Operation Christmas Child

One of my goals as a parent is to teach Libby and Roan to care about and serve others. It's easy for young children to watch TV and see all the toys, Nintendo games and dolls they want...despite having a house full of toys already. I feel like a broken record, reminding them of the kids who have no toys, people who have no home. Libby has always had a heart for serving others. When she was a very small child, she would notice homeless people and worry about them for days. Roan is finally growing up enough to empathize with other people...he's understanding that others are a lot less fortunate than him, and that it's our responsibility to do something, even it it's small.

Libby's American Heritage Girl troop participated in Operation Christmas Child this year. Each girl was encouraged to pack a shoebox with gifts for a child overseas. We stored the boxes in our garage until it was time to take them to the drop-off center.

On Saturday, the kids and I loaded all the boxes into the van.

We met at the church and transferred the boxes from our van to the church bus. Several of us loaded up on the church bus and drove to the drop-off location. We carried all of our boxes into a large gym where volunteers were sorting and preparing the shoe boxes for shipment. When we walked in, there were hundreds of boxes packed and ready to ship. Our shoe boxes were gathered and the volunteers started sorting and packing them... it was really profound to see how our small efforts fed into something huge.

A picture of Roan and the girls in front of a mountain of boxes ready to ship...

As a reward for participating, the kids got to choose a small gift. Both Libby and Roan chose an Operation Christmas Child button...

As you can see, Roan is quite proud of his OCC button!

When we were finished, our American Heritage Girl troop donated 32 boxes to Operation Christmas Child! I was really proud of Libby, Roan and the other girls in the troop for doing their part to make a difference for someone less fortunate. For more information on Operation Child, visit: http://www.samaritanspurse.org