Merry Christmas!


Well Christmas is almost here, and A’Dell is chomping at the bit to open up her gifts Christmas morning. She told my husband and I–“Don’t worry, I’ll wake y’all up Christmas morning!” What a relief, I was worried about that–NOT. It is wonderful that when you grow up that pure joy you used to feel when you saw a gift for yourself under the tree is now felt when you see the joy in the eyes of others opening up a gift you picked out or made special for them.
This Thursday my cousin Jacob Campsey, who is a football coach in Rockdale,TX, won the State Championship! We are so proud of him and his team. Jakey has loved football pretty much since the day he was born I think. One of my favorite stories about him is that during church one day, when the preacher raised his hands up to bless something during mass–little Jakey mistakenly yelled out “Touchdown!” They do kind of make the referees touchdown gestures, so I can see how such a passionate little football fan got confused. I’ll bet it was the best church service ever. Unfortunately, we are the same age, so I’d be too young to remember it.
Over $7,800 was raised in our annual Christmas Light Challenge fundraiser for HANK’s local foster kids this year. We do this fundraiser each year in honor of my Grandma and Grandpa Pat and Kitty DuBose. Grandma was orphaned at birth as her mother died during child birth and her father then abandoned her. Many days she marveled at how she started out alone but grew up, got married, and ended up with such a large family with dozens of grandkids and great-grandkids, and even a great-great grandkid. That’s my hope for all of these foster children who are alone in this world–that they will all know the love of a big family someday. And it’s also the reason we do this fundraiser for HANK each year, as I believe HANK truly brings so much comfort and joy to the many local foster children in our community. They always make sure each and every one of them gets a nice Christmas gift, and even better than that, they are funding 2 local foster homes (in Devine and Hondo). These homes are reserved for local foster children, and they each have 6 beds, making it possible for caseworkers to place families of 6 children in the same home together with their brothers and sisters. That’s something I’ve been told is nearly impossible most of the time, as most small foster homes don’t have 6 open beds, so siblings end up being separated most of the time–during what must be a very scary time in their lives.
Merry Christmas everyone! Don’t forget to enjoy the gift of giving this Christmas!