Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday of the year.  Christmas always ran a close second, but in the past ten years, Valentine's Day seems to be running away with race.

I have such fond memories of this day as a child.  I don't remember my parents making a huge deal out of this day for them as a couple, my memories are all about how much fun it was to be a kid.  We made shoebox "mailboxes" to set on our desk at school.  We woke up to our own boxes of Valentine candy at the foot of our bed and a special card just for us.  She put candles on the table one year to be "romantic".  Another year had white crepe paper streamers with red hearts on them  -  the dining room was decked out!  Homemade cookies were available when we walked in the door from school.  Somehow Mom always managed to find a little extra in the budget to spend on Valentine's cards to share with the class and a special one for the teacher.  Public school in my day allowed the entire day off of "regular" work for fun work.  My classmates and I had a "party" where we passed our Valentine's out... we were provided with fun worksheets for math and crosswords and search-and-find pages for language arts or science. We voted on the best mailbox.  We watched the Charlie Brown Valentine's Special.  Nothing "normal" happened on this day - it was all about the fun.  I remember this happening nearly every year in grade school.

My mom isn't really a crafty person - she can SEW AMAZING THINGS - but crafts with paper and glue really aren't her thing.  (I wonder where I get it from??? But I digress...)  When Valentine's Day rolled around, she pulled out all. The. Stops.  Construction paper, paper doilies, glitter, stickers, glue sticks.  One year we didn't have construction paper, and being a one-car family, she didn't have the liberty to simply jet to the store to purchase some (and I didn't grow up in a world with a $1 Store on every corner like my kids are) so she had to think on her feet.  She pulled out the aluminum foil.  I cannot even imagine how much money that took out of her grocery budget to hand that box over and allow us to "waste" so much of it in wrapping up a shoe-box to take to school to set on our desks for a few hours of fun knowing that box would end up in the trash.  What a sacrifice! Oh, how SHINY that years box was.  And what a sweet memory now that I'm a mom.

So I've always made this day a LOT of fun for my kids.  They look forward to this day like not much else... they wake up and run down the hall to the dining room to see surprises they know are awaiting them. Now that they're getting older, it's fun to hear them talk about the past years with each other and reminisce about their favorite memories.  However, I've always struggled to make this day special for my sweet husband.  I think men have a plethora of options to shower on their women... flowers, jewelry, candy, dinner out (or even take out brought home), but women don't really have it as simple.  Or maybe it's just MY situation... He doesn't grill/cook (he'll even admit he shouldn't). He doesn't love sports (that's me in this relationship) and he doesn't love music (also, me).  He's ambivalent toward most books.   He has his hobbies, but they're EXPENSIVE.  I'm not joking.  I asked him about a tool add-on he wants for his lathe... Yikes!  And the amount he told me was only the first part of the add-on... and I cannot even remember the rest of his explanation - it may as well have been Greek.  I heard the cost and KNEW that was out of the "surprise" range in our budget.  Pinterest is NOT helpful in this sort of dilemma - believe me, I searched and searched for something "original" to copy off of there.  I felt defeated - and when I feel defeated - I pray.  So I prayed about this desire I had, knowing my heart desires do come from God, and I asked Him to help me understand what I could do to surprise my sweetheart, or to align my desire properly with His will.   AND HE ANSWERED!  (Why am I always surprised at that?!?)

God gave me the idea (and I know it HAS to be from God because I'm just not this original on my own) of a few tools that my sweet man could use around the house.  Alright, those of you who KNOW him are laughing, and with good reason.  My man has SO MANY TOOLS, but seriously, he actually USES them ALL.  I'm amazed at how his brain works and how much time and money he saves us from being able to fix something.  It's a serious gift.  So, now you know why I was excited about this idea... I am giving him some tools that I KNOW he'll use, and I know he would appreciate duplicates of because they either wear out or we could use them in several places and it would be a privilege to have multiples in different work areas of our home and barn. And the idea doesn't stop there - I was able to pair the tools up with scripture verses to encourage him!  I haven't been this excited for Valentine's Day with my husband since... ever!  And I figured out a surprise gift ALL ON MY OWN!  (Well, I had God's help!  But Pinterest was a total bust!)

P.S.  SHHHHHHH!!  If you see my husband BEFORE VALENTINE'S NIGHT please DO NOT tell him!!!  We have a busy day that day and presents might wait until just before bed time!  Don't spoil my surprise!  ;)