Twenty-One Acts of Kindness

I finally completed my 21 Acts of Kindness! It went a little differently then I had expected, but overall it was a great experience. I ended up doing a few at school with my friends, a few at home with my mom, and the very last one on my birthday with Christopher. It was special to be able to share the experience with the people I love. Here are the 21 acts I ended up completing:

1. I made cookies and gave them to one of our neighbors! They were very surprised and happy!

2. I bought the mailman a Starbucks gift card and wrote him a thank you note!

3. We returned grocery carts into Dillions, the local grocery store. The man getting all of the carts thanked us for our help and was very grateful.

4. Once inside Dillions, I bought a gift card and found a mom who looked a little overwhelmed with all of her children in the store and gave her the gift card. The look on her face was priceless!

5. Next, we headed to the Fire Station and gave them a thank you note (written by my aunt Julie) and a box of doughnuts. They were super friendly and gave us a tour of the station. They invited us to come back on my actual birthday to slide down the pole. It was a lot of fun.

6. Then we headed over to campus and left encouraging notes on people's car in the commuter lot.

7. After getting the parking lot, we went into the library and left encouraging notes in books for people to find days, or even years later.

8. Then I left change in all of the vending machines in the library. Hopefully someone enjoyed a free snack or drink on me!

9. I dropped off a letter at Potter's House, a local Christian coffee shop in town. The letter was for the owners and included a note from me about how influential they have been in my life.

10. We headed downtown and give out bags to the homeless, but unfortunately, it was too cold to find anyone. We had over 50 bags to handout and I ended up taking them to the ministry I am involved in for them to use for their homeless ministry. Every Thursday night students go downtown and feed the homeless. We handed out ALL 50 bags! The women and men were very appreciative and were so excited to have received a few new things! Thank you to all of the lovely ladies who made it possible to make that many bags!

11. My family helped me collect over 5 bags and boxes of canned food goods to give to the church's food shelter. They were happy for our help!

12. My mom and I went through Dairy Queen and paid for the person's order behind us!

13. I donated some of my clothes to the local Goodwill.

14. I went into a laundry mat and gave a random lady a handful of quarters. This was one of my favorite acts because as soon as I handed her the money her eyes filled with tears and I could tell she was very thankful. This one act made it all worth it.

15. Christopher helped me make chocolate chips muffins and we took them to church Sunday morning for the staff to eat in the morning! They were very appreciative!

16. I used to work at Papa John's and I would always bake for the workers. My mom and I bought cookies and dropped them off for the workers.

17. We took another box of cookies and gave them to a local fire station in St. Charles.

18. I let people get in line in front of me at the grocery store.

19. I offered to pump people's gas in the cold, but no one would let me. One lady was very appreciative, but only wanted so much gas in the car!

20. I wrote a note for my women's minister Anne!

21. I wrote a note for my women's minister Mo!


I am so happy I decided to do this for my birthday. I would highly recommend others do it for theirs, or just everyday look for ways to serve those around you. I definitely learned a lot from doing this. It has opened my eyes to see ways that I can serve others in my everyday life. Seeing the amount of joy that some of these small acts brought to people were so rewarding! I learned a lot about my own comfort zone and that of others. I also really realized how much people do not want to ask for help or offer their help to others. This has really inspired me to see things differently and meet the needs of those around me. Lastly, I just want to say thank you for everyone who helped supply all of the items that were given out. To all of the girls who put the bags together for the homeless, for my aunt Julie, for writing the letter to the Firefighters, and all of my family who donated can food goods and many other things. I'm so happy I got to share it with my family and my friends!! It was such a special thing and I would do it all over again if I had the opportunity.

Natalie

Random Acts of Kindness

As I was doing my daily scroll through Pinterest I came across a pin where a lady celebrated her 38th birthday by doing 38 random acts of kindness with her family. After reading their acts, seeing the reactions of those they served, and the impact it had on the women's family I felt really inspired. I think it's awesome that her young children got to experience that with her. I decided for my 21st birthday, on February 19th, I am going to do 21 acts of kindness. I think it will be refreshing to set one whole day aside that our culture claims should be all about us and just serve a multitude of others in my community. In order for me to do this, I started to create a list of things I would like to do. Since I don't have a lot of money, I only chose a few things having to do with money, but there are several that I will need to prepare in advance. AND I NEED YOUR HELP. Here are a few things I would like to do, but would need others to pitch in!

1. I'm going to deliver thank-you notes to police officers and firefighters, along with doughnuts :) Instead of me writing all the letters, it would be awesome if I could get a group of people to write a few and all pitch in!

2. It would be awesome to visit a children's hospital and drop off toys for the children. Rather these are toys that you just don't use anymore that are in pretty good shape, or toys that you purchase. I am going to purchase a few, but feel silly only dropping off a few.

3. There is a nursing home here in Springfield that I used to visit every Friday. I would love to do something for the elderly there. I'm not a singer and valentines day would already be over, but I was thinking maybe just some sweet, encouraging notes. They get really lonely sometimes. If you have ideas that would be awesome :)

4. There is also a multitude of homeless here in Springfield. It is really heartbreaking to have conversations with these men and women who have nothing and are fighting the cold weather every night. I know last year alone they lost 7 people. It would be awesome to either give them gift cards to food places or some sort of care package.

5. I'm planning on buying a few different can food items each time I go to the grocery store from now until my birthday. If you could collect a few and get them to me I can take them and drop them off at a local food shelter.

