A Child's Hope Gala (Friday)

April 5^th dawned bright and early for me. There was so much anticipation! Ben and I left our hotel room around 7:15 a.m. to go work out in the gym. Once we finished, we returned to the room, got cleaned up, and then we all went to breakfast around 8:15 a.m.



This was the view from our floor at the hotel. Cityscape is fascinating and fun to visit, but I wouldn’t enjoy living in it.

I made a few phone calls in the morning to some of the board members at A Child’s Hope to find out if they needed help setting things up at the ballroom where the gala was being held. They had things under control for the time being, so we watched one of the movies we had brought and then went out to lunch.



Just a short walk from our hotel was a little gourmet sandwich shop called “Spicy Pickle.” They had the BEST paninis ever! I actually had an entirely vegetarian lunch which included their De Luca Panini (it had basil mayo, spinach, tomatoes, roasted red peppers and mozzarella cheese on rosemary foccacia) a cup of vegetable soup, and of course, a spicy pickle. I highly recommend it!

Photo Credit: Roma.

There was a Starbucks right next to Spicy Pickle, so we stopped there after we finished our lunch. While we were in there, I got a call back from one of the board members. She said we could come down and set up my booth, so we headed back to our hotel to drop a few things off and get our car.



On our walk back to the hotel, we stopped to pose by this statue in front of the business building next to our hotel. The weather was perfect the whole weekend we were in Houston.

Photo Credit: Betsy.

The ballroom was only about a 10-minute drive (in normal traffic) from our hotel. It was in the City Centre, a really beautiful district of town. We parked on the street and then walked a couple of blocks.

We received a warm welcome from all the board members when we walked in, and I enjoyed introducing them to the rest of the family. I got my booth all set up with brochures, applications, photo books, business cards, and a video with pictures and videos from our trip to Haiti. Right next to my booth they placed a sign and a big canvas picture of Valencia. J

 

We quickly hurried back to our hotel to change into our gala clothes and be back at the ballroom about an hour before it officially started.



We had so much fun getting dressed up for this formal event. How do we look? J

  Driving back to the ballroom took us through the height of rush-hour traffic. It took us closer to 20 minutes to get there. But we made it on time and were all in place when guests started arriving.



I had a fair number of people come by my booth. They also had a silent auction going on in another room. We had over 300 people come to the gala!

The rest of my family alternated between helping me out and mingling with the other guests. Someone brought me a Shirley Temple and a risotto appetizer which was appreciated. J



When I saw this picture, I knew I had to post it. J Ben looks so grown up in his suit with a drink in his hand (it was a Shirley Temple, just to clarify!)

Around 8:00 p.m., we sat down to a formal dinner. We had a course of salad and rolls with butter, followed by stuffed chicken and roasted vegetables. While we ate, they had a program going on. They introduced all the staff at A Child’s Hope, introduced the Emcee’s, and had a few of the board members speak.

While we ate a delicious dessert of tiramisu, the live auction began. They had hired a professional auctioneer, and boy could he talk fast! He did an incredible job. Between the live auction, silent auction, and everything else, the total amount raised greatly exceeded our expectations! God is so good!

After the live auction ended (around 10:00 p.m.) the band came on and they opened up the dance floor. I was able to dance for a song or two, but then I stayed at my table so I could talk more with people about the missions trips.

Photo Credit: Roma.

We were absolutely thrilled to spend most of our evening with the missionary couple from Haiti. They sat at our table, and we were able to visit a lot. They are both such a huge blessing to my family and me!

Photo Credit: Betsy.

Towards the end of the evening, a few of us started to get a bit slap-happy. J We had been at the gala for almost 7 hours.

Photo Credit: Roma.

Around 12:00 a.m., we finally called it quits and headed back to our hotel. It was so hard walking several blocks back to the car on the cobblestones when we had been in heels for 7 hours straight (and I had been on my feet most of that time.)

Photo Credit: Roma.

We arrived back at the hotel and immediately took those wretched things off our feet, and slowly started cycling through the shower. I didn’t make it to bed until 2:00 a.m., but it was so worth it. I was SO thankful for the way God had blessed the event and all that we had accomplished. It was truly a great success!

 

 

To be continued . . .