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50 Random Acts of Kindness

March 1, 2013 by Amy 7 Comments

Do you see me jumping up and down clapping? No? Because I’m jumping up and down clapping. I can not WAIT to share today’s post.

My friend Linda that I met through church and our Journey Group turned 50 this week and decided to do 50 random acts of kindness during the month.

I am turning 50 this year! I read on Pinterest about this woman that did random acts of kindness on her birthday. However old she was, she did that many acts of kindness. I thought it was such a wonderful idea that I wanted to do it for my 50^th! I turn 50 on February 27, 2013. My plan is to do random acts throughout the month of February and write about them. I know God will use the “acts” in other’s lives but I also know He can use it in mine. I am so excited! This may become a birthday tradition!

For a few of her items, she had planned an afternoon at the mall. I asked if I could go along so I could see the magic happen myself!

We met up at Barnes and Noble last Saturday afternoon and she started right away by picking a book and putting in $5 with a note.

How much do I love that Bonhoeffer’s face is looking on from the top shelf there. I think he’d be proud.

Dear Francis Chan, one of your readers is going to get an extra special blessing!

Even from the beginning, it was a little nerve-wracking doing these. Linda didn’t want caught and worked quickly to place the money and get outta dodge!

Linda then wanted to bring some joy to children and decided to hand out Tootsie roll pops.

I love the smile on the lady’s face in the background. Random acts of kindness affect more than just the recipient!

This mom was really thankful and was bouncing her baby up and down.

Several parents actually declined the candy at first, but relented when their kids were so excited. I’m telling you, some of the kids just pressed their presents to themselves like it was a treasure.

She also gave out coloring books and crayons with a note

This little guy was saying “thank you” by the time I snapped a picture. I’m telling you, Linda was like a RAOK ninja!

I caught this one on her way out of the story but I LOVED this one. You can see the man with the beard and hat just inside the store through the glass holding his son with the coloring book.

Linda dropped it off and left but after the man read the note, he came out of the store and yelled down the hall “Happy Birthday!” and winked at her. I wish SO MUCH I could have gotten that wink full of joy on camera.

She also handed out these mirrors.

We stood outside Forever 21 hoping to give them to young girls. When Linda’s husband Rob and I spotted this little girl with Downs dancing in the window, we both looked at Linda and knew she should have one.

After she explained to the family why we were giving it and they read the note, they were SO thankful. The man just kept saying how nice it was.

She gave another to this teenager who was walking around with a group of friends. She had a birthday button on and she was thrilled to get a little gift from another person having a birthday.

Linda was also armed with flowers. Don’t you love the light shining behind her?

The lighting is terrible here (did you know the the lighting is so unpredictable at the mall!!) but I just had to show you this lady receiving her flowers. She just couldn’t believe they were for her.

Linda gave each of the women a set of flowers and the lady there in the middle gave her a hug before they left. Strangers hugging in the mall! It’s just too much!

Linda also gave tips to the workers cleaning the tables.

I hope you can see how thankful this lady was to receive it.

One of my favorites is when Linda gave the custodian a full bouquet of flowers.

After Linda walked away, she was so happy!

I’ll be honest and say every single one was nerve-wracking. I was just taking pictures and I was nervous for her! Several people were very untrusting and Linda had to explain what she was doing. It was all WELL out of her comfort zone but knowing she was making their day gave her courage and all of them were thankful after they understood.

I love thinking about each of these people today and how they might think back to that afternoon. All of this took her less than an hour but I’m sure they will remember it for years.

And that was just 7 of the 50! Linda has been keeping track of everything she’s done so without further adieu, here is the full list:

50 Random Acts of Kindness

1. February 5th: Two of my neighbors have been sick and I happened to hear about it, so I put together a care package for each of them and left it on their doorstep. It contained a can of chicken soup, a brightly colored mug, herbal tea, a few chocolates, because chocolate always makes you feel better, a small pack of tissues, some little rolls to go with the soup and a get well card, wrapped in a brightly colored bag.
Though both neighbors were touched, one neighbor in particular, was very touched. He has a long term illness and when I saw him the day before my ‘surprise” he was really down. I saw him the day after my “surprise” and his whole countenance was changed. A little love goes a long way! God thank you for using me! May this little act open doors for his salvation.

