March 26

Mel:


Today I helped move residents rooms. We are having the roof re-done at work and housekeeping is having to move rooms like crazy. This afternoon I volunteered to help out. We moved dressers, TV's, Beds, and cleaned out the closets and bathrooms. Was cool to be able to help out a bit.

Some funny things at work lately.. We have a resident who recently turned 100. Since turning 100 she has become quite sassy and this is accompanying serious Alzheimer's. So, this makes the days quite fun. She has told me within the last week that I need to be on some serious medication because something is clearly wrong with me. She told me today that if I put her name on the document(not sure which one) she was going to sue me for every last penny and she is to be taken for her word! A few days ago she told me that if she caught someone thieving on her farm that she would get a shotgun and shoot every last one of them and she has every right to shoot whoever she wants to...if I thought about thieving well, she would have to take me out too.

Oh man..I just love my residents..love love love.

March 25

Nathan:

If you remember my stories from the past about how I always drive by homeless people begging for money. Well sometimes I give money and sometimes I do the avoid the eye contact thing (usually because I don't have any cash). Well on this day I had a couple of dollars and when I drove up to the usual corner people are begging for money there was this new guy so I rolled down my window handed him the cash and he said "Why, thank you, partner" with a southern accent and a coy smile on his face. It made me laugh....even the homeless can have a sense of humor. I'm not so sure I would if I was in his shoes.

March 24

Nathan:

On my way to work sometimes I stop and get Mel from the Harrisonville Sonic (not mine) a Rt. 44 Diet Cherry limeade with extra lime and bring it by on my way to work. I always seem to have the same carhop who delivers my drink. The general rule is that when you order from a stall and the carhop brings you out a drink you tip them. Well a lot of times I don't have cash and I pay with a credit card (you can't tip on credit cards with sonic), which means I have no money to tip the carhop. Well this time I had cash and instead of just giving the carhop 50 cents or a $1 I gave her a $5 tip to make up for all those times I've gipped her in the past.

March 23

Mel:



Oh man...I let a woman go in front of me at Taco Bell. She seemed to be in a hurry and so I said, oh you can go on ahead of me. She just walked by me with a bit of an attitude which I assumed was just because she was in a hurry. Wow...I stood behind the woman for a good 7-10 minutes in line. She asked about every item on the menu..what was in it. Made a few orders and then cancelled them and wanted something different. The cashier looked at me several times with very sad eyes and whispered sorry once. I just smiled at her even though I wanted to kick the lady and tell her I takesies backsies letting her go in front!! She was finally finished and the cashier said to me.. OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!! I laughed and the cashier vented a bit to me. So interesting how things play out... : )

March 22

Mel:


We were driving in the car and about to get on the freeway when Nate and I noticed a car pulled over and two elderly people walking around their car with their doors open. Nate pulled over and they told him.."Thanks!" then they got in their car and shut the doors and drove away..haha! Oh well..sometimes it just goes that way.

March 21

Mel:


I wanted to talk about Nate...he did something really kind for one of his co-workers and I know he won't talk about and I won't tell the details but it was incredibly generous and kind of him!

March 20

Mel:



At work one of the residents wheeled by my office and she was upset and crying. I overheard her asking one of the nurses where the Social services director was. Her office is across from mine and I could see that she was gone at lunch. I yelled into the hall and asked if she was OK. She said no that she wasn't and went back to her room. I sat there for a few minutes and couldn't take it anymore. It's not really my place to work out things for the residents but I figure me going to check in with her had to be better for her than just sitting in her room being upset/sad with no one to talk too. I went in and asked her what was going on and she is one of the residents who is totally with it, mentally. She explained what was wrong and she had a total valid concern and was so sad and upset. I listened and rubbed her shoulder. Prayed for her without her knowing and then told her that I would get the SS director down to talk to her as soon as she got back. I found her when she got back from lunch and she went down and talked with the resident and worked it out for her!

March 19

Kendall:



In school there was a girl who wasn't really being good in class. So I thought to try to help her be good. At lunch I told her advice and then at math class I did too. She was still a little bad, I was trying to help her make a change. But we'll see.

March 18

Today was Cole's birthday. Year 12~ We spent the day celebrating him and it was an awesome day. The girls each wrote special cards for him and I was so blown away at their ability to express themselves. Cole is an amazing son and the best big brother a girl could ask for. Love you Cole!

