It's been a busy week and a busy day! We got caught up a bit with our RACKs though. I finally (after 3 days) finished the baking and that meant that we could start delivering! Our first RACK of the day was a bit rerouted so to speak. I was planning on giving blood first thing in the morning. I gathered up some rather groggy kids and headed out. We stopped and picked up some Peppermnint mochas/hot cocoas (noticing a theme here?) and headed to our local blood donation site. We got there just in time for them to open. Except they didn't open. Huh. We hung out for a while and waited until the main office for our area opened in a nearby city so I could call and find out what was going on. Come to find out, there was an organization wide training that day and all the sites were closed. Foiled in our pepperminty plan! Well, now we had all this peppermint goodness and no one to bestow it upon. The kiddos got to thinking as we headed back through town. We ended up stopping at a pharmacy and taking it in to the workers there. Wow, were they shocked and so very appreciative! I couldn't help but think that maybe God knew that the workers at that pharmacy needed it more. After all, He wasn't surprised that the blood bank was closed!
So with one RACK under our belts by 9am, we moved onto RACK #2 for the day. We put together a platter of cookies (all the cookies we had overflowing our home after nearly 3 days of baking!) and bee-dopped on up to our chiropractor's office. They were super excited. They didn't even seem to mind that some of the frosting on the some of the cookies got all smeared in the travel while the kiddos held onto the plastic wrapped platter. I have this thing about "presentation" being part of the gift, but our grateful chiropractor people seemed pleased as punch with the less than perfect presentation. WooHoo!
Later that day we set out to complete another RACK that was long in coming. When we first made up our RACK list, we knew that we wanted our local Police Department at the top of the list. Well, we were getting down to crunch time and we had not made it out there yet. So since we were on a RACK roll, we made up another platter of cookies and put together a quick fruit basket (they need more than just frosting and chocolate to do their job after all!). We loaded it all up and headed in to town for a second time that day. We walked into the station and the officer behind the counter looked at us, looked at the goodies in our hands and with a bit of a confusing countenance, asked if he could help us. I quickly explained that we just wanted to drop off the goodies for them. His confusion quickly turned into a smile from ear to ear. He quickly left his window and went around to unlock the door to accept the yummies. He asked me who we were and why we were doing this. I hesitated, but gave him my name (despite the my anonymity desire, no matter what question a police officer asks, you answer!) and directed him to read our little RACK card we placed in the fruit basket. He said thank you several times over and we scurried out the door. Yay!
At that point, I thought we were done RACKing for the day. I took Isabella to her ballet lessons and remembered that I had forgotten to get her ballet instructor a little Christmas gift. Thankfully, right below the dance studio is a delightful little coffee shop that offers all sorts of goodies from pastries, soups and sandwiches, breads and of course yummy flavored coffees to enjoy! I ran down there to pick a little something out (they were so very smart and had little gift baskets already made up!). I quickly found something for Isabella's instructor while amazingly avoiding the temptation to buy myself something equally delightful. When I went up to the cash register I was greeted by a cheerful but tired looking young lady. She quickly and politely rang me up and wished me a Merry Christmas. As I started to put my cash back in my wallet, I noticed the little tip jar there. I hesitated for a mere moment before dropping a five dollar bill into the jar. The tired yet still cheerful girl's eyes just lit up. She sputtered, "Did you just put a five in there? Did you really just put a five in there?" I simply nodded and the sputtering continued, "I have made like (her words not mine!) two dollars all day! You have made my day! You really made my day!" I wished her a Merry Christmas and skipped my way out of the delightful coffee shop. Okay, I didn't really skip. I'm not quite that confident in my lack of clumsiness, but I was skipping in my heart.
All in all, it was a very enjoyable RACK-filled day!
