Week 2

This week was my week to tell a story from my life to the group. It was required that I be detailed and truthful and as open as possible. I ended up bringing two stories so the girls had examples. Here they are:

This morning on my way to work:

It takes me thirty minutes to drive to work every morning. Usually the drive is fine but this morning I didn’t want to wake up. I got ready to go as fast as I could because I was running late and hopped in the car. Because I was late I usually have a tendency to drive a bit faster than usual and today was the same. I am driving fast down the highway when I take the exit for Choctaw rd. As I make the right onto the sweet little street I am astounded by the beauty of the sky. It was the most beautiful light blue. The sun was shining my favorite golden light and it only made the view more spectacular. The trees are starting to turn a bit so they all have a slight golden color with a few touches of red. One of my favorite songs came on and in that moment everything slowed down. I didn’t want to drive faster I wanted to revel in the beauty of Choctaw rd. The words in the song were the exact words I needed to hear and the melody made me want to dance. It was a wonderful moment. (Play song and then discuss)

The Most Awful Thing of My Life (or so it seemed at the time)

When I was younger I idolized Faith Hill. I wanted so desperately to be a beautiful and talented as Faith Hill. When I was 12 I decided I would follow in her footsteps and chop off all of my hair. For the entirety of my life I had hair all the way down my back. It was long and blonde and to me it was very plain. I wanted to be the girl that everyone saw and thought wow she is so stylish and pretty. So I made a hair appointment. My mom had a friend who lived down the street who was a hair dresser and she didn’t charge us very much and so she was going to come cut all of my hair off for me to make me less awkward and more beautiful. She showed up at our house and asked if we could use my mom’s bathroom as a salon. I sat in a chair as she stood behind me in the tub. I remember the sun coming straight into the big window behind me and it made my mom’s bathroom look colorless it was so white. I sat there waiting for her to begin and she asked a final time if I still wanted my hair cut and I said yes just like Faith Hill. I watched my long blonde hair swirling around down to my feet and began crying. She finished and turned me to look into the mirror. I looked like a boy with bangs. I hated it. I waited for her to exit the bathroom and began bawling. I wanted so desperately to be someone else so that I could be better and ended up hating it, not to mention I got plenty of stares at school the next day but they came with harsh words and mean glares.

I read these to the girls and we talked about things in these stories that reminded us of stories in the Bible, metaphors for God, what they thought of the story, and what they felt while I read it. They had time to write or draw in a journal after our discussion so they could respond on their own without fearing what someone else might say.

And because it made me excited, we also had a new girl come this week. She doesn't go to church but she had heard about what we were doing and felt like this may be a place for her. Somewhere she can go and learn her place in the story of life and help her create her own life story.

Our First Week Together

This Wednesday was the first week of our Girlfriend group. We spent an hour getting to know each other with a bag of M&Ms. This neat game allowed us to gab about our funniest quirks and our favorite things, and our hidden secrets. It was a great way to form a safe place for us to share our most intimate of moments. I am going to attach the game below for those of you who work with youth regularly.

I think this will be a very successful next few weeks. The girls are already excited to get to see what the 22 year old will have to say. It is a nice age difference, but I am still young enough in their minds to know what they feel and to not have a "mom" view. I am very excited where they will lead me in my journey as well. I have always felt that my gifts were with children, and I am not saying that they aren't, but in just an hour I can see how God can use me in different ways.

The M&M Game:

http://www.group-games.com/ice-breakers/mm-game.html

This icebreaker is a simple way to help people introduce facts about themselves. It’s very flexible and adaptable – and (if you have a sweet tooth) delicious too! The M&Ms Game goes by other names: the Skittles Game, the Candy Game, the Color Game, among other names.

Setup

Pour M&Ms or any other multicolor candy into a bowl. Have everyone in the group grab as much or as little as they like from the bowl. Make sure that no one eats their candy right away.

How to Play

For each piece of M&M candy they took, they will have to answer a question, depending on its color. For example, you can designate:

• Red candy: favorite hobbies
• Green candy: favorite foods
• Yellow candy: favorite movies
• Orange candy: favorite places to travel
• Brown candy: most memorable or embarrassing moments
• Blue candy: wild cards (they can share anyone they choose)

You can be creative and choose any questions you think would be fitting for your group. The facilitator will then call out the color topic and everyone will go around the room sharing 1 answer per M&M. As an example: if you chose two red pieces of candy, you will have to name two of your favorite hobbies. After the individual has shared that color with the group, he/she may then eat their candy. Continue to go around the room until each color topic has been shared.