GA Lock in

We had a grand time with all our GA friends on Friday night at the annual lock in. It was very tiresome but so much fun and very special. It started with painting of fingernails, then on to dinner, next was our BIG GA leader kick off with costumes and the Hoe Down Throw down. I seriously felt like a movie star. We had given each girl a camera to take pictures of whatever she wanted during the night and when we started that dance, the flashes did not stop!!! It was fun and embarrassing all at the same time! Next was our craft. We made each girl a devotional book. Each leader wrote a devotion which consisted of our favorite verse and why and what it did for our walk with Jesus. We put the eight devotions along with the material we were teaching that night in a folder. Each girl then decorated the front. Our theme was "Keep Your Eyes on Jesus" from Hebrews 12: 1-2. Next was our Bible Study portion. The leader taught about four ways to keep your eyes on Jesus through reading His word, Praying and praising, Spending time with Him, and memorizing scripture. Then we let them Praise him by dancing and singing to praise music. Next was a sweet snack and a "get to know you" game that consisted of switching shoes! Then we had our second portion of Bible Study and prayer time. After that was a fabulous fashion show. We split the girls up in groups and gave each group some toilet paper, trash bags, butcher paper, and paper bags. They were told to dress up for a fashion show. It was hilarious. They really got into it even though it was already midnight!!!! We played music and they modeled on the runway! Lastly, we put on a movie and had everyone get settled in their sleeping bags. They did not all fall asleep until about 3 am!!! I snuggled up with Emily in the middle of all those girls in my own sleeping bag. She loved it. We held hands and fell asleep together. It was nice having this time with just her. Can't say we slept that great...we had a girl have some night terror type crying, some were grinding their teeth, some snoring, and well it was the hardest floor I have every slept on!!! We all woke at 7 am and ate breakfast and tried to find every ones' stuff which was a giant job seeing as though there was stuff strung all over that room! 40 girls can make a big mess!!!!!! Parents came at 8 am...all of us leaders were walking a little stooped and had bags under our eyes but were very happy that the girls had such a great time.

P.S. My wonderful husband kept Molly from 6 pm on Friday night until 9 am on Saturday. He had no problems with her and only brought her to me on Friday night for me to feed her before bed. I was really worried about her waking in the middle of the night because she has not been consistent but he kept saying to go and have fun, that he could handle it and he would manage! He did awesome!

P.S.S. You really learn a lot about your own child when watching her around all her peers. I saw that she is a lot like me in many ways...most of the girls had no clue where any of their stuff was after about an hour but my little Emily had all her stuff in one little stack, would put stuff up when she was finished, and always knew exactly where to find her Bible, clothes, etc. SO funny that my Type A personality has rubbed off on her a little. Another beautiful thing about my daughter is that she tried so hard to include all the people that wanted to play with her. Two moms had told me that their daughter was nervous and really wanted to be with Emily and I told Emily this. I watched her and every time we moved on to another activity, I could see her looking around to make sure the two girls that wanted to be with her plus the two visitors that she had invited were with her...it was so sweet that it made me cry one time. She was trying so hard to make sure everyone was happy and that they all felt needed and safe and wanted. I love this about her! She has such a big heart!