Random Acts - Day 6

Today we set out to...

We brought along the plastic container that Brennan saves all our loose change in and headed back out to Pasadena to find some meters in need of money!!
 

The first few we did were fun but they still had time left on them, so we just built in a little "grace period" for them. But then we stumbled upon 5 or 6 that looked like this...

And then we saw this dude and it was on!!! We raced down the street feeding all the meters with red flashing lights!

I think this one's my favorite, she really had to stretch her short little self to reach the slot! Who says kiddos can't do big things? 

We won! He turned around and drove off to write parking tickets elsewhere! 

The kids were super stoked! Some high fiving may have ensued upon their victory over the parking enforcement dude! 

We were right be Pasadena City Hall, which is gorgeous, so we stopped to take a few photos!

And that's our good deed for today! I'm pretty certain that God had that parking enforcement officer ride by right as the kids were feeding meters that were overdue just so my kids would know how much good they were doing for others. Brennan was SOOO into it and determined that he beat the bike down the street to make sure no one got a ticket! It's made today's act so much more fun and meaningful to them! This whole experience is really having an impact on him! Kaelyn's having fun with it, but it's not quite sinking in this year, but Brennan's little heart is being stirred for others and I LOVE it!

On Tuesday night while him and I were snuggling at bedtime I asked him to share his "highs and lows" for the day. Your high is something good or your favorite part of the day and your low is something bag or your least favorite part of the day. When I asked him what his low was he said:

"When we drove by that homeless lady on the way home and we didn't have a care pack to give her because we'd already given them all out!"

Such a profound statement from someone so young! I often pray "God, break my heart for what breaks yours!" I want to see the needs around me and be able to do something about them and I desperately want that for my kiddos too which is why we embarked on our Random Acts of Kindness Advent in the first place!  I knew we'd be back in Pasadena today, so I went to Target while the kids were in school this week and picked up enough things to make one more care pack in hopes that we'd find her...we didn't, all we found were more men. I hadn't even told Brennan about the extra care pack because I knew his little heart would be devastated if I was unable to find her. Instead of hopping on the freeway and calling it quits we drove a little farther and I prayed we'd find a woman to bless! On the next corner was a woman, well a girl really, college age, in need of some help! Brennan handed this very special care pack out the window and off we went. He doesn't know it's not the same lady, and I don't plan on telling him, because does it really matter? What matters is the heart of that little boy caused me to buy one more care pack and now one more homeless person has been blessed with food and necessities. I know God works in all things and He knew we wouldn't find the lady we saw on Tuesday. He knew exactly whose path we would cross today, it's how He intended it all along! What a mighty God we serve!

Tomorrow we will stealthily deliver a...

This is another one I'm super stoked about! I'll explain why tomorrow.

Have you been completing your own acts of kindness? I'd love to hear about it!!

Random Acts- Day 5

 Today was our day to:

The kids love seeing what we're going to do each day!

 

We love Sonic Happy Hour! Who can resist 1/2 price drinks and slushies between 3-5?? Not us! After school we headed on over to Sonic and for being so stellar so far with our random acts, I even got the kiddos each a slush!

We taped a gift card and note right near the speaker for someone to find!

See how happy giving to others makes them...well I suppose it could be their Strawberry Slushies as well, but still, they're happy:)

As we were driving away this car pulled into the stall with our gift card. We hope it made their day!!

Tomorrow we will...

Another act that requires quarters, Brennan will be thrilled!!!

Random Acts - Day 4

Today we got to hand out care packs to the homeless! It's only day four, but I think this might be my favorite and I can say that because I know what's coming up!!

We had MOPS this morning so we actually did all our shopping and assembling yesterday! The kids had a lot of fun with this one!

First we headed to Target to get all our supplies!

 The kiddos happily helped count out 6 of each item we needed! See, a math lesson and a lesson in caring for others all rolled into one! Don't ya just want to join us on this little adventure?

The first thing we did when we got home was organized our supplies. Actually the kids did that for me too!

Here's what went into our care packs in case you like to make your own!  That's socks, deodorant, hand sanitizer, peanut butter crackers, toothbrush and paste, hand warmers, Kleenex, nuts, wet ones, fruit strips, granola bars, chap stick, lotion, and meat sticks!

We arranged everything in piles around our kitchen table essentially creating a little assembly line for ourselves!  Then we set to work assembling them and in a matter of minutes we had 6 care packs!

They were so proud of themselves!!

The kids each made handmade cards to put inside our care packs. I felt like they needed something a little more personal. I wrote a scripture verse over their beautiful scribbles artwork and included some info on the homeless ministry our church offers in the area! Every Sunday morning, members of our church hold "Church in the Park", first they feed over a 150 members of our local homeless community a hot breakfast and then they have a short service. It's a fantastic ministry and one I'd love to get our family involved in in the future.

Just packing these care packs greatly impacted the kids. As I type, they are going around the house filling bags with whatever they find and then telling me they are making care packages for the homeless. Then they walk up to me, tell me I'm homeless and hand me something from their bag and move on. The experts say kids learn through playing, I hope caring for others is something they'll always want to participate in!

