Just Go Fam: About My Valentines

Has anyone ever wondered how Valentine's Day began? According to wikipedia,

St. Valentine's Day began as a liturgical celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. The most popular martyrology associated with Saint Valentine was that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire; during his imprisonment, he is said to have healed the daughter of his jailer Asterius. Legend states that before his execution he wrote "from your Valentine" as a farewell to her.

This holiday has been around for a LONG time (literally, for over a thousand years)! I know there are a lot of folks that say it is just another "Hallmark Holiday." But in my opinion, it is just a great time to celebrate love. Even if you don't have a boyfriend/girlfriend, spouse or significant other, isn't it fun to show other folks in your life how much you love them by surprising them with little treats, cards, flowers or gifts? I love surprises! I love LOVE! I know that sounds so cheesy, but it is also so true!

I also love this guy right here:

A photo of my hubby on a recent date.

He is my best friend. We enjoy the same activities--whether it be hiking, doing crazy wedding dances, exploring nature or the city, doing something active like playing sports, snowboarding or riding our bikes, or even just listening to music or shopping. We are literally soul mates. Any free time I have, I desire to spend with him. He is an amazing father and husband. I am truly blessed.

a photo of us doing our "first dance at our wedding". Click here for a link to a video of the dance.

A wonderful daddy!

Sometimes I wonder why it took as long as it did for us to find each other. There are so many years that I missed out on having him as my best friend and companion. But, I know God's timing is perfect. I think about how God has orchestrated each of our lives so that we would find each other back in 2006. We needed to be exactly who we were at that moment in time when we found each other. This meant that God intended a lot of experiences to happen in our individual lives, both good and bad, to shape us into what would be each others' soul mate. Also, if we wouldn't have come together exactly when we did, there probably wouldn't have been a Luke and Abbey. God had a plan and it was way better than I could have created myself.

Drew and I were blessed by his parents with an AMAZING date weekend last weekend. They took care of the kids while we had a couple of dates. Drew and I joke that we have been a 1-2 annual date couple since Luke was born. Unfortunately, the joke is actually a fact. We really need more dates, because we enjoyed it SO MUCH! We made a point of picking things to do that we aren't usually able to with kids in tow. We went to a couple of fun outdoor malls (for more than just a few minutes), ate out at some nice restaurants, went to a movie and just even enjoyed driving around and listening to OUR music. It was glorious! Although we had a blast sans kiddos, by the end of our alone time together, we were missing our kids. We realized that not only did the dates rejuvenate our relationship with each other, but it also made us appreciate our children even more than we did before. Thus, we are really going to make an effort to increase our date count over the next year.

So, onto my other valentines--my children, Luke and Abbey. It excites me to think about how God has a special plan for Luke and Abbey. Someday, in a REALLY long time, I pray that they will meet their soul mates. In the meantime, they are going to be our little Valentines, who we smother with love regularly. Drew and I had fun taking some photos of the kids on Sunday afternoon. Here are a few of my favorites: