valen-times

Part I: heart-shaped pancakes are consumed, 

photo session is attempted,

 Silas just wants to play outside, but is somewhat appeased by hanging out next to the door.

Part II: I get ding-dong-ditch roses and a balloon from my sneaky husband. It makes me smile big (he has a long history of sneaky flower delivering). Silas and I eat too much candy. He naps and I clean bathrooms.

Part III: we pick up Nicky from school, and dump out his valentines on the table (I love this part the best).

Part IV: Our awesome sitter comes over and Ricky and I head out on our hot date. We hear from a panel of foster and adoptive parents and it's encouraging and real. I realize there's no one way to be good at this-they all bring different strengths to the table but talk about their families with the same kind of zeal and assurance. I feel so grateful and grounded in all of this. And I love my guy so much for being willing to take on this challenge with me in the midst of everything else he has going on. 

Hopefully soon we'll have a fun date where we get to go be kids for a few hours, but this grown up stuff, with responsibilities and whatnot, is not terrible. It's real and not invented by a card company and I love it (even if a lot of how we celebrated was invented by a card company). As long as love is really behind it all, it's good.