March 17

Kendall:


At school there was a fight at the back table about a crayon. So, this girl had one sparkly crayon and the other girl had a whole bunch of sparkly crayons. The girl who had one was going to use it for her writing workshop. The girl who had a lot said, THAT WAS MINE! Then they fought over it. My teacher took it away from them. I had two sparkly crayons so I first gave her a brown one and then she said she lost a blue one and I looked and I had a blue one, so I gave her my blue one.

March 16

Kendall:


When my Nana and Papa were here, I had a dress that I bought with my own Christmas money . I thought I should give it to my cousin Amaya. I gave it to my Nana to put it into her suitcase and bring it to her. Nana said she wears it all the time.

March 15

CJ:


I was at lunch and then I remembered I wanted to give a girl a fruit roll up. I looked in the snack bin and there weren't any there. I thought, what should I give her?? Then I remembered that I had gushers to give her. So when I went to her, she said..you don't have to give me that. Then I said, I just want to give it to you.

March 14

Cole:


I was at school and this guy stole my Easter Egg Brownie that I was very eager to eat because they are so good. This other guy whacked it out of his hands and I dove for it and got it back. I had a giant slim jim and I decided to give it to him. He was like..ahhhh thanks!

March 13

Kids:


While out on vacation, I called and found out that all the kids were DEEP CLEANING! Well, they did so with the encouragement of their Nana who supervised and surely got her hands in it as well. All their closets and rooms looks AMAZING and Nana had them working for us for their act of kindness~

March 12

Mel:


Our Activity Director is without and assistant. She hasn't been able to replace her and with 90 residents and 8-10 daily activities planned, her days are long and full. She had a snack auction planned and it was big doings... Lots of snacks and the residents all had fake money to have a bidding war. I put my work down and went out to help her. It was hilarious and long and there was no way she would have gotten done without help. The event took about 2 hours and I was glad to help. She came by my office and wanted to buy me an ice cream or limeade for helping without asking. I thought that was super cool of her to offer. I declined and felt that the benefit of making her day a little better was the coolest part of my day.

March 11

Mel: Nate and I went on vacation for a few days to Boston/New Hampshire/Maine...it was a really great break and much needed time away/alone. My parents watched the kids and I think that act of kindness made my year..haha We are a bit behind on posting, I have to gather the kids tomorrow and write their stories~ Here are mine....


Sometimes it's hard for me to write my acts of kindness when they have to do with my residents at work. I feel like I don't know if I'm cheating because I am getting paid for being there. My job requirements are in the business office. I find myself, my heart getting wrapped up in the residents more and more. We've had quite a few deaths lately and I've been sad. I keep thinking of the ones I have started to love and spend time with every day and I know their time is short. I look for any and every opportunity to talk to them and walk with them when I am going from place to place or they come by to see me. Sometimes I feel like I can't write about it, or I shouldn't. Like it cheapens it or I don't want to seem like I am being nice to them because I have to..I don't really know what I'm saying I guess. Anyway, here are a few.


Housekeeping brought me a wallet of one of our residents. They had accidentally washed it. He was sick in the morning and they didn't see his wallet get caught up in his clothes and bedsheets. I took it and he had quite a lot of money for a nursing home. A few hundred dollars in there. I went to his room to let him know what happened. He was laying in bed and is always the neatest guy to talk too. I told him what happened and told him I was going to spread all his money out in his drawer to dry it out and he was to PUT IT BACK in his wallet asap. He told me he would and he promised. A few days went by and I ran into him and asked if he put his money back and he said he hadn't but that he would. The next day, he told our Administrator that he couldn't find the money and he thinks he either misplaced it or it got stolen. Sadly, lots of people steal from our residents. Sometimes it's staff and sometimes it's other residents not really sure what they are up too. I was CRAZY!!! I went into his room and looked everywhere. Housekeeping looked everywhere. It was no where to be found. I felt horrible and sad. I went into my Administrator's office and he could tell I was messed up over it. I just couldn't believe someone would take from him, it blew my mind. He called in a charge nurse and told her what was up. She said she would take a look. She walked back in about a minute later with a bag of prunes..wadded up in the bag were 200 worth of wet money! He had put it there to be safe. Surely, no one would look in the prunes. haha. I about cried I was so happy! I took that money and wouldn't give it back to him until It was totally dry. I set it out behind my desk, watched it all day and when it was dry, I put it in an envelope and put it in my safe. I wasn't going to give it back to him unless I watched him put every dollar back in his wallet. I guarded that money like it was a baby for the next week. : )

