Operation Christmas Child

Maddy had her first lesson in "giving to others" Monday night. Our church as well as Mimi and Poppi's church are participating in Samaritan's Purse - Operation Christmas Child. For those of you not familiar with "OCC" visit their website: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/ for details but the basic idea is to fill up a shoe box with small toys, goodies, and personal hygiene products for children. Samaritan's Purse then collects the boxes and distributes them to needy children in war torn and third world countries. I read that over 8 million boxes in over 130 countries were distributed last year!

Poppi had the great idea that this would be something Maddy could help with that would teach her about giving. I took Maddy shopping for things to fill a box for a girl 2-4 years old.  At first Maddy wasn't too thrilled with buying things for someone else especially when we weren't buying her something too. But she caught on very quickly and loved picking out hair bows, dolls, and coloring books for "a girl just like me."

We gathered at the church last night to assemble the boxes. Maddy also included a note in her box and hopefully we will hear back from the little girl that receives Maddy's box.  I was very proud of Maddy, at the young age of 3 she caught on very quickly what it means to share and give to others. She even mentioned that she hopes the box makes the girl happy and that maybe one day she can come over to our house and play.  How sweet is that?

I checked the website today and collection of boxes doesn't end until November 22nd so there is still time for everyone to fill a box. The website tells you everything you need to know and there is even a great video to watch before you get started.