Year of Kindness: The Kindness Ninja

Have you ever noticed that showing kindness

to the people we live with

can often be one of the hardest tasks around?

Since this is "The Year of Kindness"

in The Fantastic Five household,

I decided I needed to be proactive-

and get creative-

and find ways to encourage between our family members.

Enter...

...the Kindness Ninja.

Inspired by THIS post over on

Here We Are Together,

I fashioned up a Ninja for our household

out of a peg doll,

'cause I do not crochet like that.

;0)

The Kindness Ninja was introduced into our home

one morning at breakfast time.

He came bearing gifts of cinnamon rolls.

While the kiddos ate, I explained that this Ninja

would be living in our house this year.

Anyone is welcome to complete an act of kindness

for someone else in the house-

such as doing someone else's chores

or leaving an encouraging note-

and then leave the Ninja at the location

of the Kindness Act.

The Ninja will then be placed back on my  desk,

ready to go back into service

for the next act of kindness.

During our breakfast, I also introduced

the new devotional study

we will be doing together in 2015...

...Jesus Calling.

I love this study because there is a version for all of us-

Adult, Teen, Tween, and Child!

And it didn't take too long for the Ninja to see

some action after our breakfast...

A few days later, both Super Dad and I received notes

from the Ninja-

so sweet!

He has also cleaned the entire bathroom

for the girls

(aka Their brother did their bathroom chores

for them).

Can't wait to see what he accomplishes throughout the year!

Reflection.

2014 was FULL of change for me.

Good changes.

A new job.

A new exercise routine.

(Who am I kidding- I didn't HAVE a regular routine before!)

A new way to homeschool.

(Seriously folks- this seems "new" EVERY. YEAR.)

A reNEWed love for Prayer and Art Journaling.

Lots of changes.

Which meant my little bloggy-blog took a back seat.

And, if I am being honest, will continue to not be

a top priority.

And that's ok.

That is the season of life I am in right now.

But I do not want to "abandon" 

The Fantastic Five COMPLETELY.

I have worked too hard.

I have written too much.

It is an extension of who I am.

I also have deeply enjoyed the connections

I have made with fellow bloggers.

I have friends across the nation now

because of this little blog spot.

That makes me smile.  :0)

And my little blog has become a 

Homeschool Yearbook for my family.

I have documented so many activities-

the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The kiddos and I enjoy scrolling back through

previous posts,

looking at the pictures,

giggling about how much we have all changed.

***

So where does this leave me at?

I am honestly not totally certain.

I know I will continue to occasionally post about

our Weekly Wrap-Ups,

but most of those will just be posted

to my Flicker account.

I want to also include posts about what we

are up to in the way of homeschooling.

But mostly I think this blog will be dedicated

to the THEME of our year.

This year I have felt led to focus on...

Kindness
to 

Myself.

My Family.

My Neighbor.

My Church.

My World.

I have so many ideas swirling and twirling

in my brain about accomplishing 

these such tasks,

but it all needs to start with

a scripture and a prayer...

***

II Corinthians 6:3-10 says:

"We put no stumbling block in anyone's path,

so that our ministry will not be discredited.

Rather, as servants of God we command ourselves in every way:

in great endurance;

in troubles, hardships and distresses;

in beatings, imprisonments and riots;

in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;

in purity, understanding, patience and KINDNESS;

in the Holy Spirit and sincere love;

in truthful speech and in the power of God;

with weapons of righteousness in the right and left hand;

through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report;

genuine, yet regarded as imposters;

known, yet regarded as unknown;

dying, and yet we live on;

beaten, and yet not killed;

sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;

poor, yet making many rich;

having nothing, and yet possessing everything."

***

                           Dear Father,

You are the source of Kindness.

Through your Son, you demonstrated what true kindness is.

During this year, please guide me.

Shed light on the areas of my life in which I am not kind.

I desire to be like Paul.

Through all his trials and hardships, he strove to be like YOU.

To show your KINDESS to everyone-

even those who hurt him.

Thank you for showing us the path to better Christian living.

Without your Word, I would be lost.

                                                                                                     Love,

                                                                                                     Amber

Bye Bye 2014- Hello 2015!

Good bye 2014...

Can't wait to see what 2015 has in store!

