New Year's Eve Party

We had a packed house for our New Year's eve party this year.  Over 35 people came ages 1 to 58. We started at 8 PM with a snack of Belize cheese dip, tortilla chips, and vegetables (carrots, broccoli, sweet pepper, cucumber) and soft drinks.  Then we played Minute-to-Win-It games.  These are games that use common household items and take about a minute to play.  Instead of timing it, we set up competitions to see who finished first.  There were no prizes. I was hoping the fun of playing was enough...and it was. Sometimes we played each game a few times until everyone who wanted to play got a chance.

Here are some pictures of the games:

Face the cookie

Skittle sort (one handed)

 

Balance the Snickers

Going up!

Mummy (First team to wrap an entire toilet paper roll around their partner wins)

A Bit Dicey (Stack 5 dice on a tongue depressor.  Use one hand.)

After the games we had pizza and a devotion.  They shared their "highlight" from 2013 and we claimed the verse from Jeremiah 29:11 "I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future." for 2014. We closed with prayer.

At 11:15 Marc and Kathy graciously offered to stay home and clean up while I took everyone to Orange Walk Town to watch the count down and see fireworks.  It was a nice, starlit night....until 11:55 when the sky opened up with little warning and poured down rain.  Everyone dashed for cover.  Surprisingly there were still fireworks around the edges of town that we could see from the overhang of a shop.  Many families had bought 2 or 3 professional type fireworks that blast into the sky in bright colors.  We could see them all around us.

it was a wonderful testimony to God at work that the young adults spent the evening alcohol free.  It was good to see everyone happy and getting along.  There were no cat fights or angry eruptions.   It gave me some hope that maybe we are making progress.  I was thankful for Marc and Kathy's help, holding toddlers and baking pizza.