Last night, with the help of my fabulous fiance and best friend (one in the same, a great man), I finished almost all other acts! Check 'em out:

17. Stopped at the scene of an accident. I asked if everyone was okay--everyone was, thankfully--and volunteered assistance. They were all fine and help was on the way. What a random opportunity! I'm just so grateful that all was okay beyond a fender bender.

18. Dropped 'lucky' pennies (heads up!) around a restaurant parking lot.

19. Paid for the meal of the woman behind us at McDonald's. The drive-thru attendant seemed excited about it when I told her that if the woman asked why her meal had been paid for, it was so she could have a better evening. We watched her very confused, surprised face in the rearview mirror!

20. Paid the toll for the driver behind us at the tollbooth.

21. Gave hot cocoa to the tollbooth worker. He was PRECIOUS. He said, "Oh my goodness! Wow..." and gave me a little pat on the hand. So cute!

22. Left a thank-you note and treat for my mail carrier.

23. Gave treats to co-workers.

24. Donated some canned goods at a food bank.

25. Made dinner for Mr. Connell (my fiance), which was the suggestion of one of my students who must be trying to prepare me for married life!

26. Saved a bunch of pink lids from my yogurt cups, which I mailed in to benefit cancer research. Only cost me 1 stamp!

27. Cleaned the principal's office. Actually, this one has not yet been done, but we are scheduling it for this week or next! She said she's really going to put me to work! Haha!

Check back soon, as I'll post some more as I continue to reflect on this whole adventure. An adventure it definitely has been!

The first set of results!

Today is Monday, November 14th--which means that yesterday was my birthday, and the day I did my acts of grace! I have lots to share!

Joining me for different parts of the journey were my mom, fiance, and future sister-in-law. What a great time we had! I apologize for the lack of pictures today; my accomplices took the pictures and I have not yet gotten them. Also, it was a little bit hard to photograph everything, as I wanted to remain fairly anonymous and inconspicuous! But I'm excited to share with you what we did!

1. Returned carts to the grocery store lobby. The young man responsible for returning all of the carts was very appreciative of our help and tried to take them from us before we got inside, but we were persistent!

2. Made an impromptu donation to a breast cancer charity at the entrance to the grocery store.

3. Bought a Thanksgiving balloon and handed it to a little boy in the grocery store. His parents had these sweet looks on their faces and the little boy loved the turkey balloon!

4. Bought a gift card at the checkout line at the grocery store and proceeded to hand it to the woman behind me. Her face was priceless and I had to tell her twice that I bought it for her to help her have a nice day. As I hurried away, she and the checkout girl stared at me and each other. It was AWESOME. I will be doing that again soon.

5. Shared smiles with everyone we saw.

6. Helped someone at a crosswalk.

7. Tucked happy notes in peoples' windshield wipers that wished them a beautiful, sunny, blessed day.

8. Left coins at a vending machine.

9. Complimented strangers.

10. Opened doors at a store. This proved to be a little bit difficult, as so many stores have automatic doors!

11. Picked up trash along the sidewalk at a mini mall.

12. Hid gift cards amongst the books at Barnes & Noble. I marked them from 'anonymous' and wrote a happy little note on them. I hope someone finds them soon!

13. Bought a book for a little girl in need. This one was unplanned but was a lot of fun. Barnes & Noble has a kiosk set up for such donations and I was able to find one of my favorite childhood books to donate.

14. Took balloons to the local hospital and left them at a nurses' station to be passed out to patients who could use a pick-me-up.

15. Handed single-stem roses to the nurses and hospital workers we passed on the way in and out of the hospital. They were so appreciative. I told them that I do not like hospitals and am so grateful for all that they do, 'cause I could never do it!

16. Cheered up a friend with some of my birthday cake!

In case you're counting, that's just 16, with 11 more acts to go. Trouble was, I ran out of daylight! I did get a late start due to some family visiting and some extra birthday sleep! Also, some of the things I had planned didn't work for a weekend day. I had a really hard time accepting this yesterday. My wonderful mom and amazing fiance assured me that it would be okay, and that it would actually be a graceful act to just forgive myself!

