Miscellaneousness and Valentine's Day

I think I have wanted to write every single day since the new year has begun.  We are now 46 days into 2012, and this is the first time I have had...well wait, that's not true.  It's not just about having the time, but also having the energy to write...


I wanted to write about The Equipped Conference my church held for its leaders and all that I learned there.


I wanted to write about my Dad's wedding day and the goodness and faithfulness of God that was displayed throughout the day.

A bird's eye view of the wedding.  It was a gorgeous day!

I wanted to write about a message our pastor and his wife gave about Biblical discipline in parenting, and all that I learned from their wisdom.  (You can listen to this message here)


I wanted to write about a sermon I heard by Pastor Raul Ries about the woman caught in adultery from John 8, and Jesus' command to her to "go and sin no more."  (You can read this story here)


I wanted to write about the snowboarding trip my Schmoopsie and I took to Brian Head, UT with some other couples from the marriage ministry we are in.  (In my mind, this was going to be a hilarious post where I was incredibly witty and even poked fun at how violently ill I became our last morning there.)

The Kid Table

Me being towed up the Tubing Hill

Schmoopsie flying down the mountain

Me and some of the girls

Hubby Lovey and some of the guys

The whole Brian Head crew...minus 3

And lastly, yesterday, I wanted to write about Valentine's day...well, since I only missed it by one day...


Yesterday was Valentine's Day...it was a great day.  The morning started off with both my girls climbing into bed with me and snuggling (always a great way to start a morning).  Once we got out of bed, we went downstairs for a "special" breakfast.  There's just something special about the smell of bacon in the morning, isn't there?  The ZuZuBe was DYING to get to school all morning because she knew she had a "Friendship Party" where she and her classmates were going to exchange Valentines.  So by the time I dropped her off, she was practically jumping out of her skin to get in the classroom door!

The Valentines she gave to her classmates...thank you Pinterest!

After I dropped her off at school I had to go into work for a few hours, but I couldn't wait to get home to my 3 Valentines. Hubby Lovey had already found his card and opened it...

This was my card to my Schmoopsie, the inside reads, "Happy Valentine's Day to my main squeeze!"

When I came home I didn't see any flowers or a card addressed to me...I won't lie to you, my heart sank a little.  That's when I saw his opened card on the table, so I said, "I see you already opened your card."  He said, "Yes!  I loved it.  Thank you!  I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to get you a card."  I put my bravest face on and said, "That's ok, Honey.  I know things have been crazy busy for you."  He kissed me and gave me a hug.  When I pulled back to look at him he handed me a folded up piece of paper (which he had clearly pulled out of his pocket while hugging me) and said, "I didn't get a chance to get you a card...but I do want you to have this..."  At this point I was grinning like an idiot, good things always come from folded up pieces of paper in his pocket!  I unfolded the paper and there was a picture of TOMS shoes on it!  (Now for those of you who don't know, I have been wanting a pair of TOMS for a few months now!)  Not wanting to assume anything I said, "What does this mean?!?!"  He said, "You can order any pair that you like!  I wanted to order them for you, but I wasn't sure which pair you wanted."  This was of course followed by me jumping up and down, kissing him, and tell him what an amazing husband he is!  Insert repentance for being filled with self-pity when I didn't see anything when I walked in the door.

After all that, we had dinner together as a family.  After dinner, Hubby Lovey took the girls over to the couch and read them the story of St. Valentine. Then it was business as usual for bed-time.  When we came downstairs after putting the girls down, Schmoopsie immediately grabbed ZuZuBe's bag that had all her Valentines in it.  He sorted through EVERY one of them carefully reading every word (I think he was checking to make sure there was no 5 year-old-boy making any expressions of love for our daughter). Ha ha, I love my protective husband!  At the bottom of her bag he found a pink card that had probably a million heart stickers all over the front of it, he handed it to me and said, "What's this?"  I said, "I don't know." I started to open it, then I let out a little gasp...

Our daughter's first Valentine...addressed to us.

It was a Valentine...for us.  Tears immediately filled my eyes as I looked up at Schmoopsie and said, "It's for us..."  I can't describe the smile that crossed his face as he read it.  It is now proudly displayed on our mantel.

As we were lying in bed that night, I couldn't help but count my blessings and thank the Lord not only for what a special day it had been but also for all the undeserved blessings he gives our family.  I was thinking that the day couldn't have been any better when suddenly, Schmoopsie handed me the Ipad and said, "Oh yeah, pick one."  I grabbed the Ipad from him to see 3 different phones displayed on our cell phone carrier's website.  "What?"  I said, a little confused.  "You are getting a new phone, so pick which one you want."  Wow.  Just when I thought it couldn't get any better.

Now, don't get me wrong, I loved the gifts, but it wasn't about the gifts, it was about the love and generosity of the one who was giving them...and not just the immediate one who was giving them.  The Bible tells us:


Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17


Ultimately, God is the one who provides every good gift I have.  He is the one who receives all of my love,  praise, and devotion because he gave me the greatest gift of all, my salvation.


"For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:7-8


Think about that for a moment.  One will scarecly die for a righteous person.  How many people would you die for?  Maybe your husband or wife?  Maybe your children?  Maybe even your mom or dad or sister or brother?  What about your enemy?  Think about that one person that just rubs you the wrong way, or that person who has offended you in the past, or maybe even it's someone you truly hate.  Would you die for them?  No.  You wouldn't.  But that is exactly what Christ Jesus did for us.  He died for us while we were his ENEMIES.  He died for us while we spit on him, hung him on a cross, mocked him, disobeyed him, broke his commandments, and turned our backs on him.  He bore the wrath of MY disobedience to God, of YOUR disobedience to God.  And he did this all while we were his enemies.  While I was his enemy.  Now that is love.


I hope this Valentine's Day you know the love of Christ.  The love that calls you now to turn from your life of disobedience of God's commandments and turn to a life of trusting that what Jesus did on the cross takes all the punishment you have in store.  If you already know the love of Christ then I pray that you boldly share about his love with others.


I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day, and thanks for catching-up with me!  I am resolved to post more often!