Kindnessgirl

Wondering what Guerrilla Goodness is exactly? you can find out here.

Are you interested in being part of the next city wide Guerrilla Goodness mission or looking for ideas for your own city?  you can e-mail me at patience@kindnessgirl.com with your name and preferred e-mail address and I’ll add you to the GG news list.

Special thanks to Style Weekly for including me on their Top 40 under 40 list  , and thanks to Jonah for nominating me (on the sly!). I was shocked and honored and all that good stuff, mostly excited to watch the power and joy of kindness…

all images are property of patience salgado – but feel free to blog, tweet, share, pass along…

Can you imagine anything better than getting a chance to talk to Elmo about love and kindness? My work for PBS Supersisters gave me the very opportunity at The Library of Congress National Book  Festival last weekend. The experience left me wishing I had been on Sesame Street. I think I would have fit in perfectly with the muppets.

Check out more pics here.

because her eyes always tell a story…

Everyone has a story…and if you think they don’t, it usually just means it’s bigger and deeper than you probably imagine.

My path has been crossing all kinds of new people lately… friends of friends, local social circles in my city I never knew even existed, twitterlebrities…it’s more socializing than I have done in a long, long time. I feel like a freshman on the first day of high school. The exchanges of first impressions, some awkward, some instant life long friendship and some I’m still scratching my head trying to figure out. 

I’m sorry to say that my Judgey Joanna has been in total overdrive at times, I thought I knew…I made decisions instantly or even before I arrived, before the story. The story is always there, some give it freely right from the get-go, others hold it close trying to decide if you are worthy, some folks have them locked up so tight hoping they will never see the light of day. No matter how or when we eventually arrive, I am always so humbled by the truth before me.

The story is what makes us real, the place where see and are seen, the moment when we are most amazing and human all at the same time, the destination of understanding and true connection. So I sit around now, trying to wait , reminding myself  to listen, looking and holding hope for the story… 

Photo by the Koshock crew

The sky was blue, the air warm, the breeze cool…everything the weather wasn’t just a week ago. I drove with the boys in the hoopty thinking along the way,  there was  just one little un-met desire in my heart. We needed music, music makes everything better. We drove up, grabbed our basket and walked to the field in front of the Carillon steps. There, right in front of us was a drumming circle, I felt like I had just put in a short-order to the universe diner with super fast and friendly service. The bell rang- order up- everything you asked for, everything you need to Guerrilla Goodness your heart out.

Photo by The Checkout Girl

There were all kinds of folks there: artists, mothers, kids, teens, twitter celebrities, babies, foodies, fathers, teachers, friends, strangers…almost 35 total, we hit 17 schools, all in our city of Richmond.  I was sort of tortured, surprisingly. I wished I could go with each person to each place, but instead we milled around trying to decide who would take what and wondering if we should take more. Each went their own way and then we (the kids and I) traveled around the city GG’ing and trying to catch up with the others…

Photo by John Haddad

I was so touched to read each message, each intention, each act of kindness…and again, like always, I left feeling so undone by the  good in the world, mission accomplished.

At the last school the kids rolled in the grass, lyra helped draw(i.e. eat chalk) and I listened to the kickin’ church service across the street while I wrote.

The hip-hop was filling the air, and just then we heard a horn. A man and women were blowing rams horns, and it all felt sacred somehow. It was a perfect ending to a guerrilla good day.

Thanks to each of you that came out from RVA and our friends all over the country  who made this so special and so much fun!

Photo by Mary Margaret Park

Photo by Tiffany Glass Ferreira

If you have more GG adventures to share, please do so in the comments! We would love to hear about them. Thanks to all who spread the word. If you missed this one, no worries, there will be another chance soon…or even better, do your own, invite us, we’ll come!

So Loki (the cutest kid you ever did see) came with his mom, Thea,  in the pouring rain last Sunday to GG. He somehow held hope is his heart that our little event of kindness could still happen. For this reason alone, I knew we must reschedule. I guess you just never know what kindness will hold and when it is best meant to pour out on the world.

Here we go:

Sunday, September 13

3pm in front of the Carillon (near Byrd Park)

I will provide directions and chalk, you just show up with lots of joy!

