Our Kindness Adventure {#kindnessadventure}

Why hello there lil' blog!  It's been too long.

If I were to tell you about the past two months (yes... it's been that long), I would tell you about how Alan and I celebrated our 30th birthdays, how I'm in LOVE with our newly painted beverage cart, how we dedicated Audrey at our church and Nora stole the show with her River Dancing moves, how much I love my Better Life Laptop Bag and how Alan is the best daddy in the whole wide world.

I would also tell you about Nora's Mani, Pedis and Sweets 4th Birthday party and about how we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary in June.  I would even tell you about how much I'm obsessed with the book, Bread and Wine (this book speaks to my soul...no joke) and how I found a meatloaf recipe that I actually like.

I'd also tell you about how part of the City Moms Blog Network team was interviewed for Chris Wiegands documentary, American Blogger (woot woot!) and how I went to Chicago for BlogHer '13 with Sara and Krystal. And I'd for sure tell you about how much fun we had with our family and friends in Iowa.  We'd reminisce about all of the time we spent outdoors (b/c it wasn't wicked hot like it is here in AZ) and about how wonderful it was to be able to actually hug our family members and dear friends in person.

Ah.....it really has been a wonderful summer so far!

However, instead of spending the entire blog post talking about what we've been up to lately, I want to end this post by encouraging you with a little God story today.  

Our Kindness Adventure

This morning I was spending some time with God and came across this thought..."Ordinary is often the disguise of the divine...Having your spiritual radar up in consistent anticipation of His presence - even in the midst of the joyful chaos and regular rhythms of your every day life - is paramount to hearing God."  (my current study, Gideon :: by Priscilla Shirer).

We had no plans this morning (mostly due to the fact that we seem to keep passing the dreaded case of pink eye back and forth) and I sensed a serious case of "ME-itis" around our home.  I quickly realized this attitude was more than likely becoming a trend due to my lack of looking to other people's needs above my own. The demands of my business have been very intense these past few months and I know that my family has carried a lot of emotional stress due to my recent time commitments.

Because "ME-itis" is not something we want to encourage in our home, I knew I wanted to teach the girls a practical lesson in kindness (aka considering other people's needs above your own). So I decided it was time for our 1st ever "Kindness Adventure."  

We quickly put together a few hand written cards and gifts and off we went on our very first kindness adventure.  

Our first stop - Starbucks.  Ah... just thinking about bringing someone an unplanned Starbucks drink makes me smile!  We picked up the favorite drinks of some of our friends and headed out with drinks , cake pops and a "Welcome Home" gift in hand.  

We made three total stops.  At each kindness stop we were greeted with warm embraces and huge smiles as we told our friends that we were on a kindness adventure - a mission to bring kindness to some of the people we love the most.  The girls even got a kindness gift from mommy (see above pic of Elsie) because we can be kind to our family too.

It really wasn't anything terribly special to be honest.  It took us all of one hour to make the rounds (and $20ish) but my prayer, as always, is that the truth of the quote "More is caught than taught" rings true for our girls today. I pray that my girls will grow to value the fruit of the spirit of kindness and that one day, they too will be taking their children on kindness adventures.

I truly believe that our intentionality in teaching this next generation the importance of kindness will  influence generations to come.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Galatians 5:22-23

Want to participate in you own Kindness Adventure?!  Plan your own Kindness Adventure and post your photos on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #kindnessadventure.  Let's together let kindness and love win.  

#kindnessadventure