Recieve the Blessing

I learnt a lot last week, not just about organising a quince or family day Latino style, but also about God and how we, well at least I, respond to him. First of all I want to say that both events went very well and all that came had a fabulous time. At the Family Day on Monday we had lots of families there, some with both parents others with just mum's, lots of younger siblings and a few older ones. Everyone of all ages were enthusiastic at taking parts, from the mum's and dad's races to the toddlers race, we even managed to get a 5 aside football match with 2 teams of mums, this definitely drew the biggest crowd in a culture where football really is a man's sport. 

My favourite event was definitely the mother/daughter father/son three legged race, it is great to see parents really bonding and working together with their kids. An especially cute pairing was the dad of one of our older girls with his 3 yr old son clinging onto his leg like his life depended on it as his dad tried to run! naturally they didn't win but it was so cute to watch, and great to see this dad thinking about taking part more than winning.

This was also the first time in the history of El Refugio that we sold anything, we normally give away food or clothes as we know the parents dont have much money, however, we have seen that some of them have come to see it as a right that if they come here they are given things, so we decided that we would sell "fritos" at cost price (these are little snacks deep fried) and we were pleased to see all but one or 2 families brought money and were able to eat. Keeping a close eye on who wasn't buying we were able to slip a few hundred pesos into hands surreptitiously to ensure no one missed out. 

The only sadness in the event was that although many came there were more families who didn't come and missed this rare opportunity to spend time with their children as a family and simply have fun. 

The other big event of the week was our Quinceaños party. This is a very Latino celebration and marks the coming of age of girls on their 15th birthday. A quince would traditionally have a party that is on the scale of a wedding with the dress, cake, invitations, decorations etc to match - only missing a groom! So this is obviously out of the reach of the families we work with. however, when it came to my attention that 6 of our girls were turning 15 this year, and one was already 16 I was determined to organise a party, and thankfully Rosa was also behind the idea. In fact it has been a dream of mine to organise a quince since I first learnt about the tradition in Mexico and then going to a Quince in Bolivia it made me more determined so it wasn't surprising that one friend commented that I couldn't have been more excited if it had of been my quince!! 

The first job for me was to find the right dress for each of them, so after asking every skinny young girl I met and asking at my church and others churches we ended up with 17 dresses for the 7 girls to choose from and the girls were invited to come and choose from them. We got the girls to come in one by one to choose to prevent any arguments, and all were a bit hesitant at first but soon got into it trying on virtually  all the dresses! before each settling one one that was perfect for them, it was amazing to see how God had provided the perfect dress for all of them. However one girl, Diaris, seemed very reticent, she did not want to choose a dress and only tried on ones we asked her to, eventually she said she wanted the worst dress of the bunch, so Rosa hid that one and she chose a simple navy blue one, which with her very dark colouring really didn't look good on her, but she was certain so we let her settle on that one. However, Rosa and I didn't feel comfortable with her choice feeling that she had seemed like she didn't feel worthy to have one of the more glamorous dresses so we got everyone to pray and at the youth on Saturday we asked her if she wanted to have another look, which she said she did. This time it was only me and her in the room and after trying on a pink one which didn't suit her I asked her to try on a red one that I hadn't seen anyone in and wanted to see what it looked like on someone so she agreed and I helped her into it zipping her up, when I went to look at her from the front my jaw literally dropped!! she looked stunning, it was as if the dress was made for her! so I took a photo of her as we didn't have a mirror in the room and she agreed and took the dress.

But that wasn't the last of the doubts and problems. Part of the deal was that the parents of the girls would be involved in the organisation, especially the dads as they had to give a blessing over their daughters, however we never had more than 3 dads who came to the meetings and indeed on the night only 2 came to the party. One of their responsibilities was to buy the cake and thankfully the one faithful dad who came to all of the meetings arranged the cake himself. Then we had the mothers, one said that it was all too soon and she couldn't possibly get the money for the cake or an outfit for herself in such short notice so neither she or her daughter would take part. Another girl said that she wasn't going to come as her mum wasn't going to come because she didn't have anything to wear. Then another girl said she didn't want to come as she felt like the others would laugh at her as she wouldn't be able to do hair and make up like them. It seemed like that while God was providing all we needed in finances for the party for the food, mariachi band, flowers etc Satan was attacking the girls trying to rob them of this blessing that God wanted to give them. However, on the night both mums came albeit in jeans and t-shirts and another mum invited the last girl to come to hers and have her hair and make up done there and everyone had a fab time. 

But it made me think, how often do we let little things rob us of the blessings that God has for us? It seems petty to miss out on an opportunity like God was offering through us for the sake of not having the right blouse, or because of what others might think, or, as in the case of the family day, because you cant be bothered to go. However, how often do we do the same? or like Dairis how often do we settle for 2nd best, God is stood there with a selection of gorgeous dresses and we look for and settle on the ugliest? I hope that I will learn to look for the best God has for us rather than settle, I pray that you will too.