Thirty. . . Acts of Kindness

Here's the list of 30 kind things that I spent the weekend doing to celebrate my 30th birthday, which I by the way have survived. I don't think the 30's are going to be too bad after all.


I thought about not posting this list - I hope you know that the point of this post is not to brag about what I did. But instead to give you ideas of ways to do random acts of kindness - not just for my birthday but any day!!!


So here are all 30! A big thanks to Ryan who chauffeured me around and helped out. And Addyson and Braden got to help on a few too. Thanks to the Fanning's for watching the kids Saturday so we could accomplish a huge chunk of the list. Sorry I didn't get any pictures - I know it would have made this post much more interesting to look at. Oh well!!

1. Dropped off bags of groceries at the Newton food pantry
2. Baked a cake to take for break to The Citizens State Bank (where I worked before having the twins)
3. Sent appreciative note to the man who grades our country sand roads (I am so thankful for being able to go on walks and be able to push the stroller without dodging multiple puddles, ruts, and washboards. And not every township is as blessed as we are. Super thankful for decent roads!!!)
4. Left candy bar and note for our mail carrier (this guy earns his pay - have I mentioned I like to shop online?? and he delivers our mail right to our door lots of times because the packages are too big to fit in our mailbox!!!)
5. Sent appreciative note to our pediatrician (Addyson & Braden "drew" a picture for him)
6. Mailed item on wish list to Youthville in Wichita (they work with foster children in our area)
7. Made a donation to Living Water International (less than $1 will give a person clean water for life, seems so much more important than that Starbucks mocha I purchased that was good for less than an hour)
8. Left bag of preemie clothes at Wesley NICU where Addyson and Braden spent their first days
9. Left magazines with encouraging notes to put in the pumping rooms for new mamas at Wesley NICU
10. Chocolate chip cookies and note for NICU nurses and staff - we even got to see a couple of our favorite nurses who were working!! Super nice to see Walsh and have some good laughs.
11. Little coloring books, crayons, notepads, and magazines in labor and delivery waiting room for new families waiting to meet their babies
12. Taped an encouraging note and Chipotle gift card on the lockers where NICU parents leave their things while visiting their babies
13. Dropped off bag of stuff at Wesley Peds Unit - colors, coloring books, bubbles, sippy cups
14. Put quarters in washing machine at laundromat
15. Dropped quarters at a park in Newton for children to find
16. Tucked happy notes into windshield wipers of vehicles in various parking lots
17. Paid for a Redbox movie for next person to use machine
18. Taped quarters to gumball and candy machines at the mall
19. Handed a Dillon's gift card to a person shopping for groceries
20. Taped coupons to items at Dillon's (I would really appreciate this one personally, since if I actually manage to remember to bring the coupons to the store I usually forget to pull them out when it's time to pay!!)
21. Pushed stray shopping carts back into stores throughout the day
22. Opened doors for people
23. Gave notes and candy bars to Addyson and Braden's Sunday School teachers and other nursery helpers
24. Put candy bars and notes into random mailboxes at church
25. Walked into Chili's and gave the hostess a gift card for the next people she seated (it was fun to watch a family walk in as we drove away knowing they had no idea what was waiting for them!)
26. Left an extra nice tip for our waitress at supper
27. Paid for Starbuck's for the car behind us in the drive-thru
28. Stuck a note and $10 bill on a huge box of diapers at Target
29. Gave away a Carter's coupon to someone headed there
30. Dropped off paper products at Harvey County Homeless Shelter (OK, so the sack is still sitting in the back of our car. I didn't plan ahead very well and no one was there when I planned to drop it off. So does that mean that I'm still 29 since I only completed 29 things???? I guess not. I'll drop it off soon - promise.)

I really did have a good time sharing. It was fun!! And since I've been coming up with the list of things to do -- over the last week or so I have noticed that my mind actually looks for ways to be helpful randomly throughout the day even still. So that's a nice effect of this little project too! Hopefully this can continue as part of my daily life. 

I did get a little discouraged wishing that I could do a lot, lot more for all of these people/places and lots more ideas I didn't end up doing. I mean a few preemie clothes just doesn't begin to touch the needs of those tiny babies and families, or the small donations I made various places. So even though I'm sure these 30 small random acts of kindness didn't drastically change anyone's lives, hopefully God used them somehow. And hopefully the few people I could help will pass it forward and help someone else. And I'm still challenging all of you to do an act of kindness - it really is fun!!!


Here's the blog post that inspired this idea. I really can't take credit for most of the things on my list!


http://mixmingleglow.com/blog/?p=1358