do you take joy in giving?

on friday nite, me and johan worked on putting together our operation Christmas child box together. it was a lot of fun and we put a lot of thought into it. we decided to put together a box for a girl: age 10-14. we wondered wat age group tends to get the least boxes--that would be good to know for next year.

we went shopping at target and spent about $40. this is the box we picked out. i really liked the design:


here's johan hugging the little pink teddy bear we picked out:


im holding up a purple sweater! we also picked out hair clips for her too.


here's johan making a funnie face. lol. he's just acting silly.






a letter we wrote to the recipient of our box.


voila! the finished product. we fit all of our gifts inside the box amazingly! hehe.


i wish we could have fit in more! it was really fun going around the store thinking of this person we were buying things for and wondering whether or not she would like them. wondering if she needed something else that we weren't thinking of. we are super proud of each item we picked out and it wasn't even that hard. it was harder resisting the urge to buy everything we thought she mite like or need. gosh, we hope she will be filled with joy when she receives our box!

finally we prayed for the box and printed out a bar code to follow where the shoebox went. i think of this girl and how there are so many like her in this world...i pray that johan and i would be a vessel of God's love to others! we are imperfect people and yet by our imperfectness, i hope that others will see we all are made whole by the blood of Jesus.

giving giving giving to others is something that brings us/me so much joy. i know im tooting my own horn by making this statement, but i like to put others before myself and it brings me joy. it doesn't mean im not a selfish person sometimes and trust me i can be self-absorbed. but its something that i really like to do...God teaches me so much out of it: humbleness, meekness, discipline. especially during times where i DON'T want to give, oh yes, that's when i learn the hardest lessons to keep giving.

well johan and i have pretty much made it a tradition not to exchange Christmas gifts with each other, so that we can give to others. i think it started off because we were just so poor and didn't have money. but now its become an opportunity to focus our energies and give to someone else. i know others who do this as well and its very encouraging to see that so many people take joy in giving. do you take joy in giving? and wat are you doing this season to give to others? please share your joy, so that He may be blessed! =)