Verses of encouragement.

Everyday I receive devotional emails.  One of my favorites are from Proverbs 31 Ministries.
And Fridays was full of encouragement!  And I thought, how wonderful it would be to add these verses to the letters/cards/notes to my shoe box.  And it was too good to keep to myself.  I had to share it with you too:)

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

You are
• Created in the image of God. (Genesis 1:27)
• Fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)
• Precious and honored in His sight. (Isaiah 43:4)
• Redeemed and forgiven. (Ephesians 1:7)
• A new creature in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
• Holy and blameless before God. (Ephesians 1:4, 1 Corinthians 1:30)
• Chosen by God. (1 Peter 2:9)
• God’s masterpiece. (Ephesians 2:10)
• Created with purpose to do great works for God’s Kingdom. (Ephesians 2:10)

You are God’s creation – beautiful, strong and created with a unique plan and purpose.

These words encouraged and continue to encourage me.
Just imagine how these words, God's promises! could change a childs life.
I encourage you to add a verse to your letter.

God's Provision!

I love to add pencil cases to my boxes!

I imagine children trying to carry their school supplies to school. They don't have cute little pencil cases or boxes or any other containers to store them in. Back packs are not available. And if they're anything like me, I'd constantly be dropping something, a pencil, eraser, pencil sharpener, pencil crayons and on and on. And by then I'd be crying. So with something small like a pencil case, it could make their life a little easier.  Last year at our church packing party, one of the things I wish we could have added were pencil cases. 

This thought has been on my mind since that day back in November.  And so I've been cutting pencil cases from felt and fleece these past few weeks and my mom's been sewing. We have a nice pile!  Our fabric has given us more than we imagined- again God's doing. But not nearly enough for the boxes we pack at home, my mom's boxes and the churches.  We do not have a goal yet for the number of boxes at church.  We just know it will be over 200. 

On Friday I felt that I should go back to MCC, the thrift store in our city.  I had already been there on Tuesday.  But felt that I should go back.  So I wandered around, wondering what I would find.

 And then I saw these.

And not just One, as pictured.

  2 HUGE STACKS!

They all had tags on them that said mail bag and you could write your address on them.

But to me they cried pencil cases! 

And lots of them!

  They were exactly the right size. 

 The top has a draw string so they could be closed.

And the tags could easily be cut off without hurting the fabric.

There was no price on them.

So I eagerly took my find to the till.

Well it turns out that there were 200 of them!

And I got them all for $12.00. 

.06 cents each. 

Oh Our God is so GOOD!!

I hadn't even prayed about it yet, but God knew my heart.

And he provided, more than I could have imagined!

And I am so thankful he saw fit that I didn't have to sew them all. 

He knows sewing is not really my gifting;)

The other blessing is that  MCC will invest the $12.00 into helping other needy people around the world. 

The gift just keeps giving.

Shoppers Drug Mart- Clearance

I hadn't planned on going to Shoppers Drug Mart yesterday. 

But ended up needing a prescription. 

And while there, I found some great deals!

12 pens for .25 cents!

WOW!

I do have to say God has provided an abundance of pens and it's only the beginning of March:)  They also had soap, 3 bars for .25 cents.  But I have no idea why I didn't buy it.  Other than I was way too excited for the pens.  I may go back and check if the soap is still there today.

All remaining Valentine's Day products were marked down to .50 cents. 

 What girl wouldn't love to receive these? 

El Salvador distribution.

The story about the Making Everlasting Smiles trip to El Salvador in December 2010 to pass out Christmas Shoeboxes to children who wouldn't normally receive a Christmas gift.

Miraculous Twin girls story.

Nicole Sheldon shares first hand a story of how God provides miraculously for twin girls through a shoe box in the San Blas Islands of Panama.

Friday Favorites

Welcome to Friday Favorites.

Every Friday I will showcase one of my favorite items to add to boxes.

Today it's these stretchy bunnies.

There are certain seasonal items that I look for every year. 

And these stretchy bunnies are one of the. 

They are lots of fun, and 6 for $1.00 is easy on the pocket book:)

2011 Stats

The 2011 stats are in.  I must say we are very consistent:)
There were only 2 changes from last year.  
10-14 year old boys were up 1% and 5-9 girls were down by 1%.

Boys         2011              2010 
2-4              7%                 7%
5-9            24%                24%
10-14       13%                 12%


Girls        2011                2010
2-4           10%                 10%
5-9           31%                 32%
10-14       15%                 15%

2-4 Year boys still received the least amount of boxes.

I ask that prayerfully consider which age group and gender you should pack for in the coming year.  And pack how the Spirit leads you.