This Reminds Me

Archive for the ‘Samaritan’s Purse’ Category

Yesterday afternoon – thanks to my good friend Renee and her two kiddos – we finished packing Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes.

Last night, we did one last quality check as we label-taped, banded, stacked and tallied the shoe boxes.  Rachel also crushed/cut all the cardboard storage/shipment boxes for recycling.  (“Mom, how many ARE there?”)

The final count:

Total:  130 boxes!  Julia was pleased, because she felt compelled to top the 117 boxes from last year.   I love it – but I don’t feel compelled.  I think we’ll do as many as we’re supposed to do.  (But the bigger number did make me smile.)

To get them to church this morning, we had to fill Rachel’s trunk….

….plus my hatch and back seat.  Lois drove the van to church, by the way.  She’ll be getting her license soon.  Then she can run errands for her sainted mother.  I’m sure that will please her as much as it does Rachel.

Everybody got to help carry.  Several friends grabbed one or two (or five or six) on their way into the building.  Julia did more “running” this season than did any of us.  She carried at least 100 of the 130 boxes downstairs to the dining room table.  Plus she’s turned into a good little bargain hunter.  (“Mom – for the kids?”)  Quite a change from the child who - in 2006 – could barely stand to give anything away.

Hannah stacked them all in the Welcome Center, sorting by box type.  We’ve learned over the years to stack by box type – less likely to topple.  Last night I removed every single leftover box from Rubbermaid cabinets where I shove this stuff all year.  I matched boxes and lids, some of which – because we use boxes to store, too – were a decade old.  Any unmatched lids/boxes got tossed. I bagged identical lids, and set them inside the matching boxes to store for next year.  In 2011, we’re going to use these “stray” boxes first.  Container Store and Costco/Sam’s boxes really are the best – clearest, thickest plastic with tightest-fitting lids.

Thanks again to everyone who’s helped provide a gift for a needy child this year.

You know who you are.

You don’t get anything in return.  No lovely hand-written note, no plaque with your name on it, no gushy speech.

But you know.

And I am humbled and thankful to know you.

Several friends gathered tonight to pack shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. Julia last counted 77 boxes about 30 minutes before we quit.  So I’m not really sure how many are piled on the dining room table.

Dorothy (pink jacket) bagged candy last year, and immediately volunteered to bag again this year.   You gotta love someone who steps up to the un-glamorous  job that needs to be done.  Linda (stripes) is the world’s best organizer and greatly improved the flow of materials in the game room. I need her to come over and organize my whole house.

Sherry donated lots of Beanie Babies, so she could quickly find a particular one tor a boy or girl aged 2 – 4, 5 – 9 or 10 -14.  Each Beanie was bagged, too, to keep it clean. Takes awhile to do that bagging, but we think it’s worth it to know the cloth won’t be dirty.  Plus the bag becomes part of the gift.

Dana rooted around in the toys to find the right ones for her boxes. I used to envy Dana her electronic bible – until I got an iPhone and downloaded that app. Love it! Now if I just had her bible knowledge to better use the app…..

Barb (green) was here organizing last week, and Lynn (red) is a packing pro from years past.   They’re the Proverbs 31 kind of women that can “do anything.”

Dorothy – our Wednesday night WOW leader – is as good a packer as she is a teacher. And that’s pretty darned good.

Jenae – who compressed/bagged shirts last week – was busy packing around them this week.  The big items – like compressed shirts – go in the boxes first, then the littler stuff (pens, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, candy, toys, combs, etc.) go around them.  That’s sort of like life – take care of the big stuff and fit in the little stuff as you can.  Jenae has two teenagers and works as a school vice-princpal, so she’s intimate with the “big stuff.”

The girls and I will be packing Thursday and Friday evenings, and part of Saturday – when my good friend Renee is coming over with her kids and their stuff to do a few more.  We’re planning to all the boxes to church on Sunday.  I’m thinking it’s going to be a “two-vehicle Sunday.”

It’s easy to lose sight of the “why” of the shoe boxes amidst all the activity.  So here’s a reminder of the “why”, straight from Samaritan’s Purse website:

When a generous friend give me something for Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes, I don’t open the box or bag if it’s sealed.  I just shove into the Rubbermaid cabinets in the game room and know that when we’re ready to organize it all, I’ll see it then.

The fabulous WOW “Women on Wednesday” bible study class to which I belong met here tonight.  We organized.  And saw it all.

Johnnie, Linda and Barbara – folding/compressing T-shirts into Ziploc bags and squeezing out all the air.  Keeps the shirts clean, plus the bag becomes part of the gift.  All this prep work takes hours and hours.

