My sister get’s recognition in her local magazine!! January 8, 2011

 

My sister featured in local magazine!

When I opened my Facebook this morning, to my pleasant surprise was this article posted on my sister’s wall:) I am overjoyed with happiness for what she was able to do through her sphere of influence! I did what I could and others in my class did too! I am a firm believer that if we just take what we have and use it we can do ANYTHING! I had not wanted to trouble my sister with another one of my attempts to raise money for a cause…but all it took was that one Saturday morning when I needed my flyers changed and she was ready and willing in her adobe program to change them for me. By her changing my flyers it not only helped us advertise on my campus, but it got her attention to how easy it is to make something huge happen. I was so excited when she said she wanted to do benefits at the venue she worked at!! Almost 2 months later and I am so thrilled to see that she was able to implore her bands to give their pay to our ministry, Compassion for Africa! go to: joegorman.net to see how you can help too:)

Although last semester is over and our project is completed I have been asked by some of the faculty to keep a monthly bake sale going. I start up again this Tuesday and will be working on planning another BS in the month of February and all donations will go to Compassion For Africa! So fun and fruitful!

“Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.” –Luke 6:38, The Message

900 people get water December 31, 2010

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I am happy to say that my sister has finished her benefit in Vegas to fund money for the well in North Ghana:)  I’m not sure how much she raised but combined with my class and our bake sales we are hoping to provide 2 wells in the area!!  It’s so exciting! As this year comes to a close I am reflecting on what a blessed woman I am to have fresh water everywhere I go.  Even as I sit at my cousins house where she has hard water that we don’t want to drink, I could and I would not be harmed by it.  But instead she has filtered water in a dispenser and we can fill that 5 gallons for under $1.  At my house the water doesn’t taste the best so I run it through a brita filter pitcher.  I go to peoples houses and their refrigerators have filters installed in them and you can have filtered water at the snap of your fingers.  I can’t even grasp what it would like to not have water.  I always have a container of water or bottles in my trunk of my car.  It seems like water is in everything I bake or make….how would I get along without it?  Especially in a hot and dry climate?  So anyways I am so glad that we were all able to join forces in many different ways in our areas of influence to bring water to a people that need it soooo much:)  Thanks to my generous sister, my classmates, my professor, the bands in Vegas, the faculty at NNU and everyone who has given to this cause.  I can’t wait till we hear the well(s) have been dug and see the pictures of the children and people:)

Have you checked out Shutterfly.com???? December 4, 2010

I have never used shutterfly before but I am always on the lookout for the best quality photo cards at a reasonable price!  I was turned on to shutterfly because they are offering 50 free Christmas photo cards if I blog about them.  So I decided to check them out and the first thing I am happy about is that one of the benefits of being a shutterfly free member is: Pick up prints at Target, Walgreens, or CVS in as little as an hour!! I don’t have a CVS but I am super close to Target and Walgreens!!  Also right now they are offering:  Free shipping on orders $50+ Promo Code SHIP50 and receive 50 free prints for signing up to be a new member!!  Sometimes when I get such great deals like this I feel like a thief!!  I love a deal so I am instantly excited to order my greeting cards this year!  From what others say about shutterfly the cards are awesome and on card stock paper instead of photo paper.  I started looking at the Christmas cards selection and have found some favorites that I would like to share:

 

so simple yet elegant

 

so fun and bright

 

traditional and fun

I defiantly want to order some of the 5×5 cards, perfect square cards are always attractive to me!!  I enjoy sending out thank you cards all throughout the year and I am really excited about ordering some thank you cards too!  I can personalize them and add a picture if I want.  Right now if you head on over it looks like they are having 20% off a lot of their cards!

I have made personalized calendars for my Mom and Dad before, and what would you know….shuttefly has theirs at 20-30% off right now!!! Head on over to Shutterfly.com and meet all your photo needs!!

