Make a Baby and then Off He Goes!

This is the story of my Operation Shoebox this year (AKA Operation Christmas Child through the ministry of Samaritan's Purse).

I chose to pack a box for a boy aged 5-9 and bought everything early (that is, between July and October). Go me. I nearly broke my arm patting myself on the back for not procrastinating. Such events are cause for celebration, ya know.

The only thing left to do (after photographing it for my blog, of course) was to wrap it, tuck in a card and picture, pay for shipping, label the box, and drop it off at the collection site three minutes from my house.

How hard could that be? How long could it take? I estimated 45 minutes total if I made a card, 25 if I didn't.

I made a card with chalk pastel pencils, and used hair spray as a fixative. While the hair spray dried, I made a baby.

And my husband wasn't even home.

I made a baby out of cloth, people! Out of cloth! I took some white felt and cut the shape of a sleeping baby in swaddling clothes.

Then I cut a slit in the top of the manger so that the child who receives the card can put the baby Jesus in to sleep or pull Him out to hold Him.

As I had forgotten to develop a real actual photograph of our family, I had to print one off on regular paper in black and white. Classy, eh? I just want the child to be able to see who packed his goodies. I've heard the children love to connect their package with a real family or person.
Besides, everyone loves pictures, right? And money. I added a dollar bill and some change.

I folded the picture and tucked it all neatly inside a festive green envelope and sealed it shut. With tape. It's not Christmas without copious amounts of Scotch tape.

I packed the following: flip-flops, a shirt, crayons, pencils and erasers (football themed, of course), a yo-yo, Pixy Stix and peppermints, tooth-brush/-paste/-holder, composition notebook,
a boyish drawstring bag I made a long time ago ("Katrina Kit") for keeping his treasures in, some markers, and a pocket pack of tissues.

Wrapping it was quick and painless. All that was left to do was drive it over to the Christian bookstore a couple miles away and voila! Baby Jesus is away in the manger in the sleigh to the North Pole--I mean North Carolina. Boy, I am getting my holiday notions all twisted up in a wad.

When I walked into the bookstore, the owner immediately apologized and said the pick-up lady came early (as in Saturday) because she had to leave town unexpectedly. No problem, I called three local churches listed as drop-off locations for Nov 14-21. Well, what they fail to mention is that on the 21st, they stop collecting early in the day, not at close of business. I called at 1:25; those places had stopped at 10:00, 10:30, and 12:30. There was one more hope: a church about 45 minutes away. They would wait, they said; volunteers were still working at packing the shoeboxes into boxes. I had just enough time to get there and back with 25 minutes of "wiggle room" before picking up my son from school.

I made it, and was pleasantly surpised to run into a lady I used to homeschool with back in the mid-90's. (Our yacking took up all the wiggle room.) Seeing the packing and loading right in front of my eyes made me want to get involved even more with Samaritan's Purse. Next year I hope to do that. I love this ministry.


So much for celebrating my non-procrastination event. So much for planning on just 45 minutes to get my shoebox shipped off. But it was worth it. I hope a little boy somewhere in the world gets a big smile on his face when his opens this box of goodies from us. That would make my heart happy. This year I decided to follow my box via the email donation process. What a treat to know which country it ends up going to. What a treat to be able to send love through the mail in the name of Jesus.