Little moments...

Valentine's day, a day that I've always loved. As a little girl I remember coming home from school to find a box of chocolates on my bed with a hand written note from my daddy asking me if I would be his Valentine. Growing up my parents always found the little ways to make me feel extra special. The older I've become the more I realize that it was the accumulation of all the little things that mattered as much if not more than the big things.

Usually it is the day after a special day that my creative juices start to flow. I begin to think of all the adorable ways I could have made our day even more special. I blame myself. All it really boils down to is a failure to plan, but not this year. I actually had a moment of clarity Saturday evening. And so our Valentine's Day went a little something like this...

Today was my little K.B.'s party at school. When I asked her what she wanted to bring to the party she immediately told me, "cupcakes". Her favorite show to watch right now on television is "Cupcake Wars" and I love watching it with her. She is growing up so fast and words cannot describe how much I cherish this little girl.


And so we set out to make cupcakes. I actually make a vanilla butter cream frosting from scratch and with a few pointers over the phone from my mama, a couple episodes of Cupcake Wars in the back ground and my two little ones imagination going wild the cupcakes were done.


The girls had fun helping me with their makeshift aprons and any excuse to eat the icing.


Trying to keep with the theme of making their day special I decided to decorate their bedroom and bathroom so when they woke up they would be surprised. I used wrapping paper with X's and O's for hugs and kisses all over it and lots of Happy Valentine's Day too to make a banner. The poem is a bit silly, but it seems like the sillier the better when it comes to making my little ones feel special.


I prepared a special breakfast with all of their favorites. Sausage for Taylor and bacon for Kaitlyn. Pancakes for Kaitlyn and eggs for Taylor. I wanted to be extra cutesy, but the heart shaped pancakes didn't want to cooperate. As a matter of fact none of the pancakes seemed to want to cooperate.


Then off to school. Nathan took Kaitlyn with her Valentine Cards and cupcakes and I took Taylor.


After school the girls made handmade cards for their daddy and Grandmama. I tried a new recipe for dinner and then we played a game for family home evening. All in all it was a good day.

I was thinking the other day as I was sitting amongst some teenage girls at church. They had been asked the question, how many of you feel like you're a daughter of God. Sadly only a few rose their hands. As I pondered the remainder of the conversation I began to ask myself, how did I grow to know I was a daughter of God, I mean really know this like I know I am Jim and Vicky Watkins' daughter.

After much reflection it finally dawned on me. It was all of those little moments. The ones my parents took to make me feel special. The ones where they told me of their love for me and then showed me my Heavenly Father's love for me through their example. That is what I want for not only those beautiful teenagers I serve, but my own daughters. My prayer is that they will KNOW that they are daughters of God and FEEL special every single day because of that knowledge. It is life changing. This knowledge is life saving, soul saving and I am so thankful for it.