Sunday

Give Thanks to the Lord for He is Good! His Love endure Forever.

It's a perfect fall Sunday.  The leaves are a deep golden yellow, the air is warm.  The donation box was overflowing at church, with more shoes, school supplies, soap and wash cloths. New people attending our church wanting to know how to help out, what was still needed. We set the date of our packing party! We had a wonderful church service and Thanksgiving meal after, with all the fixings. My heart is overflowing.  And I read Kathy Schriefer's blog Life Inside the Box, and how God supplied enough for 21, 106 boxes which were packed in the past 2 days.  AMAZING!

Whatever you are praying for today.  Remember God is Able!  Not by our strength, or ability.  But He will provide!

Have a wonderful, blessed Sunday.  We're off to a family gathering with more amazing food and good company.
Be Blessed!
Tam

Thanksgiving Project

Next weekend is Thanksgiving for us Canadians. A time of good food, family gatherings and a time to reflect on our blessings.  We live in a country with blessings everywhere we look. 
Why not spice up Thanksgiving this year. Ask everyone attending to bring an item or two or three or four, for a shoe box.  It can be specific items or even gift cards, so you can buy items at a later date. You can pack the box or boxes that day for even more fun! There maybe some who have never heard of OCC.  And what a great way to get them involved. 

Ideas

Need ideas for filling your boxes?  Check out my pinterest page. With all of my favorite itemst to pack in boxes.

Friday Favorites- Cap

Add a cap to your box.

2-4 Boys Box under $6.00

Collection week is less than 2 months away!! How exciting.  I love digging out everything we have shopped for through out the year. And put it all together to bless children around the world.  And how cool that we can do it from our own home (or where ever you pack from), include our own children and have fun doing it!

Here is the first one of 2012.  It's for a boy 2-4. Excuse the bad picture, my camera is having problems focusing. 

2 Note book -.12 cents (Superstore back to school clearance 4 for .25 cents)
Whistle-.25 cents (Salvation Army)
Beach Ball -.44 cents- (Superstore clearance)
Stuffed animal (given to me)
Wooden school bus-.50 cents  (Michaels clearance )
Ball -.25 cents (Old Navy)
Shorts - $1.00 (Walmart summer clearance)
Shirt.75 cents (hard to see but it is there. Pack of 4 at Giant Tiger)
Soap (free with coupon)
Tooth brush-21 cents (Pack of 6 for $1.25 at Dollar Tree)
Wash Cloth-.33 cents (pack of 12 for $4.00 at Walmart)
Comb -.11 cents Pack of 10 for $1.25 from Dollar Tree)
Underwear- $1.00 (Fields clearance)
3 Pencils -.08 cents (pack of 10 for .25 cents at Superstore Back to School)
Eraser .05 (pack of 5 for .25 cents at Superstore Clearance)
Scissor-.30 cents (pack of 3 for .91 cents at Canadian Tire)
Pencil Case (I made from felt from the Thrift Store.  I purchased a huge piece of felt for less than a dollar and it made a lot of pencil cases.  So no idea of cost, but pennies)
3 Pens .13 cents (pack of 10 for .44 cents at Superstore)
Pencil Sharpener -.25 cents (not shown)( 4 for $1.00 at Dollarama)

Total $5.77

*Still need to add candy which I will pick up after halloween, and also need to add a note a picture.

Staples Clearout

Half the time I end up buying items for shoe boxes. I am not even looking. Anyone else find that? On Saturday I went to Staples to pick up a USB stick. And ended up finding these Crayola packs for .47 cents each. I have never seen the extra 50% off stickers at Staples before. Now I will be on the look out for them:)

Multiple Monday

Welcome back to Multiple Monday. I'm hoping to run this consistently again, now that summer is over and packing season is approaching.  

I love buying in multiples, and one of my staple items to add is a pencil sharpener.  I found these at Dollar Tree.  I only bought one package because I was a little leery about the quality.  But I was very impressed.  My boys have been using one of these this week, and it works great. And now I wish I had bought more, as the closest location is over an hour away. 

Friday Favorites- baseball glove and ball.

I heard and was trying to find the story of a boy who was praying for a baseball glove.  And was so excited when he opened his box and found a brand new baseball glove and ball.   Ever since hearing this story I have been on the lookout for gloves.

I was thrilled to find these on clearout at Wal-mart. They are for younger boys,  I am still praying for gloves for older boys.
Have you ever packed baseball gloves?

What are you praying for?

I have been praying for cars.  On sale they are a dollar.  Which is not great.  Cars are a staple item in our boys boxes.  This week I found a few at the thrift store for .50 cents.  Thank you Jesus!
What are you praying for?

Walmart Clearance

I was excited to find these baseball gloves.  They are really good quality.  And on sale for $3.00.  I just wish they had had more.  The princess/toys story and cars sets were .75 cents.  As was the boat and set of 4 bouncy balls.  I also found yo-yo's for .75 cents, looks like I forgot to add them to the picture.

