Everyone has their Valentine memories. I have some Valentine memories, but mostly just memories of MY Valentine.

These roses were taken @ Peninsula Park Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. A friend and I were attending a training to help us open our Women’s Shelter in Sun Prairie. It has been open since 2017. As of November 30/2024 we have helped 86 families and 200 children. God is Faithful. I used to give of my time, physical energy, now I support them financially each month. I am proud to have been called by God to help begin Shelter From the Storm Ministries.

BACK TO THE ROSE GARDEN.

It reminds me of the song IN THE GARDEN ..I come to the garden alone WHILE THE DEW IS STILL ON THE ROSES. There is a lot to be said about coming to God while the day is fresh, before life starts setting in. Kind of like getting that first breath of fresh air after a rain. (the joy we share as we tarry there) Reminder to each of us , give him your first moments of your day while it is still untouched by the debris of this broken world.

My friend has a blog called The Garden…they grow their own ROSES 🙂

These roses remind me of one of our first Valentines Days. My husband was so excited when he came home trying to hide this large, EXPENSIVE bouquet of Roses behind his back. Now I know to most reading this, these are the moments fantasies are made of. BUT!!! to the wife that grew up with a VERY large family that struggled to make ends meet this $$ bouquet of roses that would be dead in less than a week was a colossal waste of money. At that point totally for different reasons, both of us felt really bad. Let’s just say all though we were together nearly 50 more Valentine Days….he never bought me ANY flowers. Oh yes there were those occasions when someone would ask if he got me roses/flowers that we revisited that event 🙂 🙂 I really did feel bad, but not sure how I could have faked that one.

It reminds me of a time we also couldn’t afford flowers 🙂 so Jim gave me the best gift ever. He took index cards and wrote me love notes and hid them all over the house. I found them all day long. I still have some of them.

Another Valentine story Worse than mine!! A relative of mine (I have many so don’t even try to guess ) 🙂

It was that day of the year and he bought his (SECOND) wife that coveted dozen red roses. Later that day when he returned home and saw them beautifully displayed on their kitchen counter. HE SAID TO HER honey (FIRST) wife will be dropping by in a bit and she is going through a rough time, could you maybe put those roses somewhere else until she leaves, I don’t want her to feel any worse!!!! She turned around picked up the bouquet opened the door to where the garbage was, and not so gently sat them in the garbage and said ” she won’t never see them in there”. Will it surprise you if I said he doesn’t have either of those wives. A lot more than a bouquet of roses was responsible for that. Funny thing is he is still good friends with both of them.

No! I have not forgot which holiday we’re covering. This really still is about Valentines Day. To those of the younger generation I am sure you might have trouble believing that this doll came on the front of a box of chocolates Jim gave me for Valentines Day.

I would like to share a romantic moment of how she came to set on top of our tree. I am very sure it was a wonderful story 🙂 But I truthfully can’t remember exactly how she made the move from her box to the top of our tree 😦 She sat on top of our tree for about 20 years. One year one of our kindergarten foster sons said MOM Hope why don’t you have it a STAR on top of your tree. Everybody has a star. As is true to Kindergarten Christmas they always make a Christmas gift to take home for their parents. You guessed it this silver, glitter covered popsicle star was my gift. It hasn’t missed a year to be on my tree. However with Jim passing just before Christmas the doll has been put away safely. I only put up a small tree now, but there is always a star made of pop cycle sticks and glitter hanging on the tree.

Now we go to MY Valentine. The night Jim came home from the VA hospital after being registered with hospice, the girls came in and said “Mom this is weird but you have to come and see this. Now it had been snowing and cars had been in and out of the driveway. But this was the prints found in our driveway. We decided we were just going to call it angel tracks. You bet I did go out the next day to figure out how that happened. I did figure out where each track came from.. BECAUSE THAT”S ME.. BUT I just called it a God Wink!!

The Bible says The eyes are the windows to the soul. WE WERE GAZING INTO EACH OTHERS SOUL while on our Alaskan Cruise 5 months before Jim passed away.

There is a country song that they made it into a movie. Really not sure which came first the song or the movie. But it’s called walking her home.

I really am OK but holidays always stir my heart. Missing my Valentine this week, and our daughter… Autumn was always a Holiday decorator.

Our last photo taken 10 days before she passed away.

Blessings! Thanks for Reading!