Kristel's Quinceanera

                                    Last Sunday we celebrated Kristel's Quinceanera.  Her family chose to have a traditional ceremony that recognized that Kristel is now a young woman and no longer a child. She danced in a formal way with various boys because she is now "allowed to date",  and she made a public commitment to follow Jesus .  It began with a worship service at our church.  Kristel and her court of 4 boys and 4 girls as well as her parents and her godparents, processed into the church.  Everyone was dressed in matching purple dresses that were made by a neighbor.  The beginning of the ceremony resembled a wedding march.

 

The worship service included songs signed by Deaf friends, an opportunity for people to come forward to share a memory of Kristel when she was younger, a dream, or a compliment and the last section where Kristel confessed her faith and promised to try to make God choices and follow Jesus.  This part of the ceremony was followed by a commitment to purity and being given a purity ring by her mother.

 

This is Kristel and her court outside of the church after the service.

When the church service was over we went to Crystal Palace (a huge reception hall) which was decorated beautifully with purple and white sways of cloth and balloons.  At the reception Kristel's court processed in again with their procession dance, then they danced together symbolically with each boy having a chance to dance with Kristel.  At the end of the dance Kristel danced with her father and then others. 

 

We ate lots of different traditional foods: pabil, cerviche, rice and beans with beef and chicken.  Eventually Kristel cut her elaborate cake that was made by her sister-in-law.

 It was a night Kristel will remember forever. 

Note: Brittany also blogged about this event with terrific pictures and more details, if you want to see more go to her blog at http://brittanylentz.wordpress.com/

The party was fun but the part I enjoyed watching the most was getting the girls ready for the big event. They had first measurements and then fittings for their dresses. Sulmi had a pedicure, got her hair done, had the haridresser put on her make-up.  They felt as pretty as princesses.  It was fun to see that confidence in all of the girls.  Below are a few of the getting ready pics.

Yikes! They are growing up so fast!

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!!!

 

May the Peace of Christ Reign in your Hearts

 

We were blessed with a meaningful reminder of the birth of our Savior.  It was a lot of gathering times, but everyone kept coming to the events and commenting about the blessing of being together.  On Sunday December 23rd we had our annual pageant worship.   We read scripture, sang songs and re-enacted the Christmas story.   This was proceeded by a rehearsal on Saturday night. ARGH!  How confusing that was, but on Sunday morning when the actors prayed, I said, "Just let God lead.  If anyone goofs in what they are supposed to say, it's ok.  It's worship.  God knows the story."

It all came together!  I was awed at how some of the people who were most confused on Saturday did their part with ease.  Glory to God.  The service ended with everyone singing "O, Come Let us Adore Him." I felt many of us were speaking the words from our hearts.

The next day was Christmas Eve.   I don't have any pictures from that day...I brought the camera but got wrapped up in the moment.  We arrived at church at 8 PM...ate snacks and watched the hour and a half  movie "The Nativity".  The movie was a great visual of the whole Christmas story.  After briefly talking about what was in the movie that was "new" to us, or made us think, we gathered around the table in the front of the church and lit an advent wreath that was encircled with about 15 candles.   That light was enough to see each others faces and hands.  We sang carols, prayed, anyone who wanted to shared something, (Sulmi said, "Ok everybody tomorrow morning when you open presents be sure to remember that Jesus is the reason we are celebrating"  ahhh she's an angel sometimes.  Juan, too, who is usually quiet, shared about treasuring Jesus in his heart.)...and we ended the night with Brittany leading us in "O, Holy Night."  

I could have left it at that but...several of the boys had firecrackers in their pockets that they were eager to send off...so we went outside and they made some noise and we saw some fireworks lighting the sky and heard loud cherry bomb firecrackers from all over the neighborhood going off simultaneously.

It was a Holy night.

Making Gingerbread Cookies

Today I invited Kristel and Martha to come help me roll out, cut and decorate gingerbread cookies to eat at Girl's Night.  It was so much fun to give the cookies personalities.

Here Kristel is working on a well-dressed guy with a shirt, pants, belt and bow tie.

Do you see the girl in a swim suit in the second row?  She's wearing "bling" around her waist and green sunglasses.  That one's Kristel's masterpiece.

Oops! Kristel got a hold of the camera and took a picture just as I realized my gingerbread man's hair was a little excessive.  "Oh well," I signed, "Maybe this cookie's personality is a Rock Star."

