Stories of Kindness from Around the World

We had our first child in January and were so overwhelmed by all the love and kind wishes that people from around the world shared with us and our little one.  She was showered with blessings, flowers and gifts from near and far and in some cases from people we didn't even know personally! :) 

My husband's business friend had a shirt made with her name on it for the football team he supports, another lady in Ireland (who we have never even met!) had candles made with her name on them,  another friend in India had dresses made for her, our aunt knitted lovely hats and sweaters for her, friends bought her loads and loads of adorable clothes, another friend from New York had a blanket made with her name on it, another friend sent us cupcakes from a famous bakery that spelled out "Welcome Sareena," another friend gifted her photography skills and came over one morning to capture some Kodak moments, and we even received a gift from a fellow Smile Grouper, who we have yet to meet! :)  In addition to moving people to gift her things, her arrival brought joy to so many people, we could have never imagined it without experiencing it!  We feel so blessed and are sure she does too :)

Our baby received one very special anonymous gift (though we're pretty sure we know who kindly sent it) :), which inspired her first act of kindness!  A couple of weeks after she was born, we were tagged with a package with a Smile Card taped to the box and inside we found two hand-knitted receiving blankets along with a letter explaining that one was for our baby and the second one was for her to pay forward as her first act of kindness -- how sweet! 

My mind got racing with all sorts of fun ideas of how we could pay such a special gift forward.  Our baby was tiny when she was born and almost nothing we had bought would fit her, including the diapers -- everything was too big!  Most people who have tiny babies aren't expecting to, and so aren't usually prepared, as was the case with us.  So I thought I'd put together a giant pink "Baby Girl" gift bag filled with baby items that I thought  a new mom could find useful, if she had a tiny baby.  I filled it with a few packs of micro sized diapers, some new, washed and ready-to-use tiny outfits for the baby, a few dresses she could wear when she was a bit older, a giant stuffed teddy bear, some small toys, the receiving blanket we had received and a card congratulating the new mom, explaining why I put this gift bag together and wishing her and her little one well.  And of course, we attached a Smile Card to the bag so the new mom could pay it forward and keep the kindness rippling :)

My baby girl and I went to the hospital where she was born when she was only 6 weeks old and visited the ward where we had stayed.  I explained to the midwives that I had put together this gift bag and wanted them to anonymously gift it to a new mom who unexpectedly had a tiny girl, hoping that she would find the items useful.  They were so surprised that someone would do this, were ooohing and awwweing at all the items in the bag and were so excited about gifting it to someone!  It's so neat to give others the opportunity to create a ripple too :)  They thanked me for being so thoughtful and promised to pay it forward -- in fact, they already had someone in mind before we even left!

I can't wait to share this story with our little one when she grows up to inspire her to continue paying forward all the love and kindness she has received and will continue to as she grows up.  And a warm thanks to our anonymous friend for inspiring our baby's first act of kindness :)