Retro--All Pumped Up--2003

(Here's a piece I wrote about how God provided for our shoeboxes in 2003)

Pumped Up – 2003

            I am home from work at last on Friday afternoon.  I close the car door and take a few steps up the driveway.  Then I see it.  Sitting by the back door of my house is a brown cardboard box about two feet high, one foot wide, and one foot deep.  I hurry to it and check the return address.  Yes.  Just in time.  Another answer to prayer.  I’m pretty pumped up.

            Back in August my husband, Jim, and I traveled to Wexford, PA, to attend a volunteer training session so we could learn more about Operation Christmas Child.  For about seven years our church has been involved with sending shoeboxes full of gifts to children in other countries around the world through the Operation Christmas Child project.  At the training session Kelleigh Johnson, the Mid-Atlantic representative for the project, told us, “We always run short of shoeboxes for boys in the 10-14-year-old age group.  Not as many people want to pack boxes for the older kids.”

            “So what kinds of things would be good to put in a box for boys that age?” asks Cindy, another volunteer from Erie.

            “You know,” Kelleigh replied, “they’d be ecstatic to get a deflated soccer ball with a pump.  Or you could fill a sports water bottle with hard candy or give them some simple tools.”

            I remember how my mind started drifting when she talked about soccer balls.  I kept thinking about how neat it would be to get a big bunch of them to put in our shoeboxes this year. 

            When we got home after the training session I booted up the computer and logged onto eBay.  I didn’t find any deals on balls that day, but within a week I found a seller who was offering ninety World Cup soccer balls for $150.  We exchanged e-mails, and he agreed to ship them from Denver for only $25.

            When the huge box of balls arrived, my husband inspected and counted them.  “These are really nice,” Jim said.  “The kids’ll love ‘em.  But how are they going to pump them up?”

            “Well, I’ve been looking on eBay for ball pumps,” I said, “and I’ve been praying every day that I’ll find them, but I haven’t found any cheap enough yet.”  Over the next few weeks my quest expanded.  Since each shoebox goes to a different child and possibly to an entirely different location, every ball would need to have its own pump packed with it.  I did Internet searches for wholesale distributors, but the only ones I could find were located in Taiwan.  I couldn’t even understand their pricing, and who knew if the pumps could be shipped in time?  I made the rounds of sporting good stores, discount stores, and local dollar stores.  I found lots of pumps, but none of them cost less than $4, and I wasn’t willing to spend $360 just for pumps.  So I kept praying.

            A few weeks later, when my searches had still turned up nothing, I asked Jim, “If a kid had an inflating needle to put into the ball and was real persistent, do you think he could blow it up by mouth?”

            Jim laughed and shook his head, “No, I don’t think that’d work.  You’re getting kind of desperate, aren’t you?”  In two weeks we’d start packing the shoeboxes.  I was just a pumped-up breath away from desperate, but I wasn’t there yet.  I kept praying.

            Three days later I did another search on eBay and found a listing for a group of 20 ball pumps for $14.95—only 75 cents each.  Just right.  Now if I could find 70 more.  I breathed another prayer and jotted off an e-mail to the seller.

Subj:	Soccer Ball Pumps
Date:	10/7/2003 2:43:38 PM Eastern Standard Time
From:	JSchriefer@aol.com
To:	ELindgren@velocity.net

Hi!

I just saw your listing for ball pumps on eBay—a lot of 20 for $14.95—and I purchased them with the “buy it now” option.  Our church is packing shoeboxes to send to kids in other countries.  We were able to get 90 soccer balls, and we’re trying to find pumps to go with them.  Do you have more of these?  If so, it would be a real blessing if you’d sell us 70 more.  Let me know if you have them available and what the cost would be.

Blessings,

Kathy Schriefer

            When I got home from school that afternoon, I fired up the computer to check for a response to my e-mail.  Nothing.  Then I tried making a phone call to the number given in the eBay listing, but I got no response.  I sent another e-mail.  I needed the pumps by Saturday, October 18^th, and it was already October 7^th.  Even if this seller had what I needed, would it be possible for them to receive my payment and get the pumps mailed back in time?

            Finally, on the next day, Wednesday, October 8^th,  the seller responded with good news:  he had 126 pumps and would sell me whatever I wanted to buy.  Unfortunately, he didn’t quote me a price.  I tried to call him again.  Still no answer.  The post office would close soon, and I’d miss my chance to send out a money order that day.  I sent another e-mail telling him I’d take all 126 pumps and begging him to send me a total price right away.

            On Thursday afternoon I raced home, found the e-mail with the price total that I needed, drove up to the automated teller machine, and made it to the post office ten minutes before closing time.  “What, no packages today?” said Bill, my favorite postal clerk. 

            “Not today.  I just need a money order for $117.45.  I’m buying ball pumps.”

            Bill smiled as he handed me the money order and my change.  “I won’t even ask what you’re going to do with ball pumps.  It’s always something with you.” 

            I put the money order in the stamped envelope I had brought with me and handed it back to Bill.  I thought about sending it by express mail, but I’d already missed the 3:00 deadline.  I’d just have to pray it got there by Monday so I could get the pumps back in time.  On the way out of the post office I saw a sign posted on the door—

CLOSED MONDAY

OCTOBER 13^TH

            Oh, shoot.  I forgot about the holiday.  I really needed those pumps by the 18^th.  On Tuesday the 14^th I got an e-mail telling me my payment had been received and the pumps had been mailed out that afternoon via Airborne Express.  Well, that sounded fast enough, but when Thursday night came they still hadn’t arrived.  I felt like grumbling until I remembered what a miracle it was to even find those pumps.  I just needed to wait.

            I am home from work at last on Friday afternoon.  I close the car door and take a few steps up the driveway.  Then I see it.  Sitting by the back door of my house is a brown cardboard box about two feet high, one foot wide, and one foot deep.  I hurry to it and check the return address.  Yes.  Just in time.  Another answer to prayer.  I’m pretty pumped up.