25 Days of Kindness: Day 8 Letters to Veterans

Yesterday was a day in American history we won't ever forget. It was the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Seventy three years ago Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese fighter planes. There were 188 US aircraft destroyed, 2,403 Americans were killed, and 1,178 were injured*. I can't even imagine that kind of damage to such a small spot on the map! Anyhow, it got me thinking about how important our veterans are... they have risked it all for us to live without a second thought. I want Mason and Kennedi to grow up knowing how special our veterans are and why they are so special too. I also want veterans to know how grateful we are so today's act of kindness is very special.

We wrote letters to veterans and Mason helped make them "pretty". In the letters we told them a little about who we are and then we thanked them for giving us the opportunity, making it possible to live this blessed life! I think we are going to do this more often because it was fun and so meaningful.

One of my favorite set of verses is from Ephesians 6. The whole chapter is great but I love the segment "The Armor of God", verses 10-20. The armor of god, breastplate of righteousness, belt of truth, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, sword of the Spirit... all the things that we are equipped with each day as soldiers in God's army.

Take some time to love on the veterans in your life and/or send some veterans thank you letters to let them know you care. You can send letters to veterans through Operation Gratitude.

<-Kassy->

Click here for a summary of the 25 Days of Kindness + The Kindness Elf complete with links to each post as well as the corresponding verses.

*courtesy of Wikipedia

25 Days of Kindness: Day 7 Gift Card Giveaway

Today I dropped the ball... yes yes not everything over at the McMichael house is perfect and rosy and right. I had 10lbs of pasta in my trunk to drop off for the church pantry. I completely forgot to drop it off this morning! So Plan B. I took a page out of our local radio station's, JOYFM, book. They call it "Sharing some joy". Many of the joy testimonials they share are paying for someone behind you in drive thru or paying for the groceries of someone in front of you at the store. I don't have a large budget and the store was mostly quiet so my solution was to buy a gift card and leave it there for the next person. I was able to buy a gift card for $15 and hand it back to the cashier.

Don't mind the milk and cookies I bought too haha. :) 

I have been feeling quite overwhelmed lately. Just the holidays, they always get me and with me dropping the ball on today's kindness I needed some good verses. Psalm 55 is a good reminder of God's strength... a good reminder to not fear and to put your worries on him. Let go of the anxiety.

I will get those 10lbs of pasta to the food pantry another day and I don't need to stress about it.

Have you been letting the stress of the holidays get you down? I feel like it's so normal yet why should it be? I'm going to try to change the cycle.

<-Kassy->

Click here for a summary of the 25 Days of Kindness + The Kindness Elf complete with links to each post as well as the corresponding verses.

25 Days of Kindness: Day 6 Heart Attack!

Today Mizzou played and we spent the morning at a birthday brunch. It's definitely feeling like a wintery Saturday so it felt like a good day to work on a Heart Attack... no not eating a bunch of greasy foods haha! In high school we used to do these things called Heart Attacks for people who needed a boost and/or were just plain awesome. It was most always for the staff at the high school, as a way to show them we, as students, cared and appreciated what they did! We would sneak in their classroom before they arrived or after school when they left for the day, decorate their entire room with cut out hearts with heartfelt messages about how awesome they were. Sometimes it was classmates and we would somehow get into their locker- we were in with the janitors! :)

I think these Heart Attacks made a few peoples' days back then (over 10 years ago... bah I'm getting old!) and I think they will have the same affect today. I spent nap time cutting up lots and lots of hearts. I got some help with it too from my sister in law and baby niece, Rowan! When we were done we wrote a few nice notes to our recipients from the kiddos.

We stuffed flat rate envelopes full of them and loaded them up with postage. These technically won't be sent until Monday and won't arrive until later in the week but it eas fun to put them together today! Hoping the recipients have a brighter day full of love this next week when they receive our Heart Attack!

We read Colossians 3 today which talks about our hearts, God's command for us, and the last few verses are His Instructions for Christian Households. My favorite part- "clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.... put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity"

Sounds easy enough... right? Well try it sometime! If you know someone who is generally awesome, going through a rough patch, needs some extra love, or just want them to know you're thinking about them and they are loved then take a few minutes to try this out for yourself.

I bet you never thought you'd be excited to see a Heart Attack, huh? :)

<-Kassy->

Click here for a summary of the 25 Days of Kindness + The Kindness Elf complete with links to each post as well as the corresponding verses.

Summary: 25 Days of Kindness + The Kindness Elf

If you aren't sure what the 25 Days of Kindness and The Kindness Elf are then check out my introduction page here. I have set this page up as a summary of all of the 25 days as well as bible verses that were paired with each day and links to the original posts. I hope you find this useful and continue to check back as I update. You can pin the picture so it's easier to come back later.

The "Day" links go to the separate blog posts for each of those days. The verses are linked separately so you can easily look them up. :)

Day 1: Bow Ties and Headbands for Newborns, 1 Peter 2
Day 2: Filling all the Snack Machines, 1 Timothy 6
Day 3: Helping a Mom in Need, Proverbs 31:10-30
Day 4: A Thoughtful Gift for Family, 1 Corinthians 13:4-10, Proverbs 18:22
Day 5: Grocery Convenience, Proverbs 3
Day 6: Heart Attack, Colossians 3
Day 7: Gift Card Giveaway, Psalm 55
Day 8: Letters to Veterans, Ephesians 6
Day 9: Thanking Volunteers, Galatians 6:1-10
Day 10: Food Pantry Drive, Matthew 25:35-40
Day 11: Project Impact, James 5
Day 12: Educator Thank You, Proverbs 9
Day 13: The Christmas Shoppe, Deuteronomy 15
Day 14: Food Donation, Hebrews 13:1-3, James 2:1-9
Day 15: Small Group Generosity, Hebrew 10:19-39
Day 16: Mail for William, Psalm 139:13-14, Song of Songs 4, 1 Peter 5:10
Day 17: Homemade Dog Treats, James 1
Day 18: Oops....
Day 19: Compassion International, Matthew 19:13-15
Day 20: Salvation Army Shelter
Day 21: Another Oops... :(
Day 22: Librarian Love, Psalm 95
Day 23: Kind Words, Proverbs 16:23-24, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Ephesians 4:29-32
Day 24: Children's Ministry Gifts
Day 25: Christmas Workers, Luke 2:1-20

