343 Boxes of Joy (Update - 351 boxes!)

Sunday was the dedication of the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes at our church.  They were all across the front of the church leaving just enough room for folks to get up front without tripping over them.

Our pastor spoke about the program and how it works.

Then our deacons came forward to pray while the rest of the congregation also prayed for the children who will receive these boxes.

Then on Monday it was time to take them to the local drop-off point so they can be shipped to the distribution center in Atlanta, GA.   Our friends "Bugman" and "Mama Nick" were the leaders of the project and we helped them load and carry the boxes to the drop-off.

That table holds 88 shoe boxes.

How many shoe boxes do you think I can get loaded in our Sentra?

The answer would be....

204!!!

Our total was 343 boxes of joy!

(One of the ladies at the drop-off point said I get the prize for the most stuffed full car!)

And meanwhile back at the ranch...

We were still working on our shoe boxes!  Having just recently gotten back from our trip, we were still getting things put together.

Himself took care of the boxes for our 4 older boys (ages 10-14).  Years ago the regional representative for Operation Christmas Child told us that the least boxes were prepared for the older boys.  That is still true today.  So our boxes have always been for the older boys.

And yes, you see teddy bears.  Many of the boxes go to places that are war torn or disaster struck.  And a 10 to 14 year old is still a child that needs a soft lovie to hold.

Once the babies came along, we started doing a box in honor of each of them.  Last year, the babies came with us for the shopping for the shoe boxes.

We went shopping with them again this year too.  And this year they were much more involved; with definite ideas of their own on what to put in the boxes.  As you can see, Little Bird is sure that 'her poor baby' needs a lot of pink!

If you go online to pay for the box's handling, your label will include a bar code that will be scanned at shipping.  You'll then get an email telling you where your box(es) are going.  (To get a unique bar code for each box you have to use different email addresses.)

We will be dropping our boxes off this week... adding to the total from our church.

I wonder where our boxes will go...