Valentine's Day Flowers

My family is your typical one income family with a couple kids and no extra money.  We are blessed by God to have enough income to pay our tithe and offering, save for a rainy day, pay our living expenses, pay for medical expenses, and treat ourselves to one fun thing or activity.  Our budget is incredibly tight.  I don't mind.  We just have to exercise our imaginations when we want to be romantic. 

This last Valentine's Day, my husband and I laughed about our simple plans.  The kids wanted to make a heart shaped pizza and get some flowers.  We could afford to make the pizza but flowers were a bit pricey.  So, we came up with a fun idea.  I happened to have pink construction paper, scissors, and a bag of pipe cleaners left over from some school project.  I called the kids over to the table and told them to draw as many big and little hearts as they could on the pink sheets of paper.  The kids looked at me like I was crazy but complied.  Son #1 immediately began to draw the hearts as fast as he could go.  Son #2 held the pencil in his hand and cried.  I asked.  "Do you need help, Baby?"  Son #2 shook his head up and down as tears welled up in his eyes.  I placed my hand over his and we began to draw hearts together.

When the boys were finished with their hearts, I told them to go play.  Once they were out of the room, I cut out all the hearts and punched a hole at the bottom of each heart.  Then, I stuck a pipe cleaner through each hole and made a knot at the end of it.  Silently, I dug around a bottom cabinet for empty vases.  Finally, I arranged a group of hearts into each vase.  When my husband and the boys came out from the other rooms, they gazed at each vase of "flowers" in amazement.  We were able to have flowers for Valentine's Day after all.