What have you found lately?

Giant Tiger Clearance.

Giant Tiger is clearing out.  I found t-shirts for $2.00. 10-14 boys shoes for $2.00 Plus some girls shoes for $2.00.  And the best buy- 10 pack of girls underwear for $3.00.  You need to be very careful with what you buy, as some items are exactly the same, but their code is different and they are not on sale.  I found this in the shoes and underwear.  It's best to ask.

Impact Story from Uruguay

1. This story couldn't have come at a better time. For our church's packing party we are adding a pr of footwear to everybox. This has been the one thing that has been the most stressful for me. This reminds me God will provide!

   
   

   In a poor, countryside town in Uruguay, four brothers arrived barefoot at a shoe box gift distribution. They wore tattered handmade sandals to school, and went barefoot the rest of the time to preserve what little of the sandals remained.
   
   Volunteers asked the brothers what they hoped to receive in their boxes, and they replied that they just wanted shoes. They opened their boxes and each had a br...

   and new pair of shoes inside. They ran home yelling, “Daddy, I have shoes to go to school!”
   
   The father came back to ask if he had to pay for the gifts, and the volunteers explained that the gifts were freely given as an example of the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. The father cried when he learned the gifts were free, and accepted Christ. The family told the whole neighborhood what the Lord had done for them, and many people accepted Christ.

   
   

   Source OCC
   

Canadian Tire Scratch and Save ends today.

1. Canadian Tire has scratch and save $5.00 off or a free McCains cake. Either way you can't loose. I'm hoping they have plastic shoe boxes on sale

Winnipeg OCC Kick Off

Winnipeg Operation Christmas Child kick off happening Thursday Sept 20th at 7:00 at the Eastview Community Church in  Winnipeg. Come for a short program and pick up your boxes for your church/business for this 2012 shoebox season.  Meet other OCC volunteers and be inspired to fill shoeboxes! If you want to attend let me know and I will let them know.

Friday Favorites- colorful pens

Add some color to their life.

Add a colorful pen.  

Imagine the possibilities with 10 colors!

Weekend Goodies.

If you've been following me for a while you know that I love thrift stores and garage sales.  Last Saturday we went into the city for the Island Lakes community garages. They are great because so many people have them you can walk and walk, well until your arms are full.  Here is a small sampling of some of the goodies I picked up.  

Quite a few of the items were free.  When we mentioned it to one lady she said her and her daughters had done it before and she told us to pick whatever we wanted.  What a blessing.  

Most items were  .25 to .50 cents.  The footwear I paid more for because most stores have put away their summer footwear. But I am still in need of footwear for 2-4 girls and 10-14 boxes for our Church Packing Party.

I am very particular what I purchase, as OCC wants all items to be new. I never want to spend my money on something that maybe removed from a box.  So if I am unsure of an item, I leave it.  Most of the items came in original packaging.  Some items look like they have never been used. I know my kids really want something and then play with it once and then it sits there.  And you can not tell it has been used. I will add these items to boxes. 

But my best find were all these beads and a bit of cord for $2.25! I am looking forward to dividing them and putting it in bags and seeing how many girls will be blessed with beads!

It is fun to search out items.  You never know what you will find.
Has anyone else found some great deals lately?

Friday Favorites- Stickers

One of my favorite things to add are stickers!  

I loved them as a little girl and are still drawn to them.

These I found at Michaels on clearance for .20 cents.

A Family Transformed

Source: OCC UK

A seventeen year old boy living in a small village in Romania heard that there was going to be a Christmas gift distribution, so he went and received a gift filled box from Operation Christmas Child, along with the booklet explaining the birth of Christ. The story intrigued him and he would go to church where the gifts were given as often as he could and even attended summer camp put on by the church. 

On the way to camp the Pastor asked the boy about his life at home. The boy shared with his new friend about his desperate home situation – that his mum was a prostitute and that his father found clients for her. He was ashamed of his family and knew their lifestyle was wrong.

Upon returning to his village from the summer camp, the young man boldly told his mother that he could not live as they did anymore. As it turned out, his pastor friend found a place for him to stay at the church. It was not long however before he began to feel burdened for his family and God gave him the strength he needed to go home.

His mum was the next person in his family to accept Christ. Due to the size of the village, it did not take long for everyone to know that the former prostitute was a Christian. The father however was very angry because his wife was not making money for him any more and he would have to find another line of work. He tried many times to kill the mother and son. One day he came home drunk and grabbed the woodchopper, closed the door and gave his wife and son one last minute to make a wish. They began to pray and God protected them that day, for the father simply turned and left.

The church family continued to meet and began to pray for this man. He soon became very ill and had to go to the hospital. The hospital called the family to come and get him as he was going to die very soon. The mother and the son brought the man home and the church began to pray. The prayers were heard and answered. The man stood up from his death bed the next morning –healed and changed! 

A shoebox gift for a boy was the beginning of bringing life into a hopeless situation.