Click through for the full list..this is already so long!

What Mama Did

February 22, 2013 by Amy 7 Comments

Five Minute Friday is changing it up a bit this week. We’re to write on “What Mama Did” for five minutes. No editing or backtracking.

I ate lunch with Lexi yesterday and we sat with one of the little boys and his mom. The two littles started talking about the other kids in her class that were sitting back at the main table. I’m embarrassed to say not all of it was positive. Lexi wasn’t trying to be mean but kids call it as they see it. Lexi calls me out all the time. Why are you mad at me? It kills me when she says that. I stopped her yesterday at lunch. Quit talking about your friends. If you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all. Lexi, naive, said I like to gossip. I wanted to hide under the table. I urged her to just quit. She did and started talking about something else. Probably her peanut butter and jelly sandwich she was picking apart.

When she got home last night, I told her I wanted to talk to her about what happened at lunch. Gossip isn’t nice and talking behind peoples’ backs will land you with exactly zero friends. The Bible warns against and it’s really just not nice. She assured me she wasn’t trying to be mean, she just liked talking about her friends. She’s just too honest and naive now to know how that will turn out in a few years. I could tell she got it though and we moved on to talking about the weekend.

I always thought mothering would happen with serious, hour-long conversations, but I’m realizing I get to dispense what little wisdom I have in spurts, like a Pez dispenser and its little candies. And I’ve realized that’s what my mama did. Years and years of teaching and guiding, sometimes seconds at a time showing me what wisdom looked like. She still does it. Sometimes just a sentence between what we had for dinner and what she found shopping that day.

Motherhood sometimes doesn’t look like I thought it might, but I sure hope it looks a lot like what mama did.

3 Ways to Have a Stellar Day

January 22, 2013 by Amy 5 Comments

Days like yesterday don’t happen often in the dead-center of winter, but yesterday? Was stellar.

And the best part is I think you could have one too.

Take a Risk

For several months, perhaps years, I’ve been reading and listening to training on this whole blogging business. Every single one recommended guest blogging.

I knew it was the way to go but Inadequate told me I wasn’t good enough–I didn’t deserve to be published elsewhere. It was a risk to me to send in the guest post to MoneySavingMom.com that published yesterday. But the risk paid off.

And I can’t tell you what a good day that made. Risks don’t always pay off but when they do? Stellar.

Where do you need to take a risk? A conversation? Application? Do it! It will make for a stellar day!

Be Creative

Yesterday morning the girls and I decided to make some homemade play-doh. I did the making and yes, even the playing.

What is it about homemade things that provide so much satisfaction? Perhaps because God is quite creative and he put that inside us too. When we tap into that, it feels right and good and dare I say, sometimes stellar.

Get Active

Scott and I don’t get many days off together so yesterday when we were, I was determined to do something as a family.

We landed on laser tag and bowling. And let me say, running through the dark with fake guns with your 10 year old, chasing down your husband and 8 year old? Makes for a stellar day.

How can you get active? Maybe you need to sign up for that 5K or pick up your dusty tennis racket.

And as a bonus tip, order a StitchFix and perhaps they’ll tell you they shipped it on the same day as your other stellar-ness is happening, making your stellar day downright giggly.

What makes your days stellar?

A Kindness and The Valley of Vision

January 10, 2013 by Amy 13 Comments

I’m feeling a little spoiled this week. Not even the fact that our 3 year old washing machine decided to die Monday night has deterred me from celebrating a small random act of kindness. You’d like to hear about it and celebrate too, yes? {Oh, and there’s a giveaway at the bottom}

Last week I got a direct message on Twitter asking for my address. Immediately, I thought it was spam but after a quick conversation realized it was not. One of my long-time Twitter friends Joshua had seen something I’d posted online and wanted to send our family a gift.

I couldn’t for the life of me remember saying we needed or wanted anything in particular so I waited to see what might be coming.

I was all smiles when I opened the package Tuesday night to find two books–The Valley of Vision and Godspeed.

I don’t even remember where I heard about the book The Valley of Vision anymore. Somewhere in the social media world is all I recall. The collection of Puritan prayers has been on my Amazon wish list longer than any of the others.

Upon opening, I did an ohhhhh… I immediately remembered someone recently posting a picture of The Valley of Vision on Instagram as one of four books they had purchased for the new year. I had commented saying it was on my wish list and I needed to bite the bullet and get it.

