(Originally written for Facebook...please forgive any repitition)
Lately I have been volunteering a lot at the Operation Christmas Child shoebox check-in centre. It is just a tiny little warehouse (and I mean TINY) with no heat, and just one bare lightbulb! But the women who are running the whole thing work very hard and long hours, giving talks at local schools, talking on the radio, accepting and tallying boxes from groups and individuals and all sorts of other things! All I do is check each box individually, taking out "taboo" items, or adding in things that weren't put in. Each box should have "2 W's, 2 T's, 2 S's". I have the little mantra running over and over in my head now: "Warm, Wash, Toy, Teddy, Stationary, Sweets...Warm, Wash, Toy...." And then tape 'em up, carton them in big cardboard boxes and mark them. It is tiring and a lot of work, but very cool. Its so nice when you get the nicely wrapped boxes with each item so obviously put in with a lot of love and care. It just makes you think how happy the kid that gets it will be!!
As for sight-seeing, since my big bout of it in Northern Ireland I've been to Cahir castle (which was cool, but hard to take good pictures of), a beach near Cork, and now I've been to Cork city twice. Its really neat to see a city that is so old and has so much history, and how it retains that old-ish flavor even as modern day things are built around and inside of it. Shopping in Cork was cool because of all its neat little shops and alleyways. Restraunts and coffee shops are tucked into the upper floors and nooks and crannies. I could spend days there, I'm sure.
OH YEAH!My visa...Well we went to the local police station and talked to the emmigration officer there, and he got me all set up for a special little card thing that I have to have with me "at all times". That comes on Thursday. But I'm in the all clear to stay until July! So that is good! Everything has worked out really well.
Anyway, that's all I can think of right now...its good to hear from you all :)
1 comment:
I am excited to see your pictures of all the sights and castles! Mackenzie made shoeboxes with youth group and it was really fun for me to go shopping for the contents because I have friends who were part of a team handing them out last year and they had the coolest stories of how appreciative the kids who receive them are and how much it means to them.
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