After MOPS today we set off in search of people to bless with our care packs. If you live in my area you have probably seen the people with signs at nearly every exit in downtown Pasadena so we headed that way! Would you believe today of all days we had a more difficult time finding people in need? We cruised around for awhile and finally saw two men sitting outside the metro station with a shopping cart and a cute puppy. We circled back around, found a parking spot and set off to meet them!  The kids did GREAT!! I prefaced the whole thing with what we should or shouldn't say in the presence of our new friends. I don't know about your kids, but mine have a way of saying the worst things at the WRONG time! We talked about how they might possibly smell a little stinky because they can't take showers regularly, or look dirty and that if we noticed those things we would keep them to ourselves until we got back to the car! The smell part worried Brennan a bit, and I caught him trying to plug his nose a little bit as we approached them, but by the time we got back to the car he said "They weren't stinky mommy!". At this first stop we met Frankie and Danny and their dog named Bev Bev that they let the kids pet! Drop off number one was a sweet success! At another stop, we met a man in a park named Fernando, he was wheel chair bound, the kids introduced themselves, I shook his hand and we wished him a Merry Christmas.

We handed half our care packs out the car window on freeway off ramps. I wish we could have gotten out and met them in person, but I'm not much for city driving and parking is an issue. Kaelyn handed one to a man out her window and he was very appreciative and thanked us.  As he walked away he examined the contents of the bag and then turned around with a big smile on his face and gave us a thumbs up!  I'm guessing they aren't used to getting actual care packs meant specifically to meet some of their needs. We were happy we were able to meet a few of his needs today!

Off to meet Frankie and Danny.

 

 Since we had trouble finding people we decided to leave a surprise blessing on someone's shopping cart. We have no idea who received this care pack, but we hope they will be blessed because of it. And who doesn't like "mail", right??

This was definitely something I want to do again, and we won't be waiting until next Christmas! 

Up next...

We love Sonic happy hour and we're excited to share it with someone else!

Random Acts - Day 3

Today we will...

My kids have been taking gymnastics classes at "The Little Gym" off and on since before Brennan could walk. In fact, WE (meaning both me and Brennan) met some of our best friends in his infant class. So we're super grateful for the Little Gym and all it's many blessings!

My sleepy headed boy was super excited to pull out today's card!

We used the "easy button" again and pulled out our school fundraiser cookie dough to bake some yummy holiday treats for their teachers!

Brennan and his teacher Ms. Meredith. 

Kaelyn and Mr. Zane. 

Tomorrow we will hand out...

We're all super stoked for this one!! The care packs have been assembled and are ready and waiting to bless their recipients!!

Random Acts - Day 2

 

 

 

The kids were excited to participate in their first day of our Random Acts of Kindness. When Brennan pulled out today's card and I explained what we were going to do and why he immediately went to his stash of quarters (he keeps them handy so he has the $ to play the toy claw machine/games around town) and came back with two quarters to offer up! He's got such a sweet heart!

 

It'd been awhile since I'd last been inside a laundromat! I had guessed that it was 75 cents to wash and 50 cents to dry...boy was I wrong!! Some of the larger machines that were claiming they could hold 3+ loads were between $3-5! We weren't quite prepared for that, so our money didn't go as far as we'd have liked but I'm sure it still blessed whoever stumbled upon these machines!

 



 

 

Kaelyn's not as bored as she looks, promise...clearly she dressed herself today. She insisted on wearing the pink skirt even though it didn't match the yellow shirt she already had on, then insisted on wearing her summer sandals and a pink headband that wasn't the same shade as her pink skirt! Yep, she's three!

In other news...yesterday was my second host parent training for my California host families. I'd already trained four families up in Northern California last month and yesterday my friend Stephanie and I trained 10 more down here! It was great to see how much the hosting program has grown in California in such a short time period and to meet all of my families! Two weeks from today our Latvian kiddos arrive!! Two day later the Ukrainians will join them! Still so thankful to be a part of New Horizons for Children!

Today we had our annual "Breakfast with Santa" at The Peach Cafe! We've done it with Brennan's best friend Corbin and his family for four years in a row now! It's such a fun Christmas tradition! While you're eating breakfast Santa comes and hands out candy canes and gifts (all free) to the kiddos and then he sings a few Christmas carols before he heads back to the North Pole! Santa must not be aware that the economy has tanked because this year they got the best gifts to date!!

Our post breakfast attempts at a family picture failed...

But I was able to crop one of them and get this cute one of Kaelyn and I so it wasn't a total loss:)

Random Acts - Day 1

Today marks the first day of our "Random Acts of Kindness Advent".

The kids are with daddy having a blast on a mini vacay with grandma and grandma and I have an all day New Horizons host parent training I knew I had to plan my random act very carefully in order to be able to successfully complete said act. So I chose something I could do ahead of time.

First up...

I wish I had some cute pictures of the kids making something spectacularly yummy from scratch, but I was missing two key ingredients...the kids and time! So I opted to take the easy route and make him some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that we bought as a fundraiser! Easy peesy, but still a blessing to him! I baked them last night and got them all ready to go so I only had to place them in our mailbox before heading out for training!

That's some yummy goodness right there! Not bad for pre-made dough:)

Day one complete!!

Up tomorrow...

Looking forward to doing this one with the kiddos. Brennan's SUPER into quarters! He's gonna dig it!!