Remembering Christmas in Haiti

For a long time Jess and I spent some part of Christmas with our kids in Haiti. Sometimes we came home on or around Christmas Day to spend time with family and other years we stayed in Haiti the whole time. It has been very strange and very difficult for the past 4 years to not even have the option.

I remember Christmas there with as being a much simpler and less hectic time. The kids got out of school for the better part of a month, and there are always celebrations. I remember when our kids got old enough, they would spend the night at the church we attended on Christmas Day night and worship and sing for hours.

We would always be blessed to have Christmas gifts for the kids. One year we had stockings donated by a church, another year by an ATN Club at a local school that was run by a student and his mom. We always had gifts donated by sponsors and churches would usually pitch in for other things.

I even went back and searched the "Christmas in Haiti" blogs, and there are a lot of them. One of them was the year that Zeke came home with us and spent Christmas in America when he was just 7 months old. 

My point in this blog is not really just to remember Christmas in Haiti though it was really fun. My point is how disconnected we can sometimes feel from our kids and our ministry down there...If we feel disconnected I know that many of you do as well, and probably to an even greater degree. 

I can get caught up in life here, and even when I talk with Gina or Lener or even with the kids, it is not the same as it used to be. We have been here for a long time and they have been there without us for a long time.

Right now, however, as difficult as it can be to try to remember something that you can no longer have (ie being in Haiti), it is important to do so. It has been important for me to remember what it was like spending December with the kids. To see their faces when they opened their gifts. To eat the Christmas feast with them and then to not eat the pumpkin soup that you are supposed to eat on New Years Day but only because I don't really like pumpkin soup and it is too hot to eat it anyway.

Join me in remembering. If you have been down there, remember what it was like. If you have not, remember the connection you felt when you sent your kid shoes or gifts or pictures or anything else. Let's do our best this Christmas not lose the connection we enjoy with the kids we love in Haiti.