My RAOK Birthday- Part 2

 Well, it happened. I turned 25. And to celebrate, I did 25 Random Acts of Kindness throughout the day! This was SO fun. And we had a blast preparing for it- making our list, prepping the items that we would need, and spending some time in prayer. And God really showed up! 

To start off, I will share with you what my 25 RAOKs were:

1. Clean out garage for Hubby

2. Setup and work Adoption Garage Sale

3. Pay for the order behind us at Starbucks

4. Pay a stranger a compliment

5. Tape coupons to items in the store

6. Return shopping carts

7. Drop quarters in the playground for kids to find

8. Donate to a car wash fundraiser to send kids to camp

9. Donate clothing to a ministry

10. Give money to a homeless person

11. Tape money to a vending machine

12. Hold the door open for someone

13. Mail my labor playlist to Amey and Kelly

14. Take flowers to a loved one

15. Deliver coffee to a friend

16. Give flowers to a stranger in the parking lot

17. Leave a quarter in a toy slot

18. Leave $ and a note in a good book at Goodwill

19. Avoid ALL negative talk

20. Give $10 Kohl's Cash to a stranger in the store

21. Mail a thank-you note to a mentor

22. Leave a kind note on a car

23. Write a love letter to my husband (he is  words of affirmation)

24. Let someone ahead of me in line

25. Deliver balloons to my niece and nephew

Now I have to admit, this was the happiest and most exciting birthday that I have ever experienced! And it was because I was so busy planning what I would do and how to focus on others, that I had absolutely no expectations! I was not worried about who had called, texted, or posted to wish me a Happy Birthday. It didn't matter! How refreshing that was!  

Here are the little cards that I tried to include with each act. TRIED, but did not always remember.

My first RAOK- delivering flowers to my sister-in-law at 5am before we set up their garage sale!

Setting up the adoption garage sale

Rocking the fanny pack while my hot husband looks on...

 We actually spent two days helping to setup/work the garage sale. There was so much stuff donated, that help was definitely needed. It was neat to be able to read through the amount raised at the end of the day and know that my brother and his wife were that much closer to Bringing Home Baby Thatcher!

Write a love letter to my husband- while baby girl tries to play his guitar.

Returning grocery carts in the Target parking lot.

Removing trash too... I should have added that to the list!

Taping a coupon for dog food onto the dog food!

It was SO fun to tape coupons onto their matching items at the store! How stoked would you be to go in to buy coffee or dog food, and it had a coupon ATTACHED to the item!?! I feel like I want to do this every week with coupons, because I don't buy those items much anyway!

Doing RAOKs is SUPER tiring...

Our clothing donation (Thanks Closet Swap girls :))

This was such a cool find- we wanted to donate the clothes to a place that would give them away and not sell them. We were looking for shelters and safe houses, and nothing was working. We sent up a quick prayer for God to lead us somewhere, and seconds later we spotted this place from the road. After asking if they took donations (they usually take food, but were more than happy to take clothing), We met the pastor and his wife who run both the church and the outreach. Ironically, they also knew of Crossings Church, where our youth met, and said they had been dying to meet us! They told us that they had been so encouraged by our youth group and want to learn some things from us... cool right? We left feeling so encouraged, with new ideas, and with some new friends!

 

Taping coins to a vending machine...

Mailing out some special letters to some special ladies... they'll get them soon!

Dropping quarters in the park!

Daniel getting tricky with his quarters... hiding them in tough spots!

Leaving quarters in gumball machines!

At Walmart trying to go unnoticed...

My better half...

My last RAOK!!!!

We prayed about our "giving money to a homeless person" RAOK. We have a homeless friend named John that we have known for about 7 years. We run into him every few months, sometimes we just give him money and a hello, and other times we can sit down to visit. I hadn't seen him since I was pregnant. We would have loved to see him, and even prayed to, but it was a slim chance. As we pulled into Goodwill (which we had missed about 3 times throughout the day and finally made it), John pulled up at the SAME EXACT TIME on his bike! CRAZY! We had never even seen him in that area! My point here- don't pray unless you actually want God to show up!

