Be my Valentine.

Some say that Valentine's Day is just a greeting card holiday, but as I've grown in my faith I see it not only as a day to love the ones you hold close to your heart, but to serve and love those around you...near and far.

My Valentine surprise really started about a month ago.  I have an amazing other half (almost) that likes to plan ahead and, luckily for me, this meant he was planning my Valentine's Day treat back in January.  Unfortunately I don't know the planning that went on behind the scenes, but I do know that he did a great job keeping it a secret!

Last Thursday, Dallas had record breaking snow.  What a nice treat for Tommy!  He ended up having one and a half snow days!  Lucky him.  But unlucky for me.  I was afraid there would be NO snow left for me to enjoy.  It was supposed to warming up and, me not being very familiar with how fast snow melts, I had no idea how long it was going to last.

Valentine's present #1:  A snowball in Tommy's freezer...just in case all the snow had melted by the time I got there!

What a sweetheart!  This has to be the best present ever.  It takes a man who truly knows you and loves you to realize that saving some snow JUST in case it melted would make you feel like he had just given you a pair of diamond earrings.  

On Saturday morning, Tommy and I worked at Shoes for Orphan Souls with a couple of his friends that are in his Friday morning bible study.  Shoes for Orphan Souls is an organization serving over 1.8 million at-risk children in the United States and 68 countries around the world by giving each child a new pair of shoes.  Our job was to match up shoes and write little notes to stick in each pair.  After, we would rubber band them together and they would be sorted and eventually packaged and shipped.  We had the privilege of going in the back and doing some pre-sorting!  I thought this was fun!  Getting to decide if it was a non-leather casual, leather casual, non-leather boot, boot, athletic, slipper, sandal etc AND by gender was just exciting!  My cup 'o tea.  ORGANIZING.  It was such a great feeling knowing that on the eve of the day that celebrates love I was getting to love children around the world by preparing shoes for them to wear.  God calls us in 1 Peter 4:10 to use whatever gifts we have received to "...serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in it's various forms." I cannot wait to volunteer for God's Kingdom with my children one day.

After a wonderful morning and an early afternoon of napping, Tommy had a great evening surprise all planned.  I was told to wear a fancy dress and be ready by 4:00pm, but that is all I knew.  I finally couldn't take it anymore and had Tommy tell me where we were going about 2 hours before I had to be ready.  Tommy searched for the surprise.  I guess one of the disadvantages for planning early is remembering where exactly you put the surprise!  FINALLY!  He found it.  We were to have dinner at the steakhouse restaurant, Del Frisco's in downtown Fort Worth and go see Romeo and Juliet preformed by the Texas Ballet Theater at the Bass Hall Theater.  Eeeeee!  What more could I ask for?

I have to say one of my favorite things is getting all dressed up and enjoying a wonderful steak over a glass of wine with my future husband.  A tradition I cannot wait to continue.  There's something about red meat that makes for great conversation and there's something about a man of God to share that conversation with that makes it that much better.  I love my husband-to-be...and my life-long Valentine.