What love isn't...

Love isn't a $3.99 greeting card. It isn't a bouquet of flowers or sparkly jewelry. Love isn't going out to an expensive restaurant. Love isn't even a beautiful white gown and a big huge celebration with all your family and friends.

Love is still being happy to see each other at the end of a long day. Love is a sweet kiss on the forehead. Knowing what the other person is going to say, before they even say it. Love is being able to laugh with each other when you are sleeping on a mattress in the living room with three children who are taking turns waking up every half hour to vomit. Love is supporting each other's tough decisions. Love is encouraging each other to grow in faith. Love is biting your tongue instead of grumbling about things that don't really matter. Love is 10 years of marriage and knowing you would do it all over again. Every bit of it.

Yesterday, my dear husband and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Well, really, since we were high school sweethearts, we actually celebrated 21 years of being together (which in today's culture is like a little piece of fairy tale in the making.) A story like ours doesn't happen very often and I don't have the time to tell it all now but we've got a lot of great memories together. I can't imagine being married to anyone else.
Yesterday was a pretty typical day. We did order some Chinese for supper though, which is kinda a special treat for the 7 Shoes...Yum! Anyway, I'm sure we'd get quite a few really sad reactions to the fact that we didn't even really exchange cards or have at least some attempt at a romantic dinner together. The world has tricked us all into thinking that love is a thing that you can buy or gift or exchange on significant occasions, but true love is simply being content enjoying life together.

We don't have to buy or give each other anything to show our love...

-he works hard to provide for our family and often times helps me "catch up" on his days off.

-I don't mind if he goes for a run, even if I haven't had any "free time" in days.

-he doesn't complain when he walks in the door after a long day of work and trips over toys on the floor and can't find something he needs because our kitchen counter resembles a picture out of an "I Spy" seek and find book.

-I don't complain when there is a major home improvement project that he started over a year ago and has not yet finished.

-he tries really hard to teach the children to respect me and be grateful for my "homemaking".

-I've done my best to teach the children that one of the best things in the world is the time when Daddy gets home from work.

-he still finds me attractive after my body has been forever changed by 5 pregnancies and the fact that I'm often found wearing my unshowered hair in a "mom ponytail" and sporting a t-shirt from the 1990's.

- I don't make "Honey do" lists or grumble about picking up his dirty socks off the floor.

That, my dear friends, is the kind of love I'm talkin' about. Like I said in my original post, we try to keep it simple. Truly, no amount of money or vacations or stuff could ever replace the love my husband and I have for each other. It's the best kind of love: faithfulness, devotion, encouragement, stability, laughter, tears, five beautiful children... What a blessing. How could we ask for anything more?

Don't worry...we are planning a much needed mini get-away in the near future. But it's hard to find a time to sneak away, when you have 5 little ones, there's always something going on.

Like a first-born daughter turning 7 in about a week...