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
RACK 16 and 17
For RACK (Random Acts of Christmas Kindness) 16 we went to a local nursing home one evening and Michael and Isabella played the piano and handed out cards they made to the residents. This was the idea of their piano teacher (wonderful woman!). It was so great to see kids get over their fears and play for complete strangers. One of the residents there had just buried her husband that afternoon and she was so thrilled to be able to enjoy children and music at the same time. My son pushed one resident all the way back to her room for her. I was so proud as I watched him carefully guide her out of the room and down the hallway.
RACK 17 was another one of those fun "I wonder . . ." type RACKs. The children and I went to see the "Nutcracker" with our Homeschool group. (It was wonderful by the way! I don't have the opportunity to take in the fine arts as much as I would like, so as the ballet began I was literally fighting back tears of joy.) After it was over we stopped at a diner type restaurant. We talked about looking for someone to RACK. Again, I was a bit discouraged as we didn't see anyone right away that we thought may be in need. Just as we were about to leave, an older couple came in and sat down. It was obvious by their clothes that they struggled to make ends meet. This seemed to be a rare occasion for them to eat out, even at a little diner. The three of us formulated a plan. As the kids cleaned up the table, I went to register to pay for our bill and I bought a gift card. When I got back to the table I got out our RACK card and one of the tracts my aunt have given us. With giddy grins we headed toward the couple. I placed everything on the table, told them how much was on the gift card and said "Merry Christmas!" They were so surprised but immediately said, "Thank you". They kept saying thank you as we walked away. How cool! The three of us just giggled as we pulled away. That couple has now been added to our RACK prayer list.
We haven't made it to RACK 18 yet, but not for lack of trying. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to do some more RACKing.
RACK 17 was another one of those fun "I wonder . . ." type RACKs. The children and I went to see the "Nutcracker" with our Homeschool group. (It was wonderful by the way! I don't have the opportunity to take in the fine arts as much as I would like, so as the ballet began I was literally fighting back tears of joy.) After it was over we stopped at a diner type restaurant. We talked about looking for someone to RACK. Again, I was a bit discouraged as we didn't see anyone right away that we thought may be in need. Just as we were about to leave, an older couple came in and sat down. It was obvious by their clothes that they struggled to make ends meet. This seemed to be a rare occasion for them to eat out, even at a little diner. The three of us formulated a plan. As the kids cleaned up the table, I went to register to pay for our bill and I bought a gift card. When I got back to the table I got out our RACK card and one of the tracts my aunt have given us. With giddy grins we headed toward the couple. I placed everything on the table, told them how much was on the gift card and said "Merry Christmas!" They were so surprised but immediately said, "Thank you". They kept saying thank you as we walked away. How cool! The three of us just giggled as we pulled away. That couple has now been added to our RACK prayer list.
We haven't made it to RACK 18 yet, but not for lack of trying. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to do some more RACKing.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
RACK 13,14 & 15!
We've been busy and I haven't had a chance to catch up the blog. I will fill you in on what we have been doing! For RACK 13 we gave a family that has a foster daughter with gluten allergies a basket filled with bulk gluten free baking supplies. I included directions as to how to mix the different flours and one of my favorite gluten free recipes.
For RACK 14 we paid for a man's breakfast order behind us in line at McDonald's. I could see him having quite a discussion with cashier. He must have been so very confused as to why someone he didn't know was paying for his breakfast.
For RACK 15 we took hot cocoa took a family that was ringing the Salvation Army bell at our local grocery store. They were so thrilled! It was so neat to see these giant smiles break out across their faces.
My aunt was gracious enough to give us these tracts/little booklets that give the full Gospel message. We have been handing those out with our RACK cards. We continue to pray daily for those we RACK. It's so fun to wonder how God may use these little acts of kindness. Just think, what if even one person we RACK comes to know the Lord through this. They then have a whole new circle of influence that I would never be able to reach otherwise. Their family, friends, neighbors, who knows! And that's just one person! It's so neat to think about this. Even on the crazy busy days, this is what keeps us going.
For RACK 14 we paid for a man's breakfast order behind us in line at McDonald's. I could see him having quite a discussion with cashier. He must have been so very confused as to why someone he didn't know was paying for his breakfast.
