Wanna join me? Wanna HAND DELIVER your Operation Christmas Child Shoebox in the Dominican Republic?

Watch the video below or read this post to see how you can enter for a chance to do just that!

Earlier this year, I shared my journey with you as I traveled with Operation Christmas Child to hand deliver shoeboxes to children in need in Ecuador. I felt like you were with me on that journey and I am so grateful for your prayers and your ears as you let me share my experience with you. Seeing firsthand what a difference a simple shoebox packed with love can make in the life of a child changed me forever. Kids crying with joy over receiving small toys, pencils, even counting a toothbrush as their most prized posession,  opens your eyes to an entirely different part of our world.

These things changed me, but they also changed the children and that is thanks to people like you who took the time to pack a shoebox.

This year marks the 100 millionth shoebox that OCC has delivered to children all over the world and to commemorate this very special year, I’m teaming up with Operation Christmas Child to go on another invitation only distribution trip to the Dominican Republic, but guess what?

OCC is going to choose one of YOU to go with me!

One of you will get to join me on this life changing trip and HAND DELIVER your shoebox!

 TO ENTER: 

1. Fill a shoe box for a child. Be sure to include treats (small toys, double bagged hard candy, etc), school supplies (pencils, pencil sharpener, colored pencils) and personal hygiene items (soap, toothbrush, toothpaste). Most of all, put your heart into filling the box and make sure you add some things with special meaning to you.

2. Take a photo of the shoe box gift.

3. Send the photo and an e-mail telling us why your box is special and why you should get to go hand-deliver shoe box gifts with Christy Jordan to: occ@southernplate.com 

PRIZE:

All expense paid Operation Christmas Child distribution trip to Dominican Republic with Christy Jordan. 

The trip dates are December 4-7, 2012. 

 Entries must be received by midnight, November 2, 2012. 

For complete Rules and Details, see below.

After you send an email, I encourage you to share your photo on Facebook and Pinterest and ask your friends to pack a shoe box gift for Operation Christmas Child! Be sure to tag their page www.facebook.com/OCC_shoeboxes and if you’d like to tag me at Facebook.com/southernplatefamily , I’d love to read your story there, too!

The 4 finalists not chosen will receive one of the following prizes: Signed Scotty McCreery Christmas Album or an OCC Christmas Ornament Set

Questions and Help Packing Shoeboxes:

What goes in an Operation Christmas Child Shoebox?

*For a complete instruction sheet on how to pack a shoebox as well as printable labels to tape onto your shoebox denoting the gender and age range that it is intended for, please click here.

*Find a drop off location near you by clicking here. 

*For all other information as well as more details, photos, and more about Operation Christmas Child, please click here. 

*For a wonderful list of ideas to include in your shoeboxes, visit my dear friend Kelly’s post 101 Ways To Pack A Shoebox

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Watch a Video from my trip with Operation Christmas Child

Rules and Details

Entries will be judged on impact, photo, and story quality. The top 5 submissions will be selected by Christy Jordan and then sent to Operation Christmas Child to pick the winner. Entries must be submitted by Friday, November 2. Operation Christmas Child will select a winner the week of November 5^th. The winner will be notified by email and will have two business days to respond and claim the prize. If the selected winner cannot attend the trip December 4 -7, 2012, or does not respond and claim the prize, Operation Christmas Child will select another winner from the remaining top 4 submissions.  All winner selections will be final and in the sole discretion of Operation Christmas Child.  Residents of the United States 18 years of age and older are eligible to win.  Distribution trip has no retail value and no replacement prize will be offered to selected winner who is unable to attend on the prescribed dates, Travel expenses covered includes round-trip coach airfare, hotel, and meals while in the Dominican Republic. If an expedited passport is required, Operation Christmas Child will reimburse for expediting costs. Entrant warrants that it is the copyright owner of all submissions.  All submissions become the property of Samaritan’s Purse and may be used for any reason and in any medium in promotion of Operation Christmas Child.  This contest sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse / Operation Christmas Child, 801 Bamboo Road, Boone, NC 28607.  Your submission indicates your acceptance of these Rules. 

