On Christmas Eve – we threw a VERY unexpected Christmas Party for ALL of the kids on our campus!! 

As many of you already know, the boat docks in Port-de-Paix have been closed for the past few months. Currently, our crates are FULL & sitting in Kentucky – waiting to be shipped to Haiti.

Unfortunately, all of the Christmas gifts we had collected for the orphanage, staff, staffs’ children, my children, as well as the various holiday decorations, lights, & supplies  – weren’t able to be here on time.

We have been grasping at straws, running through various plans/options, and stressing about how we can pull off even the most minimal Christmas Celebrations. We were able to figure out a few things by using MFI to fly in smaller/lighter packages as well as filling-up Malaya’s 2 suitcases with presents.

Everyone on campus is WELL AWARE that everything we need for the holiday season is in the crates. We have joked that it will likely be Easter before we can celebrate! I told the kids we can celebrate His resurrection with just as much joy as we do His birth! (Although we pray we can get our supplies in sooner than that).

We would like to give a HUGE THANKS to Tom & Sharon Snivley. Though I know they don’t need any sort of recognition- we want to personally express our gratitude for their kindness.  They purchased and shipped 48 backpacks, each pre-filled with 20 different school supplies. We had enough to give EVERY single child a bag – even the staff’s children who live on campus. They arrived in the Mole this past week! Seriously – we were wrapping gifts and trying to pull off this celebration just a few days before Christmas.

There is NO candy in the Mole, but we were able to purchase some in PAP and send it up with Malaya. We added candy & a jar of peanut butter to each bag.

The children went to bed around 8pm. After they were settled in, the Castillo Clan went to the cafeteria and set-up the tables with gifts. We brought over mattresses & sheets so the kids could lay down and watch movies all night long.

Momma Gigi made Haitian donuts and homemade hot chocolate. When we woke up the children just before 10pm, they were greeted with this special treat! They stayed all night in the cafeteria until 6am in the morning! We made enough popcorn to snack on all night. Tizzie also made a special breakfast for the kids – which they happily devoured right before they got dressed and headed to church!

This was TRULY an unexpected & spectacular surprise party! Since we weren’t able to plan it until the very last minute, it remained a complete secret…even the mommas didn’t know about it!

Below are some pictures from our small but special Christmas Party!

WRAPPING & PREP FOR THE PARTY

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🎁TIME FOR PRESENTS  🎁

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MOVIES, CANDY & POPCORN PLUS

BREAKFAST & HOT CHOCOLATE