Nothing deterred the “A” (a.ka. Angel ) Team from a very
important Christmas mission …shopping! Several of St.
Francis’ youth took on this special shopping trip to help make
Christmas a little brighter for the Velazquez family of East
Montgomery County. The Mack children - Alex and Patricia,
Patricia’s friend Rachel, Cindy Mack, Devin Colvin, Nicholas
Pavelka, Jonathon Trebilco and I met at Wal Mart on a very
wet Wednesday before Christmas.
Provided with a wish list from Mom for her four little girls,
the A-Team set out to spend the generous contributions of St.
Francis parishioners. In order to complete their mission a strategy was put into
place. Two groups divided to conquer, with one group taking over the children’s
clothes department and the other attacked the bicycles. Patricia, Rachel and
Nicholas quickly gave the bicycles and helmets their seal of approval, but the clothes
department proved to be the most challenging part of the mission. Too many cute
things to choose from: long sleeves vs. short sleeves, jeans vs. adorable dresses. Is
3T the same as 3? “Where are the size 2’s?” I think this is where we lost the guys…
Practicality won out with Jonathon totaling price tags, yet we finally escaped that
department with darling shoes, socks, pajamas, jeans and shirts!
A baby walker was selected for the littlest Velazquez, then we headed back to the
toy department. “Dora the Explorer” is not just an explorer ----- she’s a doctor, a
cowgirl, an artist, a lifeguard, a dancer… Rachel and Patricia delighted us with a
unanimous decision. By this time we had pretty much shopped till we dropped.
Our mission took us back to St. Francis where our always faithful John Fancher
had already arrived to unlock the building and unload the gifts. Jane Pavelka
arrived to help us wrap and even Robert Mack got in on the action by coming over
with an air pump to fill the tires of one of the bikes. We were all very appreciative of
the pizza that Cindy provided which we inhaled! The packages were wrapped and
loaded in my car as everyone said a tired good-night. The A team would sleep well!
A Kroger gift card was also purchased and delivered with the gifts on Saturday.
Mrs. Velazquez smiled quietly and conveyed a “Gracias” to St. Francis.
“...let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18
The week before Christmas included a trip to the Ice rink at The Woodlands Mall.
