Winter Clearance

This is the time of year that stores clear out their winter merchandise.  Today at Wal-mart (Portage la Prairie, Mb) there was long sleeved shirts as well as toques (I realize this is a Canadian term!  What do American's call toques? Beanies?) for $1 each.  I especially loved the toque with a pom pom on it that says Canada.  Always neat to include an item or two that bear the name of the country the shoe box came from.  The sizes for all items tended to be more on the small size, with the occasional large size.

Some people question whether warmer clothing items like this, are appropriate for the countries they are being sent to.  I would answer yes!  Not all countries have warm climates...think of Russia for example.  Definitely some nice items to keep a child warm.

Happy shopping!

Donation

This last week I received a generous donation from a lady in our church.  She and her husband were moving to a smaller house.  She has various collection and one of the items she has collected over the years is beanie babies.  Not having as much room in their new house, she parted with some of her collection (23!) and donated them to be used in Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes. 

She has had a heart for shoe boxes for years and has encouraged me numerous times to keep up with promoting shoe boxes in our church.  Knowing that 23 children will have something soft to love on, is so awesome!  What a blessing!

Bouncy Balls

The party supply aisle is always a good place to find packages of multiples which work nicely in shoe boxes.  Last week I was able to find these bouncy balls on clearance at Wal-mart.  Regularly $2 for 6 balls, they were clearing these out for $1.  Which makes these .17 cents a piece.  Perfect to split between a few boxes.

Sobey's Gift Card

Starting today (February 28th) until March 2nd, if you spent $100 at Sobey's, you get a free $10 Sobey's Gift Card.  While Sobey's mostly carries groceries, they also carry some items that could go in a shoe box: bar soap, toothbrushes, hard candy...  So if you're in the habit of shopping there anyway, why not make a point of stopping in this weekend, stocking your pantry and picking up a free gift card that you can use towards shoe boxes?!

More Dolls

Tracey from my Shoebox Committee at church found these dolls at Dollar Tree.  I like them because their outfits are modest.  I have seen other cute dolls similar size but their outfits were fairly skimpy.  These dolls are great because you can comb and do their hair.  That was always my favorite part of playing dolls;)

Prison Shoebox Distributions

Saturday, January 11th we were able to go into the Mazatlan prison and do 2 Shoebox distributions. One was for the guards children, and the other one was for the prisoners children. We had very specific rules.  Which included no cameras or cell phones.  That day of we found out that we would be allowed one camera inside the prison.  We were so excited to be able to capture this time and to be able to share our experience with others.

 It is a mens only jail.  The couple from our church work closely with the prison and go in weekly.

 

Here we are getting instructions and also hearing amazing stories of how God is working in the prison. 

The first distribution we did was for the prison guards children.  It was so important for them to be there to hear truth!  We were told that the guards worship death and make packs with the grimm reaper.  Just thinking about it makes me shiver.

Isaiah 55:11 So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

We pray that the seeds that were planted will continue to grow! And relationships with our Creator will be built.

The awesome youth team doing their drama.

Explaining that the greatest gift is not clothes or a trip but Jesus Christ!

 Our Canadian group plus the youth group from Mazatlan doing a skit together.  Even though there was a language barrier, friendships were made.

Time for the boxes!  

 

These boys could hardly wait to open their boxes.

Group photo time!

Helping open the boxes.  That tape is really strong!

It was neat to see the mom's getting excited about what was in the box.

After this we moved into the heart of the prison for our second distribution- this one was for the prisoners families.  Saturday is visiting day.  And children are allowed into the prison.  Which opened the door for us to do the distribution and allowed us to bring our children along as well.  What an amazing opportunity for everyone!    

 

My husband had planned on going into the prison during the week, and I had planned to stay back with our boys as no children were allowed.  And then the possibility of a distribution was mentioned earlier in the week. And I am so thankful that God opened this door.  All the distributions were special.  But the one in the prison was where we felt the presence of the Lord the most.    

 

We walked through a long path with chain link fence on both sides of us and barbed wire on top. There were prisoners on the other side of the fence.  Most were all friendly. A lot of them looked hopeless.  And then we came to a large open area which had a soccer field and a large open aired  gazebo type building. This is where we would be doing the distribution.

 

 

 Here we had a time of worship, for the prisoners and their families.

This lady looked so incredibly sad. Here we had the opportunity to bring hope not just to the children, but to the parents as well. 

 

 To see the prisoners lift their hands, sing and worship God was amazing!  God is doing a mighty work in the church that is in the prison!

The youth preforming their skit. 

The skit had some funny parts and it was fun to see everyone having a good time.  Laughter is a beautiful sound.

 

Isn't she cute!

Group photo time!

 

To see joy in the children's eyes as well as the parents, was beautiful. 

 

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

 

So thankful for this amazing opportunity.  I have had people ask if we felt safe.  We felt complete peace taking our children into the prison and while we were in there we felt very safe.  We felt God near to us. Especially in the heart of the prison.  And we pray that others were touched by the hand of God as well.  We pray the truth told in message, song and skits were seeds that will grow into a beautiful relationship with the one true God! And that the hopelessness will be replaced with the Hope of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Kids Tableware from Ikea

These cups,bowls and plates from Ikea are something I have bought for years - for my own kids as well as for baby gifts.  I love the bright colors and the price is right too.  $1.99 for a set of 6 cups, bowls, or plates.
I have recently started adding the cups to my Operation Christmas Child Shoe boxes.  At .33 cents a piece, they're perfect.



Another idea would be to include some of this flatware.  An 18 piece set is $1.99.  That makes a set of one fork, knife and spoon .33 cents.

One of the great things about these items is that they would suit either gender and every age category.   Perfect!