Winter Warm Up

   Monday morning is the time of week that I do our grocery shopping and today was no exception. I went out this morning and while in the store I thought it would be nice to go out and collect all the carts from the parking lot and give a few of the employees a break since it was only about thirty degrees out this morning. But alas, as I went out to put my groceries away there was only one other cart in the parking lot. That Publix crew was on top of things! So the kids and I got in the car and headed home. As we were driving we passed a person sitting at an intersection corner holding a sign about a huge clearance sale going on and I thought, "glad I'm not working outdoors today as cold as it is." And that's when it hit me! I need to do something for people working outside and trying to stay warm today. So we swung through the McDonald's drive-thru and picked up several hot chocolates to pass out to those working outdoors. I loved this one today, everyone was so surprised when I approached them and very grateful. I wasn't able to get pictures of everyone who got hot chocolate but I was able to get a few.
  My inspiration, the sign holder...

 Some mobile Goodwill collectors...

Looking forward to what tomorrow's inspiration will be!

Shower Time

 Today's good deed has been in the works for the last couple of months, so maybe it's cheating a little bit since I have done a lot of the prep work beforehand but I still had plenty of work to do. Today I got the honor of throwing a baby shower for one of my favorite younger cousins Melissa. She is due with her first baby in about a month and we couldn't be more excited for her. My mom and I were so happy to get to do this for her and help her get ready for the big change in her life that is about to happen. After having two kids myself I know how great and important showers can be. Not just getting all the baby items you need but also getting great advise and tips from family and friends and making memories.

 The lady of the day... So happy for her!

I really look forward to meeting her new little guy soon and who knows... perhaps some of other good deeds this year will be doing a little babysitting for Melissa so she has a chance to get out every once and awhile.

Adopt A Us Soldier

   On both sides of my family and also in my husbands family we have several members who have served in the military or are currently serving today. I have always been proud of this fact and am so grateful for all those that sacrifice on a daily basis and put their lives in harms way so that I can feel a little safer and enjoy my freedoms. I'm also grateful for all the families of those who serve because they make enormous sacrifices as well. Because of all this, today I went and adopted a US soldier. This is a pen pal program where you can sign up and communicate back and forth, send packages, etc... to a soldier who is currently deployed. I can't begin to imagine all of the stress, homesickness, fear, and challenges that go hand and hand with being deployed so I hope maybe making a connection with one soldier and showing my appreciation can help brighten a few of their days away from home. I feel really good about this deed today and I hope some of you might adopt a US soldier too! You can find out more or sign up by clicking here.

Great Things at Greenhouse

   In our house after the holidays there toys strewn about in every imaginable place and as far as the eye can see. We've been blessed with several family member and great friends who love our kids as much as we do and love to give them gifts for Christmas. We appreciate all the generosity but simply put we don't always have room for all their stuff and when I think about how my kids are blessed it makes me think of all the children who are in situations where they may not have gotten anything. So each year in January we go through their toys and decide what they want to give to other kids who may not have been as fortunate this year. We had no problem quickly filling up a box and I even had some new toys that I added to donate as well. This year we decided to take our items to Greenhouse Ministries to donate. This is a great local organization that helps others in many ways. They have a food pantry for those in need, offer shelter programs, education and GED classes and much much more! You can check out more about them at  http://www.greenhousemin.org/

When we arrived a nice lady named Emily met me at the door and helped me bring in all my items. She was very thankful for our donation and encouraged us to come back soon. When she said this I went ahead and asked about volunteer opportunities and got signed up to attend a volunteer orientation next week. I look forward to helping this organization and in turn helping others in need.

Three for Three

So for day three I ended up with three kind acts that I got the joy of performing. On this very cold morning when I got up I thought it might be nice to pick up some of the neighbors newspapers from their yard and driveways and put them on their doorsteps so they didn't have to venture out into the cold to retrieve them. Again I enlisted my daughter Kaylee's help with this one. I put both the kids in the car and we went through the neighborhood taking turns picking up multiple papers and putting them at people's doors. After our neighborhood we went to a couple more to continue our task. Here's Kaylee picking up one of the papers. She really enjoyed doing this and was hoping someone would meet here at the door.

