My sweet family!!  I have been absent from the blogging world for oh so long!  I apologize for my unplanned leave.  I wish everyone a happy valentine's day and I hope you all feel so loved.  I love Valentine's Day because it gives me the excuse to let myself feel loved by God.  So often I see how undeserving of His love I am and I feel selfish to let myself enjoy it fully, but yesterday I had the excuse to just let Him love me all day.  It is so sweet when you stop and look at how much you love someone.  It makes you long for time with them, it makes you want to do anything you can to preserve your love for them, and it makes you feel like you are the richest person alive.  I got to enjoy the benefits of love yesterday so fully.  He who created me is He who can know and love every little thing about me!

It also made me look at the way I love others.  So often I think about the friends that love me well, without paying much attention to the ways I can be loving them well.  When you look at what love is, say from 1 Cor. 13, I feel as if I don't represent it well at all.  

If I were to say that I was a good example of love, I would be lying:

"Lindsey is patient, Lindsey is kind.  Lindsey does not envy, she does not boast, she is not proud.  Lindsey is not rude, she is not self-seeking, she is not easily angered, she keeps no record of wrongs.  Lindsey does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth..."  And it goes on and on, exaggerations and fibs.  I want to love like God does.  The only way I can describe it is EXTRAVAGANTLY.

Yesterday was also a day of laughter and joy.  Allan surprised me with chocolate covered strawberries (my favorite!) and flowers.  We personally hand-made sushi (yes, we MADE sushi!!) and it tasted just like the real thing.  And we went to the river walk and ate ice-cream.  Now I am suffering the consequences of my "play before work" theology this weekend.  I have to read all of Richard III (Shakespeare) by tomorrow--yes, tomorrow!!  Pray for me, please!

YOU ARE ALL LOVED DEARLY AND EXTRAVAGANTLY!  Don't ever forget :)