Ever since Delia and her classmates have been in 4th grade, I've been leading them in a twice monthly Bible Study at church. Eighth grade is the last year of this ministry for girls this age and I wanted to be sure it was a super special year for my girls, who've been listening to me for five year now. After studying Esther and learning how she was a woman of "True Beauty", both inside and out, these girls have been immersed in a year of special guests encouraging them to take care of their character and their bodies.
Ms. Jetta visited our class to teach us about hospitality. She told us her story of taking care of foster babies and how she keeps her home always open for anyone. We made her special S'mores Bars with her and then practiced hospitality ourselves by assembling care packages for all the young ladies of our church currently away at college.
Another night, Ms. Melinda came to talk to us about "the hairs on our head" and to teach us about hair styling by giving every girl in the group a fancy, formal hairdo. This night was one of our favorites, as our class of middle school girls, from different schools and different friend groups, really bonded over fellowship, looking up fun hairdos on Pinterest, and curling one another's hair.
(These adorable girls all slept sitting up-- or so they told me-- so they could keep their fancy hair for school the next day!)
Ms. Beth, a professional cosmetologist, came to teach us how to take care of our hands. She taught us the legit 12 step manicure process and painted intricate designs on everyone's ring finger. We discussed how our hands can be beautiful with colored polish, but even more, with service.
Ms. Mikaela, who sells Rodan and Fields products, came to teach us how to take care of our skin. She gave us lots of good info for keeping our skin clean and safe from the sun and things that might damage it. Then we all got to do masks-- the fun kind! ;) Fun fact: when we first moved here and I taught this girls' group the first time around, Mikaela was one of my 4th graders! She is now a mom to 3 kids.
Ms. Denise came with a special service project for us-- card stamping. She brought TONS of amazing supplies that she had labored over preparing and walked us through making 3 original hand-stamped cards. One of those cards we used to send notes of encouragement to the lonely residents at our local rest home.
Next week we look forward to another church friend, who works at our local pregnancy center, coming to talk with us about relationships, purity, and making wise, heart-guarding choices when we're online. A bit more intense than nail polish and face masks, but SO important!
It's been a great year so far! I have LOVED watching my 8th grade girls soak up all these fun lessons and act as gracious hostesses themselves to our many guests. How cool that the ladies of our church, with their many gifts, have been generous enough to come share their time and talents with this group! They have modeled "true beauty" in a way that I hope my girls remember forever as they grow into young women.
