a date over a year in the making

Seeing her face light up when she shared about all she learned about what God says about her as a created and dearly loved child was a moment where despite of all the difficulties and challenges or parenting and all of my own faults and weaknesses...I knew that THIS is what matters. She spoke of her value & worth & beauty and used her scrapbook to proudly tell Jason all we did over the course of the past year (well, a little more than a year but better late than never) with friends to point to the truth of who she is.  As they giggled and Jason asked her questions I prayed she always knows these things as she does today- and that when she forgets or doubts she has friends and family around her and remind her with grace & gentleness. She is lovely & dearly LOVED. 

We finally had our last date with Evy of the series of dates I shared about here. This last and final date was at a "fancy" dinner at the place of her choosing and meant she had both Jason & I to herself for the night.  The night started with Evy picking up a dress to wear & asking me at least 30 times when Papa was getting home from work. The doorbell rang & Evy opened the door to Jason with a little bouquet of flowers for her and our date night began.

Evy picked Cheesecake Factory and she HIGHLY recommends the strawberry lemonade & the Resse's cheesecake that is as big as her head!

We asked each other questions pulled from a sparkly little glitter box like....

For Evy: 

What was your favorite Date and why?

What questions do you have? you can ask ANYTHING!  

For Papa & Mama: How did you fall in love? How did you know you would get married? How did you find out you were going to have me?

For Papa: What did you think and feel when you first saw me?

What do you want me to know? 

What special gifts do you see in me?

For Mama: What was your favorite memory of these times together on our dates?

 What is your prayer (or one of your prayers) for me as a young girl?

For all 3 of us:

The thing I most struggle to believe about what God says about me is __________________________________

When you do you most feel loved by me? by God?

Taking the time to ask and listen to her was such a blessing. I seriously cannot believe how she has grown since the first one of our Mama- Daughter dates...

I am just grateful we set aside these times to learn together & I am grateful or the community of women that joined us.

I share because I truly believe these date with other Mamas & their daughters is one of the BEST things we have done with our girls (2 down & 1 to go...& Rayne is EAGERLY awaiting her turn next year). Grab some of your people and be intentional about lavishing love & encouragement on your daughter because being a woman in this world is hard & we all need support and life giving community that points to the truth of who God says we are.