Celebrations continue....

I am not usually enthusiastic about celebrating Valentine's Day.  To me, it is somewhat like New Year's Eve. A little overrated. On the average year, best acknowledged quietly at home.  This year, however, I wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day.  God is so good. God is love. I wanted to celebrate it!

Instead of February 14th, we decided to celebrate LOVE on February 18th - Paul's birthday.

Early in the evening, family who live in town gathered at our house. We began the evening with presents. Ironically, gift giving is totally NOT Paul's native love language. Paul, he will tell you himself....often, is ill at ease giving or receiving gifts.

We gave the gift of prophetic scripture. Not as mysterious as it sounds.  Simply, let God direct you to scripture for a specific person, write it down and share! Each family unit "gave" the scripture to each person present (haha, you know how I LOVE puns!!) by reading it out loud. Your cup runs over when you hear what God has to say about you and your family.  Lots and lots of LOVE!!!

So much so, that even Paul became an enthusiastic gift receiver!

For those who know him well you might guess from the pic above, his reformed attitude may also have been motivated by the beer and bread from the Osborns. Two of his favorite things.

He also received a speed rope and boxing gear for his man cave recently reinvented into the Garner Gym.

Afterwards, we retired to the dinning room for dinner. I prepared fried chicken, roasted brussels sprouts and carrots, and smashed potatoes. Rayne supplied appetizers and Pie brought the most fabulous strawberry pies for dessert (I, of course, had a huge slice this morning for breakfast with a steaming cup of coffee - yum!).

Due to the activities of the day/night, I was not the best photographer. These are the best of the few I took. Hopefully, Rayne will post some of hers.  If you are interested, see Rayne's blog

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAUL, WE LOVE YOU!!!