I love Valentine’s Day:-)!! Before I found My Love, I loved Valentine’s Day!! I have always given or sent Valentine’s to friends and family. I love to do that. Over the years I have changed to giving out Valentine’s to mostly family, our God-Children, my parents, brother, sister, daughter and of course My Sweetheart. I also like to do something fun or different in my classroom on Valentine’s and it almost always involves chocolate! Today we did a lesson I named That’s S’ More! Like Amore! But S’More! Ha! I played the song by Dean Martin and sang it was funny, the number of eye rolls was hilarious! Anyway, I think Valentine’s is for everyone and I wish more people embraced the idea of using the day to just remind everyone in our sphere that we love them and value them.

My own love does Valentine’s well. He is amazing. He is a hopeless romantic and I am the happy recipient of all the sweet sweet wonderful things he has done over the years. It’s like a fairytale I live in on Valentine’s Day. I am not kidding. Today he sent me the song Storybook Love. He bought me flowers two days ago. He took me to lunch today and I know he has a fun and special evening planned for me and our daughter, who he also totally spoils. I could ask for anything from him on this day and he’d probably do it or get it if it was within reason. Not to mention all the sweet poems, love letters, stories he’s written for me over the years.

I am so incredibly blessed that God put Jason in my life. He makes me feel loved like no other person on Earth. I imagine the love I feel from my husband is close to the love God has for me. That totally amazes me because I can’t imagine being loved by anyone more than I am loved by Jason and yet I am.

I am definitely not bragging or trying to but one day if my daughter reads this blog I want her to know how incredibly awesome her Dad was/is and how grateful I felt and feel everyday for the gift that he is to us. God has been so good to me and I as I sit here,  typing this while waiting for my daughter to finish her piano lesson, I am overwhelmed by that Love.

Isn’t that what Valentine’s Day should be about? Knowing we are loved and whether that is the love we feel from a lover or a friend, parent, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, grandparent, it’s all really just a reflection of the one perfect love waiting to hold us all, if we open our hearts.

I encourage you to share Love today with the people around you, through you they might have just enough of a glimpse, a taste of God’s perfect love to want to to take the time to know Him.

Today for Valentine’s Day…I Give Thanks!

KOR

Here are the  flowers My Love bough. I told you, he does Valentine’s well!

I love this song by a group called Casting Crowns. I’ve watched them at least twice in concert. Steven Curtis Chapman, an all time favorite, helped get them started.

This song reminds me of the first catechism question I ever learned. Why are we here? To love God with our whole heart, mind and soul.

I forget this often, very often. I was just teaching my Camp Fire girls that when we go out and do things for people, it’s to bring Jesus to them. We are His hands and feet.

Today is Christmas Eve and so today I’m going to focus on being Jesus to others, instead of being upset that my husbands mother went to Disney World(long story, lots of history, too much to explain now) for the holidays or worrying about which traditions will stay or change this year.

In the end its all about Jesus. He gave his life so I could live, who does that? You just don’t see it as much as it’s needed. We have opportunities everyday to give our life for others, to make choices that help others and I don’t make the right choice nearly as much as I should. Merry Christmas Eve!

Today, for Jesus, I Give Thanks!

Here’s the song…

Well between finals week at school and Laina’s last week of school this week I’ve fallen way behind in holidailies and my blog in general.

I do have some things to be thankful for today though…

For Laina’s Christmas play, cookies, phone calls from old friends and God’s Everlasting Love…I Give Thanks!

KOR

Did I mention I’m also thankful for cinnamon rolls?? Especially home made by me cinnamon rolls?? LOL!

I didn’t do this…I didn’t happen upon any vending machines today. Our car broke down and left my husband stranded at home with no way to get to work because I had the other car at school. I just finished grading a giant pile of finals. I may be catching “something”, it’s been a day.

Today…for grading my finals, getting our car fixed so tomorrow isn’t nuts…I Give Thanks!

KOR

Here’s my giant stack of papers…it actually only took two hours, not too bad…

Well I didn’t do this one but I think I kept the intended spirit. I wrote Christmas cards!!

I think last year was the first year, in awhile , that we didn’t send out a family picture Christmas card. I bought cards and wrote in them and mailed them out. We did do a family picture New Years Card for certain friends of ours that are in our adoption group but not Christmas.

About two years ago I began to feel like I was highjacking Jesus’s holiday. I spent so much time looking for the “right” pictures, etc…I felt like it was taking away the reason we were celebrating. I remember I was talking to Jason about all the little ways the reasons for Christmas had been taken and changed and I remember saying, “We’ve even taken Jesus off our Christmas cards and replaced Him with us and news about us.” We both looked at each other and were like, hmmm and ya. In our view, not good. We are Christians so it’s probably a good idea to keep Jesus at the center and so last year and this year I took our picture off our cards and put Him back. My hand hurts after I sign them all and I try to write a short little note inside. For family who are nearby I invite them over for Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. I try to write something nice in each card, even if it’s just a wish for a good holiday season and a happy new year! But you know what, for whatever reason last year and this year I found it was a lot less stressful and the cards are done and ready to put!

Anyway, as someone I know would say, it’s not a salvation issue, putting ourselves on cards instead of the one we celebrate, neither is doing a catch up letter like many people we know do, it’s just our issue. We want to remember why we celebrate. We will do New Years Cards again for our adoption friends and a few others who I want to touch bases with but who don’t necessarily celebrate Christmas but for now I think I’m going to keep doing a more traditional Christmas card.

Today, for finishing our Christmas cards, for Sunday breakfast with family, Gingerbread house decorating, watching Arthur Christmas (love that movie), getting to see our neighbor who is recovering from open heart surgery, broken vertebrae in his back from a fall, the loss of his wife, dog and cat (pray for him if you are a praying person, he looks strong but that’s a lot of loss for anyone) and for getting our house lights up…I Give Thanks!

KOR

Here’s a picture of a funny church sign down the street from us. My husband, a Star Wars sign thought was hilarious. Another of little God-Son working on his Gingerbread House. he’s very determined. He also thought the “glue” was tasty!