Jenae repackaged 36 pairs of tri-pack “Bob the Builder” underwear, plus compressed T-shirts and packaged knit caps.  This after working all day – as Johnnie, Linda and Barbara did, too.  I’ve long said that a group of busy women can work circles around any other group – period.

Julia’s been my biggest “daughter helper” this year.  She doesn’t have the after-school jobs and crushing homework loads of her sisters.   She’s been known to bounce a ball or two – just to make sure they work, of course.

I do have the world’s most generous friends.  It was crazy timing – my friends Mary Anne and Shelley both called while we were organizing, saying, “I’m sending more!”    Lisa, Laura, Charlotte, Bart, Renee, Stephanie,  Jo and everybody else – you know who you are.  And one day, I want a seat at each of your banquet tables. Everyone who gives humbles me. They don’t get fancy plaques or commemorative T-shirts or verbose thank-you letters signed by someone important.  The people around them have no idea how generous they are.   There’s really only One who knows.  Of course – he’s the One who matters.

I think every box gets a knit cap this year, thanks to Keith’s mom.  The caps are all ziplocked and ready to pack. We also have enough really cool nylon backpacks and/or mesh bags for each box to have one.

Aren’t these colorful tubs neat?  Found them on clearance at Sam’s for $4.81 per set of two.  I bought four sets, then asked my friend Johnnie to grab four more.  Julia created the signs on the sides, like “Girl Toys” and “School Supplies.”   They really hold the stuff, and I can just stack them inside each other for easy storage year-to-year.

Halloween candy goes on sale Monday.  I plan to be at Wal-Mart plenty early and empty some shelves.  Then we pack – that’s the fun part!  All this preparation – while necessary – is definitely the dirt work.

Julia’s been pressing me to promise we’ll “do more” than last year’s 117 boxes.  Truly – that just doesn’t concern me.  We’ll do as many as we’re supposed to do.  We’ll pack what we’re supposed to pack.  That’s our part.  Then we hand them off to Samaritan’s Purse, and God gets them to the kids that are supposed to have them.

The kids getting them – well, that’s something I really would like to see.  Someday.  Maybe.

But for now, I just look around this game room and say, “WOW! “  And look forward to packing with the girls and my friends next week.

Until I went digital in 2003 – I was always a “Nikon gal,” going back to my 1979  Nikon EM (“The plastic Nikon,” as my friend and professional photographer Steve sniffed).  My digital cameras have all been Kodak models, largely because -  I confess – I like the software.

But my latest Kodak  – a 2005 5.0 MP 7590 – has been sputtering with its shuttering for several weeks – slow and hard to focus, turning off by itself, etc.   I knew I needed a new camera, but didn’t want to spend the money on a new one, or take the time to learn it.

Keith removed the decision from my shooting finger by surprising me with a new camera for our anniversary.  A Nikon!  An SLR!  With a fabulous 18 – 105 lens (be still my heart!)  But dang – the thing has an instruction book an inch thick (literally).  I can barely squeeze in my 20 minutes of bus reading every day.   When exactly was I going to find the time to ingest the college course necessary to use the sucker?   I confess:  The thought exhausted me.  So the poor thing sat on my dresser – alone, unused, unloved – for more than a week.

Tonight was “Harvest Festival” at church – a pitch-in dinner followed by a fantastic choral program.  I hadn’t planned on taking pictures, but our music minister – whom I adore – seemed disappointed when he asked me if I’d brought my camera.  So Keith bolted his dinner, then raced home to get my camera.  My new camera.  My new Nikon.  Which I literally had not touched, for fear of the massive learning curve required.

It was time for some on-the-job training. Ten minutes’ worth before the program began.  No pressure.

The full choir and orchestra, from the back of the church.  Mono pod on a pew chair using the wide-angle 18 setting.  It felt so, so good to be twisting an SLR lens again.

Buds in the choir.  Mono pod.  Telephoto (105) lens setting.

After the service – Hannah carrying Samaritan’s Purse boxes for crating.  Our church is one of two San Antonio collection centers.  Hand-held; mid-range.

We crated about 1400 boxes Wednesday night.  There were probably 1000 more to crate tonight.  Need a ceiling-bouncing flash to illuminate the distant people.  I’ll have to get that figured out.

I confess:  As busy as the next few weeks will be, my Nikon would probably have sat unused on my dresser until after the holidays.  But as it is – I had to use it tonight, so…..

Thanks, Phil for motivating me.

Lois is getting her wisdom teeth out tomorrow.  I’ll have some reading time as I wait.

I confess – I’m thinking there’s a manual I need to read.

Confession is good for the soul, doncha know?