cialis Helvetica, sans-serif;”>Last month, on October 17, Maggie turned 15 years old. In Latin America that’s kind of a huge deal! It represents the year a female leaves behind the “little girl” and officially becomes a “young woman”. Maggie was stunning in her beautiful dress. We held the ceremony in our home with friends from church and a special family visit from home because Nana (Corey’s mom) was here with us to celebrate. Here’s a walk through Maggie’s special evening…
As guests arrive, Maggie waits in her bedroom with Nana and her friend, Laura.
When everyone arrives, Maggie descends the stairs and is received by Corey.
After presenting her to the room, Corey changes her shoes from flats to heels.
Maggie danced a choreographed waltz with Corey and Alex.
Corey and Tona light 15 candles – one for every year of Maggie’s life.
As part of the symbolism, 15 boys/men (all good friends of Maggie’s) each walked in and presented Maggie with a rose and a kiss on the cheek while a special 15th birthday song played.
At the end of the presentation of the roses, Maggie uses one rose to snuff out the candles.
The last rose Corey and Tona held as Maggie snuffed out the final candle.
Next came special words for Maggie, starting with Corey. The ceremony was done in Spanish, so Corey had a cheat sheet to help him say everything correctly. There may have been a few daddy tears shed here!
Next came Tona with words and memories for Maggie.
And then Alex, who surprised everyone with very sweet words instead of jokes at his sister’s expense!!
Next came Nana. It was so special to have her here for the special day!
Pastor Gerson spoke a blessing over Maggie and made a special acrostic for her.
A rough translation (where obviously the letters don’t all fit) is M – material made by God, A – You are joyful and beautiful, G – Big heart, G – Giant in your devotion, I – Immense in giving love, E – Entirely for the Lord
Next came Maggie’s dear friend, Laura. This girl has changed Maggie’s life and helped her greatly to adapt to life in Medellín.
Juan David is one of our “sons” from Bogotá, a very special person in our lives. He wrote a special and hilarious Spanglish song for Maggie.
After everyone gave their special words to Maggie. We had a surprise for her! Friends and family from all over the world sent in video greetings to wish Maggie a happy birthday. This left her shocked and in tears. She said she couldn’t believe how many people would take the time to send her a greeting! It was a very special moment!
Next came the toast to formally present Maggie as a young lady.
Then it was time for Maggie to say thank you.
Finally it was time for cake!!
As the cake was served we showed a video of Maggie’s life. This was a lot of fun to watch with everyone!
After cake Maggie had time to talk to all her guests and take pictures with everyone – and take off the large skirt to reveal the short dress she had underneath!
After taking pictures with all the guests, it was time for dinner – at midnight!! That’s part of the tradition!
After dinner most of the adults left and it was time to kick off the youth party!!
They partied until 4AM!!! Finally everybody went home or found somewhere to crash around the house!
The next morning Maggie was up making breakfast for all her friends!
And the party started up again with Wii and goofing off until about 8pm that night – a 24 hour party!!
