WOW!

Well, I must tell you I am shocked, in a good way! The Gollihue family has continued doing our kindness journey...each and everyday a new act of kindness. I have been overwhelmed with the e-mails and phone calls about the blog. I knew there were 20 something "followers" on this blog and few comments....so, I thought I would keep the journal just for us. I really thought nobody would miss this blog as I really thought it was only my family reading and rereading the posts.

I have been writing down the days and acts and the responses....just like I had been blogging. You know, I really thought that the blog was really just for my family... a way for us to look back at our favorites, to see how God was working, etc. So, I never really thought about not blogging on here. To be honest, I never realized how many people has been following this blog.

Be watching over the next couple of days as I begin the task of getting caught up on here. I can promise, I will continue blogging, good Lord's willing, about our acts of kindness.

There is nothing special about the Gollihue family...nothing at all. We are merely being kind. After all, isn't that what God wants us all to do?

Are you ready??? Well, I will be posting several each day until I am caught up.....rest your eyes.

Thanks so much for your love & support. I can't tell you how much that means to us.

I love you to the moon & back,
Annie

Armstrong All Star tumbling team (day 41)

Yesterday was day 41, I'm a day late in this post...SORRY!!!! Anyway, back to the posting... when we woke up yesterday morning we knew what we would do for our act of kindness. Actually, we had been working on it for a couple of days.

What were we up to you are wondering?? Well, just recently we learned that Armstrong Studio's All Star tumbling team was getting ready to leave for national tumbling competition. Wow, the national competition is being held in Virginia Beach, Va. Cody & Ellie both were a part of the Armstrong All Star tumbling team in the past. We decided we wanted to make good luck bags for each of the team members and for the 2 coaches.

We spent several days shopping for the right bags, the items to go inside and the perfect card to say how proud we are of them and to wish them luck. When we collected all of them items we wanted to go into the bags we turned our ping pong table into an assembly line. Cody & Ellie made sure careful attention was given to each bag to ensure that each one of them got the exact same thing...from 5 peppermint pieces of candy, 4 tootsie rolls, etc. I was so proud of them and the All that they put into this act. They amaze me daily. I know, I know I have been saying that a lot lately but it is so true.

We dropped the bags off to one of the parents to take for us to the last practice before the team headed out to nationals. We have already heard from one of the tumblers on the team thanking us for the goody bag and saying she missed the kids on the team with her.

Thank you God for this kindness journey and for Cody and Miss Ellie. God I pray at this time for the tumblers and for them to stay calm and to do the best they can do, I pray for traveling mercies for the families and coaches. God thank you for Armstrong Studio and all the kindness you continue to show us on a daily basis.

Our God is an awesome God He reigns from Heaven above!!

Where will we be next? Stay tuned. Until then.....

On your mark, get set, be kind.

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

River Cities Harvest day #40

I can't believe today is day 40 of our kindness journey. Wow! Where has the time gone?? Time really does fly when you are having fun!!

We knew going into the day what we wanted to do as our act of kindness. River Cities Harvest was collecting items from 11-5 for the flood victims of Pike county, KY. We knew without a shadow of a doubt this is what we wanted to do. We talked about how blessed we are that we haven't been directly touched by the flood. Ellie called this God's kindness to us. Doing this act of kindness spurred Cody into a deep conversation about Noah's Ark, God's promise to never destroy the world with the flood again. Cody really was in deep thought and conversation. He said, "is God mad at the way we are living and He wants our attention? Is that why there have been so many floods?" Wow! I can honestly say that it was this act of kindness that got us talking in a way about the floods that we hadn't before. It amazes me at just how smart they are.

Off to Kroger we go...to buy paper towels and bottled water. When we walked into Kroger we immediately saw a display for (3) 24 bottled waters for $10.00 and beside of it next end cap over was the paper towels. Cody said, "this is neat that it is here it is a God thing..we were meant to get these things."

Once we arrived at River Cities Harvest we noticed a large box truck with H.O.P.E. of Pikeville on the side of the truck. I pray that those people in that devastated are do in fact find hope. When we got there the kids jumped out and were quick to help place the items in the back of the truck.

While on today's journey, I ran into a high school friend. It had been 20 years since I had seen him last. He told me that lots of people were coming from all over to help out. Praise God!!!

thank you God for this kindness journey! Thank you for Cody & Ellie!! Thank you God for River Cities Harvest, H.O.P.E of Pikeville, the volunteers and all that came out in support of the people of Pike county. God please bless the people of Pikeville hold them in your arms and give them strength, peace and comfort that only you can provide. God thanks for allowing me to run into a high school friend.

You are an awesome God!! Thank you for your continued kindness that you show us on a daily basis!

Where will we be tomorrow? Stay tuned. Until then....

