It has been a long time since my last post.  It seems that with wedding plans coming down to the wire, my mind is everywhere.  I have projects laying around the house on about every available surface, trying to figure out the final items that I need to move up to Orlando and the best possible timing for that, then I decided somewhere along the way that I wanted to try and write a book.  Fun, but as I get further into it, the more “work” it becomes of course.  Then there is the highlight of the season (not that my wedding isn’t)…Operation Christmas Child.

Some may be familiar with it as the shoe box ministry.  The entire process of the giver is to take a regular sized shoe box (6 qt) and fill it with small toys, hygiene items, hard candy, school supplies, ect and drop it off as a relay center that gets it to the processing center before it is flown around the world and delivered to children who have nothing.  For most of these kids, this is the only gift that any have ever received.  For that reason it is also encouraged to include a little note to the kids, letting them know that they matter.

This seemingly simple ministry can change the lives of children and give them the encouragement they desperately need.  I have the pleasure of having a 19 year old girl, who received a shoe box in Russia when she was 10, living with us now.  Her story is amazing.  It is everything from every form a abuse to not being wanted by her own mother to having the teachers at the orphanage telling her that she was worthless.  (that is obviously the simplified version of her very detailed testimony).  What it all comes down to is that when she received a shoebox and the note inside it told her that she mattered and that the family that had packed that shoe box loved her all because she was a child of God, her life changed.  Someone in the world thought that she mattered, that she was created for a reason.  She was not just a worthless piece of trash to be kicked around and taken advantage of.   She was CREATED BY GOD FOR A PURPOSE.

Now, as the Teen Spokesperson for Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child, she is spreading the word and that love that was shown to her almost a decade ago.  She is changing lives by her own life and that is a powerful testimony.

Please consider packing a shoe box for a child in need this year.  The official collection week is November 17-24 and there is still plenty of time.  For more information and the locations of where you can drop off your shoe box, please go to www.samaritanspurse.org and click on the Operation Christmas Child link on the right side of the page.  Thank you for your gift and Merry Christmas!