Happy Valentine's Day!

My Lonnie was incredibly loving and was very creative at making this day so special. Sometimes he would do simple sweet little things and at other times, big surprises! Our last Valentine's Day together he brought me beautiful roses, an awesome card and took me out to dinner. 

The coffee table on left and buffet to the right

You may say, "That is not so unusual," but one year he brought home a very pretty coffee table. When he was newly in the Air Force and we were at Little Rock AFB, he went to  Squadron Officer's School in Montgomery, Alabama, and we made plans to meet in Memphis, Tennessee, for Valentine's Day weekend. While there, Lonnie found a buffet for our dining room. Such a loving and thoughtful man! Sometimes we did special events and other times he might give me chocolates, flowers and a card.

We loved going to antique stores and junk stores and enjoyed finding little treasures. Sometimes we would just walk through and look for no reason except we enjoyed it...never needed to buy a thing. We would show each other cool things we would find and that was that. Fun!  

Another thing Lonnie loved to do was try to figure out where we were going to live. He always had a map nearby. He also liked to look at houses. It was a desire in his heart for us to find a home that we could settle down in one day when he retired from the Air Force. One of his favorite websites was http://www.oldhouses.com/. He would find a house and say, "Hey honey, come look at this one." There was one huge home with 13 bedrooms in Butte, Montana, that he thought would be perfect for our whole family (of course, he was semi-joking, and yet it was a fun idea...to have all the children and grandchildren together under one roof).

Well, this year, my precious Lonnie has given me rose bushes  and a house to go with them. Because of his wisdom and God's blessing, I was able to find a home near San Diego. With the incredible help of Jennifer and Benji (who looked at many houses until we found this one) and the wonderful support and encouragement from Jeremy and Crystal, Jason and Sunnie, and Tiffany and Zach combined with lots of prayer, escrow is scheduled to close on February 14. A month ago, my realtor Yolanda told me that we should close on Valentine's Day. The response I had in my head was, "Oh, that is amazingly perfect and unbelievable!" I told her later on after I had time to think about it myself. We certainly didn't plan for that to happen. We thought it would be towards the end of February or beginning of March. 

So, this Valentine's Day I want to say thank you to the Lord for His provision and thank you to my Lonnie for taking such good care of me. His loving ways continue on even after he is gone. Thank you to my amazingly loving children for taking care of me over and over again over the past two-plus years.  

I had a dream the other night.  In my dream, I was walking into this new house for the first time and Lonnie was walking beside me. He was so handsome, wearing a very white, white shirt and a pair of crisply ironed jeans; he looked heavenly. It was a precious dream. Lonnie's touch and gifts and love will be seen all through our home and I am forever grateful to the Lord for bringing him into my life. 

As I go forward in this next chapter of my life, I want to always be thankful and count my blessings! Lonnie Bruce Barker, what a blessing you are in my life! Jeremy and Crystal, Jason and Sunnie, Jennifer and Benji, Tiffany and Zach....what would I have done without your love and my "home sweet homes!" And then our ten grandchildren....oh, I am counting my blessings tonight!  And my precious family and friends! I could go on and on...I think I better stop for now.  

Thank you and Happy Valentine's Day!