These are just a few ideas that I've come up with that I think would be awesome to have others in the community pitch in and serve one another. If you're at all interested in doing one of these things, or if you have any other idea, or even want to come with me on the journey that day, let me know!! :) I will be home all Christmas break and I plan on starting to collect everything since my birthday is right around the corner!!

true love

Everyone expresses love in a different way. I've always wondered what love truly looks like. For most of my life I thought about love being the warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you're with your family, friends, or your significant other. After thinking about the concept of love I realized it's not about the feelings, but about the actions that come along because of the feelings. I know it may sound really cliche, but the verse in 1 Corinthians always comes to my mind whenever I think about loving others.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

  - 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

This is always an inspiring verse for me to read, but it is sometimes challenging to live out. Just yesterday, I was meeting with a friend and we were talking about truly showing people love. It was then when it hit me that in order for us to truly understand love and live it out, we must know God because God is love. I finally had found the answer to my question. 

inspiration

 "Try not to become a man of success but a man of value." 

- Albert Einstein 

 

summer projects

I LOVE LOVE LOVE decorating. If you know me well then you know how I plan and organize everything far in advance. I have been thinking about how to decorate my new room this year for the past few months; probably before I had even moved out of my old apartment. It didn’t really take long to decide on a theme. I have gone over a few ideas in my head, but I feel as if I can picture my room exactly as I want it. I have bought a few things at thrift stores and garage sales. I need to sand and re-paint a few items, which I should probably get on pretty soon. 

These pictures are a few of the things I’ve bought at thrift stores and garage sales to decorate my room. I decided to go with a tree theme and accent the theme with owls. I am currently working with a company called, Cottleville Crafts to get a wall size tree stencil created. I looked at many stores, but the sizes of the trees are too small.

•  The owl, mini books, and vase will be placed randomly around the room, but the window pane is going to be sanded and re-painted. I'm not sure what color I will re-paint it yet.

• I'm planning on sanding and re-painting this white shelf. It will probably end up a bright yellow color. I have quite a few of the old, classic books (these two are Huckleberry Finn and Robin Hood) which I plan on making into mini wall shelves and putting picture frames or random knickknacks on.

•  I'm going to leave this wall hanger red and use it for purses or scarves or umbrellas. I'm not totally sure yet.

•  These items will all just be used to hang around the walls and to place on top of shelves! I love the owl mirror. I got it on sale for $15.00 at Earthbound.

Although, I have things planned out in my head I’m not sure what the final product will look like. My room has 4 walls, but one is a huge closest, one is empty, and two have a total of four windows. I’m sad that I don’t have much wall space, but I will make it work! 

Lastly, I’m super excited about my closet because I want to make a crafting/couponing section inside the closet. It’s big enough to fit a card table in and then I can grab my desk chair and have all of my supplies right there. I don’t have anything purchased yet to make this station, but I can’t wait until it’s ready. I plan on taking before and after pictures of my room, as well as, before and after pictures of my shelf and window pane. I can’t wait to share the pictures of my completed room, even though I feel as if a room is never complete.

my treasure

Some things never change.
I spent time with my grandparents tonight and it was if I was 10 years old again. I got a kiss at the door, a home cooked meal, homemade dessert, a chance to beat them at Mexican Train (a type of Dominos), new things for my apartment, and the best of all, their love. I treasure very few things in this world, but my grandparents are definitely one of my greatest treasures.

Although some things never change, our perspective does.
When I was young I went to my grandparents because my parents were going. Don't get me wrong, I've always loved spending time with my grandparents, but I never really put much thought into being there. Now that I am older and can drive myself places, it is important to me to spend time with my grandparents. I know that I am blessed to have such a close relationship with them. On my drive home I thought about how great my grandparents really are.

For starters, they have been married for over 50 years. Today, divorce is a common as sneezing, it's sickening. My grandparents are a great example of true commitment and love. While we were playing dominos they always would help the other out and call each other "honey". I could be grossed out by this because they are 80 years old, but then I think about it and I think the exact opposite. I hope and pray that when I'm 80 years old I still call my husband honey and babe. It only makes sense that you would grow closer to your spouse with time. I believe that anniversaries are something to celebrate. My grandparents have been a great example of a healthy, loving relationship.

My grandpa is one of the sweetest men that I know. His heart is enormous and his love for people is shown by the way he lives. I don't think I have ever met a more humble man. He sees the good in everyone and only talks highly of people. In my 20 years of life, I don't believe I've ever heard him say anything negative. He is filled with stories and knowledge. My grandpa is a honorable man.

My grandma is probably the loudest, funniest, smartest woman I know. There is never a time I am with her that I don't have a smile on my face. Her family means the world to her and she does everything she can to help others. She is the best cook that I know and I am lucky enough to know her secret recipes. Recently, she is learning how to use the Internet and she was super excited to learn how to add contacts to her email address.

My grandparents are very near and dear to my heart. I hope that I have many more moments and many more memories with them. They have been great role models in my life and I couldn't ask for greater grandparents.

a joy that could never be replaced.

If I got to choose how to spend my days it would consist of something like this -- being outside and taking photographs of the beautiful landscape that the Lord has made, spending time with the people who mean the world to me, coming up with creative Do It Yourself projects and then creating them, serving those in my community, cooking a meal from scratch and then finishing it off with a homemade dessert, going shopping with my coupons and getting great sales, having a dance party with some awesome moves, and spending time with the One who made me. 

In this world there are many things that we can find happiness in. Obviously, I have found the ones that fill me. But there is a difference between finding happiness in this world and finding pure joy. I find all of my joy in the One who loves me and died for me. My life is not about myself, but about something much bigger. I hope that through this blog I can share all of the things that bring me happiness - hoping that you too can find happiness in those things, but more importantly that you can find the same joy that I am lucky enough to experience each and every day. A joy that could never be replaced.

       "Joy is not the absence of suffering. It is the presence of God."
                                                                    --Robert Schuller