Over 100.

It has been awhile since Ive written anything. It has been a nutty few weeks! On Saturday following the Thanksgiving holiday my parents drove into town. They had driven to MO for the holiday, and when my family wasn't able to make it out there at the last moment, they decided that since they were already halfway across the country that driving from MO to MD was worth it to visit my family. we were grateful, as we hadn't seen them in about a year. They were here for 3 days and 4 nights before they drove back to Utah.
The weekend immediately following their visit my husbands parents flew into DC for a work Christmas party. They spent the weekend with us and left Sunday.
After the visits, we were ready for life to get back to normal, but unfortunately it was Finals Week at my school. After studying and stressing and neglecting my poor home and family I took my exams, spent the entire next week sick and miserable, but am now back to normal!
The good news is that I am certain that there are over 100 pair of shoes in my garage. I have one army tough-box full, and then several bags full loitering next to our camping gear!
Now, the hard part is figuring out how to get them over to the children! I have found an excellent Point of Contact (P.O.C.), but have yet to determine how to finance the shipments. If anybody has any ideas on how to fund this, I would be open to any suggestions!

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

A beautiful video: Random people stopped on the streets of New York City and asked what they are grateful for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tuwid8_O8dk

Grateful

Because I have been given much, I too must give.

Because of thy great bounty, Lord each day I live.

I shall divide my gifts from thee with every brother that I see,

who has the need of help from me.

Because I have been sheltered, fed by thy good care…

I cannot see another’s lack and I not share-

my glowing fire, my loaf of bread-my roof’s safe shelter over head,

that he too may be comforted.

Because I have been blessed by thy great love dear Lord,

I’ll share thy love again according to thy word.

I shall give love to those in need. I’ll show that love by word and deed,

thus shall my thanks be thanks indeed.

Ive had this hymn stuck in my head for about the past week. Not a bad song, if you have to have one playing a continuous thread in your head. It is, in fact a beautiful song. But I have been thinking about how INCREDIBLY blessed I am. 

Of the 6,883,699,600 people in the world, 310,780,373 live in the United States- about 4%. What are the odds that I was born here, while I could have been born anywhere? 

of those 310,780,373 people who were blessed to be born in an this advantaged geographical location, only 1.7% are Mormons. To me, this blessing is AMAZING! I have the confidence and peace of knowing who I am, where I came from, where I am going, and why I am here. I know that God lives and that Jesus Christ is his son, that we have been given a living prophet who leads us and guides us. I know that I can have an eternal family. 

The odds of me being born here in the united states are inconceivable- I have better odds trying to win the lottery! Throw in the blessing of having the blessing of having Jesus Christ's gospel (fully restored), and the odds are even lower. 

How come I  was born in a country of plenty, where I have always had shoes, and more? I have SO many luxuries! Internet at the click of a button, diapers and wipes for my babies, a beautiful and warm home, A/C, clean water and easily accessible foods. I could go on and on with the list...how fortunate I am! 

And how ungrateful I can be. I try not to be, but it is difficult. I love that I have been so blessed. I love my husband who does such a great job providing for my family and meeting our needs and more! I love my children who are excited and energetic! I am grateful for my health and strength, and the peace and confidence that I have in my life. 

By the way, we are up to about 80 shoes. Thanks to anybody and everybody who has donated!

No, you may NOT help yourselves to those shoes!

I have two children who happen to LOVE shoes. Throughout my shoe initiative, I have had the pleasure of watching them happily inspect all of the shoes that are sitting patiently in my kitchen nook. I cant tell you how many times I have had to scold my son for dumping the shoes into a big pile on the floor, or how many times I have had to kick him out of the box that he had adopted for his cave, or hero lair!

My daughter isn't much better. At 4 years old, she already has at least double the amount of shoes that I own....(well, until we went through and added the ones that she doesn't wear to the collection!)
She frequently looks through the shoes to find the ones that she would love to claim for her own, and tries to wear them for as long as she can get away with before I notice and make her put them back. And if she isn't wearing them, she is lining them up and organizing them into the order of which she likes the best!
Last time, a pair of pink princess cowboy boots were in the number one spot.

The only thing that is cuter than two kids playing happily with shoes is seeing them beginning to recognize that these shoes will make a difference to somebody else.

tally count

I Finally counted.....and the current total is 70 pair!!

