Operation Christmas Child

Are you giving thanks or thinking of things you are thankful for with the Thanksgiving holiday coming up?  I know that some days feel so hard with all the things I have going on and the challenges I face, but when I stop to take a minute to look at where I am and how God has blessed my family, I know I am better off than other folks.

I'm happy to be doing another post about Operation Christmas Child and how this wonderful charity impacts so many children world wide.

I'm excited that my family has participated in this for the last few years. It makes me so happy to pack these boxes.  As I pack, I pray for the children that will receive them.  I pray that this will bring them joy and that they will know that someone out there loves them and is thinking of them.

I have to admit I had to quickly pull mine together, so I didn't get a chance to take pictures of what I put inside the boxes. But one thing I did this year was save a bunch of the Happy Meal toys we get and I used a number of those brand new toys to pack in our shoe boxes.  Since they are small, you can fit a lot of them in the box.  I also stocked up on school supplies and sent things like crayons and glue. And of course coloring books are always great too.  Here is a shot of some of our boxes in my car ready to be dropped off at my church.

I was sent a link of this Sudanese Boy Gets Football Joy and I encourage you to take a look at this video.  It is really short.  The look on that boys face is priceless. I have to admit that since I have started having boys I try to pack shoe boxes geared towards boys.  I guess I am biased, but I think there are so many things out there for girls, I think it can be a challenge to pack for boys. 

If you want to participate in this wonderful cause, be sure to visit the Operation Christmas Child website where you can get details on how to participate.  This is a great way if you have really young children to have them help you pack the shoe box and to instill an understand of helping others. I also like that it gives me a way to show them that there is a bigger world outside of the area we live.

For your reading enjoyment, I'd like to recommend stopping by Amanda's blog Serenity Now Blog.  She is also sharing today how she packed shoe boxes and she has some great pictures of the goodies she sent. 

Another great read today is Melanie over at The Big Mama blog.  She is currently in Ecuador and the pictures on her blog are incredible.  They will touch your heart.

I'd love to know if you participate in Operation Christmas Child and pack shoe boxes? If so, what do you send?  Leave me a comment, I'd love to hear!

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!