I Love You

For several years my family has been involved in child sponsorship. Child sponsorship is a type of ministry in which a charitable organization associates a donor sponsor with a particular child. The money can go towards the child's food, home life, school books, medications, and many more things. There are some really good child sponsorship organizations out there, World Vision and Compassion International are just a couple. Throughout the years we have sponsored several different kids. Already we have had one of our children graduate from the program where the need was no longer necessary. This was incredibly difficult to say goodbye, as we write letters to each other several times a year. You get to know the kids very well through the written word and photos. 

Through another organization, Hope Generation, we have grown to love a child who I am very proud to call my daughter. This child sponsorship program is EXTRA SPECIAL and holds my heart! Hope Generation has a child sponsorship program which allows you to partner with a child from the Home of Hope orphanage in Bangladesh. This orphanage provides a home for children without parents or children whose guardian can no longer care for them. The goal is not simply to rescue. They provide a beautiful home, Godly mentors, nutrition and medical aid, a full English education, life skills and, most importantly, an environment where they can know and grow in God. Currently, the Home of Hope has over 100 children.  Sponsoring a child through Hope Generation lets you be a part of raising up this generation. 

My sponsorship of my daughter, Naomee, has completely changed me. I have never been able to meet her face to face, but we meet in our letters each week, and give each other love across thousands of miles. She calls me mom, and I consider her one of my own. My heart is deeply connected to hers. We have exchanged many letters through the years. I cherish every single letter.  I read them over and over again. I have photos of her displayed all over my home. I talk about her with my friends. I read sweet things she has written to me to my family. Someday, my dream is to go visit her. I long to see her face to face, where I can finally give her a hug and let her know just how much she means to me. 

Naomee is an artist. In each letter she sends, I get a drawing of some kind. She has beautiful penmanship and writes English very well. In her last letter that she sent to me, she included some very detailed drawings for each member of the family. They were a gift for Valentine's day. Each was a little different and personalized for the member it belonged to.

I thought it was time I shared some coloring pages made by my daughter Naomee. Both of my daughters are very talented when it comes to drawing. They are creative and artistic. I love it! Each page was drawn with love by Naomee. She did an AMAZING job! I love her so much!

You can feel free to use the coloring pages for your own PERSONAL use.  But please be kind and do not claim these pictures as your own or offer them for downloads.  It makes me sad to see my pictures on a coloring page website run by someone else.

My heart is for kids and always will be

I love you, Naomee.

Be My Valentine

Right now my sons are really into playing the new Legend of Zelda game. This gave me an idea for making my youngest son's Valentines. We rarely ever buy a box from the store. It's so much more fun to make them ourselves! I put together a printable for him to color and hand out to his classmates this year.

You can feel free to use the coloring pages for your own PERSONAL use.  But please be kind and do not claim these pictures as your own or offer them for downloads.  It makes me sad to see my pictures on a coloring page website run by someone else.

To make his Zelda Valentine's I made a new coloring sheet for Zelda. I love the pixel pictures from the original game, and I knew it would be easy to make on my computer. He is so excited to work on these for his friends!

I printed the sheets of Valentine's on cardstock. Some are printed on red cardstock so he won't need to color them in. Some are printed on white cardstock so he can color in the heart.

I also made a fun back to his Valentine's. They look like post cards. If you wanted to actually put them in the mail, you would need a real stamp and room for the address. This is made just to hand out to friends and family. I also left plenty of room to write a personal note to each friend!

Feel free to use this post card back for all the Valentine printables!

My son is a HUGE fan of Lego's too. I made this Valentine print for him to pass out along with the Zelda ones!

Since I went to the trouble of making Valentine's for my son, I thought I'd turn all of my other fun Valentine coloring pages into printables that you can print. Please feel free to print and color them yourself to give away.

I think all of these would be fun to print on brown recycled cardstock too!

If you want to print a full resolution print of any of these other Valentine's you can go here to find them.

Coloring Pages for Valentine's Day

You can feel free to use the coloring pages for your own PERSONAL use.  But please be kind and do not claim these pictures as your own or offer them for downloads.  It makes me sad to see my pictures on a coloring page website run by someone else.

I'm so excited to be able to share LOTS more BRAND NEW coloring pages with you. With time off of school, we had quite a bit of down time. And lately, I've been obsessed with making coloring sheets. I had no idea it was so easy, and so much fun to do. It relaxes me to edit, and smooth the lines that have been drawn. We had another coloring session as a family, and came up with some sweet, fun pages. Each time we do this, I'm blown away with the talent that lies inside my husband and children.

I couldn't make up my mind which spot I liked the words better. So I decided, why not just share them both!

I made this moon coloring page for a very sweet young lady that I like to call daughter. She lives far away on the other side of the world, BUT we both see the same moon in the sky. When I look to the moon, I often think of her, and hold her very close in my heart.

My son made this very special flower. His picture is not so much of a Valentine coloring page, as it is a joke. He thinks he's quite humorous!

My husband drew this rose and candy box for me! So sweet!

This heart was not drawn during our Valentine's Day drawing session. My daughter doodled this heart several months ago. She's had it taped to her closet door. It was drawn on a torn out piece of paper from a journal. I've always thought it was rather interesting to look at, and was waiting for the perfect opportunity to share it!

A little encouragement from the Bible ..... "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." John 16:33




*UPDATE* I have recently made several of these coloring pages into Valentine Postcards to print and hand out on Valentine's Day. I also have a new Lego Valentine coloring page, and a Legend of Zelda coloring page. 

Happy Valentine's Day

This is one of my very favorite holidays! Valentine's Day is a big deal at our house. It's almost like a second Christmas. We draw names for our "Secret Valentines," where we make a homemade gift for one member of the family. I prepare a 5-course dinner. We dress up. We play games. We always have a photo booth. We spend a few hours in the evening celebrating the love we have for each other. We remember how Christ first loved us. Valentine's Day dinner is a tradition we ALL look forward to.

