Running With Spears

25 Kindness Elves Ideas for Slackers!!!

‘Ello Poppet! I decided to jump on the whole “Elf” bandwagon this year, but I really like the idea of encouraging my kids to be a bit more others focused, so I decided to go the Kindness Elves route! However, as noble as my intentions may be, I know there is no way on earth I’m going to be able to maintain grandiose acts every day (by which I mean anything that requires me to change out of my pajamas and/or leave the house). 😉

I figured if I was going to attempt to do this thing, I needed a plan. I’m usually a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pantser, so this whole planning thing isn’t exactly my forte. That said, since I actually did come up with ~~amazing~~, ~~phenomenal~~ fairly decent ideas, I’m thinking I might as well share them in case any one else could use some non-elaborate ideas for acts of kindness. Please tweak the wording and make them sound good….these are more like rough draft ideas than full well-worded notes from your elves.

1. Make coffee for your Mom! -This is my favorite! Our Elves may keep this one in their back pockets as a fall back idea to be used numerous times!!! (In the picture above they posted this the day after we made cookies, and they helped themselves to some, complimented the girls on great cookies, then mentioned Mom might be tired from the day of baking, and encouraged the making of coffee for me her.) 😉

2. Bake sugar cookies and give some to a neighbor. -Only because it’s a tradition around here so we have to do this at some point in December anyway.

3. Text someone just to say hi! -My kids don’t have phones, so they’ll think it’s fun to get to borrow mine and text a granparent or something.

4. Write your Dad an “I love you because…” note.

5. Write happy chalk greetings on the sidewalk outside to bring cheer to passersby.

6. Donate food to the hungry. -Pro-tip one this on….make it a 2 day endeavor. Day one – select food from your pantry to give. Day 2 – actually give it away. Bonus points if your church does a food drive and you can just take it with you on Sunday morning! 🙂

7. Donate clothes. -Same deal as with food. I’m super bummed that my church did their clothing drive in November, though, so we can’t just take these on a Sunday like I’d planned. 🙁

8. Give lots of hugs today!

9. Make a bird feeder for your feathered friends. -I really like these easy bird feeders. Especially this stale bread one, or this cheerio and blueberry one, because then I don’t have to buy anything…except blueberries, so I’d probably leave those off. 😉

10. Make some hot cocoa mix for friends. -Don’t go crazy. Making enough for one or two friends is plenty. And this hot cocoa mix is simple to make and seriously the yummiest ever!

11. Give lots of compliments today!

12. Pass on some books -Our neighborhood has a little free library, so I can drive up in my jammies and let my girls run over and put in a few books!

13. Make a card for your mail carrier.

14. Make a list of polite, kind words…then try to use them as often as possible!

15. We set out breakfast for you just to be kind (no strings attached). -I’m thinking some of those personal boxes of cereal because we never have those. Or if Misteris is feeling really energetic, maybe he could run to our neighborhood donut shop before the girls get up and grab a dozen!

16. Go on a walk and pick up any litter you see.

17. You left some toys out last night so we picked them up for you. We loved helping out. Keep your eyes open for ways you can help out today!

18. Give your family members some cuddles while watching a Christmas movie together!

19. Play a game and cheer for others to win!

20. Make some playdough to share with your baby sister! -Probably something along the lines of this two ingredient one.

21. Set out a dish of water for your feathered friends.

22. Make a special treat for your Daddy! -For us this means something gluten-free, maybe some fudge or toffee…you could of course make anything. Do this close enough to Christmas Eve that you’ll have some left to set out for Santa!

23. Notice when someone around you is unhappy and try to cheer them up!

24. Be kind to your baby sister today by making a point to play with her!

25. Wish Jesus a Happy Birthday! -We have a toy cake that we always set out somewhere for the kids see BEFORE we get to stockings on Christmas morning to take a moment to focus on Jesus’ Birthday…I leave it out for them to play with for a month or so then pack it away with the Christmas stuff. 🙂

So….there’s my list. It’s technically 27 ideas if you break the food and clothes donations into two days each. You could donate toys too, but we did that last month. (By which I mean the kids selected some to give away and they’re currently sitting in a box waiting for me to take them somewhere. Oops.)

