Acts of Kindness

On March 18th, my friend Holly posted a birthday wish on her blog. 

First of all, let me just say that Holly is amazing and fun and kind and honest (I could go on and on) and I am lucky to have met her through blogging.
Holly wanted to do something special to celebrate her birthday and asked for some help.

I'm so happy to say that her birthday wish came true.

You can read all the random acts of kindness done in honor of Holly's 29th birthday HERE.

 

Although I didn't get my story to Holly in time...I wanted to share it anyway.
 

 *******************

I had just finished reading Holly's blog about her birthday early in the morning on March 18th.

Brady and I happened to be off school that day and I was in the computer room trying to
 keep quiet so Brady could sleep in.  Just minutes after reading Holly's blog, Brady yelled for me to come to his room.  I could tell by his voice something was wrong.

There was a life support truck in our driveway and an ambulance in front of our house.

A few minutes later my neighbor pulled into her driveway...rushing home from work.

Five police cars, two unmarked cars, and a forensic team were all outside the front of our house.

As we sat on Brady's bed looking out the window, the story unfolded right before our eyes.

Our neighbor's son, took his life in a tree in his mother's yard...directly across from my son's bedroom window.

(Matt was 30 yrs. old and did not live at home with his mom.)
 

When I realized what had happened, I made Brady stay away from all the windows in the front

of our house.  The commotion outside lasted for hours.  On this day, my young naive boy learned about suicide.  We used this terrible incident to talk to Brady about why someone would choose to end their life, how God feels about this and to always have hope for a better tomorrow.  We also talked about what drugs can do to a person...it was the only logical thought I could conceive of...and I was right.  Brady actually handled the situation much better than I did in the days that followed.

 

 

 I have done a couple acts of kindness since March 18th...one for a coworker and one random act when I was out and about one day.  I also took a meal to my neighbor and her visiting family the day before her son's funeral.  However, the random act of kindness I wanted to share comes from Brady.  He didn't know about Holly's random acts of kindness plan.  And, he did not spend a dime.  His act of kindness since our neighbor's devastating loss, has been the gift of time.  Brady went over to our neighbors house on his own and asked if he could walk her dog.   He has walked  Molly almost everyday since.  Our neighbor, Carol,  has been so thankful since she doesn't have the energy to do so herself right now.    Brady visits with Carol.  They talk about Molly and music and she shows him some of her new plants.  The other evening I didn't know where Brady was and I looked out the window and I saw the two of them chatting and walking around her yard.  Brady later told me Carol was showing him a few bushes she planted in her son's memory.

I took Carol over a bottle of wine last week and we sat at her kitchen table and visited.
Carol talked about her son, his accomplishments, his dreams, and how she wishes she could talk to him one more time.  I can't even let myself imagine what kind of loss like that feels like.
Carol also went on and on about what a neat boy Brady is and how much she enjoys him stopping over.
 

The interesting and sad thing is, Carol has lived across the street from us for seven years and we have never really had more than a few conversations.  The other thing I find interesting is Brady is not usually very talkative/social with people he doesn't know very well.  He is a typical 10 year old boy that is often more interested in himself than others.

 

I'm so proud of Brady for being kind to our neighbor.  I don't know if this was something he consciously decided to do or if the timing was just so.  I do believe God's timing is perfect...and if Brady can help to lessen even a teeny tiny bit of Carol's grief and bring a smile to her face....then he has done something amazing.

 

I tell this story not to brag about Brady for the zillionth time.  (One of these days I will do a post of all the things he does that drives me crazy!)  I do it because I believe kindness is one of the most important things we can do in life.  And, kindness doesn't have to cost anything.

 

 

 

"Wherever there is a human being....there is an opportunity for kindness"

-Seneca

 

 

Thank you Holly for motivating all of us to show more random acts of kindness.

I hope your birthday was extra special this year!

A New Look

I couldn't figure out how to fix my blurry header, so I decided to shop around and get some help.  Boy, you can spend a lot of money on headers and layouts, and navigation bars and all that jazzy stuff.  I went with a premade layout from Designer Blogs.

  The $15.00 fee made it an easy decision for me.  I like the new look for now, and I like that I won't feel the need to switch it up every month....you know, like I used to. :) 

Brady wanted to know why his picture isn't in my new header?!

 

 

Another new look....I spray painted the brass fixtures in our master bathroom.

This was the only before picture I took. 

 I have always hated those lights above the mirror.

 

 

 

Here's how it turned out after a couple coats of rustoleum oil rubbed bronze spray paint.



Now, I don't think those light fixtures look so bad!

I also did the knobs on our vanity...I though they were in this picture too...but I guess not!

 

 





Speaking of "new" look, Steffi got her first haircut this week.

The lady that groomed her said by the time she got to Steffi's face, she could no longer

keep her safe from the scissors!  Hopefully each time we go she'll do better.

For now, one side of her face is longer than the other and I don't think the lady made it to

Steffi's ears.  Oh well....at least we can see her eyes now!





 

 Have a great week!

Ten on Ten : April 2013

I took pictures yesterday for 10 on 10 but was too tired to download them last night.

I know, I'm a slacker.

 

Here's a peek into our day:

 

 

It's so hard for him to put the cap back on...

 

 

I curled my  hair this morning....no one noticed!

 

 

A big walk before school...he's such a good human.

 



 

Finally, we see signs of spring....





 

Getting his daily dose...



 

I couldn't resist this picture in the grocery parking lot...



 

 

Our front lawn is covered with the prettiest purple weeds...



 

 

Poor thing can't even see....hang on til' next Thursday girl....

 

 

obsessed with baths....

 

 

American Idol time....

 

 

Happy Tenth!

Wonder

 

"You can't blend in when you were born to stand out."

 

 

 

I read this book this past weekend.  I kind of stumbled across it in the recommended section of my Nook.  Without realizing it was a children's read, I downloaded it and began reading.  And, I couldn't stop.   I am in love with this book.  It's truly a heart warming story about the human spirit and kindness.

 

  With its strong bullying message, I hope that this book will make its way through elementary and middle schools everywhere.

 

I talked to the guidance counselor at Brady's school yesterday and he read the book about a week ago and has already ordered books for our 5th grade classes.  They will be doing a whole class read with small group discussions.  When they are finished, they will be passing the books down to the 4th graders.  I am absolutely thrilled.  When I was talking to our guidance counselor, he said that the one character in the book reminded him of Brady because of the way he befriended a boy in his class and was an example to his peers.  I didn't realize the guidance counselor knew about that...nor had I made that connection myself in the book.  A proud mom moment for sure.

 

There are so many life lessons in this book.  I will definitely be getting a hard copy so I can go through and highlight all the good stuff.  Brady is in the middle of reading it now.  I am hoping once he finishes, we can read it again together.

 

I wasn't quite sure why the book was called Wonder.  I looked up the word in the dictionary.

 

wonder (verb) 1. to think or speculate curiously. 2. amazed admiration or awe.

 

 

It does make me wonder what kind of person I am to others.  Being kind is a choice we make.  I hope I always choose kindness.

 

I hope you will go out and get the book to read with your son or daughter...you will be happy you did!

 



"Shall we make a new rule of life...always try to be kinder than necessary?"

                                                                         ~J.M. Barrie