Operation Christmas Surprise -- REVEALED!

AWESOME NEWS! Our family's adopted Soldier, who I've nicknamed "Outlaw," finally got around to opening his gifts that I made him promise not to open till Christmas day... AND HE LOVED THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lemme tell ya all about it.... "OPERATION CHRISTMAS SURPRISE" is finally revealed! THIS is what I've been up to since October, and the gift I've been just dying to have Outlaw open on Christmas Day!

See, I happen to live not too terribly far from where

Outlaw lives... a certain other "angel" from [an organization I'm no longer affiliated with -- not Soldiers' Angels, a different one], the organization I "adopted" Outlaw from, lives even closer to where Outlaw lives.... So, anyway, way back in OCTOBER, it was autumn here and all the leaves were changing into spectacular colors... especially up in the mountains. I got a letter from Outlaw one day saying how much he missed his mountains and the fall leaves, etc.... and I started pondering, how on earth could I bring "home" to Outlaw??? Well, one day I was sitting in church, and inspiration zapped me right in the middle of service! Suddenly, the idea popped into my head to GO TO OUTLAW'S HOMETOWN and take as many pictures of "there" as possible, and put it into a scrapbook for him.

Well, with the help of my Partner in Crime, not only did I get to go up to Outlaw's hometown, we (Partner-in-Crime & I) actually got to spend the whole day with Outlaw's sweet family (they are awesome, I just love his family!!!! They are fabulous!). Between me & Partner in Crime, we got over FIFTY pictures of his HOME, his momma's house, his sisters & their homes, a local bbq place, the mountains, the mountains, the town, the mountains....you get the idea!

Anyway, I also picked about a dozen autumn leaves..I picked the ones with the most brilliant autumn colors possible, and laminated them. Then, I got all my pics developed (and Partner in Crime did likewise, and emailed me hers), and I put it all together in a big ole scrapbook for Outlaw!!!! At the beginning of the scrapbook, I wrote a little "fairy tale" as a prologue... "Once upon a time, there were two Angels who lived in the most beautiful region of Paradise known as Georgia..." and it went on to tell the story of how God comes to the Angels and has a "special assignment" for them (the special assignment being, of course, Outlaw!) and how God transformed their little feathery, dainty little angel winges into huge, strong, Kevlar, camouflage-colored Angel wings ~ wings which were large enough to embrace a whole platoon at once if needed, hahahha.... !!! (I really get into writing, haha) The end of the little fairy tale was, "And this book [the scrapbook] tells of the Angels' adventures...." And from there, of course, there are all the pictures of our day in Outlaw's hometown.... I told the tale in pictures and embellished each page with the laminated autumn leaves and other autumn-themed decorations, etc., along with little notes about where we went, what we did... and I also added nice quotes about the mountains, etc......

On the inside back cover of the scrapbook, I glued an envelope and put a hand-written letter inside, wishing him a merry christmas from our whole family, etc.

Also, I had two of the very best pictures copied, cropped, enlarged and framed (thank God for those photo things at walmart!) ~ one was a picture of me & Partner in Crime sitting on his front porch and another was a picture of me & Partner in Crime at his momma's house, holding an old 8x10 pic of Outlaw between us... I told him that picture would just have to "do" until he gets home and we can get a REAL pic of us all together hahaha! [Edit: As of Jan. 10, 2007 - That "photo op" ain't happened yet!]

Anyway, as I mentioned in a previous post a few weeks ago, Outlaw PROMISED to wait till Christmas to open this stuff, like I'd asked him to... and man o man have i just been DYING of excitement and anticipation for the past month!!!! Talk about TORTURE!!!! And God bless his sweet family.. they ALL knew, too, and they kept it a secret!!!! Yay for them!!!!!

Oh, by the way... when this idea first popped into my head WAY back in OCTOBER (and I do firmly believe it was an idea from the Lord!), I had no idea, BUT... even though he's been in the National Guard for a long, LONG time... this was his FIRST EVER deployment AWAY FROM HOME OVER CHRISTMAS. *gets chills* So, his first deployment away from home at Christmas, what does he get for a gift on Christmas day????? HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! literally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (or at least, a scrapbook of home!) *gets more chills* I mean, IS THAT FREAKY OR WHAT?!

Anyway, I came home from the inlaws' house at 7 pm tonight and found this email from Outlaw:

Quote:

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO MAMA KAT AND FAMILY!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU AND THANK YOU!!! Kat,you definitely made my Christmas!! I love the presents!!!!! I cant think of "anything" that I'd want over these gifts....I love the gifts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

Merry Christmas, Y'all!!!!!

(Aren't you glad the suspense is over now?!)

Now I'm wondering.... Hmmmm...how can I TOP THIS?! *ponders* *plots* *ponders more*