What is love?

This weekend is Valentine’s Day. I’ve always loved all the pink and red hearts, cute valentine cards, heart-shaped chocolates and of course, flowers. But I’ve been thinking a lot about love. Mainly because one of my current favorite songs is Two Wooden Beams, by Josiah Queen. I can’t get the truth of the lyrics and the beautiful melody out of my head.

I highly recommend giving it a listen. Two Wooden Beams, Josiah Queen

These are the lyrics:

What is love?
What is His name?
Who is His son?
Is He okay?
Or was it all
A part of His plans?
The thorns on His brow,
The nails in his hands

I’m not perfect and purchased by blood
I gave Him nothing and He gave it all
All the words in the world aren’t enough
Cause I can’t define, can’t deny Your

Love, it bleeds
It’s whipped and it’s bruised,
it was hung on a tree
All for me
Love is the blood stains on two wooden beams

Where is love?
Where did it go?
Lately it seems like nobody knows
In a world where money’s the game
We traded true love
For pocket change

I’m not perfect and purchased by blood
I gave Him nothing and He gave it all
All the words in the world aren’t enough
Cause I can’t define, can’t deny Your

Love, it bleeds
It’s whipped and it’s bruised,
it was hung on a tree
All for me
Love is the blood stains on two wooden beams

Lord knows I’ve tried
But I can’t describe
No I can’t define, can’t deny oh

We hear a lot about love, don’t we? Ask anyone and they could probably give you a different definition. Some say “love is love” or “love who you love”. But the Bible tells us, in 1 John 4:8 “God is love”. Simply stated yet so powerful. God, the Creator of the universe, is the embodiment of love. He IS love. He designed love and He defines it. We don't get to define love. The question is not what is love, it’s Who is love.

The words in the chorus feel a little graphic and initially caused me to want to turn away. But that’s the point. God’s Son, Jesus Christ, bled and died for us. He was whipped, He was bruised and hung on a torturous cross, for me and for you. Jesus willingly chose to do it, all because He loves us so much. That’s what true love is.

I love the part that says, “I’m not perfect and purchased by blood. I gave Him nothing and He gave it all.” That’s the truth of salvation. He gave it all so that we could be forgiven and rescued from sin and death.

If you don’t already know Jesus as your Savior, I invite you to take that step. You can experience what real love is by having a relationship with the One who created you and knows your heart.

“if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9

God loves you! And so do I.

Fruit Of The Spirit Printable Hearts

 

Valentines Day is coming up! Add a little love to any space with Fruit of the Spirit heart garland. Just print, cut, add a string or display as you like. 3-page print-ready PDF below. Enjoy! Jesus loves you!

 

Printable Fruit Of The Spirit Hearts 

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a special time of year for us because nine years ago, we got engaged two days before "love day". I'm so thankful that 10 years ago, God brought my forever valentine into my life. My husband, Andrew, is my best friend, my love, my heart. He has shown me what love truly is. He loves me at my best and at my absolute worst. He makes me laugh. Encourages me. Supports me. Puts up with me. Celebrates with me, as well as shares the difficult times. He simply gets me. He's by my side, no matter what. I am so grateful and so undeserving. I love you Andrew! 

In November, my talented brother-in-law, David, showed us his photography studio and took a series of portraits of us. I am a big fan of his work and I'm so blessed by this photo! I love it. Thank you David. We love you! Check out more of David's beautiful work on his blog, here.

I added my own design to this photo to celebrate the gift that love is, and to wish all of you a very Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you get to share it with the one(s) you love. Most of all this Valentine's Day, I hope you know that God, the Creator of your heart, is crazy in love with you! "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

Valentines Day Ideas

It's not too late to make some treats for your sweetie! These are a few of my favorite ideas: Heart Sugar Cookies

Votive Candle with Chocolates

Raspberry Jell-O Whipped Pie

Hand Made Cards

Handmade Valentine Cards

When I was in elementary school, I always looked forward to valentine's day because I got to hand out cards to all my classmates. Sometimes we made little mailboxes for our desks. I couldn't wait to open those thin paper envelopes, read the silly notes and eat the candy (especially Sweet Tarts). Today, I still like valentines day because I have my forever valentine. I also like that it's another day out of the year to tell the ones you love, how much you love them.

Rather than purchase overpriced greeting cards, I decided to go old school and make a few of my own. I was in the mood for crafting with paper and glue sticks. I made Christmas cards two years ago with paper and fabric and I loved how they turned out. I decided to combine my love for typography, sewing, fabric and specialty paper once again. 

I had some white card stock on hand and left over red envelopes. I cut the card stock to size.

Then I cut and glued some scrapbook paper to the card. 

I only had one large doily, so I cut it into 8 sections and glued one to each card, wrapping it around to the back. 

I typed up "I Love You" and "Happy Valentines Day" greetings on my computer, printing on white return address labels. I just stuck them on the card. What could be easier?

This guy was very interested in the process.

