operation christmas child 2011

 

this year we combined operation christmas child with enzo's birthday festivities.  at the party this past weeknd, we collected goodies to stuff the shoeboxes.  in fact, we included this in our invitation:

At the party, we will have an Operation Christmas Child station.  Instead of gifts, we would love for our guests to bring items to help stuff these shoeboxes, such as small toys, school supplies, hygiene  items, and hard candy.  For more information on OCC and a helpful video on what to include, please see the website:  http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/index/

the original plan was to have our guests help us pack the boxes at the party, but we ended up gathering the items in a large basket and putting each box together later that evening.  i think a stuffing station with our friends and family would have been so great, but this mama was struggling with a mega headache and i needed to scale back a few things that afternoon.  it was soul food, however, to spend that time amidst the post-party mess and focus on these gifts.  my heart filled mightily as i whispered prayers for these children.

thanks to our generous guests, we were able to drop off seven boxes!!!

yesterday was the end of national collection week.  this year, we will be using the new tracking system to find out where these boxes end up.  the littles are super duper excited about that.

maybe you weren't able to do operation christmas child at home this year.  guess what?  you can still donate online and build a box to bless a child.  

you can also be praying for the project and those involved.  pray for the children.  pray for the families.  pray for those on both sides of the process.