Joshua hadn’t commented and I didn’t even know he had read it. Actually, I’m still assuming that’s where he saw that I wanted it. He had a copy sitting in his office and decided to pass it on as a family gift. He also sent Godspeed, a book his pastor (and boss) had written.

Scott and I were so blessed to be recipients of this random act of kindness. We agreed we wanted to read them together. It was such a small gesture, but huge in my eyes. Please don’t doubt the impact a small gesture can make on someone.

I cried the first three prayers I read. All of these were written hundreds of years ago by Puritans—Christians that were very devoted to prayer and meditation.

I don’t know how much I can reprint here but I wanted to share snippets of a prayer I read this morning.

It’s entitled “Morning Dedication”

Let those around me see me living by the Spirit,
trampling the world underfoot,
unconformed to lying vanities,
transformed by a renewed mind,
clad in the entire armour of God,
shining as a never-dimmed light,
showing holiness in all my doings.

Let no evil this day soil my thoughts, words, hands.
May I travel miry paths with a life pure from spot or stain.

May I speak each word as if my last word,
and walk each step as my final one.
If my life should end today, let this be my best day.

Whew. That last line is a doozy.

I don’t know if you can get the full effect of the prayer but there’s something about it that centers me.

I’m all for talking with God in conversation and just putting my concerns and worries out there as they are. But, I admit, having these as a guided prayer, reminding me of the basics, if you will, and knowing they were written hundreds of years ago by Christians following the hard and narrow path has been quite a blessing.

Not only are they a gift in and of themselves, knowing they were given as a gift has made them all the more powerful.

So two things today—do that random act of kindness and consider buying The Valley of Vision.

And finally, in the spirit of passing on the random act of kindness, I’d like to pass on a copy of a book on my bookshelf that meant much to me—The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg. Just leave a comment and I’ll randomly (ha) pick a recipient.

The Least I Could Do

January 4, 2013 by Amy Leave a Comment

Do you have one of those stories in your family where it gets told over and over and you laugh every single time?

Everyone loves to laugh about the time I woke up at 3am, got ready for school and then tried to make everyone else do the same, insisting we were all going to be late. Or the time I was complaining about a knife not working until my mom pointed out I was using the wrong side. What? The ones with the pointy end are confusing sometimes.

Our family experienced one of those times this past Christmas.

Two weeks before Christmas, Emma asked me if she could have some money to go buy me, Scott and Lexi some Christmas presents just from her–just something small, maybe $5-10 a piece. I said yes and then she got the idea to ask my sister to take her that weekend when we were going to be in Pennsylvania the weekend before Christmas to visit with family. My sister, of course, was thrilled to take her shopping.

Saturday morning came along and we decided that we would all go to town. The kids would go with my sister and grandmother to a store and pick out gifts while Scott and I did a little shopping of our own in another store.

On the way, Lexi decided that she wanted to buy a gift for our hosts. She said, “It’s the least we could do.” I’ve written about the couple we stay with before and she was right, we needed to do something a little extra in thanks.

So we dropped the kids off at a bargain store and I wished them all well thinking it could be quite the shopping trip. It wasn’t 20 minutes or so though and we got the call to come pick them back up. They were done. And with money to spare. Wow, they must have gotten some good deals, I thought.

After a not-so-quick stop at CVS to pick up some picture prints needed for gifts, we all decided to eat at the mall. The kids got Chick-fil-a and I got a smoothie from Orange Julius.

So we’re all eating and my sister says, “Just to warn you, they picked out a candle for Mike and Deanna. It’s kind of small because the scent they really wanted was out in the larger sizes.”

And in the sarcastic way sisters are, I said, “So, what, we basically bought them a tea light for Christmas? Could you not, you know, have managed that a little better?”

We start laughing because I know we’re both starting to picture the scene when we express our unending gratitude with a berry scented tea light.

Then Lexi sets her chicken nugget down, throws her arms up wide, her head back and earnestly says, “It’s the LEAST we could do!”

And then Heather and I look at each other and realize the irony of it. Most people say “It’s the least I could do” when they do something that’s not so small but want to be humble about it. But no, this truly was the very least we could do.

