My Valentine is the most wonderful wife, mother, daughter, sister in the world.  She has many qualities that make her so.  Here are just a few…

1. She’s thoughtful.  Much like her mother, she’s always putting other people first in her life.  Some might say that it’s even a fault that they share, but I believe it is a gift from God.  Every night she asks me what I would like to eat for dinner when she knows the response that will be given, “Whatever you feel like making honey?”  But she still asks.  It never ceases to amaze me that she doesn’t even think twice about it.  Even yesterday I texted her, asking if she was hungry.  She had a million things to do… pick up the boys from school, go to Costco,  laundry, dishes, etc.  Her response???  “Not really, but do you want me to pick something up for you and bring it by?”

2. She’s loving.  Now I’m not a dog person, but she is.  Why?  I believe it’s because there’s just not enough people in our little world to love.  So we now have 2 dogs (they’re not small either), 2 turtles and a fish… oh yeah, and two very lovable boys.  She loves her mom, her dad, her brother, her relatives near and far, her best friend Michelle and anyone else that happens to spend more than a day with us.   And if that’s not enough, she’s desperate to have a little girl that she can love on too.  (and who knows, that dream of hers could be just around the corner…  😉

3. She’s creative.  I don’t think that I know anyone as creative as my wife.  We have a purple wall in our house.  That’s right, purple.  And just one.  Who would have thought to paint only one wall in their house purple?  The crazy thing is, it’s just the right wall and its just the right shade of purple.  People ask about it all the time, “ohhh… I love that color, what is it?”  She’ll say “eggplant” or something like that.  I call it “purple”.

She’s also a wonderful painter, photographer, designer and cook (her salads are super creative).  And she’s humble too.  I have a painting that she did on a piece of plywood at a Worship Conference a few years ago.  She keeps trying to throw it away.  I think it’s the best thing ever.  The cool thing is that she’s passing her creativity on to our kids.  Joshua already has a couple of works of art in his portfolio…  uhh… and so does Micah, kind of.

4. She’s professional.  Last year we decided that it was a good idea for Staci to get a “part-time” job just to get her out of the house a little and bring in some extra cash.  So she put her resume out there.  What does she end up doing???  Uh…  Director of a local Pre-School.  Not exactly what you’d call a “part-time” job.  Everyone she worked with raved about her professionalism and the positive atmosphere that she brought to the school.  Unfortunately the job got in the way of her involvement with Joshua’s Kindergarten experience.  So what does she do?  She resigned with as much professionalism as is humanly possible.

5. She has an authentic relationship with God. It’s not easy being a Pastor’s wife.  I guess loving God is kind of a requirement.  And she’ll be the first to tell you when she’s feeling that requirement seep into her relationship with Him.  She simply doesn’t want it to be fake.  Her relationship with God is as authentic as it gets.

6. She’s a great mom.  She constantly worries about where the boys will be on the totum pole of life.  “I don’t want them to get a late start with baseball.”  “Do you think Joshua is behind on his reading skills?”  “How can we get the boys to eat more?”  And not only that, I don’t think she’s missed a night of reading to them before bedtime.  They love her immensely because she’s a great mom.

I could go on and on about her, but I’ll end with this last one.

6. She’s beautiful.  Not just on the outside, but on the inside as well (as you’ve just read).  She makes everyone around her smile.  I believe it’s the Spirit of God shining through her (good genes didn’t hurt either).  She’s a beautiful person and that’s why she’s my Valentine.  See for yourself!