Forward Fridays - Mail

I promised some new features here on the ol' blog, and today is the start of my roll out of three new featured posts each week. With the help of an awesome friend - the idea for Forward Fridays was born. The concept here is taking the movie Pay it Forward and bringing into our daily lives. So each week - I'll tell you about something I've done to make the world a brighter place, ask that you guys report back on what you've done, and give us all an assignment for the next week. You guys ready to play along? GOOD!

To get us started, I'd like to talk about ways that you can REALLY brighten someone's day by sending them a little something special in the mail. How many of us dread going to the mailbox these days - because the only stuff in them are bills and junk? I know I do... I've even gone so far as to come up with my theory that if I don't go to the mailbox - nothing bad can happen.

So what would happen if we all made it a regular thing to try to brighten someone's day/week/month... or whatever by sending them a little sumthin' sumthin' in the mail? I'm not even necessarily talking about a gift - but even just a letter, a card, a homemade card... maybe even a drawing from your kids... it doesn't have to cost alot - it's just a little guesture to let someone know you're thinking about them or praying for them.

In the last few weeks, we've been going through a lot at my house... and some very special people have stepped up to help support me where I've needed it. I've sent about 4 cards to people just to let them know how much they mean to me over the last week or so... 3 of them thank you cards to friends who have gone above and beyond to help me get through our failed placement.

One of them might be a little surprising... I think that I've mentioned that I wrote it before, but in light of our failed placement and the circumstances around that - it came to me that I needed to write a note to the birth mother that was to give us her baby, but ultimately kept her. I felt that I needed to tell her that we still love her and that we wish her nothing but the best for her family. It was an overwhelming feeling that came over me that I needed to do that before I could move on with my life - and while I'm still struggling to do the moving on part... I know in my heart that this small card might bring this young mother some peace if she had any guilt about her last minute change of heart. I know that the change of heart didn't come because of her alone - she's young after all and the birth father was able to manipulate her into keeping the baby with the hope of rebuilding their romantic relationship.

I sent the card to our adoption agency to forward on to this mother, and I can imagine the moment she recieved it as being a very unexpected item in her mailbox - a token of love from someone she only met once, but someone who loves her and will have her as a part of her memory forever. I can imagine the smile on her face and potentially the relief in her heart knowing that the very people who would have potentially raised her child... still pray for her baby and her entire family in the wake of the ultimate dissapointment. Maybe just maybe - she'll pray for us too now in light of seeing that I truly do have the heart of a mother.

Have you sent anyone special in your life anything in the mail this week that will be an unexpected joy for them? Tell me about it...

Next week's assignment: Brighten up the day of someone that lives in your house, who sometimes might get neglected in light of the drain of day to day life... do something special and unexpected for your spouse. Be creative...

Feel free to grab this graphic and concept and take it over to your own blog... I'd love to see how others will use this and how much love we could spread around the world. Let me know that you're doing it - and send me a link to your post.