FindingJoy4Eternity Blog

Our Kindness Bowl All our names are in there and on ocassion we each draw a name and have about 48 hours to come up with something special to do for that person. Here are a few things that have come from this... Being intentional helps to create habits of kindness.

One of the best things a person can learn is to live outside of himself so when it comes to holidays we concentrate lots of effort on helping others to celebrate!   We took valentines and muffins to the homeless shelter in town.  Something for the kids.  Something for the adults.

On National Baking Day, May 17, we took the opportunity to bake all sorts of goodies for the local Women and Children's Shelter.  They were so thankful and it did our hearts good as well! "It is more blessed to give than to receive."  Acts 20:35

When we had a school in our church district we loved doing special things for the kids.  We loved being involved in field trips and speical projects.  We loved making them meals and treats and eating with them.  We also loved to leave little gifts on their desks.  These are a few ideas... These we used when we did an appreciation for all the church members who helped and support the school kids in some way.  We gave the ladies the cookie cutters andthe men a package of nuts.

There are so many things that children can help with at an evangelism series....especially in a small church!  They greeted, scanned tags, did the health talk,  played they piano, helped with the AV, cleaned bathrooms, swept and vacuumed....  They did their share and were blessed!

The boys were so sweet. Making pancakes all on their own for breakfast!  A lovely surprise!

The perfect little thank yous for anyone who has done a little extra for you. We are putting one of these in the mail box for the mail lady. We're also going to give them to the UPS and FedEx guys when they come next.

These white little bags were given to me and they will come in handy for so many things! The first thing we used them for was to give little muffin gifts to some of our church members. I just wanted a few of them to know that we were thinking of them. One had lost a step father, one is dealing with cancer, one gave us a lovely box of oranges, another was just a thinking of you gift, and the last was for the family that invited us to lunch! 

This was our gift to the nurses, PCAs, housekeeper, surgeons, PA, and a couple miscellaneous persons who took excellent care of my mom during her surgery and hospital stay. Borgess gave us outstanding care! It's so important to never miss an opportunity to say thank you!

The kids each picked a different kind of cookie to make and we've taken them to church meetings, Christmas parties, and even a funeral!  

Our seasonal GLOW packs!  We have these handy in our car and give them our everywhere we go. Sometimes we hand them to people...sometimes we just leave them for people to find.  

Last Sabbath someone gave us some treats with "the giving plate."  We were supposed to enjoy the treats and then pass on some more homemade treats with the plate to someone else. The gift is supposed to keep on getting. We made ours a little bit healthier because there are so many sweets going around Christmas time.  We put in some mixed nuts, some popcorn, some tea, and then a few homemade cookies and passed it along to someone else.

Every month the Pathfinders and Adventurers go to the nursing home to sing on the second Sabbath.  We thought it would be a neat idea to take little Merry Christmas treat bags to the workers at the nursing home. They enjoyed them so much!  

David had to go up to the conference office for a meeting not long ago. I had these soaps from Bath and Body Works that I had gotten in case I needed to give a gift to someone unexpectedly. The night before he went to the conference office the idea popped into my head, "Send a gift to the receptionist at the conference office. She does so much and probably doesn't get thanked very often."  So I sent this soap up there with a Merry Christmas and a thank you for all you do. David said she was just amazed, excited, and touched. Later I got a thank you in the mail and it was really neat to see how the Lord had given me such a neat idea for a random act of kindness!

We needed a THANK YOU gift for someone who has blessed us time and time again since we've moved here to southern Michigan.  We made them a gratitude tree with little thank you notes on it as well as two gift cards.  And we made it all from scratch!!  :)

A friend texted me last week and was looking for some goodie bag thank you ideas for Adventurers to give to Policemen and Firemen during the holiday season.  This is what I came up with!   Inside the bag you would put: homemade cookies the above card signed on the inside a glow tract a few individual lifesavers 5 pack of gum miniature mounds candy bar a peppermint candy You would also need the bags, the printables (I'll send you anything I've done before!), and ribbon. What a cute gift!  I'm sure any community worker would love getting one of these! 

What fun we had with this Bible Labs activity!  As is very usual for us, we attached a GLOW tract to something and we delivered these gifts all over town.  Furthermore, it was a perfect day for it.  It was the coldest day of the season yet and the wind made it feel even colder!  Everyone we met was either surprised we would be giving something away or just thrilled with the thought of apple cider!  :) We were all so blessed, and even more so because God answered my prayer for a divine appointment!  We were in an Asian Restaurant and there was an older lady sitting in a chair waiting for her take-out to be ready.  When David gave her the cider pack she asked which church this was.  He told her we were Seventh-day Adventists and she immediately asked if there was a church in town.  He explained that there wasn't anymore, but that there was one close by in Centreville.  Come to find out, she has been watching Dwight Nelson for 6...

Our church members know that we homeschool and one of them, being a retired teacher, knows about the concept of Bible Labs.  He asked it we like doing Bible Labs projects and upon the answer quickly recruited us to help haul brush and limbs and logs from some property that is owned right beside the church by a widow.  He had cut some trees down and we all got the opportunity to help clean the trees away.  It was great exercise and a great outreach opportunity!

We discovered that October 1 was National Homemade Cookie Day so we decided to take advantage of it. We made some cookies and we shared them with all sorts of people in our new community. The power washer, the conference maintenance man, the garbage man, the mail lady, our realtor, and a few of our neighbors got cookies that day. It was a fun way to meet new people and it made them smile!