My Disclaimer: I voluntarily write posts about Operation Christmas Child. I am not receiving compensation for my participation, but Operation Christmas Child will provide for travel costs to the Dominican Republic for me and one contest winner. Regardless of who you are, what your station or lot in life is, and your religious affiliation or lack thereof, I firmly believe that everyone CAN change the world for the better, and we should all try. 

Video features “Happy Day After Christmas” by Matthew West from his Heart Of Christmas album.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas surrounded by family and friends (and some good food, too!). This video contains some photos of my Christmas dinner as well as video and photos of our family throughout the year. The song is so fitting, too. I hope you’ll enjoy the message and video as much as we do.

I’m looking forward to another year with my wonderful Southern Plate family! The next few months I’ll be finishing up my second book, which will be released in 2013. As I focus on that, I’ll still be posting on SouthernPlate.com and sending out emails, but for the most Southern Plate be sure you join us on Facebook, where I like to hang out in between writing and cooking

Have a wonderful day and a Merry Rest Of The YEAR!

Gratefully,

Christy

P.S. Click here to see another one of our past Christmas videos if you’d like

I’m happy to bring you another Quick Fix Supper Video from Southern Living! Video is below and may take a moment to load. To get this quick and easy recipe, click the red link below the video.

To get this recipe, please click here.

To view more Quick Fix Supper Videos, please click here.

“We do not see the world as it is. We see the world as we are.”

― Talmud

Submitted by June. Submit your quote by clicking here.

Oh, about the wardrobe malfunction…

Towards the middle of the video, as I was talking and we were filming, I looked down and PLOP, one of my earrings fell right into the middle of the skillet! I remember saying something like “Oh! there’s my earring!” and then we cut so I could get it out and keep on rolling! I hope you enjoy this video as much as I enjoyed filming it.

Remember, just click the link at the bottom to get the recipe!

To get this Sloppy Joe recipe, click here. 

To view more of my Southern Living Quick Fix Videos,

visit my Quick Fix Suppers page on SouthernLiving.com! 

“He’s more turned around than a flyin’ squirrel in a tornado!”

Old Southern Saying submitted by Vicki. To submit your old Southern Saying, click here. 

This post was sent to Life At Bountiful subscribers. If you would like to be added to this subscriber list, please click here. I send out an email whenever I post in the Life section of Southern Plate, usually an average of two to three times a month.

These Tuscan Pork Chops were a favorite of mine and I cannot tell you how many times I’ve made the Chicken Tacos. I keep the chicken precooked in my fridge now so I can throw together a quick lunch whenever I’m on the go. Click here to visit my chicken taco video on SouthernLiving.com (and see the coolest tip ever at the end!).

To get the recipe for these delicious Tuscan Pork Chops, click here.

Wanna be part of a future Quick Fix Supper Video?

If you’d like to be a part of a future Quick Fix Supper Video, click here for information on how you can submit your video question!

You and your question could be in our next Quick Fix Supper video!

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Watch all of my Southern Living Quick Fix Supper Videos by clicking here!

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Is your day partly cloudy or partly sunny? I choose partly sunny!

~Submitted by Jyl

Thank you for all of your GREAT comments on my storytime videos! I love getting to hear back from you and you’ve encouraged me so much that I’ve got a whole slew of books just waiting to read to you

Have a great day! Gratefully,

Christy

Get your copy of Bark, George by clicking here.

Listen to more of my favorite stories below!

Interrupting Chicken

Tacky The Penguin

Enemy Pie

Little Red Hen

When I Was Young In The Mountains

Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type

Bark, George

YES DAY!

Giraffes Can’t Dance

Pete The Cat

Kiss Good Night

Green Eggs And Ham

One Fish, Two Fish

WHAT! Cried Granny

Wocket In My Pocket

Pete The Cat Rocking In My School Shoes

I hope you enjoy this week’s video!

Since filming this I’ve made it twice so far for my family. I love that it only dirties up one pot and Ricky and I both love how meaty it is, too!

To print this recipe after you watch the video, please click here.

I love getting to hear back from you and visit with each other in the comments section.

If you have a moment, let’s swap howdies in the comments below and tell me what you’re having for supper tonight!

