Samaritan's Purse

This past Wednesday night, I drove down to Burnsville with a large crew of confirmation youth and volunteer adults. We went to this huge building that turns into Samaritan's Purse each year at Christmas and volunteered for over 2 hours. People from all over the country put together shoe boxes filled with toys and health supplies for kids. And they somehow all end up in Burnsville before being packaged and shipped to kids all over the world. It was really quite fun! We were set up in production lines, going through each box to make sure that no liquids (spills are bad), no chocolate (it melts) and no war toys (too many children live in violent regions of the world - teddy bears are better options!) ended up in the boxes before they got into the hands of children. The youth took this quite seriously, knowing that if they missed a bottle of shampoo, it could wreck all of the toys in the box. We went through hundreds of boxes. Often, the boxes included notes from the people who sent them. One box I was going through had a picture of a couple, along with the note. Lo and behold, they had the same last name as me, and live in North Dakota! I thought it was so neat to run across a couple who I just might be related to, through this small Christmas gift box. Who knows if they were blood relatives or not - they were family just the same - part of the family of God who is trying to make the world a better place for some unknown child in an unknown part of the world. Thank God for all the people who love those they don't know and try to make the world more liveable!
Last Wednesday night was one of the best Advent gifts I received.

Being sick is for the birds...

actually, it's not even for the birds. It might be a hey day for bacteria and viruses, but I can't see anything else that benefits from it other than pharmaceutical companies!
It's been a month since I last posted - I hope to be better in the future - I came home from Italy (a wonderful trip!) and have been sick ever since. I haven't had a voice for the last week, and it's beginning to drive me nuts, as I'm a talker. I suppose it is a good lesson in listening to others.
At this point, all I have to say is this - if you get sick and don't feel you have the "time" to stop and get better - your body might decide it's going to stop whether you agree to go along with it or not. I kick myself when I think if I had slowed down when this first came on, I wouldn't be as bad off as I am now. Yes, I have been stuck at home under doctor's orders for the last 5 days, and I've had a bit of a pity party for myself. Which doesn't really help much, other than really convict me of how important it is to take care of oneself.
Once I get caught up at work, I will post some pictures from Italy and reflections on the trip and Advent.