Advent - Day 8

This morning we talked to the boys about how God believes all people are special.  We asked them what are some things that make them feel special.  We also talked about kindness and doing things for others that we would want to have done for us (spin on the "treating others...").  Then we told the boys that for today's advent activity, we were going to be doing Random Acts of Kindness "RAK" (we pronounce it "rack").

I used to do RAK with my youth group.  We would go out in the church van, jump out when we saw a person in need, and help them.  Not too much to it...easy way to help.  Then I read a blog post someone had made about her 38 RAK to celebrate her 38th birthday.  You can read more about her RAK {here}.  Now our kids are 6-years-old and 3-years-old, so I was afraid about being completely random.  I had a couple of things planned in case they needed some ideas.  But they seemed to do fine on their own.

Lou and I had decided that we would do our normal things during the day and find RAK to do while we were out.  After we told the boys what we were doing, Maddox decided to put two of his toys in the car to give to other children.  So the car was ready, and the RAK just happened.

We went to church....
1. Boys saw some trash on the ground and picked it up to throw away.

We left church and went to Walmart...
2. Brewer gathered shopping carts from the parking lot and took them inside.

Brewer and Lou collecting carts to take into Walmart.

3. In Walmart, we taped quarters to a soda machine with a note that said, "Have a drink on us and be blessed."  (I had planned this one and had quarters, a sign, and tape in my purse).

The sign didn't show up in the photo.  It's an index card that says, "Have a drink on us and be blessed. "  We put the quarters tucked in the tape.

We went to GameStop...
4. Brewer decided to hold to door open for a group of people leaving the store.  While he was doing it, he looked at me and said, "Mommy, Random Act of Kindness."  And then he gave me a thumbs up.

5. While in GameStop, I spotted Brewer finding things in the store that were misplaced and putting them back where they belonged.  I knew immediately what he was doing.

Brewer didn't know I was taking this picture.  I was capturing him putting things back in the store.

6. I heard a boy asking his mom for the Skylander PS3.  The boy could only find it for the XBOX.  Brewer helped him look through the boxes and they found the PS3 box.


We went to a toy donation (where they took used toys)...
7. Maddox unloaded his two toys and marched them in himself.  Then he told the man in his very Maddox way, "You give my toys to a kid who doesn't have any."  It is precious...my favorite moment of the day.

Look at him hauling this in!

I guess this will guarantee Santa is making him the new Batman cave

We were walking back to the car...
8. Maddox picked a flower, ran it up to me, and said, "This is a beautiful flower for you."

I was hoping we'd get to 13 RAK today.  (I have no idea why I had the number 13 in my head.)  But really...why does it have to stop today?  I hope my kids look for and quickly recognize opportunities for RAK!!!

You may get treated to a special gift too, don't forget to enter the giveaway.  The details are {here}.