Photo 365, Photo #34

As promised, here are my sweet valentines. :) They were good sports, especially considering how crummy Sare still feels.

Also, here are a few more fun surprises from the day...

One of our students made us this lovely card. (can you feel the love??)

And I think I mentioned that Rob and I co-spoke on Wednesday night. We did a lot of really cool illustrations, but the one we closed with was about waiting for your true love, God's mate for your life. I talked about how often times you will have a lot of relationships before you find the right one. And in those leading up to relationships, you'll think it's the real thing, much like it's easy to convince an inexperienced jewelry owner that a CZ is the real thing. But when you find the right relationship, the real one, all the previous relationships will look like cheap imitations in the light of the real relationship. Like a diamond compared to a CZ. When you compare them side to side, you can tell the light and the fire and the quality of a diamond is far superior to that of a CZ. I encouraged them to wait for their diamond, not to sacrifice their purity for a cheap imitation. I passed out a large fake stone on a white ribbon with the date stamped on it, to remind them of it, and then compared it to the ring on my finger, comparing the value; 12 stones for $2.5o at Hobby Lobby or $4000 at a jewelry store. It was pretty cool.

Anyhoo, one of our students grandparents came in at the tail end of our message, and was so impressed with it. She sent this gift home to me this afternoon. So sweet, isn't it? (I love our job)

All Things Lovey (and lots of photos!)

(we've had this statue since we were very first married, hardly anyone ever sees it because it's in our bedroom, but it's absolutely one of my favorite things in our home. Obviously, because I've kept so few things over the years.)

Ok, so today has been an oddity. Quite a productive morning, for a Sunday. (it's really weird) I did enjoy a lazy shower, and then an even lazier bible study. I find that a good soak in the shower and then a good soak in the Word makes for one clean mind and body! What a great way to start a day that is supposed to be all about love..

I also got the laundry sorted, the dishes done, and generally cleaned up around the house. Not there yet, but thought I'd stop and blog for a few minutes before Rob and Eli bust through the door and the world starts spinning at top speed again. Sare and I are home this morning, she's still fighting that strep/virus thingy. Poor gal. She did sleep from 12:30am to 6:30 last night, so that was a bit better than previous nights, but we are both still pretty tired.

Last night Lori and I chatted for a bit, while we worked on our valentines for our loved ones. We also decorated our tables a bit, I'm making pink heart shaped pancakes for lunch, just to do something special. The kids have been trapped in the house for the past 4 days, so it's a good way to break the monotony and do something a bit special for Valentine's Day. I did purchase each of them little tiny valentine gifts; a Polly for Sare, Farkle for Eli, and a R2D2 keychain for Rob. (I set a $15 limit and stayed within it!) Not much, but they'll know they are loved and that's the point.

So here are some photos for you...

The table, all decked out for lunch.. paper hearts, homemade valentines, bows on the chair and my clearance tablecloth from last year. The large red peonies are always on my table, they just make me smile. :)

Eli's valentine. I put verses on each child's heart, we'll look them up together after lunch. Right now they treasure scripture verses, so cool because that's where my heart is also!

Sarah's valentine...

Rob's valentine. I had seen a card at Mardell featuring the salt and pepper shaker from Fireproof and almost paid $3.50 for it, then realized it would be so much more fun and economical to make our own. :) That salt and pepper shaker is from the cake on the Fireproof dinner we did last year.

And then, a few scrapbook pages I did on the phone with Lori in about an hour on Friday. Sometimes scrapbooking and being creative restores my sanity!

These flowers are made from a tutorial Lori found here. Could have been way cooler if I'd had some more exciting material or silk even, but I'm really trying not to find excuses to shop right now. :)

And this page has been bouncing around in my brain since I found the laundry line paper last year sometime. We always joke about the laundry fairy at our house. :)

Ok, and very last thing.... This is a comic strip that has just had Sare and E cracking up. Click on it to enlarge it so you can read the words better. I so love my children's sense of humor!!