Valentine’s Day. When I was a little kid, I always liked the Valentine’s day party that we would have in class (probably because there was so much candy!)…well not much has changed, I still love the fact that V-day is a holiday closely tied with candy, but I really enjoy all the cards, flowers, and all the pretty red & pink heart decorations. Some would say that Valentine’s day is just a construct of the greeting card industry, meant to get people to spend money without any real feeling. Although I do love all the trimmings that go with the holiday, I think that it really is a meaningful day, provided that your heart is in the right place.
This was Cameron & I’s third Valentine’s Day together, but our first as husband and wife, and it was really a wonderful weekend. On Friday, I took the day off work because I had a doctor’s appointment in the morning out in Birmingham. When Cam came to pick me up from the appointment, there was a big bouquet of pink roses (my favorite) on the front seat of the car…I love getting flowers (Cameron knows this!) and it was a really nice way to start of our weekend
together. We had a great breakfast at The Original Pancake House in downtown Birmingham, then we headed up to my parents house in Lake Orion on Friday afternoon, which was nice because I hadn’t been home since before the holidays! Then Friday evening, Cam and I went to the John Mayer concert at the Palace, which was our Valentine’s Day gift to each other. This was the second time that we had seen John Mayer in concert together, and again I was totally blown away at how amazing he is live. Saturday afternoon we were able to spend time with my grandparents, which is always a blessing, and then after visiting with them I took Cameron to my favorite chocolate shop in downtown Oxford, Choo Choo’s Chocolates! The place was packed for Valentine’s day, and we decided to indulge in some chocolates and a cupcake, a very wise decision! Then Saturday evening, my parents had a bunch of friends over for a Wild Game Dinner (my dad’s idea). The dinner included many of the friends my dad hunts and fishes with, along with their wives, and everyone brought a dish to share. There were 3 different kinds of 
venison, goose, pheasant, turkey, and walleye, along with a multitude of desserts, and everything was delicious! After the dinner, Cam took me to see the movie Valentine’s Day, and I really appreciated him sitting through a click-flick for me! On Valentine’s Day, we were able to have a nice, relaxing afternoon with my parents watching the Olympics, then it was time to start getting ready for our date!
Cam had made reservations for us at a restaurant in Birmingham that we had been wanting to try called Cameron’s Steakhouse…ok, so we had been wanting to try it largely because of the name, but we both love getting dressed up and going out to eat, so we figured Valentine’s Day was the perfect opportunity. Cameron’s definitely met our expectations–we got a seated in a cozy leather booth, and all the food was amazing! We had champagne, lobster bisque, housemade fries, lobster macaroni & cheese, filet 
mignon, and then to top it off we got chocolate lava cake for dessert, which was probably the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten. Ever. At all these different restaurants we go to, Cam and I always order the molten chocolate cake for dessert, and usually it’s just a disappointing little piece of chocolate cake w/ a warm center. Not at Cameron’s. They served us a fairly large serving of cake that was baked in a ramekin and topped with powdered sugar. Our waitress then cut out the center of the cake and poured in a gravy boat filled with rich hot fudge (amazing!), and on top of all this, the dessert was served with a big martini glass filled with homemade vanilla bean ice cream (I’m seriously getting hungry just thinking about this dessert haha). It was divine, words cannot even describe how decadent and delicious it was. The only problem was that by the time we got dessert, Cam and I were both SO full from dinner that we could barely even eat any of it! I was literally in physical pain I was so stuffed, but I couldn’t help from eating more and more of this cake because it was that amazing!
All in all, Cameron and I had a great time together for our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple. Over the weekend, I was reminded how fortunate I am to be surrounded by so much love from wonderfully supportive family and friends. It’s definitely going to be hard to leave them when we move out of Michigan this summer, and I think as the time draws closer, that fact is becoming more real, both for them and for me. The weekend also gave me a chance to focus on the love that God has blessed Cam and I with for one another, because it truly is a gift. I feel so fortunate that I found my soulmate so early in life, and I’m so excited that we have our whole lives full of possibility ahead of us and that we’re going to get to spend them together. While Cameron and I always tell each other we love each other every single day, it’s nice to slow down and take a day just to focus on how wonderful that fact is. I think that one of
the greatest gifts that my relationship with Cam has given me is that it’s painted a much clearer picture in my mind of just how much God loves us. I can remember one day in the spring after Cameron and I had been dating a few months, I was out for a run and I decided to stop and go swing on the swings of a playground that I was passing by (go figure!). While I was swinging, the weather was just perfect, the sky was pure blue, and I just felt so joyful. It was at that point where my love for Cam was still so fresh and new, where you’re just falling head over heels and can’t seem to think about anything else but that person. While I was swinging and staring into the blue sky, I just really felt the Lord speak to me and say “All the love in your heart that you have for Cam doesn’t even compare to how much that I love you.” It was like all the sudden everything just clicked, and I was completely struck by this powerful revelation. All my life, I grew up in church, and would sing “Jesus Loves Me” in Sunday school, and there was no doubt in my mind that I was a God loved me…I just had never been in love, a deep romantic love, so I didn’t really understand what that meant. Up until I met Cam, my romantic involvements with people had only been mere infatuations, and it wasn’t until we started dating that I really felt and started to understand what true love is, because it was unlike nothing that I had ever experienced. Being in love is so wonderfully powerful and all-consuming, and my heart is filled with that for Cam. However, it’s made me realize that when God says he LOVES us, that’s such an amazing thing, and my love for Cam has given me such a powerful glimpse of just how strong God’s love is for us; because as much as I love Cam, it will never compare to the Father’s heart towards us, his children. Not only that, but the Lord desires for us to love him in that way as well, to just be completely engrossed in wanting to get to know him more. So while to some people, Valentine’s Day may be only about cards and candy, for me it’s a day to remember all the love I have in my life, from my friends & family, my husband, and this amazing God who loves me even more than I’ll ever be able to understand.