Shoeboxes

Last week was shoebox collection week here. I read somewhere that this is the 25th year of Operation Christmas Child and the shoebox ministry. I don't know when I put together my first shoebox, but I know I've been doing it since before the girls were born. 

This is such a great, hands-on opportunity for kids of all ages to share the love of God during the holiday season. Sydney and Kayleigh love doing this every year and this year they needed no input from mom. 

We've done this on our own, through church and with homeschool groups. I wish I had photos from every year, but below you'll see a collage with some pics of past years. This year we received an ornament (pictured above) from the drop-off site, and it will be a lovely addition to our tree.

 This is one of those "shared experiences" that I'm so grateful we have. When I started doing this years ago with my girls, I had no idea what the impact would be. 9 years ago I traveled to Peru with Compassion and met someone who received one of these boxes as a child. He later shared a copy of this photo with me so I could see him as a child opening his box. Just this week I was chatting with him on messenger about it and he remembered it well.

My girls have also met Marlennis from Dominican Republic whose sister received a box when she was younger. They were able to hear how the simple gift of a shoebox impacted this young girl.

My hope and prayer is to raise world changers. I want my girls to be globally aware and to love those who are different than us as well as our literal neighbors.