I love December. It is my favorite month of the year. I love the sights and smells, the twinkling lights, the anticipation of Christmas. We have special music, special food, special decorations, special everything for this month.

Things are different in Haiti in December though - especially this year. Streets are not lined with light, there aren't decorated trees in windows, or smells of special Christmas treats baking. Instead, angry protesters are shouting and burning tires. Anxious families stay home and away from the crowds. There is no feeling of anticipation, just one of dread and fear.

Gabou decorating the Christmas Tree

So, in order to help us feel like it is truly December and to prepare our hearts for Christmas, I decided to take the children on an Advent adventure with me.  Another missionary in Haiti shared a Jesse (Jesus) Tree advent devotion with me. I decided it was perfect to use along with the Jesus Storybook Bible to share the whole story of Christ with the children. I made a tree from paper bags, and set about making the small ornaments to put on the tree. Each ornament represents a part of Jesus' lineage, all the way from Adam and Eve through the generations until his birth. We meet for devotions each morning, and the best listener gets to put the piece up. The children look forward to this time with great anticipation, which is the point! I pray they are seeing how God used imperfect people in His redemption plan, and how God adopted us into his family, just like Ruth and Rahab.

Celine showing her ornament

Having some "regular" Christmas happenings is important to me as well. I bought a Christmas tree at the store, and a visiting missionary put sparkling colorful lights on it. This week I had the children make ornaments to decorate. We now have dazzling beaded stars all over the tree. The girls made paper chains to wrap around it. We turn the lights on every night, and the children love to visit the tree in the office. It is very attractive to mosquitoes so we keep it inside (and away from little hands, as well!) I hung white lights in my tent house and the older kids came and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas with me. We have a Christmas party coming with a mission team and a Christmas program planned for December 24. The children have been busy learning Christmas songs to sing and play on their flutes. 

I pray that through this time of preparation, the children come to know Christ in a new way - in a personal way.  I pray that somehow they would know that he came as a baby, just like them, to love them and redeem them.  Please join me this Christmas season in praying for the children in the orphanage.