APDG ~ Valentine's Day - 2/14

Did any of you know that February 14th is Valentine's Day? Well of course you do.

Valentine's Day gives you the opportunity to .... you guessed it......celebrate with your sweetie!

Valentine lived from approximately 175 AD to 269 AD. It was during the years of the Roman Emperor Claudius II (268 AD to 270 AD) that Valentine was brought into captivity.

Claudius II fought many wars during his reign and needed the enlistment of many men to fight these wars. However, the men were not coming forth to enlist as soldiers. Claudius II assumed the men were not enlisting because they were married and had families. He put forth a ruling that single men were not to be married which would lead to their enlistment into the army.

Valentine, a priest, did not abide by this ruling. He secretly married many couples and also helped many persecuted Christians. Claudius II found out about Valentine’s disobedience and imprisoned him. Claudius II tried to convince Valentine to worship idols and to give up his deep faith in Christianity but Valentine refused. Instead of accepting the idol worshipping custom, Valentine tried to convert Claudius II to Christianity.

While in prison, Valentine prayed daily to God. One guard, who overheard Valentine praying, requested a special prayer for the healing of his daughter who could not see. Valentine prayed to God for the restoration of the daughter’s sight. In time, the daughter’s sight was restored.

Claudius II did not acquit Valentine of his disobedience. Around 269 AD, Valentine was beheaded for the disregard of the law and for the refusal to renounce his faith of Christianity.

In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius proclaimed February 14th as the day in which St. Valentine would be honored for his martyrdom. February 14th was believed to be the day in which St. Valentine died.

St. Valentine is the patron saint of engaged couples, lovers, beekeepers, greetings, love, travelers and young people. He is also the patron saint against the plague, fainting, and epilepsy.

The first Valentine’s Day cards were handmade with ribbons and lace. During 1847, Ester Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts, began the mass printing of Valentine’s Day cards. Since then, the practice of gifting a card to a loved one became popular. In today’s world, other gifts are also given to those who are smitten with each other or who care for each other. Gifts can include a special dinner, a perfectly chosen card, a special bouquet of flowers or any special love from the heart. Only one’s imagination is needed in fulfilling the love for this day.

Next onto our swap:

Post THREE (3) pictures and/or gifs to each of your THREE (3) partner's profiles with the theme “Valentine's Day”. The pictures that you choose may be the SAME OR DIFFERENT between all of your partners. Please choose pictures that you think THEY will enjoy! Only people with well filled out profiles may participate in this swap. I will be checking the night before partners get assigned.

If you get 3 pictures from your partner on "Valentine's Day" you have to rate them a 5. The heart on the rating is for if you like what they sent.

To leave a photo on someone's profile use this code ! [ ] ( Put image address here ) With NO spaces & paste the picture's link between the curved parentheses.

Practice on your own profile first to be sure it looks good because you can easily delete there.

Pick images that are size 300 wide or smaller to be sure they fit. I go to Google images to get my pictures.

Hover over images to see their size because there will be some larger sizes there too. If you really like something click on it and go to the words SEARCH BY IMAGE and click on that. THEN go to the word SMALL and see if there is one 300 size. There are other tricks in the group thread; AN EASY way to get a small PIC from a BIG one;-)

You can find moving pictures at http://giphy.com/

Please write the TITLE OF THE SWAP ON YOUR PROFILE DECO MESSAGE too! This makes it easier for partners that are in a lot of these swaps to rate it.

Any problems, feel free to contact me.

I want to thank @anrtist for allowing me to borrow SOME of her wording.