Love Pockets

I was looking for a fun little Valentine's day project to do. . . I found a pattern for some cute felt pocket birds , but they ended up being too time consuming for what I wanted so made hearts instead. I made some 'guy' hearts: And some 'girl' hearts: And since I work a little backwards, I then had to find something purposeful to use these cute little Love Pockets for! So I developed a FHE lesson and a little service plan from President Eyring's talk Our Hearts Knit as One. Here are a few of the quotes I used:

The need for [unity] to be granted to us and the challenge to maintain it will grow greater in the days ahead, in which we will be prepared as a people for our glorious destiny.

He cannot grant [unity] to us as individuals. The joy of unity He wants so much to give us is not solitary. We must seek it and qualify for it with others. . . .We can pray and work for the unity that will bring us joy and multiply our power to serve.

God will help us see a difference in someone else not as a source of irritation but as a contribution. The Lord can help you see and value what another person brings which you lack.

We discussed the importance of unity and how we could develop it and qualify for it as a family. I suggested to the kids that as we serve each other within our family we would feel greater unity. Then I presented the Love Pocket Plan:

We each chose a heart.

We each made a list of things we would enjoy having others do for us: our daily chores, our night of dishes, our laundry, play time together etc. (The reason I did this is so the kids will focus on serving another in a way the other person would enjoy and not what is necessarily convenient or what the server would mind doing.)

We also each ranked an assortment of Valentine candy I had in a box as to which ones we would most like to receive. These papers are kept in the candy box.

To put the plan into action, we choose a person and a service to provide. We write about it on little note papers kept in the candy box and put it in the Love Pocket. Then we put 3 candies the recipient would like in the pocket and leave it on the recipient's bed. When the recipient gets the Love Pocket they have a day to return a service to the giver. This way each person gets a treat but also performs a service almost everyday. So far it has worked well and has been fun.

Usually working 'backwards' like this doesn't turn out this well, but I sure like it when it does!