Friday, December 11, 2009

Christmas Shoeboxes

Our family has put together Christmas shoeboxes for years.  Samaritan's Purse has a ministry called Operation Christmas Child that distributes these donated shoebox gifts to children all over the world.

We were surprised to learn that our two Ukies were also recipients of these boxes.  We expect the gifts to be sent overseas but I never expected to meet anyone who had received one.  And here our own children had received some over the years.

This year we put two of them together, one each for a boy and a girl, and we had Valya and Sergey select the items to put in them.  They remembered the things they had liked.  For example, Valya's had some underwear, a little bit of makeup, jewelry, a stuffed animal and a doll.  She also included a picture of herself and a letter.  Sergey's had a variety of toys, personal care items, and some clothes.  We paid an online donation and we got barcoded labels so now we will be able to track where our two boxes go in the world.


Whoever gets these boxes is in for a treat.  Our boxes are actually boot sized and packed with things that our kids knew that they would like, from experience.

















Valya poses with her box.  She included a picture of herself and a note.

















3 comments:

Kevin and Pam said...

I love Vayla letter! We made shoeboxes also. Justin said he never received one but he really enjoyed putting it together. Check this u-tube link out about a girl from Ukraine who received a shoebox. http://video.aol.com/video-detail/1/1879016237?flv=1 My kids watched it and were really inspired.

ArtworkByRuth said...

Wow! I love it! We do the shoe boxes through our church each year, it would be good to know what she thought was the best to receive!

Conethia and Jim Bob said...

Such a neat story!! I think that's amazing how God connects us with others as we go through life. Our kids picked out angel's from the Salvation Army's Angel Tree, kids their own age, and picked out clothes and toys for them. They loved it! I pray your hoiday is full of memories. Buy lots of batteries and a new memory card!!