The Cercadillo Project

On Friday, December 20, twenty-five women from Café y Coser con Cristo, our women’s sewing/crafting initiative, enjoyed their first Christmas party at the TIME Center in Villa Mella.  As I expected, even the bus ride to get to the banquet was fun for them.    Some of the ladies said they had barely slept the night before in anticipation of the outing.

They enjoyed a variety of games with prizes, various little presents, and of course, lots of Dominican food!  The TIME staff prepared the traditional chicken, rice and beans, which met with great reviews from our women.

In this picture the ladies have their new Bible covers that Mom made for  them.  They often fight over who gets to sit beside her.  Elida, in the purple shirt , had been sitting beside Mom, but then her sister Yaquelin, playfully pushed her out of the way so she could take her place.

Many of the women had gone to great lengths to dress up for the Christmas party.  Some borrowed clothes, jewelry and makeup.  Those big plastic rollers certainly got a work out in the village!  Almost all of the ladies had used them the night before.  Because they were looking their best, I decided to post individual pictures of them.    Here they are . . . twenty-five of the women of Café y Coser.

Anita

Angela

Aurelia

Carmencita

Cli

Anniveli

Diana

Dominga

Epifania

Elida

Leticia

Felicia

Mariana

Marcelina

Mayleni

Mercedes

Meri

Minerva

Raiza

Rosa

Rosalba

Rosanna

Rosi

Ricki

Yaquelin

What a surprise to receive so many facebook messages, emails and actual birthday cards this year!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I felt so loved on by so many!

A few weeks before my birthday I was trying to schedule a thank you dinner for those who faithfully come out to the village to help with Sunday services.  That conversation was happening en route to Cercadillo and thus we were not looking at a calendar, but rather eliminating days that people were not available.  We finally decided upon the second Thursday in December.  So I spent my birthday cooking and making preparations for the volunteers’ dinner . . . and feeling very blessed.

Feeling blessed because . . .

. . . I had the opportunity to spent the day in the kitchen with my 81 year old mother. (Mom has been here since I came back in November and will be with me until January 19.)  I’m certain that there are many of you who would love to be able to spend a day with your mothers.

. . . A special group of people joined us for dinner.  I love how they serve my folks in Cercadillo!  (Sorry, I forgot to take any pictures!)  We’re so blessed with all the people who come to help in our village.

. . . My new house is spacious enough to host dinner parties.  While in the search for a new mission base I saw many rental properties in which a gathering of folks would have been almost impossible.

. . . I have had a wonderful life so far, full of great adventures and many, many  more joys than sorrows.

. . . I have had the privilege of knowing so many, many absolutely incredible people.  If you’re reading this, you are probably one of them!  🙂