Day 12: Phone Call

Life gets busy and we lose contact with special people in our lives.  We have the greatest of intentions to stay in touch, but we just cannot make it happen.  Our on-the-go lifestyles keep us from calling friends and family members as often as you would like.  Sound familiar?  It happens.  Today we wanted to take a few minutes a make some calls to those we haven’t spoken with in a while to let them know we were thinking of them.  I, personally, made three phone calls.  Each call was to a person who has positively impacted my life in big ways.  Unfortunately, I only connected with one via phone and left voicemails for the others.  I hope that I can still connect with them over the next few days. It has been way too long since our last conversation.

Today, for me, wasn’t about the calls that I made.  It was about a call that I received.  My phone rang this afternoon and my caller ID showed a strange number that I did not recognize.  Most days, that call would go unanswered.  For some reason I felt compelled to answer it.  The voice on the other end of the line was new.  One I had never heard before.  Her name was Jennifer and she was calling from Denver, Colorado.  She told me that she had been following our Impact 52 story for about 6 months.  She expressed how much she has been inspired by what we are doing for others in our community.  She has been volunteering with two organizations in her community and feels like her life has changed because of these experiences.  She thanked me for creating Impact 52, sharing our stories, and inspiring others, like herself, to make a difference in their communities.  She then thanked me for improving her relationship with her younger sister.  They volunteer together a few times a month and she states that their relationship has never been better.  She has been participating in the 25 Days of Giving, when she can, and she wanted her Day 12 phone call to be to us.  I was blown away by this call today.  A complete stranger from another part of the country took time out of her day to call us.  Her kind words are appreciated and will never be forgotten.  Today, we gave.  Today, we received.  Simple gestures to some are huge actions to others.  Thank you Jennifer for thinking about us and following our story.  You were the one who made an impact today.

Fill the Red Kettle is day 13.  Take time to drop change into a Salvation Army kettle.  We will be donating change to a few bell ringers around town.  We, as a family, will be ringing the bell outside of the Hobby Lobby in Fort Wayne from 5-7pm.  Stop by and see us.  We would love to collect your change!