Tonight, after Chris returns home from a work road trip, after we feed, play with, bathe and read to our minions we will melt onto the couch to enjoy our "Valentine's Meal". He's a big baseball fan, so we're going to watch the movie Knuckleball! while we eat hot dogs, pretzels, crackerjacks and have some beer.* Then he'll go play floor hockey and I'll probably fall asleep on the couch.
It's not much, but it's carving away a piece of time just for us which is something important. The winner of the Valentine's Contest also feels this way. Below is the story of Leanne, who makes time for her special someone, even if it's on the run. Congratulations Leanne who has won a lovely pair of earrings courtesy of Bright Shadows Jewelry...Also congrats to our runner up S. and thank you to everyone who shared their stories with me.
Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons, Pink Sherbet Photography, D Sharon Pruitt
Leanne's Story
In the Beginning
I was a single mother for 8 years. Then I met the love of my life. Things moved very quickly-we were together for about 3 months when I found out I was expecting. We were both over joyed. 9 months later we welcomed our 9lb bubbly baby girl. Two years later we were very surprised to find out that we were expecting again – and even more surprised to find out this time it was twins... a few months later we welcomed our 2 beautiful girls.
Family Complete
At that point we felt our family was complete. We decided that since the twins came via c-section – that I was going to have my tubes tied. We were busy with an exciting and full family life.
Making Time as a Couple
My husband and I tried to keep sanity when we could – so once a month we had date night, times were tough, money was tight, so some date nights were a quick drive through burger sitting in the car and just talking with no interruptions and most importantly NO KIDS. We needed time alone, even if it was only for a couple of hours. It's amazing how much you can talk about and get accomplished with just a little bit of time away, and no kids around.
The Curve ball
Life took us for a huge curve 18 months after the twins were born. I was very sick and back and forth to the Dr. for test after test. No one had answers for us and then one day the Dr. opted to try one last est. The results: WE WERE SPEECHLESS: the Dr told us we were expecting AGAIN. We couldn't believe it, I'd had my tubes tied! After a lot of heavy thinking, and talking we realized how thank full we were for this blessing.
The Birthday
The day before my twins arrived my brother lost his life in a terrible accident. Serendipitously our little girl was born on my brother's birthday. Now our miracle baby is here and loved so much. Our Family is more than COMPLETE now. God sure does work in mysterious ways.
Taking a Time Out
Keeping the love alive is more than difficult some days, but it's so important to take just 10mins a day for each other. Stop, embrace in a hug, a kiss and then say 3 important words - I LOVE YOU. It doesn't always seem that simple, but if its true love, you communicate and work together as a team – IT CAN BE
The Stats
For those of you who are counting –we now have 6 children!
16 year old boy
13 year old girl
5 year old girl
2 year old Twin girls
2 week old baby girl
*If you have a baseball/Blue Jays fan in your life, these baseball Valentine's Day cards are amazing: http://blogs.thescore.com/djf/
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