Samaritan's Purse~ Shoeboxes

Last Friday, Cameron and I went with our local homeschool group and volunteered at The Samaritan's Purse Packaging Center in Charlotte, NC for Operation Christmas Child.

Our day began at 5:30am, as we got up, dressed, packed a cooler of snacks, and left with our carpool at 7:00am.

We arrived at Samaritan's Purse around 8:45am.

First, we unloaded all of the shoeboxes that our church collected.

43 shoeboxes this year!

SO very proud of my church people!

Then we headed inside and met up with our group.

It was a BIG group this year!

If you're interested in volunteering, you can put together a group and go.

Click here for more volunteer information.

All volunteers must be at least 13-years-old.

And, you need 1 chaperon for every 4 teenagers.

First, we were trained how to handle the boxes, what items must be removed and added, and how to perform each job.

Then we were sorted into teams.

Each team was then assigned an area, and each team member was assigned a specific job.

I thought it was interesting to see the way each shoebox was processed, and thought you might like to see it, too.

At the first station, the volunteer must check the shoebox for money.

(Samaritan's Purse asks that you include $7 with your shoebox to help with the cost of shipping.)

Once that money is removed and put in the dropbox, the box moves to the next station.

At the next station, the volunteer goes through the contents of the shoebox and removes any items that are on the no-no list.

These items include: food, liquids, war-related items, used items, etc.

While at that station, the volunteer makes sure that the shoebox is full and that it has candy inside.

If it is not full or doesn't have candy, he gets additional items from the bins above to fill the shoebox.

That was one of the neatest things to me!

I loved it!

I loved that someone thought ahead about children who may not have a full box, or that may not have any candy.

I loved that there are people and stores that will donate items to help fill boxes.

At the next station, the shoebox is securely taped shut so that no items are lost during shipping.

The shoebox is then packed in shipping boxes according to gender and age.

This shoebox is being shipped to 10-14 year-old boys.

Though we were hard at work, there were still moments of fun!
Often times, it happened when we discovered precious surprises tucked inside the shoeboxes we were working with.

It made me think differently about our shoeboxes for future years.

For example, in all the years that we've packed shoeboxes with our boys, it never dawned on me to pack actual SHOES in the SHOEBOXES!

Yet, I have no doubt that the little girl that opens this box will be tickled!

And the person that donated the box made sure that no space was wasted.

There were socks and other goodies packed inside the shoes and all around the inside of the box.

We also saw lots of marbles.

What a great idea!

They're inexpensive, fun, and easy to squish in loose spaces in the shoeboxes.

Sometimes we'd pull a Slinky out of it's box to make more room for other fillers.

At the end of the day, there were lots of no-no's in the buckets below our sorting tables.

If you pack a shoebox, please don't put food, liquids, and other no-no's in the shoebox!

They DO get removed!

(These items are not thrown away!  They are all donated to local charities and shelters that can use the items.)

Items are removed for safety purposes.

For example, we had to pull out lots of mouthwash and lotions.

Those items could leak and ruin the contents of their entire shoebox... or worse, the leak could ruin the contents of a whole shipping box full of shoeboxes.

This bucket was mainly filled with food that had to be removed.

Samaritan's Purse is not against distributing food; however, they must abide by the rules and restrictions that the receiving countries levy.

At this point, the only 'food' items that are accepted in every country that they ship to are hard candies.

All in all, it was a wonderful day!

We left pooped, but with full, happy hearts!

I loved that as we walked out the door, this board was displayed.

It let us know that the fruits of our labor were being shipped to Georgia, Mali, and Zimbabwe.

Since I hadn't filled out the on-line form to follow our shoeboxes, this was the next best thing!

So nice to have an idea of where our packages were headed!

On the way through the parking lot Cameron said, "Mama, I can't wait to come back and do this again next year!"

And my heart smiled!

I felt exactly the same way!

Happy Mother's Day

I'm finally getting caught up on my DVR'd programs.
Heard this song on Parenthood, and had to find and listen to the rest of it.

Made me cry!
Sure sign of a great song.

Full circle.

That's all I could think as it played.

From thoughts of my little joys, that aren't so little anymore...
to my sweet Nannie, who fancied holding the hands of her children and grandchildren.

If I could turn back the hands of time
and read her mind as we sat quietly holding hands on her couch,
I can't help but feel like the lyrics would be quite similar to her thoughts:

I see your face in mine
And I know there will come a time
When you will take my hand
And I will understand
That you're there, too.

Hope you enjoy the song as much as I did!

It'll make your heart swell!

And, Happy Mother's Day!

I'm off to my childhood home for lunch with my own Mama.

See you again tomorrow!

~Nannie~

Saying goodbye to Nannie.

Be back when I can...

Day 278~ Grace Brings Contentment

This was my teabag this morning.

It nearly made me cry.

Then it sunk in a little deeper, and I was inspired.

Sometimes life is hard!

Sometimes when you see people's true colors, you realize they never were who you thought they were!

Sometimes families lose the very glue that binds them together!

And, it stinks.

But, you know what?

When you extend grace, even when it feels like it is undeserved, you're becoming more like Christ.

You're loving others like God loves you!

I, a fallen sinner, never deserved the grace God gave me!

Yet, He gave me His grace!

Who knew that 3 simple words printed on a teabag would bring such wisdom?

Reminding myself throughout the day to extend that precious grace was a thousand times better than dwelling on the hard, rocky places and the hurt caused by hard-hearted people that I can't change.

In the end, it made for one beautiful day!

So I challenge you to extend a little grace and feel the contentment that comes with it!

Day 186~

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On the drive to pick up my laptop, I saw the most amazing sights.I came home proclaiming my need for a barn and a corn field.

Superman said, "No!"

