Finding the path God has for Lucero

Hey there everyone, first of all, thank you for all your prayers. As we all know, God answers our prayers in many ways and not always what we thought we wanted or hoped for. We were praying that Lucero would pass the math and computer entrance exam tests to enter University of San Carlos to study Civil Engineering. She had already passed the first two regular exams. We did what we thought was necessary to prepare her, we even hired a tutor for the week before the exam. But to our dismay, she did not pass those two tests. We have no way of knowing if it was by one questions or 10. They only tell you pass or fail basically. So now the hunt was on, what other universities offer this program and are still accepting students for this semester. Many have already started their classes.

As we made our way to our first University, Mariano Galvez, we had some time to really talk to Lucero. As many of you may have experienced in your youth, you only have knowledge of a limited number of options and career decisions. You family and friends often time can influence you even if you don't realize it. In many ways, this is what was going on for Lucero. She was thinking she would spend the first few years getting a degree in something that pays well. Then she would work that job for a few years and save money. Then she would try to use the money she saved to pursue what she was truly interested in, Fashion Design. In reality, that is a pretty good and intelligent plan.

With further discussion, we shared with her that as a part of Xela House and having the amazing support of family and friends and coffee drinkers, she could probably reevaluate this plan. Studying for 4-5 years and paying for an education that you really don't want the job as the end result is not truly an investment in your future. As we shared this with her, it became more and more apparent that she truly would love to find a way to study fashion design sooner rather than later. So we went to work investigating a lot of options.

We came across some great opportunities that we feel will help and prepare her for the next step of this journey. First of all she is going to enroll in a weekly English class. This is the same class Delia will be starting next week. It is discounted for the Aerotraining students and it is a 10 month class. Well, I asked and yes I can put Lucero in the same class at the same discount even though she is not in the Aerotraining program. It never hurts to ask people. The only difference was her registration fee was Q100 ($13) instead of Q50. Next we decided just to see what kind of different skill classes were offered at Intecap here in Xela. Lo and behold, they offer a 4 month course in Illustration and Fashion Design. BINGO!! God is lighting the way. What a great place to start. From here we can inquire of her instructor about the steps to take in the future. We also are looking at the options of maybe applying for scholarships to study abroad. The US would be great but Spain is also something we are considering looking into. That is down the road but we will be researching all options for sure. There may be even more opportunities here in Guatemala and we just are not aware of them, honestly, high fashion is not our strong point....LOL Those of you that know Brian and me, we are pretty casual. But I digress.

Taking this class and learning English will give Lucero a headstart in putting together a design portfolio, to become more conversational in her English (which will be needed in an international industry like fashion) and also set her on the path of learning and improving her study skills. So prayers are most definitely being answered, we just have to realize that God has an answer, it simply was not what we expected.