Boxes, Boxes and more for the "Box of Love" ministry

We shopped and shopped and shopped...........................................................................

And the USO paid and paid and paid...................Thanks so much USO..........................

Zoe and Abby at the Harbor so excited about giving all these "Boxes of Love". They helped us load the van.

Welcome to the "Box of Love" blog. I want to begin by THANKING everyone who served with this ministry for the 2007 Christmas season. We were able to serve over 600 children with a "Box of Love" which included 15 locations. We began with the idea of one location of 60 children. God is faithful to His children. We included a note in each box acknowledging where the gifts came from. Here is what it said:

"Ai no Kesshin is a volunteer organization serving the women and children of Okinawa and Japan. These gifts have been provided for you by Ai no Kesshin and many others who want to serve you as well. Thanks to all our supporters in donating to the "Box of Love" ministry. They are : Camp Foster Chapel, EDIS, The Harbor Community, Kadena Protestant Women of the Chapel, Kadena Protestant Youth, Keystone Church, Koza Baptist Church, Okinawa Christian School International, Toys for Tots, USO and Yomitan International Church. As Christians we celebrate Christmas by honoring the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus was given to us as the greatest gift of all time. We want you to have these gifts to show our love to you and to share with you the love of Jesus.As the a large amount of boxes began to be delivered, we were continually amazed how we began to locate more children. It seemed as if God was matching the need.

Rika, Junko and Kimie faithfully making sure each box had plenty of supplies to meet the needs of each child.

Shoko was faithful to help us take care of our own children as we were busy with the boxes.

Kayoko working so hard to not get overwhelmed by the number of boxes to sort through.

This sorting and counting lasted for two weeks. My house truely turned into a "TOY STORE".

Thanks to so many that helped collect boxes for us. I know I don't have everyone pictured, sorry about that.

Thanks PWOC of Kadena.

Thanks Kadena Youth.

Thanks to OCSI.

Thanks to Koza Baptist Church.

Thanks to the Marine Corps, Toys for Tots. And Thank You Bethany and Juda for moving out of your bedroom to make room for so many toys.

Again, Thanks Toys for Tots.

Again, Thanks Toys for Tots.

Loading up to make a delivery.

Thanks to so many volunteers who helped us delivery all these 600 gifts.

Tomoyuki tried really hard to be a Reindeer, to no avail, he couldn't even keep his antlers on.

So, we used Alexandria and Quali to help us make deliveries.

The boxes kept coming, and coming, and coming, til we could hardly move in our house. We are so very thankful for all of you who blessed so many children on the island with a "Box of Love". We obviously could not have done it without you.

I will continue to work on getting pictures posted of the children receiving the boxes with their smiling faces. I want to THANK each of you for all your generous donations. Please pass this onto those who helped you.