Before moving to the Mole we spent our Christmases in Haiti! We would decorate the entire courtyard in October! Then we would invite children to come in each night and walk around the campus! In December we would do 10 days of Christmas Movies in the mission courtyard with all the street kids! On Christmas Eve we would show a Nativity Movie, hold a special prayer service, & feed hundreds of kids!
Once we get our house in the Mole built – we will go back to having Christmas in Haiti again! Right now we have all our Christmas decorations in storage on the St. Louis campus. Here is a link to a few blogs with a bunch of pictures from our last Christmas in St. Louis: http://lifeoffering.org/2009/12/18/the-10-days-of-christmas/ and http://lifeoffering.org/2009/12/26/christmas-eves-celebration-and-feeding/
The last few years we’ve had Christmas with my parents. They’ve created such fun traditions and memories! My momma makes some of the BEST sugar cookies – all from scratch! The kids LOVE to bake with her! Tonight they were double blessed because not only did they bake with their Nana – but some of their cousins too!
Papaw really enjoys taking the kids out to Christmas shop for each other! He even took them to see Santa! He’s a BRAVE Papaw for sure! The kids look forward to this special time with him every year.
Today I wrapped up all their gifts and found myself in tears! You can really see they put so much thought into the gifts they got each other. They’re not expensive – just a few dollars each. But the excitement they had in telling me who each gift was for – it was really overwhelming! I was SO proud of them!
The Sparkle Box is full of their gifts for Jesus….and they add more things every day! I LOVE – that THEY LOVE – to think of ways to serve Christ!
It was just a month ago that I was fighting to keep my family together. It was just a month ago I was pleading for my Haitian kids to travel with us. It was just a month ago that I was praying that my girls would NEVER feel like outsiders in this family.
Now I’m watching them play in the snow together- shop for little gifts for each other – and bake with their Nana.
I sit here tonight – tears streaming down my cheeks…… incredibly grateful …….and completely humbled……by this crazy & diverse family – my MIGHTY God knit together!
You guys are amazing! Your family is beautiful too! Have a wonderful Christmas Jody and fam!!!
Thank you for sharing your family’s abundant joy! My heart is celebrating with you.
Reblogged this on Genesis Rise and commented:
Christmas has always been an experience in the Owen home. Having not believed in Santa Clause growing up, it took quite some getting used to for me! haha. The author of this blog is my sister in law, Jody who is a fantastic gift giver, but also a master at making memories. Enjoy her thoughts and all the fun pictures of the our last few days together.