Rain plan- If it is raining at 3pm we will take it as our sign from the universe that next year will be the right time to try again.

Hope to see you all there!  Can’t wait to tell you about the next mission I’ve been cooking up. This one will be for the 21 and older crowd…hmmmm, drinking, bar hopping and Guerrilla Goodness-ing. Can’t wait!

Please, please spread the word. Twitter, Facebook, and blog to get the word out RVA!

There are times when you just have to trust the universe. I woke up to a terrible weather forecast. It seems even if we dodge the rain today, it is coming tonight either way which is sort of disastrous for our sidewalk chalk intentions for the kids tomorrow morning.

Strangely, while I am bummed, my heart has a peace about the whole thing. Because all roads lead to The Sound of Music, I just keep thinking, “when God closes a door, he always opens a window”…and so we have a decision now, an opportunity, if you will. We get to decide what comes next.

Do we:

a. Postpone until next Sunday when maybe the messages are meant for the second week of school?

b. Cancel all together because this event has the biggest punch for the first day,  wait till next year!

c. Cancel, but plan another Guerrilla Goodness mission very soon so we don’t lose the goodness juice that is flowing in a big way.

d. Your own brilliant idea that is at the tip of your tongue that you are now shouting at the screen.

Now that we are mulling around what to do, I want to tell you about what Guerrilla Goodness  has ALREADY happened as a result of opening this project up to the world.

Pam and her kids Guerrilled it up and their local paper sent some love their way.

Rachel and her peeps, who are homeschool friends are doing the project in two towns. Her site was listed in blogger’s Blogs of Note shortly after she linked to GG which sent both her and GG’s page hits through the roof! Yay for spreading the word!

My good and rockin’ blog friend Chris at Everyday Heartbeats  decided to gather her people and do Guerrilla Goodness: West Coast Style. It was a smashing success, her very own lovebomb to the world.

Besides these amazing women, my inbox has had a steady stream of folks telling me they decided to share their own Sidewalk Chalk love in their cities and towns. If you would like to share your pictures please feel free to upload them in the Guerrilla Goodness Flickr Pool.

I also had a chance to talk about GG on the local news which was wonderful, weird and exciting all at the same time.

So now it’s up to us, share your thoughts as to what we should do next in the comments.

Thank you for all your heart and excitement about GG and all that is to come.

While out eating a fine dinner of burgers and fries the other night, Josiah had a moment of kindness genius. I thought this idea was particularly stellar.

“Mom, you know those vending machines (gumball machine) over there? What if we put quarters in there and the candy was just there as a kindness for a kid to find?”

I couldn’t think of a better idea for a random act of kindness from one kid to another. How many times do we say no to that stuff? It was perfect. Off we were to get a roll of quarters. The kids knew it was going to be a good mission when the bank teller put lollipops in with our quarters. It seemed appropriate that the candy mission was starting with some.

“Look mom, these are the hands of kindness!” Josiah said. He was bursting with pride the entire day, deciding how we should execute each part of the plan.

We stuck quarters in some  and left them, others we taped a note to the bottom where the candy comes out.

We hit some malls, restaurants, other random spots…we got some candy for ourselves too.

Josiah must have said 5 times, “Isn’t this great mom?” It was, but the kindness high felt a little secondary to the pride that was swelling in my heart.

Pure kid goodness, almost as sweet as the candy…

This is an easy one to do and sure to be a hit with your kids!

Don’t forget to bring your crew on September 7th at 3:00pm in front of the Carillon for the city-wide Guerrilla Goodness Sidewalk Love event. Can’t wait to go guerrilla with you…

So you might remember last year when we kooked up this idea with the Supersisters to team up to do some Guerrilla Goodness for the kids heading back to school? Well, this year, we have a special invitation for you?!

Come with US!!! You can spread kindness wherever you are but we would would like to put out a special call to all Richmonders:

We know our city is a little screwed up, well a lot,  but would you like to do something kind for the kids of our city?

Yes? Meet me and other Guerrilla Goodness lovers in front of the Carillon (Byrd Park)  at 3:00 pm on September 7th!