I despise cooking, but on this special day, I put my feelings aside and I spend the entire day in the kitchen creating a feast for my loved ones. I put as much time and detail as the day will allow.  I serve my family with all my heart.

We decorate the room with candles, Christmas lights, and rose petals. Instrumental music plays in the background. Love is shared by everyone present. The night is magical.

We started the tradition several years ago, I saw a friend sad and alone on this holiday, and it broke my heart. I hate exclusions. It's unfair to label this a holiday for romance between a man and woman. We all desire for someone to pursue us. We decided then that our family would celebrate Valentine's day a little differently. My husband and I stopped celebrating the holiday as a couple. We started celebrating instead as a family. I never want my kids to feel they must have a romantic relationship in their life to be complete. That is not the message you find in the Bible.

God hasn't called all of us to be married. He does implore every one of us to "love as Christ first loved us."

Christ romances our hearts. We have a mysterious, idealized, exciting, passionate, devoted love affair going on with our Lord who created us. He wants to capture our hearts. Every day He buys us chocolates and flowers with the way He pursues us. He whispers words of love in our ears. He declares His love for us from the mountain top.

His love never fails us. His love is always about what is best for us. He wraps us in a warm embrace. He gives us security in His strength. His passion never grows cold.

That is something worth celebrating! God's love doesn't discriminate or leave anyone out. God's love covers us all.

For as long as my children are willing, I will celebrate "love for all" with them. Anyone who needs a reminder of Christ's love has a place at my table.

"Faith, hope, love... the greatest of these is love."  1 Corinthians 13:13

You can feel free to use the coloring pages for your own PERSONAL use.  But please be kind and do not claim these pictures as your own or offer them for downloads.  It makes me sad to see my pictures on a coloring page website run by someone else.

I put together a sweet coloring page for the holiday.  "Valentine: This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life." John 3:16

And that's a fact!

Homemade Valentine

"My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves." 1 John 3:18-20

Zechariah wanted me to include his special Valentine in my post. He said this picture was the "sweetest one". On Valentine's Day Zech brought a card and some candy to his one "true love" at her work.


In the same way that we draw names for Christmas, we draw names for "Secret Valentines". We often have to draw names many times because someone always ends up with their own name. It's also extra hard because Zechariah can't choose my name since he requires my help in assembling his gift. This year it turned out that everyone drew the exact same name as last year except for Gabe and me, we switched names. Next year I think we'll take extra time to make sure everyone gets a different person.

I always think the homemade gifts are the best! They come straight from the heart and show in a practical hands-on way the giver's love.

I had a hard time making up my mind when it came to a gift for Ariel. I had too many things I wanted to make her. I settled on a t-shirt hoodie that I saw here. I perused the racks at Goodwill for a long time before I settled on this combo. Since the project was very inexpensive, I bought enough shirts to make two hoodies. I am still working on the second one for her.



Zechariah drew Gabriel's name again. We made together a giant puzzle bigger than him. It was fun to watch Zech color the giant board. He was very detailed in drawing his picture, and even more careful coloring it in.

The cutting the puzzle was the hard part. First, together we drew a grid on the back of the puzzle for all our pieces. It ended up being a 109 piece puzzle! In the beginning we were going to make the puzzle pieces look very traditional, but then I started cutting them out. After 5 minutes I had one finished. Only 9 hours to go... That seemed overwhelming so we simplified it to straight edges. We still made the pieces interlocking; we just didn't round the corners. That saved a lot of time! I think the finished product was still amazing and Gabe LOVED it!



Gabriel had a really hard time deciding what to make his dad. He wanted to make so many elaborate things that he himself would have enjoyed, but not necessarily his father. (Zech and I stole the puzzle idea from Gabe. That was something Gabriel considered making for his dad.) It can be difficult to think outside yourself to the person you are making the gift for. After an hour of walking around Hobby Lobby together, Gabe chose to make his dad a painted candy jar for Titus' desk at work. You can't go wrong with candy for Titus. He consumes large quantities of it! I love the guitar that Gabe painted on the front of the jar. It's perfect for his dad.


Throughout the evening of our special dinner, we had different challenges for everyone to compete in. We didn't want to make it too boring or too easy. The winner of the challenge was given the opportunity of presenting their gift to their secret valentine. We also spread out the challenges between our five courses at dinner. This was especially hard on Zech who really wanted to be given his gift first.

Ariel wowed us with her artistic gift. She put together an ABC coloring book for Zechariah, and she made him recycled crayons in the shape of numbers. We found a silicone candy/ice tray at Hobby Lobby for a few dollars. The coloring book was especially fun to read through. She used mostly birds for her letters... H is for Hawk. F is for Falcon. D is for duck. P is for parakeet. And so forth. Zech loved the whole present!



I had to be the most patient for my gift. I was the last one of the evening. Titus drew my name again and fixed my hair straightener! I was so happy with it. When I flew to Mexico at Christmas time, the straightener's plug cracked and broke. I never used it in Mexico and when I tried it back at home it made a loud buzzing sound when I plugged it in. The safety plug was cracked in half. It had to have been damaged in my luggage. I kept it in the outside pocket of my bag. Needless to say, I was pretty bummed when I got back home.

The straightener was really expensive and I couldn't bring myself to replace it. Who has $150 lying around to use on a hair product? Not me. My straightener was a Mother's Day gift several years ago. I went for two months with frizzy fluffy hair. I am so glad to have my straightener back! Titus bought a new GFCI plug and rewired the straightener himself. He might have cheated on the homemade part a little bit, but who am I to complain?



"Happiness is homemade." - Author Unknown