| Online pictures are available for 30 days |
Dear family and friends,
I'm writing to you to thank you for your prayers for Rebekah's birthday party yesterday and to share with you how God answered those prayers. I share this with you, inviting you to celebrate God's goodness with us. He was so obviously directing and leading and answering prayers.
Last Friday (Sept. 17) was Rebekah's birthday and we had planned her party/sleepover to be right on her birthday - perfect. Well, not perfect, as a virus swept through the school and 3 of the 5 girls who were invited had fevers/illnesses, etc. the day before the party. So, that morning I needed to give Rebekah the bad news that she would not be having her party after all. Her face fell when I told her, but she bounced back quickly and was soon excited about going to a restaurant together that night to celebrate as a family. It was extremely hot this day and I knew that it would only get hotter with more people in the house, so in that sense it was a relief for me to not have the party on this day and the thought crossed my mind that God may have a better day weather-wise planned. Dan and I were also very tired on that Friday as our routine had been different that week with the Independence Day holiday and we were still adjusting.
We go to Casa Mia (Nice Nicaraguan pizza place with a great atmosphere) on the night of her birthday Rebekah's pick. While we were eating, a Nicaraguan waiter comes up to Rebekah and says "Feliz Cuplianos" and gives her 200 cordobas (equivalent to 10 dollars). So, we are all confused and then Will spots a man who's family we had had over for dinner the previous week - a new missionary family in town that we are getting to know. We wave him over and do find out that he was the one to give the money to the waiter. It was neat to talk through that with Rebekah as we recognized that had the party not been postponed, she would not have received this special gift. We saw it as a gift from God.
On Thursday of this past week, we begin receiving warnings from the CRC and the Embassy about a tropical storm and how the infrastructure of Managua is weak due to so many storms - so stock up on water and food, etc. And I am asking God what the next day will look like for the party; wondering if we should still have it, etc. I pictured the girls stranded at our house for the weekend or longer and anticipated that we would be without power which is what always seems to happen lately when we have a lot of rain. However, I asked friends earlier in the week to pray about Rebekah's party throughout that week and knew that they were praying - praying particularly that the girls would get and stay healthy. Our family prays together at school before we all go our separate ways each morning and I prayed Friday morning asking God to hold off the rain for Rebekah's party. I remember feeling a bit silly asking for that, thinking that perhaps I should not have prayed that (fearing that I asked too much and thinking about how it would impact Rebekah's trust in God when it did start to rain during her party!) and just accepted what seemed inevitable.
All throughout the day on Friday it was very cool, overcast, and a little drizzly. The girls arrived at our home after school and I served them popcorn, orange slices, and cambric tea (hot tea). Our theme was "Little House on the Prairie". Our family read through this series together last year, visited the actual places where Laura grew up (Walnut Grove, MN and De Smet, SD) over the summer, and have been watching one episode of "Little House" every Sunday night this past year. So, the things that we did at the party were connected to many of the things that we read about in the books/learned on our trip, etc. Had it not been so cool, the hot cambric tea would just not have been as appetizing! The girls also wore prairie dresses throughout the party which would have been very hot for them had the weather not been so cool. The rain held off all throughout the entire party and we were able to do all the activities we had planned to do outside. It was also cool in the girls' room at night which otherwise would have been very hot with 5 of them sleeping in there.
In the middle of the night, it started to rain very hard and the power did go off which wakes us up as the fans stop running - the kids seem to sleep fine without the fan, but I wake up instantly and cannot get back to sleep without the lulling of the fan. One of the girls woke up and was scared in the dark, so I got up to find her a flashlight to use as a night light. I got back in bed and wondered if all of the other girls would get up too. I felt exhausted and started to complain to God about the power being out and was picturing all 5 girls waking up and not being able to get back to sleep. After 10 minutes of complaining, He spoke to my heart reminding me of all He had already done to make Rebekah's birthday so special. His gentle reminder transformed my attitude from one of discontent to a deep sense of gratitude once again. A few minutes after I started just thanking Him, the power came back on and I went back to sleep. And the girls never woke up.
I wrote to a friend last night about how the party went so well - so smoothly in terms of how everything flowed - and much of this I had actually planned differently but felt led to change plans throughout. I know that God was leading me in this way as well. We had a low key Sat. morning with the girls and I enjoyed just hanging out with them and getting to know them better. I stayed in my pjs all day and I think all of the girls went home in theirs as well! We had rain off and on on Sat. morning, but nothing that prevented the girls from getting home OK.
Below are some pix of the party. I just wanted to share this story with you to give God glory for how He worked so beautifully and showed me that no prayer is too silly to pray . . . nothing is impossible with God.
Peace to you,
Lisa Van Zoest
| All dressed up in their prairie dresses. They took on the names of the characters in Little House, so here we have from L to R - Nelly, Mary, Olga, Carrie, and Laura. |
| The girls found out that jumping rope in prairie dresses was not always too easy! |
| Rebekah's friend Abby (AKA Nelly) getting ready to hit Will with a paper machete snow ball full of flour! (This scene from "The Long Hard Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder) |
| Abby (Nelly) is successful in hitting Will (AKA Almanzo)! |
| Rebekah (Laura) throws a snow ball at Lorenzy (Carrie). |
| Faces full of flour (pretend snow)! |
| The girls and I making homemade Apple Turnovers - a treat that Alamanzo's family enjoyed (mentioned in the book "Farmer Boy". |
| The girls rolling out their dough and getting a bit hyper tired as it is now around 8:30 pm. |
| They did an awesome job. The Apple Turnovers were delicious! |
| The girls decorating their prairie bonnets with sequence and beads. This kept most of them busy for hours on Sat. morning! |
| Beautiful girls with beautiful smiles! |
| Showing off their handiwork - hard to see but they have lots of beads and things sewn on. |
| Decorating and eating animal shape pancakes for breakfast - a Van Zoest sleepover tradition. |
