My Valentine

This handsome man is My Valentine. The card he gave me, said something to the effect that the best thing about our first Valentine's Day together was knowing that it would not be our last. And, I must echo those sentiments. I am so in love with and grateful for Ryan. I can't imagine anything better than looking forward to the Eternities with him.
We have been married 6 months. Yesterday in church, we were asked to introduce and tell a little bit about ourselves. Everyone laughed when I said we had been married six months and had six kids.
Bringing 8 people together in our home has had more challenges than either Ryan or I anticipated. I know that I have a lot of baggage that I brought with me that Ryan has to deal with on a daily basis. So, multiply that by 8, and you can imagine that things are probably going much better than we could have realistically hoped for.
I am so grateful to have Ryan in my life. He is so patient and kind. He is such a great guy, and honestly does everything he can to be a peacemaker in our home. He is much more Christ-like than I am. He is so good to me. He opens doors for me, he always saves a place for me next to him, he helps with or makes dinner almost every night and he puts my appointments in his calendar and encourages me to go... Honestly, the list of things he does for me goes on and on.

On Friday, Ryan sent me singing Valentine to work. I was sufficiently embarrassed at having 6 people standing around my desk, singing to me. But, it was so sweet. I really appreciated it.

This is the group we had dinner with on Saturday night. It was so nice, we had a room above Staheli Catering all to ourselves, we could laugh and talk as loud and as long as we wanted to.
Brenda, Mike, Mom, Dad, Me, Ryan, Bonnie & Kenny
(Josh & Kenny have been good sports to be Valentine dates for their Aunts on more than one occasion.)