Valentine's Day was no exception. There are those that love it, tolerate it and can't stand it. Those who boycott it, celebrate it, complain about it, share cutesy little sayings about it and declare their undying love for people on it.
For us personally, we've never done much more than go out for dinner and maybe exchange cards. Hopeless romantics, huh? Truth be told, we usually end up celebrating the anniversary of our first date which happened to fall on February 15th, 2001. We've always been a little unconventional I guess.
I try in the everyday mundane, to encourage my kids to find ways to 'live love', but why not use a special day to ramp it up a little?
I prepared a little package for each of them with little things I knew would bring a smile to their face (and the bonus was they were hugely discounted things. Love a bargain!) On the outside of their package, I wrote a verse to share with each of them...Noah's from 1 Cor 13:13 and Ella's from Zephaniah 3:17 (LOVE this verse and the picture of God delighting in us...now that's some love!)
We had to wake Noah up as Jason was leaving for work. Needless to say they loved their Valentines gifts.
My sleepy Valentines
We also read to them a little about what God has to say about love. Things that even little minds can at least begin to absorb. Love is kind, patient, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, is not rude, is not self seeking, is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrong. Doesn't delight in evil. Rejoices with truth. Always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails! What great things to strive for.
And to take the focus off the 'getting' some, Ella and Noah decorated hearts with stickers as Valentine's to give their friends.
With kids aged 3 and 4, and a whole bunch of sweet little friends, I thought why not celebrate with a Valentine's Morning tea? So I invited some friends and we ended up with 9 kids aged 4 and under, along with Mums for crowd control, and had a lovely little time. The kids crafted and ate and played and scattered glittery little hearts from one end of the house to the other :-)
Setting up the table for morning tea
Waiting so patiently on their friends
How sweet are they?
These two!
So that was our Valentine's Day this year; a lot of fun! Oh, and I have to say the icing on the cake was the offer from a sweet friend to mind our kids while we had dinner out. Bonus!
I've been listening to an Andrew Peterson CD in the car recently (great music for the soul, by the way!) There's a song with a line in it that says 'love binds up what breaks in two'. I love that. 'Live love' in a broken world. Love with your words and with what you do. Love your family, your friends; the ones easy to love and the ones that take oh so much strength. Love strangers. Love people who may never be able to give back. Smile, wave, wait, help. Love -- knowing it helps to bind up pain, loss and heartache, and knowing that it helps in bringing about healing and joy!
1 comment:
I love what you did for the kids! So sweet! Will have to incorporate that into our Valentine traditions! Miss you!
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