Reel Events: Kasondra's 14th Birthday -- Sabbath, October 16, 2010

What a beautiful day Kasondra's birthday was. It started with her breakfast of choice -- pop tarts. We had gotten her flowers and a balloon and decorated the dining room with purple and pink streamers. She woke up and put on her school uniform as the bell choir was playing at the tent church. She picked some of the gifts she'd like to open. I think her favorites were a new volleyball and makeup bags and mascara from Aunt Karen. (Thank you Auntie!) She was excited for the day to proceed!

We went to church and lots of her friends were there from GAA (Guam Adventist Academy). After a lovely service in which the bells played 3 songs, it was potluck time. One of her friends gave her a gift at church -- a bag and a shirt (which she promptly put on when she got home.) Thank you Caressa. After potluck, we drove home. Jasmine came over for the afternoon. It was a relaxing but hot day. It was 101 degrees!

The real excitement started when 6:15 p.m. rolled around. Her classmates started arriving for her party. We had a small worship, then the girls gathered around pictures of her past birthdays and tried to guess how old Kasondra was in each picture. I stumped them with a picture of me (Karla) when I was around 13 or 14. Nobody even suspected it wasn't Kasondra. Funny! I think the most any of her friends got was 5! Even Kasondra missed one. But they had a great time.

So, while I went down to pick up pizza, Kasondra and the gals then played Taboo. If you've ever played that, you know how fun it is -- especially if you're playing with girls or women (we're all good at talking, which comes in real handy in that game!) I came home with pizza and we had that and rootbeer and carrots.

The girls gathered around the table and we prayed a special blessing on Kasondra, thanking God for another year of life! And let me tell you, those girls can talk and laugh! It was so fun to see them interacting. Although we've lived on Guam for 1.5 years, I still don't know some of her friends very well. What a pleasure to see them and become acquainted. What a great group of girls they were. So pleasant and sweet and funny. They laughed and giggled and joked and made the peace sign (big here in Guam). They even sang to her in Korean. It was a joy to host them. I was so happy. You know it does a Mom's heart good when things go as planned!!!

Then it was cake time! I had labored over a triple-layer raspberry cake that I wanted to try. It turned out SCRUMPTIOUS! The girls exclaimed over it. You'd think they'd never had cake before. It was a real hit. We sang to her in English then they dug in. Then Kasondra opened her gifts.....a purse, gift cards to favorite places.... Then it was time to go bowling. We went over to Leo Palace, a resort on Guam a few miles from here. We took the truck and car. Several rode in the back of the truck. They had a blast.

When we got set up for bowling, we split into 2 teams of 6 and went for it. It was a great way to end the perfect evening. They cheered each other on and basicly did a lot more laughing. Then we piled back into the vehicles and headed home so the girls could be picked up by their parents. What a special time we had. We're so blessed. We are thanking God for our firstborn today!