Happy Valentine's Day!

May I just start off this blog entry by saying how thankful we are for our friends, adopted family members and wonderful families? God has truly blessed us well beyond what we could ever ask or think! Valentine's Day is a wonderful day to not only focus on your love for your spouse, but also on your children and extended family & friends.

Last night Taigen & I were honored to be invited up to Cornerstone's Couples' Banquet. The assistant pastor, Rob, asked if Taigen might speak and graciously allowed me to tag along. They had a wonderful Italian feast of lasagna and chicken rotini (catered by Amatos), salad, breadsticks, and cheesecake! It was delicious. It's always great to see our dear families up in ME and catch up on all their news. I'm always amazed at how many of them mention that they keep up with our news via this blog. What meant the world to me is that many told us how they have been praying for us. Thank you so much. We cherish those prayers.

The kids were excited to have Ellen come and babysit again. They looked forward to it all week. Marshall woke up on Wednesday morning and said to me first thing, "Only two more sleeps!" Ellen came with a bag full of fun. She planned to work on a "secret project" with them. The kids were bursting with excitement this morning to show me their hard work for us (Valentine's Day cards). What fun they had! They went on and on about what all she did with them. We are thankful for a dependable babysitter who is also a great example for our kids.

When Taigen came home from church today, the kids ran upstairs to find their secret stash that we had purchased for him. It wasn't anything much, just some special treats the kids picked and two cards to let him know we were thinking of him and loved him. I had fun taking the kids shopping for it all. They are so cute!

I took off for church this afternoon to work and while I was gone, Taigen whipped up this wonderful cookie for me (us)! I have to admit that I didn't believe Shaylen when she told me that "Daddy made it." It looked too perfect and it had also been edged with frosting using decorator tips! Sure enough, Taigen had gotten "in touch" with his "inner creative self" and had made the masterpiece. Didn't he do a great job? It was delicious too. What a guy!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day. We appreciate and love you all so much.