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Sometimes the stress of everyday life really gets the best of me. I get down, upset and frustrated, especially when I absent mindlessly cause the issues. This time of year especially. The holidays are stressful, there it so much to do, and so little time.....and certainly no time for things to break.
This weekend, I fried my new computer.....somehow. Thankfully, it was still under warranty and hope to have it back by the end of the week. But when my computer is not working...I freak. Totally. All my photos are there, and we do have a laptop I can use, but no pictures on that computer thus....stressed over that this week. I will make do. In the big scheme of things.....this is so trivial.
My daughter sent me a link last night, and said if I needed something to blog about this would be good. Was she ever right. She reminded me to really look at what is important. She reminded me how little my troubles really are, and how we can make a small difference in the world we live in and the people in it. Alisha went to private school from kindergarten to 12th grade, in High School, the kids at the school participated in Samaritan's Purse/Operation Christmas Child. Alisha, said she was going to do that this year and finding a drop off place in Austin. She made my heart smile.
All you need to be a real blessing is a shoe box, some small toys, some candy, maybe a toothbrush and toothpaste anything small that a child would treasure, a child who never gets anything. And a little time. The time it takes to put this together, would be nothing to the delight on a child's face on Christmas morning. Each box requires a $7.00 donation to cover the shipping expenses. A small price for a smile. What a great activity for the whole family to get involved with...from the very young, to the very old.
Please go to the LINK to see what you can send and what not to send.
Click HERE to see the drop off locations in your area. Many churches participate in this program, so it should be easy to find a drop off location.
But hurry...the deadline is this week....so take a minute and be a blessing to a small child. The website also has links to print a label with a tracking number, Samaritan's Purse emails you and lets you know where your box ended up in our large world. I think that is really neat.
Please take a minute and watch this video, it is short but powerful. It sure served as a reminder to me this day how my problems are really not that important at all....and now, I am off to find a shoebox and some little treasures....please, would you join me?
Operation Christmas Child - A Lot Like Christmas
And the one thing I am so thankful for is the fact we were able to send our children to schools where they learned the value of individuals and how much they can make a difference...we do that at home, but is was nice to have them learn that lesson with their peers as they grew up in school.
Thank you for the reminder of where my priorities have not been. This is a wonderful project and am off to the website to check where I can make a drop off. I too get bogged down and forget my troubles are so few. This post made a huge difference for me today. Thank you Suzanne.
ReplyDeleteIs this the organization that Franklin Graham, Billy's son began? My daughter does this, and some churches in our area also participate.
ReplyDeleteHere's their website:
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/
Hey Suzanne!
ReplyDeleteOur church participates in the Operation Shoebox Project. I collect things throughout the year and store them up just for the boxes. I find things on clearance that are very nice things. I don't send them anything I wouldn't want my children to have or to play with. I consider it an honor and a privilege to put a smile on a child's face over such insignificant things that we take for granted.
Here's a small list of things that I try to send:
They do like for you to include a toothbrush with toothpaste which I find at the Dollar tree in one package. A bar of a mild soap. I also found the compressed wash clothes at the Dollar tree that I put in as well. Combs and rubber bands can be found there as well. The girls get dolls, balls, paper, pencils, colored pencils, crayons. The boys get a bigger ball and lots of boy things. I've even found the blow up beach balls on clearance for a quarter after Summer that I put in as well.
One thing that I have been doing for several years is putting in a few post cards from my state of different scenery such as the Animals of West Virginia and the Flowers of West Virginia.
It really doesn't take much to fill up a shoebox.
Hope others will join in and make the difference in the life of a child in another country!
Angela
Thanks for sharing Suzanne. That made me cry because I feel we have gotten so far removed from the spirit of Christmas here that I don't look forward to it. But this does. I'll check out the links to see what I can do.
ReplyDeleteyou complete me AND I am sooo proud that I can call you my friend....beautiful post...kudos to your sweet daughter for making YOU make US ALL cry!!!!
ReplyDelete♥G
Maureen - Me too. I have been so wrapped up with all the doing of the holiday, I seem to have lost focus on what is important. This really spoke to my heart and made me so ashamed for not remembering the Christmas spirit and what it really is about. I am going to do a box and send it in each one of my families names, then on Thanksgiving as we sit down to the table, we all are going to watch this video together and I will tell them how WE as a family made a difference and suggest someone comes up with another worthy cause for the holiday.
ReplyDeleteThank you from the bottom of my heart....it sure made me look at things in my own life differently.
A great and worthy cause. We have done this in the past, but have a different program. I always buy gifts for a boy or girl each year. I cannot believe your computer went out again. What in tar nation are you doing?
ReplyDeleteHi Suzanne, I just stumbled on to your blog, and of course, saw the wienie dogs right away. I'm also owned by daschunds. :) They are ADORABLE!! I can't wait to try your Roasted Rosemary Chicken...and prowl through the rest of your blog. :)
ReplyDeleteAngie
www.threadcatcher.blogspot.com
Great program! We participate in another similar program and enjoy it very much.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry about your computer!
Hi Suzanne, I am sorry about your computer crashing. Thank goodness it can be replaced. On Monday after being gone for the weekend I picked up my laptop and it was dead. I swear I was stunned. ALL of my photos etc. are on my laptop. I so know how you felt. BUT, in only a few minutes I realized the power was unplugged. SIGH!!! I want to do some backup now, it scared me so bad. Amazing how our computers hold so much of our lives isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI too have done the shoe boxes for children for Christmas. Since we have moved here and have found a new church we haven't been involved. This is our third Christmas here. It is a very worthy project. We do something called shop with a cop. It involves children locally of all ages who are poor. We like to do this very much.
I hope you can get the new computer up and going soon. I feel for you but in reality you are right. Worse things could happen. I don't know if I could be accepting of this thought as well as you.
Warm hugs,
Jeanne
Great program! I used to have my kids do this every year. They had a wonderful time filling a shoebox for a special child.
ReplyDelete