Monday, February 14, 2011

Once upon a Valentine's Day...


Valentine's Day has been very good to my family for many many years now. Jake and I met on Valentine's day 2004. The story is that neither of us wanted to go to a church dance for singles on Valentine's day but we BOTH had friends that really wanted to go. Our friends drug us along and, luckily, we didn't leave empty handed.

Jake was standing in the foyer with his buddy when I walked in. I noticed him right away. He had (still does) the brightest blue eyes I'd ever seen. I smiled at him but walked by. As the night progressed I kept my eye on him as he danced with EVERY GIRL in the room except for me. He was so handsome. I couldn't stop staring, for real...

Anyways, to his credit, I was there with another boy. He didn't dance with me the whole night either so I sat on the opposite side of the couch watching Jake dance with all the girls in the room. It was an interesting night.

So, he finally asked me to dance and it was magic. I'm not kidding. I know that is a tremendously cliche thing to say! But, I'm serious. We danced through three songs straight. When it was time to leave I give him my number on a flier from Outback Steakhouse that said "Let your love bloom."

I think he got the message.



Two Valentine's Day's later we had been married for about 14 months and were pregnant with our first little bambina. We found out on February 14th that this sweet little dumpling would be a GIRL!! My sweet baby Jane. I love this girl so much. I was so happy that we were able to put a gender to this baby on Valentine's day 2006.



Two years after THAT we found out that we were pregnant with Sawyer! This little ball of energy has been such a huge blessing in our lives. He makes us smile and laugh every day. He loves everyone so much and we love him so much. Valentine's day 2008 was a happy day and it solidified our pattern of Valentine's Day blessings.

I can't believe that I have been blessed with such an amazing, unique and special family.

So, that brings us to Valentine's day 2011. We didn't find out the gender of a baby today, we didn't find out that we are pregnant today BUT we are announcing our latest pregnancy TODAY!!

WE ARE PREGNANT AND WE ARE SO HAPPY ABOUT IT!!

I'm trying to talk Jake into naming this baby "Valentine" but I don't think he's buying it. Wouldn't it be an amazing tribute to our family and the family story that we have been so lucky to write together?? I think so too.

Anyways, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! I hope that this day is as special for you as it is for me.

Love,
Starleigh