June 4th: A Little Lemonade

June 4th: When I came home from the market today, there were three little boys outside who had set up a lemonade stand across the street. They were doing their very best to get my attention and seeking my business by repeatedly shouting, "Lemonade, twenty-five cents!" over and over and over again as I carried my purchases in from the car. (My husband and I have a rule that we always buy lemonade from kid vendors. Drinking it, now that's debatable.) So, I gathered up some quarters and walked across the street to order up a nice refreshing, ice-cold cup of pink lemonade. I gave each kid a quarter even though I only purchased one cup. They seemed very excited. A nice high-five to each for making such good lemonade, and I was on my way again.

That two minute interaction with those three little boys didn't cost me much time or money, but it was just a tiny step in further establishing good relationships and rewarding hard work.

Another challenge idea: I think I just might have to make them cookies one afternoon.

June 3rd: Call a Friend

June 3rd: Call a friend just to say, "Hello."

We live in a busy world. I am also a task-oriented person. These two things together makes it so I have to be even more intentional about friendships. Today I took the opportunity to call up some friends and try to reconnect. I have a lot of friends who live in different states, so the phone is a blessing! I think that there is such power in reconnecting with people and investing in each other's lives. For me, friendships can be reenergizing, invigorating, therapeutic, fun, and relaxing, among other things! Thank the Lord for good friends!

(BTW: Countdown to my friend Jen's baby is at about 14 days! I can't wait to meet the little one! I am sharing this because it will probably come up again in some of my posts.)

June 2: Won't You Be My Neighbor?

June 2nd: Get to know the neighbors to build relationships and a sense of community

My dad always taught me to build relationships with people so that I can show the love of Jesus. He would say, "When you have to, use words to tell about Jesus." My mom always says, "Actions speak louder than words." How am I to share Jesus with people I don't know in a community I live in but am not rooted in yet? These are the thoughts behind today's challenge.

Trent and I have been hard at work in our backyard. We are first-time homeowners and the excitement of having a garden is almost too much for me. Every weekend we are out in the yard trying to make it the best we can be. On Sunday, our task was removing a giant bush from the back corner of our lot. We were outside working for hours! Naturally, this allowed us a chance to get to know some of our neighbors.

We live in a suburban community with fairly small lots, so we are very close in proximity to our neighbors. Our lot touches five others! We have gotten to know our next door neighbors pretty well, but haven't really seen or chatted with the neighbors who live behind us and on the corners. However, it was such a beautiful day that everyone was outside working.

We finally met our backdoor neighbors. They are a very nice Chinese family and they are growing a ton of bok choy in their backyard, among other things. The grandma of the family doesn't speak any English, but her daughter does. It was so nice to get to know them a bit more. The grandma even picked fresh bok choy and gave me an entire bagful!

The neighbors to the north of us are a nice mom and grown daughter. The daughter is quite the gardener so I have been seeking a lot of advice from her as I develop my green thumb. She was so nice, she even gave me some clippings of plants to transfer to my yard. (Truth be told, I planted them right away, but I think they are already dead!)

My challenge for June 2nd was to reach out and finally get to know my neighbors. I am working on making little treats for each family so I can personally deliver them and hopefully strike up more conversation.

June 1: Blessing Bags

First, a thought: Admittedly, with the end of school crashing upon me like a tsunami, I felt a bit shell-shocked to jump right into summer. The transition from the end of school the beginning of summer was anything but graceful. So, when I woke up on June 1st, I honestly hadn't even realized it was no longer May. Gasp! My challenge of Chieko's Change had begun without me!

June 1: On Saturday, my husband and I were driving around town when we saw a homeless man on the side of the road with a cardboard sign. Luckily, we had a Blessing Bag in the car to give him. 

Here's the story behind the Blessing Bags...

My husband and I are so blessed to be a part of a community group through our church. This group is comprised of amazing men and women. A few weeks ago, we decided that we wanted to do something together as a group to serve and honor Jesus. My husband and I have a passion for outreach and suggested the idea of building Blessing Bags together. 

We made a list of items that can survive the heat of a car and decided which family would be responsible for which item. Our list included peanut butter crackers, granola bars, bottles of water, Chapstick, gum, hand sanitizer, a card telling about our church, etc. We met together a couple of weeks later for a grill-out and to assemble the blessing bags. We made fifty and each family had something they contributed and now every car in the family is stocked with Blessing Bags. We plan on making new bags at the beginning of each season and to make sure this outreach opportunity doesn't pass us by. 

It was so nice to have the time for fellowship and it was really great to see the kids take part too. In fact, one little girl saw a homeless person on the way to the grill-out and told her mom how excited she was to have the Blessing Bags to give out. I love the fact that we are serving as a group and modeling outreach for our children.