Book Spotlight: Saint Valentine the Kindhearted & Reflections on our Day!

This wonderful little book arrived in the mail, and I'd love to share it with you!

Ned Bustard, author of the Every Moment Holy series, tells the story of "Val" with delightful & engaging poetic rhymes! The artwork is simple, colorful, cheerful! Young kids will enjoy hearing it read aloud, and older kids will appreciate the storyline told in such an artistic way!

I have such fond memories of learning about the real Saint Valentine, as a girl! It is such a pleasure to teach my own children (and remind myself!) that Valentines Day has spiritually rich roots and is not the hyper-sexualized, over-romanticized, frivolous and indulgent holiday of human love that culture has made it. It is so much more, and yet again, another opportunity to behold the beauty of God and take notes from heroes of the faith who have gone before us. It is an opportunity to display the never-ending, all-consuming, free-to-all, lay-down-your-life type of love that is found in Christ.

Truly, one of my favorite holidays!

This year, we read aloud from Ned's book, decorated with cutout paper hearts, wrote Valentines for our friends, family, and neighbors! We drew hearts on the window with chalk markers, baked cookies, and my husband and I made raspberry sorbet mocktails! You can find the recipe here.

Heart shaped strawberry pancakes in the morning may or may not have been the kid's favorite part! Mine was having my husband surprise me with childcare, and a reservation at my favorite sushi spot! We met by God's divine intervention on Valentines Day, 2018, so it was special to sit and reflect on our lives over the past six years! We were able to talk without the kids interrupting, enjoy good food, laughter, and pray about our Lenten intentions! Ash Wednesday overlapped with Valentines this year and I wrote about it here, if you're looking for some thoughts to meditate on this Lent.

How do you celebrate?