Mother's Day Celebration 2015

Enjoy the pictures and recap of our day, and thank you to all of you who supported us financially and in prayer!!

Mary Lynn and I welcomed about 26 moms, and some families who although the mom couldn’t come, the kids came to celebrate. In total, about 30 families represented!! 

                                     

The event started with a word from Carol Whitsell (translated by me!), who encouraged the moms to reach out for the hope that God has made available for us, and to understand the power they have to  pray for their families and community.  I thank God for her willingness to share with the group, and I know hearts were touched!

While the women were listening to the message, the kids were swept away to a separate room to make a special surprise Mother’s Day card for their mom. I cannot explain in words my gratitude for Jennifer, Nohemi, Ariel and Carlos, who, among other things, took great care of the kids and somehow organized about 40 of them, from babies to almost teenagers. Miracle workers, child whisperers, whatever you want to call them, they did a wonderful job helping each child make a beautifully unique card saying just how much they love their mom.

Next we had the opportunity to celebrate with the moms and give away some food baskets as prizes. A very special woman won “Most Kids” with a whopping SIXTEEN children. Woah. Nancy won “Mom of the Year” for sitting in the lucky chair. Nine grandmas were recognized and celebrated, and Lilian won for being the mom who walked to farthest to attend the event (she walked from where the works, about an hour walk!). Two brave moms were rewarded for coming up front and sharing advice and encouragement, mom to moms, and two more were rewarded for the help and consistency they’ve shown in helping us get the women’s group started for their community. In all, sixteen food baskets were sent into hungry homes thanks to your donations!

Nancy won the lucky "Mom of the Year"

Winner of "Most Kids" with SIXTEEN kids!! 

Next the kids rejoined their moms, and everyone enjoyed cake and Jamaica juice together.

Last but not least, we had the opportunity to fellowship and pray with many of the moms who attended, and send everybody off with a hug and a special Mother’s Day coffee mug so that they can feel celebrated every single day.

This day was truly a team effort! I enjoyed planning and executing this event with Mary Lynn, and we are so thankful for Carol sharing a special word with the moms. Thank you to Pastor Nicolas and his family who always allow me to use the church for events like this! Thanks to Nohemi for giving me the idea for this event in the beginning, for helping invite more moms, and for helping with the kids! Thanks to Jennifer for volunteering to help with the kids and any thing else we needed her help with, and for donating cute little flower pins she made for the moms! Thanks to Ariel and Carlos who always are our big brothers/body guards in Los Pinos, who were photographers, helped with the kids, helped serve food, clean, etc etc etc. And lastly, thanks to multiple moms who stayed to help us clean up the church! It was an incredible group effort!