Every year my calendar gets filled with busy days, holidays, birthdays and lots of ordinary days in-between! And every January, I tell myself… “I want this year to be different. I want us to make more memories, and make a difference together, as a family. Joshua and Andrew are already sixteen and nineteen. I’ve got to get more intentional before they move out!”
Do you ever have conversations like that with yourself, or is it just me?
I have such great intentions of getting more organized and creative, but then, every month it seems my intentions get trumped by the busyness of life! Well, I found us some help! My friends Karen Ehman and Glynnis Whitwer have done the creative planning, organizing and simplifying for us in their new go-to guide, Everyday Confetti!
Today Karen stopped by to be part of my #LetGodLoveYou series! She’s giving us glimpse of the goodness inside Everyday Confetti and share “A Few Simple Ways To Sprinkle God’s LOVE”! PLUS I’ve got a copy of the book to giveaway too!
Simple Ways To Sprinkle God’s LOVE
First, create small tags with Bible verses about God’s love on them. Here are a few to use:
- See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1
- And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. 1 John 4:16a
- We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19
Attach a tag to any of these ideas to sprinkle God’s love on those around you:
- Purchase coffee house gift cards and attached a tag to each. Go to a hospital waiting room and hand them out to folks who look like they could use a good cup of coffee.
- Take your kids to the grocery store and offer to carry out the groceries for elderly people you see. Hand them a note of kindness with a tag attached.
- Purchase gift cards for local restaurants that deliver and attach tags to them. Take a few to your pastor or church secretary so they can order lunch to be brought in on busy days.
- Place a candy bar or homemade treat with a tag in your mailbox for the mail carrier.
- Have young children {or grandchildren} color pictures or paint some adding glitter and stickers. Write one of the verses above on the picture. Then, take them to the local nursing home and hand them out.
- If you live in an area with lots of snow on the ground, make snowmen outside of the windows of a nursing home or hospital children’s ward. {Be sure to get permission first}
- Hand a tag to the worker at the drive-through window and pay for the person’s order behind you. Ask the worker to give the tag to the person with their food.
- Create a fruit or vegetable tray and attach a tag and a bow on top. Take it to the local police or fire station thanking them for their hard work!
- Take a plate of homemade goodies to your child’s teacher’s lounge at school with a tag attached.
Enter to WIN!
From the back cover~ Got a calendar packed with reasons to celebrate but a brain that lacks ideas? Special people you want to love on but limited time to do it? Relax. We’ve got you covered! Everyday Confetti is your go-to guide to making holidays, birthdays, special events, and even the everyday special. Inside you’ll find more than two hundred ways to make memories with your family, including easy recipes, fun activities, and inexpensive decorating ideas–all simple, doable, and stress-free.
Leave a comment to enter to win! Simply share why you’d like a copy of Everyday Confetti, or share a favorite celebration idea you have.Winners will be announced next week. If you’re reading this via email, click here to go to my blog and ENTER TO WIN!
After you ENTER TO WIN, hop over to the oh-so-fun Everyday Confetti website where you’ll find lots of FREE ideas to sprinkle “special” on every day!
I have been so blessed by reading your blog. I hope to get the book …I will even buy one
I would like to win this book because this is exactly what I want someone to do for me- show me love. The smallest kindness, expression of love changes my day, my attitude, my love to others. I want to give love away to my family, my co-workers because I think they have their empty cup out for a love donation, just like me.
I love the ideas. It is indeed the simple, thoughtful things that make the best memories. Thanks for the encouragement this ministry gives!
I’d love to win this book to have great ideas to share with others in need of God’s great love for them
Sorry I missed this chance to win but I enjoyed reading the above.
When my girls were younger I would put notes in their lunches and write notes on their mirror. Now that they 18 and 16 they don’t seem to care anymore. Sometimes I feel they are pulling away. I love these ideas and I am going to try some of them. Just need to give my girls little reminders that God is still with them and we will always be with them.
Wow, heard you on WBCL today with Lynn Ford and was blessed by God once again through you. Thank you for an obedient heart Renee!!!! Came to your site over lunch break and am again blown away by how God brings His gifts and encouragement to me. Not sure why I get so surprised but I do. : ) God has soooo impressed upon me that the “busyness of life” is not from Him and is actually preventing me from experiencing His peace, presence, ect in my life. I must remove what drains away my energy, space, and time to be with God and be about His Best Plans for me and through me for my family and others. Thank you God for leading me here to Everyday Confetti. What a gift to help in the area of my ungiftedness hahaha. Happy to use Karen and Glyniss’ giftedness to bring joy to those I love and desire to encourage!!!!! Thanks again so much Renee. May God shower you with His great favor!
Kat T
I would love to have your book. I would love to have new ideas to share with my teenagers. We took Puffs Kleenexes to our members of the church that live in the nursing home this last winter. It was so good for the kids not to mention how much the residents loved it.
I like to send cards of encouragement in the mail to family & friends. This book would be great for other ideas of how to bless people.
I’m always looking for ways to show love in a tangible way and Karen Ehman delivers! Can’t wait to see the new book!
I think this is a great idea. I love little Happys! and would like more ideas on how to use them.
I am a teacher asst. and I have 21 little ones that need me to sprinkle them with one everyday…..even when I don’t feel like it.
I would love to have this book to make everyday special. I feel the days are special since God made them but I need to share that with others.
Sometimes we just stop whatever we are doing and have a family dance party. It always makes everyone smile and it is so cute to see my 2 year old’s new dance moves.
