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At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

Where Ideas for your Home Meet Inspiration for your Heart

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February 2, 2011

A Good Idea…for Valentine’s Day!

I have this friend named Julie.

Well, actually, she is more than that.
She is an encourager and a kindred spirit.
The kind of friend who would drop everything if you needed them.

She is an amazing mommy to 3 darling children.
And I’ve heard her hubby thinks she is pretty fantastic too!
A blessing.
That’s really what she is.
And, our husbands are friends too which is always a bonus!
And, in addition to all of those things, she is beyond creative and talented.
She really should have her own blog. But, until then, she agreed to let me show her off a little bit over here.

I’m not going to stop twisting your arm about starting your own blog though, Julie!
One thing you should know about Julie is that she L.O.V.E. LOVES Valentine’s Day!
She had us over for a play-date recently and as I looked around her home, I realized (with a touch of shame I might add) just how pitiful my one little dinky Valentine’s tree looked sitting in the kitchen…all alone.
While Julie’s house, on the other hand, looked like a Valentine’s Extravaganza!

This “Good Idea” is one of my most favorite things that she does with her children each year and I’m going to let Julie explain it to you in her own words.

“Hi Everyone! I’m Julie and I’m so excited to be here At the Picket Fence with you today!
I love that the Valentine holiday gives us a day to be so intentional with sowing seeds of love!
 Last year we started doing a Valentine’s “advent” for the kids.  Each night we write an affirmation for them on a heart (one from mommy & one from daddy) and place it in their mailbox on the table.  Every morning (Feb.1-13) they find a new, specific affirmation from us about what we love about them at this very moment in time.  On the 14th we remind them that while we love them, their real Father loves them more.  On that day they receive affirmations from God’s word on how specifically He loves them and has called them his own.  I am printing out their list each year and am enclosing it in their baby album.  I look forward to a future Valentine’s Day when I can present them with a book of life affirmations accumulated through the years.”

Thank you so much Julie for sharing with all of us just one of your incredible ideas for blessing your children as well as creating such a lovely AND loving home!

I was so inspired by this idea that I had to run over to Michael’s to see if I could find mailboxes for my own 2 little Valentine sweeties!

There were only 3 left and only one of them was red. Thank goodness for that! I never would have heard the end of it from my son if I had gotten him a pink or purple mailbox. I’m pretty sure that even putting Lego stickers on it wouldn’t have appeased him!

Oh look! This one already has some mail in it!

Julie will be visiting us often here At the Picket Fence. So, be sure to stay tuned for more of her amazing Ideas and Inspirations!

Thanks for stopping by “the Fence” today!
Vanessa

Linking to
Feathered Nest Friday
Stuff and Nonsense
Tuesday Treasures

12 Comments Filed Under: Good Ideas, Guest Posts, Holidays, Valentine's Day

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Comments

  1. Debbie Moore at Slice of Pie Entertaining and Cookbooks says

    February 2, 2011 at 2:27 PM

    What a great post. Your friend Julie does sound like a super mom! … and a super friend! Thanks for sharing this neat idea. I compliment you girls again for creating this neat site. I enjoy following!

    Reply
  2. Ashley says

    February 2, 2011 at 2:31 PM

    I love this post! My husband and I use those mail boxes to leave love notes for eachother. its the best 🙂

    Reply
  3. Kim @ Quit Eating Out {Recipes to Make Dining Out a Choice, Not a Chore} says

    February 2, 2011 at 1:54 PM

    Heather, what a GREAT blog! So happy for you. Vanessa, it’s great to “meet” you here. With the ICE storm of the century, I’m late to getting over to visit…. but just love the new blog. Congrats to you both. Best wishes for great success!!!!

    Reply
  4. NanaDiana says

    February 2, 2011 at 10:43 PM

    Love all Julie’s decorations…she is a super Mom I can tell. Love the ideas! Hugs- Diana

    Reply
  5. ⚜ ↁℯℬℬᴵℰ⚜ says

    February 3, 2011 at 2:27 AM

    So cute girls! I just smile from ear to ear when I come here!

    Reply
  6. Vicki says

    February 3, 2011 at 2:29 AM

    This is such a sweet idea. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
  7. Jennifer says

    February 3, 2011 at 3:57 AM

    Oh I just love you girls!