We’re belly laughing, but in the silent way where your whole body is shaking, you’re smiling and yet not making a sound because Lexi doesn’t get what she just said. I’m almost certain smell is one of her love languages. In her little heart, she’d picked out the perfect scented candle and she can’t wait for them to smell it. Ah, it was such a great moment.

Our family has now started saying, “It’s the LEAST I could do,” in reply to any thanks and always with a belly laugh.

And for those wondering, yes, we did buy them something else. But I’m pretty sure it’s the candle they’ll remember.

Merry Christmas 2012

December 24, 2012 by Amy Leave a Comment

I’m sitting up Christmas Eve. I’ve finished our Winter Wonderland decorations with lights and snowflakes in the living room. I’m done wrapping presents, sitting out cookies and milk and just waiting on Scott to come in from Walgreens after picking up last minute stocking stuffers. Yep, we’re those people.

I’m feeling so, so blessed this Christmas. My kids are 8 and 10 and maybe I’m crazy, but it just seems like quintessential ages for Christmas. I mean, they’re all special years but there’s something about these ages I’m loving so much.

We made snowflakes together before they went to bed and they’re scheming some sort of plans tonight that make them giggle.

Their stacks of presents are knee high. I’d be embarrassed at the amount I spent but I’m just not. I can’t wait for them to open every single one.

Today while I was thinking about Christ’s birth something became so real about how we’re celebrating an actual historical event. Like, in the same way we celebrate July 4th, this event was every bit as real. Of course, I’ve known that but something special happened, like a little window opened and I got to see it from a different perspective in my heart. A little Christmas Eve gift from God.

Yes, feeling ever so blessed and grateful.

A very Merry Christmas to you all!

Go see more outtakes on the Facebook page.

Ten Years

November 20, 2012 by Amy 9 Comments

Twenty-four years ago I sat at the head of an oak dining room table with ten candles atop my cake. In the chairs sat my sister and a few friends. My mom and dad crowded around, taking pictures and singing. I looked at my cake, closed my eyes and whispered in my mind to no one in particular, “Good-bye, single digits.”

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“I did it. I really did it.” Those were my first weepy words to my mom 10 years ago as my first tiny baby was passed around the birth room. I had been scared to death of giving birth but somehow by God’s grace, my body cooperated like so many others before me and had birthed a tiny little Emma Grace.

I spent the next few days trying to figure out nursing, fielding visitors with this new grandbaby girl, and managing pain. When the last day arrived, we dressed in her little outfit and Scott put us in the back seat of our black Chrysler. I realized amidst all the activity in the past few days, months really, that I had this tiny little person in a really big world I was responsible for. I think I cried the whole way home and then sat on the couch in the living room and did the same.

I was scared to death.

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A few months later, a friend who had known me since college was chatting with me and he said, “You’ve changed since you had Emma.”

“Changed?” I asked, “How do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” he fumbled, “You just have.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant exactly, I mean, I’m sure my conversations were different, but I still felt like me.

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“I don’t want to depress you,” the doctor said at the end of our check-up last week, “but I think I should point out that you’re more than half way done with your time with Emma at home. Make sure to enjoy your time.”

It was too late to depress me. I’ve been counting down until 10 for 10 years. What is it about 10? Maybe because I had remembered so distinctly turning 10 myself. It felt like a turning point of sorts. The numbers look a lot like teen ages–a lot like the years when you start kissing and driving and working and more to the point, leaving.

I birthed a tiny Emma Grace but she won’t stop this growing business.

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I read this post from Lisa-Jo yesterday and a line broke me.

There is no book knowledge that can prepare you for the act of creation or how brave you will become.

Brave. Yes. That is the change Emma has made in me.

I was just a scared little girl in a Chrysler not sure how to take care of a fearless little girl.

I realize now I had birthed Emma, but she birthed a mother in me. I was an infant mother, starting on a path to bravery.

She’s changed me these past 10 years. She’s made me brave.

I’ll endure pain when necessary, have tough conversation that scare me, check dark closets when I’m not sure what awaits, fight when there’s a need. I’d walk in front of a train for her.

Yes, she’s built courage in me.

And a lot of other things.

She’s made me more brave and selfless and disciplined and loving and patient.

All 10 years she’s been making me a better person.