Here’s how it works:

1. I will pass out addresses to city schools and sidewalk chalk.

2. You head out with friends, family, kids, dogs, grandmothers, artists, whoever…and write positive messges to kids on the sidewalks in front of the elementary schools in Richmond city for the first day of school.

3. Go home blissed out with the kindness high!

4. If you are kid, be super quiet when you are walking to school the next day and everyone around you is talking about the cool art out front. and smile.

We are looking for graffiti, tattoo  and other artists that might be interested in doing one crazy cool “square” at each school. All in chalk, of course. Please contact patience@kindnessgirl.com if you are interested in helping.

Can’t wait to see you there. Leave a comment if you think you might like to come, or just show up. Please, tweet, facebook and blog this too! Thanks, it’s gonna be great!

There were problems from the beginning, I was a child bride by today’s standards. Twenty-one, itching to get the altar to begin my life. My ambition went about as far as the end of the kitchen counter where I was making dinner. We came from completely different families, cultures, backgrounds. Opting out of finishing college to be poor newlyweds didn’t go over well with cautious family members. We didn’t always know how to communicate well, we were so, so young.  Yet somehow I knew. 

I knew this was a serious love.

Skeptics thought we were naive and foolish, and we were about so much but not about this. We were far beyond our years in love…a love that has seen…

unexpected pregnancies

us grow up together

sickness and surgeries

mental illness

financial hardship

death

each of us navigate the discovery of dreams  

 the realization that great love was needed to cover big pain and hurt, bigger and deeper than we ever knew

and we did, and this love, this love has conquered it all…during the nights of tears, deep joy and pain, fear and truth, bliss and laughter. There were so many moments when I didn’t know what would happen or how we would figure it out but one thing I was sure of over and over again, in the deepest place of my heart was that if he held me, I was fine, the world was fine, I was me…

…we are love.

Come what may.

So now I am wiser and older, I feel my bones settle in the intuition of what my soul has always known, as he holds me tight.

 The kids and I loaded up our old Chevy Malibu and set out for a day of errands and kindness work. I honestly believe life is more fun in a junker car. (the only requirement being that the a/c still somewhat works) Cars like this remind me of my childhood days of pushing the old green VW Dasher and hilariously hopping in as we jump started that baby. My mom had a way of making it fun, go figure.

The kids love our hoopty and it seems perfect for the work we were doing. We had 10 things to do, Jack was keeping track as 10 seemed like a crazy amount to him, to me it felt like a Tuesday. Our plans were foiled quickly when I realized this was possibly the worst tantrum day in the history of my entire parenting career. Lucy was in a serious funk.

I stopped at fast food joint to see if we could gather some strength from greasy food. Jack spilled a cup of juice down Josiah’s back. I did my Marge Simpson groan and proposed a do-over to the day. Everyone agreed and was back on board the kindness train of bliss.

Everyone except Lucy that is. She wailed and laid down in every, yes, EVERY single store we went in. My parenting was stellar for like the first 4 episodes and then I think she pretty much tapped me out. I went for the jugular. “Luce, we can not stop at Gina’s now, I’m sorry.”

“What?!! NO! NO! I’m SOooooo sorry, I’m just so sorry! The drama was just an accident! I’ll be a listening girl! Oh noooooo….” She then continued and tried to gag herself over the utter horror of missing out on the magic that is Gina’s house.

Josiah was deep into his Harry Potter book.  Lyra was sleeping. Jack was marking Gina’s house off his mental to do list of 10 things. I drove the hoopty, Lucy wailed. Yay for kindness and love….surprisingly, I was not thwarted. Jorge called and we decided to meet at Chipotle to re-group (yet again) and get some Jorge magic. The man who is the ever calming presence to all the members of our family and can pretty much talk you down from any tree.

“Babe, just another day in the life of a kindness worker, just think of the sacrifices Mother Theresa made.”  Diet coke shot through my nose at the sarcasm comparison of me and Mother T. I could not stop laughing while I arranged flower bouquets in the middle of lunch. He put everyone in their car seats and sent us on our way to do our ding-dong-ditchin’.

“I just don’t think we should do it, it isn’t very nice to run away.” Jack STILL not convinced this is kindness work in any way.

“But Jack, it’s ding-dong-ditchin’ to be NICE to someone, come on Jack, like kindness?” Josiah explains.

