I had heard about it before, and recently a friend blogged about her experience with her own daughter, you can laugh about it here:
http://hollylucoon.com/?p=678
I thought to myself, "well, surely it can't be that hard for all of us!!!??" Haha!
13. Yes, that sounds perfect, right? But when "Mother Nature" showed up for my 11 year old, on the last day of 5th grade this year, I decided it was time. Kids in her classes are "going out" and getting caught kissing out at recess! So I thought "No, thank you!" to the idea of some elementary aged kiddo teaching my daughter about sex and purity, when it could be ME, and it could be done biblically! Her body can now produce life and this is the time she needs to, at the very least, start thinking about it all.
So we set off on our journey...to Kent, WA. I know what you are thinking, not exactly exotic or exciting in the least. My thought was it was close to Kent Station where we could do fun things, and close to Grama's house, where little sister was staying. Less driving, more fun:)
Beeteedub: Don't stay at the Kent Days Inn for "fun". It's a trucking hotel nightmare and reeks of cigarette smoke and over loaded room deodorizer. Aaaaaand, well, it is just a dump, especially for $100 a night. Big. Fat. Dump. I nearly cried when we got to our room, realizing this was far from the fun and pampered weekend I had dreamed up in my mind. I digress....
First of all, you should know, P2P is a set of audio CD's designed to listen to throughout your weekend together. The best part is they do ALL the talking and teaching!! Woohoo!! WINNING:) However there are times you pause and talk it over with your son or daughter, and they get to ask you questions or you work on something together. There were some awesome object lessons.
Light a match and blow it out.
Now try to light it again.....
(clearly it cannot be done)
Such is our virginity, one time only!
Song of Solomon 2:7, 3:5, 8:4
Make a yellow play-doh person (you) and blue play-doh person (good friend)
Mix them together, they are now two green people, still good, but changed by each other.
Mix both with a red play-doh person (bad influence "friend")
This makes three very poopy looking people
1 Corinthians 15:33
First on our list of "fun" non-sexual-purity talk activities was the Peridot Nail Salon at Kent Station. She got a pedicure and matching polish on her finger nails. And here is where God gave me the giggles...seriously we have all heard of His sense of humor, but this was just 100% a teachable moment smacking us, quite literally, in my daughter's face.
Look at this treatment!!
Now. Look CLOSER.......
SERIOUSLY DUDE?
At least when we looked at each other, we could BOTH understand the irony that stood in her grill, the complete opposition of anything pure. Modesty escapes this guy, AND the bootylicious body on his very publicly worn t shirt!
Next up was a quick dinner at Chipotle before catching Earth to Echo at the AMC. Flashbacks to The Blair Witch Project came to me, as the whole thing was "home video style". At least it was not scary and nightmare inducing like the witch movie! I did leave the theater feeling a bit yuck-o, though :(
Back at our hotel we started through more CD's of our purity weekend. Most of it was pretty straight forward and we talked a lot. It inspired good conversation about friends and peer pressure (LOTS of talk about peer pressure, which I loved!). Some things were harder to go over than others, but all in all I think we did really well. Again my complete lack of tact wins! She was reminded several times that even though this all seems like a non-interest topic, soon enough these thoughts will be real to her. There was an activity where we had to list activities with the opposite sex from safest to most dangerous....YIKES!!!
Talking to my 11 year old who thinks the act of sex should "make you want to puke", about all that LEADS UP to said act was a little embarrassing but we got through, and she even had some insights of her own to add. Hand holding, touching below the neck, touching below the waist, being alone together, kissing, etc...and of course not in that particular order.
The next morning we went to "free breakfast" at the dump hotel, and started back up with the program in our room. These sessions, were MORE of the actual sex stuff, and the 11 year old was NOT interested!!! She was tired, as was I and we were hitting a sex-talk wall....we did get to skip one CD because it was about puberty and development....been there, done that!! Whew! Even though the last CD's were the most difficult we got through them. All that was talked about was a seed planted even if there aren't roots yet:)
We followed up our sessions with a great lunch at Mama Stortini's.
I was able to give her a little gift to commemorate our time together.
And the journey continues....
On and on we go, I know it doesn't end here. But I feel very confident in this little girl, or young woman, and the person she is and is becoming. She is confident in herself. She is innocent and pure. She is strong and powerful, and will make me the most proud mother ever for years and years. She is a gift, my gift:)
When she was born I didn't know God, personally. Just knew He was. We chose her name based on what we liked and and didn't argue over ;) I was told by a very "devout christian" co-worker, "God has nothing to do with your pregnancy." We weren't married, so of course, it was all some ugly consequence of sin.
When she was older, we found out the meaning of her name....
Spanish: Devoted to God.
English: My God is bountiful, God of plenty.
French: Consecrated to God.
She's all His!
Luckily, she gets to be mine, too.
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