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Keep Hoppin'...

Today was the day we collected for our RAOK (Random Acts of Kindess) Day.  I have been promoting this to all of my 721 Facebook friends for a couple of weeks now.  I have asked for donations as simple as old newspapers or bottles of bleach or shampoo.  Natalie, her friend Eve, and I set up at the entrance of the church parking lot this evening at 6:50 and we waited...and waited...and waited...
The only donation we received was a couple of pairs of socks from our Pastor.  I was so disgusted.  I was so discouraged.  See...in my naivity, I had such high hopes for this for my daughter.  I really wanted her to leave the church knowing that a 9 year old girl really CAN make a difference in the world. 
At 7:54 pm, I told the girls it was time to go ahead and pack up.  We hadn't received any donations except for the socks and I was getting tired and still had to hit the grocery store for ice cream for the party tomorrow.  They were persistant, however.  They said they wanted to stay a little while longer.  A few minutes later, a member of our church stopped by and brought us a huge bag of newspapers to take to the shelter. 
Then...a few minutes later...a car pulled in.  It was a "beater" as my husband would call an older car with probably 200k miles on it.  The lady inside looked as if maybe she didn't have a lot.  She had a toddler strapped in a carseat in the back.  She asked the girls what they were doing.  They tried to explain to her and then I stepped in and started to explain, the whole time thinking to myself...this lady is probably thinking we're handing out stuff and wants in on it.  It was a terrible superficial judgement that I made.  We told her what all we were collecting and she sort of giggled and said, "Well I don't have any of that with me, but if I give you all a cash donation, you will get some of those things with it?"  I couldn't believe it.  There I was thinking that as soon as this young lady found out what we were doing that she would exit stage left pronto.  The kind lady then proceeded to tell us how much she loved animals and she knew the shelter helped so many animals and what a great organization SafeHome is.  She told us that she had to utilize SafeHome a while back, so it was very dear to her heart.  Then she unzipped her change purse and handed Natalie a $20 bill.  Tears welled up in my eyes and I knew this was all supposed to happen.  It never fails.  Every.single.time.  I was planning on getting bleach and laundry detergent and dog food.  That's all.  I wasn't expecting blessings. 
And we were blessed. 
After the lady left, Natalie said, "Mom, I wanted to cry when she was telling us that."  I smiled and said, "I did."  And so it begins...a spirit for giving; Seeing the circle of being in need and then getting back on your feet and giving back. 
A few minutes after that happened, JoAnn & Marty Forbes walked up with a bag of donations for SafeHomes and I remembered when Marty's mom, Pat "Punk" Kegley Tabor brought me a big food donation at the church when I was collecting food.  What a nice family reputation it is to have a reputation for giving. 
The United Methodist Men were meeting tonight at our church.  Our Pastor came outside right before we left and said to the girls, "Come in here and bring your fliers."  The girls did just that.  Our Pastor's husband, Pastor Jim had already heard about what Nat was doing so he quickly told the men that for her birthday, Natalie was giving to others and he challenged them to give to help the worthy causes.  When we left the church, Natalie had collected a bag of newspapers, 2 pairs of socks, a bag of donations for SafeHome and $96 in cash.  When we got back home, our neighbor threw in $4 to make it an even $100.  Natalie will split that and make a $50 monetary donation to the Humane Society and a $50 donation to SafeHomes.  I'm not disgusted anymore.  I'm not discouraged.  Through tears, I can say that I am ENCOURAGED.  I'm so very encouraged.  Keep hoppin Nat :) 

9 Random Acts of Kindess Birthday Party...

"If you have much, give of your wealth; If you have little, give of your heart”

Natalie's 9th birthday is Monday, July 25 and on August 12, we are doing a “9 Random Acts of Kindness” Birthday Party (9 for 9 years old!)

I can't take credit for this idea, as I was inspired to do this particular party from the following blog post I stumbled upon:  http://theletteredcottage.net/sweet-party-ideas

I love birthdays.  I love my friends and family and I love celebrating life.  After a birthday, my very frugal father will always say, "Ya went a little overboard again didn't you?"  Maybe Definately so, but I don't want my kids' birthdays to be "just another day." 