 Later on this morning I noticed a friend had posted a message saying she was in desperate need for purple crayons for a baby shower she was hosting soon out of town and needed them today. I thought, "well I know we've got several of those laying around." I gathered them up and asked where I could bring them to her. She was so appreciative and was able to get even more from another friend. I was very happy to help her out of a last minute emergency before she left town. I think this by far will be the easiest task I perform all year. Here's Christina with her crayons...

The last one today I'm hoping helped someone the most. After leaving where I met my friend, I came to a stoplight where there was a young man with a sign asking for money. Usually when I pass people asking for money I don't think twice about it and assume they are just scamming people when they could get a "real" job. The light turned green and I drove on thru and as soon as I passed him I realized, "what am I doing?" The money I could give him could mean the difference between being hungry or full today, possibly paying a bill or getting even further behind, providing for his kids or letting them continue to go without what they need. I circled back around to the light and gave him what cash I had in my wallet. He smiled kindly and said "God bless you ma'am." Now I know he may not be in the situation his sign claimed he was and he may waste the money I gave him, but it could also go towards getting back on his feet. My daughter had several questions to ask about me giving him the money which led to a great discussion on how we've been blessed with more than we need and that we can give to others who don't have what they need.
Looking forward to more great things to come!

Cookies To The Rescue!

   Last December when I decided to do this challenge I started stockpiling ideas from all sorts of places of things to do when opportunities didn't arise on their own. One of them was baking some treats and taking them to local fire stations and police stations to show appreciation for the hard work they do and putting their lives on the line on a daily basis. Both my children are very interested in fire trucks and firemen so I thought today would be a great day to take our local fireman some home made cookies. This morning I got up a little extra early and let my five year old help me make the cookies that we would deliver. I explained to her as best I could why we were doing this and hoped she would thank them for their service too.
   When we got there both my kids were excited to see the firehouse and meet one of the firemen. He seemed just as excited when I handed him the tray of cookies :) After we thanked him for all his hard work, he and my daughter had a long conversation on fire safety, interestingly enough Kaylee did most of the talking telling him all that she had learned at preschool about fire safety and how she knew how to get out of our house if something happened. He seemed impressed and tickled at her energy. I was so excited with how happy he was about the cookies and that my kids got to take part in today's task I forgot to take a picture.
Oh well, I'm just happy we got to bring a little happiness to the firehouse and that hopefully my children learned a little something about passing it on!

So Sweet CeCe's

   So today was day one of my year long attempt to perform at least one good deed or act of kindness for someone everyday of 2013.  While out at Target today I kept my eyes peeled for any opportunity that might present itself. I picked up the things I needed and went to the check out and as I finished I saw a older lady with a motorized cart who was having problems getting it to move. I offered to help her with her items and push her cart for her but she declined. I offered again but she actually seemed a little frightened by me so I went on my way. After a moment I remembered a voucher I have been carrying around in my wallet for a couple of months now and decided that could be the perfect way to make someone's day.
   I headed over to Sweet CeCe's frozen yogurt and found a family of four walking in and decided to give them my ten dollar voucher to use for their treats. The mom seemed apprehensive at first but I explained I just wanted to do something nice, no strings attached and she warmed up pretty quickly. I watched the family fill their bowls and with lots of yogurt and yummy toppings and give the voucher to the cashier to pay for their items. My favorite part was when they put their yogurt on the scale the cashier told them they still had a few dollars more to spend and that they could add more to their bowls. Both the kids got so excited and ran back over to the yogurt bar and begged for more of their favorite flavors. It also brought a smile and laugh to the parents faces as well. I was so happy to be able to share that voucher with them for many reasons, one of them being it appeared at first they were all going to share the same bowl but this way they were able to have their own. They were even nice enough to let me snap their photo.

I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings!