Beach Party

Pearls and Dreams

Tomorrow night is the mother daughter sleep over.We'll start with a scavanger hunt in the neighborhood where the kids will ask for one item + a canned good to donate to a food charity. I know which one, but my aching head is preventing me from thinking about which one. The items range from silly things like a drinking straw, single bandaid (new please) greeting card (new or used) to a box of macaroni & cheese and a toothpick. 25 items. Michelle cleared it with 40 of her neighbors. Then we come back for dinner, the kids will make themselves and eat homemade biscuit pizza's & or pigs in a blanket. Then craft time: We're decorating the flip flops by tying strips of material, or hot gluing ribbons, pompoms or feathers, or buttons or beads or flowers etc on them, sand art & painting canvas backpacks for a beach bag. One of the mom's is bringing her embroidery machine to embroider the names on the canvas bags!

Then they'll have a bunch of snacks to pick from to make their own bowl of trail mix.
And I (gulp) will give the devotion (GULP). Don't remember if I told you what I'm doing, but I'm writing it out because I need to flesh it out again before I do it tomorrow night in front of the 54 people signed up to come. GULP

The focus will be remembering that they are a treasure because God made them, and loves them just the way they are.

Taken from Psalms 139: 16-18 (NCV)
139:16
you saw my body as it was formed. All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old.
139:17
God, your thoughts are precious to me. They are so many!
139:18
If I could count them, they would be more than all the grains of sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.
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I will start off by reading those verses and asking them if they knew that God thinks about them. I will tell them that He loves them so much, that King David said his thoughts are more than all the numbers of the sand ... then will ask them if they have any idea how much that is.
After a few have answered. I will have one of the little girls count out a few grains of sand. 5 or 6.
Then I will have one of the middle aged girls count out a quarter of a teaspoon of sand grains.
Then I will ask on of the 6th grade girls to count out a babyfood jar food (if they'll even begin to agree to it)
As the girl or girls are counting out the babyfood jar grains, I will show them pictures of a dessert & one of the beach & ocean and re read the verse
If I could count them, they would be more than all the grains of sand
End it by telling them that they are all sooo precious to God that he thinks of each of us so much that we can't even count it, because the thoughts number more than all the grains of the sand, which, now they know, are not countable.

Then, they watch either Beach Blanket Bingo (with Annette Funnicello) or some other beach movie that Michelle finds that might be fun.

Then go to bed around 1 am. Wake up, feed them breakfast and go home around 8:30 am.