Operation Christmas Child

I had the privilege of volunteering at Operation Christmas Child yesterday and am so glad I was able to do so. I have wanted to do this for years and finally got the opportunity. I was sitting on the phone line the day they opened for volunteers and kept calling and calling until I got through...then I roped the people here at the office to participate too ;) It was great. We got to work with a lovely, ornary lady from NY (now living in FL) and 3 of her group. While her personality "rubbed" some of my co-workers the wrong way, I just loved hearing her talk...makes me think of how my grandparent(s) and older family from NY might be were they here now even though I never really knew them. Anyways, if you ever decide to make a shoebox I will tell you that including a picture and a letter is such a great blessing; I could tell this just from the way reading/seeing the messages brought a tear to my eye, more than once. One young girl wrote: "...I will pray for you everyday. You are my brother in Christ and that means we are like brothers and sisters even if we are far away from each other..." How incredibly sweet and touching. The whole organization was so well run and I felt so blessed to be able and give of my time. There were people there from over 20 states just during the time we were there (that were recognized) and many had traveled there to work all week long. While you may think that it sounds like easy work, oh my, I was tired afterwards just from standing on my feet for 4 hours straight on the concrete and lifting up the shoe boxes to the stand...I do note that I could also probably not be in the best of shape :) I plan on making some shoe boxes next year. BTW they have a great need for Boy and Girl ages 10-14 boxes should you be interested. What an awesome ministry.



Crocheting update (b/c I know you are dying to know): I have the makings of a pretty awesome scarf coming along! I am enjoying spending time each night just crocheting; it is very calming and somewhat therapeutic.



We seem to finally be getting over the never-ending cold "thing" and for that I am happy. Alexis' dry cough when I am trying to sleep got old after oh, like 3 hours and then Jose Luis' sniffing on top of it....but I just love them so much; I am so fortunate to have them in my life.