Hadassah!

It is hard to know where to begin after such an awesome weekend. I guess I will start at the beginning! Thursday morning, after dropping Maggie off at a friend's and Caleb off at another friend's, we hit the road to start our weekend. Each day of Hadassah, the girls are able to take one personal care class and one ministry class. For their first classes, Holly took a goal setting class and MaKenna took a class on friendships. I sat in on a class about hair care with most of the other girls from our church that went - this includes Kaley, Caitlyn, Mandy, Chelsea, Caitlin, Tara, Katie and Megan. We discussed bible verses, hair care tips as well as hair style ideas. After lunch, the girls took ministry classes and the moms had their own session with Naomi Varnun. I love her! She is just so real and is not afraid to tell it like it is! That is how I like to hear it - don't beat around the bush! She ministered to us about being better moms and leaders of the girls we are in contact with. It was such a blessing!

Well, Thursday night is the first big deal of the weekend - the banquet! This year, we were so blessed that a lady at our church wanted to bless us. She works at Dillards and helped us get the most beautiful dresses for the girls for literally almost nothing. The banquet is always so beautiful with all of the gowns, the tiaras and good girls having good, Godly fun. Each group performs what they practiced in their ministry classes (sign language, stix, drama, etc.) and we eat and sing and just have a great time. Pics from the banquet:

Kelsey (adopted Apopkan from Deland!), Katie, Mandy, Kaley, Chelsea, Caitlyn, Megan, Tara, Holly, MaKenna and Caitlin.

At the banquet table.

Holly and MaKenna during their stix performance.

My beautiful girls and I - I am so blessed!

Friday classes were a repeat of Thursday, but you had to choose a different class. In the morning, they had a "Wake-Up Call" featuring their guest speaker - Lynn Jewett the missionary to Guatemala. It was so exciting to meet her and discover that she is just as sweet in person as she appears to be on the pictures that I have seen of her. I was able to meet her on Thursday and remind her that a couple of years ago, our Kids Connection group in Apopka raised money to send to her. She was so excited to meet us, but not half as excited as we were to meet her. She is such an incredible, humble and real servant of God. I loved hearing her stories and learning of all that God has done in and through her in her time in Guatemala. I couldn't even begin to tell them all here!

After lunch, the girls went to their classes. Several of us went to the skin care class and learned some great tips about taking care of our skin and how beautiful we can be without make-up! We also watched a very informative 30 second video of all that Hollywood does to make models look perfect before we see them - how fake it truly is. I saw understanding come in the girls eyes and pray that they will not look at those things in the same way again.

Friday night was the church service. I can't even begin to tell how awesome it was. There had been a lot of prayer and fasting for that service and God honored it all. The service began with worship and the girls each performing their ministry class. After each was done, they girls filled the altar and worshiped together. I took these pictures hoping to capture the sea of hands raised, but it truly doesn't do it justice! I know that if you have been in such a service, you know just what I mean! If not, you owe it to yourself to get in one!

This powerful beginning was the perfect way to bring Lynn Jewett back to minister to the girls about how God can use them. Their hearts were ready for her words!

Once service was over, the party began! A Fuzzy Slipper Party that is! I was blessed to be able to lead the girls in a fuzzy slipper decorating contest. I brought many supplies and the girls supplied the creativity to decorate their slippers any way they wanted. They all got to judge each others slippers on the best ones. There were games, crazy praise worship, pizza, candy and coffee! Most of all, there was lots more good, Godly fun! We ended the evening in a HUGE circle and had prayer for all of the girls and their moms. Here are a few pics of the evening:

Making slippers.

Sister Lynn Jewett and her slippers - she was so excited to get to make some. Isn't she cute??

Example of some of the slippers some of the girls made.

Crazy Praise!!!

More Crazy Praise!

MaKenna, Holly, Lynn Jewett and I.

I am so thankful that we were able to go once again to this awesome conference. It is such a special time for the girls and I. We were ministered to, had tons of fun, saw friends from across the state that we don't see very often and learned so much too - what else could we ask for??