New Year's Eve

Several years ago I started the tradition of having a New Year's Eve party at my house as an alternative to what many do here, which is to gather with friends to drink whole bottles(plural) of rum (usually mixed with Coke). Because some of our young adults find that is a huge temptation, I thought having a party might show them that fun can be had without the rum.

Our party started at 8:00PM and continued til midnight. We had about 15 people (mostly the young, singles). Everyone laughed and became involved in the "Minute-to-Win-It" games, eating snacks and pizza and chatting. When one boy showed up late, a little drunk (or maybe very drunk) I realized that their attempts to resist temptation have to come from within them with dependence on the Holy Spirit.  Each one has to choose to invite God into his decision-making or run helter-skelter doing whatever feels cool.  As much as I would like to somehow manipulate the decision-making by throwing a party, etc., ultimately the choice comes from each of them.

Even though I was forced to realize that I really cannot prevent anyone from falling, it was good to see that the boy who was drunk, came anyway.  It was good to see 14 of our deaf members make a choice to stay alcohol free that night.  It was also wonderful to have fun together in a relaxed playful way.  Here are some pics:

 

"Marshmallow Toss"

 "S-Turn"

 "Baby Blockin'"

 

"Baby Blockin'"

 "Blow Hard"

 "Hangover"

 Breakfast puzzle

 "Nutstacker"

 "Noodling Around"

 "Hangnail"

 Elisabeth doing "A Bit Dicey."

 Joshue slept through all of the noise.

 This game is called "Defy Gravity".  We did it as teams.  After the games we went to the park to light the packs of cherry bombs Alejandro brought and shine the light wands that Sulmi got for Christmas.  Happy New Year everybody!!!