Operation Christmas Child Packing Party!!

Last weekend, I had a packing party for Operation Christmas Child (OCC). I've had a few requests to write about it, so here you all are.

For those of you who haven't heard of OCC, it's a project put out by Samaritan's Purse where you take a shoebox, fill it with a variety of simple items and ship it to their head distribution center, where it is taken to countries all around the world. The boxes are given to kids ages 2-14 who don't have anything, and many of whom have never received a Christmas gift. All of the children who receive a box have the opportunity to hear the gospel message, and also are able to attend a 12-week discipleship program called The Greatest Journey.

My birthday is in January. I decided to have my birthday party a little early though, so I could have an OCC packing party for my birthday! I had six girls come, and everyone brought stuff to put in the boxes. I got a lot of donations for the boxes too. People at my church, and a lot of our friends gave us items and supplies, and I even got shoeboxes donated from one of our local shoe stores! :) My goal was to pack 160 shoeboxes, because I'll be 16.

We managed to collect 160 boxes and over 20 bags of supplies... almost 3,000 items. :) We had four tables in the front rooms of our house, and set up a sort of assembly line. First, you grab a shoebox, then move to the supplies tables. We had all of the items sorted out into categories like clothes, toys, school supplies, etc. Walking around the two supplies tables, you could pick out what you wanted to put in your shoebox. There were certain items we had that we actually had enough of to put in each shoebox : a washcloth, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a pair of socks, a pencil set, a comb or hairbrush, and we had almost enough bars of soap for every box.

We started our party with watching a couple of video's from OCC's project resource DVD, and then we prayed for the party. Then we got to packing! We packed for about 2 1/2 hours, then we took a break to have cake. After that, we packed for another 2 or so hours, until we ran out of supplies! :( We completed 108 boxes. After we'd finished, I gave everyone a prayer bookmark from OCC, and a certificate with their name and how many boxes they'd packed.

We made sure all the boxes had a picture and a letter in them, then we loaded them all up into our trunk, so they would be ready to take to church the next morning. Our trunk was quite full! (: When we'd finished loading them all into the trunk, we gathered around to pray over the boxes, and pray for the kids that would be receiving them.

The next morning we were able to take all of our boxes to church, and put them up on the steps at the front of the church auditorium. We still have to make some more if I get the opportunity, and I'd love to, given the chance. I'm still not giving up on that 160 goal. ;)

If you've never made a box, I encourage you to give it a try! You can find all the information you need on OCC's website. It is a true blessing for the child who receives it, and it's a blessing for you too. The most important thing you can do is pray for the boxes. Pray for boxes that you make, and pray for all the boxes that others will make. Pray for the children that are receiving these boxes, and that they would come to know Jesus as the Savior.

If you are an experienced box packer, why not try hosting your own OCC packing party? It doesn't have to be for a birthday or any other special occasion, just do it for fun! It's really simple, and a lot of fun for everyone involved. You can find all the information you need, and order party supplies, from their website. (If you want or need more ideas on how to host a packing party, or how I hosted mine, please contact me! Leave a comment or email me : gymnasticslover4444@gmail.com . I may do a post about hosting a packing party later.)

How are you getting involved this Christmas? Are you packing any shoeboxes, or maybe hosting your own party? Leave a comment and let me know. :)

The Waiting Place: by Eileen Button

I hate waiting. I hate waiting a LOT.

In fact, I can't really think of anyone who LOVES to wait. Truth is, we wait all the time. Wait in lines, wait for our food to finish cooking, wait for appointments, wait for good things, wait for bad things.

But what if we stopped having such a bad attitude about waiting, and started to embrace it? Yes, actually learn to appreciate the time we spend waiting. Why? Because God can teach us a lot while we're stuck in the waiting place, if we could only learn to sit tight, open our eyes, and listen.

Eileen Button has filled this book with her experiences in the waiting place. Each chapter is a single essay covering one topic, one "waiting place". The essays range from big things to small, the life-changing to the simple, every-day things. Waiting for a sign, waiting for a miracle, waiting for the mail, waiting for a birth, waiting for a death... these are things all of us wait for at some point or another. Eileen Button provides a new perspective on each of these places, in a simple, honest yet humorous manner.