Later on we went into Safeway and bought some balloons and flowers for our next RAOKs. While walking through the store, I saw a sweet couple with a little one who had a helmet to correct his head shape. They were so cute! Later in the parking lot, I saw them getting into their car. I felt lead to give the flowers to her. I walked up to her car as she put baby in his seat and said "Hi. I just wanted you to know that you are an inspiration. I have a little one too, and I know it can be hard. These flowers are for you- thank you for being a mommy and working so hard". She was completely floored and speechless. She said "Really!? Thank you!" and started to tear up, so I did too. It's the little things. 

Our final RAOK was to deliver balloons to my 2 and 3 year old nephew and niece. Who doesn't love balloons!?! Since they weren't home when we showed up, we tied them to the door and texted my sister to surprise them when they got home. Their reactions are precious...

What a fun day this was. I also asked all of you to do a RAOK in honor of my birthday, and here were some of the responses I received! 

Terri- Aubrey, it was such a blessing to help with your birthday by doing RAOK's. I loved paying for the person behind me at Dutch Brothers Coffee and going to my mom's and helping her pack up for several hours. It is so rewarding. Xo hope it was a blessed birthday.

Vicky- I didn't do it today but at work on Thursday I left notes in a few coworkers boxes thanking them for being them and being in my life and that we get to work together. I got texts back saying how wonderful and appreciated it made them feel!

Michelle- I'm watching my grandson while his parents work, does that count?

Leesha- 100% tip at lunch this afternoon. Happy Birthday!!!

Kandice- Left change in the bill to change converter at bass pro shop.

Jennifer- I didn't shank the obnoxious woman who wouldn't shut up while getting a pedicure. Does that count? Kidding! (Although I think it would have been a RAOK to those of us stuck listening to her but I figured that wasn't the RAOK you had in mind) so instead I left the lady giving me my pedicure a 50% tip (I forgot to stop for extra cash. Oops). In addition, I took baked goods to a few of my neighbors. Also I sent random people texts telling them things like they were awesome and to have a good day.

Catt- So the family and I are in Roswell New Mexico for my hubby's football tournament and I was sooooo excited about your RAOK day because there are thousands of people here for the tournament and I knew we could do some RAOK ....my hubby bought his teammates some extra burgers for lunch and as I was walking into to Target to get diapers I noticed a homeless man sitting outside, and it clicked in my head that it was RAOK DAY!!! So I bought him some granola bars, crackers and water and when I came outside he was gone....and we saw him crossing the street so we chased him down and gave him his goodies thank you for such a great idea Aubrey hope you are having a wonderful day!! Xoxo

Jill- School's out for summer ... so Max brought in all the neighbors' recycle bins from the curb Friday mid-morn ... and we brought a CPK gift card to selfless Janie and her hubby who rarely splurge on anything. Feels good to do good. What an awesome birthday tradition, Aubrey. At Max's bd parties, in lieu of gifts, we invite guests to empty their pantries of extras for a gigantic group donation to the food bank.

Jennifer- I helped someone at work with a problem they had, since there were no supervisors around.

Kenny- Did it, can't share it. But thanks for the reminder Aubrey. The one prayer that is always answered immediately; Lord give me the opportunity to be of service to someone in need today.

Sarah- Tomorrow I am going with a group of my church to volunteer for the families affected by the tornadoes in OK. Sounds like an act of kindness to me :0)

Evan- I stayed over at work to help a new coworker find some much needed vaccine paperwork. It is so nice to help people without waiting for them to help.

Kassie- I just bought our cashier at Fry’s flowers on behalf of you- you should have seen her face when I told her they were for her!

Abbey- Random act of kindness was to pay for the order behind me! And my parents came and made my tree and lawn look beautiful again!

Stephanie- Found our opportunity as we stopped at the rest stop. Spotted these sweet folks sitting in the hot rest stop raising money for a community center project! 

Thank you to each and every one of you who made my birthday so special this year!

 I think we may have to make this a tradition...