...and a time for dancing!

Some nights are just so good...and so right...and so "normal" (but when did an extraordinary opportunity on a ship off the coast of Madagascar as a part of a remarkable community become so "normal"?).  

Saturday night was one of those nights.  Nick and the girls attended the 2nd Annual AFM "Father Daughter Dinner and Dance."  

The girls were able to get ready in the "Royal Salon" - the Hospital Conference room on Deck 3 had been transformed into a place of preparing, pampering and primping.  What gifts our girls were given: the chance to be loved on by some of our female crew, the chance to get "fixed up" in a most appropriate and pleasing way - not too little, not too much, the chance to interact with lovely ladies who are worthy role models of grace, loveliness and godliness.  

After the salon experience, we went back up to the cabin so that Nick could come and pick up Caroline and Emma.  He arrived right on time with flowers in hand.  We took a few pictures on Deck 7 and then off to the International Lounge they went.

In the International Lounge they were welcomed by a host of hosts - a line of guys who volunteered to serve these dads and daughters.  The first stop was the photo booth and then on to the tables that were set for dinner.

For dinner (while Mr. Laurin played the piano), everyone was served their own personal pizza - carefully handcrafted with pre-selected toppings!  Pizza was followed by an ice-cream sundae bar....And then on to the dancing...(not sure how we missed out on the pictures of Nick and Caroline dancing...)

Caroline's thoughts on the Event: 

It was really fun and we had good pizza.  there's this thing i did with my dad when we were dancing  where we would twist our arms and I would sit on the floor and my dad would stand in front of me with his back to me, holding my hands and then he would pull me up and i would jump and twist around in the air.  And it was fun to have the smoke machine.  It was kind of like we were in the clouds...but it smelled bad.  I don't think the clouds smell bad.  I liked having my hair straightened and blow dried.  I don't do that much.  I really like the braid in my hair and I know my dad liked the braid in my hair.  And I liked the serving people - they would bring us whatever we asked for...like water and stuff.  I liked the whole thing...it shows us how important our relationship with our father is and how special that is.

Emma's thoughts on the Event: 
It was good.  I liked the smoke machine and the light that spins around.  I liked how the fairy lights were hung up around the room.  I liked how other people danced and how daddy and I danced.  I liked the pizza and the icecream.  And I liked all the toppings on the icecream.  I think they had this dance to show how much the dads love their kids.  I liked what everyone was wearing.    

Oh what a night!  A sweet gift from this community to  Nick and our girls...to our entire family....

God gives such good gifts....

Surely there will be more to come.