OCC: 'Final' Weekend for Shoebox

We, Who Have SO Much
Please Remember Those Who Don't

This is the final weekend to pack and bring in an actual Christmas Shoebox. After this weekend you can still "pack" a virtual Shoebox to donate Online. 


LINK Operation Christmas Child at Samaritan's Purse CANADA


LINK Operation Christmas Child at Samaritan's Purse International

Thank you. 

Love Laura-Lee (Was Here)

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Memories: Mom and Me Fill Our First Christmas Shoebox

  

This is the time of year to pack a "Christmas Shoebox" and bring it to the nearest Collection location.
And also the perfect time for me to insert a personal memory of Mom and me.

The first year we decided to pack a "Christmas Shoebox" was around the year 2005. 
I had gone over to Mom's apartment to do one of our "long" weekends where I got a bunch of groceries and we'd cook, bake, talk, sing, laugh, pray and EAT our way through three or four days.



She lived very close to a Safeway grocery store and at that time Safeway was still officially involved with the Christmas Shoeboxes. As I was leaving the store with my full cart I noticed a Safeway employee setting up a display for "Operation Christmas Child" and assembling a few of these green and red Shoeboxes. The rest she had just left folded and next to the others. She smiled at me and asked, "Do you want a box?" 
I told her I didn't know what it was about and she basically told me that we were supposed to pack a shoebox with things a poor child from another country would like and then bring it back to Safeway the following week. Then she handed me a pamphlet which contained everything I needed to know and told me she had done it and it was both simple and a lot of fun.

So I went to Mom's apartment and as she was helping me unpack the groceries (aka.. rummaging for the chocolate pudding) she came across the folded box and asked, "What is this box about?"

Which is a code between us that meant, "There's a story behind this and I want to hear it."

To make a long story short (which I did NOT do for her), Mom and I decided to fill a "Christmas Shoebox". We read the little pamphlet, chose to fill a box for a "Girl, age 10-14" and the next day we headed out together to the nearby "Zellers" and "Dollar Store". 

Two evenings later we packed our Shoebox while we talked, sang, laughed, prayed and ATE our way through the night. What was amazing was the amount of excitement it brought us. We put Christmas music on and Mom 'attacked' her dresser drawers and closets and kept coming out with all sorts of items she added to those we had bought and repeated the question, "Do you think she would like this too?"
My repeated answer, "I'm sure she will but how do we fit all of these things into that one little shoebox?"

We stopped to survey the "goodies" that we had assembled on Mom's sofa and I came to the conclusion that we either put 2/3 of the things back, have a yard sale or I would need to go and get some more Shoeboxes.

That was our first experience with "Operation Christmas Child" and filling a "Christmas Shoebox". Do I need to tell you what happened the following years? We were hooked from then on and it became a yearly tradition for us and the part of Christmas we enjoyed the most. 

Each year once our Shoebox (es) was packed and ready, we would always enclose a Christmas card with a picture of us, then join hands to pray for the child that would receive the box.

Wonderful times, wonderful memories. 

Mom lived in a Seniors apartment building and any tenant was allowed to use the recreation room and we had decided that we just had to include others in this wonderful tradition and throw a "Packing Party". But the year we had decided we were going to do it and invite everyone in Mom's building was the year Safeway was no longer involved and the nearest drop off location was 5 km away. I didn't have a car or the Internet and I was just unable to get the materials I needed or a way to get all the boxes to where they needed to be. 

My church was doing  "Shoeboxes" that year, so Mom and I still filled a box and I brought it home with me on the bus so I could drop it off at my church. But the big party didn't happen. 

Now "Samaritan's Purse" (the charity that sponsors "Operation Christmas Child - OCC) has a LOT of ways to fill a box and plenty of wonderful options. However, for me, filling a "virtual" box online isn't quite as fun as the hands on approach.
One newer option that I do find rather  "neat-o" is the ability to "track" the specific Shoebox you filled. 

If you have children, this is a tradition you simply must do. I don't know if they'll be as excited as Mom and I would get, but they'll come pretty close.

Operation Christmas Child and Samaritan's Purse is constantly expanding but at the heart of it all is a person HERE helping a child THERE. 
A child so poor that a toothbrush is a "Wow!" item, who has never even heard the word Christmas and has no idea that God exists or that Jesus loves them.
You can change all that by simply sending them a Christmas Shoebox. You'll never be the same and neither will they.


Follow the Links below for the information you'll need. You can also find labels, suggestions on what to send, videos, promotional material, a drop-off location finder and everything else you will possibly need.

Samaritans Purse CANADA


Samaritans Purse International

As for me, each year I still pray for all the children Mom and I filled boxes for through the years and I have the pleasure of being touched again with the joy we shared while filling the boxes together.

Memories, traditions, Christmas and love. Thanks for allowing me to share these with you.