    Reply
  8. Tyla says

    February 3, 2011 at 4:21 AM

    What a sweet idea! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  9. Karen says

    February 3, 2011 at 4:29 AM

    Love these ideas and love your new blog. I’m a follower and also just posted your button on our site…wishing you lots of success!
    My sis and I have a site together too, called The Executive Mom. Hope you’ll come see us there. You seem like all around great gals!
    https://www.theexecmom.com

    Reply
  10. Sarah says

    February 4, 2011 at 2:37 AM

    Sweet idea! How wonderful for these children to know how special they are. ~ sarah

    Reply
  11. Katherine ( Katie) Corrigan says

    February 4, 2011 at 5:32 PM

    I’m happily blog hopping today and so glad I found your lovely blog. Wishing you happiness and a wonderful weekend. Hugs, Katherine

    Reply
  12. Courtney ~ French Country Cottage says

    February 5, 2011 at 2:09 AM

    Darling idea- Thanks for sharing at my party this week Vanessa! 🙂

    Reply

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I've been watching our cherry trees bloom for 12 y I've been watching our cherry trees bloom for 12 years now and every year I ohhhh and ahhhh over the blossoms like it's the first time I've ever seen them. I gush and I take photos (that look exactly like the ones I took the year before and the year before that) and I make my family come outside and look at them with me which you know they just LOVE to do. 😉 I think that is one of the main reasons why I love spring so much. On the one hand, it's predictable and yet, on the other hand, it still feels like such a surprise after the long months of barren branches.

And yesterday, as I was staring at the gorgeous blossoms for the umpteenth time, I couldn't help but think that I hope this is how I feel when our lives return to some semblance of normalcy.

I hope that the predictable feels special and that the typical feels anything but. I hope that I ohhh and ahhh over the simple things I've realized I've taken for granted. And, most of all, I hope that feeling doesn't go away for a very, very long time! 💗
Are you living with great expectation friends? Bec Are you living with great expectation friends? Because He is risen!

Happy Easter from my home to yours!
Lemon bars all ready for tomorrow! It’s going to Lemon bars all ready for tomorrow! It’s going to be a different kind of Easter for sure but some things don’t change. Have you been baking and getting ready for tomorrow? What’s one thing on your menu that you have to have every year?
If this is Good Friday, why doesn’t it feel so “good”? It all seems backward doesn’t it?

What could be good about the unspeakable pain he suffered? What could be good about the shame and betrayal?

Easter Sunday is so joyful, bright and cheery. Shouldn’t that be the day we call “good”? It just feels so much better!

But, I don’t know how to rejoice over His resurrection, unless I have felt the pain of His death. I have realized that in life the sweetest victories are the ones which were realized after a pain-filled journey.

And, so it is with Good Friday. I know there will be victory over death, but I can’t skip ahead in the story.

Jesus knew what was coming. He knew what he would experience. And he knew why he would go through it. He did it for me. He did it for you.

Do you know that? Have you felt it down in the very core of your soul? 
Sometimes it makes me squirm a bit. Why would anyone do that for me?

Well, because, I can’t do it for myself!

There is nothing I can do to earn that kind of love and mercy.

That is why it is called GRACE.

His grace is freely given. We don’t have to pay for it. He paid the price for us already.

Do you remember that movie from years ago called “Ransom”? A couple’s young son was kidnapped and the parents went to hell and back trying to find him and pay the “ransom” demanded by the kidnappers.

Well, Jesus is our “ransom”. (1 Timothy 2:6) His life was the payment.

Why is it called “Good Friday”? Because that wasn’t the end of the story….
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…It was just the beginning!
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Where are things collecting in your house right now?
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I SO needed this reminder today from the new book ‘Adore’ by @sarahagertywrites.

Adoration isn’t just sitting at His feet gazing longingly with stars in my eyes. It’s bringing my fears and my sorrows and gray roots in my hair that desperately needs to be colored and my messy house and all of the things that threaten to send me over the edge right now and laying them down before Him, soaking up His word and His presence so that when I stand back up, I am changed for having spent the time adoring the ONE who is... Healer, comforter, peace-giver, deliverer, redeemer.

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It feels the most...normal. Daytime is strange and foreign right now. My husband has taken over our home office, I’m suddenly taking over the responsibility of managing my kids’ distance learning and let me just say that teaching 7th grade algebra to my daughter is hugely ironic since I struggled with math all the way through school. I’m trying to do my own work but it feels utterly futile with the constant interruptions which take precedence right now. In the daytime, I’m constantly reminded of how upside down life feels.

But, in the evening, I cook dinner like I’ve always done and we gather around the table like we’ve always done and we laugh and tell stories and then clean up and play games or go on a walk or watch a show. And that feels SO gloriously normal.

So now I love evenings even more than I ever did before and I’m so grateful for this little chunk of time where the rhythms we established years ago are helping to sustain us now when so much of life feels outside of our control.

What feels ‘normal’ to you right now? Whatever it is, keep doing it. 🌿
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If you don’t absolutely HAVE to make a decision right now, I want to encourage you to wait until life gets back to normal. If you are finding yourself over-analyzing relationships and family dynamics, I want to encourage you to remember that everything seems more dramatic when looked at under a microscope. And, let’s face it, being homebound with our loved ones non-stop makes us all feel like lab rats in an experiment.

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If you’re able to find flour in the stores (for the love people please stop overbuying!) and you’re doing more baking at your house too you need to add this apricot bread to your list of new recipes to try!

Normally I’d point you to my blog for the directions but I’m going to do you a solid and leave the full recipe in the comments.

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