Christmas

Day 7 Christmas

Waking up on Christmas morning was very different this year! We did not wake up to our children anxious to sneak out and see what Santa left. There was no cold snow outside on the ground. Waking up on Christmas morning in Jamaica was warm sunshine and 30 some brown children excited and anxious to eat the sweeties in their stockings and open the wrapped presents. This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.  Everyone was up early for Christmas morning. The Jake’s house boys were excited, up, and eager to start present opening. The boys all had an assortment of gifts and a stocking with sweeties. The big hit for Christmas was the remote control cars. Each boy also got a scooter, hat, clothes, and a hair brush. The hair brush cracked me up, especially when one boy, Jeheim looked at it with a confused face and put it up to his bald head. They also got nerf guns and one big keyboard for playing music. The big surprise was the push carts. At first the boys were more into their other gifts to even bother to come see them. Later in the day, they all took turns pushing and riding it. It didn’t take long for it to fall apart. The front axle would fall off, then the steering was out. The steering was just a rope attached to the front axle.  The kids just flipped it over and put things back in place.

The babies and toddlers opened their gifts after they had their morning porridge. They all had stockings by their bed when they woke up full of sweeties. I happily sat on the bench with Aldane and helped as he opened his gifts. He got his scooter first thing and had to take it outside and try it out. Next he opened his remote control car. He wanted to run it, but he also wanted to hold on to his scooter. He was very possessive of his new things. He also wanted to savor each and every gift keeping them in a bag and opening them over a period of time. It wasn’t long and his Pod Mom started opening his gifts for him. That made me sad and him upset. They quickly labeled each and every gift with their names. He also got a hat, book, stuffed animal, and movie. The house was full of kids smiling, excited and full of sweeties. They carried their stockings of candy until it was gone. The little toddlers got four wheel ride on scooters. The little girls got their first baby doll. All the 5 to 7 year olds got 2 wheel scooters.
 

All the children got cute new pajamas too. We got lots of photos with the photo props too. The air was filled with excitement and smiles. I could picture the boys at home waking up at Grandma’s house, waling down the stairs to the Christmas tree. There would be a John Deere dump truck sitting there with a New Holland Forage Harvestor for Jacob and a giant Nerf gun for Luke. I would like to have seen their faces.

We were on dishes duty again. After cleaning, we did some Christmas crafts with the kids. I brought foam nativity crafts. We also painted fingernails and made rubber band braclets. THe kids played with their remote control cars intil they were begging for new batteries. It did not take long for them to have their cars in pieces.

In the afternoon Katie and Vicki had us in there apartment to thank us and talk about our experience. They also gave us the scoop on Jamaica and adoption. It has taken 3 years to get Lou, Sue, and Sun adopted, Little Joshua has yet to go before a court to determine his birth date and name. According to the old way, one could go to the orphanage and hand pick a child. Today it is all done computerized. You tell if you want a boy or a girl and what age and a computer randomly chooses a child for you. You can not specify. I think that is sad and heartbreaking. It is so important to bond with a child before adopting. There are kids here that I have felt a bond with and could see adopting. The natural bond is so important. We prayed as a group with Katie and Vicki about all of this and their needs.

We were able to Skype with Mark’s parents on Christmas Day around 5PM. The whole family was there including my parents. We could see the boys and talked to them a little, then they passed the kindle around the room. It froze up so we could not see anyone only hear them. It was still pretty cool to be able to communicate and see one another across the ocean.
At night the little kids all sat and watched a movie. I was hoping to tuck the boys in for the night with Christmas prayers. They remained in front of the television extra late tonight and our team had a group meeting, so I never got to. That was kind of sad. I did sit with the kids for a little while during the movie. I had three little girls in my lap. I felt like I was holding triplets. Each of them was close in age around 18 months. So cute and so sweet as all three filled my lap on the floor. 

 
Wow, what a Christmas to remember. The Lord has been good to us and blessed us in so many ways. This was just a little way for us to give back and to share God's love to the least of these. 
On this Day, a savior has been born unto you, he is Christ the Lord.  Today we rejoice in the Savior.