The Best Birthday Ever

I've hesitated posting about this, because it seems like the kind of thing I'd normally keep to myself.  And I wasn't sure I could express it and have it received the way I felt it.  In the end, I decided to go for it for a couple of reasons.  I first got the idea of doing this from reading someone else's blog, and I appreciate them taking the time to share their experience because it blessed my life.  I also use this blog to document our life and I want to remember this and I want my kids to remember it.

My birthday is one of my favorite days of the year.  I love the kind wishes that friends and family express.  I love getting to pick my favorite dishes to eat.  I love the cake.  I love the presents.  I pretty much love everything about it.  When I think about it, most of the things I love revolve around something that someone else is doing for me.  My family and friends are so sweet to make me feel special and loved and I truly appreciate it.  But this year, I wanted to share the happiness and gratitude I felt for getting to experience 33 wonderful years of life, with others.  So I decided to perform 33 acts of kindness for others in honor of my birthday.

Here are some of the things we did throughout the day.

First, I let the kids stay home from school.  They thought that was awesome.

Next I made a donation to the church's Humanitarian Aid fund.

We sent a treat package to some friends we love. :)

We left a treat in our mailbox for our Mail Carrier.

I took the kids to pick strawberries, something they've been wanting to do all season.

Then later on, we gave some berries and dipping chocolate to our sweet neighbors.

I rented a "guy movie" from Redbox to watch with Cory that evening.  This was a big deal, since I rarely like to watch movies and even more rarely want to watch an action movie.

We took $1 bills and paper clipped a note to them and hid them in the toy section at Dollar Tree.  This was really fun.

I got the kids the silly suckers at Dollar Tree. :)  They were thrilled!

Jay was getting hungry, so I let the kids play at the park while I fed him.

Speaking of feeding the baby, I fed and changed him 331 times throughout the day.  (Maybe not that many, but it did happen a lot. :))

We took a little gift to two of our neighbors.  They both loved them. :)

I treated the kids to frosty's at Wendy's.  

Then we paid for the person in line behind us.

This turned out to be one of our favorite things.  After paying and driving off, Elise said, "I wish we could see what they say or do when they realize we already paid!"  We got out of the parking lot and were at the stoplight, when they happened to pull up beside us and had us roll down our window and thanked us.  I told them that I was trying to do 33 acts of kindness for my 33rd birthday and that I appreciated them letting me serve them today.  They were so kind and gracious that it just warmed our hearts.

We also contributed to the Children's Miracle network fund.

I cleaned out my closet and donated some clothes to a local charity.

I ordered flowers and had them sent to my parents, thanking them for the decision to have me and giving me chance to have such a beautiful, blessed life.

They were supposed to look something like this. :)  Another of my kindness acts ended up being that I had to forgive the florist for not delivering the flowers until the next day.

We taped more of our notes and coins to the drink machines.

We dropped of flowers and chocolate at the house of one of my sweet friends.

There aren't pictures for everything.  I sent an kind email to someone.  I left a sweet comment on a blog I love.  I sent a text to someone I thought might need it.  I hugged my kids.  I gave them all extra smooches.  I was patient with them, even when it wasn't easy to be.  I smiled at everyone I passed.  I let someone turn in front of me at an intersection.  I picked up after the kids, when normally I would have asked them to do it themselves.  I left "happy notes" around for my family to find.

I love birthdays.  I love celebrating myself. :)  But I truly don't know if I've ever had a happier birthday, and I think I've had a lot of happy ones.  I don't know that I can express the joy I felt in my heart throughout the day.  It was so fun to share the day with my kids and see them catch onto the fun of serving and surprising others.  Several of them commented about what an awesome day it was and how they wanted to to something like that on their birthday.  Cory sent me a text that afternoon that said, "You are awesome.  What you did today was very special and taught our kids an amazing lesson.  You are a great woman and mother."  Yeah, he's pretty wonderful.  Honestly, I set out to share the genuine love and gratitude I have for so many blessings in my life.  What I got back in love and gratitude from my sweet husband, my kids and even perfect strangers paid me back ten-fold.  

It was an amazing day and one of the best birthdays ever.  I am one blessed woman.

I'm reminded of a primary song:

"Thank thee for the world so sweet;

Thank thee for the food we eat;

Thank thee for the birds that sing;

Thank thee, God, for everything."