:(It's a shame, because I felt so at peace driving through the farmland.I was in awe of God's creations.

Just simply driving with the radio turned off and the windows rolled down.

Bliss!

Day 107~ Home

As part of my 35 Things While 35, I wanted to photograph my childhood hometown.

I thought I could click-click-click and capture all of those important images that are burned into my memory.

I was wrong!

In fact, it's becoming such an emotional journey, that I will stretch it out over the next several visits home.

These are all that remain of the Gulf, and later BP, sign that lit the night sky in our once sleepy little town.

My grandpa owned this station, and later my dad and uncle took over.

But as with all things, time passes and things change.

New regulations forced small business owners to either make expensive upgrades or close down.

We were the later. This bar once covered the locks. Paw Paw's motto was "We may doze, but we never close."

He chewed out more than one employee for having the audacity to even so much as close that door... even in the winter. When if the truth be told, it wasn't for the sake of audacity. It was for sheer warmth.

Now locks are the norm. I loved this cash register as a child.
Knowing the special way to work the lever and twist the handle in order to make the drawers pop open and chime made me feel so proud. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen with it's brown patina, until a well-meaning employee decided to 'clean it up'.

To be such a priss now, most people would never believe that my hands are capable of hooking up to a chassis, working these levers, winding the winch, and loading a car on the rollback. Though Dad meant for us to behave as ladies, time spent with him meant learning what he doing at the time.

And though I felt choked up the whole time I hid behind my lens remembering how much I loved this place, and although it breaks my heart to see it so empty and dead, my spirit soared to see these two help an elderly man who pulled in with a flat tire.

It was as if I could feel a little of the life that Central Garage once breathed!

Day 46~

Day 38~

(even if he did put this shirt back on every day of this weekend, Lord help me...)

I tell my boys that all the time. And it's exactly how I feel.

Do you ever feel unworthy of these crazy little blessings that we call children? I sure do!

I look into their eyes and I am amazed. You see, I was a mess before they came along. I made a thousand bad decisions. And, I just don't think that it's humanly possible that I ever did enough right in my life to deserve such wonderful children!

Don't get me wrong. They are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination! There are days when I want to cry when I see how much laundry my messy boys have created. There are days when I wonder if I'll ever make it 24-hours without telling them to stop__________ (hitting each other, stepping on top of each other, fussing with each other, etc).

But there is never a day when I feel worthy of God entrusting me with such precious little boys in my life! Thank goodness God doesn't just give you what you deserve.

HE truly must have loved me a whole lot!

Day 25~

The boys and I go on lots of 'dates' with one another.  Sometimes it is what they consider a fancy date- dinner and a movie or a little shopping.  But other times it's nothing other than a little fast food and sweet conversation.  The one thing that always remains the same is that our dates are one on one.  It's their own special time.

Today Wyatt and I had a little date.  We chatted over chicken fingers, french fries, and fried pickles (not so great) about our day, how his OT appointment went, and why he thinks I need a Jupiter Jack.  Bless his heart!

Over the years, I've seen the boys not only look forward to our dates, but actually had them ask me when we were going out on another one.  I hope when they're older, they'll still want to go on dates with me!  I wouldn't miss them for the world!

Day 22~

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I've decided that in order to take a picture a day, I'm going to need to make this a family project!  I'm terrible at making decisions.  I've found myself unsure of which picture should be our POTD.  Tonight I enlisted my sweet Cameron to help me, since he was the focus of today's photos.  Above is the one he chose.  He said he liked it because it had all 3 of his creations in the picture!  (He didn't care that is was blurry, so why should I?) 

The parrot he made for Superman, our beloved Parrot head!

I've often told this sweet boy that God must have loved me a whole lot to have given me a child as precious as him!  He is so thoughtful and kind.  He wears his heart on his sleeve, and often has his feelings hurt.  That is sometimes harder for me than it is for him.  Lord, I love my boys!  They truly are my joys!

The helicopter is the K'Nex he built for his brother.

Please Lord, let him always love his brother enough to want to do sweet things for him.  Help me instill in them the desire to be their brother's keepers.

The daisy he built for me.  Am I blessed or what?  My sweet boy already knows his mama's favorite flower!  Please Lord, help me to be observant to his needs, as he is already observant to what his mama needs.  He is so quiet that I sometimes worry that I'm not hearing what he needs me to hear.  Open my ears, Lord.

March 29, 1926 - August 11, 2009

Daddy Robert was an amazing man! And, even at 83, it was a shock to lose him!But it's comforting to think of him, hand in hand with Nana Mae, in Beulah Land. She had been gone almost 16 months. He was heart-sick for her every one of those days.

He was the kind of man that could re-store this 1952 Catalina back to near perfection with his bare hands and willpower.

He was the type of grandpa that would show up on your door step with Pepsi and Nutty Buddies for your children, his great-grandchildren, just because he thought of them while he was in the grocery store. (I took this picture long ago with the intent of blogging about him. Wish I would have sooner...)
He was the type of great-grandpa that understood how excited a little boy could get over a new camera from Santa. And he willingly let that little boy practice using his new camera, again and again, and again

and again, and again. Thank heavens he was so patient with my little Wyatt! Otherwise we never would have gotten this sweet picture of him smiling. You see, he didn't like having his picture taken, but he loved us. And he knew the greater importance of what children remember about you, and the time you spend with them!

The type of grandpa that when Wyatt and I stopped by his shop to visit him one afternoon while he was re-building his A-Model, he stopped to sit and chat with us. Then, he got up out of his chair and called Wyatt to walk to the back of the car with him. He lifted up the tire and threaded it onto the back. Then, he handed Wyatt the bolts and the tool to tighten them. As they worked together I heard him say, "Son, one day you can look back and remember helping me work on my A-Model, and that you did this right here with your own hands."