Giving Month Challenge I : Visiting Neighbors

I love February because it is such a month of giving.  My mom always taught us that Valentine’s Day isn’t about couples.  It’s about extending signs of affection to the people around us.  All of February is about extending that love.

No doubt you’ve caught on to something:  I’m sort of obsessed with challenging myself.  And just as often, I like to challenge you just a bit, too.  ”Hi.  My name is Katie, and I’m totally addicted to personal development challenges.  I will bet a package of fruit snacks that I can do it…”

Let’s scratch that whole fruit snack thing.  This month it should be all about those little boxes of candy hearts.  You know the ones.  I’ll try again…

“Hi.  I’m Katie, and I’m totally addicted to shooting personal challenges to everyone at Making This Home.”

Each year, I always start thinking about how I can reach out to others with little gifts throughout February.  It’s something I love… and I’m hoping you’d love to do it too because guess what.  Each Friday of this month, you and I and all the readers of Making This Home are going to team up with a common goal.  That goal is to give.

Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.  - John Wesley

This weekend’s challenge:

drop by the neighbor’s house with food.

People always say that food is the way to a man’s heart.  The truth is that it’s the way to anyone’s heart.  It gives you a reason to not just be neighbors, but for a brief moment, you become a part of one another’s lives.

When words have become impossible when we lived in Germany, homemade European cookies bridged the gap with a traditional neighbor.  American jerky and candy bars bridged another not-so-traditional gap.  The act of sharing can be so much more powerful than words. It certainly means more than waving from the car or saying hello at the mailboxes to all our neighbors.

So drop by a neighbor’s house with a treat.  Bring a jar of something you canned.  Bring something from the grocery store or handmade.

I’m counting on you to do this!  Imagine if all of us – all around the world – took a moment from our week to extend that kindness.  Imagine the influence of those brief moments.  Imagine the joy.

Some favorites that we like to visit neighbors with:

So what will you give this weekend?

I hope you share your plans in the comments.  I hope you come back and tell us what you did!  I promise I will do the same.

**Let’s see how many people we can get to participate!  Can we top the comments left in the last post with this challenge?**

My heart is so full just thinking about the goodness we can offer.

(Images from Necco and my sister… giving out her handmade s’more supplies here at the tire house during warmer days)