Max!

This sweet little guy turns 9 today!  Where has the time gone?!  

What a gift he is!  I feel so lucky to have Max in my life.  He has such a compassionate heart and is always thinking of others.  He is creative and smart and just makes me laugh each and every day!  We are so proud of him and the young man he is becoming.  God has a great plan for him and I can't wait to see what that is.  Happy Birthday Max....we love you VERY much!

 

10 years!

How did this sweet baby girl get to be so big so fast?!

 I can't believe that 10 years ago TODAY, I became the mother of this cutie pie!

The time has flown by!

 

I'm so lucky to have this awesome girl in my life....she is the best daughter a girl could ask for!

Happy 10th birthday Maggie

I love you with ALL my heart!

 

Project 40! {Sharing Pictures}

It's only a month late...but I'm finally sharing a few of my favorite pictures from my Project 40!  

Hope you enjoy!

 Placing $1 bills through-out the dollar store...inside this 40th Birthday card was my favorite!

 Outside the dollar store, this sweet lady found a post-it note on her car window...I loved watching her reaction.  She got in her car and stuck it to the inside of her car window...doing it with a great big smile! 

 Getting and Giving coffee (or if you are under 10...hot chocolate)  Great to see so many smiles from the people at Eli's! 

 A huge "Thanks" to Johnson's Floral for the discounted price for 40 carnations!

  I wasn't expecting that at all!

 An interview with Phil Luciano from the Peoria Journal Star...another unexpected surprise!  

 We followed these ladies into the parking lot of the Post Office...I jumped out and gave them each a book of stamps!  They were just the sweetest ladies ever!  

 So glad this guy was able to share the day with me!  

 The folks at Kroger found out what I was doing ( I ordered my 40 balloons through them..wink) and tracked me down inside the store.  They gave me a 40 balloon, a bouquet of yellow flowers and a gift card!  Oh, and they sang "Happy Birthday" to me....right there in the store.  It was really sweet!

 This sweetheart was so happy to receive a carnation, she even wanted to get her picture taken with me!  

Isn't she darling! 

 Paid for lunches at McDonald's, this was the thank you note Kevin wrote me before he found out I was sitting behind him watching the entire time.  He was the sweetest guy and so appreciative!  

 Day 2 with a great group of little people!  We drug them around ALL day and they were troopers! 

 Taking 40 balloons to the cancer center!  I think my MOST favorite event of all.  Everyone was SO nice and I think it made a lot of people smile that day!

 It was totally fitting to get behind this car as we traveled around town!  

Express Joy!  That's just what we did!

One of our final stops was at our favorite local ice cream shop...paying $40 for people in line!  A great treat for them and for US! 

There are a TON more pictures, wish I could share them all.  Just a HUGE "Thank you" to my pal, Polly for letting me drag her around for two days and having to capture ALL these amazing images so that I will remember this always! 

The List!

Here is the list of my 40 Random Acts of Kindness:

This is to share with everyone to give you ideas of things YOU can do for others....this is also because I am the QUEEN of lists, and I just don't want to forget any part of this amazing birthday!