“I think you should try it Jackie-boy. It’s really fun!” I said.

He agreed and we pulled up to the house very slowly. He slowly got out and walked to the door, laid the flowers and card down, knocked and ran like the wind. His little cheeks were practically flapping.

“Go, go, go MOM! DRIVE!!!!” I pushed the pedal to the floor and the hoopty shook, like a bat out of hell. “That was awesome!” he said.

The next house proved to be even more exciting as the person just opened the door as we tore away burnin’ rubber.

“Woohoooo!” Lucy said. Redeemed from her ick.

Jack and Josiah  high fived. “I say cookies AND popsicles when we get home. We must celebrate!”

“Are you serious?” Josiah said.

“Yep!” I replied.

“Whoa. I love kindness work.” Jack said.

“Me too, me too…..” The car, the tantrums, the fast food, the speeding, the flowers…me too buddy.

I’m here. It’s true, there are times when you announce to the world who and where you are for whoever cares or is even listening. No, scratch that, you announce it for yourself. Then you stand around and look at everything around you and smile, maybe cry. Sometimes it feels liberating and thrilling, other times heavy and intense.

Today though, it feels like home and there are so many people every where I turn, in every room  in this soul house of mine. There are mothers in the kitchen with a warm meal and a kind word, fathers in the den handing me a twenty and a hug, there are sisters sitting on my bed helping me pick out the perfect dress, brothers filling my ipod with best mix ever, there are kids in the basement waiting to dance to music that is on way too loud…it is the best place, let me tell you. I may never leave.

So today, from this house of mine, hear me yell out the window: Here I am!…www.patiencesalgado.com

Thank you for caring about me, reading this blog, visiting my soul house, giving me the encouragement to claim all the parts of who I am…

When video games are magic:

Jack: Josiah, Josiah, Josiah!!! You can do it, I believe in you…with everything I have! You can do it!

The encouragement needed to bust to the next level…

My favorite kind of kindness is the act that comes totally unexpected. These are the ones that leave you speechless and undone in the best way. Things have been really hard for my family the last year, things I really wouldn’t share because it might hurt people I dearly love. I went from having sort of a charmed life to having layers peeled back that have required me to find a new way to be on so many levels. And really through it all, love and kindness have held firm, teaching me that I have always had everything I really need, come what may…

I will admit all of this struggle has left me soul weary for too long. Just last week, I was tearfully milling around the around the house secretly (or maybe not so secretly) wishing that we could run away together for a while, just get away to a quieter place. Jorge came home the next evening and said someone we know had offered us their beach house, free of charge, during a prime rental week. I was shocked, tiny and big wishes can happen I guess. This tremendous act of generosity came at just the right moment reminding me once again that we are being held. We are not alone.

The kids and I packed up and went ahead with Jorge meeting us for the last 2 days. The cottage was so perfect, bright with touches of joy everywhere you turned. Lots of little details made the home feel very loved. Every morning I opened the windows and looked out at the ocean, allowing the breeze blow over me, working her magic.  It was tricky to have 4 kids alone on a sandy beach, I am tired but somehow my heart feels rested even though my body does not.

We dug deep holes and buried each other, jumped the waves, watched too much horrible tv, spent hours making art, stayed up way late, ate sugar cereal, watched the sunset…and were away in the quiet, as quiet as 6 can be, together.

Sometimes what feels like an ocean of hardship requires an ocean of kindness or maybe lots of small acts to right a heart, to heal. I guess you never know what small or big act can do and what it will mean, but you can be sure it can change everything…

Thank you kind friends…

more pics here.

Josiah: You know, I think Lyra is getting curlies just like Jackie.

Me: I KNOW!!! Aren’t they cute?

Josiah: Yeah, she has something from everybody. She has my nose and papa’s skin, it’s so brown. She has Jackie’s curlies and I think Lucy’s eyes. What color are Lucy’s eyes again? brown, yep. Lucy’s eyes.

Me: She doesn’t have anything from me?! She doesn’t huh?

Josiah: She might have your kindness, we’ll just have to wait and see when she gets older.

