A Week of Celebrations :)

The past week has been full of celebrations! One neat thing about living at Orphanage Emmanuel is the different cultures that I have gotten to learn from. At the Orphanage, about half of the staff and 1/4 of the volunteers are Danish, and this past Wednesday was the Danish Holiday of “Sankt Hans aften”. I had never heard about this holiday before and was interested to see what it was about. They explained that it was their tradition to make a witch out of craft supplies and have a bonfire and burn the witch. Due to some hard work from a few of the male volunteers, we had an awesome witch to burn! At the bonfire they also taught us how to make bread on a stick which is like a corn dog without the hot dog. It was good! We agreed to celebrate their Danish Holiday, and they are looking forward to celebrating the 4th of July with us! On Wednesday morning Jessica and I were also asked to help decorate for a Quinceanera for a girl named Merci. They showed us her beautiful blue dress and said that the colors of the party needed to match the dress. We spent Thursday and Friday looking up different craft ideas and making them and then all day Saturday transforming the gym. I was so thankful for all the parties that Allison has decorated so nicely for, and recycled a few of her decoration ideas! A lot of my time was spent tying blue material cut out into triangles together to make a banner. In total, it took 200 triangles to go around the gym! Jessica made an adorable banner that said “Quinceanera”. On Saturday I was SO thankful for all the other volunteers coming by during their only breaks of the day to help us put up the decorations. They all came by at JUST the right time and were so wonderful! The Quinceanera was really special to get to be a part of, and all of the girls who attended were so excited to be wearing their fancy dresses! They all wanted me to take their picture at the party!

I still am overwhelmed at times by the amount of love some of these kids show. Today my morning started by a 12 year old girl running up while I was still walking to her yard, hugging me, giving me a bracelet she had made, a note she had written, and a picture she had drawn.  It was so sweet! I do not know what her past was like, but her letter said multiple times that she loved God and that God loves me.  I am excited to see what this week will bring!