For RACK 15 we took hot cocoa took a family that was ringing the Salvation Army bell at our local grocery store. They were so thrilled! It was so neat to see these giant smiles break out across their faces.
My aunt was gracious enough to give us these tracts/little booklets that give the full Gospel message. We have been handing those out with our RACK cards. We continue to pray daily for those we RACK. It's so fun to wonder how God may use these little acts of kindness. Just think, what if even one person we RACK comes to know the Lord through this. They then have a whole new circle of influence that I would never be able to reach otherwise. Their family, friends, neighbors, who knows! And that's just one person! It's so neat to think about this. Even on the crazy busy days, this is what keeps us going.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
RACK day 12 ~ "Awesome!"
Right as I was giving him the gift certificate a woman was walking out of the store. She noticed what I had done. As I made my way back to my car, I passed her and she said to me, "That was awesome!" She wasn't parked very far from me, so I got another RACK card out of my car. I walked over and handed it to her and told her that this would explain what my family was doing this Christmas season. I wished her a Merry Christmas and started back to my car. She immediately started reading the card. When I was about to get in the car, this lady raised the card over her head and shouted, "THIS IS AWESOME!" The kids just loved that!
As we pulled out of the parking lot, we all had smiles just bursting on our faces. Michael thought it was so cool that we RACKed two people at the same time. Two different people were able to see the love of Christ and were left with a message and verse that might help bring them to salvation. Isabella quickly disagreed with her brother though. She said, "We've RACK'd WAY more than two people! How many people have we RACK'd, Mom?" To which I could answer thirteen. That sent the kids into a bit of a tizzy. (Yes, this is deliriously fun!) They started talking about all the people that we have tried to minister to and wondering how this could change their lives. They talked about how we need to pray for them. They asked if we could do this all year long. I talked to them about how we need to look for ways to be a blessing to others in our everyday life. Even in the small things. I also told them about The Birthday Project and told them that I wanted to do that for my birthday in July, but that we could do it for their birthdays, too. They were so excited!
We are only half-way through this journey, and yet I feel as though we have been incredibly and richly blessed. I love that this is changing my children's perspective from all the "getting" of Christmas, to the giving of Christmas. I love that my children are so anxious to pray (sometimes fighting over who gets to go first) for those that we have RACK'd. I love that they are looking for ways to bless people and their focus is slowly turning a little more off of themselves and more onto the needs of people. I'll give an example (and I'll try not to brag). Sunday night after the RACK we did for our church, my husband and I had choir practice. As we practiced I observed my ten year old son performing a RACK of his own. If you read the previous post, RACK day 11 ~ Phew!, you know the current circumstances with which we are dealing regarding our church building. You will also know the great amount of work that has to be done every Sunday morning and every Sunday night. Anyway, Michael started helping out with all the clean-up. He likes to work and just about every Sunday evening he tries to help out our pastors and a couple other people that stay later to clean up. He absolutely outdid himself last Sunday. He helped put away chairs and tables, he swept the floor, he emptied the trash cans and took the bags to the dumpster (plus he put new bags in the trash cans, something I have to remind him to do at home all the time. Hmm?), he packed up all the food stuff that we brought and took most of it to the car (he wasn't allowed to carry the one fruit basket because it was heavy and the basket was a bit weak), he vacuumed the hallway, he helped take hymnals out to the church van, etc, etc, etc! I was just beaming to watch him do all these things, without being told. I was so very, very proud. I couldn't help but think that part of that is due to our RACK journey. It is a journey. This has gone so far beyond a project that has a definite completion. This is a journey that we have started and I pray that we can continue these things in our day to day well beyond just Christmas and our birthdays. We are called to be servants, not self-serving, "I'm in rush and have important things to do", push others aside type of people. Be cautious that you don't get so involved in "organized" ministry that you overlook the little things (and people) God puts in your path that He wants you to bless. Every person you meet, God has ordained for you to be there at that time, with that person. This makes me think of three things:
1) A quote that I saw at a friend's house that reads, "A man too busy to pray is a man that is busier than God wants him to be."
