Operation Christmas Child

We love this charity, Samaritans Purse and their yearly Operation Christmas Child boxes. I've been doing it for a few years with my MOPs group, but this is the first year that Tessa really understands and was a part of it.

One reason I love it is because it's a simple way to bless a child in a third world country, and give them what will probably be their only Christmas gift. In addition they share the gospel with these kids and sometimes give them bibles as well.

And it's so freakin' EASY.

Get a shoebox or a plastic rubbermaid shoe box size storage thingy....pick what age you prefer, and fill it with toys, school supplies, hygeine items, hard candy and stuff, and then drop it at a drop off center. Then it gets shipped to a third world country, and you can even track it's travels online.

Think you might not have a drop off location near you? Wrong! Even good ol' North Vernon has one. Click here to find your drop off.

This year I'm not a part of MOPs, but our small group committed to doing four boxes for various ages.

Check it out! Our boxes after our small group meeting on Monday. Looking good and full!

Tessa (in her fabulous hat) helped me put the finishing touches on the boxes.

I was going to wrap them but learned that they have to be able to open the lids, so I would have to wrap these Rubbermaid guys very carefully. So, well....I didn't. Wrapping is optional, so someone somewhere will wrap them. Don't give me a hard time...my foot hurts.

Our boxes ready to go!

And here's the shed at our church!....okay just kidding. This is from Samaritan's Purse's website. It's a picture of one of their processing places.

I was trying to find a statistic for how many they send every year and couldn't find one. Let's just say 10's of thousands. Collection week starts on this Sunday so to you I say...go pack a box!