It has been an interesting week around here! Many of us celebrated Valentine's Day yesterday, with it being February 14th and all! I have come a long way since my college days when many of us referred to this as "Singles Awareness Day"! It can still be a tricky day, though. When we have those moments where our significant other does not seem to measure up to our preconceived (and most likely un-communicated!) hopes/expectations, look out! I can honestly say that Valentine's Day 2014 may be one of my most favorites, ever. Although it did come with some preconceived expectations that resulted in a flood of tears. Not my own. Rather this holiday brought to light a few things that are close to the heart of my seven year old daughter.
This week had been busy. Then again, most of us would probably say that more often than not! Thursday evening we were on our way home from "small group". We love this group of families and we get together every couple of weeks to share our lives with one another. The downside is that our kids then get home pretty late! They are accustomed to more of an 8PM bedtime. On the way home Thursday evening, our seven year old Kylee was talking a mile a minute and was running through all of our plans for the next day. Somewhere in there she and her four year old brother began to squabble. And then it was requested from the front could we please just have some quiet for the rest of the ride home? Around that point was when the floodgates opened in the backseat. Oh the drama! Fast forward to tucking the kids in to bed 15 minutes later. Four year old Nathan whispers to me so tenderly, "Mom, I can't wait to see the Valentine's Day surprise that you got for me tomorrow morning."
(YIKES! I do not have any Valentine's Day surprise on hand! It is 9:30 at night. I am not a crafty person! Oh goodness. Probably a 10PM trip to Wegmans is now ahead. I could likely find an activity, a trinket and a little treat...) Then I go to tuck Kylee in to bed. She is still just so very, very distraught. I think of some parenting advice that I had heard somewhere along the line and rather than just telling her to please stop crying and go to sleep, I ask what it was that had set her off during the ride home? I was surprised by her response! Lo and behold, she had been thinking that Valentine's Day was right up there with Thanksgiving and Christmas! This had caused her to believe that my husband would automatically be home from work the next day in order to celebrate. Oh dear! Not the case! And then her next words seared my heart... "Mom, I just really wanted more than anything to have some family time together. You know, where everyone is relaxed and happy. We have not had anything like that in a long time. I thought that a holiday would help?"
(Oh my word. Good thing that I have only four more days left at my job. Giving my notice there was the right thing for my family. It has been a complex five months. Our household operations have stayed afloat nicely but our family is feeling the strain.) So I headed downstairs, chatted with my husband for a little while and then made the 7 minute trip to Wegmans to find a few treasures to make the next morning special! I happened to run into a friend who was hard at work there in the floral department. 10:30 on Valentine's Eve and the place was a sea of beauty! I perused the flowers but decided to spend on other items, not sure that the kids would really want a bouquet anyways? Later as I made my way back through the store, this friend handed me a very short stem rose bloom and a little carnation. I tucked them away and brought them home to place in a bit of water for the morning. More on that surprise blessing in just a moment!
The next morning arrived and I was so excited for the kids to find their surprises! Oh, and the Easter Basket with the Thanksgiving book, a handmade Valentine, some lollipops, crayons, two quarters and three dimes?? That was Kylee's gift that she put together herself for Nathan! It was special. And guess what? Remember that single snippet of a random rose? It went right to the heart of my little girl. "Oh mom, I was so hoping for a rose this Valentine's Day. This morning feels like a dream! I am going to take this up to my room and put it with my other favorite things. Would that be okay? I just love it!"
(Thank the Lord for the blessing of this simple treasure that came to me through the kindness of a friend. The late night Wegmans trip was soooo worth it!)
Before long, the table was covered with the activities that I had picked up the night before! We were also
enjoying some fresh strawberries and a holiday cookie heart as my husband prepared to head off to work. It is always fun to have a few new things like this to do together. Especially for those of us who are not naturally creative/crafty! The kids have been enjoying their paper-bag puppet and snap-on car kits. I especially appreciate these activities that create hands-on, interactive family time. I have gotten better with not stressing out (as much!) over the bit of a mess that ensues along the way!
But the best part of this week is a story that is being written on our hearts. We have been playing this song quite a bit and it is the favorite of the week! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecV1NHmELuA The kids crack me up! If they happen to hear a song that they especially like, they will say, "Can you put this one on your phone?" so I add it to my nifty McTube app and then we hook my phone to the kitchen radio and let the music play! Anyways, we were listening to this song and had one of those moments where it all comes together... Kylee asked me if this is a song where a girl is finding her way in life and is asking God to lead her, "Cause' I feel kind of like that and I want to go in the right direction". LOVE it! Something that I really value about homeschooling is the flexibility of being able to further explore whatever we like and to do this during a time of the day when we are both still at our best! Right now we are learning the names of the Old Testament books along with a one sentence summary description of each. Then I just open up the Bible and read a short passage from that book. In close proximity to the discussion on this new song, I read these verses from Jeremiah 31...
“The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This
covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I
took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They
broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,”
says the Lord. “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the Lord.
“I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on
their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people."
Neat timing as it all came together in our own hearts. Happy Valentine's Day!
We had overhauled our pantry and fridge last September. I remember snapping this photo early one morning as we were in the midst of the initial change-over of our kitchen inventory! The six items pictured here were leaving our kitchen and were headed to a local food pantry instead. I am more of a "figure it out as I go" sort of cook and once we had removed a few items and replaced them with choices that were more along the lines of "whole foods", I felt comfortable to just cook day-to-day. Or I could say meal-to-meal. Or even snack-to-snack! 
My family has enjoyed this recipe many times since discovering it back in October! This past week we were making a dinner for a family who recently welcomed baby #6. We were also cooking for a family of three who had just moved into their new home. Then add in my own family of four and the fact that I was hoping to have enough soup to serve everyone twice. As originally posted above, the recipe is more along the lines of a "cooking for two" size of batch. It really has become a family favorite here and I was glad to be able to share it with others during this chilly (and seemingly never-ending!) Erie winter. So, in doing the math, 1/4 cup of celery morphed into 4 cups of celery! Good thing I have some excellent knives from my former days as a Pampered Chef consultant! Doing some of my prep work later at night, alone in the kitchen, was actually quite relaxing. I was even able to catch up on a Sunday morning message that I had missed while we were out of town visiting my family earlier this month. You have to check out this message! I will include a link below. I so appreciate our pastor (Mark Harris) and the combination of humor and truth is just really wonderful. Even without viewing the corresponding slides, the first part of this message had me laughing so much that I had to rein myself in if I wanted to remain alone in the kitchen with two children asleep in their beds!
