Imagine you are twelve.

Christmas is coming, and everyone at school is talking about matching pajamas, baking cookies, and which relatives are coming into town. You smile and nod, but you’re carrying something heavy.

You haven’t spent Christmas with your mom in five years.

You didn’t choose this. You just miss her.

This is the reality for so many children with a parent in prison. They move through milestones—holidays, first steps, first days of school—without the person they love most. They suffer too, often quietly.

Last week, inside a women’s prison in Oklahoma, we watched that pain dissolve for just a few hours and give way to joy.

In partnership with Church On The Move, we hosted a Christmas reunification event inside the facility. We brought trees, gifts, crafts, food, worship music... everything we could, even the smell of Christmas. Volunteers covered the room in lights until it felt nothing like a prison.

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Then the mothers walked in. Nervous. Hopeful. Trying to hold it together.

And then the doors opened for their children.

One mother hadn’t seen her daughter in seven years. She’s a breast cancer survivor who has missed entire chapters of her family’s life. When her granddaughter ran into her arms, she simply held her and cried. Seven years lost. One Christmas returned.

Another mom met her three-year-old son for the very first time. She kept touching his face like she was trying to memorize him. He giggled. She laughed, then cried, then danced with him until everyone in the room was smiling.

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Moments like this matter.

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They break cycles. They remind children they are not forgotten. They show mothers that redemption is possible and that their story is not finished.

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In 2025, we want to pour into more families like this. We want to see more first hugs, more healing, and more children running into the arms of their parents.

As we approach the end of the year, will you help us continue this work by giving?

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Every gift counts—$25, $100, $500, $1,000. Whatever God leads you to give will help more families reunite next year.

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