I love randomness and I love doing random acts of kindness. My favorite is when you don't even know you are doing something wonderful - but you are.
Today about 4:30 I had just gotten home from a class I was in all day, Jared was home because he worked from home today so that he could watch Tenley - who was sleeping upstairs at the time, and Duke was running around with his Tennis Ball A pretty typical day here at the Vermeulen House. I had just sat down to unwind and enjoy the last moments before Tenley woke up and wanted to play when there was a small knock at our front door followed by a doorbell ring. I walked to the door expecting to find a UPS guy or someone selling something - it's a pretty common time for the "sales girls" of the neighborhood to come sell me a candy bar or something to raise money for their school, trip, sports, etc.
I opened the door to find an elderly woman standing there, she held up our Christmas card and said is this you? (Jared and I had put little candy bags attached to our Christmas cards and dropped them in all of our neighbors paper boxes around Christmas)
"Yes!" I said a little skeptical. Then she asked if she could come in. "Of Course!" I said and helped her up the step into the house.
She then handed me some books and said "I have a doll too for this one (pointing to Tenley's picture on the card) but I couldn't find it, I looked and I just couldn't find it, I'll find it and bring it over though."
She said her name was Lois and she lives across the street and up one house, she asked how old Tenley was (who was now crying upstairs wanting to get up from her nap). She just kept looking at the card and almost tearing up and then she said fighting back the tears, "My daughter was really sick for 9 months I took care of her, she said that she wanted to go home so they let her go home and she died 4 days later - This was two days after Christmas. I saw your card and it just meant so much to me, I said to myself - someone is thinking about me and I hung your card right on the wall. I didn't know who you were, but this card meant so much to me."
I gave her a hug and said how sorry I was for her loss. It didn't go un-noticed that her daughter had been sick for 9 months and Tenley was 9 months old - even though the time lines didn't match up perfectly - it was still very apparent.
Jared had some out to meet Lois by now and Lois continued to tell us that she lived by herself in that house and her son comes 5 days a week to help her with things. She can't walk very far so she had driven over to our house (literally 100 feet away). I told her that if she ever needed anything to please give us a call - I took our card back and wrote our phone numbers on the back. Jared started talking to her about his work and refrigerators - I knew Tenley had to meet Lois. I ran upstairs and Tenley came down - she took one look at Lois and gave her a HUGE beaming smile.
Lois laughed and said "I really came to meet you - you are much cuter then your picture even - I have a doll for you but I can't find it. Your eyes are so beautiful" she continued to laugh at Tenley as Tenley continued to give huge smiles and play a game of hide and seek with her.
After a few more minutes of chatting Lois was leaving and said, "I would love for you to come over some time. I can't walk far so I had to drive over her. I would just love for you to come over - maybe once the whether is nicer."
I assured her that we would be over, encouraged her to call if she ever needed anything, and said thank you so much for the books and future doll for Tenley.
"I'm gonna take this card and hang it right back up" she said as she walked out the door. "It means so much to me."
All that because I wanted to get rid of the extra candy we had laying around the house and use the rest of the Christmas cards we ordered. It just makes me think we affect so many people every day that we don't even know about. Maybe just as we pass them by, maybe because we want to get rid of some extra candy, maybe how we interact with them in the store, or how they see us interact with someone else. God is always working in so many ways that we don't even know about. I will never doubt His timing and His plans - they are awesome.
I am planning on going to visit Lois "when the weather gets nicer" and am thinking I will start sending her cards once a month - so that she knows someone is thinking about her.
We got several other letters from neighbors after we handed out our card saying how much it meant to them and other nice things - I had no idea it would get any response and like I said I was just trying to use up stuff.
Love when God uses me and I don't even know it. Thankful that this time He showed me that I was used, and I know so many times I will never have the "Lois" to come tell me how my actions/behaviors are used - but I am very thankful for my Lois.
