A Gift of Love at Christmas Time
"I love you and miss you dearly. I'll be home soon and I promise not to leave you again. With all my love. Billie Da Kidd"
The note was attached to a bag filled with art supplies, a doll, and a Darth Vader game. Gifts for the children of Billie Da Kidd who is spending Christmas in Mobile County Metro Jail.
“A Gift of Love at Christmas Time” started 15 years ago when Julie James was ministering to women in the jail on Christmas Eve. Women thinking of the children they were missing and the gifts they couldn't give. James found a way to lift their spirits and show God's love. The inmates fill out an application, writing down the names and ages of their children. At the bottom of the application is Julie's motto from Proverbs 13:12, "hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life."
Empty lines are space a personal note -- words of love, encouragement, hope and desires.
"The Holy Ghost told me to leave room for the note. The gift is all about the note," James said. "For kids, this is a rare connection to the parent they don't get to see. It is a reminder that they aren't forgotten."
The notes say, "I will love you forever and a day," "Be good and always respect your elders," and "I will be home next Christmas. I promise." Or, "Hello my babies. I am so sorry I'm not there with you all, but I want you to know you will always be in my heart and I love you to life."
Gifts of footballs, basketball goals, bikes, wagons, teddy bears, dump trucks, paint-by-numbers, and makeup sets donated by churches filled all of the pews in the sanctuary of The Church of the Good Shepard con collection day. Gifts are delivered on Christmas Eve by 30 volunteers to 500 kids across Mobile and Baldwin Counties. I delivered gifts with James to doors in Chickasaw and Prichard, some covered in wrapping paper, decorated with stickers, or next to a flag on a 65-degree day that said, "Let It Snow."
A door opened to a five-year-old girl who danced and hugged the leg of her grandmother when she saw the gift from her mother. As she told of her Christmas party at school, the older woman patted her head and said, "Her mother needs to straighten up and come back and help raise this child. If she doesn't, I will always be here to care for her."
A bag with the note, "I love you son. Merry Christmas. Love momma" was delivered to a house wrapped in Christmas lights. The son she loves is now in the guardianship of her mother, who also adopted a nephew. Both boys are 13 and their pictures are all over the living room. Limping around the living room in a boot from a broken ankle, she asks for help calling her daughter in prison. She says most days raising the two boys is a blessing. .
Down the street, Julie stopped to give McDonald's gift certificates to four boys playing basketball. None are on her list.
"I always have extra gifts and gift cards,” she said. “My grandmama taught me you can't give something anyone, you can't give it to everyone. If there are other kids in the family who aren't on the list, they get a gift, too."
As a grandfather received the gifts, he said, "God is a God of love and giving brings joy. That is what you are delivering today," he said. "You better leave now because I am starting to preach. Have a prosperous new year. We serve a God of progression and next year will be better for all of us."
The next note said, "Merry Christmas. I hope to see you soon and I love you forever and a day."
A shirtless boy in pajama pants followed by a younger sister and a baby in diapers opened the door. He smiled and grabbed the bag of gifts from the mother who will love him forever and a day. Hugging us became a game between the brother and his younger sisters. Each one taking a turn. As we left he said, "tell my mother thank you."
Our last stop was delivering gift cards to teenage sisters, but it was the inmate's older brother who opened the door. "These gifts are from my brother. He has been in jail for one year and four months for first-degree robbery. They are trying to put him away for ten years. He is 23 and I am 24. We were both born in December. We have always been so close." He wiped away a tear and said he can't imagine being without his brother for that long.
As we drove away, Julie talked with her nephew and promised him gas money to help him get home to her family for Christmas. "I am a mother figure and believe in the sacrifice of love," she said. "Love is so much more than money. Your love and presence matters. Your children won’t remember all of the stuff you gave them, but they will remember your acts of love."
"I want every one of the kids receiving a gift today to know that someone loves them. I want their parents in prison to know that, too."
Merry Christmas. Your love and presence matters.
