A Bacak Valentine's Day

Well, I had 5 other cute pictures to put here, and my computer stubbornly refuses to post them. No idea why. I'm very mad at it, but am calling a truce with it for now so I can write this. After this, I'm going to ignore it for the rest of the day.
Valentine's Day!
Of course the day was kicked off with some homemade by Mom valentines for each of the kiddos and their favorite candy. Candy for breakfast. That is all Treston has ever wanted around here.
But breakfast got better. Emma made heart-shaped pancakes. They were so good!
Rusty and I did our long runs. Rusty did 12 all by himself, and I did 8 with Jeanna.
I got to see one of my sweet former HOPE groupies get married: missionaries in Nicaragua, Julie and Jader, tied the knot. I visited the nursing home to deliver valentines and had a memorable chat with Mr. Gruner. He told me about his wedding day to the late and beloved Mrs. Gruner. I could picture it all in my mind. I love that man!
But Valentine's night was special.
I already wrote about how we see it around here, and we like to share that.
So we always invite some of our favorite college people over!
We had seven beautiful girls descend on this place. So fun!
Rusty, being the amazing man he is, cooked an unbelievable dinner for ALL 13 of us!
I mean, for real, an amazing dinner. One of my primary love languages is food, so this was legit.
He made us, my very favorite, crab legs and lobster tails, plus chicken, baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, and killer broccoli. The girls contributed salad and rolls. Then I made the strawberry cake with cream cheese icing, and we dipped strawberries in chocolate.
(If you're reading this and you're hungry right now, I'm so sorry!)
Then we had a family worship all together and Rusty taught on love.
What is love? And how should we love? Jesus told us.

John 15:12-15
12 I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you. 13 And here is how to measure it — the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends. 14 You are my friends if you obey me.

Wow! That was specific! How do we love?
Like Jesus. Imitate Him.
How do we measure it?
By our sacrifice.
How far should we go in sacrificial love? How far is too far?
Death.

In the last few weeks Rusty has been teaching from scripture about love, and I've been challenged. I want to love like Jesus does. I want to be sacrificial, and less about myself. I want to loving at all times!
There is so much good in scripture to put on when it comes to love.
And it's probably something we want to pay attention to, because the greatest commandment is to LOVE God, and next to that is LOVING our neighbor.
So that's a big deal, I think.

I can tell you, I'm definitely challenged by my husband and the way he loves me. I was so glad we got to share it with those beautiful girls. We loved having our own little Valentine's party. Jax even gave out goody bags!
Happy Belated Valentine's Day!