Love ‘Em Up – A Great Teaching Tool

If the whole world is talking about love and Valentines and my kids can’t walk three feet without seeing something pink or red – should I roll my eyes in disgust or embrace it?

I am not saying we need to have cupid working and match them up for their first kisses by four or something weird.

I just see life as a GIANT teaching tool. It’s a classroom.

 Sometimes, if the world is screaming one thing – it’s a great chance to say, “Do you hear that? See that? OK – this is our family’s definition of X. And this is what God has to say about X.” That could mean LOVE in February or GENEROSITY in December. There are so many easy lessons and platforms right before us in our daily lives.

And, sometimes, sadly – our family’s view of the “issue” or “topic” puts us in the minority. And, that’s OK. That’s another entire blog post or discussion.

If you go back to the other posts about Love ‘Em Up (1, 2 and 3 ) – they are just some ideas.

How we do take this idea of ‘LOVE” and use it to teach?

SIt around our family rooms or dinner tables and make it real to little ones?

I have shared ideas with my girls and challenged them just to think about different ways to love each other. (Don’t worry – we are still normal and cat fighting and screaming MINE over Barbies and such – but we’re not giving up.)

Larson was first to melt my heart.

She came up with the idea to help me clean Ella’s room and then she wanted to find EVERY single accessory that belonged to McKenna (Ella’s doll) and lay it all out so neatly and sweetly – so when Ella arrived home it would be a surprise. She was precious. And, then she requested a “lovely” note to be put beside it.

Ella has been stumped on what she could do until last night. She wrote her a poem.

I don’t care if they passed each other a dead worm – if they just stopped for a second and thought of each other – that’s LOVE!

I also want them to feel it from us,

because aren’t we their greatest role models?

I picked up simple bud vases for oh so cheap at Ikea today. 

And grabbed some stuff out of the yard – thought about just what I wanted to say to each of them. They are waiting by their beds for a surprise.

Another thing I’m going to try that will get major giggles (don’t judge) – sneaking a lollipop under their pillow the night before Valentines. Uh – yes, you can totally have it when you wake up.

 Then, I had this thing of crepe paper and went ahead and did a demo for you – but this the plan (shhh – don’t tell them) for Valentine’s morning. They’ll have to find their little tiny treats (gifts/candy) by following this around the house. I’ll have some stuff hid in a closet and then split it off and probably land in their rooms or something.

I left the junk on the stairs so you can see what my house normally looks like.

We’ve also had some 1-on-1 dates because ours LOVE quality time. Especially my Ella.

We’ve left some notes for Daddy and hung hearts from our dining room table of things we love about each person.

I have a hot date Wednesday night with handsome Ron.

I plan to shower, dry my hair AND shave my legs. Wait— AND put on makeup AND not check my phone every 5 seconds… and maybe some more. So, who isn’t getting loved up? That’s right. He isn’t forgotten. 🙂

RANDOM UPDATES:

You people with awesome memories.

1. WINNERS – If I Could Keep You Winners were already emailed/notified.

2. CHAPEL – Thanks for all the awesome ideas. It went great this morning and my message was about LOVING OTHERS THROUGH YOUR WORDS – talking to the kids about how God creating our tongues/words. They can be used for bad (cut like a sword) or something incredibly good – encouragment. Challenged them to encourage their friends, family and teachers very speficially – how unique each person is made!

3. ABC CARDS – My meeting at the Mart went awesome. Contract not signed yet – but oh so likely that they’ll be at the July market and in many retailers soon. BEYOND excited. More details coming. For now, continue buying online. Sale code: LOVE14 for 14% until Valentine’s Day.

4. LARSON – She did great with her upper endoscopy and bravo scope and we have her follow up appointment tomorrow. She’s such a trooper. Nothing major wrong/seen – just tracking and monitoring amount of reflux and testing for more things to see why she’s still having such tummy hurts at this age and figure meds plan for moving forward. Thanks for your prayers.

So, talk to me. Who’s out there today and what’s on your heart?