With inspiration from this blog post, Natalie and I have come up with 9 random acts of kindness that we have planned for the birthday party:

1) Donation/Volunteer at Safehomes (will check to see what they need)
2) Walk dogs and leave treats at Animal Shelter
3) Take homemade treats for the residents and staff at the nursing home
4) Take flowers to hospital and leave for the volunteers to give to patients who don't have flowers
5) Volunteer at Food Pantry (my mom does the Snack Packs for needy kids (they pack them at South Covington UMC) so she is going to show them what they do)
6) Stand outside Walmart and hand out free lollipops to kids (and young at heart!)
7) Place fliers under windshield wipers in Walmart Parking Lot that say “It’s Natalie’s 9th Birthday and we are celebrating by doing 9 random acts of kindness! Have a great day and pass on an act of kindness today!”
8) Go through the McDonald's drive thru and pay for the person behind us
9) Put change in all of the gumball machines and drink machines at the supermarket

When we return from our adventure, we will have birthday cake and food and watch this little diddy...

And then there is this scene from The Pursuit of Happyness makes me cry like a baby...

We will take plenty of pictures and shoot plenty of video during the day and it is my hope to make the girls a DVD of our pictures throughout the day and mail to them the following week.  I’ll be sure to upload it on here for all of you to see as well!

I can’t wait to see the faces of giving…

“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” ~Kahlil Gibran

P.S. Feel free to copy this idea and do your own random acts of kindess party!

UPDATE!!!  Here is how the day went!

Well it's Father's Day.  June 19, 2011.  Hopefully Kevin had a good day.  He has been working nights and pretty much we could have handed him the keys to a brand new corvette and we would have probably gotten a half-smile at best.  Tonight is his last night though and then he starts vacation.  He's lucky that he is one of those people that everybody likes.  There's an older guy at the mill that likes him and each year, Bo hands him the vacation sign-up sheet and let's him pick a good summer week, while Bo takes a crappy week in the winter that Kevin would've gotten if not for trading with him. 

Natalie has been gone to Busch Gardens for three days with a friend and I have been missing her like crazy.  I didn't realize how much I love having her around.  Vacations from kids (and vice versa) are good.  Missing somebody is good for the soul.  I redecorated Natalie's room for her while she was gone and I am hoping she will be totally surprised and love it.  I didn't do any of the things I thought I was going to do.  I didn't repaint, but instead, I updated fabrics, rearranged furniture, and got new rugs and curtains.

It's fine with me.  It's cute enough.  It doesn't twang my buds like a big fluffy white down comforter and white gauzy drapes, but that's not real thrilling to an almost 9 year old I suppose.  Well at least not Natalie.  I left the room sort of bare bones besides the new fabrics because I want her to put her input into the rest of the room.  I made this for her a while back and can't wait to get it attached above her bed...

It was a fun project that I found from a really cool blog http://karapaslaydesigns.blogspot.com/  I used foam core and then crumpled up tissue paper and glued to the foam core.  I cut the letters out of magazine pictures to give the glossy finish and the border is some zebra fabric I had leftover from a previous project.  I just have to figure out how the heck I'm going to attach it!

We will be heading to Indiana for Kevin's family reunion this month and all of my closest buds laugh as they describe the trip as (and I quote) "The Griswolds go to Indiana."  Just to bring that statement to life, let me describe my morning at church with the kids.  My kids have been raised in church and they are normally as well behaved as any kids who have been raised in church are.  Today somebody must have slipped them a Red Bull or a Monster though.  They were bouncing off the walls!  They were giggling about the announcement of a PPR meeting (PP hee hee).  They were talking and not sitting still.  At one point, out of nowhere, a flash fills the congregation.  I looked over and Wyatt had dug my camera out of my purse and turned it around to face him (which also faced the 10 rows behind us) and took a pic of himself.  Exhibit A...

Yeah...then I heard giggling behind us.  We have great people in our church that have "been there, done that" and giggle at my silly kiddos when I'm wanting to "jerk a knot in their tail."  After a prayer and a hymn, I saw another flash.  This time he got the hymnal...

Suffice it to say, the camera was jerked out of little hands and placed by mom for the remainder of the service.  If that wasn't crazy enough, this same child literally fell off the pew during the service.  He was lying down and wrapped up in his "prodigal son robe" and got tangled up and literally fell from the lying down position onto the floor.  My dad was sitting behind me and got so tickled that I thought he was going to have to leave.  Yeah. Yeah.  It's the Griffith Family Way of Life.