A Christmas Party in February
`Before I talk about our Christmas party this past Saturday, it is important for me to remind everyone reading this of our Jacksonville Fundraiser coming up on Friday March 1. This is going to be a really good event this year at the Deerwood Country Club, and I hope that everyone reading this in Jacksonville can come and invite a friend with you. The focus of the night is going to be telling the story of how ATN came to be and encouraging everyone in attendance to become a sponsor. We will be FaceTiming in from Haiti with our kids, and there will be a special video highlighting Apolon (one of our older boys) and his story of how he ended up with us. You truly do not want to miss this event we call “A Taste of Haiti.” Click here to register.
The Christmas party this past Saturday was a blast. Thank you to everyone who helped us purchase gifts, sent cards/pictures, collected supplies, and prayed for this event. One time per year our kids get to choose a gift, and it is a lot of fun to be there to see them open it. Some of the highlights of this year were Appolon still being in negotiations to purchase a male and female goat, 3 of the older boys getting bikes, and the look on Tilene and Babyson’s faces when they opened (what I believe to be) their first Christmas gifts. The party itself was a blast. The kids chose the menu, put together a program that consisted mainly of the girls dancing (though there will be a video of Babyson’s dance moves on Facebook very soon), and were allowed to invite a friend to the party. Woodly will no longer DJ the affair, so we recruited Wesner (one of our employees) who immediately recruited his sister and she did a great job. We hired some local “speaker guys” who brought way too much speaker for the space we were in, and we just had a good time.
I also want to say a special thank you to Jenn, Carrie, Christian, Bill, Jim, Sue, Brad, Katherine, and Brian. These guys came down from Jacksonville and LaGrange to bring the gifts and to be a part of this special day for the kids. It was really a blessing for our kids and I believe it was for them as well. We have such great supporters, and we are so thankful for all of you. If you are reading this, please do whatever you can to make plans to be at our Christmas party next January or February. You will not regret it, and it is definitely one of our best trips of the year!