Beautiful Girlhood

A couple of times each month, our boys and David head out for the evening to train with their Alert Cadet unit.  While they are gone, the girls and I use this time for some special reading and memory making.

For each age level, we have some special books we read and then enjoy some discussion time.  Of course, this is all more sweet when accompanied by a pretty tea setting.

 

The books I'm reading with the 7 and under group are Wisdom and the Millers and Little Girls Devotional Storybook for Mothers and Daughters.  Once we finish reading and answering questions, Elizabeth tucks them into bed while I read with Ruth, my nine year old.

 

Ruth and I are working through the book, Beautiful Girlhood and it's companion guide.  She loves this special time with Mommy and the themes in the book have her thinking more deeply about her role in our home.  I love that she sees even more just how precious she is in God's plan for our family.

 

When Ruth and I are done with reading, discussion, and going over journal entries, it's time for me to enjoy some quiet thoughts with my precious first-born of sixteen.  I am acutely aware these days just how quickly these moments are fleeting. I want to savor them slowly.

 

We are reading through the book, Beyond Beautiful Girlhood with it's companion guide. It's filled with nostalgic admonishment, challenging journal prompts and bible study for mother and daughter to be done separately and discussed together.  There are also suggested projects and reading recommendations to further enhance our time together.  In the coming weeks we will work together on creating Elizabeth's newly forming bedroom into a reflection of her tastes and personality. 

 

I'm really enjoying these evenings with my girls.  Though we spend every day and hour together, the busyness of our days doesn't always lend to conversations that afford more depth than folded socks, drying dishes, and graded papers.  It's lovely to create a time where we all gather, read, smile, giggle, share, and dream together.  I'm learning things about my girls that surprise me. And, well...that surprises me!

 

"And above all things, love her. Let her know and feel that she is treasured for who she is. And let this be her secret of strength: that she is not her own, but bought with a price, even the precious blood of Christ.  So she may sing for Him, or work for Him, or live for Him, because her life is His, and He abides in her soul, as in a temple.  Enjoy your girl...she makes the world a blither place, where the brook and the river meet."  Beyond Beautiful Girlhood, Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

 

"Let our sons in their youth be as grown-up plants, And our daughters as corner pillars fashioned as for a palace;"

Psalm 144:12