People, they are amazing.

There are some wonderful things going on in the world. We hear so much negative on the news, I’d like to share some amazing stories and let you feel the love. A few days ago, I read about Kelli, a woman who needs a kidney transplant and who was losing her insurance. On Boomama’s blog, she decided to not just ask for prayers for Kelli, but started a fund. Now, I’m not saying that I support every old fund raiser for sob stories out there, but I was touched by this, and wanted to learn more. And in one day, people donated over $8,000 to help her with her payments. That doesn’t take away her health problems, and it doesn’t take care of all of her family’s financial troubles, but it sure helps out, and it sends a message that people out there care about her. Even people who don’t know her and never will.

And I have to tell you about my friend Robin. ( I hope this is ok, Robin!) Robin’s been a single mother for quite some time now, and she’s dealt with a lot of obstacles. She’s come a long way from that hyper, impulsive, instead of going to class I think I’ll go skydiving friend we knew and loved in college. She’s strong and independent, raising her kids to be good people. She tells me the worst part of being divorced isn’t being a single mother, it’s dealing with her ex-husband. He is constantly questioning her judgement, and seems to think it’s his right to take her to court every two years or so and fight her for custody of the kids and argue about his child support. Worse than the financial struggles this brings, is the mental anguish she goes through every time he drags her into court, badmouthing her mothering style and all that she’s trying to do.

She’s been in the process of remodeling her kitchen for quite some time. She ripped up the flooring, starting taking off the wainscoating on the walls, and did a lot of demolition. I believe she bought some tile and carpet, but then sold it because she needed cash to pay some bills. She’s had a plain concrete floor in the kitchen for quite some time, which cannot be fun to stand on.
So, right before Christmas, Robin took her kids on a trip, and one of her church leaders and friends asked her if it would be ok if they did a little work on her kitchen while they were gone. In six days they TOTALLY redid her kitchen. They painted the cabinets, put down new granite countertops, put wood floor in the kitchen and family room, stripped and painted the walls, put in a new sink and dishwasher (I think) and made everything pretty. All while she was gone. Unbelievable.

The pictures got a little distorted from my messing with them, but you get the idea, right?

So, friends, there is great kindness in the world, and it’s going on right around us. Join in. Do something amazing for someone else. Or if you can’t do something big, do something small to make someone else’s life better.