Merry Christmas! :)

<-Kassy->

25 Days of Kindness: Day 5 Grocery Convenience

We have family coming in town later this month for Christmas so I have already planned ahead to use more food budget at that time and stock up then too. We have a good amount of food right now but I want to get a few more things to tie us over... some fresh food! Anyhow, I knew right away this would be a good opportunity to spread some kindness at the grocery store. We went to Aldi and brought along our quarters because the Kindness Elf told us to. :)

When we arrived I was sticking baby girl in my Ergo and then went to grab Mason out and a man came over and offered his cart to me. He told me someone offered it to him so he was just passing it along as well. It was so nice and made me more excited to get to work with our quarters. When I was putting quarters in the carts and an older woman thought I was having trouble so she brought her cart over and said "here dear just take my cart". I was running into nice people right and left. To top it off Santa was at the store grocery shopping... literally Santa with the beard, glasses, red pants, suspenders, a fun patterned long underwear shirt, and a nice round belly. :) Mason looked confused but smiled big when Santa wished us a Merry Christmas. Along with putting quarters in some of the carts, we bought a stack of bags to leave for others when they forget their own since it is a bag your own groceries type of store. 

I love these ones that just make sense for what we are already doing that day... A good reminder that we can continue past these 25 Days of Kindness, past the Christmas season, and into normal, everyday life. Because what is $4 added on to my grocery bill to help with carts and bags?

The Kindness Elf recommended Proverbs 3 for some good reading today. We read through it and I especially like verse 27, "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act". Some good food for thought.

What do you think about planning in giving and kindness as a regular part of your grocery trips? Or maybe it's a regular part of a fast food run where you pay for the meal of the person behind you (or maybe that will make you go less and you'll be healthier?! ;))? I would love to hear your thoughts!

I'm just going to leave these here for anyone to see.... :)

Also, I have started a summary page where I am listing each day, the act of kindness, and the bible verses we are reading too. I will continue to update it each day so that in the end it will be a complete list with links to each page as well. Thank you for stopping by!

<-Kassy->

25 Days of Kindness: Day 4 A Thoughtful Gift For Family

Today the Kindness Elf told us to do something thoughtful for family. I had planned on something but an opportunity arose to send a good book to a family member so we decided to send that book instead of the original plan... we'll just reschedule. I love being flexible and spontaneous with these 25 Days of Kindness too because it just feels so much more natural.

Yesterday on Facebook I recommended that my cousin check out the love languages book "The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts" by Gary D. Chapman. Another one of my cousins chimed in and said she was interested and going to look it up. So today I offered to send her the book so that she could find out how great it is herself.

Something I wanted for my marriage was to not get stuck in a rut, not to let things go, and to always work and building it up a as if they would fix themselves, and habits to making it better. My parents divorced about 10 years ago and I think my fear of repeating something similar has me on high alert to work really hard to better my marriage continually. Reading books like the love languages is just another way to understand my husband and I am so thankful for it. The majority of these books remind me not to be selfish too. It's amazing how noticeable it is when I start to reflect and think about our relationship, as these books get me to do.

In case anyone is interested in more books along this same topic you should check out "Love & Respect" by Emerson Eggerichs and "The Power of a Praying Wife" by Stormie Omartian. All three books are wonderful!

To go along with today's kindness we read 1 Corinthians 13:4-10. A classic love and marriage set of verses and a great reminder of what God intended love to be. I threw in Proverbs 18:22 because it is also good and I wanted to make sure everyone knew it was a good thing to have me around. :)

Do you have any other good book suggestions on this topic of love and marriage? I would love some new recommendations!

<-Kassy->

Click here for a summary of the 25 Days of Kindness + The Kindness Elf complete with links to each post as well as the corresponding verses.

25 Days of Kindness: Day 3 Help a Mom in Need

About a month ago I saw a Fisher Price baby swing on a buy/sell/trade Facebook group for free. It wasn't working any more, she thought that the motor went out. I did a quick Google search and found this "how to". The motor is actually the same motor as an air freshener which I actually had! It seemed easy enough so I grabbed it up to add it to my 25 Days of Kindness. A couple nights ago I put my wonderful hubby to work replacing the motor and a short time later it was working like new! I cleaned it up and it was ready for a new baby.

This morning I stalked the buy/sell/trade Facebook groups to find someone who needed a swing. I didn't put something out there because I wanted to find someone in need, not necessarily someone who would take it and sell it. Eventually I saw a post from a lady who was trying to help a friend that had a new baby and also has two older kiddos. I offered the swing and she was really excited. So happy it worked out... that Kindness Elf sure was comfy but we had to kick him out so a sweet little baby could enjoy the swing! :) Mason called him "silly Elf".

Today we read Proverbs 31:10-30... great discussion about moms. :)

I can't wait for some more fun ones like this over the next couple weeks... it is going to fly by!

<-Kassy->

Click here for a summary of the 25 Days of Kindness + The Kindness Elf complete with links to each post as well as the corresponding verses.