On your mark, get set, be kind.

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

Giovanni's Pizza day 39

Today has been one of those slow going kind of days. I think the kids and I (Elliott is at Fort Knox doing Army stuff) are still recovering from all of the activities from the Christmas in July party yesterday. Well, Cody woke up not feeling well this morning, so there was no church for us today. Each time he got up he fell over saying he wasn't well. So, he slept the majority of the day...finally waking up at 3:30. When he woke up he felt like himself again. Thank goodness! I don't like it when my buddies are sick.

What was the first place on his mind to eat? Giovanni's Pizza!! YUMMY! Of course, like any good mother, I said, "yes." Alright, alright, maybe I said yes because I wanted it as well. Whatever the reason, Giovanni's was about to be dinner. I called Giovanni's, they just happened to be programmed into my phone, and placed our order. After I ordered it started raining. I felt badly that someone was going to have to bring our food to us in the rain. I actually felt guilty. So, we decided that we would hand the delivery driver a thank you card from all of us. Miss Ellie made her own thank you card and Cody & I signed one that we had here at home. He wanted to be the one that explained it to the delivery driver when they got to our door.

OKay, the time had come. The door bell sounded and the kids jumped to their feet. Cody flung open the door and asked like a little man, "how much was our order?" How cute! After Cody placed our dinner on the counter he grabbed the check and the cards to hand to the delivery person. He opened the door with such confidence, handing both the check and both cards to the driver. While he was handing them to the driver he said, "my family and I are on a kindness journey and we want you to have this as a thank you for what you do for us." It was precious! You can betcha, Miss Ellie and I were listening closely and watching out the dining room window to see the drivers reaction. The reaction of the driver was that of shock and I think he was stunned. We watched as he walked to his vehicle looking at the check and the cards.

This was simple act of kindness and it felt so good. I hope that the cards were a blessing to delivery person. Have you been tagged with kindness lately? If so, hold it in your heart and go tag someone else with kindness.

Thank you God for this kindness journey! Thank you God for my family! Thank you God for Giovanni's Pizza and for all of the workers who are a blessing to my life with the kindness they show us each and every visit.

Where will we be tomorrow? Stay tuned. Until then.....

On your mark, get set, be kind.

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

Christmas in July?

What is Christmas in July? Well, today For Jamie's Sake along with some other fine folks held an event for children in SNAP (special needs adoption program). All of the children in this program have had their parental rights terminated due to NO fault of their own. For Jamie's Sake has worked for months in preparation of this big day. We got items together for the crafts and the beach baskets packed with goodies that Santa would give away.

Oh, my gosh we left early this morning. We needed to be in Lexington at 10:00 to start decorating...you can do the math because it is a 2 hour trip so you can guess how early we left. When we got to the Ramada Inn (the location of the party) the kids and I along with other For Jamie's Sake volunteers immediately sprung into action. We started getting boxes and bags out of the vehicles and into the hotel. While we were doing this we were also on the look out for any child who possibly would register early that we could entertain.

Decorating...done...craft set up....done.....baskets ready for Santa to give away...done.....say a pray of blessing on the day...done....party game face.....ON!!! Cody, Ellie and I worked in whatever role that was needed. Ellie worked for a long time making flip flop crafts with some children. Cody did the limbo, I did the hula hoop, and the kids and I showed them all how to cha cha slide.

I didn't have to tell Cody or Ellie one time to go help this child, go move a box, go do this or go do that. They were in full action help mode. Honest to goodness, I stood today in complete amazement of my children. I watched as Ellie listened attentively to a child tell his story. She helped this child with the shoes and made sure he was not alone all day. He became her buddy. In making this child her buddy for the day did not mean she didn't help others...negative! She was all over the place helping. Cody tossed frisbee, jumped rope and really allowed the boys to have a pal that was there all for them today. They both had the one child that pulled at their heart the most.

I found myself overly emotional at this event. I saw the children looking at the prospective parents wondering if they could be their new parents...there forever family. I saw the same look in the faces of the adoptive couples faces wondering if these children could possibly be their child in the future. I have been the hopeful adoptive mom at these types of events....the faces of the children forever touch your soul.

I pray that from today's event that children will find their forever families. Thank you God for Adoption! Thank you for adopting us into your family. God, I pray for all of the children everywhere without a loving forever family. God, thank you for this kindness journey. Thank you for Cody & Ellie!!! Thank you for the For Jamie's Sake volunteers and those individuals who support For Jamie's Sake. I will forever feel like I'm not doing enough to help find these children their own forever families. Wow, I can't imagine life without my family. Thank you God for each of them. Thank you God for my parents, my sister, my husband, my children, my niece & nephew, my cousins, my aunts & uncles, for my entire family.....God, I give you thanks for them...you showed me sooo much kindness when you gave them to me. Praise be to God!

