Magi Boxes

A couple of weeks ago my ladies Bible study group mentioned helping with The Magi Project. Basically, you fill a shoe box with toys, school supplies, books, and/or candy to send to a child in Mexico and other countries who might not otherwise get Christmas presents. I immediately knew it was something I wanted to do with our girls. Wes and I discussed it with Avery and Abby. We talked about how God wants us to share our money and belongings with other people. We discussed how they could really bless another child. We wanted them to share some of their own money from their piggy banks. They gladly agreed. They said they wanted to take $10 out of their piggy banks to help out (I think that is awesome considering that they don't get an allowance. That is probably a fourth of what they have in their piggy banks.) Later today, Abby told me she wanted to give $11 instead of $10. Tonight we went shopping for the gifts. They each decided they would buy things for someone their own age. They had a fun time choosing the different toys, coloring books, hairbows, bracelets, and other items. We came home and decorated the boxes with stickers and the girls wrote notes to their girls. We also included a little picture of them. This is what Avery thought of to write on her note all by herself:

"I hope you love these toys and God and you mite not no were you got thes toys ther from us all thes toys are just for you boht from us piked by us! and remember God loves you and me and don't bother the cany its mine all right. Im kidding haha! hay, can I tell you I'm six too"

The pictures didn't turn out great, but you get the idea.

Isn't it priceless! I think this will be a new tradition for our family to do each year. Wes and I feel very strongly about instilling a giving spirit in the hearts of Avery and Abby. I would love to hear any other ideas of what you might be doing in your families.

Wes and I thought our youth could benefit from helping with this project as well. We have been discussing Matthew 25:31-46 lately with them. Last week, we encouraged them to bring their own money (not money they bummed off of mom and dad) to small group for this project. Before we piled on the church bus to go shopping we totaled up the money that 26 teens had brought. They brought a little over $500! Wow! We were so proud of them! Because of their generous donation we were all able to shop for 22 boxes. Yay! We all had a good time picking out our treasures then filling and decorating the boxes. They even added sweet notes to the boxes. We said a special prayer for the kids that would be receiving the boxes. I absolutely love watching our teens serve and share!