So, today after school, I'll be finishing up! Tomorrow I will share the remaining 11 acts and share my thoughts on the whole event!

In the meantime...

The suggestions have begun to pour in! Thanks to some amazing primary aged students, I have received dozens of suggestions for the 27 Acts of Grace project. I am so moved by the excitement of my students as they thoughtfully consider ways to show grace.

As I prepare for the big day, November 13th, I am swamped with the regular goings-on of life. And yet, since sharing this project with the school community, I've been so much more aware of the little things I can do in the meantime. I mean, why wait till mid-November to start showing grace, right?

How are you showing grace each day?

I used to challenge myself--and sometimes my students--to compliment at least 3 people every day. Now I'm focusing more on the same 3-a-day goal, this time with graceful acts. Try it; I think that you'll be amazed at the return.

I'm so tired of ME!

I have a confession: lately, I've been pretty self-absorbed. Selfish, even. And that is not the person I want to be! Here's what I mean:

This December, I will be marrying my best friend, Mr. Connell, and guess what? He's a teacher, too! We are so excited for our big day! My students, friends, and family have been supportive and excited right along with us; it's been a lot of fun. While Mr. Connell has been a great help in the planning process, naturally, I am much more concerned about every little detail of our wedding day! I think about the wedding constantly. And I don't think there's too much wrong with this.

Unfortunately, with all of the decisions to make--the flowers I want to carry, the cake I want to eat, the dress I want to wear--I've been thinking a lot about myself. The result is that I'm rather tired of me! (Good grief, even this blog entry is about me! Ugh!) Do you ever feel this way?
 
This is just another reason that the 27 Acts of Grace project is so cool. Finally, I'll be spending an entire day thinking about others. How great is that? :-)

Defining GRACE

So what is grace? Though we may have an idea of how to show grace or what grace feels like, it may be hard to put it into words. This has proven tricky for me as I try to explain the 27 Acts of Grace project to my young students.

As someone who grew up with computers at home and at school--I'm just 26, after all!--of course I turned to Google and online dictionaries to help me out:

                                                  GRACE:

                                                  1. A disposition to be generous or helpful; goodwill.

                                                  2. A favor rendered by one who need not do so.

                                                  3. Love bestowed freely on people.

                                                  4. Honor or favor.

                                                  5. Mercy.

                                                  6. Beauty, elegance, or charm.

                                                  7. A pleasing or attractive quality.

                                                  8. Elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action.

Explaining this in elementary terms requires some assistance. Thanks to our fabulous school librarian, I've acquired a few literary resources for young students to check out:

Author Amy Krouse Rosenthal, along with illustrators Jane and Brooke Dyer, use the concept of cookies to define tricky words for little ears in:

Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons

Sugar Cookies: Sweet Little Lessons on Love

Christmas Cookies: Bite-Size Holiday Lessons

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Author Carol McCloud and illustrator David Messing encourage positive behavior and daily expressions of kindness in:

Have You Filled a Bucket Today: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids 

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Additional thanks to our super school guidance counselor, who has displayed the following quote about grace on a school bulletin board:

Grace has been defined as the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul.

I hope that all of us here at school, myself included, will have a better understanding of grace as we work to complete this project. In the meantime, how do you define grace? Feel free to post answers below!

27 Acts of Grace

Welcome to the official 27 Acts of Grace blog! Here I will be posting updates, photos, and information related to this exciting project.

27 Acts of Grace is a project inspired by the blog of this woman, who on her 38th birthday performed 38 random acts of kindness, 1 for each year of her life, documenting the day along with her children. Inspired by this selflessness and creativity, I have decided to do the same for my upcoming 27th birthday celebration!

As an elementary art teacher, I am even more excited about the teachable aspect of this project. And so, joining me on this exciting journey is my elementary school family, including my colleagues and hundreds of young students, who are participating to celebrate the act of grace.

I hope that you, too, will join the journey as I prepare to complete 27 acts of grace!