Saturday, October 23, 2010

RAOK #6

This weeks RAOK was the most emotionally moving one thus far.


I purchased three QuikTrip prepaid gas cards. I decided to randomly pass them out to unassuming people.


My first recipient was a 30ish Hispanic woman who had her 1-2 year old in the car with her. She spoke little English but fortunately my Spanish is still strong enough that we were able to have a short dialogue. When I first gave it to her, she was baffled. She looked at the card, looked at me, looked back down at the card. Then she asked what it's for. I told her she could use it for whatever she wanted...gas, food, whatever she wants. She smiled a huge smile and turned around. A few seconds later, she turned back around. "Do you speak Spanish?", she asked. "Solamente un poquito.", I replied. And so she asked me again, what for? And I said to her "It's a gift, a gift for you".


I went inside to buy my coffee and pay for gas. When I came back, she was still there. Smiling a smile so big I almost didn't know how to receive it. She asked me my name. And even though I'd just gone running and was a pile of sweat and stinkiness, she reached over and pecked my cheek, gave me a hug and said "Gracias" in a the most pure, sincere and grateful way.


I cried.


The second recipient was a police officer dressed in uniform but pumping gas for his personal vehicle. Although we had a much shorter exchange, he was grateful. And I was sure to thank him for his service.


And the last recipient was an old African American woman who I spotted while she crossed the parking lot to prepay her gas. I just thought she looked sweet. So I stuck my hand out the window and asked if I could give her "this". "What is it?" she asked. A gift card. "Take it and have a wonderful day!" And she did. I drove away with her smiling in my rear view mirror.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

RAOK #5

We hit the "Trash Pot"!





I absolutely LOVED this week's RAOK. This past weekend, our family plus one went to the lake to enjoy looking out different windows and spending our downtime some other way. We packed in all sorts of activities...fishing, boating, roasting marshmallows, watching movies, etc.

We also participated in our RAOK #5 and this one was for Mother Nature.



Doc was out fishing so the kids and I found some gloves, gathered some plastic bags and drove the golf cart up to the main road that takes us to our private drive. I gave the kids a few safety instructions (cars, poison ivy, etc.) and off we went on a treasure hunt to see who could find the most litter hanging out roadside. We had a separate bag for the recyclable items so that we could dispose of them separate from the garbage.

The kids absolutely loved this project! They were practically racing one another to see who could find an object first and who could fill their bag the highest. On multiple accounts they told me that "This is FUN!". And Miss Elle was insistent that part of our group cover one side of the road while the others checked the opposite side so as not to miss a single item.

We found lots and lots of beer cans and practically made a game out of seeing how many brand names we could locate. BTW, the kids had never seen a jumbo BUSCH Light can before (that may have been the only surprise)! Dakota was happy to find this Coke can that's been litter so long it's sun faded.








I'm so proud of my lil' clean up crew. All in all we spent $0.00, one hour of our time and filled 5 bags, gathered recyclables and taught the children (with a gentle reminder to myself) about the importance of giving back to Mother Earth and our community.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

God & Me Ceremony


Dakota was recognized this past week for the completion of his God & Me series with pack 10 at Asbury United Methodist Church. Dad was his mentor during this self guided study and I am so grateful for the time the two boys had to bond together in their readings of Christ. Our son is turning into an amazing young man and I couldn't be more proud.



The group of God and me students and their mentors were brought to the alter for a brief prayer and recognition of their achievement. The scouts were awarded a God and Me medal and a dog tag necklace with Mark 19:26 engraved on it. The scripture reads "With God, all things are possible".


The Doctor crew (minus one) was in attendance and we are very grateful for the support they showed Dakota that evening.


And here we are...our fam (minus one) in honor of Dakota and his mentor (Doc) for the successful completion of an amazing program.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

RAOK #4

This week's random act of kindness was somewhat impromptu. I suppose they all are to a certain extent but this one had zero forethought.
I find myself going into the PennWell canteen each morning so I can get my fill of java to help kick start the day. Undoubtedly, the flavor of my choice for that day, no matter which one, is almost always empty. And naturally, I spend time restocking the flavor that I'm drinking so that the next poor soul in need of a caffeine fix will be pleasantly surprised to find that flavor completely restocked.

But today I restocked all of them! Now all my co-workers will be happy (not just the drinkers of my variety). Well...they'll at least be happy until noon when restocking is required again.