Continuing the Tradition: Operation Christmas Child

Some of Christa's life is a repeat.

Not for her. For me.

And that's not always a bad thing.

My first three kiddos made Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes through the years--filling a plastic shoebox with items for children in desperate situations around the world. Now it's Christa's turn.

Somehow, in all the busy-ness of the past few weeks, I missed that the box was due at school today. That meant we ran out last night and went shopping. Her dad came along because he wanted to be part of the fun.

I left the wrapping up to him--and the packing of the box too. He has quite the engineer's knack at packing lots of stuff into a small shoebox. Toothbrush. Soap. Jump rope. Headbands. Hairbrush. Colored Markers. Crayons. Disney Princess Flashlight with extra batteries. Notebook.

At one point in the packing and wrapping, Christa selected one of her most favorite stuffed animals, Hedgey the Hedgehog, to put in the box. She shed a few tears as she tucked her "friend" into the Operation Christmas Child shoebox. Then she wrote the little girl who will receive the box this note:

Hello,
My name is Christa. I hope you like Hedgey. I hope my stuff makes your life easier and happier. God bless you. Merry Christmas. from Christa.



I know that the Operation Christmas Child ministry has delivered 61 million shoeboxes to very needy children since 1993. I am thankful my children have been a small part of that. I am also thankful that my children have learned that, for some children, their only glimpse of Christmas and God's love will come inside a shoebox that was filled by a little girl or boy thousands of miles away.