Aurora just loves AWANA and when it was time for the practices for the AWANA games to start she enrolled and was very excited. We learned at the end of the first practice that 1 girl was going to have to be cut from the team, in order to meet the new rules for team size that had been established. The kids were told that they'd be "judged" the following week on their attendance, participation, attitude and contribution to the team. When it was all done, the Commander said that ALL of the girls had done a great job and couldn't decide who to cut. So they put the girls names into a hat to draw the person who would have to be cut. The tension was thick! Dan was there to pick up Aurora and witnessed the entire drama. The Commander pulled a slip of paper from the hat and read the name...."Aurora Branda". Instantly the tears began to fall, not just from her face, but from the eyes of all her girl friends. They all huddled around her crying and hurt. It was a long drive home that day and she was crushed (to say the least). Her friend called her later that evening to encourage her and another friend wrote her a long letter inviting her to a sleep-over and then asking her to still come and cheer for the team at the games. We talked to her about what God could teach her from all of this, and also what we as parents had to learn when we couldn't "fix" something and had to stand and watch her get hurt. The decision process was very fair and we explained to her that it was just as difficult on her Commander as it was on her as the loser. We prayed about it together and wrote a letter to Commander Laurie to encourage her and also told Aurora that it was entirely up to her if she would go to watch the games.
Later that week they asked her to still come to the practices so she could be ready to fill-in if someone got sick and missed the competition. She wanted to do that and went faithfully every week. This past Saturday was the competition and she went with her friend (after spending the night at her house) and not only did they allow our Commander to add her to the roster and play in the games, but our church WON FIRST PLACE!! God blessed her after she learned a tough growing lesson! How neat is that? We were thrilled for her and the rest of the kids!
We happened on this huge sunflower farm - acres and acres of gorgeous yellow and orange flowers, some towering over us, some small that we could hold in our hands...yet ALL of them bringing a smile to our faces!
