Have I ever mentioned that I have this insane love for five folks that live under this farmhouse roof with me?
Have I ever mentioned that I have this silly love for Valentines Day?
Have I ever mentioned that I am married to a man who loves me daily with his life, but is a far cry from what I might call a romantic?
I've never asked him, but I have this feeling that the Cowboy doesn't stay up at night thinking upon Valentines Day, and chocolates, and over-priced flowers for his bride. He's the kind of guy that lavishes love on his bride with heartfelt cards like this one.
Under this farmhouse roof, The Mama is the one who loves to fill the house with hearts and red and pink everything.
But truth be told, it's not about the commercial holiday for me.
After all, holidays will only be what you make them to be.
So Valentines Day,
On this farm,
It's about purposing to love because He first loved us.
It's about reminding one another as often as we possibly can of the thousands of gifts that God's given us in one another.
Sometimes the reminder comes out in a verbal "Thanks for that," to the one who took the trash out without being asked.
Sometimes it's a giant hug in the kitchen simply because.
In our home we're asking Him to make us mindful of ways that we might lavish love on the ones that we love most, everyday, all year long.
But in February we bump it up a notch and we bring on the special deliveries and brighten a little one's day with a little note.
The notes contain a single sentence.
That's all.
One small, yet extravagant string of words that tell them what we absolutely love about just them.
We stick it in a mailbox with their name on it.
And each morning feels like Christmas morning as they run down the stairs and straight to their boxes.
I LOVE, I mean ABSOLUTELY LOVE, the way their hearts light up so bright that I can literally see this love-joy overflowing out of their insides, as their lips smile from ear to ear.
Love, said out loud...
It really does just feel so good.
Last year we wrote our love notes on little note-cards...
Note cards that got tossed all over the house, stuck in drawers & stuffed in pockets.
So this year Mama saw a Valentines tree on Pinterest...
With a package of blank luggage tags from the Hobby Lobby in town, I made enough ornaments to love on four treasures everyday from now until Valentines Day.
And instead of having a bunch of scattered cards all over the house,
we now hang our daily words of affirmation on our Valentines Tree.
A simple way to love loud the five that I love most...
After all, how can you not lavish love,
when you wake up each morning to a little Charmer like this one....?
Never stop counting the ways that He loves....
