Today is the deadline for local shoebox collections. You can still send your box in to the Boone, NC office until December 31. We finished our boxes this weekend!
To start, we began praying that God will show us things to include in the shoe box that will be special to the child receiving the shoebox. We prayed that God will use this shoe box to bless that child and show the child God's love.
We love this project! As the kids are growing and anticipate this project more and more, each year has been different. This year, we invited our neighbors to help us pack a shoe box. They loved this and ended up helping fill 3 additional boxes making 5 boxes total!
This year we started early with our shoe box collections and collected many $1.00 items or less as we saw items reduced or on sale throughout the year. This made packing our boxes so much easier!
To finish packing our boxes, we just headed to the store, which was a little crazy with my 3 plus 3 neighbors. But they each got $5 and got to spend it how they felt lead. They sure made their $ stretch!
After we finished packing and wrapping our boxes, the kids included a personal note, drawing, and our address.
The kids had so many questions about how this works. So we spent a lot of time on the website reading the stories. We are so used to being on the receiving end and have an over abundance of "things." They are amazed that this could be the only Christmas gift a child might receive! Alisia is looking forward to taking a trip with her class to the central office when she is in 8th grade to help with shipping.
It's so much fun being able to do this as a group and consider the ways we can share in the gospel being spread across the world. The kids are so faithful to remember to pray for the children who will receive the boxes! And for one of our neighbors, it was the first time she said she ever prayed. I can't wait to read the follow-up stories on the website and show the kids how easy it is to be involved in sharing God's love.
5 comments:
This is such a wonderful program. Our MOPS group puts together boxes, several for each table, every year. It is such a wonderful time for our family to go shopping for these kids. We trying to teach them to "Give Away Christmas". Looks like you're doing the same. Great job!
Wow! What a wonderful program. I will check it out. Love all the pics of the kids buying and packing.
u know this campaign in near & dear to my heart...it's such an awesome service to do with the kiddos!!!
Brooke, this is so encouraging and convicting. THank you for posting this about your kids. Today we get so "busy" and caught up about the holidays, that we miss creating the most meaningful, Truthful, Joyful memories with our children, what Christmas is all about. I think I just found a TRADITION that I can use in my family with my boys. Thanks.
This is SUCH a beautiful idea. I'm going to do this, if not this year, then certainly next. I love it!
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