How awesome will I be at actually doing these? Well with our Advent Calendar, by day two I already forgot about it all day and my girls reminded me after I sent them to get ready for bed at night, so…yeah. I’m definitely keeping this list of reasons your elf forgot to move handy, because I’m sure I’ll need it!

DIY Super Simple Christ-Centered Advent Calendar

Hey guys! I meant to blog this sooner but we’ve all been sick…and now I have a ton to do today so this will be short and sweet.

I’ve tried various forms of Truth in the Tinsel, Jesse Tree, etc. without a ton of success. I usually make it a day or two and then start missing days, or weeks, and never finish. Last year I wanted to follow the advent plan for reading from the Jesus Storybook Bible every day, because I really, really love it…but once again we missed a ton!

Anyway, this year I was looking around at the bajillions of ideas for DIY advent calendars and couldn’t find anything that I super loved…so I came up with my own plan. I took Julie Anderson’s fantastic printable coloring-page style ornaments that go with the Jesus Storybook Advent and made them smaller, printed them on a sheet of watercolor paper I stole from Artist because I didn’t have any cardstock on hand, then used washi tape to stick them to our wall in a sort of Christmas tree-ish shape. If I were doing it again, I think I’d change one row of three to a row of two and add one card at the bottom as a stump, but whatever.

The plan is that each day we’ll flip one over, stick it back to the wall with a new piece of tape, and then read the corresponding day’s story from the schedule on Julie’s blog. If I’m really on top of things I’ll print out 3 copies of each of the ornaments and let me girls color those while I read the story as well. 😀

If nothing else, my girls are excited that we have an advent calendar, and it will theoretically remind us all to actually do the readings each day.

In other news, I’ve decided to do “Kindness Elves” this year. Here’s my post with 25 super-slacker ideas to use! My absolute favorite is, “Make coffee for your Mom!” See what I did there? I’m totally winning at this. 😉

Anyway, it’s somehow 2:00 in the afternoon and I’ve only had one cup of coffee…which means I’m now hitting publish on this post without even checking for typos or grammatical errors, because as much as I love a well-formed sentence, I love coffee more, and I really need some right now.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

You guys! I’m so grateful! I really should gush more often. I mean my precious girls…be still my heart! Baby Apple on the way! The most amazing Misteris in the world! A good, good Heavenly Father who is perfect in all of His ways to me! (That song just gets me every time.) Awesome parents and siblings and a fantastic extended family! A great home in a splendid neighborhood with the best neighbors a girl could ask for! Books! Coffee!

I could go on and on, but I’ll stop for now. (Though I’d be remiss not to give a quick shout out to those of you who faithfully read my posts, you all rock socks! I’m so grateful for you!) Anyway, I hope you’re all enjoying a beautiful day and counting your blessings! I know I am!

Plus, tomorrow we get to start decorating for Christmas!!! WooHoo!!!

Happy Thanksgiving! 😀

Meet Allison!

Greetings and salutations! It’s once again time for my sometimes monthly blogger interview! This month I’m stoked to introduce you guys to Allison. She has a beautiful blog called Essentially Healthyish where she talks about parenting and homeschooling and other awesomeness! She has a great post on Homeschool Organization that I really need to implement some pointers from! She also blogs about using essential oils, and I blame her for my oil obsession.

I asked her about some crucial issues…here’s what she had to say.

1. Tell us a little about yourself in 140 characters or less, I will enforce the character count super strictly. Or not. 😉

I am Allison Dorman and I love change- not the kind you find in your couch, but the kind that keeps things interesting. I have been known to rearrange all the furniture in the house just because. In addition to coffee, Jesus and Charles Dickens I am also slightly obsessed with farmhouses and pygmy goats- which sadly my HOA does not allow. In the meantime I stay busy raising four daughters and sometimes my eyebrows.

2. What Hogwarts house do you belong in?

I would live in Ravenclaw surrounded by a delicious pile of books, but I would sneak out sometimes to Gryffindor to have some wild fun (please don’t tell my kids).

