Christmas!!

Christmas is just two months away. Sitting in my room in shorts and a tshirt, sweating in the 90 degree weather, it doesn’t feel like that should be possible. But it is! I’ve got lots of mixed feelings about Christmas this year. On the one hand, I get to be with my family and I’m so excited that I don’t have to be alone on this holiday. On the other hand, I can’t help but to think of the kiddos in the children’s home. Not my kiddos. Not my seven that I get the privilege to teach each week, I know that they’re going to have a good Christmas. A team recently came and left beach balls, plastic golf clubs, flip-flops and more. They will wake up on Christmas morning and experience the joy of opening toys from Santa and spend the rest of the day destroying… I mean, playing with… those toys :) It’s the older kids that I worry about.

Like so many before me, when I first entered the children’s home I was drawn straight to the youngest inhabitants. I hugged and kissed and laughed and played with all the five, six, and seven year olds. It took me a month before I spoke to the teenagers, longer to learn their names, and it’s just now getting to the point where they will call out to say hello to me. It took nearly three months for me to feel comfortable talking to them, to joke with them, to remember their names. I’m ashamed by this. Unfortunately, it happens to these teenagers all too often. Everyone wants to see the little kids, to take their pictures, to laugh with them….while the older ones watch.

And now we’ve come to the reason that I worry about them. So many Americans hear the words ‘children’s home’ and think that the kids living there are 12 and younger. But that’s only about half of the children living there! In reality, there are kids as old as 20 living at the house! What will their Christmas look like? Will they have anything donated by Americans for them to open on Christmas morning? I’m sure that Katelyn and Lackis (the house parents) will provide something for these kids to open, but will it look like what the little kids have? I’m afraid it won’t… and I’m not okay with that.

Can you help? Has God blessed you with unexpected extra money this month? Will you receive a nice Christmas bonus this December? Is there any way you could cut out the pumpkin spice lattes and the peppermint hot chocolates? Listen, I love Starbucks just as much as all of you other typical white girls out there and I know how big of a sacrifice it would be to cut this out! I miss Starbucks so badly and there are days when… wait, off topic! Sorry! Back to the kids. I just want them to be able to open something they were hoping for on Christmas morning. Not clothes that don’t fit or a plastic golf club.

It’s because of your generosity that I am in Haiti right now. You! People I know and love, and even some people I have never met have donated money to send me to do God’s work in Haiti. I don’t know if you guys know this, but I am fully funded. I have been meaning to put a Facebook post out there to let everyone know that the $10,000 that I needed to live in Haiti for a year has been raised. Thank you so much! It was such a lofty goal that I didn’t think would be met by December, let alone by October! I want to thank you for your obedience to God and your willingness to donate your money to help support me. If I could, I want to push for a little more. Could we raise $1,000 more? That money would go 100% to the teenagers at the children’s home to help them have a good Christmas. This money would buy them new clothes that fit, new shoes that match and don’t have the soles worn out of them. It would buy nail polish, soccer balls, headphones, movies… Please pray about this request.

This is heavy on my heart today because of a conversation I had with Katelyn on the way to church this morning. I asked why none of the older girls were coming to church with us today. She frowned and told me that they didn’t have clothes. I kinda rolled my eyes, because as a girl, I say that all the time. “I literally have nothing to wear today…”  but that usually happens when I’m staring at a closet full of clothes and nothing jumps out at me. Katelyn said, “No seriously, they each only have one nice dress to wear to church. They wear the same dress every week and they’re tired of it. They’re embarrassed to wear the same thing every week and see their friends there.” It breaks my heart, friends. In a culture where we rarely wear the same thing twice in one month, these girls are wearing the same things every week because our mission can’t afford to buy them anything new and all the clothes that get donated are for the younger children. As I was coming back from church, I saw one of our teenage boys standing outside the gate barefoot. I asked him why he didn’t go to church with everyone and he stared at his feet and said he didn’t have shoes to wear. His shoes just broke and he wasn’t allowed to go to church. Guys, these teenagers need Jesus. They need to know there is hope for them and that someone loves them more than anything else in this world. They need to know they are redeemed and they are priceless jewels to our King. But they are being kept from church due to something so simple as shoes and dresses.

If you would like to help, please contact me at brittany.gilbreat@gmail.com. A friend and I are in the process of organizing a shoe and dress drive to collect items that these teenagers need. My parents are coming to visit in December and they will be bringing some items with them as well. However, if you would like to donate money, that would be amazing!! Since I’m here, it’s hard to get money to me. Please make checks out to Tammy or Michael Gilbreath. They will deposit the money into my account and I will give everything we collect to Miss Katelyn and Mr. Lackis (the house parents) so that they can go buy presents for the teenagers. My goal is $1,000! I know my God is an amazing God and that He will do more than we can ask for or even imagine! I also know you and I know that you guys amazed me with your giving once before. Let’s do this together! :)

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.... You are serving the Lord Christ." ~ Colossians 3:23-24