Okay, so this is why I get so darn stressed every Christmas season-- but it is fully worth every ounce of added tension.
My friends and I, each year, "adopt" Refugee families.
This year, we scaled down and only took on 20 families-- but still a huge undertaking.
Just getting the boxes, bikes and goodies (and our own families) loaded into cars takes a miracle.
Channel 2 showed up to give some air time to these families in need-- the forgotten segment of society.
This little boy from Iraq got just what he wanted-- thanks to the generosity of one of my friends. Her family
and all of her in-laws adopted this little family and gave them more than they even asked for.
This is my core group of friends - we've been doing this for about 8 years.
We call ourselves the "ELFs"-- the Eternal League of Friends and we recruit
our other friends and relatives to help us help others.
Perfect example: here's my friend, April and her four children who
adopted this little family from Burhma. We all got involved in this
project first, for the need of those we help and secondly, to teach our
children that Christmas is really about giving and not getting.
So here are my children giving.....
We had part of this family from Nepal/Bhutan-- the boy in the plaid shirt is Chandra.
He is 17. And that is his little sister, Mengala who is 14. Chandra spoke excellent English
and we all were quite charmed by them.
Many years in the past, we've had families who did not speak more than a few
words of English. Yet, somehow, we had no problem communicating or
understanding when it came time to say goodbye and they said thank you!
Our children love, love, love this tradition.
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