Last Christmas, before our 27th annual church Christmas party, I told Chris that party would be my last. Twenty-seven years of doing all the planning, shopping, cooking, baking, wrapping, bagging, packing and executing so that our people could come together and have fun celebrating the joy of Jesus’ birthday. It always took up full-time hours the whole of my December starting when Nathanel was a toddler and Javan was a little baby, before Ezra ever arrived. It was a lot for a young mom and over the years our party grew from fifteen or twenty people to crowds of a size that we could no longer meet inside our house. The 27th party was a lovely success and I felt God say, “Well done, my faithful servant!” I felt great peace about my decision and the permission to not have my whole December overshadowed by the many tasks and activities.
To my surprise, Chris decided in November that he still wanted to have a Christmas party. He has never expected me to take on jobs and fully supported my decision to retire from the party. So, he is in charge this year and has enlisted numerous members of our church community to help with the many tasks. The party is tomorrow and I am more excited to attend this party than I have ever been before. I volunteered to make the annual Christmas punch that everyone loves, but I will otherwise bear no responsibilities and will just be able to visit with the many people I love and play with all the babies.
Twenty eight years ago a Christmas party without me would not have been possible. But, over these past thirty years God has built this community that we started, of Christ’s own children, to become a family of love who support and care for one another. People often ask us as we move closer to the retirement years if the ministry will go on. We know that Christ’s Children will go on–not as an institution, but as a body of God’s children who care for one another. Chris and I take such joy and feel such satisfaction to see these many children that we accompanied as they grew up love and give back to our community in so many ways. We have the wise and steady man in his forties who is the “big brother” whose counsel is sought by many of our young men who want advice, a social worker who brings humanity and a heart for justice into his work that directly benefits our community, the barber who provides a listening ear and the important community that is the Black barber shop….the young man who helps Chris coach basketball and the highly dependable college student who can be called upon to fill in on providing transportation…Even more importantly, we are seeing a young generation of fathers who are providing for and being present and active in the lives of their children in ways that many of them did not experience from their fathers themselves.
Yesterday, we received a donation along with this note: “I’ve dreamed of the day I would finally be financially stable to be able to give back to Christ’s Children. I hope this isn’t my last donation, but I’m so happy I finally got my first donation. CC impacted my life in so many ways. Merry Christmas!”
In these days when our donors dwindle and retire or move on to glory, we appreciate every donation. But, I don’t think we’ve ever received a donation that has brought us greater joy. We are seeing a generation of young people who are working hard, building solid careers and homes, parenting with attention and faithfulness, loving God and encouraging one another. I don’t know if we always thought we would live to see such a day, through the many ups and downs over these past thirty years, the heartaches, losses and disappointments. But there have been so many joys and so much love. And Chris and I are still here, loving and lifting up the name of Jesus. We are celebrating the lovely work of Jesus–that blessed baby who came to turn the values and systems of the world upside down and call people to a new life. We wish you and yours a blessed and joyful Christmas!
Christ's Children Ministries 
Beautiful!