My Funny Valentine

Here's Madison, somewhat of a prophetess, actually.  A few months ago, we were talking about Valentine's Day - this was part of a conversation about holidays that take place during different months on the calendar.  When we got to Valentine's Day, she said there's snow on Valentine's Day.  Now, I do remember snow on Valentine's Day a few years ago, but each time we brought up Valentine's Day in conversation, Madison always brought up snow.  There will be snow on the ground on Valentine's Day.

So here we are on Valentine's Day.  And yes, there's snow on the ground.  She saw it coming, just like Mommy saw a big winter coming with that snow shovel purchase.  I've got a couple prophetesses in the house!

Both had a good Valentine's Day.  First, there was Madison:

You can see the Rapunzel theme to the left, with the Disney Infinity stuff, and the Rapunzel heart box as well.  We picked up a Scooby Doo Valentine book a few months ago, and have been holding on to it - as well as those sticker books that Mommy ordered.  Daddy got her a Doc McStuffins card, which she loves, and the lollipop mustache, which you can see better here:

Yep.  She's a Valentine Princess and a Master of Disguise!  Seriously, she had a great Valentine's Day today - we've been holding on to much of those gifts since October and December, sort of planning way ahead for a nice holiday.  And it was a good day for her, the only shame of it being that she couldn't get to school to hand out (and receive) Valentine's Day cards.  She'll get to do that on Tuesday though, so not all is lost.

Mommy's Valentine's Day was good too.  Madison and Daddy set things up so that Mommy would find the English mailbox at the foot of the stairs.  Mommy followed a trail of English-themed Valentine's Day cards up the stairs, until she ran into a display that looked something like this:

Keep Calm and Happy Valentine's Day.  The basic thought behind this involved Mommy's favorite Crunchy Bars.  Daddy reasoned that she would rather get a dozen of these than a dozen roses, so that's how many of these candy bars there were.  I use past tense, because she's already eaten one.

Note the Valentine's Day project to the right, the handmade craft that Madison put together at Lowe's.  It's the perfect size to fit a Crunchy Bar, actually.  But it also held some movies that Mommy was just talking about before Christmas, the "Beethoven" series that Daddy has never seen.  Not long after talking about it, Daddy saw all three on one DVD for $4 or something like that, so Madison hid the gift under a doll's bed for over a month, warning Mommy not to peek under there because it was top secret.  No subtlety at all with this one!

As for the roses, Daddy was wanting to get some of those for Mommy today.  It turns out that the church had a lot of leftover roses that were going to be handed out on Wednesday night.  But service was cancelled - and there were lots of roses just going to waste.  Four of us from KidPak got a dozen roses each - Daddy filled the vase with snow, and placed the white roses inside that for effect.

As an added bonus, Daddy got one more for Madison.  I put it in Emmett the Snowman's hands, just outside the door.  Emmett survived the sunlight today, his hand still outreached.  So I put a rose in it, and came through the garage as always.  Inside, I told Madison that Emmett had something for her:  she ran to the front door and gasped.  Our snowman outside was holding a white rose!

It was important that Madison see Daddy give Mommy flowers, and these were the only things that I didn't have this morning, when preparing for Valentine's Day.  It was such a blessing that Daddy got these for free, a dozen white roses right after the snow.  It was all very nice.

Daddy also got a free meal from Chick-Fil-A, and a free ice cream social this afternoon, as employees gathered together to eat ice cream and cupcakes.  Right afterwards, Daddy got a card congratulating him for ten years - with a gift card to PF Chang's.  Lots of free stuff today!

So Valentine's Day was really nice for all of us.  And we're back on schedule, for the most part.  Daddy will have to go in to work a bit tomorrow, but that's okay - we've had somewhat of a vacation this week, spending a lot of good time together.

In fact, that's what we're about to continue to do now.  We've got popcorn ready, and the Olympics are about to start again.  So Happy Valentine's Day to everyone - and as we close out, here's the latest Olympic-themed devotional entry:

“Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born again because of what God has done. That person knows God.” 1 John 4:7 NIrV

     Call them the Golden Girls.  Kelly Clark, Torah Bright, Hannah Teeter, and now Kaitlyn Farrington have all won gold medals in the Olympic halfpipe.
     Kelly Clark won the gold twelve years ago in Salt Lake City, but she is so good that she was a gold medal favorite this year in Sochi as well!  For a time with her, it was all about being a champion.  And after striking gold in 2004, she knew there was something missing from her life.  She sought out a fellow snowboarder and told her, “My name’s Kelly.  I think you might be a Christian, and I think you need to tell me about God.”

     She knows the truth:  there’s more to life than Olympic gold – or anything else for that matter.  What are truly important are the relationships we have with others, and most importantly our relationship with God.

      At the Sochi Winter Games, Kelly made some big mistakes on her first attempt on the halfpipe.  But that’s when Australian competitor Torah Bright came to her side and gave her a big hug, encouraging her.  Can you imagine that:  a competitor actually encouraging you?

     Kelly Clark made it to the medal stand again this year, and so did Torah Bright.  And through their actions they’re showing us an important truth:  life is all about relationships, with each other, and with God.