Bloom Where You are Planted
Each year, at the Hope House we put on a Princess Party for the girls. It is a huge, blow-out event, and we go all in for it since it is our biggest event of the year! The main purpose of this event is to remind the girls in a very real and tangible way that they are important, valuable, and worthy in every way just as they are. They are daughters of God, and that makes them daughters of a king. We love seeing them put on big dresses, get their hair & makeup done, put on fancy shoes, and get absolutely spoiled for the evening. A wonderful team of ladies comes down from the states to help us with the event, and all of us ladies who work at the Hope House plan for months to make it a special and personal for each girl.
This year, I was asked to plan the Princess Party and also speak at the event on our theme of “blooming” this year. Planning an event the size of a wedding for over a hundred guests in a foreign country was an awesome challenge and stretched me in so many ways. Mostly, it taught me how willing other people are to help when there is a worthy cause involved! At all the venue visits, Sara (one of our staff) negotiated like an absolute pro and got the best venue to come down to the price of the cheapest. The Tias (staff) worked tirelessly to wash and steam and prepare every single dress for the girls to try on and pick. They spent all day (the day of the event) getting the girls dressed, decked out, and ready.
The employees at the little store where I bought all the decorations were forever climbing ladders for me to get down the high up balloons and teaching me about how to say the names of the shades of pink correctly. In exchange, I translated English directions for Valentine’s balloons they were working on. The flower shop gave me an unexpected crazy discount at the last minute, which was nuts and so cool! When I went to the wrong place to get the sash for our 2020 princess winner, my taxi driver knew it was the wrong name we gave him and took us to the right place instead. It was funny, and a massive community effort.
The most important part of all of course, was that the girls had a blast!! They were all formally introduced as honored guests, ate delicious food, danced the night away, and then got to have a sleepover/campout at our amazing venue! The next day, the girls got to swim in the two amazing pools there and play all day outside! They had a volleyball net, soccer field, and many other areas the girls played in as well. (Do not ask me how this place exists literally off the side of the road next to a tiny nearby jungle town…..it still blows my mind.) In any case, the girls had a great time and so did all of us staff!
What struck me about all of this, was that it was planned as a “bloom” themed event for the girls at the Hope House. And the girls did bloom! They shined, they twirled, the truly basked in the fun and beauty of the Princess Party. But what ended up happening, was that EVERYONE involved bloomed. The tias bloomed as they prepared the dresses for the girls and pulled together to plan the event. Our town bloomed as it came together to provide everything needed for the party. Our missionary team relationships bloomed as we worked together to plan and host the event. The Princess Party team from the states bloomed as they gifted the girls with both their presence and their individualized care before and during the event.
I think that very thing so often happens. When we give everything we’ve got to help someone else bloom, we and the people around us end up blooming too. Who can you help bloom today?
