God opened the door at the Laundry Mat

Day # 2 of our year long kindness journey. What to do, what to do? Well, we prayed and decided to take quarters from our change jar (this change jar we use for fun...eating out, movies, bowling, etc.) We counted out $10.00 in quarters and decided to go to the laundry mat that is the closest to us and give away quarters. Our plan, was to offer to pay to wash or dry a complete strangers clothing items. One reason we thought about the laundry mat is this time last year our dryer wasn't working and we found ourselves at the same laundry mat we were planning on visiting. I took the above picture right before we went into the laundry mat.

We began working on our action plan in the car on our way to the laundry mat. What we planned to say, what we were going to do, etc. This was completely out of our way. We had no reason to stop at the laundry mat. We walked into the laundry mat and it was packed. We quickly looked around the room and you could see children running around, people folding clothes, putting clothing in dryers, washers and some were just getting ready to start...they were sorting their clothes. The very first thing we did was go over to the laundry mat attendants and tell them our reason for being there. I want to interject, I had to explain it twice as they didn't understand why we were there to simply hand out quarters.

Okay, the first person we approached was putting clothing in her dryer and it was clear to see by the look on her face that what we were offering...to pay to dry her clothes was unheard of. She said no at first and then said you just want to give it to me? I said it would be an honor for us to be able to do this for you. She allowed us to pay the 9 quarters to dry her clothing (one dryer) she informed me that the amount to dry your clothing had gone up. Cody counted out the quarters and Ellie placed the quarters in the dryer for this nice lady. She thanked us over and over as we were walking away. We asked 2 other people and they didn't even look up. They quickly told Cody, Ellie and I that they had money and no thanks.

Well, God saved the best for last. I'm not saying the first lady wasn't a true blessing but oh my gosh, the last lady won my heart. We moved from the dryer area over to the washers. We quickly noticed this lady trying to count out money....enough money to wash her clothing. I approached her, and began explaining the year long journey of kindness my children and I are on. She had the same puzzled look on her face at first...then all of a sudden before she said yes or no to the money...she began praying for us...the three of us, asking God to be with us and bless us. She asked God to let us know that what we had done for her was a blessing and for us to always know it. I asked her how much it would take to wash all of her loads of clothing and dry them....we gave her the rest of the money. We paid for all of her washing and drying that day...no coincidence we had the EXACT amount of money she needed to do ALL of her laundry!!!! How awesome is that???? When we were walking away, heading out the door to leave, she came over and said to the three of us...God will bless you for this. I said, he already has.

As soon as we walked out the door Cody, Ellie and I couldn't wait to talk about what we felt and learned from this kindness act. I felt like a kid at Christmas time about to explode with excitement wanting to tell someone about my new toy. Wow, is all I can say!!! Cody said he learned that sometime people just need to be kind to each other that at some point we all need help. Ellie said the two ladies we helped might be kind to someone because we were kind to them. I just kept saying out of the whole day we ended up there at the exact time she was loading her clothing in the washing machine. This was a Godincident for sure!!! Amazing!!!

Thank you God for opening our eyes and hearts and placing us on this year long kindness journey. I can only imagine what is in store for this year. To God be the glory..great things He has done!!! In just a matter of two days we set out to be a blessing to others and in reality the real blessings are ours. Thank you God!!!

on your mark, get set, be kind....

love you to the moon & back,
Annie, Cody & Miss Ellie