*sigh*, Oh, be still my heart, I think she got kindness from him…

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow thee, all the days, all the days of your life…”

She was so full of  peace…walking forward, never looking back. May love meet you there, love for the deepest and most tender places in yourself and for Rwanda…as you boldly step into and meet all the desires of your heart.

 May traveling mercies go before you…

What is sending you power these days? This green car, I could feel the charge. The electric slide is comin’ on friends. (insert a boogie- woogie! here) Oh, it’s on, it’s on like Donkey Kong!

Other places I find power these days:

My friend Kelly and her wisdom are packing a serious punch lately. Girl has got it going on.

Gina’s bread

Forgiveness

New kindness schemes- what if I offer one free photo portrait session (shhhh! i think i’m becoming a real photographer) a month, guerrilla goodness style….you anonymously nominate someone else, for any reason, I pick one a month, kindness photography is born. (this might be really fun because I will not be offering portraits, just birth photography) Hmmmm….maybe someday I can even travel.

Stories and new friendships

Guacamole and  chips

Finding new strength in being vulnerable and fragile

Tell me, what is charging you today?

I traveled down a love lane with a soulsister this week, hers, not mine. She gave the gift of reflection via photos to her man to celebrate 14 years together. We put a gaggle of kids in the car and drove to the places where it all began. I listened to stories of livin’ on love with just a hibachi grill and a cooler big enough for a 12 pack. No refrigerator, no air conditioning…just hot city summer nights with a table pulled out on the sidewalk.  Romantic dinners by candlelight and the neighborhood kids wandering in and out of the light to see what real love looks like. and maybe grab a piece of garlic bread. 

The tiny place where the view of the city goes on forever was where he asked her to be his partner forever, the secret garden where promises were made to care for each other no matter what, the bright yellow house where babies were made and  born in a tub of  water filled with joy and welcome, we sit at each place and take it all in. I turn to her, we laugh, the dreamy in overload.

“But what about the inbetween?” I ask.  What about working hard at a job you care about with little pay, what about postpartum hell, what about all the need of the little people around you, how did you find your way to each other then?

We exchanged stories of deeper love then, like the old cracked and tired houses we drove to. You find yourself in the same place you started. Staring at the simple truth before you- that no matter what happens,  love rests at the bottom. And you choose each other over and over again…forever.

I went home and sat next to Jorge feeling in the inbetween place. Wondering how he could choose me after being tired, pissy, annoyed, drained for the better part of the last year. And we sat quiet, I started typing our own love lane list since we are far from our beginning place. 

Things that are great about US

and we wrote and wrote and wrote, it flowed so easily. And I thought about Hobie beach in Miami, and the sunset that day, the place where it all began…and so it goes.

The one I am trying to do (and was  failing miserably at last week) :

I wake each morning with a new day inviting me to create,

to listen to myself and the world,

to speak and be heard,

to act in grace, kindness and love.

Amen.

keep on truckin’…right?

My photography allowed me to be barefoot in the greenest grass that is the pure nature bliss of Vermont last week. Some dear friends hired me to photograph a birthday celebration. The farm was beautiful, the food was insane, the nature spectacular but nothing could even hold a candle to the true magic there….it was George and his values.

Everywhere I turned there were little notes, manifestos, in plain handwriting signed by G. I was struck by this and read each one feeling like it was a little window inside his head and heart. I looked around and realized one man (with a LOT of help I’m sure) had created something so beautiful because he did not waver from what he knew to be true about himself, about what called to him, about what he had to offer the world.

I ate his flatbread, I slept in his inn (in a room named Kindness), I talked to his staff and friends, and I soaked in all of his values…and I was blessed and renewed. It reminded me that I too can hold to what is most important to me. There is no rush and each time I follow what I know to be true, I can create something beautiful. I wake each morning with a new day inviting me to create, to listen to myself and the world, to speak and be heard, to act in grace, kindness and love.

I came home and thought of all the places and tiny ways we fall away from living the life and way we want. And I asked, What Would George Do? He would probably write a little note telling himself and the world what is most important to him. So I’m writing mine now…signed by P. You can write one too. Let’s trade tomorrow, shall we?