2) Another friend of mine owns his own business and as busy as he is from time to time, he consistently looks for ways to minister and witness to and pray for those that he interacts with on a day to day basis. It is humbling and convicting to hear him talk sometimes.
3) What is becoming kind of our "theme" verse for this journey, James 2:15-17 "If a brother or a sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?" I can't fix the world. I can't give every homeless person a home. I can't reach across the entire world and share the Gospel. What I can do though, is to support ministries that are doing these things. And I can try to reach the ones in my little world in Wellington, Ohio. Mother Teresa is credited as saying, "If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one." Pray that God open your eyes today to some small way you bless those that come across your path.
Have a blessed and Merry Christmas and keep checking back to see how God is working!
Monday, December 12, 2011
RACK day 11 ~ phew!
This one was A LOT of work, but oh, so worth it! This one also requires some serious background info, but I will try to pack it into a nutshell!
We have a big beautiful church building that is only about a decade old. Seriously, beautiful. It's not all ornate or anything, but it has a simple beauty. I love it. However, lurking underneath all that beauty was the ugliest of the ugly: mold. Not just a little mold, but lots of mold spread all throughout the church. A couple months ago, we abandoned this building for work to begin (we had already closed off the areas where mold was visible while we planned to move out). Now we are the gypsy church. For the most part we meet in the local town hall, although we have met at a building at our local Fair Grounds, we have met in the church's maintenance building (not heated, not so much fun!) and even in homes. It's really been very interesting. At the town hall, we sit in folding metal chairs in a room with linoleum floors (hello acoustics?) and we have to break down our church every Sunday night. We haul music stands, hymnals, a keyboard and stand, sound system, etc, each week to and from. It can be quite an undertaking. We don't even know exactly when we will be able to get back into our church as the mold situation was discovered to be much more extensive than was originally thought once the workers started tearing into the walls. :( It's been difficult and discouraging, but we are confident that God sent this to us for a reason. It has pushed us out of our comfort zone and has forced us to take stock in different things. Our pastors and secretary have moved their offices to a trailer in the parking lot. We think it's difficult for us on a Sunday morning because we have to sit in metal chairs (that may or may not be in our "usual" seats), but those that work day in and day out for our church are crammed in a tiny, chilly trailer. All this to say, it's been quite a journey.
Now, add to this that this Sunday after evening service we were to have a business meeting. Now I have to throw in a little disclaimer here; business meetings are necessary, but I doubt anyone would characterize them as fun. However, the members of our church deal with each other in love and genuine respect, even if there is a disagreement. I hear horror stories about church meetings getting out of hand and people yelling at (and sometimes even hitting) each other. That is not at ALL our church's experience. After the business meeting, we still had ensemble rehearsal and choir practice (Christmas season, ya know!). It was going to be a long evening. That is the background in a nutshell!
So, that led me to ponder RACKing our whole church, which we did! I got to baking and the kiddos got to planning. What we ended up with was providing snacks after the evening service just before the business meeting. I made 5 different kinds of muffins. That's lots of muffins! We took apples, clementines and grapes. We took fruit snacks (can you see the kids' influence here at all?), chocolate covered pretzels and mini candy canes. It was definitely not enough for someone's meal, but a nice little snack to tide over a hungry soul. We also brought napkins and little dessert plates. It was great! I had spoken to one of the pastors about doing this and he agreed to meet us a little early so we could set up. We put all the food out and then covered it with a tablecloth (we didn't want any little fingers to be tempted to start snacking before church even began!) until the time was right. I had also asked that our pastor not announce who provided the goodies when he announced that the goodies were there for the taking. Yes, I have given up on remaining truly anonymous (lesson learned. Public blogging pretty much takes that away!), but I absolutely did not want last night to be about people saying thank you to us or anything else. It was about the people of our church enjoying a little blessing and giving us a chance to fellowship a bit more.
