Amy J. Bennett

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 I’m Into – February 2013

February 28, 2013 by Amy 18 Comments

Last month I mentioned candles and have been so happy to find this scent at Bath and Body Works.

Mahogany Teakwood really should be called Abercrombie & Fitch Store. Smells just like it when you walk by!

I have another scent coming and hope to have that on the March list!

I’ll save all the books I’ve read for another post but I’m seriously into this book.

So far it’s really changed some of my perspective about prayer and looking forward to it finishing up in the next few days.

I know this one’s weird but I’ve been into recovery drinks. Last month I mentioned I’d been doing P90X.

We’ve continued through February but this month I started drinking a recovery drink afterwards. Makes such a difference! I don’t feel worn out or dehydrated anymore. The girls even like it.

I got these Lia Sophia earrings at a party recently and I just love them.

I can wear them with almost anything. Per usual, they look way better in person.

It’s interesting, I keep wanting to add some TV shows to this list because let’s face it, I’m usually into them. But really, I need a what I’m NOT into post for those. Nearly all my shows have been disappointing me lately—Once Upon a Time, Revenge, Nashville, even Modern Family! I think I’m ready to give many of them up.

One thing I have been watching but I’m not sure I’m into yet is Doctor Who.

I’ve watched 9 episodes of the first season and I’m still not hooked. Doctor Who fans, what am I doing wrong??

And finally for the techie folks, I’ve been really into the Genesis Framework for WordPress.

Which means, people, I have a brand new design waiting for you! Squee! It’s not quite ready to launch but I am just LOVING the framework. Makes designing so much easier!

What’s your favorite thing right now?

I’m linking up with LeighKramer.com

What I Wore Wednesday 02.27.2013

February 27, 2013 by Amy 10 Comments

It’s Wednesday! I share my outfits from the week with The Pleated Poppy’s What I Wore Wednesday.

I pair my outfits with inspirational photos. Read more about that here.

I had a conversation about Tami Taylor from FNL the night before and needed to wear my Texan garb.

Source: flickr.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: ninbra.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

Sorry for the bad picture. Those plant holders are nice and focused!

Source: fat-birds.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Amy on Pinterest

Putting these posts together for you isn’t getting old yet. I just love finding these beautiful pictures. Hope you are still enjoying them!

PMS and Trash Cans

February 26, 2013 by Amy 3 Comments

Alright, here’s the deal. I’m having the worst bout of PMS I’ve had in quite some time. Dear family, I do apologize for my wretched behavior the past few days.

Y’all, honestly, just wretched.

It’s one of those times where you know in mid-stride that what you’re doing and saying is so terrible but you cannot seem to stop yourself because your body has just taken completely over.

To give you just one example, the other day Lexi was complaining about a pair of her shoes and how they fit. This is nothing new. She’s very particular about how socks and shoes fit.

Well, we went in rounds about how she WAS going to wear those shoes I just bought her because they were EXACLTY what she wanted and she was going on about how she WASN’T going to wear them because her toe in her right foot was hurting even though they were EXACTLY the same size as the previous ones and the next size up was too big for her.

I got so frustrated, that I yelled and stormed in the kitchen and threw the brand new shoes in the trash can, telling her she didn’t ever have to worry about the shoes again because they were GONE!

I knew as I was walking in the kitchen that what I was doing was so daft and I should just calm down and NOT throw the shoes in the garbage but I really could not stop myself.

Before long, she was crying, begging to keep the shoes and I was begging for forgiveness and neither of us knew whether she should wear the silly shoes or not.

Please tell me you have acted this way before!

I would like to blame the hormones, I really would but I truly believe in these times of stress that it simply just brings up the mess inside us already.

Just as Romans says, we all still do things we don’t want to do and don’t do things we want to. We all still fight against our flesh but thank God I can still find Christ at the bottom of a trash can loving me anyway.

To Bar or Not to Bar

February 25, 2013 by Amy 20 Comments

It’s been awhile since we’ve done any big projects around the house. It’s been almost two years since we built on our master bedroom addition and since then, it’s just been small things here and there.

Scott and I are both getting an itch to do something we’ve been batting around for quite some time. The thing is, I still can’t decide whether I want to or not and I’d really like your input.

One thing I really wanted with this house but didn’t exactly get was an open floor plan between our living room, dining room and kitchen. While there’s a nice open space to our kitchen, it’s not what I would call open.

Please excuse the dog crate with the John Deere blanket. It’s just what it is.

We’ve been thinking of tearing out these top cabinets, or at least half of them, and knocking a hole through that wall so we have an island with a counter and bar stools.

I’ve been messing around in PhotoShop and while I’m no Layla or Kevin from The Lettered Cottage, I think the photos I did might give you a visual of what we’re thinking of doing.

Option 1 would only knock out part of the wall facing the dining room. In this way, I can salvage half the cabinets up top and minimize seeing any mess in the kitchen with that short wall.

We’d need to paint the back door as the black is too stark from the living room.

Option 2 would knock out the entire wall above the bottom cabinets.

With this option I lose all my upper cabinets and I’m pretty concerned about the mess at the stove you could see from the living room as well. We’d have to deal with repairing the ceiling too. Oh, and our contractor told us we’d need to add a support beam in the attic.

However, this option really opens up the room and I don’t think it would cost much more.

So, whaddya think? Leave it alone, partial wall or tear the whole thing down?

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.

God-clippings: How I Use Evernote to Hear God

February 21, 2013 by Amy 5 Comments

Do you ever find the same word or theme suddenly pops up everywhere? In blog posts, in TV shows, in quotes, in songs, in sermons—sometimes you just can’t get away from it, whatever “it’” is.

Don’t ignore those “coincidences”. I tend to think that’s God beating us over the head with a lesson of some sort.

My lesson right now? My word? Control.

Truthfully, I never thought of myself as an over-controlling person, but I definitely think God has some things to teach me.

I don’t want to miss one little thing God is trying to show me, so I thought I might share how I’ve started collecting the pieces of the puzzle.

For you savvy readers, I just create a folder in Evernote and stuff them all there and then revisit.

If that makes no sense to you, let me explain.

Evernote.com is a lot like Pinterest You gather items from all over the web and organize them into folders called Notebooks.

While Pinterest is great at organizing visual data publicly, Evernote is great at organizing text-based data privately.

First, you should set up an account at evernote.com

Then, make a Notebook for your word, or theme.

At this point, you can create a New Note if you’d like. Let’s say the sermon on Sunday spoke directly to your word or theme, you could create a new note with the sermon’s title date date and then type in the applicable notes.

However, as an avid blog reader, what I’ve found most helpful is the Web Clipper.

Web Clipper is an extension for your browser so that a little Evernote button shows up in your toolbar and then you can use it to clip items to your Evernote account.

You can see the extension here on my toolbar.

When I find a sentence I want to clip from a blog post, I just highlight like so:

Then click the Evernote button in your toolbar. A box pops up and lets me pick which folder to save it in.

Then, when I’m ready I can log into my account at Evernote.com and see what I’ve clipped.

In a twist of irony, I just wrote all that and realized that might come across as controlling. Ha! Well, I just tend to look at it as PASSIONATE. So there. I’m looking forward to what God is teaching me and hope to share some time in the future.

Do you use Evernote? What are some other great uses for it? What’s your theme or word right now?