In the kingdom of Zeeland, where the lilacs grow wild,
lived Adeline Addison, a beautiful child.
Her little house stood between two silver streams
that flowed through the Valley of Valentine Dreams.

Now all the creatures of Zeeland loved Valentine’s Day.
But Adeline loved it in every way.

So on Valentine’s morning
she took extra care
to find her most beautiful
outfit to wear.

With great care she put on
her little pink shirt
with her little pink hat
and her little pink skirt,

then patiently sat in her little pink chair
while she twisted a curl
in her strawberry hair.

She looked at the clock (it was a quarter till nine)
as she wondered who’d bring her the first valentine.

RING-A-LING!
went the doorbell.
“Now who could that be?”
she remarked to herself
as she went to go see.

“Why, it’s Hector P. Swine, the pig from next door!–
You’ve never dropped in for a visit before.”

“Dearest Adeline,” Hector announced with a grin,
“I have something for you!”
So she let the pig in.

Hector gave her an envelope, lacy and pink,
with her name printed neatly in Indian ink.

Little Adeline’s fingers
excitedly shook
as she opened the greeting card,
taking a look.

The message was small, but its meaning was big
and remarkably neat to be penned by a pig.

Dearest Adeline, You are the one I will always adore
but there is another who loves you much more.

“Why, thank you,” said Adeline
as she kissed Hector’s snout.
“But who’s this admirer you’re talking about?”

“I’m sorry said Hector,
“I really can’t say,
but this much I’ll tell you:
You’ll find out today.

Yet now I must leave you
and check on Aunt Sue–
she got caught in the rain
and came down with Swine Flu!”

So he left our sweet Adeline scratching her head
as she thought about all that the porker had said.

A little while later, but just like before,
another kind visitor came to her door.

“My goodness!” cried Adeline, greeting her guest.
“It’s Elmer P. Toad in a coat, tie, and vest!”

“My sweet Adeline,” Elmer declared with a ribbit,
“my feelings for you are too strong to inhibit.
So I brought you this card. See? I made it myself
from an old lily pad that I had on my shelf.”

Little Adeline’s face was so happy it glowed
as she opened the valentine made by the toad:

“You are the one I will always adore.
But there is another who loves you much more.”

“Why thank you,” said Adeline. “You are so nice,
though it’s odd that I’ve gotten this same message twice.”

“Don’t despair,” replied Elmer, “for soon you will know
who has sent you this message,
but now I must go.”

“Elmer, wait!” pleaded Adeline. “Give me a hint.”
(For she wanted to know what these valentines meant.)

“Very well,” said the toad, feeling put on the spot.
“I can’t say who it is, but I’ll say who it’s not.

It isn’t the owl from high on the perch.
It isn’t the preacher from Uncle Ed’s church.

It isn’t your mom who buys you the shoes
or the little red fox who likes to play blues.

It isn’t the cow from your grandmother’s farm.
It’s none of these people, so don’t twist my arm!”

Then Elmer left Adeline wondering when
she’d hear from her sweetest admirer again.

Well, all afternoon up to Adeline’s door
came admirers and callers and suitors galore.

There were rabbits and llamas
and monkeys and cats
and limousine drivers
in shiny black hats.

Thousands of wishes from thousands
of creatures–she even got one
from her Sunday school teachers!

The line of admirers stretched all the way down
to the governor’s house in the center of town.

And strange as it seems, when each visitor came
the valentine message was always the same:

“You are the one I will always adore.
But there is another who loves you much more.”

And when the very last friend
had dropped in to inspire her,
Adeline still hadn’t heard
from her secret admirer.

She looked over the cards
that she had collected.
There were thousands more valentines
than she ever expected.

They were piled on the chairs!
They were piled on the floor!
They were piled in the rubber tree plant by the door!
They were piled in the bathtub and piled on the bed!
They were piled even higher than a dinosaur’s head!

So Adeline cleared off her little pink chair,
and she sat down, exhausted, and whispered a prayer:

“I thank you, dear God, for this beautiful day,
for the thousands of valentines you sent my way.
But tell me, dear God, I am asking you, please,
who could possibly care for me
more than all these?”

“My dear child,” whispered God in a voice small and still,
“you have asked me to tell you, and tell you I will.

These valentine wishes have helped you to see
that the one who loves Adeline greatest is ME!

I gave you your family.
I gave you good friends.
I gave you your hair that curls up on the ends.
I gave you the flowers.
I gave you the trees.
I gave you milk chocolate. I gave you Swiss cheese!

All things in this world I have given with pleasure
to show you, my child, that it’s YOU that I treasure.”

Then a thought flooded Adeline’s heart to the brim:
“If God loves me this much, then I’ll live for him!

And the love I’ve discovered is much too profound
to keep all to myself–I must tell the whole town!”

So Adeline bundled up all of her cards
and carried them quickly out into the yard.

In and out, out and in, she went hundreds of times
as she made a huge pile with her valentine rhymes.

Higher and higher the stack of her lovely cards grew,
past the rooftops and treetops and mountaintops too.

Soon Adeline’s towering mound could be seen
from the east to the west and all places between.

Then high to the top of this
mountain she flew
to post a big sign that read,
GOD LOVES YOU TOO!

Then Valentine Mountain
as it came to be known,
was a message of love
from God’s heavenly throne
to a kingdom of creatures
who might not have heard,
had it not been for Adeline’s
mound of kind words.

Then Adeline Addison tucked herself in
and pulled her pink blanket way up to her chin
and thought to herself as she drifted away,
“God’s love makes every day
Valentine’s Day!”