Wednesday, September 21, 2011

A Change of Plans

A few weeks ago we were planning a special trip for Girls' Group to a gorgeous nature reserve, La Paz Waterfall Gardens, just a little outside of San Jose. Everyone was SUPER excited!!!! But as the day approached, several of the girls were no longer able to go, due to school and family obligations. I sat down with the remaining girls during one of our Viejitas breakfasts to discuss the dilemma. Even though I knew they wouldn't be keen on the idea, I proposed postponing the trip so everyone could participate. In the meantime, we could do something special on the original day here in San Jose. As I expected, the initial response was, "NO!!! We can't wait to go!!!!"
But then after a short pause, Rebeca spoke up, "Can we have a minute to talk about this with just us girls?"

"Of course," I replied and went to straighten the books in the library.

About 5 minutes later, Rebeca snuck in and said slowly, "We decided we want to postpone the trip so everyone can go. And we would like to go to the park and have a picnic that day instead. Can we do that?"

"That's a great idea!" I replied. "A picnic would be tons of fun!"

As Rebeca and I walked back into the kitchen, she turned to me and said with a big smile on her face, "We are good friends to the other girls, aren't we ?" I was so proud of her. We've spent the last month talking about being a good friend. Of all the girls, Rebeca has the hardest time consistently being one. In that moment, I could see the change taking place in her.

We had a great time hanging out in a big park in Desamparados, and everyone is excited to go together to the Waterfall Gardens next month!


Alicia, Me, Catalina, Maria (my friend and co-worker), and Rebeca


The girls flew kites for the first time ever.



Of their own accord, the girls organized it so everyone would bring something to share for our picnic. I was in charge of bringing peanut butter, for the girls favorite snack- PB&J's


Just after this picture was taken, Catalina took out a small child who wouldn't move out of the path. Her defense, "I yelled at him and told him I was coming down." Fair enough, right?