Operation Christmas Child

Yesterday we packed.  No, we're not taking another road trip anytime soon.  We packed two shoe boxes to contribute to our Awana Club's Miracle in a Shoe Box event.  Each year we prepare a shoe box or two to send to children in other parts of the world and in so doing, teach the children in our care how very, very much they have been blessed.

It began, as you would imagine, with a family trip to Walmart.  Happily, we all made it out unharmed and relatively unharried.  It seems we work better as a team when our goal is so very worthy and will result in reaching far beyond the frivolous needs and wants of our own lives.

With a few bags full, we reconvened around the dining room table on my Man's lunch hour and began the fun.

This year we chose to pack a shoe box for a girl age 10 to 14 years old and one for a boy of the same age.  We usually try to pack a box for the age of one of our kids so that we can more easily identify with the child who might receive the shoebox.

We included school supplies and a few fun items like jacks and bouncy balls and even a harmonica?   Also included in our boxes were some socks and personal care items. 

We topped off the boxes with some hard candy.

Sometimes we have to call in the big guns to fit everything into the box.  Each year we work to fit all the items into the box, and each year every item fits, but just.

Operation Christmas Child has added a new feature this year that the Wright gang is very excited about.  We learned that if we donate the cost of the shipping of the boxes online ($7 per box), we can "follow" the boxes we packed to their destinations.  It is called EZ Give and it was true to the name.  The process was super easy and ended with a printed bar code that we included in both shoe boxes.

Also included in the instruction packet from Operation Christmas Child was an information sheet for our kids to color and complete for the purpose of letting the receiving child know a bit about about the kids on the "other side of the box".  We printed a picture of our gang, attached it to the information sheet, and added it to the box.

 

Finally, we added the most important thing.  The very most important. . .

. . .our prayers for the children who will receive these boxes. 

"Father, today, as yesterday, we pray for the

children who will receive these and other

shoeboxes.  We ask that these very boxes will open

the hearts of children world-over to the redeeming

love of Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Lord, thank you for the abundance You have

blessed us with that we can share with others. 

Help us not to forget, as we are bombarded

with December's materialism, that there are masses

in our world who will only receive the few items

that fit in a small plastic box.

Father please shine the Light of Your love into the

dark world and delight these precious children

with the knowledge and promise

of Heaven through Your Son."

Prayer said, we added our boxes to many others from our fellow Awana Clubbers'.  What a beautiful pile of giving!

Look!  There's our little box, down there on the bottom.  Happy travels!  We'll be keeping track of your progress!

If you want to "get in on" the blessing and the sharing, you can get all the information by clicking {here} to go to the Operation Christmas Child website.  Also, you can call 1-800-353-5949.

"Every shoe box offers an opportunity to share the Good News of the Savior with a hurting child." ~Franklin Graham