Monday, February 1, 2016

Roping It In







Things might look a little precarious here but actually I've been really blessed over the last few days.  I returned Sunday evening from an amazing retreat with the other Operation Christmas Child Area Coordinators from the Mid-Atlantic region.  

Last year I missed the retreat because of a crazy snowstorm but this year God answered prayer with wonderful dry roads for the drive down to Maryland and back.  It's always a joy to be with other OCC volunteers, but this year was especially wonderful.  I didn't feel any of the usual discouragement I experience at training events and it was so exciting to hear how God blessed our region with a record 1,138,928 shoeboxes in 2015--an incredible 11.3% increase over 2014.  

I came home excited for the year ahead.  Despite losing two of our long-term coordinators, I know God has good plans for us in 2016 and I'm eager to start casting vision for our ministry plan.

While I was gone I got word that the two pallets (180 spools) of rope I ordered would be delivered today.  I got the pre-delivery call earlier than I expected this morning and headed out to meet the truck.

As you can see from the picture above, the driver had some problems with the lift gate.  I stood by praying while that heavy pallet of rope spools teetered over the edge and threatened to crash over the side.  I pictured myself chasing rolling spools of rope down the driveway.  After 15 minutes of trying, the driver finally gave up and we offloaded the spools by hand while still in the truck.  

Thankfully the second pallet was easier to move on the lift gate and got dropped without incident and I was able to pray with Eric, the truck driver, before he headed out.

 My husband arrived to lend a hand and Dustin, part of the church's creative team, blessed us by stopping to help us stow the spools in the container.  Space constraints forced us to stack the spools high and the stacks look pretty unstable.

The guys rigged up a pallet and a strap to try to provide some stability.  I'm praying that holds them upright.  

Now...let the jump rope making commence...




1 comment:

  1. Hi Kathy! I'm a new year round volunteer in Church relations under Sandi Bonesteel. I was at the Connect in Crystal City and attended your's and Leigh's packing party session. Then I stumbled upon your blog here. This summer at my church we are having a vbs that is solely dedicated to OCC. The kids are packing one box through the course of the 4 days and celebrating Christmas in July. I was contacted by OCC to help them pilot The Greatest Journey 2.0. And hold a mock distribution with the kids. The kids will "graduate" at the end of the vbs just like kids who go through TGJ in other countries. They are sending us a Full Circle Speaker and will be attending themselves one evening. I am beyond excited to say the least as I get to mix my love of vbs with my love of OCC! Anyway, one of the things the kids were going to have the option to make for their box was a jump rope. It appears you may have made a few ;) I was wondering if you'd share your instructions as well as what worked, what didn't and what the best materials are to use. OCC sent me materials to make tic tac toe games (small wooden round discs and drawstring bags).
    I can't figure out how to leave my comment with my name so I'll leave it here. I looked for you on the occextranet, but it was taking forever! I was looking for your email info... Anyway, if you get a chance would you mind contacting me either by phone or email? Thanks so much and God bless you for all you do!
    Kris Buckman
    240-674-1388
    occkris@gmail.com

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