Final assignment for “Extra Mile Love Project” December 2, 2010

Tami McAfee
Extra Mile Love Project
THEO 201
11/30/10

Tami McAfee was given an assignment from her Introduction to Theology Professor. The assignment required her to express love in a profound way through a project, event, or task. It had to stretch her to go beyond what she might normally do, be doable, and be completed in the next two months before the semester is over. She needed to find a good idea but was a little frustrated because she felt like she didn’t have very many good ideas for this assignment. She had ideas but because she was already a giving person she thought this was going to be very challenging. So she was talking to her friends and family trying to get any ideas. She kept getting the same response, “well what haven’t you done?” from the people who know her well. She had come up with a few ideas but she didn’t feel like they were that great, when her brother called and he thought she should try to do something like pay it forward, but he suggested she set up something online so people could report back to and share what they did, so she could see the impact that was done at the end of the project. Her brother also had mentioned that doing it this way would be so great because it seems like more and more people are doing random acts of violence instead of KINDNESS. So that ignited Tami to start her Extra Mile Love Project and that very day she created her very first blog and wrote her very first post. And http://www.extramilelp.wordpress.com was born. The idea was to do random acts of kindness and get others to do them too. What she found out was that by slowing down her life a little and being mindful to people’s needs around her she could meet complete strangers needs. She was actually inspiring and encouraging people to do things for others also! She also found that random acts of kindness were happening to her in a very fast rate! She tried to get the word out for people to report to her blog but people would rather tell her what they had done, wanted to do, or what had been done for them. So she started blogging about what other people told her and she was blogging everyday and she was trying to remember all the situations people were telling her about and she was starting to get a pile up. She had a realization that so many good things were happening to people and that it wasn’t just because she was doing a project but it was because she had become more aware and was looking for the blessings all over her life. They had always been there and were happening all the time; she just hadn’t noticed them all for what they truly were! Every day she planned to be aware of opportunities to be kind to people and do things for people that caused her to go out of her way. When she tried to plan something like helping an elderly person with their groceries when she went to the store, she never could find someone needing help. But when she went to the store with an open mind and was willing to meet a need no matter what it was, she always found someone to help or be extra kind too. She did things like:
• Stayed after class to listen to a classmate who needed to vent.
• Visited a friend who had surgery and brought a gift.
• Visited a friend who had just had a baby.
• Taught a Sunday school class that she didn’t feel qualified for.
• Made lunch for two of her friends (at their house).
• Brought a meal to a family who had suffered some medical issues.
• Took grapes to the school’s receptionist where she interns at.
• Had two friends over for dinner (one friend didn’t know the other was coming-what a great surprise)
• Left cookies in her neighbor’s mailbox.
• Brought a baby gift to class for a classmate that just had a baby.
• Let someone go before her in line.
• Spent time with a friend who needed comfort.
• Had a free giveaway of candles on her blog.
• Gave baked goods to neighbors, professors, and friends.
• Talked to homeless people in Portland.
• Participated in a day of silence and wore tape on my mouth to stand for children lost to abortion.
• Made a meal for a family in need.
• Lead and participated in a fundraising project to raise money for a Well in North Ghana.
• Gave a homeless man cookies left over from a bake sale (he wouldn’t take them unless she let him pay).
• Brought the Salvation Army bell ringer hot soup (although he couldn’t accept it-SA policy).
Tami did many other small things to show love and kindness but these were the tasks that she was able to blog about. People responded to her blog and stated they did things like this:
• Helped Tami start her blog.
• Complimented service workers.
• Sent flowers to a friend.
• Sent back packs of school supplies to kids in need.
• Pay people extra money for services.
• Hold the door open for mom’s with strollers.
• Payed for someone’s medication.
• Someone told Tami “I love reading your blog-keep up the good work, you are a treasure to this sick and dying world”
• Brought a co-worker on bed rest, Bon-Bons unexpectedly.
• Helped a friend pay a phone bill.
• Helped a friend pay her rent.
• Helped a friend pay her car payment.
• Helped someone by finding a plumber within the church that would fix plumbing for cheap.
• Bought sundaes for a family who had a hard time communicating what they wanted to employee.
• Gave food to a homeless man.
• Husband’s company gave a gift of cleaning services for a very long time period to his family who was undergoing cancer treatment.
• Gave mail man candy.
What she says she has learned is that good deeds and random acts of kindness are happening all around her. And although it may seem like it’s not because of the media and what they portray, she thinks if we open our eyes and our minds we will see it. Another think she learned was that the more you give the more you get. The obstacles she faced was having enough time in the day to do nice things that she had planned. Time kept running out every day when she would have an agenda of how she was going to do something for someone. It seemed to Tami that people were genuinely happy and felt blessed by the love she was sharing. Tami said, “This project stretched me by making me slow down my life to see needs that were around me, not just my friends and family, but for strangers”. What she thinks worked well was using the blog to record the tasks or she may have not remembered them all, and also it helped her to stay motivated every day. It also helped her to talk about it and get others involved. What she might try different is a blog that was easier for people to just comment on, she says most people didn’t share on the blog because they didn’t want to go to the trouble of setting up an account with her blog site. This project affected Tami in a way that is hard to put into words. She had thought that she was already a giving person but this project showed her how she had so much more to give. She felt she got a strong understanding of loving your neighbor as yourself because she was constantly asking herself how she could love a stranger today. She was able to see a glimpse of what it was like for Jesus when he walked on this earth. I asked Tami if she thinks someone’s life may be a little different as a result of this project, she said, “Yes, I think that all those smiles and shinny eyes were a definite indication of a life being changed through love”.