Looks like a great book for someone like me who isn’t very creative! 🙂 Thanks for the chance to win!
This is just what I need! What great ideas! Love getting the children involved too! Thank You!!
Thanks for sharing all those wonderful ideas – I had just recently made some book marks for people at church and I put verses on them as well, now I can use some of those ideas to hand out even more little everyday notes!
Thanks for the reminder to celebrate every day – some days are so hard with a 7 month old that I need to be reminded to enjoy them 🙂
I have been looking for ways to connect in small ways with the people in my life whom I don’t know very well, including church members and neighbors, in addition to making ordinary days special for my family and friends. I think “Everyday Confetti” could be the answer!
As my own children get older, and now my first grandchild, it becomes even more important to teach them to impact our world.
After recently losing many possessions in a tornado, I realize what I have lost most is my time, which has been spent cleaning, sorting, shopping, fixing, etc. It’s our family time and all those moments that matter more than any possessions and I can’t wait to have more time to devote to our ordinary, everyday moments. The memories we make cannot be taken away by a fire, flood, tornado.
I need ideas to spark up special days. I have been frustrated that those days that should be special simply meld into the ordinary.
First I’d like to thank you for your heart and the wonderful contribution you offer to us through this message. As mothers we tack on so many expectations on ourselves because we strive to do it all and in that we quickly lose focus on what really matters. I have such a hard time reminding myself that I’m broken and that’s okay. It’s just so hard to visualize what living simply looks like and how to maintain it with the very many distractions and set backs. It’s so easy to fall into the guilt mode and before we know it we’ve dug ourselves into a pit. Your ideas seem like the perfect antidote to our over-thinking and high expectations we so often put on ourselves. I’m looking forward to exploring your site and should I be blessed to recieve a copy I will absolutely take it to heart and put it into action. Live it, share it, repeat. God Bless and thank you again.
Great stuff and ideas.
thank you for the wonderful insight. please keep it coming!! God Bless
I could really use some tips. I always have good intentions but fall short when it comes to ideas.
I think this is a wonderful idea and plan to get my Life group in on doing this!
simple things …. it doesn’t have to be complex, just basics—it’s the little things that matter!
Blessing to you!
M
Helpful ways to make everyday a special day. This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. Hopefully this book will serve as a reminder for me to be thankful , thoughtful, and pass along my blessings.
I would really like to have this book, simply because while I am very big on seeing the beauty and joy in every moment, sometimes it is hard to capture it, or even bring it more to life. I want to l moment, but I also want the moments to live on as memories, and even treasured traditions as a family that our children can take along with them. This book seems like it would be helpful in making that happen more often, and even making more moments and memories possible, that may otherwise just slip by. Just thinking of the possibilities gets me excited! 🙂
Not sure where some of my words went…crazy phone, haha…it should say “I want to live in the moment…” perfect example of how I don’t want moments to be fade from memory or be skipped over… like my phone does with my words, haha, but instead, with intentionality, moments are more than quickly entered in…the are engraved. 🙂
What a great book to help remove the callous from our hearts or show love in.ways we never thought of. Would love to win
I love this idea! Thanks so much for the inspiration! May God bless you abundantly today and always!
I would like this book because I am always trying to find new ways to love on my family and friends.
I love the neat ideas. Thanks for sharing.
I need help! My heart is in the right place, but my mind can’t seem to pull it all together. Life is short. I want to make it special for my family.
What fun ideas!
I am the mother of an amazing 3 year old little girl and the wife of a hard working Chemistry teacher, and I would love to sprinkle more love and confetti in their lives. I am getting ready to go back to school to become a nurse and will need all the help I can get with the demands of nursing school and a part time job.
I love the idea of simple celebrations. We don’t need to be Martha Stewart to pull off a memorable party for our children. Small ideas executed with love will leave a big impact our their lives. I would love to be able to take a party box loaded with cupcakes that are tagged with Bible verses about love into a low income neighborhood and share the love of Jesus with the kids. I want to teach my children to have a compassionate heart and to love others right where they are at.
This looks like a wonderful book! I would love to read it and get great new ideas to make special days even more special!
We are working to doing more giving volunteering as well as in “gifts” this year with the kids at home. I am also going to start doing lessons in our young elementary Sunday school class about doing for others and showing kindness. This looks like an excellent book!
I could use this to sprinkle happiness on my family, friends and co-workers! Love it.
I would love to win a copy of this as I’m going through a divorce and desperately need reasons to celebrate each day!
It is easy to get caught up in our routines and miss simple moments when we can show God’s love to others. I want to spend this year taking time out to share God’s love with others and teach my son to do it as well. Simple acts can make all the difference in someone else’s life. We just need a gentle reminder from time to time!
I would love to win a free copy, I have been wanting to find ways to spread God’s love and what better than to get my children involved. They all are in their teen years and I feel I have lacked in these areas. I have not been creative enough and I love the tips about thanks:)
I really need this I have several really hard to love people in my life and I am struggling to love them but I desperately need to love them. Help!!
What a fun sounding book…….these ideas will be great to do and share with grandchildren when we get moved to their neighborhood. I hope/plan to spend as much time as I can creating and building memories with these sweet gifts from God. Thank You for putting ideas all in one place.
With so many trials and tribulations that life throws our way a random act of kindness can mean the world to someone hurting. Blessings to all who serve in Jesus name. He is the way the truth and the life.
I would LOVE to win this book because I am NOT good at anything anymore!