Random Acts of Kindness

The past few weeks our family has been hit again and again with random acts of kindness. I still can't believe how God's timing is always so perfect. Chaz and I were hit with some less than stellar good news just before all these events happen. I even called my mom who happened to be shopping with my sister to let out a little of my frustration. There's nothing better than a mom/sister call when you got to just let out some steam. But the bottom line is if we were done here in DC/MD/VA God would send us home to TN. I know his timing doesn't always agree with mine, but in the end his timing is always perfect.

Our random acts of kindness stream of awesomeness started with a box of cotton candy. A very nice person who follows the Team Allen page wanted to do something nice for our girls. As you can see our girls were thrilled when she was surprise them with this.

This past Wednesday we took an afternoon trip to the mall. Our girls have been extremely well behaved lately so we wanted to reward them. Ry got her ears pierced that day. Then we went to Build-A-Bear to make our 100th anniversary Girl Scout bears.

While we were there the manager informed me that a very nice lady wanted to pay for the girls' bears. Of course I said thank you, but no thank you. Well the manager at Build-A-Bear took the tags off the girls' bears and told us that he would not be accepting money from our family that day. He thanked Chaz for his service and told the girls how special their Daddy was. He then explained to me that Build-A-Bear was going to help her help us. I had a coupon that I was going to use and I tried to give them that and they refused it and told me to use it another day. We'd like to give big kudos to the crew at the Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, MD for their exemplary and caring staff. They helped that lady with her random act of kindness, which to me made it all so much better.

I had to fight back the tears because I was so touched. Chaz and I both stared at each other for a minute. We found the lady and hugged and thanked her. She was thrilled to find out that our girls had made Girl Scout bears. She had been a Girl Scout as well. She said Chaz reminded her of a man who had helped her change her tire on the side of the road one day. She tried to pay him and he told her to pay it forward. She then thanked Chaz for his service and talked to the girls and I for a bit. It was one of those moments that everyone needs in their life every once in a while.

We came home to a package for the girls. Remember the cotton candy, well that same awesome person sent the girls a box with hand made headbands. The girls were so excited they immediately put the head bands on and told me to take a pic with their new headbands and bears. Check those smiles out!!

The next day Chaz decided to take a "civilian" day. He decided he wanted to join us for breakfast with my friend. For 14 years, he hasn't been able to go to breakfast during the week. He even said, "Gees, this is weird." We had a great meal at Cassatt's in Arlington. When I went to ask for the check, the manager came over and said, "From one veteran to another, I've got this one." He said a man in the restaurant had told him to say that to Chaz when we asked for the check. The man had gone to the manager without our knowledge and paid the bill for us. Of course I was upset because he paid for it and left, so we couldn't say thank you. What he did was amazing and I wanted to say thank you to him. The manager told me the man was a regular and he would make sure and let him know how much we appreciated his generosity.

Friday I go and check the mail and I had a card. I opened it up to find six $10 iTunes gift cards. The sender asked me to please share them with the other caregivers. The timing was perfect because I was taking my friends to the Idina Menzel concert. So I could immediately pay that one forward.

Saturday I received a card from the same awesome lady who sent the cotton candy and headbands. This time a cute card arrived for me. Inside was a gift card so I could take Chaz out to dinner to Cracker Barrel for his birthday.

So why I am telling you all of this? If you watch the news, you'll just hear how bad the world is. If you are on facebook for longer than 3 minutes you'll see posts telling you how bad their life is. Where we are the world is full of awesome!

I am sharing all of this with you not to be boastful, but to remind you that God's blessings are all around us. Just like lighting, you'll never know when a blessing will strike. I truly believe God has sent us all these little blessings because he knows we are ready to move forward, but we can't because of bureaucracy. He knows I am so worried about when we leave here and what the next chapter holds. He knows I am beyond stressed about building Chaz's house. He knows I really needed all of these blessings to remind me to stay faithful on his path. God's path is not guaranteed to be easy. The journey to the "new normal" is very hard and come with a lot of 1-2 punches. We have learned if you focus on the blessings that God sends you rather than all the negative things that you cannot control his path becomes a lot more tolerable.

Many, many thanks to those who have blessed us during the past few weeks. Your kindness has lifted our spirits. We are so thankful and blessed to have you in our lives. Thank you doesn't seem even close to good enough, but it will just have to do. So THANK YOU!!!!!