***

To see (and read) a bit about the

Life and Times of the Fantastic Five

in the year 2014,

just click HERE...

***

Linking up

with

Collage Friday

and the

Weekly Wrap-Up

Elf on the Shelf 2013 Adventures: Days 25-27

Day 25:

Safety in Stockings

and

Dollywood

When we arrived home,
we discovered that our sweet pups
had opened one of the Christmas gifts underneath
the tree,
as well as distributed a healthy amount of muddy foot prints
all over the place.

It apparently rained A LOT while we were gone!

So the elves sought protection in the stockings
for the evening...

Later that day,

after a bit of clean up and unpacking,

we all headed to Dollywood...

...to spend the evening looking a the lights

and soaking in as much Christmas Spirit as we could

with our friends, the Nussbaums!

***

Day 26:

(Christmas Eve)

Gingerbread Men Decorating

and

Christmas Eve Service

Three of the Nussbaum kiddos

came home with us the night before,

so JJ continued his visit with us.

He and the other elves planned a little

Gingerbread Christmas Eve Surprise

for the kiddos that morning...

After reading 

"Gingerbread Baby"

and putting on a few silly puppet performances

(imagine MUCH laughter and shouting)...

...the kiddos each decorated their own Gingerbread Man.

We met back up with the rest of the Nussbaum clan

at church that evening...

...to celebrate THE meaning behind all

of the Christmas fun.

Before the kiddos went to bed,

they helped set out some sweet treats for Santa.

*happy sigh*

***

Day 27:

Christmas Day!!!

Chess and Jolly stuck around to watch the kiddos

open their gifts Christmas morning,

but then they flew back to the North Pole

not long after the morning's festivities.

It was a CRAZY Christmas season

with our elves this year-

can't wait to see what they have

up their sleeves this season!!!

***

Elf on the Shelf 2013 Adventures: Days 21-24

Day 21:

Toiletries,

Disney Shopping,

and 

A Charlie Brown Christmas

We awoke this day to find the elves

enjoying the toiletries in the bathroom...

After we all got ready...

...and grabbed a "healthy" lunch...

...we got medicated and took off to Downtown Disney!

Baby Girl was really starting to feel better

by this day,

and I am glad,

because she was able to thouroughly enjoy

her visit to the

Little Miss Mismatch store!

(The elves are always making new friends...)

After all our shopping was done...

...the sickies settled in for the evening and watched

"A Charlie Brown Christmas"

while some of the others went swimming.

By this evening,

Jungle Girl seemed punier than normal

and-

you guessed it-

started running a fever.

Another one bites the dust!

***

Day 22:

Mickey Ears,

More Magic Kingdom,

and the 

Monorail

Since this was our last full day at Disney,

the elves woke up

READY to go and see the Magic Kingdom again...

They even had their own Mickey and Minnie Ears!

Since Jungle Girl was into full flu mode,

Super Dad stayed back at the hotel with her

while the rest of us went to the

Magic Kingdom to enjoy a very pleasant day...

Later in the afternoon we all met back up at the Monorail

to go and eat...

***

Day 23:

Thank You Notes,

Polynesian Eats,

Family Cookout,

and

Clearwater

The elves made certain that we left our hotel room

with a good attitude this day

by writing a Thank You note

to our hotel maid for the week... 

Then we ate one last meal at The Polynesian...

...and said our good-byes to Disney!

We then took a little road trip to see Super Dad's 

Aunt and Uncle who live in Florida...

...and the elves started to show signs

of missing the cooler temperatures

of the North Pole!

They toughed it out long enough for us to enjoy

a weinee roast with the fam...

...before heading to Clearwater to stay the night.

The kiddos all swam that night and marveled

at the dark beach

since they had never been to one before.

Ahhhhh...

***

Day 24:

Though the elves were ready to leave that morning...

...we had to have a better look at the beach

(and another swim)...

...and get some crazy balloon creations at IHop...

...before we packed up and hit the road again!

I am telling ya,

these elves are seasoned travelers now!

We arrived home a couple of days before Christmas Eve

to a CROWDED airport-

but that was OK.

We were home-

and ready to celebrate!!!

***

The last of our elves adventures will be posted

about tomorrow-

please return to see how it all ends!