Monday

Monday was a great day!  Half the team spent an early morning at the former Tijuana dumps.  They served a hearty meal of mashed potato and sausage burritos.  The other half of the team stayed back to do construction and prep for the ladies night.

In the afternoon, the team was split into three groups - dance, sports and crafts/games.  The older girls headed out for to learn a dance to share with their moms during the spa night.  The older boys went down to do some sports at the local park and the little ones hung out at CDL and made some crafts and headed for their afternoon nap.

After dinner we quickly got back to the compound to decorate for our Ladies Night for the moms at Casa De Luz!

The compound where we are staying is wonderful and spacious and the perfect place to have a spa night! It was even equipped with a massage table and massage chair!  So along with hair, nails, facials, and pedicures, we were able to offer back massages to the hardworking mothers of Casa De Luz.  Kate did an amazing job and wasn't able to get through the long list of women who wanted to enjoy the massage room! Jess was kept busy serving mocktails - Margaritas and Pina Coladas as well as a fruit platter and chocolate cupcakes.

The women also had a chance to go through the freestyle clothing and pick two new clothing items and we had a t-shirt tote bag that was full of pampering items for each of the ladies: perfume, shimmer lotion, shower gel, lip gloss, necklaces and more!  Thank you so much to all the women in Abbotsford who sponsored the gifts for the moms here in Primo Tapia!  They were greatly appreciated.

To end the evening, we brought the women upstairs and had some of the girls from Casa De Luz perform a dance that we taught earlier that afternoon. The song was called 'Bloom' and talked about how these women were born the Bloom - flourish and grow - and that God has GOOD plans for them.

The BEST part of the day for me!  There was a little girl named Karen who has some special needs and walks with a walker.  The plan was not to bring her along to learn the dance but after talking with the staff I thought maybe she could come and hold the signs that translated the songs....soon into learning the dance, we found that she would fit perfectly following our arm movements and being a part of the dance...even the focal point.  It was such a sweet moment to be able to see her smiling and being a part of her peer group and performing for her mother.