3. What’s your fall back dinner when you can’t think of anything else to make?

Taco Tuesday which can occur on any day despite my preference for alliterative meals.

4. What homeschool subject gets most frequently neglected?

Science… because I drink way too much coffee to be responsible for safety goggles.

5. What’s the hardest room in your house to keep clean?

Oh, are some of them supposed to be clean? For us the gameroom/school room because good fun is rarely neat. (I’ve simply heard a rumor that some rooms in your house are supposed to be clean sometimes…I’m not sure I believe it. -Heather) 😉

6. Time for a special Novembery question…what’s your favorite Thanksgiving tradition?

We like to reflect on all that we have to be thankful for. The girls and I also like to make an extra meal for a family who needs it.

7. Most importantly, what’s your favorite way to drink coffee?

I actually drink heavy cream and add a shot of coffee. Disgusting I know. My favorite coffee is Turkish coffee, insert deep sigh, but for now I settle for a k-cup.

Awesome blossom, thanks a million Allison! Love your wit and down-to-earthness. I’m going to have to look up Turkish coffee because it makes me think of Turkish delights, which may or may not be any good but Narnia makes me believe they’re the best ever…therefore Turkish coffee must be as well! 🙂

Thoughts on Paris and Refugees

I’ve been thinking a lot about Paris, and also about the refugee crisis. It’s not the type of thing I usually blog about, but it’s been heavy on my heart. I was horrified to hear news of the unthinkable tragedy in Paris, and encouraged by the initial, unified response of standing with them and praying for them.

I hate how quickly it feels like these awful events were turned into fuel for everyone’s own political agenda. It feels as though suddenly everyone is pointing fingers and saying “If you don’t share my exact political views, you are a horrible person.”

To be told things along the lines of, “How dare you pray for this tragedy when you didn’t show any overt concern over the bombing in Baghdad?” doesn’t feel to me like it accomplishes anything other than tearing people down. There are so many sad, awful things in this fallen world. Can we not just let people mourn with, stand with, and pray for Paris right now? I’m sure we all remember how personally affected we each were by the shock of 9/11. Who here, after all this time, doesn’t remember exactly where you were when you heard the news of those attacks? It’s been less than a week since Paris. I’m not saying to be silent about your own cause. The next time something happens with whatever cause is heavy on your heart, by all means, implore your friends to pray for that as well. But the accusatory tone I’ve seen directed toward praying for Paris right now makes me immensely sad. I’m equally sad to see hateful blanket statements made about entire people groups rather than just speaking out against the terrorists actually responsible.

It also makes me frustrated to see those wary of terrorists or struggling with fear, vilified. Not a single one of us sitting here today processing this is the bad guy. Let’s not attack one another. What happened in Paris was an act of TERROR. It was, by definition, terrifying. The idea of terrorists attacking here is a horrific thought.

And yet it also breaks my heart that in the aftermath of Paris I’ve seen refugees themselves vilified, even compared to snakes. I see so many Christians, despite a clear calling in the Bible to show God’s love to the marginalized and welcome in the stranger, standing now in opposition to refugees. I just can’t imagine if the tides were turned and my family was seeking refuge, with my three little girls and a baby on the way, at the mercy of those who had become wary of us and didn’t want to help.

I’m not saying that it’s not a complicated issue and that systems for handling the admissions process and how to care for the refugees once here don’t need to be addressed, but I cannot fathom standing against refugees fleeing the very same enemy that attacked Paris. I understand feeling that we can’t trust the government to perfectly do the job of vetting refugees. But I know we can trust God.

While we ask our questions and seek to make sure we do our best to ensure safety for our Country and our families, can we also have the courage to obey God’s call to welcome in strangers, to clothe them and feed them and care for them? At the moment, perhaps that means donating to something like the Refugee Relief Fund. For some of us, maybe the first step we need to take is to look at our hearts and re-think our words and consider whether we’re contributing to creating a hostile attitude toward refugees.

I pray that our government works out a really good system for admitting refugees, and that once they’re here, whether or not we agree 100% with what the vetting process was, and what number were allowed in, and all the political things, that we can put aside politics and treat our fellow human beings as Christ called us to…with open arms and a warm welcome.