Love Laura-Lee   (Was Here)

 (FYI)
LINK Operation Christmas Child (OCC) YouTube Video


 (FYF = "For Your Fun")
LINK Opening Shoeboxes in Cambodia (OCC) YouTube

OCC: The "little" Gift

LINK Samaritans Purse International

LINK Samaritans Purse CANADA  

    There's a lot of children in the world who have NEVER heard about Christmas, Jesus or even God. 

" ... It must have been so dark and cold. There must have been so little hope. Sometimes I wonder where I'd be if God hadn't sent His Gift to me."

That was the way it was for the entire world for thousands of years before God sent us Jesus. 

  "... wrapped in mercy, grace and love. That gift was sent from up above. Unconditional and Free. That "little" Gift changed EVERYTHING." ~ Paul Brandt

Our "little" Gift
wrapped in Mercy, Grace & Love

"Welcome" Sabbath, Rest & You

I'm SO glad you came to see if I "was here"

LOVE, Laura-Lee

See you after our Sabbath day rest, my wonderful, blog friends. 

(A non-"shared" message just for those special people who stopped in without any reminders or promotion from me. You came just because you care. 
"Right back at 'Ya !"  Love L-L)

OCC: What Really Matters

LINK Samaritans Purse CANADA

LINK Samaritans Purse International

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OCC: Start a Tradition

LINK Samaritans Purse International

LINK Samaritans Purse CANADA

OCC: Unconditional and Free

LINK Operation Christmas Child CANADA

LINK Operation Christmas Child International

OCC: Party Hardy

 ~ GO FOR IT CANADA ~

Remembrance Day (in Song & Joy)

This music video I originally created for Hallowe'en but discovered it had further reaching implications. It seemed to assemble itself, to be the only version of this song that does more than merely display its lyrics and turned out better than my talent alone can produce. I believe all signs that Jesus was involved in its creation.

"I Love to Tell the Story ..."

At its heart is a wonderful, toe-tapping song about the dead coming back to life sung by Christian Contemporary Group, "Phillips, Craig, and Dean",

In honor of "Remembrance Day", I encourage you to rejoice and remember those who died but are never forgotten.

Here is my [unofficial] video for "These Bones" and also a direct LINK to it's YouTube location,

LINK to Song "These Bones" at YouTube


LINK Laura-Lee's YouTube Channel

(Above is LINK to my YouTube Channel. "Lookie-Loos" are always "Welcome")

Sincerely, Laura-Lee (Was Here)

Attaching a Poppy and "REMEMBERING"

I made a "How-To" Video several years ago about attaching a Remembrance Day Poppy because they always seemed to be falling off my jacket. 

I thought I'd RE-post it because I STILL see peoples' poppies "jumping" off their jackets. (Apparently, the entire world has not seen and "heeded" my video). So 3 years later, here it is again.

Peace is costly. Even if we didn't personally pay the price. And spending 60 seconds of silence every November 11th at 11:00 am to honor those who did pay the price is the least I can do. (and trust me to do the "least" I can do!)

With Respect, Honor, and Love, Laura-Lee  


LINK Laura-Lee's Poppy Attachment Hint

IN FLANDERS FIELDS POEM
The World’s Most Famous WAR MEMORIAL POEM
By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Normandy, France
(during World War 2)

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

Composed at the battlefront on May 3, 1915
during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium

LINK to More INFO about Poem Author John McCrae

Beach at Normandy (Current)

Beach at Normandy (World War 2)


LINK Normandy Invasion (Landings) World War 2) Wikipedia

 

Officially Introducing Ned the Cat

Ned (Officially)

I think by now I have created enough "buzz" about WHO and WHAT Ned is.

 

I have nothing to do with him officially.  I simply discovered him at YouTube and wanted to share again something with you that I enjoyed.

He is the "star" of a set of videos that are "spookily" familiar to anyone who lives with a cat.

So follow the LINKs to discover "Ned" in all his glory for yourselves. Especially if you need a good chuckle.

I will start you off with my two favorite "Ned" videos and then encourage you to watch the entire "Ned" Play List.

Sincerely, Laura-Lee  (Was Here)

P.S. [So far] I've encountered no graphic and offensive language or content so I consider "Ned" safe for younger and sensitive viewers.

(LINKS below my 2 favorite "Ned" videos)

This Cat is Ned: "Wake Up Call" Episode 6

This Cat is Ned: "Telemarketers" Episode 8

(Other "Ned" LINKS below)

This Cat is Ned Play List

CATHUB YouTube Channel that "Sponsors" Ned

ATTENTION: Time Change Again, eh?

"FALL BACK! Retreat. Retreat."

It's that time of year again. Time to change your clocks by setting them back an hour. This officially happens at 2:00 am on Sunday morning.

Remember the phrase: "Spring ahead; Fall Back"

BTW, can anyone explain to me why we STILL do this?

 Some people say it's for the "farmers". But farmers go by the sky and the seasons and don't spend tons of time clock-watch-ing. 

(puns intended)

Mom used to say it was a "plot by Golfers to get more daylight."

(She was such a riot!)

"Hands off, Buddy!"