March 10

CJ:


When I got on the bus, I sat next to a boy. He talked about how these two boys have these really cool tech decks which are little skateboards. He talked about how they do all these cool moves. I thought for a second...I pulled out one of my tech decks I had in my backpack. I gave it to him. He said, thanks. After that, I taught him two little moves. When I was talking to someone else I saw him playing with it all the time.

March 9

CJ:



Today when I got on the bus I was talking to this guy. I asked him what does he do at recess. He said he probably always goes on the swings to watch people. I said, well you should really try something new and not do the same old thing everyday. He wasn't sure about it at first. Then, he said he probably wasn't going too. When it was recess time, the first thing I saw was him playing kickball and so I ran right over there and said..GOOD JOB! He said, thanks.

March 8

Kendall:


We were going to bed and Cole was reading to me. So, after he was done with his book, he told me to get more books and I picked up two books. I got tired and Cole asked me to get his pillow for him. I went and got his pillow. I made sure to turn out the lights in his room and mine.

March 7

Mel:



At the grocery store I was in the 12 items or less line. There was a woman in front of me, who clearly did not have 12 items or less. As a matter of fact she had 34 items. I had time to count them while we were waiting. There was a woman behind me who was seriously unhappy about the 34 item situation and that woman blatantly ignoring the line she got in. She was talking pretty loudly and was getting angrier as the 34 item woman was complaining about a cereal that she said was 25 cents more than it should have been. My plan was to let this woman cut in front of me.. but not until 34 item woman had left the line! I didn't want her getting closer to the woman at all. 34 item woman left and I had the woman behind me go ahead. She smiled and relaxed and was grateful. Funny, I found myself counting her items and maybe would have been annoyed myself if I wasn't concentrating on the woman behind Me's irritation. Probably only took an extra 5 minutes and shouldn't really have been that big of deal...Yet I did count her items myself....haha

March 6

Cole:



Today we were at a water park with our family. I was floating down the lazy river in a two person tube. These girls were standing there and they wanted a two person tube. They asked if I would give it to them. I said, sure they could use it. They said, really? Thanks.

March 5

Mel:


I see one of our CNA's eating Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. If I ever fill my candy basket on my desk up and she knows I have them in their she comes by to visit a few times and gets herself a treat. Today she was having a rough day....she looked so exhausted and worn. While I was out I picked up a King Size pack of Reeses and delivered them to her when I got back. She was so happy and I was stoked to brighten her day a little bit.

March 4

Cole:


In Math Class this girl needed help with her math problems. She needed to see if they were right so I offered to check them for her. I helped her get them all right.

March 3

Cole:


A guy was hungry at lunch and he didn't have a lot of food. He had a bag of little cookies and I decided to do a trade to him. I offered him all my tater tots for one little cookie. He took the deal.

March 2

Kendall:



When we were lining up for recess this one guy called another guy,"little kid" and he told me what he said. I decided to stand up for the one kid. I asked the guy how old he was and then I told him that the other kid was older than him so he shouldn't say that to him.

March 1

Today is CJ's 10th birthday! We all spent the day being kind to her and it was fun~ Happy Birthday CJ..We love u.

February 28th

Nathan:

Today was my day off and I was doing work at the house. I had to run to Home Depot to get some supplies and while I was there loading supplies into my car I noticed an eldery gentleman having trouble loading his truck with plywood. I offered to help load his truck he said sure and so I helped him load his truck. He was very thankful.

February 27th

Nathan:


First of all I would like to apologize to those of you who have been following this blog and my family. We have still been doing nice things every day and are still on schedule but the family has been waiting on me to post my nice things. My apoligies to all I will try to do much better at keeping up and doing my part.

Saturday Feb 27th, my nice thing for the day was while I was at work we had a customer who car had died in one of our parking spots. I had jumper cables in my car and I offered to help jump start there car. There was a mom and 3 kids and while they were waiting for me to start there car I had my employees bring out some free drinks on the store. I got the car started and they were very thankful.