TGIF: Shopping SPREE! Operation Christmas Child

Operation Christmas Child 2011

One of our most treasured traditions is coming up this weekend: Our annual shopping trip for Operation Christmas Child!

We've done this since my oldest was toddling around. It is always rewarding, even if it takes a little bit of growing pain to get through it. Sometimes we have whining at the store...well, most times...because shopping for someone else with such abandon could be considered shock to children who are unfortunately immersed in a culture of, "that's mine", and "gimme, gimme!" But, whether it's in the middle of filling a shopping cart with trinkets, toothpaste, and toy cars, or sorting through the loot to pack each "shoe box" with great love for a child across the world, my kids never fail to discover the satisfaction and joy in giving Christmas away through Operation Christmas Child.

How blessed we are to live in this day where media can inspire us with pictures of those in need of our good fortune, that missionaries can bless children in every culture, and that we are able to touch a life across thousands of miles, one that we may only meet in Heaven one day!

National Collection Week is November 18th-25th! Click here to find out more, including a drop-off location near you! 

Operation Christmas Child

I challenge you to look past the hype of buying this year. Focus on giving...you will be blessed! Click here: Samaritan's Purse , and make a difference in the life of a child!

Quick, this is the last weekend before they ship boxes of gifts to thousands of children. If you look at the website, they will tell you where the nearest drop off is near you.

To Feed or To Greed

It's easy to question God, or even turn away from him, when you see the suffering in countries like India, Africa, Guatemala. This past Sunday, our pastor pointed out that we produce enough food to feed every living person a 3000 calorie diet! He made a wise suggestion that it's not God's will, but man's own doing. With dictators, leaders, greedy men and greedy countries throughout history, starving children are a normal atrocity in each of our minds, a "think of those people who don't have has much as we do" lesson for our children, something we feel hopeless to help and want to throw money at them when we can. Man's free will is a door to eternal love for the God, but it's also a door of a narrow tunnel, spiraling downward into a pit of selfish deeds that affect millions.
I couldn't help but talk with my kids about it today, when Thanksgiving came up. They hear it all the time (we participate in the mentioned-above lesson at least once a day), but can they really grasp it?
My husband is particularly sensitive to this, and fears that we are raising materialistic, selfish beings, entitled and arrogant.

Our church is amazing at counteracting our greed-driven culture, and always has opportunities to "get your hands dirty" and use some elbow grease to help. One way we are going to participate, is by providing all the essentials of a Thanksgiving dinner for a needy family, using a convenient grocery bag and grocery list the church has handed out.
Something else we as a family are finally going to do is put our kids to work...at the regional food bank! Next Thursday, I pray their little eyes will be open and their hearts will beat wildly in their chests for the thousands of people they will help feed this holiday.
Christmas presents are also going to be downsized at our house this year. We always feel like we have to spend so much, but there's so much more to it than that. And I hope we build a foundation of outward focus for the boys, not of internal satisfaction. One way is that we have always packed shoeboxes full of gifts and necessities for children in other countries through Samaritan's Purse.
Can you make a difference this year in your own children? Check out Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child, or find a local food bank to help stock, box, serve!