I was way excited to show this picture I took in Vermont to my friend Jess. I felt like a school girl showing my teacher my prettiest drawing. Jess is an insane nature photographer among a bunch of other things. Her gifts are like the size of a billboard or have been written by a sky writer on the horizon, and yet sometimes I wonder if she can see how wondrous she truly is….so today I am hella excited, she actually said yes when I asked her to guest post on Supersisters. Go check it, and enjoy the magic that is nature and Jess.

What do you do when unkindness strikes? The kind that hurts your heart in a deep place. I’m always kind of stunned by this and deeply saddened. Especially when it is cloaked in something else and it’s hard to see at first that you just got screwed over. So vague right? sorry.

I’m not sure what to do except sit in the pain for a little while…and look at it, wonder how it happened, try to understand, and cry, and look at flowers, and hold babies, and let big strong love in the form of your husband’s arms hold you, and try to move on…try really, really hard.

Remind yourself that kindness can change everything, everything.

I didn’t find this fortune in a cookie after sweet and sour chicken or wonton soup, it was laying in the grass at the strawberry patch. I find most of my soul there so it made perfect sense. You might say that this is the fortune of my life, that maybe the entire universe might be a friend even just for a moment, nothing makes me happier.

It’s been a long week. I’ve been pretty down, it’s nothing major, just one of those times when you are so aware of just how much sh*t you still need to work through. Like the kind that settles in the tub at the end of a nice bath or the backwash in your drink after a kid takes a swig. I’m very tired, like a soul tired.

It has been nothing I can hide or feel like talking about, so I’ve been hibernating. Most of my exchanges being with strangers, which feels appropriate right now…

My New Toll Friend

I drove up to the toll to get over the bridge.

Toll Friend: Hi, how are you?

Me: Bad.

TF: Did you say bad?!

Me: Yeah. It’s not going so good.

TF: Oh girl, it’s gonna be alright.

Me: Thanks…

Next day, same time, same girl.

TF: Hi, how are you?

Me: Better, you were right.

TF: You remembered me?!

Me: Of course, I believed you, I needed that. Thank you.

TF: I know how it can be…

Me: See you tomorrow? same time?

TF: Sounds good girl!

Sometimes I feel like the whole world is trying to be kind to me…and I am so grateful, you have no idea.

8:00am- Lyra is whining. Must have just woken up.

8:05am- Lyra still whining, a whimper actually. I call for Jorge to get her.

8:08am- Jorge finally goes to get her because it takes him three minutes to start to do anything.

“Pache, come see this.”

Lyra is under the middle of the king sized bed. Whimpering because every time she starts to crawl out she hits her head on the wooden bed slats. The child fell off the bed (onto a large pillow, ummm, this might have happened once before), didn’t make a peep and crawled under the bed to get out. Yes, we are the best.parents.ever.

We send these pencils in peace and love. by Roman, age 6

Kids in Utah decided to sell some toys at a yard sale to earn money to buy even more pencils.

A friend in North Carolina had a party and charged pencils at the door. She collected 5 times what she was expecting.

A little girl in Florida wrapped her pencils in her old hair bows to make them pretty AND send the girls something to wear too because girlfriends do that for each other.

A woman in Northern Samar discovered happiness can be found in small things, like pencils and pens.

And everyone involved found HOPE is real. and simple and true. Thank you Nortehanon, for inviting us into your Pens of Hope project.

We collected hockey pencils! thanks Kristin…

We put our pictures on them so you know what we look like…

We collected pencils of all kinds, who knew there were so many?

These pencils have power in them.
We sent our power in these pencils…

Your fellow peeps from the Filippino-American Association of Central Virginia and The Philippine Nurses Association have your back in a BIG way, like a thousands of pencils kind of way.

And here we are, with 8,918 new reasons to hope. We made tiny offerings and big offerings, we send our friendship and joy to all our friends in Northern Samar. Thank you everyone for all you are and all you did…much peace to you and those you love.

WE did it…and so much more!!!!!

patience

Today we are celebrating…

Balloons- I woke up before I was supposed to, so I helped Jorge blow up 100 balloons in my living room for my celebration. Gotta leave it to the event manager husband to come up with the best idea to show you are loved and worth celebrating. Lucy was delirious…”Let’s get this party started!” she kept saying while twirling. And the ole’ sucking helium and singing like the chipmunks is the best silly fun! ever.

