The Sweetness of Valentine's Day 2016

"I am loved every day" was my response today when Jeff apologized for not doing more for me for Valentine's Day.  And indeed I am.  The blessing of having grown up in a loving family and having married a loving man and having given birth to loving children--of being surrounded by love my whole life--is one that I do not take for granted.  It doesn't take a special once-a-year day to remind me of that.  :)

But it is sweet on Valentine's Day to put a little extra emphasis on the love we share; and this year, my celebration was literally sweet because Jeff gave me these.  :)

Only recently have I discovered Lindt truffles.  Previously I would have said that I wasn't such a huge truffles fan, but these have converted me.  I tucked these away and will probably be quite selfish and eat them all myself.  :)

Jeff also made me smile this morning when he said, "Well, I don't have a card for you; but I was reading Proverbs 31 at 1:30 this morning and was really grateful for you!"  Any time "you" and "Proverbs 31" go together in a sentence (and are not joined by "are nothing like the woman in") ;-), I feel like I'm soaring.  :)

I wasn't completely card-less today however.  This evening as we munched on a light supper of leftover pasta from lunch, apples, chips, and whatever other assorted items we felt like eating, David got out three cards he had made for this special day: one for me, one for Jeff, and one for Moriah.  :)

Inside Moriah's, he wrote a simple but sweet message.

And inside Jeff's, he wrote a little more.  The best part of this was how he delivered Jeff's.  He was sitting in his place by Jeff at the table and quietly grabbed the chip bag, lowered it to his lap, slipped this card he made into the bag, then put the bag back on the table, knowing that Jeff would soon reach into it for a chip and find the card.  Sure enough, that's exactly what happened.  I love David's creativity!  :)

And this was his card for me.

"I used the color you like best!" he told me, and it's true: blue is my favorite.  :)

My other written greeting today came from my fourth son and was very, very special.  Shav had made this a little while back and was SO eager to give it to me that he would often ask, "How many days until Valentine's Day?"  As the countdown got close, his excitement grew until he nearly wiggled every time he talked about it.  Finally, this evening, it was time.  He gave me an envelope on which he had printed...

FROM SHAV

TO MOM

...perfectly backwards.  :)

He had decorated the back of the envelope with various pictures and had included his name and the words "BEST MOM"--also backwards.  :)

I opened the envelope and discovered that he had tucked some money inside.  A dollar is a BIG DEAL to him, so for him to give it to me was a huge gift.

And then the very best part.  Countless times I have said to Shav, "You're a treasure!"  (In fact, in this post from nearly three years ago, I mention our silly ritual in the entry from May 7.)  Here in 2016, that saying came back to me, vividly illustrated by the treasure chest Shav drew on his special Valentine for me.  I LOVE IT.

The past day or two or three, I have again been feeling the burden (if burden is the right term, which it probably isn't) of making sure that my children feel seen; and I have especially been conscious of it with Tobin and Shav.  Stuck in the middle of our family, they tend to, at this stage of life, be "easy"--in the sense of being mostly easily entertained by playing with each other, or with their big brothers, or even with the little ones.  Sometimes the end of the day comes and I look at them and think, "My word, did I even spend time really focused on them individually?  If not, I need to change that!"  I never want them to feel so lumped together (with each other or with any of their other siblings) that they feel unseen, unnoticed, and unappreciated.  They are TREASURES, and I never want them to forget that.

For Shav to take that idea of being a treasure and turn it around to express that thought to me did something really funny to my heart--and what's more, to my eyes.  Maybe there was some dust on the paper, and it floated up to my eyes and made them start watering until I quickly blinked the tears away so my family wouldn't laugh at me.  Yeah, that's it.  I'm sure it was dust.  ;-)

Well, Valentine's Day is over for another year; but I didn't want it to slip away without recording what made this particular one so sweet.  The only thing to add is that a beautiful snowfall is occurring outside; even God is adding, in a way that only He can do, to the sweetness of our celebration!  :)