More than just Valentine's Day to me...

Today is Valentine's Day.  A day to celebrate love.  I am blessed to have an amazing husband who treats me like a queen.  I have amazing kids who never fail to show me they love me.  I have loving friends who support me while holding me accountable.  And I have parents who show me unconditional love.  As an adopted child, I'm lucky to have not only my Mom and Dad (pictured above!), my wonderful Mother-in-law and Father-in-law, but I also have my birth parents too!  So I have LOTS of parental guidance, which makes me extra lucky!  :-)  

The reason Valentine's Day is extra special to me is because that is the day I was adopted by my Mom and Dad.  That was the day the foster family handed me over to my parents so they could love me and guide me through my life.  That was the day we became a family.  I am always amazed at the love given by adopted parents.  Their love for me was no accident.  It was planned and deliberate.  They CHOSE to bring me into their lives, forever being there to guide me and love me.  I'm sure there were a few days during my rebellious teenage years that they might have been tempted to look for the "return" clause in my adoption papers... LOL.... but they didn't.  They took me with all my good and bad.  They raised me right.  They taught me to be kind.  They taught me to be respectful.  And they taught me to love Jesus.  For all they have given me, I will be forever grateful. 

Adoption is a loving choice by all involved.  The love that my birth parents showed, by knowing they were too young to be able to give me the stable life I needed and allowing me to be raised by another couple is too precious to wrap my brain around sometimes.   For that, I will be forever grateful as well.  And then, to open their hearts to me YEARS later when I reached out to them for answers is also something I treasure everyday as well!   How lucky am I???   Seriously???  

I have a lot of LOVE in my life and I'm glad that I can remind myself on this Valentine's Day that today is not just about celebrating the love between a man and a woman, but about ALL the love that surrounds me on this day.  I hope you all will look around at the love that is in your life today.  Maybe you don't have a "sweetheart" to share a romantic dinner with, or give chocolates and flowers to.  But I'll bet if you look around you, there IS love in your life.  Love that you can treasure each day.  I know ONE person that loves you unconditionally.  That is Jesus.  He is the one true great love for each of us.

So to all my "loves"... family & friends....thank you for loving me!  Thank you for being a part of my life!  And thank you for each of the special blessings to bring into my world....

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!!