Happy November everyone!!   Do you know what time it is?   It's Pack a Shoe Box time for Samaritan's Purse!!!  Have you packed your shoe box yet?  What's that?  You don't know what Samaritan's Purse is?  Well, now's a good time to find out 'cuz there's still time left to get your boxes packed up!

 Follow this link to find out all of the details about Samaritan's Purse and Operation Christmas Child           http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/occ   And then get to packing!!!

This lovely pile is just the tip of the iceberg for us.  My family and I spend the whole year picking up little goodies here and there so that when it's time to pack our boxes, we've got plenty to choose from.  After Christmas sales, back to school sales, clearance items, buy one get one free deals...you name it and we're on it to get our shoe box 'fillings'.    I can hear you now..."we can't afford to do that"...."doesn't it cost a lot to buy all of that stuff?"....and "I just don't have time"....Well, I'm here to tell ya that you  can  afford to do and it doesn't  have to cost a lot of money and you really do have the time.  If you have time to shop for groceries, then you have time to shop for your shoe boxes.  Five extra minutes squeezed into your shopping trip to go through the clearance isles is all it takes as far as time goes...and as for the cost....well....that's what sales are for.  At a wonderful back to school sale recently we got 6 boxes of 24 count Crayola crayons for $.39 each....6 boxes for less than $3!!!  And the shoe boxes themselves were purchased on clearance...for a whopping $.50 each!  It's not only fun to do shop for these boxes but it's a wonderful way to teach generosity (and bargain hunting) to the kids!  It's been so fun to see them embrace this project and to watch them come up with great things to put into the boxes.  We've made it our personal mission to find the best deals on our stuff so we can fill more shoe boxes than in previous years...it's like a game!

 This year we shared our "bounty" with my youth group girls and we packed 13 boxes.  The girls each wrote a special note to put into their boxes and we prayed over the boxes and their future recipients. It was a great time to bond together for a common good and to just hang out and be blessed by one another.  

We farm chicks also got together and packed some boxes...and then we decided to shop and pack some more!  It's such a worth while cause and so very fun to do.....try it and you'll see.....filling shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child is a blessing for the child but also for you.