HURRY! WINNERS: SEND ME YOUR ADDRESSES!

Well it is now 12:30 p.m. CST.

Yep. The random.org generator has spoken.

That means that the winners of my contest should be listed here. Right Here. You know, on the screen... the one you are staring at... look hard... where are they? You will just have to wait before I tell you who won...

Well before I direct you, please note: I received some of the most heartwarming, beautiful stories of Valentine's Day acts, mishaps & miracles. They were all so wonderful! I hope that as you each commented you read them...I wish I could just retype them all here, but since they are in the comments I hope others who did not participate will filter through them. I would however like to mention three that brought immediate tears to my eyes -

1) Frankie Writes

Awww that is soooo sweet! I want to enter, but I have no experience with valentines day-single girl! It's actually my brother's birthday and the day that my grandfather (whom Im named for) died. So my mom always said that my brother was born that day as her father's way of giving her a gift from beyond. Does that count? I might have to go hug Felix the Frog now and hope he brings me some luck in love.

Frankie - Yours was a valid entry. It was also one of those beautiful silver lining, mother's love, wonderful view of life stories. I smiled when I realized I knew the mystery behind your name but more importantly we all love your blog, your enthusiasm and your obvious good heart. This small snippet told me a great deal about where that comes from. *Give Felix a big KISS!* ;o)

2) Carol'sPrints

But first, my sweetest Valentine's story...something simple. There are, of course, some really great moments with my husband, but for now, let's go back to second grade. I was a new resident of the US, and I spoke virtually no English. But I was befriended by this little boy who was actually supposed to be in the class ahead of me, but was set back because of his physical disabilities (I still am not quite sure what it was, but he was not able to walk, and sometimes it took him a while to respond verbally). Anyway, it was Valentine's Day, and he brought me the sweetest wooden heart, about the size of my hand, that he and his dad had made with a little looped twine on top so you could hang it from something. On it, it said, "Be my Valentine." And I remember sounding out the words, asking my mum what they meant. But I didn't have to know the words to know that it was special, that it was mine, that it was freely given--and this meant a lot to me because not everyone had been so accepting of me like that. To this day, I hang that wooden heart on my annual Christmas tree. I'll never forget Joel.

Oh my! this brought tears to my eyes. What a beautiful story. Love in its purest form. To me it can be so amazing when it is shown in the most simple acts of kindness between children. It was the last two lines that had me beaming. You still have the gift. Beautiful.

3) Shawn

We don't celebrate V-day, but I can tell you a great story! On our first date my now husband picked me up from work and took me to a restaurant. He excused himself to use the restroom and was gone for 20 minutes or more. I was very concerned that he may have decided to dump me! He had not brought any cash and this was before debit Visa cards and he did not use credit cards. He had driven down tot he nearest gas station to see if they had an ATM, they didn't. We had already ordered and the food brought to the table by the time he had returned to give me the bad news. Needless to say, I paid for dinner.
It is not over yet! He stopped at an ATM on the way to the movie theater and attempted to pay me back for dinner. We get to the movies and the one we wanted to see had sold out so we saw Zorro (with Antonio Banderas) instead. While eating popcorn and watching the movie my date had to sneeze...with a mouth full of popcorn. The popcorn landed all over me!!
I guess the look of utter horror on his face endeared him to me becuase I couldn't stop laughing! When he dropped me off we made a date to go to a heritage fair the next day. He took my daughter and I and when people told him he had a beautiful daughter he would smile and say thank you, again endearing him to me. Sixteen months later he asked us to marry him, shortly thereafter he adopted my daughter, who is now 17 and she now tells everyone she gets her green eyes from her daddy. I don't need Valentine's Day, I have it every day of the year!

Shawn - wow. This made me laugh then made me cry. It is by far one of the sweetest true stories I have heard in a long time. I am so glad that you laughed and that you accepted his invitation to the fair. But it is how your daughter tells everyone of her eyes that speaks more loudly than just I Love You. What a wonderful life.

Okay so who won... where are the winners...

Oh! Here they are...

CONGRATULATIONS!

1st Prize goes to:

STEPH THE BOOKWORM!!!!

*throwsheartshapedconfetti*

2nd Prize goes to:

LISA AND LAURA!!!!! *throwsheartshapedconfettiwonderingwhichsisterwillwinthebattleofwhokeepsthepurse*YIKES*

Okay ladies please send me your address to following email:

clsbarr(at)yahoo(dot)com

If you get them to me before 5 p.m. CST the prize will ship today, if not then it will go out tomorrow.