One of our family's favorite - if not THE favorite - activity of all of Christmas is doing Operation Christmas Child. If you're not familiar, OCC is Franklin Graham's project to spread the Gospel to remote countries of the world by sending gifts to children at Christmas. It's super easy: you just get a shoebox (we happened to get the free ones from Family Christian Store this year), fill it with small toys, health and hygene products, school supplies, etc., pay about $7 for shipping, and then drop it off at a designated location in your area. OCC takes the boxes all over the world and distributes them to needy children....along with the Gospel of Jesus. Tons of little ones and their parents are getting saved through this project. And it's A LOT of fun for our family to make the boxes!
Thursday night, we chose to make a box for a boy and a girl, both ages 5-9. We went to the store and stocked-up on as much as we could fit into our shoeboxes, and then came home and packed them. It's a challenge! Really, we would love to put much, much more into those little boxes, but you have to get it all in there. This is always such a good lesson for our children, who can hardly understand that we are giving gifts to children who have probably never received a gift before, and may never have even heard of "Christmas" or "Jesus." As we started putting things in our cart, John said, "Mommy, we're going to need a couple of boxes for my little boy. He seemed shocked when I told him that his little boy can only receive one box. The really cool part now is that if you pay your shipping on-line, OCC will actually track your box and send you an e-mail of where the child lives who you helped!
Anna shows-off the Disney princess dolls we chose for our little girl. I would love to tell you that all three of my children have a big heart for Operation Christmas Child, but.....well....you'll see below that one of them wasn't so sure about giving these wonderful toys away!
4-year old Anna Jean did NOT want to put those dolls in that box! She said, "But Mommy, we don't even know that girl!" Ah, the lessons of life...
Above, our finished boxes! Included in each were a stuffed animal, matchbox cars/princess dolls, jumpropes, pencils, a pencil sharpener, rules, a notebook of paper, toothpaste and a toothbrush, a bar of soap, bandaids, bouncy balls, and and hair barrets/hair picks/combs.
So here's the deal. If you would REALLY like to feel like you've celebrated Christmas in a special way that honors Jesus this year, there's still time to do Operation Christmas Child: Collection Week is this coming week! Here's a link with all the details.
And through the woods....
To Grandmother's house we go!
Thanksgiving from WV:
A post-Thanksgiving dinner tradition at my parents' house: target shooting off the deck. Just call me Kara Palin!!
My honey is such a good shot: he hit the target every time!!!
What does everyone need on Friday after they're tired of turkey? Mexican food!!!
Sunday, the 20th of November, was the 50th anniversary of our church. Happy Anniversary, CPBC!!! 
A new piece was hung which had portraits sketched of the 5 pastors in the church's history. That handsome-looking guy in the bottom right is my honey. :)
Jack Helton, the Ohio Director of Evangelism, made a presentation to our church.
We were so honored to have Dr. Bobby Welch be our keynote speaker. Bobby Welch is the 2-time past President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the former pastor of the First Baptist Church of Daytona. 
On Saturday morning, we drove down to Music Hall in downtown Cincinnati, home of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Pops. They had a "Lollipop Concert" for children, where they play kid-friendly songs and encourage children to come. IT WAS AWESOME!!!
Before the concert, the Pops had an "instrument petting zoo" in the ballroom of music hall. The ballroom itself was absolutely beautiful, and very, very old. Stretched all around the room were different symphony performers and students from the Cincinnati School for the Performing Arts, who were demonstrating their instruments for the children, and....get this....allowing them to try them! Our favorite station was the violin. The lady from the symphony actually gave a short little lesson to interested students, which my children definetly were! She was unbelievably nice.
Christopher absolutely LOVED that violin!
The Pops did a great round of songs all about trains. They were SO GOOD. If you ever have the chance to see the Pops perform in person, I highly recommend it. They are one of the best symphonies in the world, and you have probably heard their music on soundtracks and songs. For example, that famous rendition of "Sleigh Ride" that you always hear on the radio at Christmas and on CD's was performed by the Cincinnati Pops.
The last song featured the Cincinnati Children's Choir. Much impressive. My favorite song of all, though, was Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train." Totally jazzy.
Thursday night, we chose to make a box for a boy and a girl, both ages 5-9. We went to the store and stocked-up on as much as we could fit into our shoeboxes, and then came home and packed them. It's a challenge! Really, we would love to put much, much more into those little boxes, but you have to get it all in there. This is always such a good lesson for our children, who can hardly understand that we are giving gifts to children who have probably never received a gift before, and may never have even heard of "Christmas" or "Jesus." As we started putting things in our cart, John said, "Mommy, we're going to need a couple of boxes for my little boy. He seemed shocked when I told him that his little boy can only receive one box. The really cool part now is that if you pay your shipping on-line, OCC will actually track your box and send you an e-mail of where the child lives who you helped!
Anna shows-off the Disney princess dolls we chose for our little girl. I would love to tell you that all three of my children have a big heart for Operation Christmas Child, but.....well....you'll see below that one of them wasn't so sure about giving these wonderful toys away!
Above, our finished boxes! Included in each were a stuffed animal, matchbox cars/princess dolls, jumpropes, pencils, a pencil sharpener, rules, a notebook of paper, toothpaste and a toothbrush, a bar of soap, bandaids, bouncy balls, and and hair barrets/hair picks/combs.
Below, John shows-off his picture of Jesus rising from the grave. I was proud!