My favorite part was adding a square of burlap and hand sewing it to the card with red embroidery thread in the shape of a heart. Isn't it cute? I just love the different textures.

I signed and dated the back, which also looks cute with the heart thread and doily.

I had fun making them and I think they're better than any store bought cards! I had all of the materials on hand. You can use any combination of papers to whip up some handmade valentines, straight from your heart. They will definitely brighten your loved ones day!

Valentines Day Date 2011

My Sweetie and I spent a wonderful valentines day together. It was his idea to take the day off. Since it fell on a Monday, that would give us a 3 day weekend. You don't have to tell me twice! Not waking up at 6:30am for work was a gift in itself. 

We started our valentines day date by heading to Starbucks. We ordered two caramel macchiato's and actually sat down and enjoyed them while chatting. Something we hardly ever do. It was really nice. There were a few other people hanging out at Starbucks. It was kind of intriguing to see what other people are up to on a Monday, during the day, while we're normally at work. Lucky ducks. 

Next, we headed to the place where we had our first real date. The place that started it all. The bowling alley. Yup. The Ohl's love to bowl. Didn't see that one coming did ya? It's been quite a while. Our bowling balls and shoes were sitting neglected in the closet for months. Not only does our last name rhyme with bowl, we have our own equipment. Soon after we got married, my darling husband took me to pick out my first pair of bowling shoes and a ball, engraved with my name. Commence laughter. And jealousy. 

The lanes were practically desolate. If you want to beat the crowds, bowling on a Monday afternoon, around 2:30pm, on Valentines Day, is where it's at. 

Andrew is the skilled bowler in the relationship. That's why I fell in love with him. He puts a mean spin on the ball and gets a lot of strikes. And spares. My man. 

Apparently I have a much stranger release than I thought. Looks like I'm winding up for a triple toe loop. Wrong sport. What is my left hand doing? I am embarrassed to admit that my arms and the muscles in my sides were sore the next day. What a wimp! Guess I need to do some serious stretching next time.

Our bowling scores may have shown that we were a little rusty, but we had a great time!  

That evening, we traded our bowling shoes for some fancier threads to go out to dinner. Andrew wore his pink tie especially for me. I am wearing a headband with feathers on it in case you're wondering what's on my head. 

Photos from Blackandbluesteakandcrab.com
We dined at Black & Blue, a fantastic steak and crab restaurant. We were seated upstairs, which for some reason is more fun, we both agreed. Every time I've been there the food is excellent. I had the sea scallops over vegetable risoto. Amazing. It's my favorite. Andrew had the lobster with mac and cheese on the side. This was no ordinary mac and cheese. The stuff melts in your mouth with panko breadcrumbs on top. 

They gave us chocolate truffles with the check and a little bundle of chocolate hearts for me. Because I'm a lady and it was Valentine's Day. Isn't that sweet? 

Doesn't that sound like the perfect day? It really was. As if spending the day together, sipping coffee, bowling and enjoying an amazing meal together wasn't special enough, my husband got me a gift. A really wonderful incredibly thoughtful gift that I am SO excited about. You have no idea. He gave me a gift card to the Del Monte Spa. I wanted to pinch myself! I've only set foot in the lobby once and it was beautiful. Anyone who's ever been there says it's the best. I plan on scheduling a massage in the near future. For my birthday perhaps...I love being pampered and getting a massage is such a treat. I can almost feel it. My back and shoulders are shouting with glee! My husband is too good to me.

So that's how I spent Valentine's Day 2011. With my very best friend, the love of my life, who won my heart at a bowling alley 7 years ago on our first date. We were engaged 6 years ago, on February 12, just a couple days before Valentine's Day. Now I have a valentine for life! It is a wonderful feeling. Being married to the one you love, who loves you back. And you never have to wonder if you'll have a date on February 14th again.

Forever and a Day Valentine Freebie

Valentines Day is a few days away! Here's a little valentine freebie I designed. You can print it out and hide it in your sweethearts lunch, or leave in on the windshield of their car, or copy and paste it into a sweet little email. It's all about showing the one you love, just how much you love them, in your own special way. Click the image to enlarge and copy it to your desktop. I haven't figured out how to embed a PDF into Blogger yet. Hopefully this will work. It was designed to be 4x6 inches. I wish I could spend my time making cute lovey dovey cards all day!

Valentines Day Heart Cookies

 

These heart shaped sugar cookie sandwiches with strawberry frosting are a perfect treat for Valentines Day! They are easy and fun to make. 

You will need 2 packages of sugar cookie dough:

1 can of strawberry frosting:

 

 One large heart shaped cookie cutter and one small heart shaped cookie cutter:

 

Follow the directions on the sugar cookie dough for rolling out the dough and making cut-out cookies. 

Bake for 7-9 minutes, cool, then frost and make cookie sandwiches. 

For non-frosting lovers, make some plain heart-shaped cookies. You can use the small heart from the cut-out sandwich toppers, and place them on top of the plain hearts to make a double heart design.

Enjoy! (Try not to eat them all, like I did!)