Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Heartfelt Acts: The First Month

January is almost over, so I am reporting my progress on the first month's Heartfelt Acts.  In case you missed it when I annoucned it; Janette of the Johanson Journey and I have been talking for a while-- trying to figure out what we could, as we wanted to do something more.  Something that would make us extend ourselves, do a little more, give a little more.  And so Heartfelt Acts was born.



Every month we have a list of two possible ideas for service, ways to give a little more. Our goal is to complete 1 or more Heartfelt Acts per month and share our experiences in hopes that it spreads to all of your hearts to give as well.

For January the goals were:
1.  Clean out your closets/kids rooms/etc. and donate to a shelter or worthy cause.
 2.  Find a cause in your community to serve for a day or a few hours.  If you have children, take them so they can experience giving as well.

I am happy to say that I was able to accomplish both this month.

At the beginning of the month we signed up to clean our church building.  I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints- or known as a Mormon; all of the positions in the church are voluntary and there is no paid clergy.   So there are many ways to serve and we signed up to spend a Saturday morning cleaning the church building.

The kids were both excited to come help.  Lucas was excited to push the big giant vacuum throughout the building and Alex helped me clean all of the windows.

As we were cleaning she said-- "I feel so happy I just want to cry.  It makes me feel good to be here cleaning."

It made my heart feel so good to hear her say that and I knew it was more than worth it.

The first goal- I sort of accomplished.  I cleaned out my closet, the kids closet, our bookshelves, the play room and ended up with this pile of things to donate.

The trouble is, the cause I was going to donate it to-- well I was too late and missed the donation truck.  So this pile lives in my bedroom (and I am continuing to add to it) until the truck comes again here soon.

So the first month was a success- especially cleaning the church as I really got my kids involved with that one.

I look forward to February's challenges which are:
1.  Bring Flowers to someone
 2.  Tell your Child/spouse that you love them every single day for the month.  You can change it up daily to fit your family.

I hope that you feel inspired to join in with us.  If you do at anytime throughout the entire year and blog about it, you can link below.  This linky is the same one on the main Heartfelt Acts post- which you can get to by clicking the little button in the upper-right sidebar and will be open the entire year.

25 comments:

  1. What a great idea!! I can't wait to join in on this.

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  2. I love cleaning out and purging-even better when you have things that you can give away that you know will make a difference in the life of someone else.

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  3. That is great! So glad you got the kids out to help clean the church...I'm sure they felt good about doing that!

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  4. That is such a wonderful idea! And you know what? February's challenge isn't all that hard.... I think that we could all do that one!

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  5. That's an impressive pile. I have a little pile to donate too, but haven't gotten around to giving it either. My kids have really enjoyed cleaning the church too. Makes me wonder while I don't sign up more!

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  6. LOVE this! Did you see my post from Monday? It's along these lines...

    And I think I can do February. I mean surely we can find someone to bring flowers to! :) And that second one is easy. Great idea, my friend!

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  7. That's awesome Emmy! It's too bad you don't have a DI in every direction like here - it makes drop off donations so convenient!!

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  8. That's awesome Emmy! It's too bad you don't have a DI in every direction like here - it makes drop off donations so convenient!!

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  9. I have the greatest family ever, every day both of my children make it a point to say "Do you know who I love? YOU!" and it makes me feel so special. I love everything you've done!

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  10. That is so great that the kids not only got involved but really got the point of what they were helping to do.

    Good for you getting things ready to donate. I REALLY need to do this!

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  11. That's fabulous and Alex is too cute! Although I think I'd have rather Lucas' job :)

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  12. What a fabulous idea! I absolutely love it. And you are teaching your children compassion and service. Way to go!

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  13. Such an inspiration! I did manage to clean out the boys' closets- but I have a pile just sitting here. I never know if I should just go donate it to the women's shelter(they have a store where all proceeds go to the shelter) or if I should give it to my sil, who has a baby... she never seems happy with handmedowns but then seems unhappy if we give things to someone else. (um, tangent, much? Oops)

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  14. I love that you do this. Seriously, you are such a great example. And how heartwarming that your kids really got into it!

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  15. awesome idea and how inspiring you rock

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  16. Oh how sweet Alex is!!! Just hearing how it affects a child who is doing good is what makes it so worth it!!! Great job to you and your family and I am so excited for February!!

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  17. I've got to try and remember to post about this. And thanks for the reminder for February -- though we are very very good at saying "i Love you" every day to each other. I love that. And I think our MLK day of service counts for this month … and I just need to get my donations to Goodwill (that is the part that actually takes the longest .)

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  18. I like that you're doing a few challenges each month. Good for you for accomplishing your first 2 goals. I LOVE cleaning out my closet. It's the best feeling. Now I need to clean out my "craft" closet..that's going to be a mess.

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  19. Yay for getting rid of stuff. I need to do that, big time.

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  20. What a great idea! I must have missed this when you first blogged about it. I LOVE that you accomplished both & that you got your kids involved. It really does do the heart good to be kind! On my 2013 Bucket List, I vowed to do Random Acts of Kindness throughout the year. I actually completed two this month. I spoke with a lady who was gathering items for her niece. Her niece was expecting a child and didn't have anything for it yet. I sorted through Annalee's closet and gathered up sleepers and such. I still have a few more things to gather & my SIL is gathering up hers so we can send it to them. The second was I made a dozen of cookies for a guy my Hubby works with. I sent up some during Christmas and he sent me rave reviews on them. As I was making some here for the house, I decided to fix him a dozen and sent them to him. He was very appreciative! I can't wait to follow along with you this year on this project. Totally awesome!!!

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  21. Awwweee your daughter's comment gave me goose bumps, what a sweet sweet girl.

    Great donation pile! :)

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  22. I love this! Such a great thing to teach the little ones!

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  23. I have been so motivated to clean out and organize lately, that I almost wondered if I was pregnant. Almost. Not quite. I finally feel like I'm making progress working toward simplifying our life and home. It's only taken a few years, lol!

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  24. Heartfelt Acts is such a great idea, and I love that you got the kids involved too. Those kinds of lessons stick. :)

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  25. This is such a wonderful, wonderful idea! I would really like to motivate myself to join up.

    Coincidentally, I just posted about flowers today on Urban Earthworm. A lot of bouquets come from Kenya; buy local!

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