So after the message, our pastor announced that we would take a quick stretch break and then start the business meeting. He then told everyone that refreshments had been provided. We uncovered the table and people immediately started lining up. My husband and I sat back and just watched as people munched and talked with each other. It was something so unexpected that even though it wasn't much, it was a blessing. I simply loved it. And can I tell you what else I loved? We didn't have a bunch of people running up to say "thank you". It was not known (save a handful of people) who provided it. I loved being able to enjoy the giving without anticipating the gratitude in return. It was a sweet moment. Once pretty much everyone had gone through, my hubby and I went and got our goodies. It was great. By the time everything was over, we took home some clementines. That was it! Everything else had been devoured!
On the way home (we didn't get home to close to 10pm and I was seriously exhausted. I had been up since 1:30am!), my husband pointed out that we could not have done this if we were in our big beautiful building. In our church building, we have our business meetings in the sanctuary. Any food activity is in the fellowship hall (linoleum floors, kitchen, etc). It would have been very difficult to get everyone to go get food and then try to get everyone back into the sanctuary (after the food was eaten) to start the meeting. Since our current place of worship IS a hall, people could get their food and take it back to their seats. Yes, we conducted our meeting while people were nibbling and munching (not the ones speaking, mind you). I love my husband. As much as I had enjoyed that moment, he brought out a little special observance of which I had not even considered. All in all, it was a wonderful night!
Now, for a little side note! Last night I was actually dreaming of RACKing people. I won't bore you with all the details, but this is evidently ingrained in my little head now! I woke up smiling ~ and that's never a bad thing! Have a blessed day and look around for ways you can bless others throughout your day!
We have a big beautiful church building that is only about a decade old. Seriously, beautiful. It's not all ornate or anything, but it has a simple beauty. I love it. However, lurking underneath all that beauty was the ugliest of the ugly: mold. Not just a little mold, but lots of mold spread all throughout the church. A couple months ago, we abandoned this building for work to begin (we had already closed off the areas where mold was visible while we planned to move out). Now we are the gypsy church. For the most part we meet in the local town hall, although we have met at a building at our local Fair Grounds, we have met in the church's maintenance building (not heated, not so much fun!) and even in homes. It's really been very interesting. At the town hall, we sit in folding metal chairs in a room with linoleum floors (hello acoustics?) and we have to break down our church every Sunday night. We haul music stands, hymnals, a keyboard and stand, sound system, etc, each week to and from. It can be quite an undertaking. We don't even know exactly when we will be able to get back into our church as the mold situation was discovered to be much more extensive than was originally thought once the workers started tearing into the walls. :( It's been difficult and discouraging, but we are confident that God sent this to us for a reason. It has pushed us out of our comfort zone and has forced us to take stock in different things. Our pastors and secretary have moved their offices to a trailer in the parking lot. We think it's difficult for us on a Sunday morning because we have to sit in metal chairs (that may or may not be in our "usual" seats), but those that work day in and day out for our church are crammed in a tiny, chilly trailer. All this to say, it's been quite a journey.
Now, add to this that this Sunday after evening service we were to have a business meeting. Now I have to throw in a little disclaimer here; business meetings are necessary, but I doubt anyone would characterize them as fun. However, the members of our church deal with each other in love and genuine respect, even if there is a disagreement. I hear horror stories about church meetings getting out of hand and people yelling at (and sometimes even hitting) each other. That is not at ALL our church's experience. After the business meeting, we still had ensemble rehearsal and choir practice (Christmas season, ya know!). It was going to be a long evening. That is the background in a nutshell!
