Christmas Shoeboxes

It's getting closer to the most wonderful time of the year! That means shoe boxes must be prepared! Each year Journey Fellowship posts photos of children and workers at two orphanages that they sponsor and invite the church to chose one or two or three to take home, pray over, and pack a box filled with soap, toys, clothes, and love. Then we send the boxes with a team to deliver them. The video that we get back is so worth the time and effort to share some love with children that could use a little extra.

This year we got to help by signing everyone up who wanted to participate. We also took a few boxes home. Guerby- a boy we had last year, age 12, Rodney- an interpreter for the Oak Hills Church team at the orphanage and his wife, Ketline. Three boxes!

Because my wife is amazing, we did most of our shopping from our closet- toothpaste, tooth brushes, deodorants, cologne and perfume, toys, books, pens, calculators, and more... just waiting to be put to good use!

After a few more shopping trips we had our boxes all ready!

Last year Guerby's information said he like music so I got him a harmonica, around the same time I got mine. This year there wasn't much info into what he liked so I got a bunch of stuff- a football, a skateboard, a pop ball, some clay, cards, plus the school and hygiene stuff... Hope he likes it! :)

Rodney reminds me of myself, so I took all the things that I want and bought them and then I send them to him! ;) Every Man Jack body wash (I entered a contest to get that bottle free), a cool vintage tee (I have the same one in blue), a pretty dandy compass/watch/carabiner, a multi-tool with built in flashlight, and moleskin notebooks (I really want one, but Taylor won't let me buy one because I have a suitcase of empty notebooks and sketch pads at home.)

Taylor had so much fun picking out all kinds of girly stuff like jewelry, hair pieces, perfume, a mirror, chapstick, sunglasses and more! It was fun because Rodney and Ketline are a young married couple like us so picking out the stuff was easy! Taylor also loves filling shoe boxes by finding great deals like flip-flops for only $1.50 and a pile of bracelets for just over $2! The perfume was free during Christmas sales last year and almost nothing was bought at full price, but will still be fully exciting for Ketline!

Good Job Journey Fellowship!

This weekend we will be assisting in preparing the boxes for take off which includes removing the cash for shipping, checking that liquids are bagged, and taking out any candy (not because we don't want the kids to have candy, but because it gets given personally from those who deliver at the appropriate time! lol!) We also check that the boxes are full so we go prepared with extra goodies to fill any gaps! Fun stuff!