The Waiting Place captivated my attention and opened up my mind to a new idea of the joy, yes, joy of waiting. It challenged me to look beyond the temporary inconvenience that waiting often causes, look past the pain and discomfort, the wondering, the uncertainty, and look for the rainbow. Look for the lesson. We're not going to be stuck in the waiting place forever. But while we are, we might as well take advantage of it.

"I am absolutely convinced that some of the most beautiful things happen if we are willing to quiet our hearts, lean into the waiting place, and listen to what it tells us. When we do, we will often be astonished by what it has to say."
                    ~ Eileen Button, The Waiting Place

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Photo Journal....

So I decided to try this, and see how it turns out. I just tried to capture a day in the life of... me in pictures. :) I'm not sure how many pictures I have, but I just wanted to try out the idea of a photo journal. I'll put up all the pictures tonight, just the pictures. Tomorrow (Sunday) I will add captions on them, in white, so come back then, and you can see what each picture is supposed to be. I'm adding the captions in white, that way, people can look at it first without captions, and then go through and look at the captions.  And let me know what you think!! :)

**EDIT** Captions are added. Just click and drag underneath each picture to see them. (:

My alarm clock... the time I woke up today.



What I see when I first open my
eyes, laying in bed.




What I looked like when I first woke up.



Breakfast, part 1.



Breakfast, part 2



The sunrise, as seen from our front
window.

The time on our microwave clock, after I'd
finished breakfast.

My bed :)

Before school... I'm usually listening to something
good on YouTube! (:



Or checkin' Facebook.




Time to start doing some schoolwork.







What I wore today. (Sorry it's sideways!)

 

Bible...



History....



English...




Math...

Lots of reading to do....

                             

 

Science...



Some of my schoolbooks...



Part of my lunch. Apples with peanut
butter! :D



More reading...

 

Latin...



Driving to gym...



More driving...



It was HOT today... (and this in F*, not C*,
for my international readers) ;)



Gymnastics!



The sunset!



I actually did not take these cool sunset pictures,
my mom took them on the way to pick me
up from gym.



A couple of my teammates at gym. (:



Me at gym...



After gym... listening to Air1 radio (:



Working on some more schoolwork. (:





So there you have it. I will add captions either tonight (Sunday night) or Monday morning. :) 

Recipe: Frozen Strawberry Lemonade

I love getting the Frozen Strawberry Lemonade at Panera Bread when we go there, so a few days ago, I decided to try and find a recipe to make it myself. I found this one, and it was soo yummy!

Ingredients:

2 cups ice, cubed
1 cup water
1 six ounce can of frozen lemonade concentrate
5 large strawberries, hulled

Directions:



Minute Maid Pink Lemonade
 Frozen Concentrate

 Put the ice cubes, water and frozen concentrate into the container of a blender.

We substituted the lemonade concentrate with pink lemonade concentrate. We found that regular lemonade made the slushie drink a bit too tart. The pink lemonade tasted great with it, though! Also, the juice concentrate we used came in a 12-ounce can, so we only needed half of the can.

Process until ice is finely blended. Add strawberries, and puree until well blended.

We ended up adding 8-10 strawberries instead of 5. It's a simple recipe though, and can easily be adjusted. Taste, and experiment until you figure out how you like it!

The finished product! Serves four. I got my recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Frozen-Strawberry-Lemonade/detail.aspx


If you try it, let me know what you think!

Homeschooling Q&A's, Part 5

This should be the final installment of my Homeschooling Q&A's. I'm curious to know what you guys thought, because I'm thinking of other Q&A topics that I could do if you guys have been enjoying this. If you could just check the 'Like' or 'Dislike' buttons at the bottom of this post when you've finished reading it, or leave a comment, that would be helping in knowing if I should do more series like this or not. :)

About School

1. Do you like your teacher?

This question always makes me laugh. Yes, I do like my teacher. A lot of people think that it would be weird to have your mom as your teacher, but I don't think it's weird at all. My mom is a great teacher, and it's nice to be able to work one-on-one with her when I don't understand something, rather than being in a big classroom.

