A Special Thank You To Those That Sent A Gift For
"Christmas At The Door Of Hope!"
Robyn decorated the dining room in red and white with balloons and table cloths. Since we have only about 12 of us here right now because a few had some relatives in their village to visit for the holiday, we split our big double dining room table into two sections, one for dining and the other for the buffet.
We started the day with scrambled eggs with onions and tomatoes along with fresh mangoes, and chapatis served with hot milk and tea. Everyone received their own apple too! Apples and milk are luxury items here, and they don't get eggs often so this was a pretty special Christmas breakfast.
After several hours at church we had lunch!
Lunch was a buffet today serving goat stew, rice, motooke, fried whole potatoes, yams, cooked cabbage, fruit salad bowl with watermelon and apples. We also had fish for a couple of non meat eaters. We had a green salad of cabbage and tomatoes with onions with home made Thousand Island dressing. And to top it off, everyone enjoyed their favorite soda with their meal. Having meat at this meal was pretty special along with other things, like soda. So the gift we received for this meal, and to make this day special, was quite a blessing to our family!
We had a "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake for dessert! Robyn said, instead of blowing out the candle on His birthday cake, we are lighting a candle. I thought that was an awesome idea!
The best part was the stories after dinner. The realization that we are doing more for these kids than we ever thought. This was the first Christmas dinner that they had ever been a part of especially sitting a round a table together. One reason is because they haven't had a family to celebrate Christmas together. They went around the table and gave testimonies of their life especially this past year here with us at the Door Of Hope. Three of them had literally been on the street prior to coming here. Peter, who works as an administrative assistant in our office, has a sister (Jennifer)here in our family. He is 24 years old and was extremely appreciative of joining us today and said not only was it his first time to have a Christmas dinner like this, but he was so happy to celebrate Christmas with his sister for the first time!
These are some of the gifts that were made possible by this donation too: Transportation to their village for those with relatives.
Leather sandals (2nd hand)
20 fleece jackets / pullovers (2nd hand)
2 coats (2nd hand)
Sweatshirt hoodie (2nd hand)
Windbreaker (2nd hand)
Jean jacket (2nd hand)
Six boys dress shirts (2nd hand)
Eleven girls blouses (2nd hand)
4 boys jeans (new)
One dress trouser (new)
Two dress shirts (new)
Two skirts (new)
One tailor made traditional dress (Jennifer had her own material)
One baby doll (new)
Airtime for a short phone call to a friend or relative
Two movie rental
Sweeties
This was all made possible by $344.75 donated specifically for this day!
We just never know how the Lord will use all of us in His blessings!