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Dreams of Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Stockpile Storage

My family has been discussing the advantages of moving closer to town for quite some time, but we really love our country living.  We also know that it won't be much longer before my mom needs to move in with us and this old farm house is not conducive for that arrangement.  Our church has grown so large that they offer "in home connection" groups for Bible Study and "connecting" personally with one another in smaller group settings and we have wanted to host one but our location and home are not a fit for that.  So for these three reasons we decided it was time to get serious about looking for a new house.  And of course room for Operation Christmas Child shoebox packing was a consideration.

Our plan was to make a list of must haves, give it to an agent and if they found a house with all the stipulations we would seriously consider it (the list, including a
mother in law quarters, would make it quite unique and hard to find).  Before we got the list made my oldest daughter, Elizabeth, and I saw a house for sale just inside the city limits but had no idea what it offered.  When we got home I found the listing online and my jaw dropped--it had everything we had discussed, and a few things we would love but would not have listed.

We went the next day to look it over--it is not perfect by any means, but for my mom and the church groups it is amazing.  The location is great for saving us driving time and tho it is in a neighborhood and on a main road it is unusually private--just what we wanted after being used to our country location.  One of the discussions taking place while looking it over was where would I keep my shoe boxes and shoe box stockpile--filling a hundred or more boxes can take quite a bit of room.  Apparently having a shoe box storage space was on my daughter's mind, because she shared this dream she had after looking at the house.   We had also been planning how to make the driveway better suitable to park many cars for the connection group times so apparently Elizabeth had both of those things on her mind when she went to sleep for in the morning she shared the following dream.

A view from the back of the new house.
"We had purchased the house and we were moving in and I looked out the window and you were just wandering up and down a long, curvy driveway.  When I got close to you I could hear you saying, ' How could we have done this....not thought if it....I just don't see how we are going to do it....the driveway isn't big enough to store all of the Operation Christmas Child stuff.'  And I said, 'it's okay, Mom.  Dad can pave more of the yard and make more driveway.'"

So if you are new to Operation Christmas Child shoebox stockpiling be prepared for it to be a big part of your life--day and night.  If you have been shoeboxing for a while now, have you ever had dreams about it?  Do you have stories to tell of getting creative in your storage methods?

You can check out some of our stockpile additions in these posts:  Stockpile Saturday ~ Adding to Our Operation Christmas Child Stockpile.

8 comments:

Pam S said...

Wow! I am simply blown away by this! How great is our God, to know all He has in store for you, your family, your mom, and OCC! When God lead me to our new home, I was blown away by that it was exactly what we needed, wanted, and more. And most importantly, it was for His glory, and for His shoe boxes. So...God provides...you move :) Have a very blessed day, and I wish you and your family all the best in the home God provided for you!

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxes said...

Pam it is exciting, thanks for sharing with me. I can't wait to get settled in my new OCC section of the house and share when I have it set up. There is a little "bedroom" built in the laundry room and it will be storage and I am claiming one wall to fill with some bookshelves we already have that will hold my shoe boxes and boxes of supplies perfectly (I hope all four will fit in "my side of the room." And my sewing machine will fit in the laundry room--so crafting and packing can all be done together and I can do it while I do the laundry. funny, but the laundry room is my favorite room of the whole house! And it is in the only unfinished area of the basement!

Pam S said...

Cheryl, Thanks for sharing that. You have made my day! that is so wonderful about your bedroom/ laundry/sewing/OCC all in one room! Love it! I hope it all fits and works together. My sewing room is in my living room, and God's provisions for His shoe boxes are upstairs in my bedroom. Every so often where we used to live would get flooded. The last time it happened, many of our personal belongings and most of our furniture were ruined. But...God spared His provisions for the shoe boxes!! Where we live now, we are high and dry. No risk of flooding. There are 3 townhouses in my building and guess what? Ours is the highest/furthest one off the ground! The other 2 are lower. God is amazing!

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxes said...

I remember you mentioning the floods, Pam. Very interesting on the OCC supplies--I hadn't realized that totally. I'll be sure and share about my room when I get it together. One corner of the laundry room has a door going outside so that area my husband is claiming for his "workshop." I'm hoping to add a wall between them to keep the dust/dirt out of my sewing area--at the least I will hang a curtain between them. :-) I understand about the supplies and sewing/etc. being in living areas--I feel so spoiled by this new arrangement. He gives above and beyond what we could ever imagine.

Tam said...

SO excited for you!!! God is so good. He gives us imesaurably more than we can ask or imagine! And please post pictures! We want to share in your joy. To God be the Glory!

And thanks for posting this. I really needed to read this today. My parents are needing to move. And I had been thinking their must have list was a bit extreme. But this post tells me to keep my mouth closed and God will provide. My mom is also praying for a storage space for shoe boxes:) I am excited to see how God will provide for them.

Have a great weekend.
And TFS!

Tam said...

SO excited for you!!! God is so good. He gives us imesaurably more than we can ask or imagine! And please post pictures! We want to share in your joy. To God be the Glory!

And thanks for posting this. I really needed to read this today. My parents are needing to move. And I had been thinking their must have list was a bit extreme. But this post tells me to keep my mouth closed and God will provide. My mom is also praying for a storage space for shoe boxes:) I am excited to see how God will provide for them.

Have a great weekend.
And TFS!

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxes said...

I would never have imagined our list would be fulfilled (along with lots of wishes) let alone before we were even ready to start looking. I'll share my room when I am settled--maybe I should share before and after images. We close next Friday, if I remember I'll take shots then to share and then share after my goodies are in place. I am so excited. And you may be surprised by what God provides on your mom's list and what is not on it :-). I will take a moment now to pray for her list and her shoe box storage space!

Tam said...

Thanks Cheryl! You are very sweet.


             
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