Today's event was divided into two parts. The first part is one of our favorite events of the year . . . the day we complete our Outreach Projects. This year we filled fifteen shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child and also provided six sets of card and dice games for Boys Republic. We gathered at Noble-Torian Manor to get an early start.
Queen Debbie always begins our Outreach Project Day with prayer and then reads one or two stories about Operation Christmas Child which illustrate how something as simple as a shoebox filled with little items and gifts can impact everything in the life of a child, his family, maybe even his entire village, by introducing them to the love and protection of Jesus. These stories are so warm and heartfelt, guaranteed to bring tears to our eyes.
Queen Debbie read a story about Operation Christmas Child
We laid our shoebox items out on the tables in the order that would allow them to fit best inside the shoeboxes.
So many practical and useful items, along with some fun stuff -
everything from school supplies, hygiene items, tools, playing cards and light-up balls.
Let the assembly begin!
Our fifteen shoeboxes, filled to the brim and ready to go.
Next project - wrapping card and dice games for Boys Republic. We bought six of each game, so all six cottages at Boys Republic can enjoy them.
The games included Uno, Skip-Bo, card version of Monopoly, card version of Clue,
12 decks of regular playing cards, and the dice games Farkle and
Yahtzee with extra Yahtzee score cards.
Wrapping the gifts from start to finish.
This completed the Outreach Project portion of our day. But before we headed out to lunch,
we posed for a group photo that will be included in a card inside each of the shoeboxes.
Seated L-R - Debbie, Joy, Josie, Kathryn
Standing L-R - Seema, Carol L, Sharon K, Toni, Leslie, Kathy, Barbara, Carol N
Next stop - Lunch!
Johnny Carino's in Eastvale
It took three photos to be able to see everyone's faces.
We need to be better about not hiding behind hats.
For the last part of our day, we headed to Rancho Cucamonga for our Escape Room Adventure. We were at Exodus Escape Room and our game was called "Inside Job", based on the TV show "The Office" with a Christmas theme. Our challenge was to find the Christmas Bonus.
No photography of any kind is allowed during the game, but we were allowed to take a few photos before and after.
Here are some of the ladies waiting to start the game.
Amazingly, we solved all the puzzles and found the Christmas Bonus. We originally had sixty minutes to accomplish this, but luckily for us, we found $300 hidden in the room and used it to bribe the office security guard, Hank, to give us fifteen minutes of extra time.
We solved the puzzle with 7 minutes 44 seconds to spare!
We did it!
Here we are with some of the items and clues from the game.
(Isn't it perfectly fitting that the walls are painted purple?)
Kneeling: L-R - Barbara, Joy
Standing L-R - Debbie, Carol N. Kathy, Leslie, Josie, Seema, Kathryn
We had such a fun time. The clues were challenging, and we did struggle with some of them and had to ask for hints along the way (which is totally allowed and part of the game). All in all, I think we were pretty resourceful and clever, and we did a good job!
Looking forward to doing another Escape Room in the near future. Thanks Queens Debbie and Joy for a really fun day!