Random Acts of Kindness + New Year Giveaway!

Random Acts of Kindness + New Year Giveaway!

UPDATE: CLOSED…and the winners are:

Jodi B – Attitudes of Gratitude
Danielle I. – Acts of Kindness: How to Make a Gentle Difference
Jennifer S. – Acts of Kindness: How to Make a Gentle Difference
Charlotte A. Acts of Kindness: How to Make a Gentle Difference
Michelle C. – Acts of Kindness: How to Make a Gentle Difference
Cynthia G. – Acts of Kindness: How to Make a Gentle Difference
Maria – I will pick one for you, as per your request 😉
Judy L – Acts of Kindness: How to Make a Gentle Difference
Jenna D. – Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy
Ginger –  Attitudes of Gratitude

I have sent you all an email … please respond asap so that I can get YOUR random act of kindness shipped 🙂

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying our leap into 2013 … may it be full of joy, peace…and kindness. I think that kindness will be one of the things that I cling to this year, as although it doesn’t change the bad in the world,  it sure seems to ease the hearts of those trying to deal with life’s tragedies, and makes things a whole lot easier.

I was blessed again this holiday season with the task of delivering random acts of kindness courtesy of my good friends at De Wafelbakkers. They sent me a ton of gifts, gift cards and of course FREE product coupons for me to use locally to spread a little holiday cheer. This has now become a tradition for my family and we so enjoy spending the week before Christmas spreading pancake love about town. (You can see photos from last year’s adventures here)

I am not complaining one bit…but I have to admit that the task of delivering this good will is not always easy, as sometimes “giving” is harder than it might seem. I take this task on as such an honor, and I feel a huge responsibility to see that it all goes to spread as much cheer as possible! Choosing who to give to isn’t easy, and of course there is always the feeling that no matter what you do, it isn’t enough. This year, we decided to focus our efforts in a couple places.

First of all, my dear friend Mardi (shown above) works at a thrift store that we had visited last Christmas season. (and by the way, she is one of the most giving and caring people you could meet) If you have ever seen people scrambling in a Thrift Store to buy Christmas gifts (used, mostly) for their children, it is something that you will not soon forget. The image from last year stuck with me … so this year, De Wafelbakkers once again provided free product coupons, gifts and a large gift card so that shoppers would have new toys to choose from. My kids had a ball returning to the thrift store and seeing all of the toys that they had for kids really made us all feel so excited, not to mention thankful and blessed.

We then tried to think of who we could share random gifts with (again, courtesy of De Wafelbakkers!) so we set out on Christmas Day to find those that were working, at gas stations mostly and we gave each worker that we found a $25 gift card and some pancake coupons and branded products. It was SO FUN! To see the pure surprise and joy on people’s faces was so heart warming, and honestly … the most memorable part of our Christmas for me. I will have the looks on the faces of those people in my heart forever, especially the one man who literally had tears in his eyes when he said “Why would you do this?” … at the time, I said to him “Because it’s Christmas day, and you shouldn’t have to be working” … but later that night after I thought about it, I wanted to go back and say to him,  “…because just as there is random evil in the world, there is random good and the good is so much more powerful!”

I also want to mention, that De Wafelbakkers did not ask for anything in return (not even a mention) but I just had to share this with all of you because any company that is this giving, deserves a big shout out…and this is just a fraction of what they have done in my community.

Anyway… the whole experience of random acts of kindness and paying things forward is quite addicting! I felt so blessed to be a part of this experience! I have some money left over in my De Wafelbakker Random Acts of Kindness budget, and I thought that this would be a fun way to continue paying forward the kindness. In celebration of the New Year and hopes for huge amounts of kindness in it … I am going to be giving away 10 copies of the books below, to YOU my readers, courtesy of De Wafelbakkers!

Just leave a comment (only ONE per person please) letting me know which book that you would most like (if you find a book on Amazon that you would prefer over these, feel free to leave that in your comment as well!) and then tomorrow night I will close this giveaway and randomly select winners. (*I wish I could send books to you all …but I am thrilled that I am going to have enough budget to send 10!)

Acts of Kindness: How to Make a Gentle Difference
If you’re concerned about the lack of caring in today’s society, here’s your chance to support the Kindness Revolution .In this delightful book, you’ll find ideas to help make a gentle difference. It presents just about everything you’ll need to know to perform intentional acts of kindness for your family, friends, coworkers, schoolmates, strangers, people in need–even the environment!

You’ll begin with basic ground rules to help you make sure that you’re not violating anyone’s boundaries and that your acts of kindness will have the desired effect. Following are more than 100 uplifting ideas that will help you–and others–experience joy and a sense of connection. You’ll never run out of ways to spread sunshine with this marvelous compendium of kind and thoughtful things to do.

365 Health & Happiness Boosters
Happiness begets happiness. When a person is happy, the feeling ripples out to others nearby. Research has shown that happiness also leads to better health. One-third of the population knows the secret to happiness – that it’s an inside job, not contingent on possessions, status, or even life circumstances. Fortunately, the other two-thirds can learn to cultivate contentment.