Last week's Fabulous Friday was a great success!  In our activities area, we helped more than twenty 7th and 8th grade girls get ready for the Middle School Winter Dance.  We had 54 students sign in over the course of the evening- a new attendance record at MAYC!  We also had 8 mentors assisting- the afternoon would not have been fabulous without them!

Six volunteers survived the initial onslaught of nervous and excited junior high girls.  Before 3:15 seventeen girls had signed up to get their hair done!  Everyone pitched in valiantly; Barbara adeptly wielded the flat iron while peer mentor Seniors Sarah and Lexi drew upon show choir and past prom experience to create hundreds of gorgeous spiral curls.  Callie utilized  her irons expertly, and our one professional stylist, Beth, made girls feel gorgeous as she transformed their do's. 

_Meanwhile Senior mentor Emily painted nails, and I had a great time pretending to be a makeup artist when I wasn't being called away to deal with day to day details.  Overall, we were able to pamper more than 20 girls, helping each one feel special and look beautiful.  We had two boys ask us to flat-iron their hair as well, proving that girls are not the only ones who care about taking time to look good.

_I was so happy with the encouragement I heard each girl receiving as our mentors sincerely praised their unique qualities:  "Your complexion is so beautiful," "look at this gorgeous hair!" "you don't need to wear a lot of makeup because your eyes are so naturally stunning," etc.  What a joy to see these girls walk away with a little more self confidence and poise! 

A special shout out to mentors Liz and David who bravely held down the rest of the fort, making sandwiches, challenging others to video games and keeping an eye on computer usage and sign-in.

Friday was an inspiring, tangible example of MAYC's mission of showing God's love in practical ways through positive role models providing fun and productive activities in a safe social environment.  Thank you mentors!  Your hard work is effectively making a lasting difference in the lives of our teens!