Act 23 - Milk, no sugar

Today’s act encourages us to find a friend, neighbour or co-worker and make them a hot drink and so I invited my mother-in-law over for a cup of tea.  Over tea and cake, we got together to start organising a forthcoming concert at church and start putting together the programme and the rehearsal schedule.  Plus the girls enjoyed getting to spend time with Grandma and as she stayed right up to bedtime, I had an extra pair of hands to help me get the girls into their bedtime clothes.  It was also nice to sit and have a chat together.

Act 22 - Unplug

Yesterday’s act encouraged us to turn our phones off and connect with people face-to-face.  I have to confess to being a bit addicted to social media and every so often I become conscious of this and decide to have some time offline – taking self-imposed breaks from Facebook and Twitter.  Other than one tweet sent yesterday morning, I managed to spend the day switched off from social networking sites and had a lovely, albeit busy, day with my girls – doing a coffee morning at church, celebrating a diamond wedding anniversary, attending two first birthday parties and enjoying the here and now.

Act 21 - Pray

Today’sact encourages us to offer to pray for someone today.  As I was spending the day at home and not venturing out and about due to Jessica being a bit under the weather, I sent out my offer of prayer via Twitter.  So far despite being retweeted, I haven’t had anyone taking me up it but I have been praying for others today – for a little boy who is very poorly in PICU who I heard about via a friend and for a mum expecting a heart baby who is having to make some very difficult and heartbreaking decisions.

Act 20 - Always talk to strangers

We’re at the halfway point.  Today’s act encourages us to make a point of talking to strangers.  I thought I’d really struggle with this one – my natural reticence making it quite difficult for me to strike up a conversation with a complete stranger.  However, having small children does make it easier – particularly when bumping into other mums when out and about – it’s an easy starting point to the conversation.  I had two lovely chats with other mums I encountered today – one in the lift in the shopping centre and the other whilst queuing to pay for food in a café.

Act 19 - Don't hold back the wonderful

Today’s act particularly appealed to me – leaving a note of encouragement in a random place for someone to find, or a book with a note attached to it.  I love writing notes – thank you notes, letters to friends - and so writing a note to a stranger wasn’t too daunting.  I also had a copy of the Good News Gospel of Luke ready to leave somewhere for someone with an encouraging note attached.  Both were left in random places whilst I was out and about today.  I hope that they brightened up the days of the people that found them.

Act 18 - #CharityTuesday

Today’s act encourages us to give to our favourite charity as part of #CharityTuesday.  One of the charities which I support is Little Hearts Matter – a charity which offers support and information to children with single ventricle heart conditions and their families.  I first came across Little Hearts Matter when I was pregnant with Jessica – their antenatal information pack was so helpful in coming to terms with her heart condition and the options available to us and we’ve tried to support the work they do ever since and have been fundraising for them through running coffee mornings at our church.

Act 17 - Ps & Qs

Today’s act encourages us to be courteous.  I’d like to think that I’m courteous generally but a little extra reminder never does any harm.  It did make me more conscious about being polite – I was definitely more considerate of others on my drive down to visit my mum.  I did make sure that I did the washing-up after having dinner at my mum’s too – she’s usually so quick to do it that often by the time it’s dawned on me to offer, it’s already been done.  Today I made sure that she got to have cuddles with her granddaughters instead!