Other Christmas Gifts

Speaking of Christmas presents...November is a great time to start Christmas shopping! Before all the hustle and bustle and the craziness that comes after Thanksgiving, Operation Christmas Child and other similar programs launch their campaigns. This works because they need to have time to process and ship the gifts before Christmas, but it also works out that you have the chance to shop for others first! Coincidence? I think not! ;)

Similar to Operation Christmas Child, Oak Hills has built relationships over the years with two orphanages- one in Haiti and one in Nicaragua. This includes some medical mission trips, as well as summer and winter mission trips. So for Christmas they pack shoeboxes full of clothes, school supplies, toiletries, toys, and other little goodies for all the children, nannies, and pastors at these orphanages then hand deliver them! It's pretty neat!

We did 7 boxes this year (practicing giving uncomfortably). Definitely not by our own means, and not because we are $bags, as we were referred to on Sunday! ;) LOL! But because we serve an amazing God who chooses to work through obedient and willing hearts! A lot of the money came from simply selling stuff on Craigslist! Really! Stuff that we had lying around (fish tanks, small pieces of furniture, and so on)...the cash really adds up! So instead of putting it in to a bank account where it gets lost with the rest of spending, we stashed it for November! It was so exciting to see it build up!

It's also so much fun to shop for all the goodies to fill the boxes! Here's what we bought:

For Fred

For Mama Hilda

For Guerby

For Dakinlove and Junia

my favorite gifts! so cute!

For Dudre and Dudro (twins! :)

Majority of the shoeboxes Sunday morning at Journey! Great job, guys! (Also, some wrapped Foster Tree Angel gifts for foster children in Guadalupe County!)