today our topics are "Beauty and Modesty" we are excited to share with the girls what God says about these things. Please pray for our day!!!