It had been more than two years since Abraham and I last set up a single parents´ night at church. During the intermission, we moved from Puebla to Huejotzingo and had Abishael. Both significant changes complicated planning for the event, but we decided to put together another single parents´ night.
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| cutting limes |
The church board approved the date we had chosen, and we began rounding up volunteers. The other two single parents´ nights that we had hosted before were only for people from the church, but this time around, we opened up the invitation to others and capped the attendance at 30. When the actual evening arrived, there were almost 30 single mothers and fathers.
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| preparing the dessert |
This time we asked various people from the church to prepare and take specific special dishes for the parents´ meal rather than preparing the food at the church. Providing the dinner that way made the kitchen work much simpler, although we still needed the help of a number of volunteers to finish preparing and serving the food.
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| concentrating in the game of Spoons |
As the parents began arriving, Abraham set up rousing games of Spoons and Uno. Once most of the parents were at church, he began other games as well, and the sanctuary rang with hilarity. Other volunteers set up their tables for manicures, facials, shoe polishing, and hair cuts. While some parents played games, waiting their turns for pampering, others moved to the tables with the volunteers.
Once the time of games and pampering ended, the kitchen crew entered into high gear to serve dinner. There was vegetable soup, salad, hand-made tortillas, and meat in sauce, followed by dessert of banana dolphins with strawberry roses and ice cream. To drink, the parents had sprite with craisins floating in the bubbles.
A friend from Puebla Christian School brought her team from
T2T International to do a puppet play specifically for single parents. Since several of the parents attending are not part of the church, we wanted to be sure to present the Gospel at the event. When the T2T team finished their play, the event ended for the parents. Church volunteers worked quickly with us to clean up, and we caught our bus home.
Next single parents´ event? Perhaps in another two years. Abraham and I are expecting our second baby end of October or beginning of November, so we may need to wait again for awhile.
