Parties!

That's right Lydia is a teenager!
13 years old on July 31.

Lydia is a blessing to all of us!  She is the most positive, thankful person I know.  I love her joy for life.  She makes people feel good.  She encourages, loves, is kind and brings peace.  Lydia is very mature.  I am so thankful for her faith in the Lord.  God has given her gifts in writing, dance, and expressing.  Others have seen Lydia's pure heart and that is what I pray for her as she now enters her teen years.  Lord may Lydia remain pure - physically, spiritually, in her reading, entertainment, relationships, language, thoughts and attitude.  Lydia, we love you!  You are God's Beloved!  Happy Birthday!

We had a girls birthday party for Lydia's 13th!
The girls made beautiful bracelets thanks to the help and generosity of my friend Rachel.

Thankful for good friends to celebrate with -
Avalien, Emilie, Ashley, Grace and Abbie.

Fun drinks and good food,

our own little beauty parlor,

presents,

and games.  Lots of fun!

The week before Lydia's birthday the ladies had a party.
Actually, a ladies day retreat.
What a blessing to be together, rest, be crafty, time with the Lord, share encouraging words, laugh and pray together.

I love that I get to use my gift of creativity to bless my friends.
 It is so fun for me to organize, decorate and host.

Our last party was our friend Denis's wedding.

Denis has been a friend since we moved to Uganda nine years ago.  He was our neighbor and is a partner in ministry to the street boys in Soroti.  We were very happy for Denis as he married Francis who also has a heart for street boys.

Wedding in Uganda (in town) are a big ordeal and in a muzungu's (white person's) perspective it can be a bit crazy.  The wedding was suppose to start at 9am - we got there at 1pm and the groomsmen had just walked in.  The bride walks VERY slowly so it takes about an hour to enter.  There isn't much emotion from the bride and groom.  There were about 20 to 50 people with smartphones in the bride and grooms face taking pictures - no one else could even see them because there were so many people taking pictures!  It is fun and festive with dancing, music and cheering but it is very loud and a hot, all day event.  When it is time to feed all 800 people (about 500 of them came after 4pm) it is a bit of chaos.  But all in all it is a cultural experience and I was glad I was there to celebrate with them.