2. Do you actually have to do schoolwork?

Of course! That's why it's called homeSCHOOLing. :) I wish that people wouldn't just assume that homeschoolers get to lounge around and do nothing all day. We do work, just like you do. 

3. Where do you find your schoolbooks?

There are tons of companies out there that sell schoolbooks, and there are a bunch of companies that makes schoolbooks specifically for homeschoolers. For example, we could buy the exact same books that they use in the public schools and use those. We don't, though. We buy our books through a variety of different companies.

4. What schoolbooks do you use?

We use books from a couple of different places. We use books from Sonlight, Apologia, Math-U-See, and a few other places as well sometimes.

5. How long does it take you each day?

It depends on the day. On average, it takes me about 6-7 hours to do my schoolwork.

6. Do you have any "real" classes?

ALL of my classes are "real" classes. Just because I'm not learning in a classroom with a group of 20-30 other students, doesn't mean my classes aren't "real". Just because I do my work at home, doesn't mean that it's not real schoolwork. Do you consider your homework "real" work for school? Even though I'm working at home, it's still is a perfectly "real" class.

(If you meant did I take any classes at a local public/private school, no, I do not. But I could if I wanted to. :] )

7. Do you get homework?

I suppose it depends. Some people will say "Well all of your work is homework!". The way it works for me is that I do as much work as I can before about 2:45-3:00 in the afternoon. At 3pm, we have to leave for my gymnastics practice. Sometimes, I don't finish all of my work by 3:00, and have to finish it after gym. That could be considered homework. :) So, if you want to look at it that way, then yes, I do have homework.

8. Do you have to do your subjects in a certain order?

No, I don't HAVE to, but I do. I like having a routine, and it helps me if I work on things in the same order each day. So I always do my subjects in the same order.

9. How many subjects do you have? What do you study?

I have 7 subjects this year. I'm taking World History, English, Algebra 2, Chemistry, Latin 2, Bible and Reading.

10. So, are you like, super smart?

This made me laugh. :D I don't think I am "super smart". Homeschooling is not like a magical potion where we read a special book for 2 hours a day and then become genius's. Homeschooling is pretty much just like a regular public/private school, except we just do all of our schoolwork at home. We're not always "super smart" but we're not dumb either. :) [Although, it is shown that many homeschoolers do better on national tests such as the SAT/ACT. I talked about that here. , on #8.]

11. Do you go to a co-op?

For anyone that doesn't know, a co-op is where a few families will get together and do a class, or a couple of classes together. A co-op can be big or small, and usually a parent will teach. Sometimes, when a couple of classes are being done in one co-op, different parents will teach different things. I have done co-ops before, and I usually do a co-op every year for science. :)

12. Do you know what grade you're in?

Of course! I'm in 10th grade. :)

13. Do you get to do school whenever you want?

No. We have to start school by 8am each morning, and I try to get all of my work done before I have to leave for gymnastics at 3pm. I don't always finish by then, so I have to finish after gym sometimes. I talked about my schedule a bit more in Part 1.

14. Is there such a thing as honors and regulars in homeschooling?

Yes, I suppose so. Some of the books we buy are listed as "Honors" textbooks, so yes, I guess there is. :)

I've finished answering all of your guys questions about homeschooling. :) I hope you've enjoyed reading about it, and as always, if you have any more questions, you can always put them in the comments.

[I got my pictures from here, here and here.]

I am home, safe and sound, I just haven't posted anything yet to this blog. :) I've been super busy with stuff still from my Ecuador trip, and I'll be sure to update you guys soon. I hope you've been checking my blog for my trip as I put a bunch of stories up, and I'll try to add some more, as well as some more pictures as well.

I'll be making a real post on here today or tomorrow, so be expecting it. Thanks for sticking with me even though I haven't been posting much!

Some updates. :)

I have to apologize in being pretty scattered with my posting. I haven't really posted any book reviews for awhile, and have been off and on with everything else. :O

I'm leaving for Ecuador in two days. I'm going on a missions trip with Susie Magazine and Big World Ventures as many of you may know. Because of that, I haven't been posting very much here. I've been busy getting ready for the trip. :)

I won't be posting here again until I come back from Ecuador. Until then, check out my blog for my trip to find updates, prayer requests and such. :)

♥