Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child: Pack a Shoebox with Uncle Si

Janeen, This one is for the boys!

Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child: How to pack a shoebox with Bob and Larry

Operation Christmas Child Box Report

Our box made it to Namibia!  We've had boxes go to Iraq, Georgia (the country, of course) and now Namibia.  It is a wonderful thing to be able to find out where your box went, so that you can pray for the recipient throughout the year.

If you sent a box out and found out where it got off to, let us know!

Operation Christmas Child: Our shoe box made it to Georgia!

Our Samaritan's Purse shoe box went to Georgia.  Now, I did a bit of checking to make certain that I could share with K- exactly where it went.  It did not go to the State of Georgia, but rather it went to the Country of Georgia.  Last year, our box went to Iraq.

I always pass my box over to the one lady at work who takes it to church to put in their donation pile.  She laughs because she knows that we pack every nook and cranny full.  If there is any type of void in the box, I try to fill it.  "You put so much in the box!"  "I do that so that they can share with their family!"  Who knows if every child in the family scores a shoe box?  At least this way, the child who receives it can share, because there is more than enough.

I love that we can find out where the boxes went off to.  What about you?  If you sent a box, did you find out where your box got off to?

Samaritan's Purse: Operation Christmas Child

It's that time of year again!  Operation Christmas Child boxes will be collected from November 14-21.  We choose to do the Follow Your Box donation, so that way we can see where our box went to.  Last year, our box was sent to Iraq. 

Need to know drop off locations?  Click here.

Need to know what to pack and what not to pack in your box?  Why lookie here:

What is in our box?  We have a set of marbles and a book on how to play them, a mini bowling set, buildable animals, a slinky, a whoopie cushion (every culture has to think it is funny!), a tic-tac-toe wood board game, a reusable steel water bottle filled with hard candy and suckers, toothpaste, deodorant, floss, a tooth brush, stickers, a paddle ball game, a bar of Ivory soap, a pan flute, a kazoo, a rainbow pencil, a wood peg jumping game, pencils, pens, a highlighter, glue sticks, a pair of scissors (blunt end), a wood ruler, cap erasers, a pencil sharpener, a box of crayons, a box of markers, a box of colored pencils and a set of watercolors.  I still have a tiny space that I can put a compressed wash cloth into.  (The pop-up kind that you buy at the store.)  All of this fits into a plastic latch standard shoe-sized box.  Sometimes I do trim the packaging a little to make it work.  I also work hard at engineering everything into the box so that our kid gets the maximum amount for the space they have.  I like the idea of the plastic latch lid box.  I've always done those and I look at it this way, it is an extra gift that they can reuse forever.

We do our box for boys age 10-14, because that is the area where the donations are the lowest. 

We love doing a shoe box!

Have a great day!

Works for Me Wednesday: Operation Christmas Child

A holiday tradition in my family is to put together a box for Operation Christmas Child. We always choose to put a box together for an older boy, since they are the ones that have the least amount of boxes donated.

What do we put in our box? Games! We put some card games in that would be usable for children who might not speak our language. We put dinosaur puzzles, musical instruments, toothpaste, a toothbrush, floss, soap and a pop up towel, school supplies, lollipops and a book. You want to be certain not to include any war type items, nothing liquid (that could leak if broken), no medications and no chocolate. (My post from last year more thoroughly details do's and don'ts.) We try to put decent things in the box because these are poor kids who have nothing. We also like to put our items in a plastic lidded box, as opposed to a shoe box. It is another way to add to the gift.

Collection dates are November 16-23. Click on the Operation Christmas Child link to find a collection facility in your area.

Smiles in my day:
- Though I missed work today because of fever and feeling like gunk, I tested negative for H1N1 and strep. Though there is no antibiotic to give to me, I should be feeling better in 7-10 days. My smile? Hubs took very good care of me, as he always does when I am sick. He made me soup, got me chips (tortilla chips were the only thing that sounded appetizing), kept taking my temperature and bought me a Cure CD while he was out. Such a sweet guy. I think that he was thankful that I bit the bullet and got the interior of my nasal passages and my throat swabbed so that he can go to work and say that he did NOT have H1N1.
- Hubs must not have had H1N1 and he will be returning to work tomorrow. He took Tuesday off, but felt well.
- K- was able to go hang with Grandma and Grandpa today. She got a full Grandma day in, which she was really sad that she might miss because of my being ill. Grandma took her to McDonald's (the drive thru) and swimming. It was a great Grandma day! I am so thankful that my mother-in-law kept her. It gave K- a fun day, rather than having mom sleep and have her watch far too much TV.

Have a great day!

Operation Christmas Child: Nat'l Collection Week 11/17-11/24

Operation Christmas Child brings joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes and the Good News of God’s love. Since 1993, more than 61 million shoe boxes have been packed, shipped, and delivered across the globe. People of all ages can be involved in this simple, hands-on missions project while focusing on the true meaning of Christmas—Jesus Christ. National Collection Week is November 17-24.

Instructions on how to pack a box are here. But, by and large the guidelines are:

Standard size shoe box. Top wrapped separately, but not necessary or a clear plastic shoe box.

Go here to download and print the label that you would need to attach to the top of the box.

No war items.

No chocolate/food items or anything out of date. (Ick! These kids are poor enough!)

No aerosol cans.

No lotions or liquids.

Double bag candy.

Bag bar soap.

When we do our box, I always like to pick the older boys. They are the ones that get the least amount of boxes because people think that they are harder to purchase for. We always put in our box:

Bar soap

Hard candy

Toothbrush/toothpaste

Pop up wash cloth (You know the just add water kind.)

Crayons/markers

Glue sticks

Pencils and pens

Small toys/cars that older boys would like

Play Doh and clay

We got our box finished! Guess what looked red when I was at Walmart? Oh, that would be the lid. (I'm thinking that their lighting is weird.) At any rate, turns out that we scored an orange lid. No matter, we filled it with our goodies anyhow.

If you go to their website, they do have a listing of drop off locations. I believe that all you need to do is pop your zip code in.

I ask you to consider taking part in this mission project with your children. We've done it for years as a couple and welcomed the opportunity to do it with K-.