Moving Forward With the Logistics

I must admit that I have not spent nearly as much time working on this project lately. Maybe this has something to do with my 10 page research paper that I (JUST) finished and turned in. It could possibly be that I have finally caught the cold that my family has been playing tag with, or that I have been caring for my house full of sickies, but the project has lately seemed daunting.
A good bit of news though that has been a great motivator, is that I received a call tonight from an acquaintance who read my newspaper article! She is recently retired from the air force and  was able to speak to a friend who has been involved with visiting and helping the children in orphanages in the villages near Kabul, Afghanistan.
It sounded like she had spoken with the POC (that's military for point of contact!), a Chaplain who visits the orphanages regularly, and they were excited about the prospect of being able to distribute the desperately needed shoes to the children!
Maryann and Amy, thanks for blogging about my project!

Slice of Life

As some of you may or may not know, I was features(although I prefer to think that my idea was the feature!) in the Slice of Life segment of the Frederick News Post. It was was fun meeting with the reporter and telling her about the development of the idea to collect shoes for children, and the steps that I had taken up to that point. It was scary and uncomfortable to see the article in the newspaper- as anybody who knows me knows that I don't like a lot of attention! The attention was good though, and I am hopeful that it will help me gather more shoes! If you want to read the story, copy and paste the following: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyid=111804
Let me know if there are any problems with the link!

P.S. Sunday I picked up about 8 pair of shoes, with an approximate total of 38! I picked up a bag today- haven't gone through it yet because it was HUGE! Maybe double my current amount? I hope so!

Happy Halloween!
Picked up about 8 pair of shoes and slippers today! Jamie was totally into the elmo slippers, and was rather annoyed when I made him leave them alone and keep them in the big box o' shoes!
:) cutie!
I will check on the box that I left at the Giant on Saturday morning, maybe empty it if there is anything in it!
Fingers are crossed, and I am off to study for an exam that I have scheduled for tomorrow!

Week 2

I want to tell the Frederick community that I have been impressed with the enthusiasm that I have seen. I posted my first message on Frederick Freecycle one week ago, and expected maybe a response or two. Three tops, but have had about 15 people in the week express a desire to contribute! I have about 30 pair of shoes now, and have only picked up from 4 homes! Thank you to those families who have donated!! I am very grateful for your generosity and selflessness!

I thought it would be a great idea to set up some contribution boxes in some public places. As of now, I have contacted the Giant grocery store on Kingsfisher Blvd. They accepted, and as soon as I can find a big box, I will be setting it up to recieve gently used childrens shoes. I will update with any additional locations that will accept donations for the kids!

I was contacted on monday by a reporter for the newspaper who wanted to do a story about the collection effort! Megan had recieved a story suggestion from a person who had seen my freecycle ad, and contacted me for more information and to set up an interview. Honestly, I typically would decline any opportunity to have the spotlight on me, but was excited because of the awareness that it will generate. I interviewed with Megan yesterday, and although I am pretty petrified at the idea of being in the newspaper, it is such a great opportunity! So, everybody, read the Frederick News post on Saturday!

Introductions:

My name is Lorie, and I am collecting shoes for children in Afghanistan.
I will never forget the conversation that we had one morning while my husband was deployed in Afghanistan. He was describing what it was like there, the stark contrast from the lives that we are used to. He described poverty, sickness, and hunger. What really broke my heart was the image that he painted in my mind when he described the children. He told me about the snow and ice on the ground, and children running around and playing in the winter-time, their feet covered only by sandals if that, many of them completely barefoot. Its been about two years since that conversation, and I still remember the guilt that I felt for the luxuary of being born in a country where there is plenty, and the helplessness that I felt with my desire to ease their pains. I am ashamed to say that it took me two years to decided to actually begin acting on my idea to gather shoes, to ask my community to help me collect footware. I am even more so ashamed after I have seen the positive response to my one request posted on Freecycle!
So here I go!
Let me warn you that compared to the volunteer work that I have done in the past, this is a large scale operation. However, I am confident that it will result in at least a few feet shielded from the snow!
I will keep you updated through the processes of collection and organizing the logistics to make this plan a success!