Friday, April 24, 2009

Making wishes

One Sunday, when Lori and Kurt were visiting California, we went for a walk at sunset. The park near our house was covered with dandelions that we raced around making wishes and blowing the heads off of.




You can see the dandelion pieces in Lori's and my hair because Kurt kept blowing them in our faces.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

The Story Of The Broken Wristband

I have an amazing story to tell and a little promo work to do.

Once upon a time my friend Kyle got a wristband while he was on his mission in New Jersey that was white and said on it "I'm on a mission from God." Which is a Blues Brothers line but it totally pertained. I don't remember the story of how he got it but it was really special and important to him and he never took it off. We would play around with each other and I would tease him that I was going to break his wristband if he didn't stop teasing me. He would tell me that he would be so mad at me if I did. This went on for several months.

Then one night we were playing around and my hand went one way and his went the other and my finger caught his wristband and snapped it. It was an complete accident and I felt so bad. He just stood there in shock, holding the broken band in his hand. I apologized over and over. When he came out of shock the first thing he said was, "I'm not mad at you." He knew it was a freak accident but I still felt so sorry and I wouldn't stop apologizing.

Kyle said his wrist felt naked after that and it was so weird to be without it. Every chance after that he would let me know how sad he was that it was gone and I would let him know how sad I was that I broke it. I offered to replace it with a different wristband but he said no thanks. He even called a girl from his mission to check out the store where they sold them, but they didn't anymore. I thought it was hopeless and there was nothing I could do to fix what I did.

One Sunday morning, less than a week before Kyle's birthday, I woke up early and thought I'd do some searching on the internet to see if I could find another wristband. I did about a million searches in Google for variations of the description of the wristband. I searched for "missionary wristbands", "missionary bracelets", "on a mission from God", "Blues Brothers merchandise" etc. I was getting discouraged after searching through thousands of pages and not finding anything even remotely close. I finally did a search for "on a mission from God wristband" and found a contest website that had the wristbands as prizes. There were several other sayings of wristbands too. Like "I am here to serve", "God is my best friend", "I must give God my best", "I am God's number one fan", etc. In the photo of the wristbands on the website it also said on all of them "GOT PURPOSE?"

I couldn't remember if Kyle's had anything else written on it but I thought it wouldn't really matter if the new one did or didn't. So I immediately sent an email to the website asking about the wristband. Read the following email conversation to continue the story...


To Whom It May Concern:

My friend had a wristband that he got while serving a mission for our church that said on it "I'm on a mission from God." The thing is that I accidently snapped it. He was really disappointed and I've been looking for another for him. We even called the store he bought it at in New Jersey and they don't sell them anymore. I found your website from a google search and was wondering if you could tell me how I can get a wristband that says "I'm on a mission from God." Preferably in white but I'm sure any color would be acceptable. If you don't have them anymore could you please tell me how I might be able to find them to purchase.

Thank you so much for your help!

Christina



Later that day...


Hi Christina,

I actually only have one left and it is in white. We run a free contest website and award these and tons of other free prizes (including cash and lottery tickets) to our members on a daily basis.

I would be glad to send it to you for him. Isn't God AWESOME?! He sent you to me and I only had one left. :) I have already set it aside for you. Please let me know what address you would like me to send it to.

Also, please tell as many of your friends and family as possible about MyCoolContests.com. Let them know that we award thousands of free prizes each month and there are absolutely no gimmicks, no fees, no s&h, and no spam!

Have a Blessed Day!

Sincerely,

Bill B.
Your Friend at MyCoolContests.com




Bill,

You are amazing! And God is awesome! Thank you so much for doing this for me.
My address is...

Let me know how much it is for the wristband and shipping and handling, I will definitely tell my friends and family all about your website!

Thanks again! You are a life saver.

Christina




No way, no charge! I'll have it shipped out tomorrow.

God Bless,

Bill B.
Your Friend at MyCoolContests.com


The wristband came in the mail on Thursday. It was perfect. Beyond perfect. All it said on it was "I'm on a mission from God." Nothing else. I was so excited! I had decided to give it to Kyle for his birthday but his birthday wasn't until Saturday. I couldn't wait that long to give it to him so I made him open it when he came over Friday night. Here are the pictures of him opening it. Kyle was so excited and I was really happy that he didn't mind the replacement. It was slightly nervous-making to try to replace something like that.



Bill,

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I received the wristband on Thursday. It was PERFECT!!! It is actually the friend's birthday today so I wrapped it up and gave it to him last night for his birthday present. He was super happy and said it meant a lot to him. I really appreciate you helping me out with this.

Thanks again!
Christina





No problem at all. I'm glad I could help. Please tell your friend I said Happy Birthday, and he has an Awesome Friend in you!

God Bless,

Bill
Your Friend at MyCoolContests.com




So Kyle has his wristband back and he lived happily ever after. The End.



The moral of the story is go check out MyCoolContests.com You can win tons of cool stuff. Tell them I sent you when you sign up.