Timeless Valentine's Day Gift

In 1999, I had been married for 27 months and had a 17 month-old and a 3 month-old baby. We did not have a lot of money at that time. Valentine's Day was coming and I wanted to give Mike something special that year. So, I took an empty glass "Taster's Choice" jar with a lid and made it, through the help of my computer and some glue, to resemble a bottle of medicine by pasting on paper labels.

The front reads: "Happy Valentine's Day 1999" and the back reads: "RX: Take one capsule when you feel down, or sad, or just need a pick-me-up. Read it carefully to reveal one of the many reasons I love you. *Refill upon Request*"

These "capsules" or folded pieces of paper each have one of the reasons that I love Mike written on them. It is so inexpensive, but he counts this as one of the most special things I have ever given to him in our entire marriage. I use a small font and write out things like: "For changing the baby's diapers when I am tired" or "For letting me read and relax for a night while you watch the kids" or "For the blessing of our children.". He was reading them last night and broke out into laughter at some of the more humorous incidents I referred to and the more romantic ones I had written led to a sweet kiss.

Over the years, the things have changed greatly that I have been able to write more specific ones because life changes so much and your time together expands. He always requests a refill for Valentine's Day. So, this is always one of my gifts to him. It is nearly free and makes such a great difference. See if your spouse feels the same as mine does about these little "love notes".

Happy Valentine's Day!

Homeschool Funny of the Day

This morning, as I was teaching homeschool, Noah looks over to me after I had graded his paper and asked, "Mom, what does a 'B' mean?"

So, I answered. "Well, a 'B' represents above average knowledge of the information."

"Oh..." Noah, then has a wrinkled brow, so I know that there is a 'D' understanding of my response. I tackle a broader explanation.

"Noah, an 'A' stands for an excellent understanding of what you learned. 'B' grade is above average.'C' is average. 'D' is below average. And 'F' is a failure to understand what you were to have learned."

Noah, still with a furrowed brow, looks to me and asks, "What about 'E'?"

Humanity in Simplicity

I have come with many years of humility behind me to the realization that I am a fairly simple-minded woman. I was given, by God, a very high amount of emotion to my being and a healthy dose of imagination. Perhaps that is the impetus behind my love of writing and reading.

Over the years, I have wished myself different. More confident, more logical and less emotional, as that is where many of the sins I bring to confession stem from. Anger, impatience, lack of self-discipline, etc...

However, I realize that what God has wanted me to do was to just love myself. So simple! Not love myself more than God, nor my spouse, nor my children or family, but enough to forgive, accept, and work with the "clay" of myself that I have been given here for this brief time on earth. I can alter my outward actions and I can change those things and deny what will lead me to sin, but I have not been able to eradicate the core of myself, that which I have always thought lacking. But I was made in the image of God and that is not what He wished in creating me this way. He had a plan for me here, just as I am.

We all sin. We all suffer. Some of us suffer in a more obvious way. Some of us suffer in only the deepest depths of our souls. But, we do all suffer in some way. That is the simple nature of humanity.

In the depths of myself, I want to be a good and loving woman, a generous neighbor, pleasing to God. Every morning I wake up with the intention of living up to that person. It is the hurdle of fighting my humanity all the day long that is the real challenge.

But, there is hope at the end of every day. For Jesus IS Mercy. The Sacraments are with us still. The day is filled with "ora et labora" for my family, which brings me joy. I have been shown so many times, how God can show us His Divine Intervention, even in our small and simple needs. To remember a heart of gratitude for the things we have.

Finding the Joy in the Simple.

And as Bob Carlisle put into lyrics: "..We fall down, We get up, And the Saints are just the sinners who fall down, And get up...."