My sweet Valentine

"I have found the one whom my soul loves."

Song of Solomon 3:4

I'm not one for PDA, or gushing all about how great my husband is. I know people who do that, and sometimes I think it's an act to try to convince themselves and others that they are happier than they actually are. Cliff has always made a point to tell me how much he loves me, but I don't usually put my feelings into words as well as he does. My love language is more about doing things to show him my love than saying it.

Nothing wrong with that, but I thought I'd mix it up and dedicate this post to my Valentine for the last 8 years. Wow, it's so hard to believe that we've been loving each other this long. We will celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary in June. We were just 19 year old kids in college when we started dating, and now we are grown-ups with jobs, a baby, and a mortgage, ha.

I'm sure it's typical to put your marriage on hold for a while when you have a baby. She becomes the center of the universe (and rightfully so). I know I've been guilty of neglecting alone time with Cliff either because I'm tired, busy or just focused on Amelia. But tomorrow night we're going to leave Amelia with Aunt Katie and go out on a date together. I will hate leaving my girl, but I am so looking forward to hanging out with my husband. Basketball has kept him away a lot for the last few months, so that has made it even harder to spend time together. We were friends before we started dating, and I feel lucky that we are still best friends today. I miss him when we haven't had time to spend just hanging out being friends.

I know I take for granted how lucky I am to have Cliff. He was always a boyfriend unlike my friends' boyfriends, and today he is a different husband than a lot that I know. He has always been a little mushy about telling me how much he loves and adores me. He was pretty romantic about getting me flowers and presents and always writing me sweet notes pledging his undying love when we were dating. Well, the years have gone by, and I may not get flowers, gifts or love notes as often, but he does still go out of his way to show and tell me how much he cares.


Today I was exhausted from a busy work week and I was ready to just get home and snuggle with Amelia, but I knew I had a messy house waiting for me. When I got home, I was surprised to find a clean house and the sweetest card he has ever written for me. His appreciation and respect for me as a mother to Amelia trumps all the other sappy cards he ever got me. That was better than any bouquet of flowers I could have gotten. (However, I won't hate it if he has flowers for me tomorrow.)


I wanted to show a few of our photos throughout the years, but then I remembered that we dated during the age of having your film "developed," and I don't have many pics on the computer. It's too late to go borrow Katie's scanner. But I'll still share a few of my favorites.


This is one of our engagement photos we had taken before our wedding in 2005.



Here we are hiking in the Ozarks a couple of years ago.
This is one of my favorite wedding photos. It was shot before the wedding. I'm not sure what we were saying, but I think Cliff might have been telling me how pretty I looked. He always makes me feel pretty, even when I am having a fat day. (Been having a lot of those since Miss Amelia came into our lives! :)


Another wedding pic.
On our honeymoon in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. This makes me excited about our cruise in June!One of my favorite pics ever. He was so proud to meet his sweet girl. I've given him a hard time for being such an absentee dad during basketball season, but I know that he is crazy about his baby girl and hates being away from us. He has already shown that he is not afraid to do diapers or anything else that she needs. He is an amazing father, and I know Amelia is going to be a daddy's girl like I was. Who am I kidding, I still am!


We have already been through so much in our short time together. From losing a parent, losing friends, to losing our first baby, the happy times outweigh the sad by far. I'm so thankful that God brought us together. Happy Valentine's Day to my sweet Cliffy! I love you, and I am looking forward to raising our precious family and growing old together.