~Preparations for Nataly's Quinceañera~

 The Lord really helped with Nataly's Quinceañera!! Thank you for your prayers. First, I'll post some pics of the days leading up to her Special 15th birthday party!
~A week or so before her special day, her family and ours went to a park and we took their family pictures.  While we were out, they bought us lunch at a yummy restaurant.
Here is a picture of Sarah and Gaby...2 peas out of the very same pod!! =)~

~Us adults right before we ate lunch. ~

~The kids.  Notice that one of them (Elijah) got worn out before lunch even arrived. =)
(After we took this picture, Kimberly held our sleeping Elijah on her lap, as in the photo above. =)~

~On Saturday before the Quinceañera, our family went shopping for all of the supplies.  Here I am with the supplies to make 146 banana muffins, 10 loaves of banana bread, and the broc./cauliflower salad enough to feed about 130 people or so. =)~

~Mayonnaise comes in BAGS here, so that is what you see on your LEFT in the yellow...is small bags of mayo.  On your right is brown sugar, white sugar, and flour. =)~

~Elijah hiding behind the 120 eggs! (Thankfully, I didn't need all of these eggs...so shared some with Jimmy and Farly...and we won't have to buy eggs for a few days. =D)~

~I made up 3 of these batches of an already MULTIPLIED recipe of banana bread.~

~Part of the 146 banana muffins that Kimberly and I made.~

We also developed some of the best pictures that we took of Jimmy, Farly, Nataly, and Gaby and put some of them in frames on the tables at the Quinceañera as part of the decorations.
Phillip preached for Bro. Jimmy on Sunday, for as you can imagine they were VERY busy all day Saturday doing last minute preparations before the Lord's day.
~Jimmy, Farly, and family had us over for Sunday dinner, and we surprised them with this framed big family picture for their home. ~

~Bro. Jimmy, Sis. Farly, and Sis. Sofia making our YUMMY Sunday dinner. =)~

~A yummy pasta, delicious fish and great tasting rice! After eating we discussed the Quinceañera and we practiced all of the specials.~

~Then we came home and Phillip, Kimberly and I worked on making the broccoli/cauliflower salad to feed about 130 people.~

~I made the banana muffins ahead of time...and froze 16 muffins at a time in large Ziploc bags.

~Then on the day of the Quinceañera, I sat the muffins out on cooling racks to thaw, then later Kimberly and I melted chocolate and wrote an "N" for Nataly on each muffin.~

~We also put together the program, and Bro. Edgar added some colorful designs and printed it for us.  (Muchas Gracias, Hmno. Edgar!=)  Here is the inside.  On your left are special words from Nataly to her parents, and to her guests who would come. On your right is the program of what would happen and at the bottom were sweet words from Sis. Farly to Nataly.  The program consisted of:
2 piano solos,  Which were Nataly and Kimberly.
2 piano duets, Nataly and Gaby played one, and Kimberly and Sarah played the other.
A piano trio,  Nataly, Kimberly, and I.
Elijah sang a solo in English and Spanish =),
a duet, Gaby, and Sarah sang
A trio, Kimberly, Sarah, and I sang "I don't want to be just any women" in Spanish.  (Written by Mary Duren.)
Kimberly and Nataly played their guitars,
Kimberly played her violin. 
Phillip preached a sermon, (per request of Jimmy and Farly).
The Lord really helped all of us who participated!~

~The front of Nataly's program~

~I had suggested that it would be a fun touch to have their big family picture near the box for her cards.  I thought they did a great job arranging this!

~We wrapped our banana muffins with the "N" on them like this and they were a favor for everyone to take home after the party.~

~I also used 7 of the loaves of our banana bread as prizes.~

Soon I'll post pics of the very special day that Jesus helped us to have for Nataly.  =)