The collection for Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child has started and it goes for another week and a half and so this week we got out one of our old shoeboxes and got ready to fill it up.
Now, we do not make a lot of money. I'll just throw that out there. However, the children who receive these boxes are immeasurabley worse off than we are and Mike and I feel that it's incredibly important to teach all of our children the value in giving to others, especially those less fortunate than ourselves. And how can we not call ourselves fortunate? We have a roof over our head (that's not tin), we have a carpet to walk on (instead of dirt or mud), we have beds to sleep in (we don't have to share one tiny bed for our entire family...well, some nights we do--but we don't HAVE to), we have food to eat at every meal, we have running water and electricity, we are all healthy and have wonderful Dr.'s who help us when we're not, and we have a great God who sustains us. I think we're MORE than fortunate!
That being said, if we can fill a shoebox, anyone can fill one. It took about $10--total, and that $10 is going to make some little girl's YEAR. You don't even have to donate through a church! Go to Samaritan's Purse and it gives you all of the details. Participating in Operation Christmas child has really been wonderful for me. I did it before Mike and I even met and when I've had to opportunity since, I've taken it. It really helps you put life into perspective and makes you more thankful than ever (and what a great thing to be so near Thanksgiving) for all that you have!
When Mike and I went through the holiday season last year with a baby on the way, we talked a lot about how we wanted to raise our children to really see the value in giving to others. Especially those who don't have anything. I think it's been really convicting to me because I lived around such extreme poverty while we were in Guatemala and know what a gift like a shoebox would mean to those children. When you see something like that first hand, it touches you in a way that makes you totally re-evaluate the way you do things and even though I was just a middle schooler while we were there, I still think about it daily and how it changed me.
So, when we found out our church was doing OCC here we jumped on it. We chose to do a box for a little girl aged somewhere from 2-4 since we've got one closest to that age group. Then Logan and I made a trip to Target (what a GREAT excuse to go, right?) and just browsed and picked out several things that we thought (I thought) would be fun for a little girl to get. I actually saw several other families there who were talking about things to put in shoeboxes so I was excited to see that we weren't the only ones there doing it! I look forward to when Logan can pick things out for the shoebox, herself. How fun for her to pick something that someone her own age would enjoy!
Enough of my novel. :) Here are the pictures from when L and I put the box together:
Logan wanted to help with wrapping the box:
Checking it out to make sure it was done correctly:
Inspecting the toys to make sure that they're what SHE would want:
Ok, mommy, keep it up!
She even helped load some of the items into the box. Here she is putting the toothbrush in that she picked out at Target:
I think we got everything in there and it's ready to go!
Of course, we had to add a homemade bow to the pack for the sweet girl who will receive this.
Close her on up and she's all ready to go, guys! We did good work.
And a sweet picture of my sweet, sweet girl to finish up:
