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.

7 comments:

  1. Ha! You beat me to an OCC post! I was planning to write one today myself. My kids and I were doing exactly what you were doing yesterday. And for $42 I bet we were doing it at the same place! :)

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  2. Oh my gosh, what is Ava choking on? Get that out of her mouth!
    :)
    We had fun doing it with you guys.
    Oh and the pic from Cuzi's blog, Memry took it for the church phone book thingy. I thought it turned out pretty good too.
    How come pictures don't show up on your comments?

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  3. Stacy, Well done! It looks like your kiddos had a great time. What a wonderful ministry. Blessings, Tami

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  4. Jodi,
    Well I just can't wait to read yours! :)

    Amy,
    I wondered that myself [about Ava], but then I thought, maybe she was rolling her tongue funny? Not sure. Sorry, though...I know it's not the best shot, but it was the *only* picture I took of all of us!
    Very cute pic. I'd love a copy.
    Ohmygoodness, I don't KNOW! I checked into that once, many moons ago... but dontcha know I'm off to find out if I can get them to come up here. I *love* that feature on others' blogs.

    Tami,
    Thanks. We all had a great time!

    Blessings to you all!
    ~Stacy

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  5. Aha.

    There.

    Tiny pictures working.

    ~smile~ SO much more personable that way. Thanks for asking, Ame!

    ~Stacy

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  6. This is the weekend for our family tradition of the boxes too. I just love them, and so do the children! Plus, I love that Samartian's Purse sends update letters throughout the year. We add those to our prayer bowl and usually discuss them every little while and pray. This way, we pray for those in the newsletter and for those that received our boxes throughout the year.

    Blessings, Friend!

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