Random Acts of Kindness: Day 3 ~ Compliments to the Server

With one kiddo in a full leg cast, Spring Break looked a little glum around here. Hubby and I decided to take the kiddos out to eat at BJ's Brewery to kick off what would be a low key Spring Break.

I had been but the family had not. Well...I must just say, it was an amazing time! I cannot begin to brag enough about our evening. The food was great, the timing was excellent, and the service was a 10 out of 10! I'm really not exaggerating. The first dozen jobs I had, were in full service restaurants. It is not brain surgery but I will say our town is really laking on great service.

It was so amazing that I asked our server to get her manager and come back with the manager. She looked really scared. When we first sat down I ordered a drink I dislike and sent it back to get something different. I think she thought I was going to raise hell about it.

When the manager came over, I seriously just gushed on our service. I told the manager I was really impressed and though I had brought my family to try their wonderful pizza, it was our server that would have us coming again and again. They just created regular customers and I could not think of one single thing our sever could have done differently to make it any better. I watched our server's face go from complete worry to absolutely beaming.

He thanked me for sharing the praise. I said I'm sure he was used to only talking to customers when things go wrong and people were unhappy. He asked that I never stop doing that because it really made their night and he planned on bragging about our server at the close of shift.

My kiddos and hubby were really excited to see how happy it made them. It made our night too. It's expensive to go out to eat and we've almost given up going out to eat because it's such as waste of money to get mediocre food and poor service. This night was amazing and I hope it was an encouragement to them.

We'll definitely be going back and we'll be asking to sit in Christina's section!

Random Acts of Kindness: Day 2 ~ Out and About

I've been seeing and hearing a lot of amazing ideas for doing Random Acts of Kindness (RAOK) or ways to Pay it Forward. I've been wanting to have my family participate in this for quite some time so while we were running errands, we just decided to start.

When we pulled into the Target parking lot, I saw a gentleman sitting with his dog and a sign by the parking lot entrance. I've seen him many times before today. I really only remember him because of his dog, which is a very sweet looking Pitty.

I decided to tell the kiddos we were going to start the RAOK today by getting a few things for that man and his dog. They loved the idea. It took us a bit longer than expected to get what we needed and by the time we came out of the parking lot, he was gone.

My kiddos were so sad. I wasn't going to let that stop us. As we pulled out, there was a gentleman with one of the signs for a "Buy your Gold" store. You know the sign guys, waving and dancing on the side of the road. Well, we just pulled back into the parking lot and I told my eldest to take a bottle of water to him and tell him, "This is a Random Act of Kindness. Have a nice day." and then just walk back to the car. She did it and had a blast!

Water for the Sign Guy

Well we still had a Dr. Pepper, some Goldfish crackers, some protein bars and dog treats. I just kept driving. I realized we were right next to the library so I gave the Goldfish crackers to my youngest. She went in (I walked with her) and decided to pick the security guard and told him the very same thing and handed him the crackers. She was giggling when we walked away. Her response was, "I love being random!"

Goldfish for the security guard at the public library.

Next we had a Dr. Pepper and I wanted my kiddo in the cast to just hand it to a kid walking. She didn't feel comfortable doing it, so my eldest jumped out of the car and ran up to a kid walking down the street and handed him the Dr. Pepper. I think the shock on his face was priceless. As we pulled away, my youngest said, "It's so nice to just randomly pick someone. Usually you only get little presents if you do something good or you get hurt and not just because." It made my heart melt to hear that.

Dr. Pepper for the kid walking

As we pulled on our street, we saw a family playing on the tennis courts at the apartments up the street from us. The kiddos decided it was my turn. I pulled into a parking spot and jumped out with the box of protein bars, went into the courts and announced the same thing and walked away. As I got into my car, I heard one of the kids yell, "Thanks so much!" When I got in my car, the kiddos said they were doing sound effects as I did the RAOK. I asked what that sounded like and they started narrating the entire event. I just had to laugh.

Protein bars for the kids at the tennis courts.

We had only the dog treats left. There is a path back by a creek in our neighborhood where many people walk their dogs. Of course, this would be the only day I didn't see a single soul. It was even a nice day out. As we pulled away from the path, we saw the neighbors that live behind us going into their house. I had my eldest jump out and give them the treats being we know they have a dog. Apparently, the dog was at the door when she ran up. They seemed really thankful. (I didn't get a picture of the dog treats...use your imagination.)

We didn't get to give to the guy at the side of the parking lot but that turned into 5 separate RAOK. In some ways that was really nice because it was far more random. We'll put together another bag for the next time we see that guy at Target. I still want to do something for him. My heart breaks when I think about how many months I've seen him at the same spot...so that will be another RAOK (only it's not too random since I'm targeting him).

All in all, it was super fun. It was a great way to kick off this idea. I saw many blogs of people that did it over one day for their birthday or spent one week. I think I want my family to do it throughout the year or for at least 30 times!

Random Acts of Kindness: Day 1 ~ World Water Day

This post was going to be on Saturday after tomorrow's post about our family doing Random Acts of Kindness (RAOK)...but today is World Water Day and I really want people to join the cause! All donations today are being matched, so a $5 donation turns into $10!

Our family made a donation to a wonderful cause featured on a friend's blog. My friend Mandy, is fundraising donations to hire well mechanics in India. It takes $550 to train a mechanic. One mechanic with care for 50 wells and that will bring water to 5,000 people. This is an amazing adventure and I pray they meet their goal.

Check out Mandy's blog: Houle House
She has already raised enough money to train 3 mechanics and is going for 4!
Give here.

Right now she is doing a raffle and the prizes are amazing. Some are local to Colorado Springs to receive the items and others can be nation wide. A small donation can make a world of difference. Please consider donating today. I am donating a hat I created to the raffle as another part of this RAOK.
The raffle is here and just message her the item on which you want to bid!

Today's Random Act of Kindness was also Paying it Forward. This blessing will keep on going. There are many ways as a family we want to do our RAOK and sometimes, like today, I didn't even leave my bedroom. A couple clicks today will help change tomorrow.