1. Left a note of thanks along with a $10 Subway gift card for my mailman
2. Bought donuts at Kroger and took them to the Police Station, with another note of thanks
3. Placed 20 crisp $1 bills in random places through out the Dollar Tree (please ask/notify the staff before doing this!)
4. Went to a local coffee shop and gave $40 in free coffee to the folks coming in for their morning brew! (I actually gave the clerk 3, $10 gift cards and walked the other $10 card over to a few ladies telling them to set another date to come back together for coffee on me!)
5. Went to the laundromat and loaded 6 cards with $5 each (btw, when did they stop using quarters?)
6. While at the laundromat, we gave the attendants each a box of Girl Scout cookies, (one of the girls just had a birthday on Tuesday)
7. We also left new coloring books and new crayons for the kiddos who would be SO bored while mom/dad are doing laundry!
8. We stopped at the library and took them granola bars and hard candy to put in their study rooms....for all those "late night" studiers.  (Although, our library is only open till 9 pm....but you get the idea!)
9. We also gave $20 to the library to pay for anyone who came in to pay for their over-due books!
10. We put quarters on top of the self-serve car wash, we also hung baggies with money at 2 automatic car washes.  
11. We ordered 40 beautiful carnations and delivered them to the residents at a local retirement home.  I think this really brightened their day....I know it did mine.  
12. We pulled into the Post Office parking lot right as two older ladies were pulling in.....I gave them each a sheet of stamps and they were thrilled.  These two ladies were just the sweetest!  
13. Took several Sudoku/Word Search/Crossword puzzle books and pens to a doctors office where there are people who have to wait while their loved one is seeing the doctor.  
14. Delivered 3 gifts to 3 very special ladies in my life who have had a rough year!  I LOVED shopping for them...I hope it reminds them that they all have lots of love and support from their friends!
15. Placed sticky notes with positive messages, on the driver's side window of cars in parking lots!  Saw people put them on the inside window as they got into their cars...this made me smile.  BTW, I'm keeping Post-It notes and a Sharpie in my car at.all.times...this should be done everyday!! 
16. Used a $25 McDonald's gift card to pay for several people in line.  I "got" 3 guys' lunch and a mom with 3/4kids.  "Kevin" even wrote me a thank you note on a napkin!  His response was priceless!  Thanks Kevin!
17. We fueled up with some lunch at Monical's.  However, for lunch they have you order at the counter and then bring it out to you....so we paid for our lunch at the counter, ate and then as we were leaving...left $40 cash on the table.  
18. We helped load groceries into the cars of people coming out of Kroger and returned their carts for them.  
19. Kids passed out smiley-face stickers to kids where ever we went!  :)
20. Pumped and paid for a ladies gas....$63 to fill up her mini-van!!
21. Gave another $25 gas card to a young mother pulling into the gas station
22. As I was paying for the gas for the mini-van, I handed the guy behind me a $25 card!
23. Went to dinner with my parents Wednesday night....my dad picked up the bill and paid the tip....I left an additional $40 for our waitress!
24. Picked up 40 balloons and took them to the Cancer Center in honor of my mother-in-law, Joy!  This was the BEST part of the entire project.  It was everything I had imagined and more!  It took a few hours to walk around and deliver a balloon to all the patients receiving their treatment.  It brought back lots of memories and I know that Joy was smiling down on my yesterday! 
25. Gave a $50 Kroger card to a elderly gentleman....he stopped and prayed for us, right then and there! 
26. Stopped at the OSF emergency room and delivered a Confectionery cake!  "Thanks for ALL you do!"  
27. Delivered a $10 Culver's card to my favorite UPS delivery guy.  But instead of just handing it to him, I delivered it to the UPS truck lot...I wanted to make sure his boss knows how much Morton appreciates Tim!
28. I also gave a box of GS cookies to the customer service rep at UPS
29. Stopped by a local barber shop and paid $20 for the next gentleman's haircut!  There were 4 guys waiting, so we stayed and chatted with them for a little while.  (LOVE old guys!)
30. Went to Aldi....found a young mom and little girl just checking out...paid for ALL her groceries!  She was speechless...I was shaking the entire time.  Knew I had found the right person!  This one still gets me shaking just thinking about it! 
31. Went across the street to Kroger in EP...found a couple with a heaping cart....handed them a $50 Kroger card.  The husband just kept asking, "Is this for real??"  ....the lady, gave me the biggest hug ever!
32. Found another young couple with a baby....in their cart were at least 10 cans of baby formula.  I knew they were the "right" people too!  Gave them another $50 Kroger card!
33. Dropped off a $50 cash tip to a lady I met last week.  She is a single, mother of 5....what more needs to be said here! 
34. Stopped at DQ and used a $40 gift card and paid for ice cream treats for lots of people in line.  
35. Took kids to the park, had them hide 40 Easter eggs filled with a sticker and a quarter!  
36. Kids also left glass pebbles with pink hearts painted on them.  We put them in little holes that we found in the sidewalks.
37. Bought $40 worth of pet supplies (dog food, puppy food, cat food, shampoo, dog treats, brush to TAPS animal shelter
38. Also sent $50 check to TAPS animal shelter
39. Mailed a $50 Kroger gift card to Taz. Cty Veterans Assistance - for a Veteran!
40. Gave the girl who took our order at lunch, $40 cash...just because
41. Gave $120 worth of craft supplies to Children's Hospital of IL.  These funds were from 3 VERY special kids, none of them even double digits yet!  My kids and our sweet friend Caroline, all three of them gave me $40 of their OWN money...all on their own!  No prompting!  So with "their" money...we thought it was best to give to other kids!  This just warms my heart!
42. Delivering a treat to all the teacher/staff at my kids school...but it's still a secret since we are on Spring Break
43. Delivering toiletries, Kroger gift card and a personal gift card to BACE 
44. Finding a girl who shared on FB that she received one of our $5 cards at the laundromat.  When I find her, she is getting $100 just for sharing her story with others! 

Share this, Pass it on, Pay it Forward!




More blogging about this soon.....

God is so good!

So, I know I'm not really blogging again, but I just felt that this was totally blog worthy and decided to share it here.

This morning I met with my new MS neurologist.  And he gave me some really, REALLY, great news.

Basically, the original main lesion on my brain stem that caused my diagnosed of Multiple Sclerosis is no longer there.

Instantly, I thought..WooHoo...I don't have MS!  That's not actually the case.  I do still have it, but my case is very mild and that's a wonderful thing!

The other bit of exciting news is that I get to go from a daily injection to EVERY OTHER DAY!  This is HUGE!  Every good news!  

A huge "thank you" to all who have prayed for me, believed in me and shared your love and support!  I'm very blessed!  Thanking God for this miracle in my life!