Walkin' Barefoot Through Life: Misison of Yahweh & Cho-Yeh Christmas

Yesterday was a perfect day! I cannot imagine a better way to start off my first *official* day of Christmas Break!

My alarm went off at 7:00, and instead of hitting snooze a bazillion times like normal, I woke up full of energy--ready to get the day started!

My church went down to the Mission of Yahweh to, essentially, play with kids. The Mission of Yahweh is a shelter for homeless women and children, mostly who have come from abusive situations. Yesterday, families from the community were lined up for hours to get into Sister Gay's house (the lady who founded the Mission). Families received some chicken, canned goods, apples, and then a wrapped toy for each of their children. While the parents were in line, the children were sent to us. Our job: to play. I spent most of my time face painting, and holding this one dear little girl, Marlen. She did not speak English, and was probably 2 years old. When I picked her up, it was like she had never been held before. With my minute remembrance of Spanish I was able to figure out her name, and tell her "Jesus te ama" (Jesus loves you). I held her for over an hour, just holding her close. When her mother came and picked her up, I was so sad to see her go. We saw over 500 kids that day, and it simply broke my heart.

After the Mission of Yahweh I came home to get ready for the CHO-YEH CHRISTMAS PARTY!!! To say I was excited would be an understatement. It was "tacky" themed, and so a trip to my mother's closet solved that issue. I wore mis-matched Christmas socks, jeans, a lime green long-sleeve t-shirt, a red sweater vest with different colored patches on it that was Christmasy. Then I had 3 headbands that I attached together. I was STYLING!

About 4:00 I headed out to Livingston. The party was at the camp director's house, and so about 5:30 or so I roll on in. It was so good to see everybody, and the immense amount of hugs and greetings was amazing. It was like a huge family reunion! After the mingling, we watched the Staff Video from this summer, AMAZING! It brought back so many memories, and made my excitement for Summer '11 grow even more... Yeah, I didn't think that was possible either. After the video, we had some awesome Praise and Worship. Then Garret had a devotional, and then more talking and hugging and "I love yous". Around 10:00 we left Garret's and headed to Cho where we would be staying that night. We were greeted with a "Welcome Home" sign (they know us too well!). Carley, Libby, Jessica, Allie and I (Carley and Libby were on WC this summer too, just previous sessions) set up our bunks and dropped off our stuff and changed from our tackiness to warmer clothes. About 10:45 we met up with about 15 other Cho-Yehers at the Saturday night Livingston hot spot, Walmart, and sang Christmas carols in front of the store. Oh the people who are out at Walmart at 11:00 in Livingston! By about midnight we were back at camp, and a couple of us decided to hang out in the cabin, and get some sleep.

This morning, Carley and I were up and packed up and out of the cabin by 7:30. We took a drive around camp, savoring the last few minutes of being "Chome" (cho-home). We then said goodbye and departed camp... until MidWinter Madness in February!

The weekend was phenomenal. I am so blessed to have this Cho-family that I do, and the opportunity to spend 10 weeks there next summer. :)