Harrell 6th Grade Girls Spark House + Smith 6th Grade Girls Spark House = Creative Random Acts of Kindness.
Backyard games
These two 6th grade girl houses joined for lunch and free time after the morning session. After lunch and a few games in the Smith’s backyard, we settled down to plan our afternoon of Random Acts of Kindness. Following with the theme of the weekend – RELATIONSHIPS -the girls brainstormed about who they could minister to.
Very quickly the names of Kenny and Alan came to their minds; they were all in agreement as to how they could go shopping for something special for both of these boys. Then we moved on to a bigger idea – baskets of “treats” for nurses and staff members of nursing homes.
The girls divided into groups and began the various tasks – some shopping, some baking, while others decorated the baskets and filled them to take to the nursing homes. From 1:30 to just after 4 p.m., the girls were busy on their tasks. At around 4:30 p.m. we began the deliveries in a caravan of three carloads of girls.
The deliveries were such a blessing to us. First stop was Kenny.
Kenny and the girls
When we walked in the door, he was so excited, especially when he saw the Winnie the Pooh coloring book. Then he tasted the home cooked sugar cookies; his favorite!
The next stop was to visit Alan. Though he wasn’t home, his Grandmother was thrilled to see the girls and the cookie cake they had made and decorated in a sports theme just for Alan. Our next stop was Tarrytowne, a nursing home. We delivered baskets of treats to the workers and a plate of brownies for them to share.
Back in the cars again we headed toward Spring Branch Health Center. Here we also left another few more baskets of treats and plates of cookies for the workers.
Spring Branch Health Center
The head nurse was on rounds and unable to come to greet us, but when I found her down the hall, she was nearly in tears as I told her we had brought treats for the staff. She was so appreciative that someone had remembered the staff since it is the residents who usually get gifts and treats.
The girls spent a few moments with the residents they found sitting in the front hall and gave them paper origami animals they had made. Our last stop was at a third nursing home just down the street. We were greeted by the night manager who took us on a tour of the building so we could deliver our gift baskets and cookies to all 3 nurse stations. The workers were most appreciative of the thought.
At 6:30 we rolled back to the Smith’s house where we were greeted by my parents, JoAnne and Lowell King, who had dinner warm and ready for us to eat. As we walked in the door, we realized that the girls who had been baking earlier in the afternoon at the Smith House, had set up the house as a “café” for a Random Act of Kindness for the rest of the girls; individual hand-decorated placemats were set for each girl with specific words of encouragement adorning every one. The afternoon could not have been better!
As we were loading the cars for half of the girls to return to the Harrell house after the fellowship dinner, one of the girls asked if we could go back later so that all of the sixth grade girls could spend the night together; the relationship theme for this Spark weekend has been established!
We have now finished the evening session, and the girls in the Harrell house are winding down after still some more cookies and a special delivery of home-made BANANA PUDDING that arrived just this evening!
As the pastor says, God is good All the time; all the time, God is good.
