We celebrated our family Valentines activity a bit earlier this month. I knew we would not feel like a big family activity on Valentines! So….I just chose to celebrate early! As I have shared before, getting out and going is extremely difficult. No place is as accessible as what you are used to. My goodness, we took a trip to Maggie Moo’s one time and we filled up the entire store just my family with two wheelchairs. Ever tried a putt putt golf course…well nope they aren’t too accessible. Concerts take an act of congress to get tickets for my entire family to sit together. There’s no hiking Monte Sano for this family any more. Therefore family fun is very limited. However,we have found some creative ways of having fun!
One of our fun family activities is painting together! We get to see so much about what’s inside a person when we do this activity! Take for instance Chloe’s painting. This is not her style of painting but it expressed so much of what was in her heart that night.
Conner always puts a ton of thought into his paintings. He researches before he paints. And he loves using a pallet knife.
And Zine…he also puts a lot of thought into his painting as well. His usually have very deep meaning.
Krisann–that girl just loves art and creating. And she knew from the very beginning what she wanted to do and carried it out all by herself!
I now present to you…the Smith’s Valentine Paintings.
The only criteria for this painting was love. As you can see, we all depicted it in very different ways! I will always cherish our family painting nights! Even if we celebrate a few weeks early!
And now for the real Valentines Day…
We are going to celebrate by loving on others. We have some goodies and Valentines Day some people will be the recipient of some Valentines goodies. Why do this when I am exhausted one might ask? Well, because even in our brokenness and exhaustion, when we give, it changes the focus of the heart. We are very self centered right now and that’s okay! We all have seasons where we must focus inwardly. However, when we can be others centered even in our brokenness, then we become more like Christ. Ann Voskamp says in her book The Broken Way, “When we who are broken give to the broken–this is giving ourselves to Him!” She goes on later to say, “The way to find the light in the dark is to make your hand reach out–reach out in thanks and reach out in giving.”
Let’s be honest, if the Smiths were waiting to not be broken to reach out in giving then we’d never reach out! Broken is a state in which we live! However, if each of us give out of our brokenness, think how much we could change the world, even in our brokenness! Giving doesn’t have to take lots of time. Just the other day, Krisann watched me walk into the dumpsters outside of Wendy’s just to give a homeless man a baggie full of food. And when I got back in the car, she said, “mommy I’m glad you got out of the car and gave him that bag. It made me feel really good inside when he smiled.”
Life is about giving. Reaching out…even in your brokenness!
Can’t wait to share with you some pictures of those that got loved on Valentines Day!