Life is like a mirror, we get the best results when we smile at it.

~Submitted by Jyl

Submit your quote by clicking here (I always need more quotes).

This contest is now closed, thank you for entering and please go ahead and read this post so you don’t miss out on the video debut! Congratulations to:

Sylvia Faye, Cathy Hooks, Frankie Niedorf, Sheila Dewey, Debbie Cowger, Robin Bolen, Alicia Craft, Kat of Kats daily inspiration, Martha Morefield, and Kelly Watson. I’ve emailed each of you with instructions. Thank you!

At Last! Today is the debut of Quick Fix Suppers, the video series I’m hosting on SouthernLiving.com. I’m so excited to bring you this series, and especially today’s recipe! Since filming these a few weeks ago, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve made the recipe I’ll be showing you today. It’s just that good (and so very simple).  At the end, you’ll see the coolest tip, too!

To commemorate the debut of Quick fix Suppers, we’d like for you to go watch the videos and come back and tell us what you think!

I’ll pick ten comments at random on Sunday night and we’ll send each of those an advance copy of the June issue of Southern Living Magazine, which hits newsstands on May 20th.

I would really appreciate it if you could help me spread the word about my new series! Please head on over and watch them and be sure and tell your friends!

Gratefully, Christy

Click here to go straight to the videos on SouthernLiving.com!

Don’t forget to come back here and leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway!

Here is part of the press release direct from Time, Inc (wow, I have a press release, how cool is that?)

SOUTHERN LIVING INTRODUCES VIDEO SERIES ‘QUICK-FIX SUPPERS,’ STARRING COOKBOOK AUTHOR AND BLOGGER CHRISTY JORDAN -– Online Cooking Demos Offer Recipe Solutions and Daily Time-saving Tips for Today’s Busy Cook

— Series Complements New Column Based on Readers’ Questions, Debuting in the June Issue, on Newsstands May 20th
New York, NY – Southern Living introduces “Quick-Fix Suppers,” a new video series starring cookbook author and blogger Christy Jordan of Southern Plate, who demonstrates how to make dinner in 45 minutes or less.

Daily time-saving tips accompany Jordan’s weekly 3- to 4-minute, how-to videos so people can spend less time in the kitchen and more time around the table. The video series is a companion to the “Quick-Fix Suppers” column debuting in the magazine’s June issue, hitting newsstands Friday, May 20, and features new video content updated weekly.
“I’ve fallen hard for Christy’s pure Southern charm, not to mention her strawberry-pretzel salad and other childhood favorites,” says Southern Living editor Lindsay Bierman. “She’s the real deal, a busy mom who found her calling to cook and blog from the heart in a way that has inspired and informed millions of readers and followers. Christy’s cooking demos make every meal seem incredibly easy and fun.”

Readers can ask questions online at www.southernliving/quickfix or on Facebook. Southern Living Test Kitchen Specialist Vanessa McNeil Rocchio, herself a busy mom, will develop weeknight menus based on reader requests. Videos online at launch include: Quick-Fix Tacos, Pasta, Shrimp Noodle Bowls and One Pot Pasta.

Our days are happier when we give people a piece of our heart

rather than a piece of our mind.

Thanks to Elaineraye for this quote. Click here to submit your own.

Watch the videos by clicking here!

Last week I asked if anyone had questions they’d like me to answer on Facebook. I got some GREAT questions and really appreciate you taking the time to ask them. I did a series of videos (I think I ended up with seven or eight of them) and I thought I’d bring you a couple every now and then. This is the first installment so when you see me mention searching on the site to find the others, just ignore me

Celebrity Chef Question, Most Pinch Yourself Moment, etc

This video is me answering diet questions, what my favorite utensils are, etc.

To view the notecard I mentioned in my answer to the diet question, please click here.

• If you’d like to ask a question you can leave it in the comments section below and I’ll try to get to it in future videos

• This past summer I did a series of live blogging question and answer videos with the facebook family as well. To see all of them in one post, please click here.

• I posted a very inspiring and heartwarming passage from a book I read that I really think will resonate with you. Click here to read it.