#Valentine'sDay

I'm sitting here in Barnes & Noble and it's everywhere...the color red screams it out so loud that you start seeing red...and those little pink hearts don't make matters any better with their just oh so right placements on store displays...you guessed it: Valentine's Day is coming. Or "Singles Awareness Day" as some like to call it. When I was in the fourth grade our teacher told us if we got more than one Valentine from someone that meant that they really liked you. Oh this made me even more excited to look through my bag because I was hoping beyond hope that Reggie, my HUGE crush, would give me two Valentine's. He had no idea that my deep love for him was pretty much for the reason that he and I shared the same last name and I thought it'd be amazing if we got married someday because it'd just be so easy! Oh, the aspirations of a fourth grader haha

You may be reading this having just gotten out of a relationship, starting a new relationship or you just don't care and your main consensus is "ain't nobody got time for that!" Well whatever you believe, it's still going to come (it's less than a month away) and for me, I like to be prepared for it.  For someone that's always had a cheerful heart towards Valentine's Day no matter what my relationship status was, I wasn't too thrilled last year. That was because exactly one month before February 14th I had ended a relationship that I was in. But I have an awesome family, my sister had two dozen tulips delivered to my apartment and my mom came and took me out to my favorite restaurant just so I wouldn't feel alone. My heart breaks for those that don't have a family or friendships to support them in times like that...

When my family did those amazing acts of love for me last year it got me thinking. Isn't that what love is all about? Isn't that why God put us on the earth...so that He could show us love and that we could share it with others? No, I don't have a Valentine this year...and I could just not do anything and hope that the day just passes by and that I don't get shot by the cupid of "Singles Awareness Day" but instead I've decided to pass on love and what better way the what the below picture states?

 

Just think about it...wouldn't it be great to send a card or go to a nursing home and pass out Valentine's? Even if you're in a relationship, don't let that stop you from thinking of others. The main stream media wants us all to think so much on our significant other that we run the risk of becoming selfish. We think like I did in the fourth grade, "oh, is Reggie going to give me two Valentine's??" that sometimes we forget that giving can be so much more fulfilling. My favorite part of giving to someone is when the recipient least expects it. It's going out of your way to show someone that they're not alone and that you care.

So this year I have challenged myself to send/hand out Valentine's to elderly people. This is something that I truly believe that God has put on my heart and I am so excited to do it! If you're interested in joining me, please let me know. I don't have much of a game plan yet so any input on that would be welcome, too!

-A <3

Oh and by the way, I got two Valentine's from Reggie that day in the fourth grade ;-)

It was a White (lies) Christmas

Phew! The Christmas season is over...well, I have yet to take down the Christmas tree, but we're getting there! I can honestly say this was one of the best Christmases I've ever had...and "honesty" didn't always play a huge factor this holiday. Let me explain...

As many of you know, my older sister, Amber, got married about two years ago. Early on in their marriage they agreed to alternate their time between his family and hers for Christmas. Last year we got to have them at our house for Christmas so that meant this year Amber and Steve wouldn't be with us for Christmas...that was until Amber called me a few weeks before Christmas...

Reveal of Lie #1: I called my mom to outright lie to her... "Mom...I'm expecting a package to show up today around noon that you have to sign for. It's a Christmas gift for dad." Mom bought it hook, line and sinker. She had no idea that my sister and I had been planning for over a week Amber's surprise visit. I love my sister, but I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive of her doing this. I mean, come on...driving 6 hours just to spend one night with your family the day before Christmas Eve?! Well, she did it! We were able to keep the secret and mom never suspected a thing...not even when the "package" showed up with a Buffalo Bills license plate...when my mom saw my sister appear the realization finally hit in that my sister was the "package" she had been waiting for! Tears started flowing and hugs were the only signature that was required for this special delivery! Amber and I had pulled off the lie of the year! Until I had to confess up to something else I had been lying about since early November...

Reveal of Lie #2: My mom loves Sarah Palin...just LOVES her! And it just so happens that Sarah Palin was coming to my town for a book signing (her new book, Good Tidings and Great Joy explains how America is trying to omit the name of Christ from Christmas and that it's our job to keep Christmas well)! Mom, being that she lives two hours away from here, begged me to go. This is how that conversation went down: Mom: "Alex...Sarah Palin is coming to your town!" Me: "...um, that's great, mom..." Mom: "You don't sound very excited! You should go...you could meet a cute Republican guy, even!" Me: "Seriously? You're trying to tempt me to go just in case there might be a single, cute, Republican guy there?? haha"
I love my mother and she knows that I'm not that into politics like the way she and my sister are. So a week leading up to the book signing event, poor mom tried again..."Alex, you should really go to meet Sarah...if not for yourself, but because you love your mother!" Me: "....I'd rather eat dirt..." THAT ended that conversation real quick! Bingo! Perfect set up to my second biggest lie of the year because I did go to the book signing. In all actuality I did not want to go and once inside I had to fight the urge to turn around and run back to my car! But because I love my mom and thought it'd be a great Christmas gift, I went. And yes the thought did cross my mind that I might end up meeting a cute, single, Republican guy...but that didn't happen lol. What did happen was pretty much life changing. Yes, I met Sarah, who is a quiet and beautiful woman with a firm handshake, and we exchanged pleasantries as a photo was snapped of us. Then it was over...or so I thought. I had planned on just wrapping up the book with the photo of Sarah and I in a nice frame and giving it to my mom that way. However, I had just finished reading The Single Woman by Mandy Hale and didn't have anything to read...so I picked up Sarah's book and started it. Whoa...yes, you read that right...me, who doesn't really like politics and thought that I wouldn't really have anything in common with Sarah, read her book. You know what I found out? Sarah Palin and I have a TON in common especially the very core of who we are and that is that we stand for Jesus Christ.
2013 really gave me some life changing experiences that have proven to me that if we as individuals don't stand for anything or have one foot in one type of lifestyle and the other in a separate, then we truly will fall for anything. I was challenged this year to really make decisions for myself as to who and what it is that I stand for and Sarah's book helped confirm and support those decisions. It does matter who we vote for and that we vote. It does matter if that person voted into office holds firm to our shared values and beliefs. What matters most is that we find out what and who we believe in and to not let anyone decide for us.
The day Amber came home we decided to open family gifts and we made sure mom opened my gift last. She opened it and the first thing she saw was a letter that I wrote explaining the outrageous lie that I had to tell her back in November. My mom gasped and started crying as the truth sank in that her daughter, the girl who doesn't like politics, not only went to meet Sarah Palin, but read the book and realized that she and Sarah do have something in common after all...keeping Christmas well.

I ran into my friend Nicole (left) and we kept each other company as we waited to meet Sarah