Where will we be tomorrow? Stay tuned. Until then....

On your mark, get set, be kind.

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

telephone book and random???

Today's activity involved all 4 of us, the telephone book, 4 blank cards (and envelopes), ink pens, stamps and the post office. What did we decide to do you ask? Well, I called the entire family together into the dining room...I think they feared I was about to declare a "family meeting" That is where we discuss family rule changes, chore details, etc. I wasn't calling a meeting...I had the kindness activity for the day on my mind and it was time to get busy with it.

I placed the phone book on the table and slid it to Ellie first. The only rule, pick someone from the white pages that you do not know. I told her when she found someone to turn down that page (place a small mark by the name so you don't forget) I gave the same instructions to the boys as well. After we each selected 1 person a piece that we didn't know from the phone book I then handed them a blank card and told them to write this person. No need to worry, I wrote out what the cards would say on a piece of paper....all they had to do was write in the card. (just in case they needed help.)

We all enjoyed writing our cards to our randomly selected people and placing the smiley face just so so above our name. The hope is that the person who receives the card will be blessed and will pass on the act of kindness to someone else. I can tell you as we were writing the cards we found ourselves envisioning what our mystery friends looked like, if they would like the cards and if they would write us back. Nonetheless, whether they write us back or not we had a blast preparing the cards.

We all finished our cards, addressed the envelope and placed the stamp just where it belongs. The next step...the U.S. Post Office. We were headed out anyway so Elliott volunteered to take the cards and drop them off at the mail box at the post office. I really hope and pray that the people who receive the cards are as blessed as I am having worked on this project with my family. When we got to the post office Elliott made sure to separate the cards into city cards and out of town...2 cards are headed to Ashland people and 2 are headed to Flatwoods.

Thank you God for the phone book, for cards, for the 4 people we selected we don't know, thank you God for this kindness journey, thank you for my family. Thank you God for your kindness you continue to pour on us daily.

Where will we be tomorrow? Stay tuned. Until then.....

On your mark, get set, be kind.

Love you to the moon & back,
Annie, Elliott, Cody & Miss Ellie

Safe Harbor & Harbor Hill

Today, the kids and I knew without a doubt, unless God changed our plans what we wanted to do. We wanted to go to Safe Harbor and take the cards and snack basket we made them. If you remember from last week the kids worked for 2 days on these cards for the residents. Safe Harbor is a place where women and children can go to escape a domestic violence situation.

Afternoon came and it was time to make our delivery to Safe Harbor. We parked in the parking lot and immediately we were met by a locked door and had to buzz an intercom to explain our business there. Once I explained why we were there we were buzzed into a living room type area. We were greeted by a lady named Pauline, who was eager to tell Cody & Ellie more about Safe Harbor & Harbor Hill. She explained where she was going to take the cards and the snack basket. She was precise and to the point, not leaving any detail out. I could see by the look on Cody & Ellie's face that they were soaking in every word that Pauline had to say. She was a wealth of information and a blessing to be with. As I stood there listening to Pauline, I just had this warm sensation that many lives have been touched because of what they are doing. They are doing great things!!They are changing lives for the better everyday for women and children.

Pauline explained to the kids and I how we can get involved in the movement to stop Domestic violence...we can be a green dot. This is a new incentive started in Frankfort...instead of looking at statistics of "red" where women have been abused. Look at areas of "green" where people are taking a stand and saying no more domestic violence. Pauline told Miss Ellie it could be simply seeing your friends Dad yelling at her and going over and asking her if she is okay. We want to be a green dot.

The kids and I thanked Pauline for her time and we headed out to the parking lot. We left the building with Pauline as she was headed out to deliver our cards and snack basket. She thanked the kids on behalf of all the women and children. We no sooner got in the car and Cody said, "this is a neat place. This is where I want to work." Ellie was moved to tears. When I asked her why she was crying she said, "it is awful that anyone gets hurt by anybody and has to be protected. She said why does anybody have to hurt others?"

This stop certainly made an impression on Cody, Ellie & I. It was nice for them to see this for themselves. Being the children of a State Trooper they have heard him tell stories of when he utilized there wonderful services for someone. Praise God that this place is here for those that need it.

I know that within this year we will be back to Safe Harbor. If you haven't helped them in the past call them and find out ways that you can. They are simply amazing!!! Pauline, you are a God send!! Thank you God for this kindness journey, thank you God for Safe Harbor and Harbor Hill, thank you for all of the workers and God please put a hedge of protection around the women that are currently residing there. Thank you God for Cody & Ellie and their fragile hearts.

God, you are an awesome God!

Where will we be tomorrow? Stay tuned. Until then....

On your mark, get set, be kind.

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