Dear Friends,

As many of you know, Philip and live with 300 street kids who were at mortal risk.We provide them with a home, schooling and vocational training, internships and finally jobs.They go to our church, where they are exposed to the Gospel and eternal hope—something they have little of when they come to us.Below is my encounter last year with Jacqueline right before Christmas.

Thank you for supporting us.We love what we do, so thanks for making it possible, and have a Merry Christmas!

Last night we had a birthday celebration with some of the girls from Hope Ranch at the shopping mall.Santa was there, waiting for children to come over and ask him for the presents they wanted.He beckoned our girls to come over, but they were too timid and hung back.One of our youngest, Jacqueline, looked longingly at Santa.I urged her to go forward and chat with him.

"I can't," she said, pulling closer to me."Why not?" I asked."Because it would be wrong to ask for anything."At that moment Jolly Santa came over and implored the girls, "Have faith and believe.You must believe and your dreams will come true!"I felt my anxiety growing.I didn't want our girls to have any more disappointments in their young lives.Not if it could be avoided.As we turned to walk away, Jacqueline dropped back.Out of the corner of my eye I saw her sprint over to Santa and whisper something in his ear.Later that evening, Santa came up to me and whispered in my ear, "She wants a bicycle."

Near the end of our birthday celebration Jacqueline took my hand and looked up at me with her big, beautiful, innocent eyes."Santa won't really bring me what I asked for, will he?"Her question showed she knew the impossibility, but her eyes were full of hope.It broke my heart to say, "Probably not, sweetheart."Our seventy girls share six pairs of roller blades—and are happy they have them.The one's with small feet stuff socks in the toes, and the one's with the bigger feet still squish their feet in there and leave the laces open a bit.The thought of a bicycle to share seems a long way off.

Our children are happy.They are thrilled with having a warm bed, food to eat, and house parents who love them.They know what it means to have nothing, and they dare not set their expectations too high for holidays like Christmas.

However, just as any parent wants to make Christmas day magical, we would like to give each child some nice toys along with their Christmas goodies.This is not possible without the sacrificial giving of loving people like you.December is already by far our most expensive month.

While we do want our children to experience the joy of receiving something under the Christmas tree, we are teaching them to know that we are celebrating the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ.Their faith is not in Santa.Their faith is in their Heavenly Father, who will always guide their paths, just as He guided them to the City of Youth, where we ourselves have been blessed by the joy of watching them grow each day, learning to be loving, caring, productive, individuals who will make a difference in the world in which they will someday serve.

Merry Christmas.Thank you for all you do throughout the year to make our children's dreams come true.

Philip and Corenne Smith