Love is in the Air

Happy Valentine's Day!  It's a beautiful, spring-like day in GA.  It's also my youngest girls 6th birthday.  So we began the day with yummy pancakes and maple syrup.  Instead of buttermilk, I used our homemade yogurt with a bit of milk.  We then made and decorated cookies.  Baking her strawberry heart cake with purple frosting was next on the agenda.  As the cake cooled, we began the heart shaped pizzas for lunch.  But alas, we turned around to check the cooling cake and the baby had discovered that it was quite yummy even without the frosting. 

So after a bit of tears from the birthday girl, we are now remaking a cake.  God is good like that with us all the time.  He is the God of another chance and another chance and another chance.  We just need to repent and He welcomes us back with open arms.  Of course, that doesn't mean there aren't consequences.  For Emily, it's not the strawberry cake she first wanted; therefore, we are making a vanilla "festive with sprinkles" cake in it's place.   She suffered a bit of consequences for Christopher's actions.  Not too unlike what happens when we blow it.  Many a times not only do we suffer but those around us.  Thankfully, in this instance, it's just a cake.  We still went to the park for an hour and played.  The breadsticks to go with tonight's dinner are rising now.  We are having an "Olive Garden" copy cat recipe night with spaghetti and meatballs, salad, and bread sticks.  The wee ones are putting on their special Aunt Fran made aprons and serving us.  We are so blessed.  Thank you Lord for another wonderful day.  When you are thinking on this day, remember the verses below.

I Corinthians 13:4-13

Love is patient and kind; 

 love does not envy or boast; 

it is not arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way; 

it is not irritable or resentful; 

it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, 

but rejoices with the truth.  

bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 Love never ends. 

As for prophecies, they will pass away; 

as for tongues, they will cease; 

as for knowledge, it will pass away. 

For we know in part and we prophesy in part,  

 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.  

 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. 

When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. 

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully,  

even as I have been fully known.

 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; 

but the greatest of these is love.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 

For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. 

But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 

Again, if two lie together, they keep warm,

but how can one keep warm alone?  

  And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, 

two will withstand him—

a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

I John 4:8

  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Song of Solomon 8:6-7

Set me as a seal upon your heart,
   as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
   jealousy is fierce as the grave. 

Its flashes are flashes of fire,
   the very flame of the LORD.

Many waters cannot quench love,
   neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
   all the wealth of his house,
   he would be utterly despised.

I John 4:7

Beloved, let us love one another, 

for love is from God, 

and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.