And..I'm back...

No surprise that this blog had posts titled December 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and then radio silence. Good thing I'm  not getting paid to blog every day.

Don't worry-I did NOT abandon my acts of kindness-we have just been crazy busy since, well, always..but its self inflicted and we are blessed beyond measure so I won't complain.

I realized that I am in many ways really bad with structure and deadlines, etc. SO..I had to loosen my expectations on getting each thing done DAILY and will just try to accomplish all of them this month. Sorry to let you down..I'm a work in progress. Kindness IS and HAS been spread!

A few weekends ago Ryan and I dropped Brody off with my parents in Chattanooga and went to Asheville to just enjoy a little getaway and visit the Biltmore. This was a super wonderful treat from my parents for Christmas and for Ryan finishing his MBA!!! It was my first time to spend the night away from Brody and let me tell you....it was really great. I LOVE my child so so so so much but I love spending time with my best friend (Ryan). We really enjoyed just being able to focus on each other and enjoy some down time-I highly recommend a little getaway for any parents who feel a little hesitant to leave their babies. :)

The Biltmore at night. We got to go on Friday night when they had all of the fireplaces and Christmas lights lit. It was really amazing! 

 That's Ryan standing in front of that HUGE tree. He's holding a coffee. Our main plan was to have a really good coffee in our hands at all times.

 We went back on Saturday for the full walk through and we did the audio tour and a special behind the scenes tour where we got to go into a few extra bedrooms and hear some neat stories about the people who visited the Vanderbilts. This made us really want to rewatch Downton Abbey. 

 On the way to Asheville we of course stopped at a Starbucks and were able to check off one of our tasks. I remember one time we went to Starbucks and the girl at the window said that the person in front of us had paid for our drinks and that everyone in line was paying for the person behind them. I was really intrigued by the whole thing and wondered how long it went on. Who knows? Maybe the person behind us kept it going?

I don't have pictures but our other 2 weekend acts of kindess were to let someone in front of you in line-which I think we did a few times-easy! And-give a generous or unexpected tip. We were really excited to give the man at the omelet station a nice tip during breakfast. He was really sweet and his omelets were awesome. 

 If you don't know, The Contributor  is a newspaper written and sold by people who are homeless or formerly homeless. You can usually see them standing all around different areas of Nashville. They cost $1.00. If you have never read one, you should, it's a good paper! I drove around for a few minutes until I found a seller and she was REALLY appreciative. 

 

The Vanderbilt Children's Hospital website has a TON of  things listed that are super easy to round up and donate that could really make a huge difference in a family's hospital experience. Toys and art supplies to occupy the children and make their stay more enjoyable and practical things like underwear for kids and parents. We had to take little newborn Brody to the hospital and if it wasn't for great friends who came to our house and got some things for us, I would have needed some of those "practical things!" :) 

So I gathered a few things off the list and plan to make an appointment to drop it off. Easy One!

https://www.childrenshospital.vanderbilt.org/interior.php?mid=1166

Leave some candy canes on people's cars. I put this one on the car beside me RIGHT when I got out, and before I could get Brody out the owner was getting in her car. Like..we almost touched. I hope she ate it and liked it, or at least felt like she was special.

Another easy one was leaving some diapers and wipes in a restroom with a note! When would someone really appreciate a random act of kindness?? When they get in the bathroom and realize they have no diapers! I know I would.

So, technically I was supposed to make treats for my neighbors..which I still plan on doing..but I made some cookies and then shared them with friends..so I counted that. :)

Send 3 cards-I sent 1 to a relative, 1 to our recycling man, and I have one more a church member ready to mail.

I am missing several days in there. Some I am still working on and others I have forgotten because I didn't document them properly. I will really enjoy doing these things when Brody can help too.

The biggest project of all has been the pajama collection!!!! Which deserves a post of its own..so stay tuned!

In adoption news...we had our biometrics appointment for USCIS this morning. We just had to get fingerprinted and when we get approval...we will be one step closer to our littles!!! We ARE on the waiting list and we are just praying praying praying that we will know more in 2013! Thank you for the prayers! Keep them coming!