Hmm, that was fun!  I wonder what we can make, cook or create after Christmas is over...

Christmas Crafting

I love making Christmas crafts!

A few years ago Linda Leakway sent a huge box of things including many Christmas crafts and this foamy gingerbread house.  On Friday we had a half day of school which gave us time to do something fun. So Sulmi and Brittany stickered and glue gunned this cute house together.  I thought of my mother many times while they were doing it.  She has the tradition of making a real gingerbread house with icing and candy with her grandchildren every year.  I thought it would be nice to add real candies and perhaps icing on top, but then I came to my senses.  In the tropics those candies and icing would be breakfast, lunch and dinner for a whole stream of various ants. Foamy is good.

At Friday Girl's Night we decided to just pray for our church and some of the members who have prayer needs.   Then we made these angels from wire ribbon. They are fun and easy to make...a good craft for a group with an hour or less time.

This is Alma and Martha.  Martha is very crafty and picked this up quickly.

Yelitza and her daughter Kristen.

Alva

Sulmi, Kristel, Angelica and Yaniry with her new baby.

Angelica ran around the table so she could be in all of the pictures.  She has a good spirit right now and encouraged us all with her prayers for the people in the church.

National Spelling Bee for the Deaf

 The annual Spelling Bee for the Deaf is a BIG event in Belize.  Many of the children practice the over 300 words for 2 months. Many of the parents get involved and help their child practice. Last Wednesday Deaf students from schools in Cayo, Toldeo, Belize, Orange Walk, and Corozal Districts came to Belize to see who would be the top Deaf speller.  Many others made the trek including hearing classmates, Deaf classmates, former winners, fans, and parents.  It was enough to fill a gymnasium.

 These are some of the "junior" spellers.  They are ages 7 to 9.

 Omica Chun from Toledo won the senior division (ages 10 -14).  It brought tears to my eyes because her father was so proud of her.  His joy and pride were spilling over.  Omica is 14.  She goes to a regular ed. program since there are no classes for older deaf kids in Toledo.  She studied the words all on her own (without teacher help). Her parents speak Mopan Maya and know some English but they speak Maya at home.  So this amazing girl jumped all those barriers to learn to spell 345 multi-syllable words and to be the first Fingerspelling Bee winner from Toledo. Awesome!

 Brittany interpreted what the hearing people said; the prayers, instructions, how many points each person has, if they spelled it right, etc.   I was a "judge".  I watched the spellers and said if they spelled the word correctly.

Once you have won the selling bee you cannot compete in the same division again.  Sulmi won last year so she was just a fan this year.  The kids had a lively hour and a half ride to and from Belize. It's a fun (exhausting) day that we look forward to every year.

Puttin' Up the Tree

 On Tuesday, Kristel and Brittany put the tree together while Sulmi and I did homework. Brittany was really careful about getting the branches spread out evenly.  It made the tree look nicely shaped.

On Wednesday we decorated it. The nice nativity wall hanging on the door to the left of the tree was given to me by Viorica and Veturia ...way back when Deb came to visit me just before my first Christmas in Belize.  It's still lookin' good and is a nice memory of First Deaf Mennonite Church's faithfulness in this ministry.

Lots of the ornaments were made in our Deaf class at St. Peter's, so they too bring back memories.

Ta Da!   The tree trimmers and their beautiful workmanship!

Joshue is 1 year old! (already)

 

 A few weeks ago Alva told me that she wanted to have a ONE year birthday party for her son Joshue.  She said she had been saving money and was starting to make plans. I knew her house was too small so I said, "Great! Where are you going to have the party?"   She laughed and replied, "At your house!".... hmmm.

We decided to have the party as part of Girl's Night Bible Study and let the moms bring all of their kids.  It was fun to watch Alva organize it and take responsibility.  I really (REALLY) wanted to make some changes, particularly with the food, but it was her party so I sat on my hands and encouraged her to go ahead with her plans.   I'm so glad I didn't say anything.  Her plan worked out perfectly.  It was a good lesson for me in letting go of control.

 Some of the women are eating chips and dip...a typical Belize party food.

Joshue was a little tired and probably had no clue what the big deal was all about. I thank God for this precious gift that he has blessed us with and I look forward with anticipation what God's plans are for him.