Little things DO matter, and sometimes I think it's the "smallest" of gestures that offer the largest impact.

Recently I wrote about the invitations my mother-in-love :) asked me to make for a family reunion. It took a long time, they "had" to be in the mail quickly, and I was juggling several other "projects" at the time (and it was when EVERYTHING was taking longer than it should've). My friend Paige helped design & get the base card done, she's the idea girl if ever there was one for Stampin' Up! Let's just say that night we got closer........REAL close ;).

Well, my first "paycheck" came when my m-i-l received her invite (I sent her one so she'd know what everyone else was getting...but also to let me know if I--oops!--forgot anything (which thankfully, I didn't) ). She gushed :) :) :). Thought it was adorable. Blew all kinds of air up my skirt, telling me that's why she asked me to do 'em in the first place, yada yada. Her response was predictable in the sense she's a very gracious woman, quick to express her affections & gratitude.

But, then I got two more "paychecks"! Two of Tad's aunts WROTE me to tell me how much they LOVED them. They literally took time to buy a card, and write very specifically why they appreciated receiving them--"...I thought I would write this morning to personally thank you....and tell you how special it is...precious! I loved the poem you wrote, the way you put the invitation together...the scripture on the outside envelope. It is a fantastic work of art!!...thank you so much for making such a memorable invitation. It has certainly set the stage for a wonderful reunion." And from the other, "...I showed it to my art-ish friend and he said, "your niece made that???"...it is a piece of art, I am keeping it with my treasures."

Seven hours to produce a special, precious, memorable, stage-setting, piece of art, treasure?! Wow! I wanted to write a thank you note for my thank you notes, lol. Seriously, I was touched by these women taking their time to express their appreciation to me. It didn't take a tremendous amount of their time to to do this, but it was intentional and heartfelt. What a challenge to me to "pay it forward"...to do the same type of thing when I'm touched by someone else. How many times have I had good intentions...the THOUGHT to do something like that, but not followed through. More often than not, I'm afraid, but hopefully these "little" not-so-random acts will effect change in my life.

Here's a picture of the "bones" of the invite...didn't photograph the guts--poem, response card, mini-maps, return envelopes, but you definitely get the idea. The white bbq card pulls out and has all the info on it.....you can't tell it, but the hamburger is 3-dimensional... cute, cute, cute (I can say that because it was all Paige, I just did the grunt work).