Behold you are Beautiful, my Love

Trying to get stricter with my boys. I made the unfortunate and common first-time-teaching mistake of being too soft in the beginning and trying to crack down months later. Alas, I am still learning.


Yesterday was first form girls retreat. Our theme was "Behold, you are beautiful, my love" from Song of Songs. We focused on authentic beauty and split up into three "stations" where we gave talks on different aspects of beauty and life. Miss Betsy spoke about the beauty of healthy relationships with friends and with guys. I spoke about internal and external beauty, focusing on Blessed Mother, modesty and the beauty of innocence. Miss Katie gave a testimony/talk on Christ and the beauty of our friendship with Him. Then we had a special guest appearance by their favorite teacher, Mr. Tom. They are all in love with him and when he showed up to do his talk they were all cheering and squealing...it was pretty entertaining. He spoke about the love he had for his sisters growing up and that they should always remember that they are precious and worth waiting for. It had a special quality coming from a man. Finally, we had a panel where the girls could ask anonymous questions which ranged from: "How do I know if a boy really loves me?" "Is it a sin to be a different religion?" to "Can I have a date with Mr. Tom? Where and when?"

(view from Chapel Hill - retreat center)

We always end the day with adoration, confession, and Mass. It was a good day, but definitely exhausting. I think the repetition of our talks (we had to do them three times each) was the most tiring. Mr. Tom said he spoke with some of the girls at lunch and they were touched by our talks. Hopefully they were moved by something, even if we are just planting seeds. Next week is first form boys retreat...God help us all.