So, that led me to ponder RACKing our whole church, which we did! I got to baking and the kiddos got to planning. What we ended up with was providing snacks after the evening service just before the business meeting. I made 5 different kinds of muffins. That's lots of muffins! We took apples, clementines and grapes. We took fruit snacks (can you see the kids' influence here at all?), chocolate covered pretzels and mini candy canes. It was definitely not enough for someone's meal, but a nice little snack to tide over a hungry soul. We also brought napkins and little dessert plates. It was great! I had spoken to one of the pastors about doing this and he agreed to meet us a little early so we could set up. We put all the food out and then covered it with a tablecloth (we didn't want any little fingers to be tempted to start snacking before church even began!) until the time was right. I had also asked that our pastor not announce who provided the goodies when he announced that the goodies were there for the taking. Yes, I have given up on remaining truly anonymous (lesson learned. Public blogging pretty much takes that away!), but I absolutely did not want last night to be about people saying thank you to us or anything else. It was about the people of our church enjoying a little blessing and giving us a chance to fellowship a bit more.
So after the message, our pastor announced that we would take a quick stretch break and then start the business meeting. He then told everyone that refreshments had been provided. We uncovered the table and people immediately started lining up. My husband and I sat back and just watched as people munched and talked with each other. It was something so unexpected that even though it wasn't much, it was a blessing. I simply loved it. And can I tell you what else I loved? We didn't have a bunch of people running up to say "thank you". It was not known (save a handful of people) who provided it. I loved being able to enjoy the giving without anticipating the gratitude in return. It was a sweet moment. Once pretty much everyone had gone through, my hubby and I went and got our goodies. It was great. By the time everything was over, we took home some clementines. That was it! Everything else had been devoured!
On the way home (we didn't get home to close to 10pm and I was seriously exhausted. I had been up since 1:30am!), my husband pointed out that we could not have done this if we were in our big beautiful building. In our church building, we have our business meetings in the sanctuary. Any food activity is in the fellowship hall (linoleum floors, kitchen, etc). It would have been very difficult to get everyone to go get food and then try to get everyone back into the sanctuary (after the food was eaten) to start the meeting. Since our current place of worship IS a hall, people could get their food and take it back to their seats. Yes, we conducted our meeting while people were nibbling and munching (not the ones speaking, mind you). I love my husband. As much as I had enjoyed that moment, he brought out a little special observance of which I had not even considered. All in all, it was a wonderful night!
Now, for a little side note! Last night I was actually dreaming of RACKing people. I won't bore you with all the details, but this is evidently ingrained in my little head now! I woke up smiling ~ and that's never a bad thing! Have a blessed day and look around for ways you can bless others throughout your day!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
RACK day 10
The best laid plans . . . I was never able to do a RACK today. I tried, a few times. But it just didn't work out. Ugh. Well, I'll catch up on Monday or something. RACK 11 is turning into a lot of work. I'll update with the details after everything is done.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
RACK day 9
Yes! Another anonymous RACK! We took the kiddos out to eat (their favorite Chinese place and we haven't been there in quite a while!) before going to look at Christmas lights. My husband was done with work (side note: being a dairy farmer your never really done with work. He was relieved by another worker who took over the milking so my husband could be with the family.) earlier than usual so we were able to get out to the restaurant a little before the typical dinner hour. We sat down and there were only a couple other tables with patrons there. Soon enough, the restaurant completely filled up. We had one amazing waitress. She was quick, efficient and friendly. I love having a good server. I also strongly believe that if you are going out to eat, you need to plan for a tip. Not just a bare minimum 15%, but the ability to leave a generous tip. I have never been a waitress, but I think they deserve to be treated with respect and paid appropriately for their service. The waitress we had for dinner was exceptional. Early on in I asked my husband if we could RACK her. We had not RACK'd anyone yet and our waitress seemed to be a perfect "target". As the dinner went on, I quickly saw what a great waitress she was. When it was time to pay the bill, I tried to discreetly pull out on of our RACK cards from my purse. I folded the card in half and tucked a large tip inside. I have no idea what was going on in this girl's life, but I do pray that she was blessed. I love this stuff! :)
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