Responsible Giving- Let’s just say it was HUGE progress for my family to give me a gift within the budget. HUGE, huge progress people! and now I have a lovely starter nest egg for my super wow camera I’m going to buy after I’ve SAVED for it!

Dreams- a random conversation this morning , “I hope your dreams come true Jackie-boy.”  I said.

 ”Me too, except the bad ones. But I’ve only had like 3 of those.” he replied.

I think our dreams are coming true. I’m waiting for one more phone call but I think we are gonna make our GOAL!!! We are at 3754 pencils but we have 2 BIG donation counts coming very soon. It looks like we will do it!!!!

A Mother’s Day Miracle- I’ve been feeling pretty low about a lot of things lately and I just knew the only thing that would help me is to pick strawberries….I’ve called every day this week hoping they would be ready. It was looking bleak, I tried one more time this morning and THEY ARE OPEN!!!! I can’t tell you what this means to me. I told the farmer it was a mother’s day miracle, he laughed and told me to “come on already!”

I hope you are feeling deeply loved if you are a mother, or should be a mother, or are a mother to the earth, the world, to those around you. May you been seen, really seen, for all that you are. May the joy of all your giving be returned to you today…

Eljah, Joy and Zac with their awesome pencil collection!!!

I have loved these kids since before they were born…I want to cry just seeing their faces with all those pencils! Thank you my dear friend, love to you all….

You can upload pictures of your pencils here.

I think we are at 2500, halfway to our goal of 5,000 pencils!!!! BUT I need to know your number if you are sending them straight to the Philippines. This way we can know exactly how much is left and race to the end.

Do you still want to be join our Pens of Hope project? Don’t worry, it’s not too late. I am now taking pencils from all over the country and will include them in one big box that will be mailed on May 15th! E-mail patience@kindnessgirl.com  for a mailing address if you would like to be included and please leave a comment telling me how many you are sending so we can announce our number by  May 10th.

Wooohoooo, I think we are going to do it guys!

Thanks to all the tweeters, facebookers, and fellow friends and kindness workers…we are finding hope and connections in every nook and cranny of our planet, even our junk drawers…I think it’s because we all know even small and simple things like a pencil can change us and the world…

The magic of del- I can’t begin to tell you how awesome this kid is! His message attached to his pencils said- “Enjoy these pencils, I hope you have a sharpener!”

We are on the homestretch of this project. The pencils are coming in slowly and I have a few promises to collect on but honestly, I’m a little nervous. I KNOW we can do it but it’s time for the hustle friends. Gather all you got, the bundle you have been carrying around in your purse, the box sitting on a table in your foyer or the backseat of your car, now is the time for the trip with your kids to Target….Our  friends at the Organization of Young Filipino Americans at UVA are stepping up, so is this fabulous lady and her kind organization, not to mention all the cool kids in my city. Do you have any pencils you want to share? It isn’t too late but we have to gather our gifts for our friends soon (by May 10th).

If you are in Richmond, you can write me at patience@kindnessgirl.com for a super secret drop off address or you can mail your pencils directly to Nortehanon at

PENS OF HOPE
P.O. Box 16
Post Office, Bgy. Dalakit,
Catarman Northern Samar
6400

Remember! Nortehanon is not accepting money, just pencils- this keeps things easier for her. Don’t forget to add a message for the kids and now you can upload your pictures of you (and your pencils) to our Pens of Hope flickr pool. The race to the end is always my favorite….it’s gonna be great!

Leave me a comment telling me if you have already mailed or plan to mail something soon!

peace, joy and especially hope,

patience

Every time I see a particularly beautiful moon, I think of my friend Christa. She loves the moon, she knows it like an old friend and I am convinced it shines for her. Live music was created for my husband Jorge, his soul is revived by the sounds mixing together in the air. It’s pure joy to watch, let me tell you.

And right now, I can FEEL the earth growing the berries for me to pick. Did you know they grow for me …for me?! and I couldn’t feel more grateful.

and the ocean exists for my dad, and the sun shines for Anne, and on and on…

What breathes, lives, grows for you? I’d love to know…