April 5th 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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We
had so much fun getting dressed up for this formal event. How do we look? J
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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.
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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!
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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
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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!)
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 . . .
4 comments:
I am catching up on your blog and enjoyed reading about your neat experience with the gala and A Child's Hope! It is encouraging and so good to see all that you are doing, Bianca, to try to help the orphans in Haiti. I am sure it has included a lot of stepping out of your comfort zone, and I have been impressed with the work that you are doing and the effort that you making. And may those efforts be richly blessed!
You all look wonderful, Bianca! :) I like dressing up for formal events as well! :) It's nice to hear how everything is going with your work on Hope Hill. May the Lord continue to bless and use you and your family!
Have a blessed week!
Joyfully His,
Alexis
Thank you for your comment, Sarah! All the efforts being made to help the orphans in Haiti have indeed stretched my comfort zone, but I am growing a lot as a result of that! I am learning so much, and loving every minute of it!
~Bianca
Thank you for your sweet comment, Alexis! :-) I am very excited about all that is going on with the project in Haiti, and look forward to seeing what is going to happen this year and in the future!
~Bianca
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