This Reminds Me

Archive for November, 2009

You know those number/word puzzles that are so much fun to do?  The ones that show the significance of a number?  Like:

88 = P.K.  (88 = Piano Keys)

200D = F. P. G. I. M. (200 Dollars for Passing Go in Monopoly)

3 = B.M. : S.H.T.R (3 = Blind Mice:  See How they Run)

Well, I have a new number/word puzzle in that genre.  And its number is very significant.

117 = S.B. – F. R. K. T. C.

Can you guess it?

Give up?  Okay.

117 = Shoe Boxes – For Real Kids This Christmas

Thanks to generous friends, 117 real kids will be getting shoe box gifts this Christmas.  Eight of the boxes feature tracking labels, so we’ll even know where those eight boxes are distributed.  Over all the years, we’ve known where only one box was gifted – in 1995 to the “Family Prosenc” in Trovlje, Slovenija.  Since then, we’ve been careful about not including a return address.  We want no resources expended on thank you notes.

The breakdown for this year:

Our box breakdown for 2009:

And how we got to 117:

Look at this mess!  The fabulous Women on Wednesday class to which I belong came over instead of conducting bible study to help organize and begin packing.  I love those women.  Truly. Sure, the girls and I buy stuff all year long – but we never bought all this.  Most gifts – crayons, boxes of unopened Happy Meal toys, T-shirts, etc. – arrived from friends at work, often anonymously.  I literally don’t know what we have until I open the storage cabinets, slice open the boxes and start pulling it all out.   Other gifts arrived from long-time friends like Shelley, who had boxes delivered straight to our house. The generous folks who sent toys, school supplies, clothing items, etc. – and/or money for shipping (GREATLY appreciated!) – they know who they are, and I won’t embarrass them here by calling them out. They know Who knows, and that’s all that matters.

Dana and Dorothy D, performing the un-glamorous job of opening packs of underwear and socks, rolling them tight and placing individual pairs in Ziploc bags with all the air squeezed out.  We treat any cloth “anything” like this, to keep the item clean, take up less space and provide a gift of the Ziploc bag.  Doing this is not quick.  This.  Takes.  For.  Ever.

My girls know:  All non-chocolate Halloween candies extorted – er – collected plus all gum goes into the boxes.  We also buy a load at Wal-mart the day after Halloween, which Hannah bagged the same day.  Generous friends gifted more later, so Brook and Dorothy N quarter-filled sandwich-sized Ziploc bags to go into the boxes.  Most boxes got two or three small candy bags.

Cutting strips of toothbrushes apart for individual packing…again, not glamorous,  but necessary.  Thanks, Lynne, for being so sharp!

The son of friend Renee – Arthur – has been coming over on Saturday for a few years to pack.  Actually – he was our inspiration before he was old enough to pack.  His sister Allison would walk around the boy gifts asking aloud, “Now, what would Arthur like?”  That’s a box of knitted stocking caps, each made  by Keith’s mom, and each Ziploc’ed with the air squeezed out.  We had enough for every child to get one.  I used to stress about those caps going somewhere really hot, like Africa, before I was told by a member of the delivery team, “Oh, no, the kids love there love them.  Keeps their heads from sunburning when they’re picking.”

This year, Arthur brought his friend Tim (left).   Arthur’s (wonderful) mother Renee is pictured on the right, Ziploc’ing T-shirts.  Does your church have leftover VBS shirts?   Does your employer have some shirts moldering on a dusty shelf?  Those are prime box prizes!  Renee and her kiddos also haunt the 75% off sales at the Target Dollar Spot.

117 boxes – Yes, a record number (previous high was 95 in 2007), but it’s never been about the number.  Never. It’s always been about doing as many as we were supposed to do.

What we learned this year:

-  The Container Store has the best boxes – period.  Sturdy, thick heavy clear plastic with close-fitting lids that snap tightly.    They’re also the most pricey – but we caught a sale with an extra 30% off and free delivery to the store (plus Upromise credit.)   Made them pennies more expensive that the cheapies.  I bought 35.  I wish I’d bought 100.

-  Before you buy a box – test it.  Does the lip snap tightly?  Is the plastic rigid enough to hold water, which is the most commonly-observed use for the boxes?  We had some donated this year that were really skuzzy.  The plastic was flimsy and the lids had virtually no tension.  Rachel wondered if they’d actually withstand the trip overseas.  So we decided to use them to sort/store gifts and quit using them to pack.

