The Knightesses of the Round Table.

Last evening, four girls and I gathered around my kitchen table for coffee and caramel apples and popcorn and doritos and laughed hysterically about very funny things that girls never talk about in the presence of guys.

I was all prepared with my prompter questions, which sparked humorous outbursts like one girl's "I want to be reborn as a WHITE TIGER!" or "I wish I had an unlimited charge account at SAFEWAY!" I think the combination of the coffee, the caramel and the Pez pushed us a bit over the edge, but regardless, the five of us had a lot of fun, and we ended up not really needing the prompter questions.

We had a great conversation about beauty, our favorite passage we read in Scripture being Prov. 11:22: "As a ring of gold in a swine's snout/ So is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion."

The best part of the whole conversation really, was that everyone recognized the middle ground--that beauty is part of WHO GOD IS, and we shouldn't be hiding our beautiful selves, because come on--God used Esther and all those OT beauties in powerful ways. But we talked about the motivations of our hearts as it relates to beauty--and how we can wield beauty as a power that can be for good (bringing Christ glory) or evil (dishonoring our bodies, or causing Christian brothers to stumble).

The girls had a fun, fun time, and they're all excited to come back next week, when two more would be joining us. The number of girls is solid, and for now I'm quite content to develop quality relationships with the six before working at expansion.

One of my girls gave me a BIG hug before she left and said, "Thank you so much for inviting me. Will I see you at school tomorrow?" Hooray!