Quinceañera

I recently read an article about adoption with this quote,

"Transracial adoption can be beautiful, but as with any form of adoption, there is loss.
There is not only the loss of birth family, there is the loss of growing up in your culture.
As parents, it’s our job to minimize the effects of this loss of culture as much as possible."

And I thought, "This. This is why we're throwing Angie a crazy awesome Quinceañera!"

The Quince Party is the traditional 15th birthday party of Latin American countries. The origins aren't clear, but like a Sweet Sixteen party in the U.S. the purpose is to celebrate the coming of age from a girl into a young woman.

We decided to honor Angie's Latino roots and try to pull off a Quince as a backyard dance party. And if I must say so myself, it was pretty Epic! Calling a party you hosted yourself Epic, is surely tooting your own horn more than I'd usually be comfortable doing, but since Angie's too cool to probably ever use that word about something her parents did for her, I guess I'll have to say it. Here are some pictures to prove it:

Her reaction to the reveal of the party surprises.

And her expression for most of the afternoon/evening.

We didn't maintain many of the traditional Quinceañera customs, mostly because we don't really know what they are, and partly because we weren't up for spending multiple thousands of dollars as is common with these parties. But here's a Latino tradition we did keep; Angie took the first bite out of the top of the cake, and a friend sweetly smashed her face in it. She literally asked for this!

"Que la muerda! Que la muerda!

Although we didn't have the customary 14 Damas and Chambelans (the court of honor), most Quinceañeras probably don't have Dabbing, so I'd say Angie really came out ahead. We also improvised with musical chairs, a photo scavenger hunt, a piñata, the limbo, corn hole, life-size Jenga, empanadas, and a phenomenal DJ taking requests and keeping the dance floor hopping! After she blew out the candles on her cake we prayed that she would continue to become the woman God has created her to be.

Angie may have been the Belle of the Ball, but Paul was similarly adored by party guests.

Isaiah possibly had more fun with Angie's friends than she did. Once when someone helped him get a drink and cool off for a moment, he whined, "More Party, More Party!"

After 2 months of party planning, I'm not sure what we'll do with ourselves now. I guess we could get started prepping for Isaiah's 3rd birthday because he'll surely want it to be a Quinceañera too if it means he can be holding sugary treats in every picture and flirt with pretty teenage girls while dancing the Macarena!

I pray the love of all who were able to come and celebrate Angie's life, and those who sent their love from afar, lingers with her for a long long time. May the Lord's love keep shining on Angie through each of us that He's placed in her life, and may such joy radiate from her always as it did on her 15th birthday.

"Always be full of joy in the Lord, I say it again, Rejoice!" -Philippians 4:4