The week before Valentines Day I told Rich not to buy me any expensive, marked-up Val.Day flowers. In the days that followed I had some secret regrets, b/c my dear husband faithfully - and lovingly, not dutifully - buys me lovely bouquets b/c he knows I love flowers. So, when the day arrived, I was oh, so, happy that he went by the "spirit of the law" (not to buy expensive, marked-up flowers) and not the "letter of the law" (to not buy me flowers at all).
He brought me this lovely potted flower that added a much needed splash of colour to our home :) Love it, sweetie :)

And, for the rest of our VD events, we have our devotional reading from the night before to thank. We've been learning about our love for God and our neighbour and we were challenged to think of an act of kindness to perform for someone we don't normally think of as our neighbour. Caleb, who was sitting beside Laura, jokingly said, "How about Laura?" Rich and I jumped on that idea, since siblings often don't place each other in the category of neighbour, whom they must love as themselves. So, they put their names in a hat, each drew one name, and had to think up an act of kindness for that person for the next day - Valentines Day.
Act of Kindness #1: Corin had Yvetta's name and drew her a special picture, which he then hung on her wall with a piece of tape :)
Act of Kindness #2: Luke had Corin's name and spent over an hour drawing with him. Drawing is one of Corin's favourite things to do, and the only thing that tops it is when someone else draws with him.
He was pretty happy :)
Act of Kindness #3 : Laura put her culinary skills to work and melted a mixture of milk chocolate with almonds and bittersweet chocolate to make these "kisses and hugs" chocolates......for Caleb - who thanked her profusely and then downed it in 2 bites :)
Act of Kindness #4: Yvetta had Laura's name. So, she put together a tea party for her. They had tea together and chatted for awhile, making both of them happy.

As a little interlude, Yvetta spent a coupla hours fast asleep on the floor in the livingroom and since I had the camera out all day, I took some pics :)

Act of Kindness #5: Caleb had Luke's name and went straight to the "stomach" of the matter - making him a giant cookie with a face :) He cut the recipe down to 1/4, but somehow the flour amount wasn't quite right and it turned out......well....like this. But we all got a good laugh at it, especially Luke, so it turned out just right after all.

And I did my traditional lasagna meal with a killer chocolate cheesecake for dessert.

Small things, but done thoughtfully and with love for each other, looking for ways to make someone else happy and feel cared about. Amazing how easy it really is and yet how seldom it's done with intention. Best example of intentional love in action? Christ. Word made flesh. Dwelt among us. Died for us. Rose for us. And is coming back for us. Love.

Stormy's growth (Caleb's post)

This is the dog that is in our dog run today. Below is the dog that was almost in our dog run (We hadn't purchased him yet). Lots of growth coming from Stormy.

By: Caleb

Randy Stonehill - Farther on

Feeling a little nostalgic today...

C.H. Spurgeon - The People's Preacher

Music from The Village

Joe's L&D t-shirt......

...a little disturbing, don't you think? :)


(a little disclaimer - you know, to do some damage control for Joe's sake - I was the one who added the type to Joe's shirt...... Sometimes I'm just 'that kind' of a person...... :)

Happy 7th Birthday, Corin-boy :)

This is our Corin. For those of you who don't know him well, he's just an all-around sweet kid. Sure, he has his issues, but on the whole he's the kind of kid that's just real nice to have around.

He was my first high-risk pregnancy - bringing with him lots of uncomfortable days, various problems and finally partial bed-rest. That's when our former church (Hope) brought out the recliner for me and I used it for the one service a week I was able to make it. He was born healthy and strong but immediately gave us worry as his weight dropped day after day after day. This resulted in many trips to the breast-feeding clinic (and many days of pumping with a rented hospital pump that made me feel rather like a cow :) and many tears and a wild learning curve that included supplement feeding with a tiny tube. But, on the Monday that the clinic weighed him and their jaws dropped b/c he'd gained so much in 3 days, I knew we had turned a corner. They sent me to return the pump and go home and just enjoy life with a newborn. Aaah. And enjoy him we did :)
He's pretty even tempered, very affectionate, loves the simple things: dinky cars, read-alouds before bed, digging in the snow, reading Calvin and Hobbes, doing his math, making forts, tearing holes in the knees of his pants......he's all boy :)
He LOVES babies......
...has a real love for family......like my mom here, granpa A. up above, and cousin Mary-beth up above who was his fellow adventurer at the cottage last year :)......
......and great-grandpa.......
and cousin Braden.......who has also become a good friend of Corin's!!

He has a tenderness to the things of the Lord, often bringing his fears and concerns and joys to the Lord during the day. We look with great anticipation to what the Lord has in store for Him, praying ever that his young faith would grow and his heart would be ever sensitive to the Lord's promptings. Love you, Corin-boy :)