Yesterday morning Jeremy was eating breakfast and I noticed he was not dressed for work. I asked him if he was going into the office or staying home. He just looked at me, trying to figure out my motive for the question, I’m sure. As I was getting the kids out the door for preschool I told him my plan for the morning was to clean out our closet (it was next on the list) and how I thought it would be great if he could go through some of his clothes and get rid of the stuff he doesn’t wear anymore.
Still no answer.
When I got back home from dropping off the kids I threw in a load of laundry, walked back through the living room, and casually said, “C’mon…it’ll be FUN!” The look on his face was doubtful.
Nonetheless he got up and joined me. And I think his mood dramatically improved once he realized that my part of cleaning out the closet involved taking my clothes on and off for the better part of 2 hours. I tried on everything that I either had not worn in a while or wasn’t sure if it was pre or post pregnancy. By the time I had to leave to get the kids, I had totally reorganized my clothes and shoes and the drawers that hold my drawers! :)
Jeremy didn’t feel the need to try on everything in sight like I did, but he did have a lot of t-shirts, dress shirts, and golf shirts that he had not worn in years. We made a stack of the give-away clothes and talked about what we wanted to do with them. In the end, we decided to send them to Good Samaritans Missions which is a ministry in Honduras that is supported by our church.
And speaking of good Samaritans, I just want to send a shout out for Operation Christmas Child, a program that offers joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through Samaritan’s Purse. This is such an easy way to show love to hurting children. Fill a shoebox with notepads, pencils, toothbrush, toothpaste, stickers and a few small toys and put a boy or girl sticker on it (found on the website). Then take it to a local drop off location between Nov 12-19. They do the rest.
The kids and I will be filling our shoeboxes this weekend. And believe me, after cleaning out my closet, I had lots of shoeboxes to fill! But that’s okay, because we have a lot of toys saved up in our “Samaritan Box” that sits in my pantry. What is the Samaritan Box, you ask??? Well, that is were the toys go, still wrapped of course, that we get throughout the year in the kids meals from fast food restaurants. Here is one of our shoeboxes from last year:
It’s so quick y’all and makes such a big difference in the life a child. I just want to encourage everybody to do at least one. Let your kids get involved, have older ones do a little research on some of these poor countries, and remember, before you drop off the boxes, say a little prayer for the child that will receive your shoebox. May they find peace this holiday season.
7 Comments
How cool! We were writing about OCC at the same time! Your description is better, though!
Love this. I got the girls to each do one this year. They are learning to be more giving. I like what it teaches them and it is for a great cause. Thanks for sharing this.
Much love,
Angela
BTW-I finished Redeeming Love. Oh it was so worth it. I LOVED that book.
We did our shoe boxes over the weekend. It’s one of our favorite things to do. This is the first year that my girls have
become emotional about the process. Our oldest is already praying for the little girl who will receive her box. It’s so sweet.
Congrat’s on the new closet! I sure could use the help in mine!!!
blessings
steph.
Our church has been doing this for the last few years. I always do girl boxes since I only have boys at home! How interesting that the motivation for moms was also talking about giving. That’s one of my favorite things on your blog, by the way!
Our Ladies’ Ministry is having what we call a “Holiday House” this Saturday. We decorate our tables with “real” plates – Christmas – and decorate with Christmas things. We’ll have a nice meal and then pack shoeboxes. I believe last year they did 80 boxes. We are hoping for more this year! It’s a great way to get your children involved in serving and thinking of someone else at Christmas time instead of their own Santa list!
We see the children on the receiving end of these shoeboxes…and their faces simply glow! Thanks to ALL of you who are helping Samaritan’s Purse with this oh-so-appreciated project!