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Emma’s name Emma Grace means “full of grace”. She’s that to everyone but she especially has been a gift of grace from God to me. God knew to make me more like him, I needed a tiny girl full of grace to teach me, change me.

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I’ve been putting my What I Wore Wednesday post together for tomorrow and realized every day I’ve been wearing grey or black. Looking back, I think subconsciously it’s been a sort of mourning week for me.

It’s been a week of saying goodbye to her first ten years with us for certain, but also a mourning of me. A glorious, wonderful mourning of the old me my love of Emma helped me conquer.

My friend was right. I am different. My tiny little Emma Grace has changed me and this week of celebration of both her birth and Thanksgiving, I cannot think of anything I am more thankful for than 10 years of hard, terribly draining, wonderfully changing years with my Emma Grace.

It turns out that love does conquer all.

Tomorrow I’ll watch as she blows out her own 10 candles and in my mind, I’ll whisper to no one in particular, “Goodbye single digits.”

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Baby girl, I love you and your giggling at boys, and sarcasm at your daddy, and your frustration and love of your sister, and your reading past bed time and your loving of little babies and crazy dancing and mismatched clothing and your teaching at your white board and your curly hair and your hazel eyes and freckled nose. I love every single inch of you. Thank you for changing me. You fill me full of grace and I thank God every day for making me your mommy.

Mark the Sacred

November 6, 2012 by Amy 6 Comments

A week ago I returned from Allume. Allume’s purpose is the following:

Our goal at Allume is to minister to the woman, the blogger, the story teller. We want to love well, encourage, and spur women on to shine the Light that lives within them. We want to serve you in ways that cultivate the Light in you, help you expand your influence, use your influence well (in your home, your community, or around the world) and encourage you with stories of those who are living out the Light.

While at Allume, I attended Stephanie Bryant’s session on finding your personal brand. In the session, she advised us to create 5 Pinterest boards which would help guide us to find our own brand. I created the following boards:

While I could see there was definitely a consistent style there, I couldn’t quite tell how to pull it together. I still can’t, to be honest (feel free to send me feedback).

I solicited help from a few friends to help me analyze the pins and a friend picked up on one theme within the photography board that I hadn’t noticed in the least upon pinning.

Light.

Source: 500px.com via Amy on Pinterest

While I was pinning these, I had no intent to pin pictures with such an obvious theme of light. I was just pinning photographs that looked pretty to me. Nothing more, nothing less. I didn’t even pick up that it was a theme until many emails were exchanged. But looking back, it’s obvious.

Just a few days after I returned from Allume and pinned these pictures, I started reading through the Bible with a group on Facebook on November 1st. On the first day of reading, Genesis 1:14-15 stuck out to me

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.

I could not shake the idea of lights “marking sacred times”. I had no thoughts of Allume or my boards though.

Gary Morland spent his 31 days series talking about connecting dots in our lives. Some might refer to it as God’s tapestry, seemingly unrelated strings woven together. I’ve definitely seen this at work in my life before.

All these themes of light started coming together in my mind over the weekend.

Before and even during Allume, I was very close to closing this site. I wasn’t sure of my purpose anymore. But that phrase “marking sacred times” has given me my purpose.

Matthew 5:16 calls us to shine our light before men and I look back to Genesis and find my why. Just as the sun and moon mark sacred times, my words help me shine His light, marking the sacred: the sacred moments that he speaks to me, the sacred moments I question Him, the sacred moments I share with my children.

As if all of theses weren’t enough dots to connect, a friend emailed me just the other day, not knowing about my Pinterest boards or Allume’s purpose statement or even my Bible reading and says “I look forward to your posts, they make a difference to me, your light is shining BRIGHT.”

I feel a bit awkward talking about my blog on my blog and “letting my little light shine” might seem juvenile, but for me, when I see God confirming a message in many places, it’s sacred. And you might now agree, I would be remiss not to mark it with words.

And P.S., just as I finished writing these words, I flipped over to my reader and saw these words from Sarah Bessey:

A few months ago, I wrote an essay for Deeper Story called In which I am practicing. It was born out of a turning point in my own life, and I wanted to mark it by writing about it.

Really? Really, God? I think He just likes to show off, eh?

My prayer from here is not just that you’ll continue to come here to read these words, but that you’re looking for your own strings and connecting dots and finding your unique way to mark the sacred.