Operation Christmas Child: It Starts

Say what?!?

Yes, I'm already thinking about Christmas, even though it's only February. And, no, I'm not one of those nuts who starts Christmas shopping for her family this early (or really even the slightest bit early).

I've been familiar with Operation Christmas Child since college. It's an amazing outreach spearheaded by Samaritan's Purse. If you've never heard of it, I certainly encourage you to click the link and check it out. They send shoeboxes full of toys, hygiene products, small gifts and all kinds of other things to children world wide who wouldn't otherwise have a Christmas. And, with every single shoebox, the Gospel message goes too.

This was my first real exposure to missions. I don't know whether it's that reason or something else, but it's very dear to my heart. I love Christmas, and I love the idea of sending a little Christmas - the real Christmas message - to kids all over the world.

I used to put together a couple of shoeboxes of my own each year. I always had a lot of fun doing it. I eventually started gathering bulk items throughout the year to stock up for my Sunday school class's box-stuffing party each year. Then, my Sunday school class transitioned to just giving money and having one individual buy the items throughout the year.

That's when the magic left for me.

Last year, I hit an all-time low in my participation. Handing over money each month just didn't give me the same level of involvement. It didn't touch my heart. It caused me to be too far away from the mission. I didn't even participate in the box-stuffing party.

That's when I realized that something had to change. So, just after the boxes got shipped away in November, I decided that this year would be different for me. I decided to go back to doing my own boxes.

But I wasn't satisfied with just doing a couple of boxes like I had in years past. I decided that I was truly going to work at it this year. I decided to set a goal for how many boxes to do on my own, which also meant I could set aside money throughout the year to cover the cost of shipping each of the boxes, too.

My goal? 24. Twelve for boys. Twelve for girls.

Admittedly, with the post-Christmas craziness, our vacation in January and the snowstorm, I got behind. But, today, I made my very first purchase toward this year's boxes. I bought 24 washcloths. Now my eyes are peeled for bargains on shoebox-worthy items.

I know I'll buy crayons in August, during the back-to-school sales. I'll check out the deals on hard candy and other fun stuff after Valentine's Day. We'll get toothbrushes and toothpaste donated by one of our dentist friends again this year. I'm going to be on the lookout for deals on other items that I always like to include: socks, rice, sidewalk chalk, paper, coloring books, toy cars, hair accessories, etc.

Let the games begin! Won't you join me in packing some boxes?