Love Languages

I am finally getting around to posting about our Valentine's Day!

For a few weeks before the grand event I was trying to decide what exactly I wanted to do to lavish love on my family. I love giving gifts but I didn't want the sole focus of the holiday to be about the gifts. In past years we have written notes to each other on the days leading up to Feb. 14th. So, I had these 2 ideas in mind but it just didn't seem complete. As I began to get frustrated, the Lord gave me an idea to focus on! He told me to do the 5 love languages. Hmmm...Valentine's Day is about love..duh....do the 5 love languages!

For those of you not familiar with them, here they are:

1. Quality Time

2. Acts of Service

3. Words of Affirmation

4. Physical Touch

5. Giving Gifts.

I believe Gary Chapman was the originator of this idea and it is said that each person has one of these languages that is the primary way they receive and give love. The way you give love, such as giving gifts, could be different than the way you like to receive it, such as quality time. You could even have 2 primary ones that make up who you are. I think all of us like some form of these 5 in some way or another but usually 1 sticks out more.

If you want to know more, read Gary Chapman's book "The 5 Love Languages"!

So, the first thing we did was the gift giving love language. I bought each one of my kids, and Shawn:) a Valentine's gift bag. Each morning, they woke up to a small little gift in their bag. Some fun things I put in there were chapstick, candy, books, matchbox cars (for Caleb!), and notepads. They loved it! I woke up every morning to "Mommy, can we look in our bags?!". It was great fun!

Words of Affirmation: I had lots of leftover Valentine cards from previous years so I put them all in a basket and encouraged everyone to write a note to someone else in the family. I found these cute little boxes at the dollar store that we put the cards in when they were done. We kept it very simple by just writing one word on the card to describe the person we love. Adrianna really got into it and did many cards for everyone. Eliza can't write yet so she just colored a few lines on a card. Caleb was just a receiver this year! On Valentine's Day we read our cards from each other and it was a really sweet time.

Acts of Service: Shawn and I tried hard to point this one out to the kids. Adrianna is such a helper and always asks "Can I help you mom?". We told her that this is one of the ways she can show love to mommy. And this is one of the ways Daddy shows love to others.

Physical Touch: Lots of hugs and kisses were given this week!

Quality Time: The culmination of our week was the movie with Adrianna's school and the dinner Shawn and my dad planned. We really try to instill the importance of this one with our kids.

About that dinner Shawn and my Dad planned...:) It was somewhat of a surprise! We went to my parents house and my dad had this really yummy meal almost ready when we got there. It was Chicken Cordon Blu (my favorite), red-skinned mashed potatoes, veggies, bread, and salad. Shawn even cut the cucumbers into heart shapes! My dad bought a pink tablecloth, candles, candy hearts, and pink pop. They had all the little details planned out! It was nice to not have to cook first of all and to feel loved and cherished by having someone plan something with us girls in mind. My brother and sister-in-law came too. We had chocolate covered strawberries for dessert and they even sang "My Girl" karaoke style! It was an amazing evening and one of the best Valentine's celebrations that I can remember! Thank you Dad and Shawn! Love you!

It had been fun introducing these 5 ways to our kids this week. I think it is so important to figure out what your love language is so that you can convey to others how they can show love to you. It is also important to know how the other people in your life receive love so that you can bestow that upon them! Sometimes we have to speak a different language to convey our love to others!

I'm interested to hear what your love language is! Leave a comment for me!

I would say that my primary love language is quality time. If someone wants to spend time with me, even if it's for an hour, I really feel like I'm worth something and they love me.

My primary way to show love is acts of service and gift-giving. The only problem with this is that my dear hubby's primary way to receive love is physical touch and words of affirmation. I have had to change my language a little! So even if you have a specific way you like to show love, the person receiving it might not feel it because their way of feeling loved is different than what you are giving.

There is also the book "The 5 love languages of Children" by Gary Chapman that is great for finding out how your kids receive love.

I asked Adrianna how she knows that we love her. Her response was " When you let me watch a movie, have my own quiet time, and stay the night at people's houses".

Hmmm...is there a love language called "Being able to do what I want"?:):)