Happy Heart Day, Y'all!

I have been trying to make Valentine's Day a little more festive at our house over the past few years... I know that it is mostly propelled by capitalistic ventures and relentless guilt-induced advertising. I get that. And Valentine's Day isn't really a big spending holiday for Matt and I. But, I do like the idea of having a special day dedicated to showing our love for others, whether that love be romantic, familial, parental, platonic or whatever. And, yes of course I think that we should show our love all year round and yada, yada, yada. I agree with that idea as well. But sitting at home wrapped in my "holiday principles" on Valentine's Day isn't helping anyone. Instead, we have chosen to take this holiday and use it as an opportunity to share the love that Christ has instilled in us with those around us:
with one another in our marriage, with our children, with our neighbors and teachers and friends. And although it is easy to become cynical about the cheap and false portrayals of love that are all around us this time of year, we are choosing to take this day and make it special for our family!

Here are the girls and I in our Heart shirts...

We have had so much fun dressing up in these this year. Whenever one of us has worn one, we have all put ours on. So Tori walks around pointing at each of our shirts and matching the hearts, and then she'll walk over to Matt and Isaac and point to their shirts, saying, "Nononono." (Because they don't have heart shirts!)

I think Victoria's is the cutest--- you can't see it but it says,

"My heart belongs to Daddy."

I love it! And you may be wondering... I thought you said this wasn't a big spending holiday for you?

But, in preparation for Valentine's this year, I went to Target and Gymboree and bought our shirts the Monday after Valentine's Day for at least 50% off. So I think I got all three shirts for a total or $8! Not too shabby!

We did lots of other things throughout the week... neighbor gifts, valentines for friends, decorating, etc...

On Sunday morning, we made our traditional Whole Wheat Pancakes and had to shape them in hearts:


And that evening, we made valentine sugar cookies! This is always a fun, colorful and exhausting experience. Isaac wasn't feeling well, so Daphne was my chief cook's assistant, and she refused to get dressed so that she was decent for pictures! While I was baking, Victoria snuck in and got a cookie off the cooling rack and started munching it down. Here she is, so proud of her stolen goods!

(Her face is stained from her spaghetti and meatballs!)

And after I got her all cleaned up from that mess, she snuck back in and got a frosted cookie!
Once again, you can see she's very ashamed of herself!

I was able to teach a lesson on Jesus Christ at church that morning. In my pursuit to find a fun little handout and sort of bring the lesson together, I found this:



I loved it right away. I used it as a bookmark and attached Dove Promises to give to the ladies in my class.
We thought it was appropriate on this day of love, that we celebrate the source and origin of all love. All the love that I feel and am blessed enough to receive originally emanates from our Father in Heaven. It is He who has given us both the ability to love and a reason to love. So, my message at the end of that lesson was this: I pray that this little bookmark might help you to remember real, true and genuine love on this day rather than the commercial and imitation love offered from the world. After All:

"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him...We love Him, because He first loved us."

I John 4:16 & 19