-  My WOW friend Linda figured out that pre-packing crayons, a bag of candy and a Christmas greeting (4″ x 6″ photo with message) in boxes was a good use of time as everyone else Ziploc’ed  cloth materials, pulled price stickers, etc.  Dang.  Why didn’t we ever think of that before?  So handy to grab an already-started box with those gender-neutral items you’re sure to need.

Samaritan’s Purse hopes/expects to distribute 8M shoe boxes this year.  Compared to 8M – 117 is nothing, like .000014625%.  But the thing is – those 117 boxes will go to real kids.  With real faces.  And real hearts, ready to hear the true Christmas story.  The boxes don’t materialize out of thin air.  If they’re not packed and shipped – then the kids don’t get them.

117 = S.B. – F. R. K. T. C.

It’s that simple.

And that significant.

The girls and I are fairly tired and definitely sweaty after a full day of filling, carting, stacking and banding Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child boxes.  We’re not sure how many boxes we have just yet.  I’m never even  sure what we have to pack until I start dragging it out and slicing open boxes.  “Oh!  Here are Shelley’s bags!  Omigosh, it’s Lisa’s crayons!  Look in these socks – they tucked a check inside!”

All I can say is – I have the world’s most generous friends, without a doubt.

So stay tuned for box count announcement.

In the meantime – we indulged in a “station break” at the Region 12 Choir Concert in which Hannah performed as 11th chair Alto.  She’s the (spunky) brunette in the very top row, 7th from the right.   She and her fellow Bush Middle School 8th grade girls’ choir members wore black formals, of which there were a disproportionate number peppered among the students representing 37 South Texas schools.

Listen to the sound of my voice

Can you hear the beat of my heart

Listen to the questions I have

Listen to me

It’s all very simple to see what we need

Give us hope

We’ll never hear the voices of the kids that receive shoe boxes.  We’ll never hug them and hear their hearts beat, or ponder their questions.

But maybe.

Just maybe.

We can give a little hope.

If you helped in any way with shoe boxes this year, know that you have that shared that hope.  You’ll never get a thank-you note, or something colorful to tack up on your fridge.  No swollen-bellied mother is going to stand behind her ragged child,  point directly at you and hiss, “Now you go say ‘thank you.’”   Nobody is going to pat you on the back at church.  There may be only One who knows what you’ve done – how you’ve practiced true religion.

We are the future

Help us believe

Give us hope

And we’ll show you the way.

The day after Thanksgiving means wrestling the Christmas tree from under the stairs.

The day after Christmas means hitting the outlet mall.

But before we get there…..the day after Halloween means snatching up a cart full of of half-price candy at Wal-Mart for Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes.

Yes, it has begun.  Again.

We bought cheap Rubbermaid cabinetry at Home Depot last year before Hannah could move into what was the guest room, with its lovely empty closet holding all this stuff. Today I am just dragging stuff out. Lois, Hannah and Julia filled dozens of sandwich-sized Ziplog baggies with candy before their afternoon choir practices today.  Lots more to fill. We pack only plastic shoeboxes – none of that “gift wrap a paper box” nonsense.  For about $1@, the plastic box becomes part of the gift, and is far more likely to survive the journey overseas.  The most commonly-observed use for the boxes?  To haul water.

School supplies, anyone?  My friend Lisa reminded me years ago, “It does no good to send pencils without a sharpener.”  This year, she and Matt sent 101 boxes of crayons (among other things) – no sharpener needed. I am blessed with the world’s most generous friends – there is no doubt in my mind. Yes, you know who you are.

The very beginning of organization – girls’ pile, boys’ pile, either pile. It’s an unholy mess right now.
My “Women on Wednesday” class is coming over Wednesday night to help pull labels, ditch packaging, organize piles, etc.   We may even pack a few.  And long-time friend Renee is coming over Saturday with her daughter and friends to pack.  And, of course, we’ll be working on them at home through the week.

If you’ve ever wanted to pack a shoebox for a needy child – give it a whirl!  It’s so much fun.   It gives joy not only to the child, but also to the giver.  The day you pack.  The day the child receives it.

And every day thereafter.