We start with the V-day attire-
And here is my outfit for school-which my students found surprising. As one of them said, "woah, you are not a regular teacher today. You're like a.. Valentime lady!"
And here is my outfit for school-which my students found surprising. As one of them said, "woah, you are not a regular teacher today. You're like a.. Valentime lady!"And of course we have the Valentines. In case you were wondering, being an elementary teacher eliminates any need to have a boyfriend on Valentine's day. I was completely spoiled with chocolate and balloons. Kids are so adorable, and so ready to love and forgive. I wish I could be more like them. Here's a conversation I had on Valentine's day:
Student: "Miss James, I love you. I really do. And you know, I worry about you, when I'm not with you."
Me: "Oh, you don't need to worry about me. What do you think would happen?"
Student: "Well I'm just afraid something bad might happen to you. But if it did- I would stop it. I'd never let anything happen to you."
Does it get any sweeter than that?
The bottom right corner displays some of the hand-made valentines I received. The top right is a picture of some of the paper I made for my valentines using shaving cream, food coloring, and stamps.
And we move to the baking portion of the post. Sometimes I get an urge to do some sort of massive festive project, this holiday it was cupcakes.
All in all I made about 11 dozen cupcakes. It was joyous and messy, and an excellent way to spread love to friends and neighbors.
As fun as all of this was, the best part of my Valentine's day simply cannot be instagramed. There's something about January that always gets me a little bit down, maybe it's winter blues, post-Christmas sadness, depression, vitamin D deficiency, whatever- but it's so easy to get into a rut of apathy. Valentine's day has always been that little lift during the cold months that keeps me going until springtime. It's impossible to spend hours making cards and goodies for people and not feel an increase of love for them. This week has given me such a sweet opportunity to think about the people in my life who make it as wonderful as it is. From my amazing mom, dad, and sister who care about me so much, my awesome roommates, all of my friends both close and far away, the fabulous people in my ward, and the incredible adults and children that I work with at school, I feel totally surrounded by people to love who love me in return. Most of all I've felt an undeniable and magnanimous amount of love from the Savior.
I see his love in the little tender mercies that happen every day. I see his love in all the blessings I receive. Most of all I see his love in the trials and challenges that come, because he cares enough to help me grow. As a teacher, I can testify that it is much easier for me to give my students an easy assignment that they can do by themselves than a difficult one where I have to give them a lot of help and support. Easy assignments don't make us any better than we were though, so there really isn't a point to it. And just as I would never intentionally give my students an assignment that isn't possible for them to be successful at, He won't either. He will always be there to answer our questions and help us through the tough days.
I truly love Him, and I stand all amazed when I think of the sacrifice he made for me. I'm grateful for the opportunities he's given me to serve on his errand, because I've been given a chance to experience a small portion of the charity that he has towards all of us. I hope that we'll all remember to celebrate and share our love for the people in our lives all year long, because that's all that really matters. I'm not sure who all reads this, but chances are you are someone who has been a kind friend, and you've truly been a blessing in my life. Thanks for being there, and for sharing your love with me.
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