2nd Annual "A Child's Hope" Gala

This past weekend, our family had the opportunity to go to Houston to attend the 2^nd Annual Charity Gala for A Child’s Hope (the organization I work for that is building an academy in Haiti.) The gala is something that we really anticipate! J

This year, our whole family got to go (last year, Dad was on a business trip in St. Louis.) We drove down on Thursday, despite the rain and hail we encountered as we left! :-P We made it down there in time to check into our hotel and then go out for dinner.

We ended up at a local pizza place. The food was good, and different!

When we got back to the hotel, we donned swimsuits and headed down to the pool. It’s not often we get to swim at hotels anymore. Unlike the northern states, most of the hotel pools here in the south are outdoors. Somehow or another, we end up in hotels during the few months of the year when it’s too cold to swim outdoors!

The next morning we slept in a little bit and then went down to breakfast together. Afterward, we ironed our clothes for that evening, and then headed over to the gala venue to help get things ready. We assisted with a variety of tasks, including setting up the items for the silent auction, setting up my table with the missions trip info, and helping sort, label, and stuff the programs for the evening.

After a few hours, we headed back to our hotel to get ready for the actual gala! We knew it would take awhile considering 7 people needed to share two bathrooms. J

All dressed and ready!

When we arrived at the gala, I stood by my table and chatted with people about missions trips. The rest of the family mingled, talked with the missionaries from Haiti and with our friend who flew down from Michigan, and enjoyed the hors d’oeuvres. The silent auction also went on in one of the rooms.

Our table all set for dinner.

A friend of mine that I met through the College Plus program lives down in the Houston area. We had an extra seat at our table, so we invited her to join us! When she arrived, I enjoyed catching up with her. She also does a lot of work in Haiti, so we have a good deal in common. J

Finally, dinner time rolled around. J The food was delicious! But what I enjoyed the most was getting off my feet for a little while. :-P

During the dinner, we had a program. Several board members spoke, and several videos were shown about the work being done in Haiti. This was followed by the live auction. That is always interesting, and slightly nerve wracking for the board. It went well, and $105,000 was raised just through that!

After that, a band started playing and they opened up the dance floor. I stayed by my table for a little bit to try and pass out as many informational pamphlets on the mission trips as I could before people left. But then I joined the dance party for awhile. J

Mom and Dad with our friend, Miss D, from Michigan (she went down to Haiti with us in 2012.)

Me with my friend H in front of the mission trip table.

I don’t think we went to bed that night until 1:30 a.m. It was a long day, but so much fun!

             

The next morning, we couldn’t sleep in much. We went down to breakfast and packed our things up in order to make it back over to the conference center by 10:00 a.m. We helped load all the silent auction stuff back into the box truck so it could be delivered. Then we went out to lunch with the missionaries and part of the board so that we could discuss mission trip details.

The restaurant was really nice and the food was delicious! It was great to have some time with the board members.

After that, we headed back home. It was a short weekend, but we really enjoyed it! We are excited about the upcoming mission trips and look forward to the next gala!