A long post about a long Valentine's Day

Valentines Day was a glorious mix of the horrible and the absolutely wonderful. In the end, the blend of the two left me exhausted, but so thankful for the love of God, my friends, and my wonderful husband.

It started badly, long before daylight.  I was writing a paper, and somehow a 3-page assignment morphed into an 8-page monstrocity of over-achievement. (Mom, I know you're reading this and thinking "oh, no, not again...")

Three AM found me finally stumbling into bed, only to jerk awake to my 6:30 alarm so I could finish preparing for a presentation. Blech. It was one of those unfortunate circumstances where too many assignments fell on a too-busy weekend (which can be fatal when paired with my tendency to be too-conscientious.) 

Then the day got sweeter. I came out to the kitchen and found JC (aka Hubby) peeking around a mini-forest of long-stemmed red roses that towered over his bowl of cereal and some chocolate-covered strawberries. Awww!

(Just in case you were wondering if I did anything Valentine-y for him, a friend of ours delivered a "singing valentine", along with some chocolate and a letter, at his work during the afternoon.)

Classes also went well.  I'm one of those weird people whom God has blessed with an over-abundance of adrenaline in the morning hours, so until the inevitable afternoon crash, I was pretty energetic.

During my English presentation I discovered--once again--that I love teaching things to people. Where on earth did this come from? It was a group presentation about a really thought-provoking play called A Raisin in The Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry.  (Here is a link to the trailer for the 2008 movie version)

Before class, I still hadn't heard back from my two presentation teammates, but thankfully both showed up early to class. I was relieved, but my heart flopped over when one of my teammates pulled me aside and asked "What am I supposed to say again?" Oh no....  During the presentation, it was obvious that not only did he have stage fright, he also had next to nothing prepared. When he looked desperate after about a minute, the other guy and I stepped in to lead the discussion.  I know he felt really bad, but who could he blame but himself? 

The evening was my favorite part of the day. JC was at an equipping class at church until 10, so I had the whole evening to make our house romantic.

But then, my wonderful friend, Macie, came over for a surprise visit!!  Isn't her sweet little girl just precious? (see pic) We talked while I folded laundry, and by the time she left, I felt so encouraged. 

When Jordan got home, I surprised him with a candle-lit house, music playing, and a yummy treat: gluten-free crepes served with Nutella and banana slices!  I was almost falling asleep by that time, but it was awesome nonetheless.

Valentine's Day could have been awful on so many levels.  Days after a sleepless night are usually emotional swamps of disaster.

 It could have, but it wasn't, mainly because of the absolutely wonderful love of God shown to me through Jordan and sweet friends like Macie, Kelsey, and Marianne. I feel so thankful and loved.