, at how much I just love ......well, LOVE! I love being IN love, I love loving my children, I love loving my mom and "papa", I love loving in-laws like my own, I even love loving the teachers that teach my children at school and at church. I love watching love through other's eyes as well - especially through the eyes of someone else I love. Watching Darrell love our children is one of those blessings that I never really expected in my life - but I LOVE watching that love grow daily. I love loving our lives (although CRAZY!!) I love watching love and trust grow between new believers and our God, I love . . . . . well, you get the point!Valentine's day has been a little more poignant for me this year, as I am currently watching 2 men that I think the world of, mourn the loss of their "loves", as both wives have left their marriages. It makes me even that m
uch more grateful for the amazing relationship that Darrell and I share, and has made me much stronger in my belief that we will always do what we can to "work things out". I feel blessed to have a husband who loves me, who still has that wonderful romantic side (wait until you hear what he did for V day this year!), who loves our children, who would never do anything to hurt us, who provides for us with unwavering work ethic, and who has become an amazing Christian man who models to others how love and LIFE should be. How did I get so lucky!?So, as you can imagine, people at school were just cracking up at me, as I floated up and down the halls of Penny Road, just being in love with love. You know, teachers on edge with 800 some kids all on a "high" from sugar and pure excitement, then enter "Mrs. Annas", just floating around without a care that all these children were becoming like the animals in the zoo. . .I am sure I was a very funny sight to all around! :) It is my sincere hope, though, that our children will be 'giddy' with love in their lives someday. How wonderful it would be to know that they are sincerely happy and cared for, safe and loved. How difficult it is as a parent to sit and pray that that "perfect" someone is being groomed by God to love and protect our children! I tell people all the time, I am not raising "children", I am raising someone's spouse! It is so hard to imagine, yet so very important to me! Kevin already knows that "girls like flowers and things that smell pretty - especially chocolate!" (good job there, Kev! Thumbs up from mommy!) The girls can recite until they are blue in the face that they "deserve" to be treated like princesses, and that pretty flowers are a
n important gift from their significant other (and that they, in turn, will treat him with honor and respect!). Phew - there is SO much to teach them that sometimes I wonder HOW I can fit that all in in only 18 years! WOW!So, all in all, I just wanted to post that, yes, I am still in LOVE, and yes, I still love the idea of love, and yes, I do believe in the idea of "someone for everyone". I have always loved Valentine's Day, and silly pink hearts, red and pink roses, romance, chocolate and candles. I still think it is fun to make food into heart shapes, and tint whipped cream pink (yes, I do that!), I love making Valentine boxes, and silly little cards. I wrote my traditional poems to the teachers and to our children - I just love love! I am so very humbly blessed to be married to my best friend, and am blown away that he really does have a romantic side, and he BLOWS my mind when he allows it to come out! It is a true testimony to love if I can be with someone for 19 years, and love him more today than I did way back when. I am so blessed that God made him just for me and that he graciously puts up with me!
Don't forget to let everyone know that you love them! It is just the most precious feeling in the world!
Keep being in love - it makes the world go round!!
Shannon
