Happy Valentine's Day!

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." ~John 15:13

If you are on facebook, you know this verse has been on my mind a lot lately.  Just think of it.  Jesus did not deserve to die.  In fact, He is the only one that doesn't deserve to die.  Yet, His Father loved us so much that He sent His only {let that sink in} Son to die {a miserable} death. For me. For you.

His death being the greatest act of love, He exemplified love in so many others ways as well.  I am convicted when I see how short I fall of the kind of love I should have- towards my husband, my family, my students.

While I am a firm believer that love should be shown 365 days a year, I do enjoy the extra excuse to be over-the-top intentional about doing special things to make others know how very much you love them.  Same as last year, I did the "14 Days of Valentines" for the mister.  I love doing it, yet am not very good at keeping up with it.  Some days, my mister had to wait for the note to be placed.  Oops.


Due to my mister having to work today, we decided to celebrate early.

It. Was. Wonderful.

Simply put, he has been working a lot lately, and my job has been increasingly stressful.  Our time together is largely spent either grading papers or sleeping.  So an afternoon and evening just us was welcomed with open arms.

I worked Thursday morning, and then came home to a bouquet of roses {that smell amazing}.  We ate a quick lunch and then enjoyed each other's company for a restful afternoon.  We then got all spiffed up for our Valentine's date.  The best part- we silenced {including vibrate} our phones.  

We enjoyed a leisurely dinner for two, and walked around one of our local malls.  It was just fun to be together.  We would do that a lot before we were married and life has simply become too busy.  We don't make the time as we should.

The evening was spectacular.

Friday was our day to celebrate Valentine's Day at school.  The teacher in me couldn't help making these cute pencils for my students.  My 2nd graders learned about homophones earlier this school year and L-O-V-E them.  They are finding them everywhere and asking me about it.  It was fun to see them catch on.

In addition to the roses from my thoughtful mister, one of my students also gave me flowers.  If you walked into our apartment and judged by the aromas that permeated our small home, you would almost think you were at a florist.  I love it!

All this to say, it has been a wonderful celebration these past few days.  I am thankful for the added excuse to be intentional about love.  I trust you have been able to enjoy celebrating those you love dearest, while marveling at the love given to us by our Savior.

From our family to yours,