~Nataly's Quinceañera part 1~

 I'll post a recipe for "Fun Food Friday" later...right now I want to post part 1 of Nataly's Quinceañera.  Like I said, the Lord really helped and it was beautiful.  At first, Bro. Jimmy and Sis. Farly had asked me to decorate.  I was happy to do it...but I was wondering how I could do it and save money since I didn't have the table clothes, vases, etc.  Later Bro. Jimmy and Sis. Farly and I talked to Jimmy's aunt who does catering and we all decided that it would be better to use her decorations...since she has all the table clothes, chair ribbons, vases, etc. anyways.  Plus she knows where to get flower arrangements for cheap, where to order the cake, etc.  I was very relieved!  =) The day of the party Bro. Jimmy, Sis. Farly, Farly's brother Elkin, and Bro. Edgar did the decorating of the hall. 
Since they did the decorating...that gave me more time to do the things that I did.  I bought the frames, developed the pictures, and put the pictures in them for the tables, decided what specials we all would play/sing, made sure everyone was ready to play/sing, arranged the program, played for the specials, made the broc./caul. salad, made the 7 loaves of banana bread to give away as gifts for prizes, and made the 144 banana muffins as party favors.  I was also very happy that during the Quinceañera Bro. Jimmy and Sis. Farly did the talking/announcing of the next event...so I worked behind the scenes and kept things going....but didn't have to talk in front of all of their guests. =D
So...here are the fun pictures of the nice Birthday party that Jesus helped us to have for Nataly!  Enjoy!
~Nataly's cake that her Grandparents paid for as a gift to her and her family.~

~Nataly~

~Nataly and her cake~

~Nataly with the decorated hall behind her. Like I mentioned above: The day of the party Bro. Jimmy, Sis. Farly, Farly's brother Elkin, and Bro. Edgar did the decorating of the hall.  I thought that they did a great job!  Everything looked beautiful!!~

~Elijah...I think he must have been chewing on the left side of his bow tie. =)~

~The flower arrangements and pictures on the tables.~

~My friend Marisol came and she was a big help to me.~

~Bro. Edgar running the sound.  He, Elkin (Sis. Farly's brother), and Bro. Jaime from church were a huge help in decorating and serving the food!~

~Gaby, Carolina, and Sarah.~

~Our kids.~

~Bro. Jimmy, Nataly, Sis. Farly, and Gaby~

~Nataly with her Grandparents who bought her cake, with her 2 little cousins, and Elijah.~

~Nataly and Kimberly~

~Introducing..........Heather Sofia!!  Remember Bro. Edgar and Sis. Joanna who prayed so long for a baby...well, here she is!  She was born on Friday, Aug. 5th.  We are so happy to have her as the newest member of our church. =)~

~Sis. Farly spoke some sweet words about the blessing of God sending Nataly into their home.~

~Nataly playing her piano solo.~

~The Lord helped there to be a good crowd at the Quinceañera!~

~Gaby and Nataly playing their piano duet.~

~Elijah singing in English and Spanish.~

~Sarah and Gaby singing their duet.~

~Kimberly and Nataly playing Amazing Grace on their guitars. (Kimberly doesn't own a guitar, she's borrowing the church's guitar.)~ 

Part 2 to come soon!  

~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.  =)

~Nataly's Quinceañera~

Today, Monday, Aug. 15th, at 2:00 PM our time...is the Quinceañera of Nataly.  Her family and ours would really appreciate your prayers that God will help us get everything done, that it will be nice and that God will use it for His Glory.  It will be like a mini service, with hymns being played, and a short sermon.  There will be a lot of non-believers there so we are praying that people will be impacted by the gospel of Christ.  Phillip will be preaching and will appreciate your prayers too.  I'm nervous for I'm supposed to be the director.  I don't mind being the director BEHIND the scenes, but I'm nervous about having to lead everything...and in Spanish.  I woke up this morning and said to the Lord, "Lord, unless you 'build' this Quinceañera we labor in vain." =)  Thank you for your prayers...they mean a lot!  I'll post pics later, Lord willing.
~Nataly~

~A visit with some friends.~

~Last Tuesday we were privileged to have a couple visitors over for supper.  Several years ago we met Jonathan Nieto from here in Colombia...and we became fast friends.  We had him over for dinner and we spoke English with him, because he wanted the practice.  You see, he had already been accepted at Hobe Sound Bible College, but was just waiting for his USA visa to be approved.  We rejoiced with him when his visa was finally granted to him.  We have kept in contact through the years.  This summer he contacted us and wanted to get together.  The Lord has helped him and in a few days he leaves to go back to the USA...for he only has one year left before he will graduate from HSBC.  =)  This time when he arrived at our house, he had a friend named Natasha from W. Virginia with him.  I served a simple supper of potato soup, muffins and jelly, apple slices, fresh pineapple juice, Southern sweet tea, and jello for dessert.  We had a really nice time visiting with them.  I was sooo SURPRISED to learn that Natasha's great uncle by marriage is Erwin Bourne, who did a lot of missionary work in the Amazon years ago.  What a small world.  Our Elijah was beyond HAPPY to have someone to speak English with, and nearly talked Natasha's leg off.  =)  (Since my niece is named Natasha too, I think his little 3 year old brain got a little confused, ...for once he called Jonathan, "Uncle Daryl".  When we explained to him that this wasn't U. Daryl...he got soooo embarrassed. =)~

~We had a great time with Jonathan and Natasha.  We are praying that God will bless and guide these 2 young people. =)~