Pay it forward contest giveaway! December 1, 2010

Yay! Today is December 1st, my favorite day of the year! I love the whole month of December, and to top it off it snowed like 12 inches in my town and my University cancelled classes after noon:) Another great thing about today is that it is National Pay it Forward Day! All semester I have devoted this blog to sharing my experiences with paying it forward and my project ends today. So in celebration of writing the paper and all the good things I have been a part of either through giving, seeing or receiving I want to giveaway 5 of my mini loaves of Cranberry- Pumpkin bread to 5 people who will be chosen at Random on Dec 10th! To enter to win you need to go out of your way to a neighbor (meaning anyone) or a friend, share it in the comment section of this post and be sure to leave your name and city and state. I will notify the winners on Dec. 10th at 10pm and ship their bread the following Monday! All entries after that time will not be put in the drawing but will still be gladly accepted:) Thank you!!! I can’t wait to hear what you do and I hope you WIN!

Isn’t it too cold in Idaho to ring a bell for the Salvation Army?? November 29, 2010

I know it’s colder in other places but today in Nampa, Idaho it was chillingly cold.  It was 19 degrees but it felt like -19. Any liquid that was left on the roads from the last snow has turned to ice sheets…I can’t even walk across my street because it’s too slippery.  Thankfully my friend got me those nice isotoner gloves that I can use with my touch screen phone;)  Time to wear a scarf, hat and gloves with my down jacket each time I go outside…yours truly is COLD.  I am a warm blooded person and I am usually warm when others are cold and hot when others are warm (and yes I’m modest too).  So you get the picture, I was cold today.

After my last class I stopped by my local supermarket Paul’s to get a banana to substitute the eggs in a bread recipe for a very special little boy who has some food allergies.  Earlier I bought bananas and used them all, even though I meant to save one for the egg sub.  So I was sliding right in to the store and approached the tall young man ringing the bell for the Salvation Army.  He was wearing a hoody sweatshirt, pants, beanie and some gloves…I was thinking he is just not bundled up enough!  I asked him if he would like a hot drink.  He said “no thank you, but Merry Christmas”.  As determined as I can be I looked in the service deli for a hot anything machine but I didn’t find one.  I got my bananas and told the bell ringer I wold be right back because I had hot turkey soup in my crockpot at home right around the corner.  So I went home and found a large mug with a lid and filled it up, grabbed a spoon and some napkins and carefully walked over to Paul’s.  When I got there the bell ringer said he couldn’t accept any drinks, food or gifts from people.  Anything given to him had to go into the red bucket- Salvation Army policy he said.  I was bummed cause baby it’s cold outside!  So anyways I brought my soup home and put it in the fridge, then saw on facebook that my friend Stephanie LaFram was ill, so I’m bringing her the soup tomorrow.  Oh and by the way, the young man did tell me he was hot blooded and he didn’t feel that cold.  That reminds me of when my childhood friend and I would run around Paradise California barefoot on a hot summer day and tell ourselves that it wasn’t hot at all.  People told us to but shoes on…we wouldn’t listen!

Have you had a bell ringing experience?  You know what? I didn’t even put change in the bucket today…that was rude- I was so focused on warming the person up that wasn’t cold and probably thought I was a crazy lady:)

Well if you have had an experience please share it with me and feel free to comment if you would like:)

Blessings, T xooxox

Miracles coming through your neighbor…who’s your neighbor?? November 28, 2010

I have this friend who drives truck (18 wheeler) and goes all over the U.S. delivering food and beverages.  While he is out and about he blesses people when he feels lead too.  He is a very generous guy!  Even at a time when things are financially tight for him he is still willing to contribute to the Well in Africa!  He is an example of living by faith and being obedient  to Christ in provision for his life:)

He was telling me about a recent experience when he was waiting to get some tires replaced on his truck.  It was going to cost him $900….and he was a little scared he said, that it would wipe out his account…and what would he do next??So he was talking to a man while waiting at the tire place, he said they had an average conversation and he didn’t mention anything about his trouble…but as the guy walked away he told my friend that his tires where on him…

Wow! I say WoW, he said wow! We all say WOW!  It is so astonishing to me that a complete stranger would do such a thing…in such a big amount.  But like my Pastor says,”be prepared to bless people”.  So if you have a lot to give…well then give a lot and if you don’t have much to give….well give all you have:)

My friend said he was so humbled and grateful and it was hard to believe, but isn’t that how grace and love is???  It’s so great that average everyday people go out of their way to do profound things for people.

Today I run into my friend and she has a brand new pair of isotoner gloves for me that are designed to able me to wear them and use my touch screen on my iPhone!  Totally out of the blue and such a blessing to me:)  Wow!

What will happen tomorrow??  I don’t know but if you stay tuned you will find out:) I have to write a paper tonight about this project but I will still keep blogging…the topic just might change a little, I haven’t completely decided yet:)

Do you have any experiences you would like to share with me and my readers??? Please, I know we would all love to hear them and also it’s really encouraging to hear a blessing:)

-T xoxooxxo