Shoeboxes!

Yesterday we headed to the store to go shopping for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. I love doing this with my kids. They find so much joy choosing gifts for a child exactly their ages. It makes it easy to shop, too-- they just choose what they like. $42 later, and with bags full of toothbrushes, toothpaste, washcloths, soap, notebooks, markers, pencils, activity books, barrettes, socks, toys, candy and much more, we headed home to pack up the boxes. Amy and her kids met us at the store so we were able to shop and pack up the boxes with them.








This morning the kids each made a card for their gift box, carefully spelling out "Jesus Loves You!" and coloring beautiful pictures and signing their names.

Then we prayed for the children who would receive our shoeboxes. We prayed a few things:
>That when these children received these gifts, they would also hear the gospel.
>That they would know how much God loves them and that they would choose to love Him all the days of their lives.
>That they would particularly like the gifts we chose for them. That God would deliver these three boxes to *just* the right child who would be delighted by the gifts within.

We love doing this. My kids talk about it for weeks before and after. For some reason my children are convinced their boxes are going to children in Africa, so they talk incessantly about Africa and what the child will think when they open their box. And Isaac is always a bit confused that we won't actually get to watch the child open the gift we give, so that takes a bit of explaining. But they love it. What a wonderful opportunity for our kids to think of others in the world and give a gift-- lovingly chosen, carefully packed, and earnestly prayed over.