Random Acts of Kindness

So here it is...my last week(July 23- 28) living in Georgia!  It's kind of bitter sweet.  I didn't feel right leaving without sharing a piece of who I am with the town before I left.  My friend just left a blog entry of her RAOK(Random Acts of Kindness) and it triggered within me a burn to do the same.  My son Haden needed some service for cub scouts so I took him along with me on a service journey.  It felt so good to do something good for others while in the midst of the craziness of moving.  

I printed these off these cards onto white cardstock and cut them out.  

RAOK #1- My good friend had just moved into a new house on base and she was saving her boxes for me to use.  While stopping at her house a few days prior to pick up the boxes, she mentioned how much her knee was hurting.  I mentioned using Biofreeze Gel and since she hasn't heard of it or has access to getting any, I shared some of mine.  We dropped this off with a RAOK card.  

RAOK #2 #3 #4- While on base dropping off the Biofreeze Gel, we stopped at the gas station and picked up three cold waters.  Haden and I drove around to find the perfect group to drop them off to.  We found a group of three guys mowing and weeding and cleaning the grounds around the base youth center.  We pulled up and Haden handed the guy standing up all three bottles of water with the cards and said, "Keep up the good work and have a nice day!"  What a grown up and polite thing that made this little lady super proud.  The guys were floored and smiles across all the faces let us know they appreciated the act of kindness. 

RAOK #5- We stopped off at the Dollar Tree and hid a $1.00 bill in between the checker games.  Sure hope a kid finds this and enjoys a free toy! 

RAOK #6- We hid another $1.00 down low in the ball pit for a kid to find! 

RAOK #7- The last dollar bill was hidden in the coloring books.  Who doesn't LOVE to color????

RAOK #8 #9 #10- We placed exact change for a FREE soda (pop..for you westerners) on the outside of three machines at Kroger with the cards.  

RAOK #11 #12 #13- While at the Dollar Tree we picked up three smiley face balloons.  We handed them out to three strangers and told them to have a nice day.  Our favorite balloon drop off was to a man bringing in shopping carts at Walmart.  You could tell that he was confused by the offering of a balloon but as we drove off he yelled back a loud thank you! At this point, my heart feels good as we leave a little Lee spirit in town.  

RAOK #14- Haden had an eye exam about a week prior to this and while sitting in the office we noticed that all the coloring books are all colored in, EVERY page to include the covers.  We picked up four brand new coloring books and dropped them off at the kid table with a card in exchange for Haden's brand new pair of glasses.  That should keep some kids super happy while waiting, and parents! 

RAOK #15- While out we need lunch with the fridge unplugged so it could get to room temperature before we moved it so we made a stop to the cheapest (not best tasting but does the trick) pizza joint, Little Ceasars!  We got two pizza's for the family and prepaid for an extra pizza and crazy bread for the next person that walked in.  The cashier was like, "really?"  She said that she heard of people doing things like this but never have seen it in action.  I smiled and left a card with her and asked her to pass the treat on.  

RAOK #16 #17- One last stop before we headed home for lunch was Sonic to pick up a Cherry Limeade for a friend that just got home from the hospital due to gall bladder issues.  While there, we paid for the lady's order behind us and left a card.  The manager came to the window and gave Haden a free Slushy for our kindness.   

RAOK #18 #19- Two of my friends in the last few days have had babies.  With my kitchen being packed up, the best way to bring them a meal was to premake them and just drop off freezer meals once they had the baby.  So each mom got four freezer meals along with bags of veggies to make whenever they were too tired to make dinner or didn't feel like cooking.  

RAOK #20- When I cleared out my kitchen I had tons of freezer food and pantry food that aren't allowed to be packed.  I sent all that food over to a friend's house that I know would love to have the extra food items and would eat them up without them going bad.  

With all these RAOK I've learned a few really fun things.  People are genuinely shocked when service is done for them without them asking.  I will be doing this more often! I was also amazed at the affect it had on my son, Haden.  He still talks about all the RAOK and I'm so glad that he got to feel the goodness of serving others.  

When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.  Mosiah 2:17